ABSTRACT
By April, 1593, Harvey's gentlewoman had written a work which made the “Strange News of the railing villain [Nashe], the cushionet of her needles and pins.” Harvey also recommends to Thomas Nashe a comedy about two asses, which is “a more notable pageant than the interlude of the Sosia, of the two Amphitryos, or the two Menaechmi.” The Comedy of Errors (c.1593) is sourced from Plautus's plays, Menaechmi and Amphitruo. The two asses in Comedy of Errors are the Dromio twins speaking words from Nashe's Strange News (January, 1592/3) and Robert Greene's Quip for an Upstart Courtier, respectively. Evidence for the Dromio asses being modelled upon Thomas Nashe and Robert Greene is presented. In his Four Letters (1592), Harvey attempts to cure Nashe of his devilish ways, and likewise in The Comedy of Errors, Dr Pinch attempts to cure the devil-possessed Dromio. Overseeing the play's resolution is the Abbess Emilia. This play, composed and performed between January and April, 1593, satirizes the Nashe-Harvey quarrel. Robert Greene, who died in September, 1592, also appears to be eulogised at the play's conclusion.
