﻿PLAGIAEIS^iI XMOSG ELIZABETHAX PA:\IPHLETEEES 



149 



As to the other writers whose opinions of Rowhmds have been 

 eolleeted and set down in the Hunterian Club edition, it wouhi 

 seem that none of them had noticed his high-handed and immoral 

 methods. At any rate they were willing* to give him a fair name 

 and to forward his reputation by praise, which if not extravagant, 

 is, at least, more than faint. In the goodly number of extracts 

 given from J. Payne Collier no question is raised a^ to Rowlands' 

 originality. I\Ir. Sidney Lee in his article in the Dictionarj^ of Na- 

 tional Biography has nothing or almost nothing to say about pla- 

 giarism.- In speaking of Rowlands' usual subject matter, low Lon- 

 don life, he says: "He [Rowlands] owed something to Greene's 

 writings on like topics and is said to have vamped up some unpul)- 

 lished manuscripts by Xashe. "'' All in all, it is only very lately 

 that attention has been called to S. R. 's piracies. Apj^arently Row- 

 lands designed better than he knew when he schemed to divert the 

 sagacity of his contemporary readers from himself and cool the 

 scent of liis OAm fox-like thefts. I cannot help believing that Jon- 

 son struck the compiler of "G-reenes Ghost" exactly and that he 

 never described a man's humour better. It only remains now to 

 present the proof upon Avhich this belief is based. 



The "Greenes Ghost" pamphlet has the following title-page: 

 ' Greenes Ghost Haunting Conie-catchers. Wherein is set downe. 

 The Arte of Humouring. The Arte of carrying Stones. Will. St. 

 Lift. la Fost. La^v. Xecl Bro. Catch, and Blacke Robins Kindnesse. 

 With the conceits of Doctor Pinch-backe a notable ^Makeshift. Ten 

 times more pleasant than any thing yet published of this matter. 

 Ao>^ ad iinifaudum, sed ad evitandum . London. Printed for R. 

 lackson. and I. North, and are to be sold in Fleetstreete, a little 

 above the Conduit. 1602." 



This title-page has the usual catch-penny features, of which a 

 little explanation may be necessaiy for those unaccjuainted \\\\\\ 

 the doubtful methods used by the pamphleteers in advertising their 

 wares. 



After Greene's death. September 3. 1592. his name was owe to 

 ('-onjure vrit\\. Writers ^vith a taste for the morbid did not scruple 

 to make stock out of the man's vTetched end. Gabriel Harvey was 

 not the only one to feed upon the rubbish pile, though he alone sur- 



* This article misplacr- It ,\\ia:irls' l,, sr known declaration of independence, "my 

 Penne never was. nor uev^r shall.e. i (;,,(! -ayins- Amen.') Mercenarie.' Tliis occurs in 

 The dedicatory letter addressed i,, ilaywood, a friend to a "beloved friend' of 



S. R. (A Terrihle Battle hctir,,,,, tin tn-,. run^innvrs of the whole World. 1606?) 



■• For a discussion of this scc-uud acm sation. ct. ll'o,7.-.v nf Thomns Xashe, ed. 

 R. B. McKerrow. Vol. V, 151, n. 1. 



2S489-.3 



