358 Tucker Brooke, 



Nashe 'poore deceassed Kit Marlow' ; for Blount, the publisher 

 of Hero arid Lcander (1598). he is 'our friend,' the beloved 

 object of his eyes, 'the man that hath beene deare vnto vs,' the 

 'impression' or influence of v/hom 'lining an after life in our 

 memory, there putteth vs in mind of further obsequies due vnto 

 the deceased.' Thorpe, dedicating the Lucan to Blount (1600), 

 writes 'in the memory of that pure Elementall wit Chr. Marlow.' 



The tributes which Marlowe received from his fellow poets have 

 been many times Cjuoted. They are notably sincere and generous. 

 Peele alone, writing his Honour of the Garter within a few weeks 

 of the Deptford tragedy, has a word about the pity of it: 



Unhappy in thy end, 

 Marlowe, the Muses darHng, for thy verse 

 Fit to write passions for the souls below, 

 If any wretched souls in passion speak. 



The idea, I take it, is not that Marlowe has gone to Christian hell, 

 but that in the next world his dark genius would be able to render 

 articulate the woes of Pluto's wretched souls. He is fit to write 

 'passions' for Tantalus and Sisyphus such as he has written for 

 Faustus and Barabas. 



Otherwise there is no sadness of farewell, but commendation 

 unmarred by suggestion of reproach. Henry Petowe says (1598) : 



Mario, late mortall, now fram'd all diuine, 

 What soule more happj^ then that soule of thine? 

 Liue still in heauen thy soule, thy fame on earth. 



But Mario, still-admired Mario's gon 

 To liue with beautie in El3'ziuni ; 

 Immortall beautie, who desires to heare 

 His sacred poesies, sweete in euery eare : 

 Mario must frame to Orpheus melodie 

 Himnes all diuine to make heauen harmonie ; 

 There euer liue the prince of poetrie, 

 Liue with the lining in eternitie . . . 



So Chapman writes {Hero and Lcaudcr, 3rd Sestiad, 183 ff.) 



Then thou most strangely-intellectuall fire, 

 That proper to my soule hast power t' inspire 

 Her burning faculties, and with the wings 

 Of thy vnspheared flame visitst the springs 

 Of spirits immortall ; Now (as swift as Time 

 Doth follow Motion) finde th' etcrnall Clime 



