o press. The few months intervening between Greene's
attack and Chettle's apology, and the application for licence
to publish, may then easily be bridged by the reading in MS. form of
_Venus and Adonis_ by Southampton's friends. It is likely also that
Greene's public attack upon Shakespeare led this generous and
high-spirited nobleman to acquiesce in the use of his name as sponsor
for the publication. The nearness of these dates and incidents gives us
good grounds for believing that the Earl of Southampton was included in
the number referred to by Chettle as "divers of worship." In using the
expression "the qualitie he professes," Chettle plainly referred to
Shakespeare's profession as an actor-manager, and of his excellence in
this respect bears his own record: "myselfe," he writes, "_have seene_
his demeanour no lesse civill than he exelent in the qualitie he
professes." Of Shakespeare's literary merits, however, he expresses no
personal knowledge, but tells us that "divers of worship have reported
his uprightnes of dealing, which argues his honesty, and his facetious
grace in writing that approoves his art." Had Chettle referred to any of
Shakespeare's known dramatic work he could have passed his own judgment,
as in fact he does upon his civility as manager and his excellence as
an actor. Having seen Shakespeare act he would also, no doubt, have
heard his lines declaimed had our poet at that period produced upon the
_public boards_ any of his original dramas. The term "facetious grace"
might well be applied to the manner and matter of Shakespeare's lighter
comedies had any of them been _publicly acted_, but would be somewhat
inapt if applied to the rather stilted staginess of his early historical
work. Much argument has been advanced in various attempts to prove that
Shakespeare produced _Love's Labour's Lost_, _The Two Gentlemen of
Verona_, _Romeo and Juliet_, and _Midsummer Nights Dream_ previous to
the year 1591-92, but no particle of evidence, either external or
internal, has yet been advanced in support of these assumptions; much,
however, has been advanced against them. If we may accept Shakespeare's
own subscribed statement as evidence, and that evidence is truthful,
_Venus and Adonis_ was his first acknowledged original literary effort.
In the dedication to Southampton he distinctly names it "the first heir
of my invention." It is probable, then, that the "facetious grace" in
writing, of which "divers of worshi