which have been taken to mean that in Alphonsus Greene
turned from novels to plays, inspired to do so, it is further
agreed, by the success of Tamburlaine.

But though Alphonsus is recognized as his earliest dramatic
production, the date at which Greene began to write plays
has been a matter of discussion. Especially so, since the
appearance of the edition of Greene plays ³ by the late Mr.
Churton Collins, who argued for a much later date than any
hitherto proposed. ⁴

Granting the relation between Alphonsus and Tamburlaine
as that of copy and model, Mr. Collins, nevertheless, places
Alphonsus as not earlier than 1591. Most important among
his reasons for this date is the similarity between the pro-
logue to Alphonsus and certain passages in Spenser Com-
plaints (published 1591). In The Teares of the Muses,
Spenser, through the mouth of Calliope, deplores the
decay of poetry and the want of heroic themes. The
Muse threatens eternal silence. Alphonsus as a hero satis-
fies Calliope, according to Greene's prologue, and she deter-
mines to break her silence. Greene's play is, therefore, a
response to Spenser Complaints. Certain parallels of

In the heroical poems of Daniel and Drayton there are indications
of this same kind of ostentatious introduction.

Recognition of the prevalence of such passages as that of Greene's,
while it casts a little doubt upon Greene's challenge to Marlowe, does
not alter the relation between the two plays; nor does it in any way
lessen the probability that Alphonsus is Greene first play.

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