Errors because it contains a larger proportion of rhyming lines, until we had first decided whether special incentives to rhyme did not exist in the case of that comedy of Fairyland; and when we meet sucha series of ten lines all rhyming together, as that put into Titania's mouth (Act III. Sc. i. L. 168–177), we see that rhyme here is treated with the design of producing special effects. When it is argued that Richard II. must be earlier in date than Richard III., because it contains a far larger proportion of rhymed lines, we should consider whether a special reason for the great predominance of blank verse did not exist in the case of Richard III. It was written in continuation of Henry VI., and more than any other play of Shakspere under the influence of the great master of blank verse, Marlowe. In Richard II. Shakspere is far more independent of external influence, and he may have been pleased to return to his early manner of rhymed dialogue after a grand experiment in the severer manner of his contemporary. In so late a play as Othello we see how Shakspere introduces rhyme to fulfil a special purpose when he sees fit. Thus in Act I. Sc. iii. L. 201-219, to Brabantio, who has lost his daughter, the Duke offers the cold comfort of sententious moralising, comfort wrapped up in little epigrams, each of these epigrams being a rhymed couplet; and Brabantio replies ironically in the same manner. (See also in the same play, Act II. Sc. i. L. 141-169.) Again, in Troilus and Cressida, Act IV. Sc. v. L. 28-52, where the Greeks kiss Cressida, there is a flippancy in the speeches which they would lose if turned from rhyme into blank verse. Ulysses' vigorous reprobation of Cressida's conduct, which follows, brings the rhymed passages to a close. Again, the half-play, whole-earnest choosing of a husband by Helena in All's Well that Ends Well, Act II. Sc. iii., naturally falls into rhyme. In the same play rhyme is often employed as a vehicle for generalising reflections. We are also bound to

consider, in using the rhyme test, not only the numerical proportions of the rhymed and blank verse parts of a play, but the quality, the literary merit of the parts. As Shakspere advanced in mastery of blank verse, it would be natural that his greatest scenes should more and more fall into that form. At an earlier time we might expect to find the happiest expression of his genius in the rhymed scenes. Statistics with reference to Shakspere's use of rhyme, and other metrical peculiarities are given in Mr. Fleay's Shakespearian Manual, pp. 135, 136. These require verification or correction by a second worker, but are doubtless a valuable approximation to the truth. It must be observed that the ratio of rhyme lines to blank-verse lines fails to indicate the true chronological order of the plays; if, however, "rhyme-scenes" or "verse-scenes" (terms used by Mr. Fleay, and not clearly explained) alone be considered, satisfactory results, according to Mr. Fleay, can be obtained. The matter seems to

be still in doubt.

33. Doggerel, &c.-Doggerel verse, sonnets, and quatrains are not found in plays of late origin.

Two other tests have been suggested and described the "pause test," by Mr. Spedding (New Shakspere Society's Transactions, 1874, p. 26), the "speech-ending test," by Professor Ingram; but they remain to be worked out in detail. The pause test would consist of an analysis of the entire structure of Shakspere's versification at different periods with reference to the distribution of pauses. The speechending test would be founded upon an estimate of the proportion of speeches in each play which end with a complete or with a broken line. The broken speechending is that preferred in the later plays; the speeches in early plays generally end with a complete line.

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CHAPTER V.

PERIODS OF SHAKSPERE'S CAREER.

DATES OF PLAYS.

GROUPS AND

34. Four Periods.----By means of such evidence as has been described in the last chapter we are enabled to determine the precise dates of some of Shakspere's works, in the case of others we can at least approximate to the dates; only in a few cases are we left to conjecture where, within a range of at most some five or seven years, a drama should be placed. Thus, if there is uncertainty here and there in an attempt to assign dates to each particular play, there is little or no uncertainty in naming groups of plays in chronological order, leaving undetermined the order of the plays within those groups.

Shakspere's entire career of authorship extends over twenty years and upwards, beginning about 1588 or 1590, ending about 1612: ten years and upwards lie in the 16th century, ten years and upwards in the 17th. Now the division of the centuries marks roughly a division in the career of Shakspere. About 1601 his genius began to seek new ways; the histories and joyous comedies ceased to be created, and the great series of tragedies was commenced. But each of the decades, which together make up the years of Shakspere's authorship, is itself clearly divisible into two shorter periods: first, from about 1590 to 1595-96, years of dramatic apprenticeship and experiment; secondly, from about 1595-96 to about 1600-1601, the period of the English historical plays and the mirthful and joyous comedies; thirdly, from 1601 to about 1608, the period of grave or bitter comedies and of the great tragedies; last, from about 1608 to 1611 or

1613, the period of the romantic plays, which are at once grave and glad, serene and beautiful poems, like The Tempest and The Winter's Tale. These four periods may be designated with reference to the class of works written in each, or with reference to the subjects of those works, or with reference to the kind of versification which was characteristic of each period, or with reference to Shakspere's supposed condition and state of mind in each. I think the reader will remember the following names of the four periods, which may seem fanciful, yet which perhaps convey as much true information as any others: I will call the first period, "In the workshop;" the second, "In the world;" the third, "Out of the depths;" the fourth, "On the heights." The significance of these names will appear as we proceed.

35. Groups of Plays.

Pre-Shaksperian

Group. Now let us go farther, and try to make out groups of Shakspere's plays in chronological order. Shakspere began his apprenticeship by re-handling plays which were not his. Of such work we have examples in Titus Andronicus and the First Part of Henry VI., plays of blood, bombast, and fire, pre-Shaksperian in spirit, but showing touches of that hand which even in its apprentice years was capable of master touches. These two plays we name (i.) the "pre-Shaksperian group."

36. Early Comedy.-Next, the young dramatist went to work on his own account, and began to experiment in different kinds of comedy. Love's Labour's Lost is full of a young man's thought, wit, and satire, a comedy of oddities, of dialogue carefully elaborated and pointed (as dialogue in a first original work would be), and underlying this a young man's theory with reference to culture and education; The Comedy of Errors is a comedy of incident, almost a farce; The Two Gentlemen of Verona is a first and somewhat slight experiment in the same kind of love-comedy of which Shakspere afterwards created so many delightful

examples; A Midsummer Night's Dream is bright with the poetry of a young man's fancy: in Theseus there is a fine sketch of heroic character, and in Bottom and his companions we find Shakspere's richest humorous work of this period. Whether The Two Gentlemen of Verona or A Midsummer Night's Dream was written first cannot be decided. This group of four plays we name (ii.) "Early Comedy."

37. Early History. Poems. While engaged upon this group Shakspere's powers as a rising playwright must have been recognised; before he had completed it Venus and Adonis was published. When Chettle wrote in 1592, Shakspere had already gained the patronage of powerful friends. It is probable that while engaged on his early comedies, Shakspere (continuing to re-handle dramas for the stage) set about the revision of the old historical plays, The Contention and The True Tragedy, and was assisted by Marlowe, one of the original authors of the old plays. Thus came the Second and Third Parts of Henry VI. to be written, and the character of Richard in those plays was recognised by Shakspere as so admirable a creation for dramatic purposes, that he proceeded to a new play, of which he was sole author, in which Richard should be the principal, one might almost say the only actor. Richard III. was a character so essentially Marlowesque, and Shakspere had been so lately working in conjunction with that great poet, that he carried on the Marlowesque spirit from Henry VI. into his own play. This group of three plays we name (iii.) "Early History," and must add a second title, "the Marlowe-Shakspere group," finding in the Second and Third Parts of Henry VI. Marlowe's presence, and in Richard III. (almost more dominant than his presence) Marlowe's influence. To this period. belongs the Lucrece.

38. Early Tragedy.—From an early date Shakspere seems to have designed a tragedy; not one of the bloody school of the pre-Shaksperians,