act ii. sc. 4.—The passage which Pistol has partially quoted will

afford some idea of the wild and turgid extravagances of this poet. Tamburlaine is represented in a chariot drawn by captive monarchs with bits in their mouths; and, holding the reins in his left hand, he is in the act of scourging them with a whip:—

"_Tamb._ Holla ye pamper'd jades of Asia: What, can ye draw but twenty miles a day, And have so proud a chariot at your heels, And such a coachman as great Tamburlaine? But from Asphaltis, where I conquered you, To Byron here, where thus I honour you? The horse that guide the golden eye of heaven, And blow the morning from their nostrils, Making their fiery gate above the clouds, Are not so honour'd in their governor, As you ye slaves in mighty Tamburlaine. The head strong jades of Thrace Alcides tamed, That King Egeas fed with human flesh, And made so wanton that they knew their strengths, Were not subdued with valour more divine, Than you by this unconquer'd arm of mine. To make you fierce and fit my appetite, You shall be fed with flesh as raw as blood, And drink in pails the strongest muscadell: If you can live with it, then live and draw My chariot swifter than the racking clouds: If not, then die like beasts, and fit for nought But perches for the black and fatal ravens."

[248:A] This rare play was purchased, at the Roxburgh sale, for _seventeen guineas_!

[249:A] Theatrum Poetarum, apud Brydges, p. 113.

[249:B] Two accounts, varying materially, have been given by Wood and Vaughan, of this poet's untimely fate. That by Vaughan as being little known, and apparently founded on the writer's own knowledge of the fact, I shall venture to transcribe. The _Golden Grove_, from which it is extracted, was first published in 1600. Relating God's judgments on Atheists, he adds:—

"Not inferiour to these was one Christopher Marlow, by profession a play-maker, who, as it is reported, about fourteen yeres a-goe, wrote a booke against the Trinitie: but see the effects of God's justice; it so hapned, that at Detford, a litle village, about three miles distant from London, as he meant to stab with his poynard one named Ingram, that had invited him thither to a feaste, and was then playing at tables; hee perceyuing it, so avoyded the thrust, that withall drawing out his dagger for his defence, he stab'd this Marlow into the eye, in such sort, that his braynes comming out at the dagger's point, hee shortly after dyed."

[249:C] Vide Reed's Shakspeare, vol. iii. p. 355.

[250:A] Reed's Shakspeare, vol. iii. p. 354.

[250:B] Berkenhout's Biographia Literaria, p. 319. note.—The only account which I have seen of this play, printed in 1598, is in a note by Mr. Malone, who tells us that Shakspeare does not appear to have been indebted to this piece. "The plan of it," he adds, "is shortly this: Bohan, a Scot, in consequence of being disgusted with the world, having retired to a tomb where he has fixed his dwelling, is met by Aster Oberon, king of the fairies, who entertains him with an antick or dance by his subjects. These two personages, after some conversation, determine to listen to a tragedy, which is acted before them, and to which they make a kind of chorus, by moralizing at the end of each act." Vol. ii. p. 250.

[251:A] Theatrum Poetarum apud Brydges, p. 193.

[251:B] Reed's Shakspeare, vol. xxi. p. 37.

[251:C] Vide Censura Literaria, vol. ix. p. 98.

[252:A] This play was printed in 1594, and has fallen under the ridicule of Shakspeare, in a parody on the words, _Feed and be fat_, &c.

[252:B] The miserable orthography of this catalogue has frequently disguised the real titles so much as to render them almost unintelligible, and I suspect _Orgasto_ in this place to be very remote from the genuine word.

[252:C] Called in one part of the list, "bendo and Ricardo," and in another, "Byndo and Ricardo."

[253:A] This, being the prior part of the title of the Pinner of Wakefield, mentioned below, is probably one and the same with that production.

[253:B] The Pinner of Wakefield, which is in Dodsley's Collection, and in Scott's Ancient British Drama, was printed in 1599.

[253:C] Vide Reed's Shakspeare, vol. iii. pp. 354-358.—Mr. Malone observes of the play in this catalogue, called "Richard the Confessor," that it "should seem to have been written by the Tinker, in _Taming of the Shrew_, who talks of _Richard Conqueror_."