in these productions was but small. Some say that Greene and Peele
were the authors of the plays, that Shakespeare rewrote them perhaps
with a little aid from Marlowe. Certain it is that Greene attacked the
poet furiously when the remodelled work was produced, calling upon his
brother dramatists of repute to beware of upstart puppets and "rude
groomes." But Shakespeare was serenely unmoved by these abusive
epithets, for which Greene's publisher apologised later. He was in
the historical vein, and proceeded to write "Richard III.," in which
Richard Burbage is said to have made a great sensation; the following
play was "Richard II.," and the poet was clearly responsive to the
influence of Marlowe in each of these works.

=BEN JONSON
From Painting in the National Portrait Gallery=

Shortly after "Richard II." was written and produced the plague visited
London, and the poet sought the country. He may have written a small
part, a very small part, of the "Titus Andronicus," and after that he
picked the stage Jew of Marlowe and the rest out of the gutter, and gave
the world in "The Merchant of Venice" a figure that commands keen
interest not untouched with sympathy. "King John," bearing date 1594, is
another piece of inimitable adaptation. By this time the "Venus and
Adonis" had been published with a dedication to the third Earl of
Southampton, and the poet followed it a year later with "The Rape of
Lucrece," dedicated to the same patron.

These works created a sensation. Shakespeare the actor was already a
familiar figure, Shakespeare the dramatist was known and admired, but
Shakespeare the poet seems to have taken literary London by surprise. It
is hard to say why, for there are passages in the plays he had already
written that challenge comparison with anything in the poems; but praise
from the great Elizabethans was not to be lightly won, and no poet could
have sought to wear a worthier garland than theirs. Shakespeare was
admitted at once to the most select circles. Queen Elizabeth became his
patron. Greenwich, Whitehall, and Richmond Palaces witnessed
performances of his plays, with their author taking some small part in
them. "The Palace of Nonsuch," a private purchase of Queen Elizabeth's
situated near Richmond, may still be seen in old prints--a charming
place enough. The palace at Greenwich, coming right up to the banks of
the Thames, is also to be seen in old prints, and it says all that is
needed for the st