suggested that the texts of Doctor Faustus and The
Massacre at Paris, though undoubtedly imperfect, pre-
serve more of the dramatist's original work than is usually
allowed. The other aspect which I have emphasized is the
extent and the quality of classical influence on Marlowe,
not only in the translations and Dido, but throughout
his work. In the light of these and other aspects of his
dramatic technique I have approached the perplexing
problems raised by The First Part of the Contention and The
True Tragedy, and have stated a case for Marlowe's author-
ship of Arden of Feversham. The quotations from the plays
and poems are given with modernized spelling and punc-
tuation. A reprint with these in their original form, as in
Professor Tucker Brooke's Oxford edition, is indispensable
for textual criticism. But for the purposes of a more gene-
ral study there is a balance of gain over loss in adopting
the familiar form of presentation. Quotations from docu-
ments, on the other hand, are, as a rule, in the original
spelling, though contractions have been silently expanded.
References to these documents will be mainly found in the
list that follows the last chapter, while those to later,
including contemporary, authorities are given (without
courtesy prefixes) in the footnotes, though some duplica-
tion has been unavoidable.

Besides the obligations acknowledged above, I have to
thank Mr. H. H. Cox, Librarian of Lincoln College,
Oxford, for kindly allowing me to reproduce the title-page
of the recently discovered copy in the College library of
the long unknown 1628 edition of Doctor Faustus. My
brother-in-law, Dr. S. G. Owen, has given me helpful
information about the early editions of Ovid Amores.
My wife, with whom, as a lover of Marlowe, I would
associate this volume, has lent her aid in the preparation
of the Index. I am once again greatly indebted to the
vigilance of the lynx-eyed Clarendon Press Readers.
Finally, I wish to thank the Delegates of the Press for
proceeding with the publication of this work amidst
war's alarms. Yet it is perhaps not inappropriate that

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