His father revell'd in the heart of France,

And tam'd the king, and made the dauphin stoop;
And, had he match'd according to his state,

He might have kept that glory to this day;
But when he took a beggar to his bed,

And grac'd thy poor sire with his bridal-day,
Even then that sunshine brew'd a shower for him,
That wash'd his father's fortunes forth of France,
And heap'd sedition on his crown at home.
For what hath broach'd this tumult but thy pride?
Had'st thou been meek, our title still had slept,
And we, in pity of the gentle king,

Had slipp'd our claim until another age.'

If that be not Marlowe's work, it only proves how closely Shakespeare followed in his footsteps.

Reverting to the more personal or external story of Marlowe's career, it is now necessary to refer in the first place to the class of men with whom he was really associated, as contrasted with those he is generally supposed to have reckoned on his list of friends, and who are assumed to have been his intimate acquaintances. The latter class includes Robert Greene, the quality of whose friendship has already been exposed; George Peele and Thomas Nashe, neither of whom claimed a personal knowledge of Marlowe; and Thomas Kyd, the evidence of whose intimacy with him is of an apocryphal character.

Amongst the known friends and associates of the poet at this period were, in addition to Chapman, apparently Shakespeare, Spenser, and Michael Drayton; the last described by his contemporary, Francis Meres, as 'among scholars, soldiers, poets, and all

sorts of people, is held for a man of virtuous disposition, honest conversation, and well-governed carriage, which is almost miraculous among good wits in these declining and corrupt times.' 106 Drayton's lines on Marlowe, although evidently suggested by Shakespeare's in the Midsummer Night's Dream, show how deeply and reverently he regarded one no longer able to appreciate or repay his homage.

Conspicuous in the circle of Marlowe's friends were the Walsinghams of Scadbury, Chislehurst, in Kent. Both the father and the son, brother and nephew respectively of the queen's friend and faithful adviser, Sir Francis Walsingham, are seen to have been on the most intimate terms with the poet. Edward Blount, the publisher, when alluding to the friendship of the Kentish knight for Marlowe, reminds Sir Thomas that he had bestowed many kind favours upon the poet, having appreciated 'the worth which you found in him with good countenance and liberal affection.' 107 It must be recalled to mind that, besides being a generous friend to the best literary men of his time, Sir Thomas Walsingham was well known for his exemplary life and untarnished reputation; from all doubtful adventures or dissolute companions he had ever kept severely aloof.

With Sir Roger Manwood, Chief Baron of the Exchequer, member of a Kentish family, having a country residence at St. Stephens, Canterbury, Marlowe appears to have had a personal acquaintance, otherwise his epitaph on the knight could

scarcely have been worded in the way it was. Many also of his schoolfellows from King's and his fellowstudents from Corpus Christi College had migrated to London and were making positions for themselves, and as they were generally of a literary or scholastic turn, some of them were certain to have come into contact with the now famous poet, whose mien and manner must have made him a welcome guest in many circles.

Probably the friend whose society and character exercised the greatest influence upon Marlowe was Sir Walter Raleigh. With one exception the Devonshire knight was the most remarkable Englishman of his time; certainly the most noteworthy of Elizabeth's court. Sir Robert Naunton, who must have known Raleigh personally, in Fragmenta Regalia, sums up his account of Sir Walter thus: 'He had, in the outward man, a good presence, in a handsome and well-compacted person; a strong natural wit, and a better judgment, with a bold and plausible tongue, whereby he could set out his parts to the best advantage; and these he had by the adjuncts of some general learning, which by diligence he enforced to a great augmentation and perfection, for he was an indefatigable reader, by sea and land, and one of the best observers both of men and of the times.' 108 Queen Elizabeth, notwithstanding her vanity, was a shrewd observer of men also, and she, Naunton adds, took Raleigh for an oracle.

Many of the best literary, scientific, and political