﻿150 



INDIAXA UXIYEESITY 



feitecL One ma}' be sure that ouly a partial repoi-t of this ghastly 

 post-mortem has come do^m to us. and we are all the better olt' foi- 

 that. Shortly aiter Greene's death, Nashe in a 'private Epistle' 

 to the printer of ''Pierce Penilesse" ^-rote: "Had you not beene 

 so forward in the republishing of it [''Pierce Penilesse"], you 

 shold have had certayne Epistles to Orators and Poets, to insert 

 to the later end ; As namely, to the Ghost of Machevill. . . . ; and 

 lastly, to the Ghast of Robert Greene, telling him, what a coyle 

 there is with pamplileting on him after his death, "^^ Here is di- 

 rect evidence that the catch-pennies were yery busy vilifj'ing or 

 extolling the dead ^\Titer, How long this continued we do not know 

 with certainty. We may, however, be reasonably sure that this 

 'coyle' had partially spent itself by the time "Greenes Funeralls" 

 appeared in 1594, and had completely died cIo^mi before the en- 

 tirely well-intentioned but perfectly pointless "Greene in Con- 

 ceipt" raised its silly voice six long years after Greene's death. 

 However, Dickenson paid his belated tribute (he probably looked 

 upon it as such) and deserves some credit. 



Now is Samuel Rowlands too a belated tribute payer ? Is his 

 use of Greene's name on a title page well-intentioned? It is to be 

 feared that so much good cannot truthfully be said of him. It 

 would seem that he had read "Every Man Out of His Hmuour*' 

 and had taken a hint from one of Carlo's speeches to the effect that 

 one might steal from Greene's works Avith no little security. Then 

 too exactly one month and one day before "Greenes Ghost" was 

 entered in the Stationers' Register a new edition of Harman's 

 "Caveat" was recorded there. Tliis w^ould indicate, if such indi- 

 cation were necessary, that the interest in rogues and vagabonds 

 had not died with their great discoverer, 'maister R. G.' The truth 

 is that this interest in low London life had abated little, if any. 

 witness Dekker's success — and that notwithstanding all his crib- 

 bings. It is natural, therefore, tliat Rowlands, who had no little 

 aptitude for the work, .should enter this field. He had succeede;! 



10 TTorA-.s of Thomas Xashej ed. McKerrow. Vol. I. 153. It would be inter- 

 esting to know what pamphlets Nashe had in mind. Close upon Greene's death 

 were published: Greenes aroats-worfh of Wit. (Stat. Reg. Sept. 20) ; The Repent- 

 ance of RoTjert Greene. (Stat. Reg. Oct. 6) ; Greenes Vision: (No date-; late in 

 1592?) All of these are attributed to Greene: the first two certainly rightly so. 

 Other tracts which have to do directly with C4reene's last days and death arc : 

 Gabriel Harvey's Foure Letters and Certainc Sonnets: especiaUn touehino Robert 

 G^'eene and other ijarties ty him ahnsed. (Stat. Reg. Dec. 4) ; Greenes Xeirs hoi]} 

 from Heaven and Hell. (Star. Reg. Feb. 3, 1503.') Later three other pamphlets 

 attempted to attract attention by parading Greene's name. These are: Grecnrx 

 Funeralls, (Stat. Reg. Feb. 1, 1594) ; Greene in Conceipt, (Stat. Reg. May 3. l.'Osi : 

 Greenes Ghost Haunting Conie-catchers, (Stat. Reg. Sept. 3, 1602). 



