utely nothing is
known: we are ignorant of the times and places of his birth and death,
and of the manner in which he obtained his education. It has been
conjectured that he either was, or had been, a printer, but the point
is very doubtful.[250] In a tract by him, called "England's Mourning
Garment," on the death of Queen Elizabeth, he speaks of himself as
having been "young almost thirty years ago," and as having been a
witness of what passed at that period in the Court. If Ritson's
conjecture [had been] well-founded, he [might have been admitted as]
an author as early as 1578;[251] but the poetical tract assigned to
him [under that date was the work of some other writer with the same
initials, whose name is not known.]

The first account we have of Chettle in connection with the stage is
under date of April 1599,[252] when, according to Henslowe, he was
engaged with Dekker in writing a play called "Troilus and Cressida;" but
there is good reason to infer, that if in 1603 he were "young almost
thirty years ago," he had written for the theatre before 1599. Besides,
in his "Kind Hartes Dreame," produced about three months after the
death of his friend Robert Greene, on September 3d, 1592, he speaks
generally of his connection with the dramatic poets of that day, as if
it were not newly formed. Malone supposed that Shakespeare, with whom
Chettle had then recently become acquainted, was alluded to in the same
tract. In "England's Mourning Garment" Chettle addresses a stanza to
"silver-tongued Melicert," [whom some critics have supposed to be
Shakespeare. But this is mere conjecture.]

Francis Meres, in his often-quoted "Palladis Tamia" (1598), includes
Chettle in a long list of other writers for the stage, as "one of the
best for comedy;" but in earlier works upon the poetry and literature of
England, such as Webbe's "Discourse" in 1586, and Puttenham's "Art of
English Poesie" in 1589, he is not mentioned.

Henslowe's list of plays, with the authors' names attached, as [edited
by Mr Collier], begins [in February 1591-2;] and there the first mention
of Chettle is in February 1597-8: between that date and March 1602-3, a
period of little more than five years, he wrote, or assisted in writing,
all the dramatic performances with which his name is associated; a fact
of itself sufficient to show, if Henslowe be accurate, that in many of
them his share must have been very inconsiderable, perhaps only
amounting to a few altera