OF EDWARD ALLEYN, FOUNDER OF DULWICH COLLEGE: INCLUDING SOME NEW PARTICULARS RESPECTING SHAKESPEARE, BEN JONSON, MASSINGER, MARSTON, DEKKER, &c. COUNCIL OF THE SHAKESPEARE SOCIETY. PRESIDENT, THE MOST NOBLE THE MARQUESS OF NORMANBY. VICE-PRESIDENTS, RT. HON. HON. LORD BRAYBROOKE, F.S.A. RT. HON. LORD F. EGERTON, M.P. RT. HON. THE EARL OF GLENGALL. RT. HON. LORD LEIGH. AMYOT, THOMAS, ESQ., F.R.S. TREAS. S.A. AYRTON, WILLIAM, ESQ.. F.R.S., F.S.A. BRUCE, JOHN, ESQ., F.S.A. CAMPBELL, THOMAS, ESQ. COLLIER, J. PAYNE, ESQ. F.S.A. COURTENAY, RT. HON. THOMAS P. CRAIK, GEORGE L., ESQ. DILKE, C. W. ESQ. TREASURER. DYCE, REV. ALEXANDER. HALLIWELL, J. O. ESQ., F.R.S. F.S.A., &c. HARNESS, REV. WILLIAM. JERROLD, DOUGLAS, ESQ. KENNEY, JAMES, ESQ. KNIGHT, CHARLES, ESQ. MACREADY, WILLIAM C., ESQ. MADDEN, SIR F., F.R.S., F.S.A., KEEPER OF THE MSS. IN THE BRITISH MUSEUM. MILMAN, REV. HENRY HART. TALFOURD, MR. SERGEANT, M.P. TOMLINS, F. GUEST, ESQ., SECRETARY. WRIGHT, THOMAS, ESQ., F.S.A. YOUNG, CHARLES M., ESQ. PREFACE. MORE than ten years ago, when the writer of the following Memoir was collecting materials for his 66 History of English Dramatic Poetry and the Stage," he had an opportunity of inspecting Henslowe's Diary, and some few other original documents preserved in Dulwich College. He was not then, however, aware of the curious sources of information possessed by that institution, in relation to some of our early theatres, and to the life of an individual, who for nearly half a century was more or less prominently concerned in dramatic representations. His attention was not long since directed to these additional stores; and on examining them, he found that they afforded ample and novel matter for an extended biography of the Founder of Dulwich College, including important and interesting particulars respecting Shakespeare, Ben Jonson, Massinger, Marston, Dekker, and other Dramatists of the reigns of Elizabeth and James I. |