As to the chances of an actor's knowing "smart people," Heywood, who
knew all that world, tells us {109b} that "Tarleton, in his time, was
gracious with the Queen, his sovereign," Queen Elizabeth. "Will
Kempe was in the favour of his sovereign."
THEY had advantages, they were not literary men, but low comedians.
I am not pretending that, though his
"flights upon the banks of Thames
So did take Eliza and our James,"
Will Shakspere "was gracious with the Queen."
We may compare the dedication of the Folio of 1623; here two players
address the Earls of Pembroke and Montgomery. They have the audacity
to say nothing about having asked and received permission to
dedicate. They say that the Earls "have prosecuted both the plays
and their authour living" (while in life) "with much favour." They
"have collected and published the works of 'the dead' . . . only to
keep alive the memory of so worthy a Friend, and Fellow" (associate)
"as was our Shakespeare, 'your servant Shakespeare.'"
Nothing can possibly be more explicit, both as to the actor's
authorship of the plays, and as to the favour in which the two Earls
held him. Mr. Greenwood {110a} supposes that Jonson wrote the
Preface, which contains an allusion to a well-known ode of Horace,
and to a phrase of Pliny. Be that as it may, the Preface signed by
the two players speaks to Pembroke and Montgomery.
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