Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 44.djvu/240

 of nonsense. The plot was indebted to Ariosto, as well as probably directly to Apuleius, and other classical sources. In its turn it conveyed suggestions to Milton (whose acquaintance with Peele's writings probably also included ‘Edward I’) when transfusing the materials for ‘Comus.’ The only copies known are in the British Museum and at Bridgwater House. 5. ‘The Love of King David and Fair Bethsabe, with the Tragedy of Absalon,’ was not printed till 1599. Copies are in the British Museum, at Britwell and Rowfant, and in the Huth collection. The date of its composition remains uncertain, although Fleay (English Drama, ii. 153–4) considers it an allegory of the state of affairs which led to the execution of Mary Queen of Scots in 1587. It appears to have been reproduced in 1602 (, Diary, p. 241; cf., u.s.) In construction it is of the chronicle history type. Its original text is the Old Testament, to which Peele is supposed to have resorted in order to disarm the existing prejudices against stage-plays. Possibly he made use of some unknown mystery or early religious play. The diction is generally pleasing, and the verse, if rather monotonous, is fluent, and rises to impressiveness in a few florid passages. The piece lacks dramatic characterisation and effect.

Besides the above, Peele wrote: 6. ‘The Hunting of Cupid,’ a lost pastoral drama licensed 26 July 1591 (see, Stationers' Registers, ii. 278), which, from a manuscript statement by Drummond of Hawthornden, seen by Dyce, appears to have been printed before 1607 (see the fragments chiefly lyrical, put together by Dyce, pp. 603–4).

He has further been credited on inadequate evidence with the authorship of ‘Sir Clyomon and Sir Clamydes,’ 1599. The external evidence—a manuscript note in a very old hand on the title-page of a copy of this play—is trifling. The list of parallel phrases (rather than parallel passages) in plays certainly by Peele compiled by Læmmerhirt is unconvincing; and, on the whole, Fleay and Bullen (Symonds declines to offer an opinion) may be followed in their refusal to burden Peele's reputation with the authorship. Peele has also been credited with ‘The Life and Death of Jack Strawe,’ 1593, portions of the ‘First and Second Parts of Henry VI,’ ‘The Troublesome Reign of King John’ (printed in 1591), ‘The Wisdom of Doctor Doddipoll’ (printed in 1600), and ‘Alphonsus, Emperor of Germany’ (published as Chapman's in 1654). In ‘Wily Beguiled,’ first known to have been printed in 1606, he may possibly have had a hand.

II. , &c.—1. ‘The Device of the Pageant borne before Woolston Dixie, Mayor [of London], 29 October 1585’; printed in 1585. The only copy known is in the Bodleian Library. This is the first lord mayor's pageant of which a printed text is known to exist (see, Lord Mayors' Pageants, Percy Society's publ. 1843, pt. i. pp. 24–6). 2. ‘Descensus Astrææ,’ written for the mayoral solemnity of Sir William Webbe, 29 Oct. 1591. While Astræa is the queen, Superstition appears as a friar, and Ignorance as a monk (ib. pp. 27–9). The only copy known is in the Guildhall Library. 3. ‘Speeches to Queen Elizabeth at Theobalds,’ composed for an entertainment devised for the queen's visit in 1591 to Lord Burghley's country seat. Of the three ‘Speeches,’ the first was in part printed by Collier in his ‘History of English Dramatic Poetry,’ 1831 (see new edit. 1879, i. 275–6); the second and third afterwards came into his hands, and were printed by Dyce, and afterwards by Mr. Bullen.

III. .—1. ‘A Farewell, &c., to Sir John Norris and Sir Francis Drake, Knights, and all their brave and resolute Followers,’ 1589, in spirited blank verse. The only copies known are in the British Museum and at Britwell. 2. ‘The Beginnings, Accidents, and End of the Fall of Troy.’ This piece was first published with the ‘Farewell’ in 1589. An edition, printed apparently from a revised copy, appeared in 1604 as a thumb-book, measuring 11/4 inch by 1 inch, and having two lines only on a page. A copy, believed to be unique, was sold by Messrs. Sotheby & Co. in 1884. The reference in this short and commonplace epical version, in rhymed couplets, of the Trojan story to the episode of Troilus and Cressida may conceivably have suggested to Shakespeare a full dramatic treatment of the theme (1609). 3. ‘An Eclogue Gratulatory, entitled: “To the Right Honourable and Renowned Shepherd of Albion's Arcadia, Robert, Earl of Essex, for his Welcome into England from Portugal,”’ 1589; a ‘pastoral’ in rhymed quatrains—as full of archaisms as is the ‘Shepherds' Calendar.’ The only copy known is now in the Bodleian Library. 4. ‘Polyhymnia; describing the immediate Triumph at Tilt before Her Majesty on the 17th of November last past, &c.; with Sir Henry Lea's Resignation of Honour at Tilt to Her Majesty, and received by the Right Hon. the Earl of Cumberland,’ 1590, in flowing blank verse. An account of the proceedings celebrated is in Segar's ‘Honour, Military and Civil,’ 1602. 5. ‘The Honour of the Garter, displayed in a Poem Gratulatory, entitled: “To the worthy and