He was a practical
man, and he made for London, and, by tradition, we first find him
heading straight for the theatre, holding horses at the door, and
organising a small brigade of boys as his deputies. According to Ben
Jonson he shone in conversation; he was good company, despite his
rustic accent, that terrible bar! The actors find that out; he is
admitted within the house as a "servitor"--a call-boy, if you like;
an apprentice, if you please.
By 1592, when Greene wrote his Groatsworth, "Shakescene" thinks he
can bombast out a blank verse with the best; he is an actor, he is
also an author, or a furbisher of older plays, and, as a member of
the company, is a rival to be dreaded by Greene's three author
friends: whoever they were, they were professional University
playwrights; the critics think that Marlowe, so near his death, was
one of them.
Will, supposing him to come upon the town in 1587, has now had, say,
five years of such opportunities as were open to a man connected with
the stage. Among these, in that age, we may, perhaps, reckon a good
deal of very mixed society--writing men, bookish young blades, young
blades who haunt the theatre, and sit on the stage, as was the custom
of the gallants.
What follows? Chaff follows, a kind of intimacy, a supper, perhaps,
after the play, if an actor seems to be good company. This is quite
natural; the most modish young gallants are not so very dainty as to
stand aloof from any amusing company.
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