Bentley or Knell plaide, and least this
advantage, agree not with your minde, he is contented, both the
plaie, and the time, shall be referred to the gentlemen here present.
I see not, how you canne any waie hurte your credit by this action;
for if you excell them, you will then be famous, if equall them; you
wynne both the wager and credit, if short of them; we must and will
saie Ned Allen still.--Your frend to his power,

W.P.

Deny me not sweete Nedd, the wager's downe,
and twice as muche, commande of me and myne:
And if you wynne I sweare the half is thyne;
and for an overplus, an English Crowne.
Appoint the tyme, and stint it as you pleas,
Your labor's gaine; and that will prove it ease."

(addressed) "To Edward Allen."

This letter to Edward Alleyn from his friend "W.P." is finely written in
an English, and the verses in an Italian, hand. The words, "Ned Allen,"
"sweete Nedd," and "English Crowne" are in gilt letters.[23] The
occasion and its instigation must have been of interest to Alleyn for
him to have preserved the letter for so many years; his reason for doing
so evidently being to enable him to refute Greene's published and widely
circulated misconstruction of it. It is evident that both the letter and
poem were written while Alleyn was still young, when he already had
ardent admirers, and his reputation was growing but not generally
admitted, and at about the time that Peele had commenced to write for
his company. Alleyn was twenty-four years old in 1589, and already
regarded by many as the best actor in London. George Peele, who had
written for the Queen's company in the past, at about, or shortly after,
this date, began to write for Strange's company. His _Edward I._, which
was published in 1593, was undoubtedly written between 1589-91, when
Shakespeare was still connected with Strange's men.

The "cobbler" who taught Roscius to say "Ave Caesar" was Christopher
Marlowe, whose father was a shoemaker. Marlowe was the principal writer
for Burbage at this period, and continued so until his death in 1593.
"Ave Caesar" and "a King's chamber" are references to the play of _Edward
III._, which I shall demonstrate later was written by Marlowe, though
revised by Shakespeare after Marlowe's death. It is the only known play
of this period in which the expression "Ave Caesar" occurs.

In many of Greene's romances the central figure has been recogn