II. ii. 26. As all you know. All refers to two expressly here, and again (as Malone pointed out) in 2 Henry IV. III. i. 35. Compare Faerie Queene, II. i. 61: “The dead knight's sword out of his sheath he drew, With which he cutt a lock of all their haire. Which medling with their blood and earth he threw Into the grave." All are the parents, Mordant and Amaria. III. iii. 22. the busy meddling fiend That lays strong siege unto this wretch's soul. Faerie Queene, II. xi. 8, 9: "All those were lawlesse lustes . . . Those same against the bulwarke of the sight Did lay strong siege." And II. xi. 5 (in a literal sense): "that wicked band of villeins. . . lay strong siege about it.” IV. i. 3-5. the jades that drag the night. . . with flagging wings. The Dragon in Faerie Queene, 1. xi. 10 has "His flaggy wings, when forth he did display, Were like two sayles." Possibly the adoption of the dragon's wings here explains how Shakespeare in other places (Midsummer Night's Dream, Troilus and Cressida, Cymbeline), makes the horses of the night (Ovid's noctis equi) dragons; a much finer conception when Spenser's dragon is considered. IV. viii. 44. I see them lording it in London Streets (playing the lord). Spenser, Shepheards Calender, July. "They reigne and rulen over all, And lord it as they list." See note. This from Jack v. ii. 4. cries do fill the empty air. Straw in a Peele part, rather than Shakespeare's. But "empty air" is in Faerie Queene, 1. viii. 17: "scourging th' emptie ayre with his long trayne "-probably earlier than Faerie Queene? v. ii. 52. tears virginal. Compare Faerie Queene: "mildnesse virginall" (11. ix. 20); and “honour virginall" (11. i. 10). For further proof of Shakespeare's indebtedness to or affection for Faerie Queene, I must refer to my Introduction to Part I., where it is more evident. But a good deal of my evidence there relates to this play also. I think there is sufficient to show it in both cases. How does it happen then that little or no sign of that great poem appears in The Contention, where I maintain that Shakespeare had a considerable share? I answer that by the following positions: Shakespeare had no knowledge of the Faerie Queene until it was a published work in 1590. The Contention was written before 1590. Any evidence or influence of Spenser in that play may be Peele's work; as for example at the last line quoted (v. ii. 4); and the adjectives with "thrice-" which Peele had worked out long before, and which occur in The Contention; and those numerical emphases of "ten thousand," and "Thrice . . . Thrice . . . And twice"; and the line-formations of "Was never" "The fairest ... ever..."—all of these are from earlier works than Faerie Queene. Peele, being a Londoner, was probably long in possession of a copy of, or a knowledge of the manuscript of Faerie Queene (written as early as 1580); which Marlowe quotes from as early as 1586. Shakespeare, recently come to town, may not have had this advantage until its printed appearance. These assumptions, if well founded, would place the Qor First Part of The Contention before 1590; 1 Henry VI. immediately after, or in, 1590; followed closely by 2 Henry VI Certainly The Contention has all the appearance of being an earlier play than I Henry VI., although it follows it historically. That is, however, a matter of detail. There is more evidence to be brought forward. X. KYD, THE SPANISH TRAGEDIE. One of the few plays preceding "harey the vj." in Henslowe's Diary is "spanes comodye donne oracoe." This may or may not be the Spanish Tragedy-Boas says not. But a little below comes Jeronymo the 14th of March, 1591, just a week after Henry the Sixth. This is no doubt The Spanish Tragedy. It is the only play therein that rivals Henry the Sixth in popularity, judging from its appearances; and from external evidence no play of the time got such a hold of the people's fancy as the old Jeronymo. The earliest known dated edition is that of 1594. But an undated edition in the British Museum is probably of 1592, in which year The Spanish Tragedy was entered in the Stationers' registers. I mention this much because the correlation of the date of this play with the plays here dealt with is of much interest. Ben Jonson's words in Bartholomew Fair (1614) are taken literally by Boas, and are his main argument for a date possibly as early as 1584. Jonson's words are "He that will swear Ieronimo or Andronicus are the best plays yet, shall pass unexcepted at here as a man whose judgment shows it is constant, and hath stood still these five and twenty or thirty years." Therefore says Boas: "This fixes the date between 1584-9.' In my opinion it does not. Jonson was born in 1573, and at the age of ten or eleven his observations on plays would be a little too previous. His first connection with the stage was in 1597. These years, I take it, are merely a random shot equivalent to "when I was a boy." The coupling of two plays makes the remark yet vaguer. But one piece of evidence that is quite reliable is found in Nashe's famous preface to Greene's Menaphon in 1589, where Kyd receives rough handling. This has been ably dealt with by Professor J. Selrick in his excellent edition of The Spanish Tragedy (Dent & Co., 1898). No doubt then the play was written before 1589, and since it appears to be a pre-Armada play, dealing as it does with bits of Peninsular history with no allusion to the coming invasion, or to the preparations against it-it may date to 1587-8. There are many more arguments, very subtle ones, tending to an earlier allocation. But enough has been said to show that it probably preceded the First Part of Henry VI. taking that as "harey the vj." in Henslowe. Preceded it, I mean, in composition. Let us examine the internal evidence of parallels, or loans, that I have collected. Once a play was acted, it must be remembered, quotations from it were regarded as public property. No known play was ever so promptly afforded this proof of popularity, that of being immediately quoted from, as The Spanish Tragedy. Shakespeare himself quotes from it in The Taming of the Shrew (Induction, Il. 7-10). In these excerpts I shall, if necessary, include Cornelia (undoubtedly Kyd's); and Soliman and Perseda, certainly Kyd's (in part). The two prose pieces (The Householder's Philosophie, and The Murder of Iohn Brewen) included in Professor Boas's edition of Kyd are not dealt with. With regard to these plays of Kyd's and their dates, together with that of Arden of Feversham (1592) ascribed to Kyd by Fleay and proved, I think, to be so by Mr. Charles Crawford, I will make some further remarks a little later, embodying the results of Mr. Crawford's careful researches. Let us first see how matters stand in the present inquiry, with regard to that epoch-making piece The Spanish Tragedy. And in order to present a total result we may consider here the effect of that play on the whole Henry VI. series. 1 Henry VI. and The Spanish Tragedy may be rapidly disposed of. Two expressions only are common to both, that demand notice so far as I have observed. To have a fling at a person (III. i. 64) is in III, xii. 21 of Kyd's play, but it is earlier in Greene's Mamillia and elsewhere. And "to exclaim on a person" (III. iii. 60) is well illustrated from The Spanish Tragedy (III. xiv. 70). These being the only ones, show with emphasis that there is no community of thought or workmanship between the two plays. There is, however, one exception. The general's stirring and elaborate description of the battle (I. ii. 22-84) illustrates almost every unfamiliar military expression of the time: as "squadrons pitched" (IV. ii. 23); "Cornet" (IV. iii. 25); "chosen shot" (I. iv. 53). And a little later in The Spanish Tragedy (I. iv. 60-65), where another short notice of the battle appears, "wondrous feats of arms" is paralleled in 1 Henry VI. I. i. 64. There is an important bearing in these latter parallels. They are found in many cases in Peele's work, from whom I have illustrated some of them ("launciers," not in Shakespeare, is in Peele), and they point to a conclusion borne out in many other ways and places that Peele made free use of Kyd, either copying him or working in parallel lines. There is much military writing in The Battle of Alcazar (later than The Spanish Tragedy ?) of the same description. As a concise whole, Kyd's battle-piece probably fixed itself at once as an exemplar in the minds of the dramatists. But as all used some well-known text-book of the time on warfare, too much stress cannot be laid here. 2 HENRY VI., and The SPANISH Tragedy. Аст 1. I. i. 180. Behoves it us to labour for the realm. The Spanish Tragedy, IV. iii. 27: "Behooues thee then, Hieronimo, to be reuenged." Not in Q. 1. i. 214. the state of Normandy, Stands on a tickle point, now they are gone. The Spanish Tragedy, III. iv. 78: "Now stands our fortune on a tickle point." Not in Q. 1. i. 256. And, force perforce, I'll make him yield the crown. The Spanish Tragedy, 111. ix. 12: "Well, force perforce, I must constraine myselfe To patience, and apply me to the time." Not in Q (but it is in True Tragedy at 3 Henry VI. 11. iii. 5; it is omitted there in 3 Henry VI., but Shakespeare uses it elsewhere in King John and 2 Henry IV.) 1. i. 81. And did my brother Bedford toil his wits, To keep? The Spanish Tragedy, III. vi. 8: "This toyles my body, this consumeth age.” Not in Q. I. ii. 79. A spirit raised from depth of underground. The Spanish Tragedy, 1. vi. 1, 2. Andrea (Ghost): "Come we for this from depth of under ground, To see him feast that gave me my deaths wound?" See again 11. i. 172, below. In Q. 1. ii. 88. Marry and shall. The Spanish Tragedy, III. xiv. 156: "I marry, my Lord, and shall." Not in Q. See below at 3 Henry VI. v. v. 42. It occurs also in 1 Henry IV. v. ii. 34; in Richard III. 111. iv. 36; in True Tragedy and in 3 Henry VI. v. v. 42. 1. ii. 90. The business asketh silent secrecy. The Spanish Tragedy, 11. iv. 23: "Why sit we not? for pleasure asketh ease." Not in Q. I. iii. 22. I am but a poor petitioner for a whole township. The Spanish Tragedy, III. xiii. 46: "Heere are a sort of poore Petitioners." In Q. I. iv. 39. Descend the darkness and the burning lake. The Spanish Tragedy, III. i. 55: "Ile lend a hand to send thee to the lake, Where those thy words shall perish with thy workes "; III. xii. II: "the lake where hell doth stand." Not in Q. 1. iv. 14. to this gear, the sooner the better. The Spanish Tragedy, 111. vi. 23: "come on, when shall we to this geere?" Ibid. 42, 43: "To doo what, my fine officious knave?" Hangman. "To goe to this geere" (but probably older). Not in Q. ACT II. II. i. 172. Raising up wicked spirits from underground. The Spanish Tragedy, 1. vi. 1, 2 (quoted above at I. ii. 79). II. iv. 34. The ruthless flint doth cut my tender feet. The Spanish Tragedy, III. vii. 71: "Wearing the flints with these my withered feet." "Ruthless" is in the The Spanish Tragedy, 1. iv. 23. In Q. ACT III. III. i. 54. As next the king he was successive heir. III. i. 14: "The onely hope of our successive line." in Marlowe. The Spanish Tragedy, III. i. 272. Say but the word and I will be his priest. The Spanish Tragedy, III. iii. 37: "Who first laies hands on me, Ile be his Priest." This is from the Watch's scene in The Spanish Tragedy which furnished a hint or two for 3 Henry VI. Iv. ii. Not in Q. III. i. 302, 303. a raging fire of wind and fuel be brought to feed it with. The Spanish Tragedy, III. x. 74: "That were to adde more fewell to your fire." See 3 Henry VI. v. iv. 70. Not in Q. III. i. 325. And so break off; the day is almost spent. The Spanish Tragedy, IV. iv. 74: "Here breake we off our sundrie languages." Not in Q. III. i. 331. Now, York, or never, steel thy fearful thoughts. The Spanish Tragedy, III. iv. 29: "Now, Pedringano, or never play the man." See 3 Henry VI. IV. iii. 24. Also in Peele. Not in Q. See 3 Henry VI. III. ii. 142, 143. to draine Upon his face an ocean of salt tears. The Spanish Tragedy, II. v. 23: "To drowne thee with an ocean of my teares." Not in Q. III. ii. 318. My hair be fixed on end as one distract. The Spanish |