The fifth post in a 12 day series of excerpts from my forthcoming book.
In previous posts I have made an argument that nearly all that we know of the author Shakespeare relies on a few words from Ben Jonson. Yesterday I explored what Jonson means when he asks us to ‘read with understanding’ and introduced the work of William Bellamy who suggests that Jonson employed a form of embedded acrostic to internally annotate his poems. In particular I reviewed Bellamy’s analysis of Jonson’s poems in his collection the Forest which establish Jonson’s use of anagrams and showed that the anagrams support a reading of To Penshurst that suggests that Shakespeare’s plays are unacknowledged works of Mary Sidney Herbert.
In today’s post I review the latest academic work on the identity of Robert Greene’s Upstart Crow, which plays a crucial role in establishing Shakespeare’s early participation in the theater. In a peer reviewed article published in 2020 Peter Bull provides a comprehensive argument that the Greene’s Crow was not Shakespeare but instead was Edward Alleyn, leading actor with the Admiral’s men. I use the case to explore the reliability of the anagrams introduced in the previous post. As Bellamy finds anagrams in Greene that appear to confirm the reference to Shakespeare I review his analysis and show that equally valid anagrams support the Alleyn identification offered by Bull.
Given the limitations of typesetting, the second part may not display properly on mobile devices.
In 1592, before any appearance of the name Shakespeare in association with the theatre or literature, a curious pamphlet titled A Groatsworth of Wit Purchased with a Million of Repentance was published in London. Ostensibly the last words of poet and playwright Robert Greene, impoverished by illness and dying in abject poverty, they were conveyed to print by fellow dramatist Henry Chettle. Groatsworth tells the story of a scholar and playwright, Roberto, disinherited by his father, who partners with a courtesan, Lamilia, to swindle his brother of the fortune. Roberto, revealed to be Greene himself, is betrayed and left dying with just a groat (four pence piece) to his name. Groatsworth is remembered because the author concludes with a warning to his fellow playwrights to beware an Upstart Crow who is stealing their works and has cruelly and usuriously trapped Greene in debt without mercy for his illness. The passage was identified as a reference to William Shakespeare by antiquary Thomas Tyrwhitt in 1778 and has since been accepted as a cornerstone of Shakespeare biography. In a 2020 article, Tired with a Peacock’s Tail Peter Bull undertakes a comprehensive review of the evidence[1] and concludes that there is almost nothing in the characterization of the Crow that was likely true of Shakespeare in 1592 and that the alternative case for Edward (Ned) Alleyn proposed by A.D. Wraight in 1993[2] is much better supported by details in the passage and other references in Greene’s work.
Yes, trust them not: for there is an vpstart Crow, beautified with our feathers, that with his Tygers hart wrapt in a Players hyde, supposes he is as well Able to bombast out a blanke verse as the best of you: and being an absolute Iohannes fac-totum, is in his owne conceit the onely shake-scene in a countrey. O that I might intreate your rare wits to be imploied in more profitable courses: & let those Apes imitate your past excellence, and neuer more acquaint them with your admired inuentions.
I know the best husband of you all will neuer proue an Usurer, and the kindest of them all will neuer seeke you a kind nurse:
Ned Alleyn was the most famous actor of the time, associated with both the role of Talbot in Henry VI part 1 and Richard in the True Tragedy of Richard of York which appear to be referenced in the passage (both True Tragedy and Henry VI part 3 contain the line Tigers heart in a woman’s hide and both have recently been attributed primarily to Marlowe instead of Shakespeare[3]). As partner and son in law to Philip Henslow, owner of the Rose theatre, he was also well known for lending to players and writers as well as purchasing their work. Greene was probably the author of Knack to Know a Knave published without attribution except “as performed by Edward Alleyn”, and attacked Alleyn elsewhere by name for acquiring and bombasting plays. Alleyn even has a corvid association through the Magpie symbol on his family pub.
The strongest evidence that Greene means the crow to be Alleyn is from Greene’s Francesco’s Fortunes (1590) where he berates the actor Roscius in terms that echo in Groatsworth:
Why Roscius, art thou proud with Esop’ s Crow, being pranct with the glorie of others feathers? of thy selfe thou canst say nothing, and if the Cobler hath taught thee to say Aue Caesar, disdain not thy tutor, because thou pratest in a Kings chamber: what sentence thou vtterest on the stage, flowes from the censure of our wittes; and what sentence or conceipte of the inuention the people applaud for excellent, that comes from the secrets of our knowledge. I graunt your action, though it be a kind of mechanical labour; yet wel done tis worthie of praise: but you worthlesse, if for so small a toy you waxe proud. [4]
“The Cobler’ was Greene’s name for Christopher Marlowe. Greene’s consistency in applying these epithets is a strong argument that this Crow is the same person referenced in the earlier work but no one would argue for that to be Shakespeare. Quintus Roscius was a Roman actor who was used as a reference in period to the pinnacle of acting. Thomas Nashe referred to Alleyn as Roscius in Pierce Penniless. Given Alleyn’s unrivaled prominence as a leading actor at the time it is unlikely the term would be applied to anyone else.
Apparently, the Crow took umbrage at the attack. Both Chettle[5] and Thomas Nashe, also close to Greene, published denials that they had anything to do with the passage and begging forgiveness for any harm that they might have inadvertently caused. It is hard to imagine how Shakespeare could already have reached a position to ruin Greene and threaten Chettle and Nashe, but Alleyn certainly could have done so given his importance in the London theatre scene.
Are There Anagrams in Greene?
Bellamy considers the Crow passage in his book length treatment of anagrams, Shakespeare’s Verbal Art, and finds support for the traditional identification with the young actor Shakespeare. Here is his analysis of the passage[6]:
While the purported anagrams for Shakespeare are somewhat strained, Alleyn’s name pops right out following the tripartite anagram form and in context gives us he is Alleyn and never prove an Alleyn.
The last line provides the figura condensa to reinforce the dying man’s chief complaint:
the kinDest of them ALL will Neuer seekE You a kind Nurse
Nodus Amoris /Ned Alleyn / usurer
Although the Shakespeare interpretation might support Sidney authorship (Player is substituted for woman), I find the Alleyn anagrams more likely. The Alleyn anagrams are more tightly configured, and the overt text seems to be intentionally shaped to produce the correct letters with well and all supplying the doubled ll and you twice the distinctive y. Conversely the text provides a concise Shake near the top of the passage but does not complete the speare for want of a p for several lines which suggests a want of effort (and violates Bellamy’s rule of no barren lines). Since the other Shakespeare instance relies entirely on Shake-scene we are left with one weak instance and another that begs the question rather than independently confirming the identification. Either way, the example warns us to be careful of unintended identifications emerging from too determined search.
[1] Peter Bull, “Tired with a Peacock’s Tail: All Eyes on the Upstart Crow,” English Studies 101, no. 3 (April 2, 2020): 284–311, https://doi.org/10.1080/0013838X.2020.1717829.
[2] Wraight A. D., Christopher Marlowe and Edward Alleyn (Chichester: Adam Hart Ltd., 1993).
[3] Dalya Alberge, “Christopher Marlowe Credited as One of Shakespeare’s Co-Writers,” The Guardian, October 23, 2016, sec. Culture, https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2016/oct/23/christopher-marlowe-credited-as-one-of-shakespeares-co-writers.
[4] Greene, Francesco’s Fortunes, B4v-C1.
[5] “Kind-Harts Dreame: Chettle’s Apology to Shakespeare for Greenes Groatsworth of Witte,” Shakespeare Documented, accessed February 21, 2023, https://shakespearedocumented.folger.edu/resource/document/kind-harts-dreame-chettles-apology-shakespeare-greenes-groatsworth-witte.
[6] Bellamy, Shakespeare’s Verbal Art, 134.
