Only his
_Metamorphosis of Pigmalion's Image and Certaine Satyres_ (1598),
and his _Scourge of Villanie_ (1599) had been published. His first
tragedy came out in print in 1602; it may just have been in course
of becoming known on the stage. We have no means of ascertaining
whether it had already been acted when _The Poetaster_ appeared.
This much is however certain, that when this latter satire obtained
publicity, Marston's relations to the drama and the stage must yet
have been of the most insignificant kind; for Philip Henslowe, in
his Diary (pp. 156, 157), expressly speaks of him, even in 1599, as
a 'new' poet to whom he had lent, through an intermediary, the sum
of forty shillings 'in earneste of a Boocke,' the title of which is
not mentioned. Is it, then, conceivable that such a dramatist who
in 1601 certainly was yet very insignificant, should have been made
the subject, in 1601, in Jonson's _Poetaster_, of the following
very characteristic remark--assuming Crispinus to have been
intended for Marston?
Tucca says, in regard to the former, to a poor player (act
iii. sc. i):--'If he pen for thee once, thou shalt not need to travel
with thy pumps full of gravel any more, after a blind jade and a
hamper, and stalk upon boards and barrel-heads to an old cracked
trumpet.'
Does this not quite fit Shakspere's popularity and dramatic
success?
Jonson, it is true, tells Drummond that he had written his
_Poetaster_ against Marston.
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