[v:1] Heywood's _Apology for Actors_, Sig. E 2, 1612, 4to.--Tarlton died
in Sept. 1588. A tract by Nash, entitled _An Almond for a Parrat_, n. d.
but published about 1589, is dedicated "To that most Comicall and
conceited Caualeire Monsieur du Kempe, Jestmonger and Vice-gerent
generall to the Ghost of Dicke Tarlton."
[v:2]
"_Letoy._--But you, Sir, are incorrigible, and
Take licence to yourselfe to adde unto
Your parts your owne free fancy; and sometimes
To alter or diminish what the writer
With care and skill compos'd; and when you are
To speake to your coactors in the Scene,
You hold interloquutions with the Audients.
_Byplay._--That is a way, my Lord, has bin allow'd
On elder stages to move mirth and laughter.
_Letoy._--Yes, in the dayes of Tarlton and _Kempe_,
Before the stage was purg'd from barbarisme,
And brought to the perfection it now shines with;
Then fooles and jesters spent their wits, because
The Poets were wise enough to save their owne
For profitabler uses."
--Brome's _Antipodes_, 1640, Act ii. sc. 1, Sig. D. 3.
The passage on this subject in _Hamlet_, Act iii. sc. 2, must be
familiar to every reader.
[v:3] The term _Jig_ will be afterwards explained.
[vi:1] _A Knack to know a Knaue._--Alleyn was concerned in several
theatres: the Company mentioned above seems to have acted at the Rose.
[vi:2] Collier's _Hist. of Engl. Dram. Poet._ i. 297, 298.
[vi:3] In the second 4to. of the former play, 1599, and in the only 4to.
of the latter, 1600, "_Kemp_" is prefixed to some speeches of Peter and
Dogberry.
[vii:1] What character is uncertain: see the names of "The principall
Comoedians" at the end of the play in B. Jonson's _Workes_, 1616, fol.
[vii:2] See pp. 1, 2, 19.
[vii:3] Liber C. fol. 58 b.
[viii:1] Act iv. sc. 4.--_Works_, ii. 165, ed. Gifford.
[viii:2] _On the Famous Voyage_, Ibid. viii. 242.
[viii:3] Sig. F. 8.--In Dekker's _Owles Almanacke_, 1618, 4to, under "A
memoriall of the time sithence some strange and remarkeable Accidents
vntill this yeare 1617," we find "Since the horrible dance to Norwich
... 14 [years]." Sig. B. 4,--a mistake either of the author or printer.
Allusions to Kemp's morris may also be found in Dekker and Webster's
_Westward Ho_, 1607, Act v. sc. 1,--see my ed. of Webster's _Works_,
iii. 103; and in _Old Meg of Herefordshire for a Mayd Marian, and
Hereford Towne for a Morris Daunce_, &c. 1609, 4to.,--see p. 10 of
reprint in _Miscell. Ant. Anglic._ 1816.
[ix:1] P. 20.
[ix:2] The passages in _The Retvrne from Pernassus_ (see p. xi.) "What,
M. Kempe, how doth the Emperour of Germany?" and "Welcome, M. Kempe,
from dancing the morrice ouer the Alpes," are, I conceive, only sportive
allusions to his journey to Norwich.
[ix:3] Malone's _Shakespeare_ (by Boswell), iii. 198.
[ix:4] Sig. B. 2.--Malone chose to read "played the clownes _part_ more
naturally," &c.
[ix:5] Malone's _Shakespeare_ (by Boswell), iii. 490--Yet the name
_William Kemp_ appears to have been not uncommon; for Chalmers (_ubi
supra_) mentions that he found "in the parish register of St.
Bartholomew the Less, the marriage of William Kempe unto Annis Howard,
on the 10th of February, 1605-6;" and I shall presently shew that
another individual so called has been confounded with the actor.
[x:1] It was probably written about 1602,--certainly before the death of
Queen Elizabeth.
[xi:1] George Chalmers, who cites the present passage, observes, that
Kemp "was as illiterate, probably, as he was certainly jocose. The
Cambridge scholars laughed at his _gross illiterature_." Malone's
_Shakespeare_ (by Boswell), iii. 491. What folly to take the measure of
Kemp's acquirements from such a scene as this! He may have had no
classical learning; but assuredly, as the _Nine daies wonder_ shews, he
was not grossly illiterate.
[xi:2] i. e. ay.
[xi:3] An allusion to B. Jonson's _Poetaster_, _Works_, ii. 525, _seq._
ed. Gifford: the words "Shakespeare hath given him a purge," &c. have
occasioned considerable discussion; see Gifford's _Memoirs of Jonson_,
p. lx. and p. cclv.
[xi:4] i. e. hindrances.
[xi:5] See note p. ix.
[xii:1] i. e. St. Leger's Round, an old country dance.
[xii:2] Terms used in the Buttery Books at the universities: see Minsheu
in v. v. _Size_ and _Cue_.
[xii:3] An allusion to Dekker's _Satiromastix, or The Vntrussing of the
Humorous Poet_.
[xii:4] A character in Kyd's _Spanish Tragedy_. The speech here given by
Studioso from that celebrated piece (and which Burbage of course ought
previously to recite), begins in the earlier 4tos.
"_What outcries pluck me_ from _my_ naked bed;"
and in the later--
"_What outcry calls_," &c.
See Dodsley's _Old Plays_, iii. 130, last ed.
[xii:5] From this passage it has been conjectured that Kemp acted
Justice Shallow.
[xiii:1] Sigs. G. 2, 3.
[xiv:1] Their names are attached to the Dedication.
[xiv:2] It must have been produced, however, at an earlier date. It is
not divided into Acts.
[xiv:3] As early as 1589, in the Dedication to a tract already cited (p.
v.), Nash had fabled that Kemp was known by reputation in
Italy:--"Comming from Venice the last Summer, and taking Bergamo in my
waye homeward to England, it was my happe soiourning there some foure or
fiue dayes, to light in felowship with that famous Francatrip'
Harlicken, who, perceiuing me to bee an English man by my habit and
speech, asked me many particulars of the order and maner of our playes,
which he termed by the name of representations: amongst other talke he
enquired of me if I knew any such Parabolano here in London as Signior
Chiarlatano Kempino. Very well (quoth I), and haue beene oft in his
company. He hearing me say so, began to embrace me a new, and offered me
all the courtesie he colde for his sake, saying, although he knew him
not, yet for the report he had hard of his pleasance, hee colde not but
bee in loue with his perfections being absent."--_An Almond for a
Parrat_, Sig. A. 3.
[xiv:4] Dr. W. Marriott, the editor of _A Collection of English Miracle
Plays_, &c. Basel, 1838, has been led into a strange mistake by this
passage, which, in his Introductory Essay, p. lxii. he cites from
_Bibliographical Memoranda_, Bristol, 1816. After observing that
according to the stage direction in one of the Chester Plays, Adam and
Eve _stabunt nudi et non verecundabuntur_, he continues, "Perhaps our
forefathers thought it no indecency to give such representations,
considering they had the authority of Scripture for such exhibitions;
but it must, nevertheless, strike us as not a little extraordinary, that
at least as late as the close of the sixteenth century such scenes were
to be found in England. We learn this fact [!!] from a play entitled
_The Trailes of The three English Brothers_, 1607," &c.
[xv:1] This piece was an allegorical representation of some of the chief
events of the reign of Elizabeth, who was personated under the character
of _England's Joy_: the author was named Vennard: see Collier's _Hist.
of Eng. Dram. Poet._ iii. 405. _The Plot of the Play called England's
Joy. To be playd at the Swan this 6. of Nov. 1602_, is reprinted (from a
broadside) in _The Harl. Miscell._ x. 198, ed. Park.
[xvii:1] Sigs. E. 4., F.
[xviii:1] iii. 28.
[xix:1] P. 19.
[xix:2] "_The Education of Children in learning; declared by the
dignitie, vtilitie, and methode thereof, by W. K._ (Wm. Kempe, who seems
to have been a schoolmaster at Plymouth). Dedicated to Maister Wm.
Hawkins, Esq. maior of Plymouth, &c. Quarto, 1588." Ames's _Typ. Antiq._
by Herbert, ii. 1242.
I may here observe that Herbert (ii. 1046) has given by mistake the
following prose piece to "W. Kempe," in consequence, probably, of having
seen it bound up with the "Dvtiful Invective," in a volume of the Royal
Library: _The Censure of a loyall Subiect: Vpon certaine noted Speach
and behauiours, of those fourteene notable Traitors, at the place of
their executions, the xx. and xxi. of September last past. Wherein is
handled matter of necessarye instruction for all dutifull Subiectes:
especially, the multitude of ignorant people. Feare God: be true to thy
Prince: and obey the Lawes. At London. Printed by Richarde Jones,
dwelling at the Signe of the Rose and Crowne, neere Holborne bridge_,
1587, 4to. The author was George Whetstone. An Address to the Reader
signed T. C. [Thomas Churchyard] sets forth that "my good friend M. G.
W. at his departure into the Country, left this most honest work to be
censured by me; being right well assured, by the continuance of our true
friendshippes, that I would not deceiue him with a flattering iudgement:
and (trust me) vpon a considerate reading, I found it a little booke,
containing a large testimony of his loyaltie to his prince and
countrie," &c. Then follows the Dedication "To the Right honorable, Sir
William Cicill, knight, Baron of Burleigh," &c. signed G. W., who trusts
that this piece "will merite the acceptance of my former bookes."
[xx:1] See Malone's _Shakespeare_ (by Boswell) iii. 135, seq., Collier's
_Hist. of Engl. Dram. Poet._ iii. 378, seq.
[xx:2] Liber B. fol. 282 b.
[xx:3] Liber B. fol. 132.
[xxi:1] So in MS.
[xxi:2] Liber C. fol. 3 b.
[xxi:3] P. xix.
[xxi:4] P. 2.
[xxii:1] Lib. iii. Sat. xi. p. 225. ed. 1764.--"Orchestra" is an
allusion to Sir J. Davies's poem of that name.
Augustine Phillips, an actor contemporary with Kempe, has also been
mentioned as "an author," in consequence of the following entry in the
Stationers' Books:
"xxvi^to Maii [1595]
"Raffe Hancock Entred for his copie vnder the }
handes of the Wardens, Phillips } vi^d."
his gigg of the slyppers.... }
(_Liber_ B. fol. 132 b.)
George Chalmers erroneously makes the date of this entry "1593,"
Malone's _Shakespeare_ (by Boswell), iii. 469.
[xxii:2] Pp. 10. 13.
[xxii:3] Liber B. fol. 304. As this entry is nearly in the words of the
title-page, I have not cited it at length. In Malone's _Shakespeare_ (by
Boswell), iii. 197, and Collier's _Hist. of Engl. Dram. Poet._ iii. 27,
the date is wrongly given "_Sept._ 7."
[xxii:4] Malone's _Shakespeare_ (by Boswell), iii. 299.
[xxiv:1] Sig. F.--This play is not divided into acts.
[xxiv:2] Ritson (vide _Bibl. Poet._) was evidently not aware that these
"Merriments" formed part of an extant drama.
[xxv:1] He played, I presume, the Cobler.
[xxv:2] Sig. E. 4.--Mr. Collier's conjecture (_Hist. of Engl. Dram.
Poet._ iii. 33) that Nash "refers possibly" to the "Merrimentes of the
men of Goteham" was thrown out, I think, somewhat hastily.
[xxvi:1] Among the books given to it by Robert Burton. No other copy is
extant. Blomefield mistook it for a MS.: "In 1599 ... one Kemp came
dancing the whole Way from London to Norwich, and there is a MSS. in the
Bodleian Library containing an Account of it."--_Hist. of Norf._ ii.
250.
[xxvi:2] Note on B. Jonson's _Works_, ii. 166.
Kemps nine daies vvonder.
Performed in a daunce from
London to Norwich.
_Containing the pleasure, paines and kinde entertainment_
of _William Kemp_ betweene _London_ and that Citty
in his late Morrice.
Wherein is somewhat set downe worth note; to reprooue
the slaunders spred of him: many things merry,
nothing hurtfull.
_Written by himselfe to satisfie his friends._
[Illustration]