What an epitaph for the greatest might-have-been in English literature: "Christopher Marlowe, slain by a serving-man in a drunken brawl, aged twenty-nine!" But by the time Shakespeare had reached his fortieth birthday every one of his fellow-playwrights round that table had rushed to his death.
The short stout gentleman who is fond of making jokes, and not particular whom he confides them to, has heard another good story about Tarleton.

This is the low comedian Kempe, who stepped into the shoes of flat-nosed, squinting Tarleton the other day, but never quite manages to fill them.

He whispers the tale across Will's back to Cowley, before it is made common property; and little fancies, as he does so, that any immortality he and his friend may gain will be owing to their having played, before the end of the sixteenth century, the parts of _Dogberry_ and _Verges_ in a comedy by Shakespeare, whom they are at present rather in the habit of patronizing.

The story is received with boisterous laughter, for it suits the time and place.
[Illustration] Peele is in the middle of a love-song when Kit stumbles across the room to say a kind word to Shakespeare.

That is a sign that George is not yet so very tipsy; for he is a gallant and a squire of dames so long as he is sober.