Life of Jack
Wilton," generally regarded as Nash's most ambitious work, and which
he dedicated to Lord Southampton in 1593? If so, and there is no
evidence to gainsay the conclusion, we can fix the date of the present
poem as, at all events, prior to 17th September of that year, when
"The Unfortunate Traveller" was entered on the Stationers'
Register.[d] This would make Nash contemporaneous, if not prior to,
Shakspeare in offering a tribute to the merits of the young patron
(Southampton at that time was barely twenty years old) of the Muses.
_Venus and Adonis_ was entered on the Register of the Stationers'
Company about five months earlier, on the 18th April, 1593, and barely
more than two months prior to the registration of "The Terrors of the
Night."

It is curious to note that while Shakspeare and Nash both promise
"graver work" and "better lines," they alike select amatory themes for
their first offerings. The promise in Shakspeare's case was redeemed
by the dedication to Southampton of "The Rape of Lucreece," while it
may be assumed, as aforesaid, that Nash followed suit with "The
Unfortunate Traveller."

Nash, however, for some cause or other failed to retain the Earl's
interest; "indeed," says Mr. Sidney Lee, "he did not retain the favour
of any patron long." It is only fair to state, however, that the
withdrawal of Lord Southampton's patronage may not have been due to
any fault or shortcoming on the part of Nash, for there is likewise no
evidence whatever to show that any close intimacy existed between
Southampton and Shakspeare after 1594. Probably there was much else to
claim Lord Southampton's attention--his marriage, and the Essex
rebellion to wit. This, however, leads somewhat wide of the present
work.

So much for the circumstances which appear to have called forth "The
Choise of Valentines." The next consideration is, Has it ever appeared
in print before? Oldys, in his MS. notes to Langbaine's _English
Dramatic Poets_ (_c_. 1738) says:--"Tom Nash certainly wrote and
published a pamphlet upon Dildos. He is accused of it by his
antagonist, Harvey." But he was writing nearly 150 years after the
event, and it is certainly very strange that a production which it
can be shown was well known should, if printed, have so entirely
disappeared. At all events, no copy is at present known to exist.[e]
John Davies of Hereford alludes to it, but leaves it uncertain whether
its destruction occurred in MS. or in prin