verses (which have not come down) as ‘poore testimonies of a more rich affection;’ and there is extant an undated letter, probably written about the same time, in which he thanks Alleyn for the ‘last remembrance of your love,’ and commends to him a young man as a servant. In 1620 appeared ‘Dekker his Dreame, in which, beeing rapt with a Poeticall Enthusiasme, the great volumes of Heauen and Hell to him were opened, in which he read many Wonderfull Things,’ 4to, a very rare tract in verse (of little interest), with a woodcut portrait on the title-page of a man—presumably the author—dreaming in bed. ‘The Virgin Martyr,’ 1622, by Massinger and Dekker, is more orderly and artistic than any of the plays that Dekker wrote alone; but there can be no doubt that Lamb was right in assigning to Dekker the tender and beautiful colloquy (act. ii. scene 1) between Dorothea and Angelo. ‘A Rod for Run-Awayes,’ 1625, 4to, describes the state of terror caused by the plague in 1625. ‘Warres, Warres, Warres,’ 1628, 12mo, is an excessively rare tract. Extracts from it are given by Collier (in his ‘Bibliographical Catalogue’), but no copy can at present be traced. In 1628 and 1629 Dekker composed the mayoralty pageants, ‘Britannia's Honour,’ 4to, and ‘London's Tempe,’ 4to. ‘Match Mee in London,’ 4to, a tragi-comedy, was published in 1631, but was written several years earlier; for it is mentioned in Sir Henry Herbert's ‘Diary’ under date 21 Aug. 1623 as ‘an old play,’ which had been licensed by Sir George Buc. In May 1631 a play called ‘The Noble Spanish Souldier’ was entered by John Jackman in the ‘Stationers' Register’ as a work of Dekker, and was again entered as Dekker's in December 1633 by Nicholas Vavasour. It was published by Vavasour in 1634 under the title of ‘The Noble Sovldier, or a Contract Broken Justly Reveng'd. A tragedy, written by S. R.,’ 4to, and has been usually attributed to Samuel Rowley; but it is probable that the play was largely, if not entirely, written by Dekker. Some passages from ‘The Noble Sovldier’ are found in Day's ‘Parliament of Bees,’ 1641, which also contains passages from Dekker's ‘The Wonder of a Kingdom,’ a tragi-comedy published in 1636, 4to. ‘The Sun's Darling,’ by Dekker and Ford, first published in 1656, 4to, may perhaps be an alteration of Dekker's lost ‘Phaeton.’ There can be no doubt that the lyrical portions should be ascribed to Dekker. In Sir Henry Herbert's ‘Diary,’ under date 3 March 1624, is the entry ‘for the Cock-pit Company, the Sun's Darling in the nature of a masque, by Deker and Forde.’ Another play or masque by Ford and Dekker, ‘The Fairy Knight,’ is mentioned in the ‘Diary’ under date 11 June 1624, but it was not printed. ‘The Witch of Edmonton,’ by Ford, Rowley, and Dekker, was first published in 1658. The characters of Winifrede and Susan are drawn in Dekker's gentlest manner. In 1637 Dekker republished ‘Lanthorne and Candlelight,’ under the title of ‘English Villainies,’ 4to. This was his last publication, and it is supposed that he died shortly afterwards.
A poem of Dekker's, entitled ‘The Artillery Garden,’ was entered in the ‘Stationers' Register,’ 29 Nov. 1615, but no copy of it has been hitherto traced. Among the plays destroyed by Warburton's servant were two of Dekker's works: a comedy entitled ‘Jocondo and Astolfo,’ and an historical play, ‘The King of Swedland.’ They had been entered in the ‘Stationers' Register,’ 29 June 1660, but were not printed. Another unpublished play of Dekker, ‘The Jew of Venice,’ was entered in the ‘Stationers' Register,’ 9 Sept. 1653. ‘A French Tragedy of the Bellman of Paris, written by Thomas Dekkirs and John Day, for the Company of the Red Bull,’ was licensed by Sir Henry Herbert, 30 July 1623, but was not printed. Commendatory verses by Dekker are prefixed to ‘The Third and Last Part of Palmerin of England,’ 1602; ‘A True and Admirable Historie of a Mayden of Confolens,’ 1603, 8vo; the ‘Works’ of Taylor the Water-poet, 1630; and Richard Brome's ‘Northern Lass,’ 1632. A tract entitled ‘Greevous Grones for the Poore,’ 1622, has been assigned without evidence to Dekker. Collier plausibly suggests that Dekker may have been the author of the anonymous ‘Newes from Graves End,’ 1604.
Dekker's dramatic works were collected by Mr. R. H. Shepherd in 1873, 4 vols. 8vo. His miscellaneous works, 5 vols., are included in Dr. Grosart's ‘Huth Library.’ When all deductions have been made on the score of inartistic and reckless workmanship, Dekker's best plays rank with the masterpieces of the Elizabethan drama; and his numerous tracts, apart from their sterling literary interest, are simply invaluable for the information that they afford concerning the social life of Elizabethan and Jacobean times.
[Henslowe's Diary, passim; Langbaine's Dramatick Poets with Oldys's manuscript annotations; biographical notice prefixed to Dekker's Dramatic Works, 1874; Grosart's Memorial Introduction; Corser's Collectanea; Hazlitt's Bibl. Collections; Collier's Bibl. Cat.; Brit. Mus. Cat.; article by A. C. Swinburne in Nineteenth Century, January 1887.]
DE LACY. [See Lacy.]
