--nay, more
than half, was _not_ written by Shakspeare."
My intention now is not to enter into any argument in support of this
view, but to state the results, which will be shown in the following
extract from my note-book:
_Henry VIII._
Act I. Scene 1. Shakspeare.
" 2. Ditto.
" 3. Fletcher.
" 4. Ditto.
Act II. " 1. Ditto.
" 2. Ditto.
" 3. Shakspeare.
" 4. Ditto.
Act III. " 1. Fletcher.
" 2. Shakspeare, (ending with 'what
appetite you have.')
" 2. Fletcher, (beginning from the
above.)
Act IV. " 1. Ditto.
" 2. Ditto.
Act V. Scene 1. Shakspeare
" 2. Fletcher.
" 3. Ditto.
" 4. Ditto.
Prologue and Epilogue, Ditto.
So far all is clear, and in this apportionment Mr. Urban's correspondent
and myself are agreed. My conviction here is as complete as it is of my
own identity. But beyond, at present, all is dark; I cannot understand
the arrangement; and I doubt if my friend, who has treated the question
with so much ability, is altogether satisfied with his own explanation.
In the meanwhile, I would suggest one or two points for consideration.
In those parts which I have set down as Shakspeare's, and in which this
writer imagines he occasionally detects "a third hand," does the metre
differ materially from that of Shakspeare's early plays?
It will be observed that, in Act iii.
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