NATHANIEL WIBURNE (c. 1597). Possible author of the academic Machiavellus (cf. App. K). GEORGE WILKINS (fl. 1604-8). Lee (D. N. B.) after personally consulting the register of St. Leonard's Shoreditch, confirms the extract in Collier, iii. 348, of the burial on 19 Aug. 1603 of 'George Wilkins, the poet'. It must therefore be assumed that the date of 9 Aug. 1613 given for the entry by T. E. Tomlins in Sh. Soc. Papers, i. 34, from Ellis's History of Shoreditch (1798) is an error, and that the 'poet' was distinct from the dramatist. Nothing is known of Wilkins except that he wrote pamphlets from c. 1604 to 1608, and towards the end of that period was also engaged in play-writing both for the King's and the Queen's men. A George Wilkins of St. Sepulchre's, described as a victualler and aged 36, was a fellow witness with Shakespeare in Belott v. Mountjoy on 19 June 1612 (C. W. Wallace, N. U. S. x. 289).
The Miseries of Enforced, Marriage. 1607
S. R. 1607, July 31 (Buck). 'A tragedie called the Miserye of inforced Marriage.' George Vyncent (Arber, iii. 357). 1607. The Miseries of Inforst Manage. As it is now playd by his Maiesties Seruants. By George Wilkins. For George Vincent.
1611; 1629; 1637.
Editions in Dodsley^{2-4} (1780-1874) and by W. Scott (1810, A. B. D. ii) and J. S. Farmer (1913, S. F. T.). The play, which was based on the life of Walter Calverley, as given in pamphlets of 1605, appears to have been still on the stage when it was printed. An allusion in III. ii to fighting with a windmill implies some knowledge of Don Quixote, but of this there are other traces by 1607. The Clown is called Robin in II. ii, and Fleay, ii. 276, suggests that Armin took the part. He comes in singing:
From London am I come, Though not with pipe and drum,
in reference to Kempe's morris.
Doubtful Plays
Wilkins probably wrote Acts I, II of Pericles, and it has been suggested that he also wrote certain scenes of Timon of Athens; but the relation of his work to Shakespeare's cannot be gone into here.
The anonymous Yorkshire Tragedy has also been ascribed to him.
ROBERT WILMOT (> 1566-91 <).
A student of the Inner Temple, and afterwards Rector of North Ockendon, Essex, from 28 Nov. 1582 and of Horndon-on-the-Hill, Essex, from 2 Dec. 1585. William Webbe, A Discourse of English Poetry (ed. Arber, 35), commends his writing.
