orders. Be that as it may, his predilection for the drama was decided: before 1587 it seems certain that he had produced Tamburlaine the Great; and eventually he joined the crowd of literary adventurers in the metropolis with a determination to rely on his genius alone for a subsistence.
At one time Marlowe unquestionably "fretted his hour upon the stage." According to Phillips, whose account is followed by Wood[1] and Tanner,[2] he "rose from an actor to be a maker of plays;"[3] and in a very curious ballad,[4] which was composed while some of his contemporaries were still alive, we are told that he performed at the Curtain in Shore-ditch;
"He had alsoe a player beene
Upon the Curtaine-stage,
But brake his leg in one lewd scene
When in his early age."
But is the assertion of Phillips, that Marlowe was first an actor and afterwards a dramatist, to be received as the exact truth? I think not; for, without taking into consideration the flagrant inaccuracies of Phillips's work, there are circumstances in the history of Marlowe which seem strongly to contradict it. Nor do the words of the ballad, "When in his early age," necessarily confirm the statement of Phillips. In the stanza just cited, the ballad-monger (who found "age" an obvious rhyme to "stage") meant, I conceive, no more than this,—that Marlowe's histrionic feats took place soon after he had formed a permanent connection with the London theatres for the sake of a livelihood; and, as far as I can judge, such really was the case. We have seen that Marlowe took the degree of A.M. in 1587; and there is every reason to believe that he was then known as a successful dramatist: but if he had been also known as one who had exhibited himself on the London boards in the capacity of a regular actor (and as such the ballad-monger evidently describes him), I am by no means sure that, in those days, the University of Cambridge would have granted the degree.[5] On this point, however, I would not urge my opinion with any
- ↑ Ath. Oxon. ii. 7, ed. Bliss.
- ↑ Biblioth. Brit. p. 512.
- ↑ Theat. Poet. (Modern Poets), p. 24, ed. 1675.—Warton says that Marlowe was "often applauded, both by Queen Elizabeth and King James the First, as a judicious player" (Hist. of Engl. Poet. iii. 433, ed. 4to.); yet he presently adds that Marlowe "died rather before the year 1593" (p. 437),—which was "rather before" King James ascended the throne of England.
- ↑ The Atheist's Tragedie; see Appendix I. to this volume. The date of the ballad may be inferred from the second stanza,—
"A truer storie nere was told,
As some alive can showe," &c. - ↑ Even the composing of plays for a London theatre by a member of the University was a proceeding very unlikely to meet with approbation from the Dons of Cambridge. They most probably held in supreme contempt all modern dramas which were not academic,—which were not written to be acted in a college-hall when some royal or dignified personage honoured the University with a visit.
