[ALPHONSUS, KING OF ARRAGON]
The first extant edition of Alphonsus, King of Arragon, was printed in quarto by Thomas Creede in 1599. Lowndes mentions a quarto of 1597 of which no trace can be found. Of the two copies of the quarto of 1599 now known, one is in the library of the Duke of Devonshire, and the other is in the Dyce Library at South Kensington. Alphonsus is not mentioned by Henslowe in his Diary, nor is there any record of the play in the Stationers' Registers. Nothing certain can be said concerning the circumstances and dates of composition and first performance of Greene's plays. But there can be no doubt that this is one of Greene's earliest plays, for in the Prologue Greene says through the mouth of Venus:
"And this my hand, which usèd for to pen
The praise of love and Cupid's peerless power,
Will now begin to treat of bloody Mars."
Nor can there be any doubt that the play was written in imitation of Marlowe's Tamburlaine, mention of which occurs in IV. 3. A second part, "when I come to finish up his life," is promised in the Epilogue. That the second part was not written is probably an indication of the failure of the piece. In the Preface to Greene's Perimedes of 29th March 1588, we learn that two "gentlemen poets" had caused two actors to mock Greene's motto, Omne tulit punctum, because his verse fell short of the bombast and blasphemy of Marlowe's early style. It has been suggested that it may have been the verse of Alphonsus that was ridiculed. Certainly it must have been this play, or a lost early play, for it was in drama that the "mighty line" appeared. There is in Peele's Farewell, April 1589, a reference to a piece of mechanism occurring in this play which closely connects it with Marlowe's first play, "Mahomet's Poo and mighty Tamburlaine." This has been discussed in the [General Introduction]. Greene's play is based distantly on the history of Alphonso I. of Naples and V. of Arragon (1385-1454), though with no pretence to historical accuracy.
DRAMATIS PERSONÆ
Carinus, the rightful heir to the crown of Arragon.