A few years ago a startling light was thrown on
the death of Marlowe, and since then there has been a revival of interest among scholars in the life and work of the Elizabethan poet. Was Marlowe murdered in cold blood by Elizabethan "gang- sters," and had Raleigh or that wild poet, Kyd, a hand in the conspiracy ? Mr. Robertson reviews the evidence, and abstains from taking sides in the controversy in his Marlowe. Conspectus, (Routledge, 6s.). But in tracing Marlowe's work in the Shakespeare Folio, he is more decisive, and claims that the metal of the Marlowe " line " can be safely tested. The man in the street must revise his Shakespeare for when he declaims :
"Now is the winter of our discontent Made glorious summer by this sun of York," he may be really quoting from Marlowe. This book is for scholars, but will interest all who find exciting that form of literary detective work known as "internal evidence."
*
Previous page
