English drama -- Early modern and Elizabethan, 1500-1600; Greene, Robert, 1558-1592
We have, in a disjointed manner, no doubt, presented Greene's life
under the heads of the sources from which our information is gained,
rather than in regular chronological sequence, in order that due
discrimination may be used in constructing the finished scheme of his
life's activities. To the imaginative reader there is material enough
and to spare, but to the exact scientist there is a bare modicum.
Without rash assumptions it seems safe to imagine that Greene's
father, like Rabbi Bilessi and Gorinius, was well-to-do; that with the
exception of the duration of his domestic life, Greene's married life
is substantially represented by the story of Isabel and Francesco;
that as a playwright Greene experienced the vicissitudes suggested
in _Never too Late_ and _A Groatsworth of Wit_; and that his death
is substantially represented by Harvey in _Four Letters_. Attempting
a bare outline of Greene's life one would feel safe in assuming that
he was born not earlier than 1558; that he took his bachelor's degree
at St John's College, Cambridge, in 1578; thereafter toured the
continent, probably after the 3rd of October 1580, at which date the
first part of _Mamillia_ was registered; that returning he took his
M.A. at Clare Hall in 1583, and immediately began the composition of
love pamphlets and comedies, the latter being now lost; that he married
not later than 1585, lived with his wife until after the birth of a
child, in 1586 deserted her, and went to London never to return. There
undertaking the composition of serious plays, the first extant play is
produced in 1587 or 1588, he is incorporated Master of Arts at Oxford
in July 1588, and continues "that high and loose course of living which
poets generally follow" (Anthony Wood), writing love pamphlets until
about 1590, and then, in obedience to a promise repeatedly made by
himself, pressing forward the exposure of the devices used by cozeners
and conny-catchers, until his untimely death on 3rd September 1592.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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