Page:Men of Kent and Kentishmen.djvu/108

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94
MEN OF KENT

by establishing and endowing a free school there, which was incorporated in 1503, and is still called by his name. He also contributed liberally to other charitable and useful works in the county. In his latter years he incurred the displeasure of Elizabeth, and was restricted to his own house in Great St. Bartholomew's. The grief and anxiety caused by this disgrace in all probability hastened his end, which occurred 14th December, 1593. He was a man of great activity and energy but his character as a Judge is not altogether free from reproach. He is said by Fuller to have been the author of a treatise on the Forest Laws, but as no such work is now in existence, it is probable that that writer credited him with the celebrated work of John Manwood on the subject, the writer of which was probably a member of the same family, if not, (as some suppose), his son.

[See "Fullers' Worthies," and "Foss's Judges."]


Christopher Marlowe,

DRAMATIST,

Was born in 1564, in Canterbury, where his father, John Marlowe, is said to have been a shoemaker, holding also the office of parish clerk. Christopher was educated at the King's School, and sent to Benet College, Cambridge, where he graduated M.A. in 1587. Before this he produced his play "Tamburlaine the Great," the first tragedy worthy of that name in the language. This was successively followed by "Dr. Faustus," "The Jew of Malta," "Edward II," and the "Massacre of Paris." The tragedy of "Dido, Queen of Carthage," was published after his