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.
APPENDIX.
