Chapter XI: Section VI

ON THE PLAYS BY OTHER AUTHORS ACTED BY SHAKESPEARE'S COMPANY.

DURING Shakespeare's career, 1589-1611, we only know of some two dozen plays having been produced by his "fellows," in addition to the three dozen included in his works; and of these, about two-fifths are anonymous, and have been at some time or other ascribed, in whole or part, to the great master. It is evident that he had the management of the playwriting for his house pretty nearly in his own hands, and that his method was the polar opposite to that of which we know most, viz., Henslowe's. While the latter employed twelve poets in a year, who produced for the Admiral's men a new play every fortnight or so, the Chamberlain's company depended almost entirely on two poets at a time, and produced not more than four new plays a year. Hence the explanation of the vastly higher character of the Globe plays as compared with the Fortune: hence also the explanation of the small pay and needy condition of the latter, and their jealousy of the rapid advancement in wealth and position of Shakespeare, who had virtually a monopoly of play-providing for his company. It would be out of place to discuss at length the plays written for it by Jonson, Dekker, &c., but fuller notice of the anonymous plays is due to the reader. They have, strange to say, never yet been treated as a complete group; and yet surely as much may be learned by considering Shakespeare's theatrical surroundings, the plays in which he acted, and which he probably had more or less suggested, supervised, or revised, as by elaborately working out the debtor and creditor details of his malt-bills. I will treat of these plays in nearly chronological order.

1590.

_Fair Em_ is the earliest play we certainly know of as acted by Lord Strange's company. It is alluded to by Greene in his address prefixed to his _Farewell to Folly_. He quotes as abusing of Scripture, "A man's conscience is a thousand witnesses," and "Love covereth the multitude of sins," and says these words were used by "two lovers on the stage arguing one another of unkindness." Greene's tract was written and entered S. R. 1st June 1587, but not published till 1591, when the address which mentions his _Mourning Garment_ (S. R. November 2, 1590) was added. _Fair Em_ dates, therefore, late in 1590. It was probably written by R. Wilson, and is certainly not a romantic, but a satirical play; else why should Greene have been offended at it?

In Sc. 14 of _The Three Ladies of London_, produced before 1584, Wilson uses the expression, "I, Conscience, am a thousand witnesses," and in his _Three Lords and Three Ladies of London_, acted at Court, Christmas 1588-9, Sc. 2, "Love doth cover heaps of cumbrous evils." In order to explain the nature of the satire in _Fair Em_, it is necessary to investigate a hitherto unnoticed identification of Worcester's 1586 company with the Admiral's, of the highest importance for stage history as determining the actors in Marlowe's early plays. On Twelfth Day 1585-6, "the servants of the Admiral and the Lord Chamberlain" acted at Court, _i.e._ the players of Lord Charles Howard, who held both these offices. Mr. Halliwell (_Illustrations_, p. 31) confused this Chamberlain with Lord Hunsdon, and takes the entry to refer to _two_ companies. I sent him a correction of these and many other blunders, which he has never rectified, years ago--a fact which I should not notice had he not publicly complained that, with one or two exceptions, of whom I am not one, he had received no help of this kind. Of this Admiral's company in the plague year, 1586, there is no trace in London; but in that year, and that year only, a company travelled under the protection of the Earl of Worcester. They were licensed for this travel on 14th January, and were at Leicester in the course of the year (Shakespeare Society's Papers, iv.); their names were R. Browne, J. Tunstall (Dunstan), E. Allen, W. Harryson, T. Cooke, R. Jones, E. Browne, R. Andrews; all of whom were licensed, together with hired men, T. Powlton and W. Paterson, "Lord Harbard's man," _i.e._ a member of the company of Herbert Earl of Pembroke: a scratch company evidently, but containing names of celebrated London actors. In 1587 and 1588, the Admiral's men acted in London publicly, and at Christmas 1588-9 at Court. On 3d January 1588-9, Alleyn and Jones (acting evidently for the company) dissolved partnership, and Alleyn bought up their properties and play-books. In November the Admiral's men were playing about the City, and not at the Curtain, where they had probably produced _Tamberlain_, _Faustus_, _Orlando_, _Alcazar_, and _Marius and Sylla_; and in their Court performance on 23d December were reduced to showing "feats of activity." In 1590 R. Brown and Jones went abroad and acted at Leyden in October. They returned, and on December 27 and February 16 the Admiral's men acted at Court for the last time before the reconstitution of their company in 1594. Already R. Brown, J. Broadstreet, T. Sackville, and R. Jones had obtained a pass from Lord C. Howard, the Admiral, their patron, to travel to Germany by way of Holland, and a company acted there till 1617 under Sackville. Jones returned to England and joined the reconstituted Admiral's company under Allen in 1594. Alleyn had never relinquished the title of Admiral's servant, even when in Lord Strange's service in 1593. Putting these facts together, can there be any doubt that the service under Worcester was merely temporary, and that in the list of 1586 we have that of the principal actors in the Admiral's company? Mr. R. Simpson, to whom we owe so much as a discoverer of problems to be solved, and so little for their solution, rightly stated that _Fair Em_ was a satirical play, and that Manvile (or Mandeville, the lying traveller) meant Greene, and Mounteney the aspiring Marlowe. He was wrong in identifying Valingford with Shakespeare--he was Peele (valing, an old castle or peele--_Camden_)--and doubly wrong in making William Conqueror Kempe. Robert of Windsor, his travelling name, points to Robert Browne; and it was to Browne's company that Marlowe and Peele had been attached, not to Kempe's. The names William Conqueror and Marquess Lubeck were probably names of characters which had been acted by Browne and Jones, perhaps in the play of _William Conqueror_, which was on the stage as an old play in 1593. Fair Em of Manchester is no doubt, as Mr. Simpson says, Lord Strange's company of players.

1622 [often, but wrongly, dated c. 1591].

_The Birth of Merlin, or The Child hath Found his Father_, was published in 1662 as "written by W. Shakespeare and W. Rowley." Rowley probably revised the play for a revival c. 1622, but in the main it is manifestly by another hand. The comic scenes with Joan Goto't may be Rowley's, but the serious parts are palpably Middleton's. I owe the suggestion of his authorship to Mr. P. A. Daniel. A ballad on the subject was entered on 10th May 1589, S. R. In ii. 3_b_ iii. 6 we have some very interesting imitations of Shakespeare. Cutting out the Rowley additions in iii. 1. 4, I would ask the reader to carefully compare the remaining parts of ii. 3_b_, beginning with _Aurel_. "Artesia, dearest love," iii. 2. 3. 5. 6, with such passages of Shakespeare as they call to memory: _e.g._ iii. 2, "This world is but a mask," &c., with _As You Like It_, ii. 7. 139, &c., and iii. 3. 1-6 with _Lear_, iii. 2. 1-9. Compare especially the definition of a crab as "a creature that goes backward" in ii. 3, with _Hamlet_, ii. 2. 206, "if like a crab you could go backward." Crab as the name of an animal does not occur elsewhere in Shakespeare. I believe the early plays on this subject, _Vortiger_, 4th December 1596, and _Uter Pendragon_, 29th April 1597, in Henslowe's Diary, to be alluded to by Jonson in his Prologue to _Every Man in his Humour_, 1601--

"To make a child now swaddled to proceed
Man: and then shoot up _in one beard and weed_
Past threescore years."

1592.

June. _A [Merry] Knack to Know a Knave_ was acted as a new play at the Rose by Edward Alleyn and his company (_i.e._ Lord Strange's) "with Kempe's _Merriments of the Men of Gotham_." The introduction of Honesty as a principal character points to R. Wilson the elder as the author. It was certainly not written by Greene and Nash, as Mr. Simpson supposes. Besides this play and a number of revivals, mostly of plays of the Queen's company (see my _Shakespearian Study_, p. 88), Lord Strange's men acted this season certain new plays: on March 3, _1 Henry VI._; April 11, _Titus and Vespasian_ (these have been already noticed): April 28, 2_d_. _Tambercame_; May 23, _The Taner of Denmark_; and in 1593, January 5, _The Gelyous [Jealious] Comedy_; January 30, _The Guise_ (_i.e._ Marlowe's _Massacre of Paris_).

1594.

July 24, _Locrine_ was entered S. R. and published in 1595 as "newly set forth, overseen, and corrected by W. S." I see no reason to infer that W. S. is William Shakespeare. The play was written, according to Mr. Simpson, by Tilney in 1586. I rather think for him by G. Peele. Shakespeare has no concern with it further than the letters W. S. indicate.

1595 [possibly 1599].

_A 'Larum for London, or The Siege of Antwerp_, was acted about this time. It was published in 1602, but entered S. R. 29th May 1600. The title at once points it out as a moralising play, of the same class as _A Looking-Glass for London_; didactic as to politics. I believe it to be by the same author, T. Lodge. The fear of a Spanish invasion is evident in the play. In July 1595 the Spaniards made a descent on Cornwall and burned Mouse Hole, Neulin, and Penzance. This is the most likely time for any real danger to London from the Spaniards to have been apprehended. Lodge, probably in the next year, wrote _The Taming of the Shrew_ (afterwards altered by Shakespeare) for the Chamberlain's company. The seldom-used word _villiaco_, found in this play, occurs in _2 Henry VI._, iv. 8, in the part I assign to Lodge.

1596.

_The Life and Death of Sir Thomas More_ was certainly acted in this year. That this also was a political play is evident from the numerous alterations made in the MS. by E. Tylney, Master of the Revels. He specially objected to all passages directed against the French; and cut out entirely Scene 1, the insurrection scene. This must have alluded too closely to events of the time. Now on 29th June 1595 there was an insurrection of the London Prentices, suppressed by the then Lord Mayor just in the same way as that in the play by Sheriff More. (See Maitland and Stowe under that date.) Moreover, in October 1595 Hartford was imprisoned in the Tower for contempt, and threatened with loss of his title, just as More is in the play, which was no doubt acted while he was in prison (Aikin's _Elizabeth_, chap, xxiv.) I have previously noted the certainty of this play being acted by the Chamberlain's players, T. Goodale being one of the actors. It was probably written chiefly by Lodge; but some scenes, such as Scene 2 with the Lifter and Scenes 9, 10, with Faulkner and the players, bear unmistakable marks of another hand, the same, I think, as the author of _Lord Cromwell_. It is a singular play, containing a comedy, Scenes 1-10, and a tragedy, Scenes 11-18, in one. This leads me to conjecture that it is the same play as was played by the Paul's children before James and the King of Denmark, 30th July 1606. This contained a comedy and tragedy, and was called _Abuses_. I need hardly say that this title is specially appropriate to _Sir T. More_. It pleased the kings, as was to be expected, more than it did the authorities under Elizabeth. We know that some plays of the Chamberlain's company passed into the hands of the Paul's boys, _e.g._ _Satiromastix_. The part of Justice Suresby is probably the one alluded to in _The Return from Parnassus_, iv. 3, where Kempe tells Philomusus (Lodge) that his face "would be good for a foolish mayor or a foolish justice of peace." In the same scene, Studioso (Drayton) is made to recite from _Richard III._ and _Jeronymo_, both which plays were still acted by the Chamberlain's men in 1599; so that Drayton was looked on in 1602 as a tragedian, Lodge as a comedian. This agrees with Meres' classification of them in 1598. Nevertheless it is certain that both of them produced both tragedies and comedies.

1597-9.

_The Merry Devil of Edmonton_, acted at the Globe, and therefore still on the stage in 1599, was closely connected with the early form of _1 Henry IV._, in which Falstaff was called Oldcastle (see _supra_, p. 33). Coxeter says that it was ascribed in an old MS. of the play to Michael Drayton. No doubt it was written by him. The character of the Host, and indeed all the play, are so like parts of _Sir John Oldcastle_, which we know to have been partly written by Drayton, that it is not possible to doubt the identity of authorship. That play was written by Munday (i. 1; v. 2--end), Wilson (? i. 2; ii. 3; iii. 4), Hathaway (? iii. 1; v. 1), and Drayton, who probably was the plotter and chief composer. _The Merry Devil_ was entered S. R. 22d October 1607. The entry on 5th April 1608 refers to the prose history by Thomas Brewer. Nevertheless that entry has been confidently adduced by Mr. Halliwell and others as proof that Drayton did not write the play (see Halliwell's _Dictionary of Old Plays_ under _Merry Devil_): which as printed is evidently greatly abridged. All the part relating to Smug's taking the place of St. George as the sign of the inn, for instance, which is found in the prose story, must have been cut out, though an allusion to it is left in the end of the play. This alteration was probably made c. 1603-4, as in the _Black Book_ (S. R. 22d March 1604) a revival of the play contemporaneous with _The Woman Killed with Kindness_ is alluded to. It remained popular even to 1616: Jonson's prologue to _The Devil is an Ass_ calls it "your dear delight." That play is of a somewhat similar nature, founded on the adventures of a devil incarnate; so also are Dekker's _If this be not a Good Play the Devil's in it_, and Haughton's _Grim the Cobler of Croydon, or The Devil and his Dame_ (6th May 1600). In this last, which gives a posterior limit of date, Robin Goodfellow calls himself "merry devil," and is no doubt intended as a satire on Drayton, as is also the Robin Goodfellow of _Wily Beguiled_, 1597. In _Sir Giles Goosecap_ by Chapman, the continued usage by Goosecap of the phrases "tickle the vanity on't" and "we are all mortal" points to Drayton as the person ridiculed under that name; while in _2 Henry IV._, ii. l. 66, Falstaff uses the exact phrase of Smug in scene 3 of "tickling the catastrophe." Another point of connection with Shakespearian satire of this date is found in the term Hungarian, scene 8, which occurs in _Merry Wives_, i. 3. 23, and nowhere else in Shakespeare. The great similarity of the Hosts in these two plays has been often noted. There is much confusion in the Christian names in our present version of the _Merry Devil_, an indication of revision. Drayton's first connection with the Chamberlain's company was in my opinion his writing the Induction for _The Taming of the Shrew_ in 1596, afterwards altered by Shakespeare. _The Merry Devil_ was entered as Shakespeare's on S. R. 9th September 1653, probably on account of the similarity of title with _The Merry Wives of Windsor_; and this similarity does point to a connection, though not of authorship, between these plays. The Oldcastle play, acted 6th March 1600 at Lord Hunsdon's, was probably _The Merry Devil_.

1594.

_The Seven Deadly Sins_, an old play plotted for the Queen's company by Tarleton, was revived. I have had already occasion to refer to the plot of this play, which is extant at Dulwich College.

1598-9.

_A Warning for Fair Women_ was entered S. R. 17th November 1599, and printed as "lately divers times acted" by the Chamberlain's men. Its title, so like _A Looking-Glass for London_ and _A 'Larum for London_, its didactic character, its Induction, with History, Tragedy, and Comedy for actors, so like that to _Mucedorus_, and its style and metre all point to Thomas Lodge as the author. As a murder-play it should be compared with _Arden of Feversham_, _The Yorkshire Tragedy_, and _Two Tragedies in One_. Plays on similar subjects, such as _Page of Plymouth_, by Dekker and Jonson, September 1599; _The Tragedy of Merry_, by Haughton and Day, December 1599; _The Tragedy of Orphans_, by Chettle, November 1599; and perhaps _The Stepmother's Tragedy_, by Dekker and Chettle, October 1599, were very abundant just at this time. This seems to be Lodge's final original production for the stage.

1598-9.

_Every Man in his Humour_ in its first form, with the Italian names, in the latter part of 1598, and his _Every Man out of his Humour_ in the spring of 1599, both by Jonson, were acted by the Chamberlain's men. Jonson then left them and wrote for the children of the Chapel.

1601.

_Satiromastix_ was written by Dekker against Jonson's _Poetaster_ for the Chamberlain's men, and acted first by them and afterwards by the Paul's boys.

1601.

_The Chronicle History of Thomas Lord Cromwell_ was entered S. R. 11th August 1602. This is clearly a political play, in which the career of Cromwell Earl of Essex shadows forth another Earl of Essex, of much greater interest to an audience of 1601. One scene, iii. 2, reminds us strongly of scene 9 in _Sir T. More_; and the whole play is very like the part of _Sir John Oldcastle_ assigned by me to Drayton. In Act iv. the Chorus apologises for the omission of Wolsey's life. That had, in fact, been treated already by Chettle in August 1601, and by Chettle, Munday, Drayton, and Smith in November 1601, in two plays for the Admiral's men. Drayton's last work for them was done in May 1602 and _Cromwell_ was probably acted in June. The second edition, 1613, had "by W.S." on the title. This was clearly an attempt, like the "by W. Sh." in the 1611 edition of the older _John_, to father the play on Shakespeare after his retirement from theatrical life. It has been supposed that Wentworth Smith is indicated. This is most unlikely. Smith was a hack writer for Henslowe, 1601-3, not one scrap of whose work was ever thought worth publishing; and that he, at the same date that he was a "novice" in the Admiral's, should have been an independent author for the Chamberlain's, is one of the plausible figments that will not be received by any one acquainted with stage history. If W.S. are authentic initials, W. Sly is a more likely claimant.

1603.

_The London Prodigal_ was published in 1605, with the name of William Shakespeare on the title-page. This surely shows some connection of Shakespeare with its authorship. It is true that in 1600 his name had been attached to _Sir John Oldcastle_ in one of the editions then printed, and that he could not have written, or been concerned with the writing of, that play; but the peculiar relation in which it stands to his historical plays places it in a very different category from a play which was acted by his own company, and over the publication of which he may be supposed to have had some control, direct or indirect. Perhaps he "plotted" it. At the same time it should be noticed that the publisher, Butter, was the same man who issued the Quarto of _Lear_ in 1608, which was certainly derived from an authentic copy, however carelessly printed; while Pavier, who published _Oldcastle_, was notoriously an issuer of surreptitious and piratical editions. This play is certainly by the same hand as the _Cromwell_. In iii. 3, "And where nought is the king doth lose his due," with which compare _Cromwell_, ii. 3, "And where nought is the king must lose his right," is taken from Nash's _Unfortunate Traveller_ (p. 15, Grosart's reprint), "When it is not to be had the king must lose his right." Compare, also, "Pardon, dear father, the follies that are past," v. 1, with _Cromwell_, iv. chorus, "Pardon the errors are already past," and the passing of St. George's inn in i. 2 with the _Merry Devil_ plot. The date of production is certainly 1603. The words "under the King," ii. 1, and the allusion to Armin the actor, who took the part of Matthew Flowerdale, "So young an armin," v. 1, forbid an earlier date. This last allusion, by the bye, has never previously been explained. On the other hand, the allusions to Cutting Dick, ii. 2, _The Devil and his Dame_, iv. 2 (Mar. 1600), and to "wanton Cressid," v. i. (1602), would lose much effect at a later date. The name Greenshield was adopted from this play in the "comical satire" of _Northward Ho_, 1605, as Frescobald was in _The Honest Whore_, 1603, from _Cromwell_.

1603.

_Sejanus_, by Jonson, was acted this year. Jonson had returned to the Chamberlain's men from the Admiral's, for whom he wrote after leaving the Chapel children in 1601; but this play being a political satire on Leicester got the company into trouble, and he again left them for the children of the Revels. See _supra_, p. 49.

1604.

_The Malcontent_, by Marston, was acted "with the additions played by the King's Majesty's servants" by Webster, and entered S. R. 25th July. This play belonged to the Revels' children, and was appropriated in retaliation for their playing _Jeronymo_, which was the property of the King's men. (See the Induction.) Compare p. 52.

1604.

_Gowry_, already noticed, was performed this year.

1603-4.

_The Miseries of Enforced Marriage_, by George Wilkins, was entered S. R. 31st July 1607. It was founded on the life of Mr. Caverley, the hero of _The Yorkshire Tragedy_, and the play ends with a reconciliation before October 1603, when his third child was born, and dating about January or February, just before the accession of King James. This play was written before 1605. Mr. P.A. Daniel discovered the identity of story in it and in _The Yorkshire Tragedy_. The share of G. Wilkins in the authorship of _Timon_ and _Pericles_ has already been noticed. He left the King's company for the Queen's in 1607, before publishing the present play. He is not the G. Wilkins who died in 1603: Mr. W.C. Hazlitt's statement in his _Handbook_ to that effect is a mistake.

1605.

_A Yorkshire Tragedy_, founded on the same story, was certainly acted soon after the execution of Caverley, 5th August 1605. The murdered children were buried in April. The prose account of Caverley's trial was entered S. R. 24th August, and the story of his life was printed by V. S. (Valentine Simmes) in the same year. The play was entered S. R. 2d May 1608, and printed as by William Shakespeare. I cannot think that this was unauthorised. Compare the parallel instance of _The London Prodigal_. Was the author his brother Edmund; and did Shakespeare assist in or revise his work? (See p. 60.) The "young mistress" of Scene 1 is the Clare Harcup of the _Enforced Marriage_, and her decline is inconsistent with her death in that play, but in accordance with facts. Together with three other probably similar short plays it was acted as _All's One, or one of the Four Plays in One_.

1605.

_Volpone or the Fox_, by Jonson, was acted in this year.

1605-6.

_Mucedorus_, an old play, originally written, I think, for the Queen's company by T. Lodge, was revived under exceptional circumstances, with additions at Court. From the added part at the end of the play it appears that "a lean hungry neagre (meagre) cannibal," "a scrambling raven with a needy beard," had written "a comedy" for the King's players, containing "dark sentences pleasing to factious brains," and that information had been given to "a puissant magistrate," and that the players feared "great danger or at least restraint" in consequence. Moreover, this "unwilling error" had been lately "presented" to the King: nevertheless, not being "boys," but "men," they had avoided the "trap," apologised, and been pardoned. The only known new comedy, not Shakespeare's, produced by the King's men between 1604 and 1610 was Jonson's _Fox_. It contains a good deal, even in its present state, that must have been unpalatable at Court, especially on monopolies and spies; and Jonson altered his plays so much after performance for publication, that it is dangerous to draw conclusions as to what the play may have originally contained. One thing in it, however, was particularly "obnoxious to construction," the miraculous "Oglio del Scoto," which, in the case of one who was this same year imprisoned for satirising the Scots in _Eastward Ho_, might well be taken as a gird at the Scotch King's miraculous charisma in treating for the King's evil. It is to the _Eastward Ho_ affair that the "trap for boys, not men," alludes; and the meagreness and "needy beard" plainly indicate Jonson as the "raven" (Corbaccio) who wrote the comedy. In accordance with this view stands the fact that on the Christmas succeeding this unfortunate performance of 1605-6 there was no Court masque produced by Jonson. The date hitherto assigned to the "additions" in _Mucedorus_ has been 1610, because the edition of that year was issued as it was acted before the King on Shrove Sunday night. But there was no Court performance in the 1609-10 winter on account of the plague. The date 1610 is therefore impossible; the words on the title were probably repeated in the usual way from the 1606 edition, of which, though mentioned in Beauclerc's _Catalogue_, 1781, no copy unfortunately is extant. Of the authorship of the original play, with its Induction, "cooling-card" mark, and many similarities to _Marius and Sylla_, there can be no doubt: it was written by Lodge. Who wrote the "additions" in 1605-6 it would be hard to say: perhaps Wilkins.

1607-11.

_The Revenger's Tragedy_ by Cyril Tourneur (?) was entered S. R. 7th October 1607, and probably acted not long before. The Second _Maiden's Tragedy_, licensed in 1611, which we know to have been acted by the King's men, was probably by the same author.

In 1610 Jonson returned to the King's men (he had been writing for the Revels' children since he left, after producing _Volpone_), and his _Alchemist_ was acted in that year; in 1611 his _Cataline_, and Beaumont and Fletcher's _Philaster_, _Maid's Tragedy_, and _King and no King_; c. 1612 Webster's _Duchess of Malfy_ was produced. The further prosecution of this subject belongs to a life of Fletcher rather than of Shakespeare.