THE exact date of Christopher Marlowe's birth is not known, but he was baptized at Canterbury, February 26, 1564, two months before the birth of Shakespeare. He was educated at King's School, Canterbury, and at Cambridge, where he took the bachelor's degree in 1583 and the master's in 1587. It is uncertain where he was between these dates; one conjecture makes him a soldier in the Netherlands. He produced six plays, and it is believed that he assisted Shakespeare in the composition of "Henry the Sixth" and "Titus Andronicus." He also wrote a few songs and made translations from the Latin, and an unfinished poem, "Hero and Leander," which is greatly admired, was published posthu mously. In May, 1593, Marlowe was killed in a quarrel with a serving-man. His plays, with the dates of their production, as nearly as these can be ascertained, are: "Tamburlaine the Great" (1587, first printed in 1590); "The Tragical History of Dr. Faustus" (printed in 1604; probably put upon the stage soon after "Tamburlaine"); "The Jew of Malta" (produced after December, 1588; first printed in 1633); "Edward the Second" (1590); "The Massacre at Paris' (1591?); "The Tragedy of Dido" (first printed in 1594). The last was partly the work of Thomas Nash. DRAMATIS PERSONÆ KING EDWARD THE SECOND. PRINCE EDWARD, his Son, afterwards King Edward the Third. GAVESTON. WARWICK. LANCASTER. PEMBROKE. ARUNDEL. LEICESTER. BERKELEY. MORTIMER, the elder. MORTIMER, the younger, his Nephew. SPENSER, the elder. SPENSER, the younger, his Son. ARCHBISHOP of CANTERBURY. BISHOP of COVENTRY. BISHOP of WINCHESTER. BALDOCK. BEAUMONT. TRUSSEL. GURNEY. MATREVIS. LIGHTBORN. SIR JOHN of HAINAULT. LEVUNE. RICE AP HOWEL. Abbot, Monks, Herald, Lords, Poor Men, James, Mower, Champion, Messengers, Soldiers, and Attendants. QUEEN ISABELLA, wife of King Edward the Second. Niece to King Edward the Second, daughter of the Duke of Glou cester. Ladies. |