Tlic Reputation of Christoplicr Marlozve. 365 



1653,-® alludes to Hero and Leander as still the ne plus ultra of 

 amatory verse. In the second scene of the play, W^at cries : 'Had 

 not this horne-head come, we had writ lines together should have 

 put down Hero and Leander.' Another late play, The Antiquary 

 (1641) by Shakerley Marmion, quotes two lines of Marlowe's 

 poem (I. 219, 220). 



'And then. I hope,' says Mocinigo to Lucretia, 'although I am base, 

 Base in respect of you divine and pure, 

 Dutiful service may your love procure.' 



To which Lorenzo remarks : 'How now, Signor ! What, love 

 and poetry, have they two found you out? Nay, then you must 

 conquer.'-" 



The two works of ^larlowe which made the greatest stir in 

 London were probably Hero and Leander and Tanihurlaine . The 

 marked difference in what the success of the two contributed to 

 the poet's reputation is truly indicated in Heywood's 'Cockpit' 

 prologue to the Jew of Malta (1633) :-^ in Hero and Leander 

 Marlowe did indeed gain a lasting memory; in Tamhiirlaine the 

 laurels were gathered rather by Alleyn, the actor. References to 

 Tamburlaine previous to the closing of the theatres are almost 

 innumerable; yet so far are they from evidencing the personal 

 prestige of the author that none appears to be extant which proves 

 with absolute certainty that the speaker knew who wrote the play. 

 It was as acted drama rather than as poetry that Tamburlaine was 

 most frequently alluded to.-" Plays directly imitative are numer- 

 ous: Greene's AlpJwnsus of Arragon, The First Part of Selimus, 



"" The date of composition is apparently ca. 1636. 

 ^' Act V. Hazlitt-Dodsley xiii, p. 506. 

 ^' 'In Hero and Leander, one [Marlowe] did gaine 

 A lasting memorie ; in Tambcrlabie, 

 This Jev.', with others many : th' other wan 

 The Attribute of peerelesse . . . ' 

 The scjuinting punctuation, which is probably intentional, has been the 

 subject of much discussion. 



^ The fact is worthy of note by those who regard Marlowe's genius as 

 essentially undramatic. There is a possible gibe at the alleged unsaleableness 

 of printed texts of Tamburlaine in Greene's Epistle to the Gentlemen Stu- 

 dents, prefixed to his Farewell to Follie (1591 ; ed. Grosart ix. 230). Greene 

 says, with reference to the favorable reception of his Mourning Garment: 'the 

 Pedler founde them too deare for his packe, that he was faine to bargain 



