POETRY AND IMAGINATION 



wards and outwards, fourteen times over the unknown 

 and dangerous Caspian Sea.' It is the dominion of the The dominion 

 sea, as well as of the land, that Marlowe's Tamburlaine ^-^ 

 covets, and his eloquence reaches its highest when the 

 sea is his theme. The defeat of Bajazeth, Emperor of 

 the Turks, is a means to an end ; the Persian fleet, 

 already in Tamburlaine's control, shall circumnavigate 

 the earth, and join forces with the Turkish Medi- 

 terranean squadron of men-of-war and buccaneers. 

 Marlowe was an early friend of Raleigh's, and it is 

 difficult not to read a political meaning into these 

 sounding lines, written just after Drake's expedition of 

 1585, at a time when Don Antonio, the Portuguese 

 pretender, had taken refuge at the English Court, and 

 was being used by Raleigh as a counter in the great 

 political game : 



'So from the East unto the furthest West Tambur- 



Shall Tamburlaine extend his puissant arm. iaine's naval 



The galleys and those pilling brigandines policy. 



That yearly sail to the Venetian Gulf 



And hover in the Straits for Christians' wrecks, 



Shall lie at anchor in the isle Asant, 



Until the Persian fleet and men-of-war, 



Sailing along the oriental sea, 



Have fetched about the Indian Continent, 



Even from Persepolis to Mexico, 



And thence unto the Straits of Jubalter ; 



Where they shall meet and join their force in one 



Keeping in awe the Bay of Portingale, 



And all the ocean by the British shore ; 



And by this means I'll win the world at last.' 



As a naval plan of campaign this belongs to the school 

 of Raleigh, who complained that the Queen did things Topical 

 by halves. The immense popular success of I'ambur- success of 

 laine^ which changed the fortunes of the English drama, /^^-^^ » 



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