Thomas Alleyn

“ Sir Thomas Aleyn is come where we had lodged the money, the thing is known, do they not hear of it? Yes they hear as well as you, and know what is done, and some have eyes upon you. Said I they will run away with the jewels. No you shall meet about three o'clock either by the Blue-Pig at Tower-Hill, or at Nag's-Head over against White-Chapel church. ”

“ As depicted in the large collection of his own and Henslowe's papers at Dulwich, Alleyn's character was one of singular amiability, combined with great shrewdness and aptitude in business affairs; and his piety and benevolence are no less conspicuous in his early correspondence and in his diary than in his last will and in the noble foundation by which he is best remembered. That a man of so kindly a nature should have made profit from the cruelties of the Bear Garden is repugnant to modern ideas ”

“ There is work in the world, man, and it is not by hiding behind stone walls that we shall do it.”
“Why, then, did you join the brothers?” asked Alleyne.
“A fair enough question; but it is as fairly answered. I joined them because Margery Alspaye, of Bolder, married Crooked Thomas of Ringwood, and left a certain John of Hordle in the cold, for that he was a ranting, roving blade who was not to be trusted in wedlock. That was why, being fond and hot-headed, I left the world; and that is why, having had time to take thought, I am right glad to find myself back in it once more. ”

“ In the very midst of the scuffle, however, whilst Alleyne braced himself to feel the cold blade between his shoulders, there came a sudden scurry of hoofs, and the black man yelled with terror, and ran for his life through the heather. The man with the birth-mark, too struggled to break away, and Alleyne heard his teeth chatter and felt his limbs grow limp to his hand. At this sign of coming aid the clerk held on the tighter, and at last was able to pin his man down and glance behind him to see whence all the noise was coming. ”

“ Alleyn’s life is more fully dealt with than is here possible in G. F. Warner and F. Bickley, Catalogue of Dulwich MSS. (1881, 1903) ; G. F. Warner in D. N. B. (1885) ; W. Young, History of Dulwich College (1889) ; W. W. Greg, Henslowe Papers (1907) , Henslowe’s Diary, vol. ii (1908) . An earlier treatment of the material is that by J. P. Collier, Memoirs of Edward Alleyn (1841) , Alleyn Papers (1843) . On an account by G. Steevens in Theatrical Review (1763) with a forged letter from Peele to Marlowe, cf. ”

“ Alleyn's inventory still exists, or did exist very recently, in his own handwriting, at Dulwich College; it is without heading or date, and relates almost exclusively to the dresses worn by himself in his personation of various characters upon the stage. It is of interest, seeing that it demonstrates the assumption by Alleyn of various parts, if not in Shakespeare's plays, at any rate in the earlier dramas upon which the poet founded certain of his noblest works. ”

“ Methinks, Alleyne, it is this learning which you have taught her that has taken all the life and sap from her. It is more than she can master, like a heavy spear to a light rider.”
“Her lady-mother has so ordered it,” said Alleyne.
“By our Lady! and withouten disrespect,” quoth Terlake, “it is in my mind that her lady-mother is more fitted to lead a company to a storming than to have the upbringing of this tender and milk-white maid. Hark ye, lad Alleyne, to what I never told man or woman yet. I love the fair Lady Maude, and would give the last drop of my heart's blood to serve her.” ”

“ I pray you, Alleyne, to give him greeting from me, and to ask him for his titles and coat-armour. It may be that I can relieve him of some vow, or perchance he hath a lady whom he would wish to advance.'
'Nay, my fair lord,' said Alleyne, 'these are not horses and a squire, but mules and a varlet. The man is a mercer, for he hath a great bundle beside him.'
'Now, God's blessing on your honest English voice!' cried the stranger, pricking up his ears at the sound of Alleyne's words. 'Never have I heard music that was so sweet to mine ear. Come, Watkin lad, throw the bales over Laura's back! ”

“ May God be with you!'
'May God be with you, young man!' she cried. 'May He make your heart as glad as you have made mine!' She turned away, still mumbling blessings, and Alleyne saw her short figure and her long shadow stumbling slowly up the slope.
He was moving away himself, when his eyes lit upon a strange sight, and one which sent a tingling through his skin. Out of the tangled scrub on the old overgrown barrow two human faces were looking at him; the sinking sun glimmered full upon them, showing up every line and feature. ”

“ If you are the Socman's brother you are one of the right side, I warrant, for all your clerkly dress.'
'His brother I am,' replied Alleyne. 'But even if I were not, is that reason why you should molest me on the king's ground?'
'I give not the pip of an apple for king or for noble,' cried the serf passionately. 'Ill have I had from them, and ill I shall repay them. I am a good friend to my friends, and, by the Virgin! an evil foeman to my foes.'
'And therefore the worst of foemen to thyself,' said Alleyne. ”

“ He asks that further letters may be sent to him by the carriers to Shrewsbury, West Chester, or York, ‘to be keptt till my Lord Stranges players com’. He does not expect to be home until All Saints’ Day. A reply from Henslowe and Mrs. Alleyn on 14 August is in fact addressed to ‘Mr. Edwarde Allen on of my lorde Stranges players’. This mentions an illness of Alleyn at Bath during which one of his fellows had had to play his part. With these letters is one written to Mrs. Allen on behalf of a ‘servant’ of Alleyn’s, whose name was Pige or Pyk, by the hand of Mr. ”

“ I have been in sore need of you, Alleyne.'
'God be with you, my fair lord!' the squire answered. 'I trust that you have taken no hurt from all that you have gone through yesterday.'
'Nay; I feel the fresher for it, Alleyne. It has eased my joints, which were somewhat stiff from these years of peace. I trust, Alleyne, that thou didst very carefully note and mark the bearing and carriage of this knight of France: for it is time, now when you are young, that you should see all that is best, and mould your own actions in accordance. ”

“ In turning from the service of the one to that of the other, Alleyne could not feel that he was lowering his aims in life. True that his gentle and thoughtful nature recoiled from the grim work of war, yet in those days of martial orders and militant brotherhoods there was no gulf fixed betwixt the priest and the soldier. The man of God and the man of the sword might without scandal be united in the same individual. ”

“ His father was Edward Alleyn of Willen, Bucks, Innholder and porter to the Queen, who died in 1570; his mother, Margaret Townley, for whom he claimed a descent from the Townleys of Lancashire which modern genealogists hesitate to credit, re-married with one John Browne, a haberdasher, between whom and other Brownes who appear in theatrical annals no connexion can be proved. Edward Alleyn is said by Fuller in his Worthies to have been ‘bred a stage player’. In formal deeds he is generally described as ‘yeoman’ or ‘gentleman’, and once, in 1595, as ‘musician’. ”

“ Edward Alleyn, from the portrait preserved at [78] his noble foundation at Dulwich, like a fine Holbein, figures, in blent strength and delicacy, as a genial, or perhaps jovial, soul, finding time for sentiment,—Prynne (included, we suppose, in this company, like the skull at the feast) as a likable if somewhat melancholic young man; while Garrick and his wife playing cards, after Zoffany, present a pair of just very nice young people. ”

“ He was the more surprised therefore when, on coming round a turn in the path, he perceived a man clad in the familiar garb of the order, and seated in a clump of heather by the roadside. Alleyne had known every brother well, but this was a face which was new to him—a face which was very red and puffed, working this way and that, as though the man were sore perplexed in his mind. ”

“ None could seem more safe and secure and at her ease than this lady, yet here also was a symbol of human life, for in an instant, even as Alleyne reined aside to let the carriage pass, a wheel flew out from among its fellows, and over it all toppled—carving, tapestry and gilt—in one wild heap, with the horses plunging, the postilion shouting, and the lady screaming from within. In an instant Alleyne and John were on foot, and had lifted her forth all in a shake with fear, but little the worse for her mischance. ”

“ But were there no other considerations which swayed him from the cloisters towards the world? So complex is the human spirit that it can itself scarce discern the deep springs which impel it to action. Yet to Alleyne had been opened now a side of life of which he had been as innocent as a child, but one which was of such deep import that it could not fail to influence him in choosing his path. A woman, in monkish precepts, had been the embodiment and concentration of what was dangerous and evil—a focus whence spread all that was to be dreaded and avoided. ”

“ Foully murdered, with a score of wounds upon him and a rope round his neck, his poor friend had been cast from the upper window and swung slowly in the night wind, his body rasping against the wall and his disfigured face upon a level with the casement.
“My God!” cried Alleyne, shaking in every limb. “What has come upon us? What devil's deed is this?”
“Here is flint and steel,” said John stolidly. “The lamp, Aylward! This moonshine softens a man's heart. Now we may use the eyes which God hath given us.” ”

“ Alleyne had ceased painting his pied merlin, and sat, brush in hand, staring with open eyes at a type of man so strange and so unlike any whom he had met. Men had been good or had been bad in his catalogue, but here was a man who was fierce one instant and gentle the next, with a curse on his lips and a smile in his eye. What was to be made of such a man as that? ”

“ Let me go!”
“Nenny, nenny!” cried Alleyne, laughing. “There was no scath done. Come back, friend”—and so, by mingled pushing and entreaties, they got his head round for Christchurch once more. Yet he walked with his chin upon his shoulder, until, catching sight of a maiden by a wayside well, the smiles came back to his face and peace to his heart.
“But you,” said Alleyne, “there have been changes with you also. Why should not the workman carry his tools? Where are bow and sword and cap—and why so warlike, John?”
“It is a game which friend Aylward hath been a-teaching of me.” ”

“ The sun lay low in the west upon a purple cloud, whence it threw a mild chastening light over the wild moorland and glittered on the fringe of forest, turning the withered leaves into flakes of dead gold, the brighter for the black depths behind them. To the seeing eye decay is as fair as growth, and death as life. The thought stole into Alleyne's heart as he looked upon the autumnal country-side and marvelled at its beauty. ”

“ Besides the Fortune and the Bear Garden, Alleyn's growing wealth had already enabled him to make leasehold investments in Kennington and Southwark, and at Firle in Sussex; and finally, on 25 Oct. 1605, he purchased from Sir Francis Calton the manor of Dulwich. An allusion to this has been found in a sarcastic passage on rich actors in the ‘Return from Parnassus,’ 1606:
With mouthing words, that better wits have framed,
They purchase lands, and now esquires are made. ”

“ Hordle John caught up the Lady Loring as though she had been a feather, and sprang with her into an open porch; while Aylward, with a whirl of French oaths, plucked at his quiver and tried to unsling his bow. Alleyne, all unnerved at so strange and unwonted a sight, shrank up against the wall with his eyes fixed upon the frenzied creature, which came bounding along with ungainly speed, looking the larger in the uncertain light, its huge jaws agape, with blood and slaver trickling to the ground. ”

“ But indeed, Alleyne, this hath come suddenly upon me, and I scarce know what to say.'
'Say some word of hope, however distant—some kind word that I may cherish in my heart.'
'Nay, Alleyne, it were a cruel kindness, and you have been too good and true a friend to me that I should use you despitefully. There cannot be a closer link between us. It is madness to think of it. ”

“ Take now your choice of these, my worthy gentlemen, and pay such a price as your consciences will suffer you to offer; for I am not a chapman nor a huckster, and I would never part with them, did I not know that I am very near to my reward.”
“Aylward,” said Alleyne excitedly, “this is such a chance as few folk have twice in one life. The nail I must have, and I will give it to the abbey of Beaulieu, so that all the folk in England may go thither to wonder and to pray.” ”

“ And so Alleyne found himself not only chosen as squire to a knight, but also as squire to three damozels, which was even further from the part which he had thought to play in the world. Yet he could but agree to do what he might, and so went forth from the castle hall with his face flushed and his head in a whirl at the thought of the strange and perilous paths which his feet were destined to tread. ”

“ It is not, however, in the nature of things that a lad of twenty, with young life glowing in his veins and all the wide world before him, should spend his first hours of freedom in mourning for what he had left. Long ere Alleyne was out of sound of the Beaulieu bells he was striding sturdily along, swinging his staff and whistling as merrily as the birds in the thicket. It was an evening to raise a man's heart. The sun shining slantwise through the trees threw delicate traceries across the road, with bars of golden light between. ”