380 Tucker Brooke, 



The opening speech of Jonson's Volponc is influenced l)y the first 

 speech of Barahas ; and Act V, scene viii of the same play, where 

 Mosca and Volpone bicker over the half of Volpone's estate, 

 appears to be a reminiscence of Barahas before the Governor (11. 

 267 fif.). The rich Jew of Malta became a stock type, and the 

 phrase was employed almost proverbially by writers of the period.'^ 



The reputation of Edzcard II on the stage appears to have been 

 smaller, perhaps because Alleyn did not present a role; but the 

 deep impression which the play made upon contemporary play- 

 wrights is evidenced by the copious borrowing of lines by the 

 authors of Ardcii of fcvcrsham, Soliiiian and Pcrseda, and Edzcard 

 /.'- Drayton's Barons' Wars, Shakespeare's Richard II, and the 

 so-called Tragedy of Woodstock were certainly largely influenced 

 by Edzvard II. The publication of editions as late as 161 2 and 

 1622, moreover, shows that this play did not early lose its hold 

 on the reading public, as Tamhurlaine seems to have done ; but it 

 was most likely from the start caviare to the general. 



The evidence of printed editions and of literary allusions shows 

 that Hero and Lcander, The Passionate Shepherd, Doctor Faustus, 

 Edward II, and in less degree The Jew of Malta, continued to be 

 read to the period of the civil wars ; while Tamhurlaine, Faustus, 

 and the Jew remained favorites on the popular stage. The edition 

 of Faustus in 1663 shows that a debased form of that play, with 



" Harington, £/'!g;'a;;;.y (1592?): 



'Was euer lew of Malta or of Millain 

 Than this most damned lew more Jewish villaine?' 

 Dekker, The DciiUs Ansivcr to Pierce Pennylcssc (1606), ed. Grosart, ii. 

 142: 'Lies there a Boate readie (quoth my rich lew of Malta) to take me 

 in so soone as I call?' 



Dekker, Seven Deadly Sins, Grosart, ii. 31 : 'When it came to the eares 

 of the Sinful! Synai^ogue, how the rich lew of London, (Barabbas Bank- 

 riiplisine) their brother, was receyued into the Citty, and what a lusty 

 Reueler he was become . . .' 



Rowley, Search for Money (1609) : 'his visage (or vizard) like the 

 artificiall Jewe of Maltaes nose.' 



Cowley, Cutter of Colevmn Street {(iiiardian. 1641). II. iii : 'But I'm 

 the very Jew of Malta, if she did not use me since that worse than I'd use 

 a rotten apple.' 



" The verbal parallels with these plays, and also with Lodge's IVounds of 

 Civil War are striking. The influence of Marlowe (particularly his Dido 

 and Edward II) upon Richard Barnfield is treated by Charles Crawford 

 (Collectanea I, i ff.). 



