that Marlowe's tragedy, as it has come down to us in the quarto of 1604, is founded upon the prose work of P. F. Gent, or that the latter drew freely upon the former. The thread of the colloquy in each is so similar, the phraseology employed in both is so frequently identical, and there are so many words to be found in both which do not occur at all in the German Volksbuch, 1587; e.g. "solitary," "I fear," or "I fear me,' in parenthesis, that if all this were a mere coincidence, it would be the oddest in the world. But the curious thing is that in a number of points in which Marlowe differs from the prose work he comes nearer to the German Volksbuch. The prose work, for example, makes the Emperor say, “Being once solitarie in my house," Marlowe has it, “within my closet; "in the Volksbuch the word used is "läger," meaning couch, bed, camp. In the prose work the Emperor twice speaks of his desire: "Wherefore, Faustus, my hearty desire is," "to the end that I may say, I have my long desire fulfilled;" in Marlowe, as in the Volksbuch, the Emperor refers once only to his wish to behold Alexander and his Consort. It is odd, too, in connection with this passage, that Marlowe should make the Emperor say, "it is my just desire." The adjective just is a singular one to use under the circumstances. In the prose work the word employed is hearty, which is, of course, a very natural expression; but it is not a translation of the word in the Volksbuch, for which it purports to stand. The German word is "gnediges," meaning gracious, condescending. It is obvious that, however suitable such a word might be in German, in the connection in which it stands it is scarcely a word that would be employed in rendering the German into good English prose; its significance is at all events preserved neither by P. F. nor by Marlowe, although the word used by the latter may be held to be more nearly equivalent. Much stress cannot, of course, be laid upon an isolated phrase such as this. The poet is free to choose where he will. But the

word he has chosen appears to be one he was more likely to hit upon if he was hampered by the recollection of the German word than otherwise; and certainly it is not such as one would have expected in lieu of the word hearty. Again, in the prose work Faust expresses readiness to comply with the imperial demands "so far forth as I and my spirit are able to perform;" in Marlowe it is "so far forth as by art and power of my spirit I am able to perform;" in the Volksbuch it is "as far as by my Spirit I may," or "I am able." These are, no doubt, trivial points, but they are none the less curious if, as is generally believed, Marlowe dramatized Faust from this prose work by P. F. Possibly a more thoroughly critical examination of the whole of the two works might yield more important results, but such an inquiry is rather foreign to the matter in hand. I will only mention two or three further divergencies which lie upon the surface. Marlowe speaks of the Duke of Vanholt; P. F. of the Duke of Anholt (Thoms, Anhalt); the Volksbuch of the Duke of Anhalt. Marlowe names Faust's birthplace Rhodes; P. F., Rhode (Thoms, Rhodes); the Volksbuch, Rod. Marlowe spells the name of the university town in which Faust was supposed to occupy the position of a professor, Wertenberg; P. F., Wittenberg (Thoms, Wittenburg); the Volksbuch also Wittenberg. It is odd, to say the least, if Marlowe was dependent upon the work of P. F., that his play throughout should differ from it in points so little essential. If one might hazard a conjecture from the above, I should say that the 1592 edition of the work by P. F., whatever the original edition may have been like, must have been largely indebted to Marlowe's play. It is, prima facie, unlikely that Marlowe would adopt wholesale passages from a work which must have been familiar to thousands. Further, that there were other sources of information prior even to the publication of the Volksbuch, 1587, I have no doubt. We hear of an earlier "tractätlein," and, in

point of fact, the slovenly higgledepiggledy character of the Volksbuch is such as of itself to suggest that it is a compilation rather than an original work. In addition to this it may be taken for granted that the wonders ascribed to Faust were not buried treasures. During his lifetime the great charlatan took care that his light was not hidden under a bushel, and after his death the marvellous tales of his achievements no doubt multiplied and flew abroad. It would be a wonder, indeed, if no English Goliardi or vagi scholares encountered the vagabond magician, and brought back with them to England some account of his notorious career and boasted achievements; or, to reverse the process, if no travelling German students found their way to London, or the English seats of learning, bearing with them tales of a man the report of whose life and death was filling the popular mind in Germany with amazement and horror. It is at least worthy of notice, in this connection, that as early as 1594 there issued from the London press another account of Dr. Faustus, purporting to be written by an English student at the University of Wittenberg. It may, therefore, be that Marlowe had sources of information about Faust independent either of the Volksbuch or of the work by P. F. Gent; but there is no reason to suppose, as far as I am aware, that Marlowe may not have been as familiar with the German language as P. F., and that he may not have drawn directly upon the Volksbuch for such materials as he required.*

"The Second Report of Dr. John Faustus, containing his appearances, and the deedes of Wagner. Written by an English gentleman student in Wittenberg, an University of Germany, in Saxony. Published for the delight of all those which desire novelties, by a friend of the same gentleman. London, Printed by Abell Jeffes, for Cuthbert Burby, and are now to be sold at the Middle Shop at Saint Mildred's Church by the Stockes, 1594," 4to. This work is also reprinted by Thoms; (v. “Early Prose Romances," vol. iii., 1828).

* Licut-Col. Cunningham, in his introduction to "The Works of Mar

Marlowe was a man of learning. His works, apart from his Cambridge degree, which may prove little or nothing, furnish internal evidence of his acquirements. Other proof is not wanting. Henry Chettle, the playwright, betwixt whom and Marlowe no love was lost, yet speaks with reverence of his greater contemporary's learning (v. "Kind-Hearts' Dream," 1592). But if, as I think the editor of Warton (Hazlitt) says, upon what ground I know not, "Marlowe could not translate," this last suggestion is futile. One thing remains clear, Marlowe either used the work of P. F., or P. F. used Marlowe's tragedy. The latter is not so unlikely as it might appear at first sight. The words in the title-page of the work by P. F., "newly imprinted and in convenient places imperfect matter amended: according to the true copie printed at Franckfurt, and translated into English by P. F. Gent," seem to suggest the existence of an earlier and less perfect work, which was not in accordance with "the true copie printed at Franckfurt." It is not impossible that the work referred to was hastily compiled from Marlowe's tragedy, after the usual chap-book fashion.

This at least may be maintained, I think, with some ground, that Marlowe's tragedy was written at the close of the same

lowe," p. x., ingeniously conjectures that Marlow, between 1583, when he graduated as B.A. at Benet (Corpus Christi) College, and 1587, when he took his M.A., a period of four years in his career of which nothing is known, may have been trailing a pike with the English forces in the Netherlands. It is quite as probable, it appears to me, that he was travelling, and, perhaps, acting with some of the many English comedians who exercised their craft profitably in Holland and Germany. That he was abroad is by no means unlikely. There was much intercourse with foreign nations in the stirring times of Elizabeth; and, as Cunningham notes, it strengthens the hypothesis in Marlowe's case to find that Robert Greene, his fellow collegian and contemporary playwright, travelled, as be tells us himself, to Italy and Spain before he became Magister Artium. ("The Repentance of Robert Greene.") The place of the poet's birth, too, Canterbury, was then on the highway to the Continent.

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year as that in which the Volksbuch appeared, namely, in 1587, or, at the latest, in January or February of the following year. As a fact, we know from the records of the Stationers' Hall, that "a ballad of the life and death of Doctor Faustus, the great Cungerer," was licensed to be printed on the 28th of February 1588-89;1 and I agree with Mr. Dyce in thinking that this ballad was founded upon Marlowe's marvellously successful tragedy. This is a mere conjecture on Mr. Dyce's part, based on the fact that ballads were frequently founded on favourite dramas (v. Dyce's "Introduction to Marlowe's Works," p. xx.); but if the ballad in black letter preserved in the Roxburghe collection (v. ii. p. 235) is a true copy of the ballad referred to, which there is no reason to doubt, then I think the conjecture may be proved, from the contents of the ballad itself, to be the truth. The ballad, a wretched production in doggerel verse, contains the following stanza, Faust being the spokesman :

"I then did wish both sun and moon to stay,

All times and seasons never to decay;

Then had my time ne'er come to dated end,

Nor soul nor body down to hell descend."

This is not to be found in the Volksbuch; but Marlowe, Act V. sc. iii., makes Faust exclaim :

"Stand still, you ever-moving spheres of heaven, That time may cease, and midnight never come."

Mr. Collier, in a note on "Henslowe's Diary," p. 42, ed. Shake. Soc., states that "the old Romance of Faustus, on which the play is founded, was first entered in the Stationers' books in 1588." Query," adds Mr. Dyce (ed. 1858), “does he mean the old ballad of Faustus?" If he does, it is odd that he should use the word "Romance;" if he does not, it is hard to say what he does mean.