A Contemporary Allusion to Marlowe Rediscovered:

Recently Stratfordians have suggested, yet again, that it is "almost certain" that Greene referred to Shakespeare writing long before Marlowe officially died.

This simply is not true, as I and many others have pointed out. However in reviewing the evidence I noticed a previously unremarked upon allusion to Marlowe and a very favorable one at that.

Here’s how this evidence shakes. 

The alleged allusion to Shakespeare occurs in "Greene’s" _Groatsworth of Wit_. It has been cited by numerous authorities for several centuries. It was entered for publication on 20 September 1592, shortly after Green’s death.  On its own testimony it represents what one might call a "death bed repentance" and "warning" to others.  There are, however, several problems.  Given the circumstances of Greene’s death, it seems unlikely he spent his last weeks writing pamphlets.  Worse Henry Chettle, a writer and publisher, tells us in his _Kind-heart’s Dream_, which entered on 8 December 1592 that _Groatsworth of Wit_ was printed, not from Greene’s holograph, but from his, Chettle’s:

"About three months since died Mr. Robert Greene, leaving many papers in sundry booksellers’ hands, among others his ‘Groatsworth of Wit," in which a letter, written to divers play makers, is offensively by one or two of them taken; and because on the dead they cannot be avenged, they wilfully forge in their conceites a living author [i.e., me, Chettle] and after tossing it two and fro, no remedy but it must light on me. How I have all the time of my conversing in printing hindred the bitter inveying against schollers, it hath been very well knowne, and how in that dealt I can sufficiently proove. With neither of them that take office was I acquainted, and with one of them I care not if I never be. The other, whome at that time, I did not so much spare as since I wish I had, for that, as i have moderated the heate of living writers, and might have usde my owne discretion, I am as sory as if the originall fault had beene my fault, because myselfe have seene his demenour no lesse civil, than he excelent in the quality he professes;—besides, divers of worship have reported his uprightness of dealing, which argues his honesty; and his facetious grace in writing that approves his Art."

It is agreed, so far as I know, by all serious authorities, that the three writers were Marlowe, Nahse and Peele, as Diana Price notes in _Shakespeare 's Unorthodox Biography_. (27) Chettle continues:

"I had only in the copy his share, it was ill written, as sometimes Greene’s hand was none of the best, liscensed it must be, ere it could be printed which could never be if it might not be read. To be frief I writ it over, and as near as I could, followed the copy, only in that letter I put something out, but in the whole book not a word in, for I protest it was all Greene’s, not minenor Master Nashe’s, as some unjustly have affirmed."

It is sure from this _Groatsworth of Wit_ was printed from a document wholly in the hand of Henry Chettle, not Greene, and that Nashe (and others) had complained publicly that it was more of Chettle’s making than Greene’s.  Indeed modern authorship studies have suggested the work was, in all probability, entirely Chettle’s.  Warren B. Austin, for example, subjected it to what is called a stylometric study in 1969 using a corpus of 43,190 words from Chettle and 104,596 from Greene. He concluded the lexical and linguistic evidence suggested Chettle four to one. (_A Computer-Aided Technique for Stylistic Discrimination.  The Authorship of Green's Groatsworth of Wit._)  As Price has pointed out,  "Austin’s conclusions are slowly gaining acceptance."  She cites D. Allen Carroll’s critical edition of Groatsworth of Wit (1994), who concluded "while Greene may have had something to do with the writing of Groatsworth, Chettle certainly did." 

Price goes on to point out how modern biographers of Shakespeare have substituted his name for the unnamed writers alluded to by Chettle and, perhaps, by Greene. For example Kay writes: "Chettle concedes the good opinion held of Shakespeare by "divers of worship."   Yet as we have seen nowhere does Chettle or Greene refer to Shakespeare.  Price, quoting Erne (434) notes perceptively: "The redirection of Chettle apology to Shakspere is a slight-of-hand resulting in what one recent critic described as ‘mythography at its best," and one that has ‘far- reaching implications."  indeed it does.

It is the kind of "mythography" that Stratfordianism feeds upon.

I am here, however, to redirect our attention to what Chettle has said about the three unnamed writers, generally taken to have been Marlowe, Nashe and Peele.  Nashe is named, at least indirectly, as we have seen.  If we retreat to Greenwood’s account of this same problem we’ll discover that Fleay, in his then authoritative, _Life of Shakespeare_ ,(119) wrote:

"The line "o, tiger’s heart wrapt in a woman’s hide’ occurs in _Richard, Duke of York_ (commonly but injudiciously referred to as the True Tragedy), a play written for Pemroke’s men, probably in 1590, on which Henry VI was founded. It is almost certainly by Marlowe, the best of the three whom Greene addresses. I n December Chettle issued his King-heart’s Dream, in which he apologises for the offense give to Marlowe in the Groatswroth of Wit."

Fleay then quotes as applying, not to Shakespeare, but to Marlowe, the lines we have quoted above and which I re-quote below:

"The other, whome at that time, I did not so much spare as since I wish I had, for that, as i have moderated the heate of living writers, and might have usde my owne discretion, I am as sory as if the originall fault had beene my fault, because myselfe have seene his demenour no lesse civil, than he excelent in the quality he professes;—besides, divers of worship have reported his uprightness of dealing, which argues his honesty; and his facetious grace in writing that approves his Art."

Indeed these lines must, as I shall point out, refer only or exclusively to Marlowe.  How do we know this?  We know this because since Fleay and Greenwood wrote, the Privy Council’s entail, concerning Marlowe and demanding his MA from Cambridge, has been discovered.  It was conclusively and exclusively shown to apply to Christopher Marlowe, the poet, by Prof. Leslie Hotson (Ph.D. Harvard) in his book, _The Death of Christopher Marlowe_, (1925). A scan of the primary document appears at the end of this discussion, here is the transcription:

"Whereas it was reported that Christopher Morley was determined to have gone beyond the seas to Reames and there to remaine, Their L(ordship)s thought good to certefie that he had no such intent, but that in all his accions he had behaued himself orderlie and discreetelie wherebie he had done her ma(jes)tie good seruice, and deserued to be rewarded for his faithfull dealinge: Their L(ordship)s request was thst the rumor thereof should be allaied by all possible means, and that he should furthered in the degree he was to takethis next Commencement: Because it was not her ma(jes)ties pleasure that anie one employed as he had been in matters touching the benefitt of his Countrie should be defamed by those that are ignorant in th'affaires he went about"  

Peter Farey,, reminds us, "This had been signed by the 'Lord Archbishop' (Whitgift), 'Lord Chancelor' (Hatton), 'Lord Threasurer' (Burghley), 'Lord Chamberlaine' (Hunsdon) and 'Mr Comptroler' (Crofts'. It is worth remembering that Lord Burghley was also Chancellor of the University!" (Emphasis is Peter's.)

These men were undoubtedly the "divers of worship" to whom Chettle was alluding.  Who else  would fit this descriptions but the Lords of the Privy Councils, one of whom was Marlowe's Archbishop and another of whom, Lord Burghley, his master.

Indeed they did attest to Marlowe’s "uprighteness of dealing, which argues his honesty."   Their phrase, as we have seen, was "his faithfull dealinge."

Clearly Chettle knew of this important entail to Cambridge, at least indirectly. It was a "public document" and must have, as I have explained elsewhere, broken over Cambridge like a cannonade. Here the Cambridge dons were ready to deny Marlowe his degree and suddenly, out of the blue, comes a demand from the Privy Council, alluding to the Queen’s displeasure, and signed by the Lord Chancellor of the University.  (No marvel Peter Farey used an exclamation point.)  It must have been gossiped about frequently and, even five years latter, was on Chettle’s mind.

In any case the evidence is quite sound the allusion to _Richard, Duke of York_, i.e., "tiger's heart wrapt in a player's hide,"  was an allusion to Marlowe 's work and it is equally certain that Chettle apologies to Marlowe in the above quoted passage, just as Fleay thought in his _Life of Shakespeare , as noted by Greenwood. 

This allusion is an important one.  It needs to be included in any biography of Marlowe because it assures us of his high standing among playwrights or "play makers," as Chettle calls them, of his age.  Here is the full quote again:

The other[ i.e., Marlowe], whome at that time, I did not so much spare as since I wish I had, for that, as I have moderated the heate of living writers, and might have usde my owne discretion, I am as sory as if the originall fault had beene my fault, because myselfe have seene his demenour no lesse civil, than he excelent in the quality he professes;—besides, divers of worship have reported his uprightness of dealing, which argues his honesty; and his facetious grace in writing that approves his Art."

Let’s put this in modern parlance. Chettle, a publisher and writer, has known, face to face, Christopher Marlowe. But not known him as well as he would have liked. He, Chettle, has taken heat for some of the things these writers have written, but only at his own discretion, i.e., on his own terms.  He is sorry now about the fallout from _Groatsworth_, particularly as it impacted Marlowe.  Marlowe, who he knew face to face, i.e., "because myselfe have seene his demenour no lesse civil," is in Chettle’s opinion, "excelent in the quality he professes," i.e., in writing.  

Beside his own opinion, Chettle reminds readers that he knows of the Privy Council’s opinion of Marlowe, which he alludes to in the phrase "divers of worship have reported his uprightness of dealing." This phrase can only allude to Marlowe and can only allude to the Privy Council’s entail.

So all in all it is a clean sweep for Marlowe. 

It is Marlowe who wrote Richard, Duke of York, for Pembroke’s men, it was thus Marlowe who was the source of the line "O tiger’s heart wrapt in a woman’s hide."  We know Marlowe and not Shakespeare was writing during this period for Pembroke’s men, because of the attestation to this on the title page of Edward II, Marlowe’s play. Shakespeare never wrote for Pembroke's men, so far as these matters can be known.

More we have a face to face recognition for Marlowe, by Chettle, who says "because[I] myselfe have seene his demenour no lesse civil." Chettle gives us a glowing description of Marlowe metal as a writer, calling him "excelent in the quality he professes."  And Chettle reminds his readers of the Privy Council’s entail to Cambridge demanding Marlowe's degree and certifying to his "honest dealing."  This allusion, as Fleay understood, could only have applied to Marlowe and it is proven by the Privy Council entail now part of the public record of Marlowe's life.

This provides us with direct evidence for Marlowe at least one more of Price’s categories, particularly category seven, "commendatory verses, epistle or epigrams contributed or received," and perhaps categories two and three as well.  

Below this the original Privy Council entail:

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