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The problem of the thesis of Marlowe as Philip Sidney's page-boy is that when Marlowe was arrested with Baines in the Low Countries in the early 1590s for counterfeiting, and remanded by Robert Sidney back to London, RS refers to him, if memory serves, as "one Marley, a scholar" or something in that vein. Doesn't sound as if he's ever heard of the fellow before. Since Marlowe was claiming to RS that he knows all sorts of important people back home, RS would likely have handled it very differently if he knew who Marlowe was, especially in a context where his brother's sacred reputation might hang in the balace. There are, however, traces and hints in the correspondance surrounding the Sidney/Bryskett trip on the continent about behaviors within the group about which some of the elders were not happy. All very vague. I can't give a precise reference offhand, but the Osborne edition of Sidney selected letters is the place to look. In short, Spenser-Harvey-Bryskett should provide enough meat for these stews without the seasoning of Marlowe. Clark Hulse >Peter C Herman wrote:- >> Someone in this thread (forgive me, I forget who) mentioned that Spenser's >>authorship of the SC was a secret all over the block, even though the >>author is never >>identified by name in the book itself. However, Spenser's authorship of >>the Calender >>was, if known to some, unknown to others. The Yale Edition of the Shorter >>Poems of >>Edmund Spenser, for example, reproduces the title page to Robert Burton's >>copy of >>the Calender, and directly underneath the title Burton mistakenly >>ascribes the >"twelve >Aeglogues proportionable to the twelve monethes"--not the >commentary--to "E. >K." > >My impression was that Spenser wrote the inroductory letter to Harvey, >introducing the new poet, and then provided the glossary/commentary >under the initials 'E.K.'. Maybe he had a 'shepherd' name that began >with a K? Or a middle name? > >>Also, William Webbe reported in A Discourse of English Poetry (1586) >>that he made >a >concerted but unsuccessful effort to discover the New Poet's identity. >Clearly, >some >people were not in on the joke, and as Webbe writes, people refused to >tell him >the >author. > >I don't think that it was meant as a joke; it seems that the new poet >wanted to hide his light under a bushel for some reason. > >One poem NOT written by Spenser, but included in his works, is >'A Pastorall Aeglogue upon the death of Sir Phillip Sidney, Knight, >Etc.,' by L. B. -- Lodowick Bryskett. This takes the form of a >discussion between 'Lycon' (presumably Bryskett himself) and >Colin (presumably Colin Clout, whoever he was). In lines 88-89, >Lycon mentions that Colin "with him yodest; and with him did scale >the craggie rocks of th'Alpes and Appenine". > >Bryskett did travel with Sidney over the Alps on his travels in 1574 >but Spenser did not -- so Colin was not Spenser in this instance. I >still maintain that Colin was Marlowe and he was travelling with >Sidney as his page-boy. Their first stop had been Paris and they >sheltered in the English embassy during the St. Bartholomew's >Massacre of the Protestants. Who later wrote a play called 'The >Massacre at Paris'? Marlowe did... > >At the time of 'The Shephearde's Calendar', Spenser and Harvey >were grown men. Would Spenser have taken gifts from Harvey and >given them to his girl-friend? No -- but a fourteen year old boy might >have taken gifts from a 24 year old Sidney and done just that. And >don't forget that word 'pederastie'.... > >Peter Zenner > >+44 (0) 1246 271726 >Visit my web site 'Zenigmas' at >http://www.pzenner.freeserve.co.uk %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%