"flights upon the banks of Thames
So did take Eliza and our James,"


Will Shakspere "was gracious with the Queen."

We may compare the dedication of the Folio of 1623; here two players
address the Earls of Pembroke and Montgomery. They have the audacity
to say nothing about having asked and received permission to
dedicate. They say that the Earls "have prosecuted both the plays
and their authour living" (while in life) "with much favour." They
"have collected and published the works of 'the dead' . . . only to
keep alive the memory of so worthy a Friend, and Fellow" (associate)
"as was our Shakespeare, 'your servant Shakespeare.'"

Nothing can possibly be more explicit, both as to the actor's
authorship of the plays, and as to the favour in which the two Earls
held him. Mr. Greenwood {110a} supposes that Jonson wrote the
Preface, which contains an allusion to a well-known ode of Horace,
and to a phrase of Pliny. Be that as it may, the Preface signed by
the two players speaks to Pembroke and Montgomery. To THEM it cannot
lie; THEY know whether they patronised the actor or not; whether they
believed, or not, that the plays were their "servant's." How is Mr.
Greenwood to overcome this certain testimony of the Actors, to the
identity of their late "Fellow" the player, with the author; and to
the patronage which the Earls bestowed on him and his compositions?
Mr. Greenwood says nothing except that we may reasonably suppose Ben
to have written the dedication which the players signed. {111a}

Whether or not the two Earls had a personal knowledge of Shakespeare,