Tlic Reputation of Christopher Marlozvc. 379 



like Faustus, Or some high German conjurer, in a cap Fit for a 

 Coster-monger.' 



Faustus and ]\IephistophiHs are lumped together in the last act 

 of J. D.'s Knave in Grain (1640) : 'He say, hee is more than a 

 Cheater, and a Doctor Faustus, or Mephostophilus at least ;''^*' 

 and similarly in The Cunning Lovers (V. i) by Alexander Brome 

 (1654) : 'Sweet Conjurer, good Mepliastophilus' — 'No more, sweet 

 Doctor Faustus, no more."'' Thomas Randolph was particularly 

 fond of such allusions ; c. g., in Aristippus (1630)*'* ' 'Tis not your 

 Mephistophilis . . . nor your good father-in-law Doctor Faustus' ; 

 and in Hey for Honesty (1651 ),"'' where the names of Faustus and 

 jMephistophilis are broadcasted over two pages : Til go to Dr. 

 Faustus, true son and heir To Beelzebub' — 'This Dr. Faustus, 

 The Alephistopheles of his age' — 'We fear not Dr. Faustus' — 'Let 

 Dr. Faustus do his worst' — 'I am not so much afraid of Dr. 

 Faustus.' In Act IV, scene vi of his Auiyntas (1638) Randolph 

 echoes Alarlowe in more veritable fashion, as he puts in the mouth 

 of his Amaryllis the words Faustus speaks to Mephistophilis (DF, 

 1. 494) : 



A mar. My blood congeales 



Within my quill, and I can write no more.™ 



The great contemporary popularity of The Jeiv of Malta and 

 The Massacre at Paris is attested by Henslowe's records of per- 

 formances ; and their continued appeal in the seventeenth century 

 by Hey wood's revision of the one and Webster's (apparently) of 

 the other. Though parodies and allusions are less frequent, 

 Barabas can hardly have been a less familiar figure than Tambur- 

 laine or Faustus. It would seem that the original triumph of 

 the Jei^.' moved Shakespeare to write TJie Merchant of Venice, 

 and it is a likely hypothesis, I think, that Henslowe's revival of 

 the Jczv in 1601 gave him the first impulse to write another play 

 of Mediterranean races and politics — Othello, tlic Moor of Venice. 



"'' So in Act IV of the same play : 'Thou art the very meere Mcphosto- 

 phcliis, and I perswade my selfe thou hast new vampt thy wits.' (Tille, p. 

 182.) 



" Tille, p. 193- 



"'Ed. Hazlitt, p. II. 



•''/fefrf., p. 458, 459. 



'•"Ibid^v. 341. 



