SECTION VII.

EARLY ENGLISH PLAYS IN GERMANY.

The importance of the performance of English plays in Germany and its bearings on our own stage history has never been duly estimated. This is owing to the fact that the groups of such plays have not been treated as wholes, only isolated references to single dramas having been occasionally made by our critics. I must here confine myself to such groups as have reference to the productions of Shakespeare. In 1626-7 a company of Englishmen acted at Dresden, and a list of their performances has fortunately been preserved (Cohn, Shakespeare in Germany, p. 115). This company appears from their Christian names to have been the Company of the Revels, which broke up in 1625 in the plague-time. In the Runaway's Answer, 1625, to Dekker's Rod for Runaways, which was directed against those who left London for fear of the plague, the players say, "We can be bankrupts on this side and gentlemen of a company beyond the sea: we burst at London and are pieced up at Rotterdam." The 1626 Dresden company were Robert Pickleherring [R. Lee] and two boys; Jacob der Hesse, and Johan Eydtwardtt (two Germans); Aaron the dancer (probably a German Jew); Thomas die Jungfrau [T. Basse], John [Cumber], William the wardrobe-keeper (probably a German), the Englishman, the Redhaired, and four boys. The other members of the Revels' company can be traced in England; and although Robert, Thomas, and John are common christian names, they are not to be found in conjunction in any other list of English players of the date. The plays acted by these men were the following:—

1. Duke of Mantua and Duke of Verona. Comedy.
2. Christabella. C.
3. Amphitryon. C.
4. Romeo and Julietta. Tragedy. [Founded on Shakespeare's play of 1591; extant in German MS., and printed by Cohn.]
5. Duke of Florence. Tragi-Comedy. [Not Massinger's play, which is of ten years' later date.]
6. King of Spain and ViceRoy of Portugal. C. [Kyd's Jeronymo, c. 1588.]
7. Julius Cæsar. T. [Query, the old play mentioned by Gosson in 1580, or the Admiral's play of 1594, or Shakespeare's, or the Admiral's of 1602, or the Oxford of 1606, or Chapman's, or the old play on which Chapman's is founded? The last most likely.]
8. Crysella. C.
9. Duke of Ferrara. C.
10. Somebody and Nobody. T.C. [Printed in German, 1620; extant in an altered form, by Heywood in my judgment, as played by Queen Anne's men in English; published c. 1609. In its original form acted c. 1591.]
11. King of Denmark and King of Sweden. T. C. [Clyomon and Clamydes. ? by R. Wilson, c. 1585.]
12. Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. T. [From Kyd's old play, c. 1589; extant in modernised MS. in Germany; printed in Cohn. The Induction with Night and the Furies is quite in Kyd's manner.]
13. Orlando Furioso. C. [Greene's play, c. 1587.]
14. King of England and King of Scotland. C. [Greene (and Lodge)'s James IV., 1591.]
15. Hieronymo, Marshal of Spain. T. [Kyd's Spanish Tragedy, c. 1588.]
16. Haman and Queen Esther. T. C. [Printed in German, 1620, from an English play acted in 1594 by the Chamberlain's men, but an old play then; originally not later than 1591. Compare the interlude in Kirkman's Wits, which was probably founded on it. The German play ought to be made accessible to English readers.]
17. The Martyr Dorothea. T. [Perhaps from a play by Dekker and Massinger, revived for the Revels' company between 1619 and 1622. This is the only play in this list to which I can assign a definite date later than 1592. But were both taken from an older play?]
18. Dr. Faust. T. [Marlowe's play, 1588.]
19. King of Arragon. T. C. [Greene's Alphonsus, c. 1588.]
20. Fortunatus. T. [Printed in German, 1620, as Comedy of Fortunatus and his Purse and Wishing Cap, in which appear first three dead souls as spirits, and afterwards the Virtues and Shame. Evidently from the first part of Fortunatus by Dekker, as acted, 3d February 1596, as an old play. It was probably written c. 1591. This play like (16.) ought to be made accessible to English readers.]
21. Joseph, the Jew of Venice. C. [From another early play of Dekker's, c. 1591. The German version is extant in MS. in the Imperial Library at Vienna, and ought to be edited and translated. The Jew, however, is therein called Barabbas, and there are three suitors, as in Shakespeare's play, but no caskets. Dekker's play was entered 9th September 1653 on S. R.]
22. The Dextrous Thief. T.C.
23. Duke of Venice. T.C.
24. Barrabas, the Jew of Malta. T. [Marlowe's play, 1589.]
25. Old Proculus. C.
26. Lear, King of England. T. [From the old Queen's play, c. 1589. Yet it is strange that it should be called a tragedy. It would hardly be Shakespeare's play, as no other of so late date occurs in the list.]
27. The Godfather. T.C.
28. The Prodigal Son. C. [Printed in German, 1620. Translated in Simpson's School of Shakespeare. Probably from an old play revived by Heywood for Derby's men c. 1599, but originally founded on Greene's Mourning Garment, 1590, and written (for what company?) c. 1591. So I conjecture.]
29. The Graf of Angiers. C.
30. The Rich Man. T. [Acted on 17th September 1646 as The Rich Man and the Poor Lazarus. Perhaps from a very old play by Ralph Radcliffe before 1553; more likely from the Moral by the player (? R. Wilson) in Greene's Groatsworth of Wit, 1592, who wrote the Moral of Man's Wit and the dialogue of Dives, and played in Delphrigus, The King of Fairies, The Twelve Labors of Hercules, and The Highway to Heaven.]

It appears from this list that while only one, if any, of these plays, Dorothea, which was probably taken with them by the Revels' company in 1625, can be assigned to a comparatively late date with certainty, the majority are early productions, anterior to 1592. Bearing in mind that there were a large number of plays published before 1626 which might have been used without fear of any opposition from companies in England, it is clear that in Germany the preference was given to older plays, which must have been imported at an early date, either by Leicester's players in 1586, by Pembroke's in 1599, or Worcester's [Admiral's] in 1590 and 1592. Leicester's returned to England in 1577 and Pembroke's c. 1601; but Worcester's, or rather a detachment from the Admiral's, were permanently established in Germany. E. Brown and R. Jones indeed came back to England; but Thomas Sackville and John Broadstreet are traceable in Germany, the latter to 1606 and the former to 1617. There is little doubt that the Hamlet and Romeo, in their German versions, are from early plays, anterior to 1592. This conclusion is confirmed by the list of plays published in Germany in 1620, "acted by the English in Germany at Royal, Electoral, and Princely Courts:"—

1. Queen Esther and Haughty Haman. C. [16. in previous list.]
2. The Prodigal Son, "in which Despair and Hope are cleverly introduced." C. [28. in previous list.]
3. Fortunatus and his Purse and Wishing Cap, "in which appear first three dead souls as spirits, and afterwards the Virtues and Shame." C. [20. in previous list.]
4. A King's Son from England and a King's Daughter from Scotland. C. [Serule and Astræa; probably the same as Serule and Hypolita, acted 1631.]
5. Sidonia and Theagine. C.
6. Somebody and Nobody. C. [10. in previous list.]
7. Julio and Hypolita. T. [Query, Philippo and Hypolita, acted as an old play at the Rose, 9th July 1594; similar in plot to The Gentlemen of Verona.]
8. Titus Andronicus. T. [Not our extant play, but the Titus and Vespasian acted by Lord Strange's men, April 1592.]
9. The Beautiful Mary and the Old Cuckold. A merry jest.
10. In which the clown makes merry pastime with a stone.

I am not acquainted with Ayres's plays; but it appears from Cohn (p. 64) that among them are Mahomet the Turkish Emperor (from Peele's play, c. 1591), The Greek Emperor at Constantinople and his daughter Pelimperia with the hanged Horatio (Kyd's Spanish Tragedy, 1588); Valentine and Orson (from an old English play S. R. 23d May 1595); Edward III., King of England, and Elisa Countess of Warwick (from Marlowe's play, 1590: Philip Waimer had already dramatised the same subject at Danzig in 1591); The Beautiful Phenicia (on the same story as Much Ado, and strongly confirming the identity of that play with Love's Labour's Won, 1590: Cupid enters in person, and shoots Count Tymborus, the Benedick of the German version); The Two Brothers of Syracuse (from the Comedy of Errors, c. 1590); The Beautiful Sidea (containing some incidents showing that it came from some source in common with that of the Tempest, but certainly not from that play direct); and King of Cyprus (founded on the same story as The Dumb Knight by Machin and Markham, c. 1607). Cohn does not give exact dates of authorship, but is of opinion that we should not assign to any a year later than 1600; and in 1605 Ayres died. Here again we meet with the same phenomenon—acquaintance with many English plays of date anterior to 1592; but not with any one that can be shown to be later. No doubt Ayres's knowledge of English plays was obtained from the Worcester's (Admiral's) company, who went over in 1590-2.

Yet further, in the tragedy of An Adulteress by Duke Henry Julius of Brunswick, printed 1594, we find the plot of The Merry Wives almost identically reproduced (see Cohn, p. 45, &c.) I do not see, however, so much likeness between his Vincentius Ladislaus and Much Ado.

As regards Shakespearian chronology, it results from this examination of English plays in Germany that there is no positive evidence of English plays of later date than 1592 having been acted there before 1625; that there is evidence that many (a score at least) of date not later than 1592 were acted between 1592 and 1626; that these plays were probably among those imported by Worcester's (Admiral's) players in 1592; and that in the list are contained The Comedy of Errors, Romeo and Juliet, The Merry Wives, The Gentlemen of Verona, and Love's Labours Won, i.e. every play by Shakespeare except Love's Labour's Lost, that is in this treatise placed at a date not later than 1592; besides Kyd's Hamlet, Marlowe's Edward III., and other plays with which Shakespeare was indirectly connected.

APPENDIX.

TABLES.