Henslowe only speaks of the second part, what appears to have been the first part was twice printed in 1599, both editions (for they are distinct impressions) being in the British Museum. He followed them, in February, 1598, by The two Merry Women of Abingdon, which was perhaps designed by the author as a third part of the same subject; and having made them 'angry' in the two first parts, he reconciled them in the last. Malone misdates, as of 1590, an engagement by Porter to let Henslowe have all his productions: the correct date is February 8th, 1599. In April, 1599, Porter forfeited to Henslowe a bond in 10l. penalty, that he would repay 25s. which he owed him on a certain day. Porter was, therefore, in all probability as poor as most of the fraternity of playwrights.

Thomas Dekker, in partnership with William Haughton and John Day, was author of The Spanish Moor's Tragedy, which Malone, by a strange error, calls The Spanish Morris, but he gives the right date, January, 1599-1600. The mistake was more important than it may appear at first sight, as The Spanish Moor's Tragedy was most likely the production called Lust's Dominion, not printed until 1657, and falsely attributed to Marlow. A Spanish Moor is the hero of it, and the date in Henslowe, of January, 1599-1600, corresponds with that of a tract upon which some of the scenes are even verbally founded *. That Marlow,

*See Dodsley's Old Plays, ii. 311, last edition.

who was killed in 1593, and could not, therefore, be the author of it, requires no farther proof.

The following are fac-similes of the signatures of Dekker and of his two coadjutors.

Thomas

که

Dekker

&

to Haughton.
John Day

Malone gives to H. Chettle a scriptural play on the subject of Jeptha; but it is very clear, from Henslowe's book, that it was partly written by Dekker, who received 51. for it. Dekker was likewise the author of The first Introduction of the Civil Wars in France, which seems to have been intended to precede three other plays, in which he was assisted by Drayton, relative to the civil wars in France. Malone notices the three last, but not the introductory piece by Dekker, in which, according to Henslowe, he had no coadjutor.

We may conclude with tolerable safety, that this author's Medicine for a Curst Wife, with the date of August, 1602, was a revival of the old Taming of

VOL. III.

H

a Shrew, which had belonged to Lord Pembroke's players, and to which Shakespeare had been indebted. It never seems to have struck Malone, that the endeavour to ascertain the period when some of Shakespeare's plays were brought out might be aided by the dates, when other poets produced revivals of the old subjects to which our great dramatist also resorted. This and other circumstances tend to show that Shakespeare's Taming of the Shrew was acted about 1602.

In the years 1593 and 1594, Henslowe was in connection with the Lord Chamberlain's players, of whom Shakespeare was one, but his name does not occur from the beginning to the end of the Diary. One observation, however, founded upon it ought to be made with reference to the productions of our great dramatist,—that Henslowe enters within the years 1593 and 1594 at least six of the old plays of which Shakespeare is supposed, more or less, to have availed himself, viz., Titus Andronicus, King Lear, Hamlet, Taming of a Shrew, Cæsar, and Henry the Fifth. If Shakespeare had been a writer of any considerable celebrity even in 1594, it is singular that we should find no trace of him in Henslowe's papers. It supports the inference that he did not obtain distinction until after the Lord Chamberlain's players separated from those acting under the name of the Earl of Nottingham, Lord Admiral. I may take this opportunity of inserting a fac-simile of the signature of Wentworth Smith, whose initials correspond with those of Shakespeare, and who is

supposed to have been the real author of more than one piece attributed to him.

W: Smyth.

His name first occurs in Henslowe's Diary as an author in December, 1599, when, in partnership with John Day, he wrote The Italian Tragedy of so entered by the old manager, because he did not know the rest of the title, and which Malone calls mercly The Italian Tragedy. He had also a hand in The Six Yeomen of the West, his coadjutors being William Haughton, John Day and Richard Hathwaye, the last an important name, when we recollect that Shakespeare married Ann Hathwaye, although I am not aware that any attempt has been made, or could be made with success, to connect Richard and Ann Hathwaye by ties of relationship. Malone deprived Hathwaye of his share in The Six Yeomen of the West, which is elsewhere called by Henslowe The Six Clothiers of the West, although Malone erroneously represents them as distinct performances: Hathwaye signs entries in Henslowe's Diary, in which he is concerned, in the following manner:

Ri Hathways

The Six Yeomen of the West was doubtless founded upon T. Deloney's tract entitled Thomas of Read

ing, or the six worthy Yeomen of the West *.' I believe no earlier edition is now known of it than that of 1612, although it is mentioned by William Kemp, the actor, in his Nine Days Wonder, 1600, where he gives an account of a Morris which he danced from London to Norwich.

I have recently recovered a curious little volume by Thomas Deloney, consisting of a collection of ballads and poems under the title of 'Strange Histories; or Songes and Sonets of Kings, Princes, Dukes, Lordes, Ladyes, Knights, and Gentlemen. Very pleasant either to be read or songe, and a most excellent warning for all estates. Imprinted at London for W. Barley, &c., 1607, 12mo.' Ritson notices an edition in 1612 which he had not seen, and which was the only copy known. It may be worth while to add a list of the ballads it contains, with their tunes, some of which are remarkable, especially that of 'Come live with me and be my love,' which shows how common that poem, imputed to Shakespeare or Marlow, was at the time. 1. The Kentish-men with long-tails, to the tune of 'Rogero;' 2. Salomon's Good Housewife, to no tune; 3. The drowning of the Children of Henry the First, to the tune of 'the Lady's Daughter;' 4. The Dutchess of Suffolk's Calamity, to the tune of 'Queen Dido;' 5. Henry II. crowning his son King, to the tune of 'Wigmore's Galliard;' 6. The imprisonment of Queen Elinor, to the tune of 'Come live with me and be my love;' 7. The Death of King John, to the tune of 'Fortune;' 8. The Imprisonment of Edward II., to the tune of "Who list to lead a Soldier's life;' 9. The murdering of Edward II., to the tune of 'How can the tree' [possibly this tune is the song in Sir Clyomon and Clamydes, before quoted]; 10. The banishment of Lord Matravers and Sir Thomas Gurney, to the tune of 'Light of Love; ' 11. The winning of the Isle of Man, to the tune of 'the King's going to the Par' [liament]; 12. The rebellion of Wat Tyler, to the tune of 'The Miller would a wooing ride;' 13. Fair Rosamond, to the tune of Flying fame.' It seems originally to have been intended that the volume should end with a speech between certaine Ladyes, being