A goune made of the finest woolle Thy dyshes shal be filde with meate preparde eache daye for thee and mee The shepparde swaines shall daunce and singe for thy delyght eache faire mornningne if theise delights thy mynde may move Some errors of transcription or memory may be due to Thornborough, but the making substantives in the plural agree with verbs in the singular, as in the fourth and eighth lines, was customary with writers of the period. As the Commonplace Book version of Raleigh's lines also differs in various respects from the printed forms, it should be given likewise. It reads thus: 'RESPONSE 'If all the world were love and younge The flowers fade and wanton feildes Tyme dryves the flockes from feilde to folde then philomela becomethe dombe the reste complaines of cares to come M Thy gowne thy capp thy bedd of Roses soone vades soone witherethe soone forgotten What should wee talke of dainties then of better meate then serveth men all this is vaine eates (cates ?) serveth (?) goode If age coulde taste and love could breede It will be seen that Lord Pembroke's chaplain, Thornborough, must have written down Sir Walter's 'Response' even more hurriedly, or more carelessly, than he did Marlowe's song. 'A Dialogue in Verse,' and certain other pieces of a commonplace or vulgar character, have been ascribed to Marlowe, but it is scarcely worth while repudiating their pretended paternity. The ascription of the first-named fragment, given to the public by the late J. P. Collier, is doubtless due to the forger who tried to palm off, amongst many other mischievous counterfeits, the notorious 'Atheist's Tragedy,' a pseudo-antique ballad, containing various pretended incidents in Marlowe's life. Upwards of half a century ago reference was made to the alleged existence of a quantity of verse presumedly by Marlowe, but it cannot be learned that any investigation was made at the time with regard to the supposed discovery, and now all research has failed to obtain any evidence upon the subject.137 In 1850 the following particulars were published in Notes and Queries over the signature 'm.':— 'MARLOWE'S AUTOGRAPH. Seager, a Painter.-In a мs. which has lately been placed in my hands, containing a copy of Henry Howard's translation of the last instructions given by the Emperor Charles v. to his son Philip, transcribed by Paul Thompson, about the end of the 16th century, are prefixed some poems in a different handwriting. The first of these is an eclogue, entitled Amor Constans, in which the dialogue is carried on by "Dickye" and "Bonnybootes," and begins thus: "For shame, man, wilt thou never leave this sorrow?" At the end is the signature, "Infortunatus, Ch. M." Following this eclogue are sixteen sonnets, signed also "Ch. M.," in two of which the author alludes to a portrait-painter named Seager. One of these sonnets commences thus: "Whilst thou in breathinge cullers, crimson, white, Drew'st these bright eyes, whose language sayth to me, Loe! the right waye to heaven, love, stoode by thee Seager! fayne to be drawne in cullers brighte," etc.' 'I should be glad to receive any information,' continues this correspondent, respecting this painter, as also any hints as to the name of the poet Ch. M. authentic writing or signature of Christopher Marlowe known to exist?' It is singular that no response appears to have been made to these inquiries; and the communication seems to have been left to pass unnoted into oblivion. That Marlowe wrote the twaddle cited is utterly improbable, but whether the lines were forged in the sixteenth or nineteenth century does not appear difficult of solution: they have a remarkably modern air, yet are evidently the work of a man acquainted with the Elizabethan period. No trace can be found of 'Paul Thompson,' not even in the original manuscript of Henry Howard's translation in the British Museum, Cottonian Collection. There were two Seagers, brothers, well-known portraitpainters of the Shakespearian period, who are frequently referred to in contemporary works. No sonnet by Marlowe has ever been identified, but it is not improbable that some of those which pass under the name of Shakespeare are by him. Who 'Bonnyboots' was is still a matter of speculation, but numerous madrigals and songs, including some set to music by Thomas Morley, the well-known Elizabethan composer, have this unknown personage for their hero. 138 In 1600 a line-for-line translation of Lucan's First Book was issued, with Marlowe's name as author upon the title-page. The Introduction, written in a sarcastic vein, and professedly by Thomas Thorpe, the piratical publisher of Shakespeare's Sonnets, is dedicated to Edward Blunt, the publisher who spoke of Marlowe after his decease in such friendly and |
