Contemporary critics praised Oxford as a poet and a playwright. William Webbe names him as "the most excellent" of Elizabeth's courtier poets. Puttenham's "The Arte of English Poesie" (1589), places him first on a list of courtier poets and includes an excerpt from "When wert thou born desire" as an example of "his excellance and wit". Puttenham also says that "highest praise" should be given to Oxford and Richard Edwardes for "Comedy and Enterlude". Francis Meres' "Palladis Tamia" (1598) names Oxford first of 17 playwrights listed by rank who are "the best for comedy amongst us", and he also appears first on a list of seven Elizabethan courtly poets "who honoured Poesie with their pens and practice" in Henry Peacham's 1622 "The Compleat Gentleman".