is to be seen in his classical allusions, few of which have any propriety to recommend them. He had neither taste nor discretion, neither imagination nor feeling. He has, however, many elegant verses, many pretty fancies, and great facility of expression. A German critic of some note says of him, that he had a happy talent, a clear spirit, and a lively imagination;" qualities which, the same writer assures us, "characterise all his writings." We have looked in vain for these qualities; and if the reader have discovered them, he has been more fortunate than ourselves. 10. Christopher Marlowe (died 1593).* The time of this writer's birth cannot be ascertained. We can only infer it from the fact that, in 1583, he took his bachelor's degree at Cambridge, when we may reasonably suppose that he could not have passed his twentieth, or even his eighteenth year. The facts of his life, too, are exceedingly meagre. When we say that he came to London to earn his subsistence by the pen ; that he was a dramatic writer of high reputation, perhaps, too, an actor; that, after an interval of ten years, he met with a tragical fate; we have little more to record respecting him. If, however, those facts afford little scope for remark, the case is otherwise in respect to his character. It has been the subject of much praise and of much vituperation; the one embracing his intellect, the other his morals. "That elemental wit, Kit Marlowe," is the expression of one contemporary, Nash, speaking of his Hero and Leander, adds, " Of His hand is heavy upon me. of this diabolical atheism is deadfriend, be his disciple?" That Marlowe was not pleased. with the address, may, perhaps, justify the inference, that his infidelity extended only to some loose conversation; that it was greatly exaggerated. On this subject the reader must judge for himself. * Son of the celebrated dramatist of the name. + Thomas Brand, in his "Theatre of God's Judgments." Whatever be thought of Marlowe's infidelity, we certainly cannot doubt of his licentiousness or of his tragical end. The one led to the other. It was in a tavern at Deptford that the dagger of a pimp deprived him of life. The register in the parish church of St. Nicholas has this melancholy entry: "1st June, 1593, Christopher Marlowe slain by Francis Archer." The circumstances attending the catastrophe may be collected from contemporary writers. "As the poet Lycophron," says one, five years only after the event*, was shot to death by a rival of his, so Marlowe was stabbed to death by a bawdy serving man, a rival of his lewd love." Another, who wrote seven years after the actt, is more explicit: "Christopher Marlowe, by profession a play-maker, who, as it is reported, about fourteen years ago wrote a book against the Trinity. But see the effects of God's justice! It so happened, that at Deptford, a little village about three miles distant from London, as he meant to stab with his poignard one named Ingram (Archer) that had invited him thither to a feast, and was then playing at tabbs; he (Archer) quickly perceiving it, so avoided the thrust that, withall drawing out his dagger for his own defence, he stabbed this Marlowe into the eye in such sort, that his brains coming out at the dagger's point, he shortly after died." Whether the reflection with which the relation is concluded-" Thus did God, the true executioner of divine justice, work the end of impious atheists"-be a just one, we at least shall not venture to decide. Though the death of Marlowe was awful, the infidelity which preceded it more awful still though there might be retributive justice in the catastrophe (and far are we from saying that there was not) we should sometimes do well to remember the beautiful sentiment of our great moral poet: "Let not this weak unknowing hand *Francis Meres, in his "Wit's Treasury," 8vo. 1598. L |