t vainglory. Such a description is intended to indicate the
traditional Marlowesque qualities: it is a very inadequate criticism of
the play as a whole. This kind of loud, richly coloured drama leapt
into instant popularity, and it was in direct imitation of it that
Greene wrote the first of the plays credited to him.

_Alphonsus, King of Arragon_, shares with _James the Fourth_ the
distinction of a division into five acts, and adheres throughout to
blank verse. Alphonsus, the conqueror, begins his career as an exiled
claimant to the throne of Arragon. Fighting as a common soldier, under
an agreement that he shall hold all he wins, he slays the Spanish
usurper in battle and at once demands the crown. On this being granted
him he as promptly turns upon the donor to claim from him feudal homage.
This, however, can only be insisted upon by force, and war ensues, with
complete overthrow of his enemies. Grandly bestowing upon his three
chief supporters all his present conquests, namely, the thrones of
Arragon, Naples and Milan, as too trifling for himself, Alphonsus
follows his opponents to their refuge at the court of Amurack, the great
Turk. Through a misleading oracle of Mahomet they rashly engage in
battle without their ally and are slain. With their heads impaled at the
corners of his canopy Alphonsus now confronts Amurack, just such another
bold and arrogant conqueror as himself. In the conflict that follows he
is temporarily put to flight by Amurack's daughter, Iphigena, and her
band of Amazons; but, smitten with sudden love, he turns to offer his
hand and heart on the battlefield. She spurns his overtures, and a very
ungallant hand-to-hand combat follows, in which he proves victor and
drives his lovely foe to flight in her turn. The conquest is complete,
and with all his enemies captives Alphonsus carries things with a high
hand, threatening to add Amurack's head to those on his canopy unless
that monarch consent to his marriage with Iphigena. Fortunately
Alphonsus's old father, who has gained entrance in a pilgrim's garb,
intervenes with parental remonstrance and by the exercise of a little
tact brings about both the marriage and general happiness.

A noticeable feature, which shows the closeness of the imitation, is the
absence of all intentionally humorous scenes, in spite of Greene's very
considerable natural aptitude for comic by-play. Everywhere the
influence of _Tamburlaine_ is markedly visible, in the subject