EDWARD II. was entered in the Stationers' Books 6th July 1593. In the Dyce Library at South Kensington there is a 4to. with a MS. title-page (in a hand of the late seventeenth century) dated 1593. Without doubt the date 1593 is a copyist's mistake for 1598. In the first leaf, which is in MS., there are a few textual differences, due to the copyist's carelessness; but the printed matter throughout (A. 3—K. 2) exhibits the text of ed. 1598.

In 1876 an edition of Edward II. in 8vo., dated 1594, was discovered in the library at Cassel. The title is :-The troublesome raigne and lamentable death of Edward the second, King of England: with the tragicall fall of proud Mortimer. As it was sundrie times publiquely acted in the honourable citie of London, by the right honourable the Earl of Pembroke his servants. Written by Chri. Marlow Gent. Imprinted at London for William Jones, dwelling neare Holborne conduit at the Signe of the Gunne, 1594.

The title of the 4to. of 1598 runs as follows:-The troublesome raigne and lamentable death of Edward the second, King of England: with the tragicall fall of proud Mortimer: And also the life and death of Peirs Gaueston, the great Earle of Cornewall, and mighty favorite of king Edward the second, as it was publiquely acted by the right honorable the Earle of Pembrooke his seruauntes. Written by Chri. Marlow Gent. Imprinted at London by Richard Bradocke, for William Jones, dwelling neere Holbourne conduit, at the signe of the Gunne, 1598.

Another edition (in 4to.) appeared in 1612, with the following title: The troublesome raigne and lamentable death of Edward the second, King of England: with the tragicall fall of proud Mortimer. And also the life and death of Peirs Gaueston, the great Earle of Cornewall, and mighty fauorite of King Edward the second, as it

was publiquely acted by the right honorable the Earle of Pembrooke his seruants. Written by Christopher Marlow Gent. Printed at London for Roger Barnes, and are to be sould at his shop in Chauncerie Lane ouer against the Rolles, 1612.

The last of the old editions is dated 1622 :-The troublesome raigne and lamentable death of Edward the second, King of England: with the tragicall fall of proud Mortimer. And also the life and death of Peirs Gauestone, the great Earle of Cornewall, and mighty Fauorite of King Edward the second. As it was publikely Acted by the late Queenes Maiesties Seruants at the Red Bull in S. Johns streete. Written by Christopher Marlow Gent. London, Printed for Henry Bell, and are to be sold at his Shop at the Lame-hospitall Gate, neere Smithfield, 1622.

The text of the 1598 4to., which is fairly free from corruptions, differs but slightly from the texts of the two later 4tos. I have not had an opportunity of inspecting the 8vo. of 1594; but I suspect that it agrees very closely with the later copies.

PERSONS REPRESENTED.

EDWARD II.

PRINCE EDWARD, his son, afterwards Edward III.

GAVESTON.

OLD SPENCER.

YOUNG SPENCER.

EARL MORTIMER.

YOUNG MORTIMER.

BERKELEY.

LANCASTER.

LEICESTER.

Lords, Messengers, Monks, James, &c., &c.

QUEEN ISABElla.

Niece to Edward II.

Ladies.

EDWARD THE SECOND.

ACT THE FIRST.

SCENE I.

Enter 1 GAVESTON, reading a letter from the King.

Gav. My father is deceased! Come, Gaveston, And share the kingdom with thy dearest friend. Ah! words that make me surfeit with delight! What greater bliss can hap to Gaveston

Than live and be the favourite of a king!

Sweet prince, I come; these, these thy amorous lines
Might have enforced me to have swum from France,
And, like Leander, gasped upon the sand,

So thou would'st smile, and take me in thine arms.
The sight of London to my exiled eyes
Is as Elysium to a new-come soul;
Not that I love the city, or the men,
But that it harbours him I hold so dear-
The king, upon whose bosom let me die,2

1 Scene: a street in London.

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So 4tos.-Dyce gives "lie;" but "die" may perhaps be interpreted as "swoon."

And with the world be still at enmity.

What need the arctic people love starlight,

To whom the sun shines both by day and night?
Farewell base stooping to the lordly peers!
My knee shall bow to none but to the king.
As for the multitude, that are but sparks,
Raked up in embers of their poverty ;—
Tanti;1 I'll fawn 2 first on the wind
That glanceth at my lips, and flieth away.
But how now, what are these?

Enter three poor Men.

Men. Such as desire your worship's service.
Gav. What canst thou do?

I Man. I can ride.

Gav. But I have no horse. What art thou?

2 Man. A traveller.

Gav. Let me see-thou would'st do well

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To wait at my trencher and tell me lies at dinner-time; 30 And as I like your discoursing, I'll have you.

And what art thou?

3 Man. A soldier, that hath served against the Scot.

1 Cf. Day's Parliament of Bees :

"Yet if you meet a tart antagonist,

Or discontented rugged satirist,

That slights your errant or his art that penned it,
Cry Tanti!"

So in the Prologue to Day's Isle of Gulls :—

"Detraction he scorns, honours the best:

Tanti for hate, thus low for all the rest."

2 So Dyce.-4tos. "'fanne."