espeare in, or after, 1594, when he rejoined the Lord Chamberlain's
company.

Within a year of the time that Marlowe, with Shakespeare, revised _The
True Tragedy of the Duke of York_ for Pembroke's men in 1592, Marlowe
also wrote _Edward II._ for this company, Shakespeare producing _Richard
II._ for the company at the same time. The friendly co-operation between
Shakespeare and Marlowe, which I shall show commenced in 1588-89, and
which aroused Greene's jealousy at that time, was evidently continued
until the death of Marlowe in June 1593. It is in the historical plays
composed or revised between 1591-93 by Shakespeare that Marlowe's
influence is most apparent, as also is Shakespeare's influence upon
Marlowe in his one play which we know was produced at the same period.
_Edward II._ is much more Shakespearean in character than any other of
Marlowe's plays. It is evident that their close association at this time
reacted favourably upon the work of each of them.

The deductions I draw from these and other facts and inferences still to
be developed, is, that shortly after the Lord Admiral's and Lord
Strange's men passed under Alleyn's and Henslowe's management, some time
between Christmas 1590 and Christmas 1591, Shakespeare formed Lord
Pembroke's company, becoming its leader and also its principal producer
of plays, and that it was through his influence and the reputation that
certain of his early plays had already attained in Court circles that
this new company was enabled to appear twice before the Court in the
Christmas season of 1592. To demonstrate this hypothesis it will be
necessary to revert to a consideration of Shakespeare's status in
theatrical affairs between 1588-89 and 1594.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 19: E.K. Chambers in _Modern Language Review_, Oct. 1906.]

CHAPTER V

SHAKESPEARE AND THE SCHOLARS

1588-1594

In considering the conditions of Shakespeare's life at the beginning of
his career in London, and his application to the College of Heralds for
a grant of arms in 1596, it must be borne in mind that social
distinctions and class gradations at that time still retained much of
their feudal significance. At that period an actor, unless protected by
the licence of a nobleman or gentleman, was virtually a vagrant before
the law, while felonies committed by scholars were still clergyable.
When Ben Jonson was indicted for killing Gabriel Spencer in 1598, he
pleaded and received benefit of clerg