'Unto the spreading sails of thy desires; So faithful counsels work a prince's peace.' This passage, in the word 'repent' for repentance, affords another instance of the constraint Lodge put upon himself in order to preserve the weight at the conclusion of his lines. The whole scene which relates to the capture of Cornelia and Fulvia, their contempt of death, and their liberation from the fear of it by the magnanimity of Marius, is finely written, making allowance for the system to which Lodge subscribed. The dramatic performance which Lodge produced in conjunction with Robert Greene, and which was first printed in 1594*, must, of course, have been written prior to September, 1592, when Greene died. The whole scope of it seems to be to counteract the prevalent puritanical notion, that dramatic amusements were antiscriptural and immoral. It applies the story of Nineveh to the City of London, the prophet Oseas being introduced as a speaker; and after every scene, in which some fresh crime or vice is pourtrayed, he warns the inhabitants of the metropolis, lest they also in the same manner incur the wrath of heaven. His speeches, with one exception, are in rhyme, and of these the subsequent will be as long a specimen as is necessary. Iniquity seeks out companions still, 'And mortal men are armed to do ill. * A unique copy of this edition is among the many dramatic rarities of the Duke of Devonshire. London, look on, this matter nips thee near; Adultery, incest, murder, bribery, usury, drunkenness, &c., with their evil consequences, are exhibited in turn; and in order to accomplish this object the most incongruous matter is introduced, giving the manners of London as those of Nineveh, and mixing up Rasni and his queen and concubines with the knaves, lawyers, usurers, and beggars of the metropolis. It however contains a severe satire and moral lecture, and the authors seem to have had no scruple in speaking out; but the censure is always general, and never could have had any particular application. Jonas cast out of the whale' upon the stage, laments over the state of Israel, and after Oseas has taken his departure, he too warns the inhabitants of Nineveh to repent. Rasni and his adherents accordingly put on sackcloth and ashes, and the face of things is entirely changed; for, instead of shouts and revellings, nothing but lamentations and prayers are heard on every side, and Nineveh, by the mouth of Jonas, is forgiven: he thus moralises in the conclusion Wend on in peace and prosecute this course, You islanders, on whom the milder air 'Doth sweetly breathe the balm of kind increase, Whose lands are fattened with the dew of heaven, 'And made more fruitful than Actean plains. 'Unmask yourselves, cast error clean aside.' He then likens the crimes of London to those of Nineveh, and ends with the following extravagant compliment to Queen Elizabeth And think the prayers and virtues of thy Queen 'Defer the plague which otherwise would fall. 'Repent, oh London! lest for thine offence Thy shepherd fail, whom mighty God preserve, 'That she may bide the pillar of his church Against the storms of Romish Antichrist. 'The hand of mercy overshade her head, And let all faithful subjects say, Amen.' This is scarcely more absurd than all the rest of the `performance, which is wearisomely dull, although the authors have endeavoured to lighten the weight by the introduction of scenes of drunken buffoonery between a clown and his crew of ruffians,' and between the same clown and a person disguised as the devil, in order to frighten him, but who is detected and well beaten. There was no such marked difference between the styles of Greene and Lodge as to enable us to decide which part of the play was written by the one and which by the other. 221 ON THOMAS NASH AND HIS WORKS. : NASH, who as a wit and a satirist was superior to all his contemporaries, as a dramatic poet must be placed below most of them. He has left behind him only one performance, in writing which he alone was engaged-Summer's Last Will and Testament-which is not to be regarded so much in the light of a play as of a show it was exhibited before Elizabeth at Nonsuch, in the autumn of the year 1592, although not printed until eight years afterwards. He was concerned, with Marlow, in penning The Tragedy of Dido, Queen of Carthage, printed in 1594, and apparently written previous to 1590, also acted in the presence of the Queen, by the children of her Chapel. The portions of the latter which belong to each author are, I think, to be traced without much difficulty, for a reason which I shall state hereafter. Nash likewise wrote a satirical play (at least such we must suppose it to have been), which has been already noticed, called The Isle of Dogs, in consequence of which he was imprisoned *. * It was never printed. In The Trimming of Thomas Nash, 1597, by Gabriel Harvey, there is a rude wood-cut of a man in fetters, meant for Nash, and in allusion to the imprisonment arising out of his Isle of Nash's talent was satirical and vituperative, as appears by his tracts against Martin Marprelate, and by his contest with Gabriel Harvey, regarding Robert Greene*. He had a vigorous understanding, well Dogs. How long the fame of the contest between Nash and Harvey survived, may be judged from a tract called General Marsey's Bartholomew's Fairings, 1647, the last lines of which are these: 'Ne'er look to die: thou shalt be laugh'd at still, 'Longer than Nash's Harvey, or Triplet's Gill.' 'Triplet's Gill' I am unable to explain: perhaps Gill, is Gill of Brentford, or some satire under the name of Rabelais' fool, Triboulet. * A tract by Nash is preserved in the library at Bridgewater House, which I have found nowhere else, and I do not recollect to have seen it mentioned in any list of Nash's productions. It is curious not only on this account, but because it shows the high reputation of Daniel's Delia, twice printed in 1592, and throws new light upon the productions of a dramatic poetess of some celebrity. It is called The 'Terrors of the Night, · or a Discourse of Apparitions, &c. Thomas Nashe. London, printed 'by John Danter, for William Jones, &c., 1594.' It is dedicated to Mistress Elizabeth Carey, 'sole daughter' of Sir George Carey, Knight. 'Miraculous (says Nash) is your wit, and so is acknowledged by the 'wittiest poets of our age, who have vowed to enshrine you as their 'second Delia;' and he subsequently thus continues: 'A worthie daughter are you of so worthie a Mother, borrowing (as another 'Phoebe from her bright sunne-like resplendaunce) the orient beames of your radiaunce. Into the Muses' societie herself she hath lately 'adopted, and purchast divine Petrarch another monument in England.' What work the mother had translated from Petrarch nowhere appears; but I apprehend the daughter is the same who afterwards wrote the tragedy of Mariam, the fair Queen of Jewry, not printed until 1613. In the body of The Terrors of the Night, Nash expresses his great obligations to Sir George Carey, probably of a pecuniary kind: 'Through ' him my tender wainscot studie doore is delivered from much assault ' and batterie: through him I look into and am looked on in the world, 'from whence otherwise I were a wretched banished exile.' |