=Scourge=, "corrected, and enlarged, by H. A." differs from
the first edition of 1613. Though long thought to be identical with
the first edition,[48] the second impression, besides being corrected
in a number of details, is "enlarged" by the following two stanzas
after the line on p. 262, "Helpe Nurse, else long I cannot live."[49]

Some say (and you can tell the truth likewise)
When women once have felt that they cal sport,
And in their wombe a Tympanie doth rise
For things peculiar they do oft import:
And though most odious it do seeme to some,
Yet give it them or they are quite undone.

And so my case most desperate standes you see,
I long for this yet know no reason why,
Unlesse a womans will a reason bee,
We'le have our will although unlawfully,
It is most sweete and wholsome unto mee,
Though it seeme bad and odious unto thee.

The third impression of 1620 follows the edition of 1613 but prints
three stanzas to a page instead of four.

LITERARY VALUE

Much of the literary value of these poems, it should be recognized, is
historical. Like Henry Petowe's romance, =The Second Part of Hero and
Leander= (1598), they are fully as interesting as reflections of the
poetic genius of Marlowe and/or Shakespeare, mirrored in the works of
their less gifted contemporaries, as they are in themselves. Apart
from their historical significance, however, all these poems have
intrinsic interest, and several, including =Dom Diego=, =Mirrha=
and =Hiren= as well as =Philos and Licia=, have a considerable
degree of literary merit as well. Whoever the author of Philos and
Licia may have been, he was one who had thoroughly assimilated the
conventions of the minor epic, especially those employed in =Hero and
Leander=.[50] Unlike Page, whose imitation of Marlowe is for the most
part blind, this author is skillful in working many of these
conventions, and even particular words and phrases from other minor
epics, into the context of his poem, somewhat as the bards of major
epic are supposed to have done. Surprisingly, in view of this
technique of composition, the poem is well integrated, and
consistently smooth and fluent in its versification.[51]

As much as this unknown poet must have admired Marlowe's verse, he
evidently could not stomach the elder poet's conception of a hostile
universe, or his glorification of unwedded bliss. Accordingly he
constructed in =Philos and Licia= a world in whi