SHAKESPEARE'S " HENRY VIII." [To THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR. ")
SIR,—I am surprised to find the question of a twofold authorship•
ignored in your review of "Henry Mr. Furnivall tells us that Mr. Tennyson detected Fletcher's hand largely in the play as longago as his undergraduate days ; and the point has since been fully worked out by Mr. Spedding and others, as may be seen in the new Shakspere Society's transactions, Part I. I may add that the conversation between Katharine and Griffith, and the reverie of Wolsey over his lost greatness, are among the portions assigned to Fletcher.
Of course the theory of divided authorship does not affect your critique of the play as a whole, but if true, it may serve to account for certain inequalities in the result, and save us from the error of making Shakespeare responsible for the shortcomings of an inferior writer.—I am, Sir, &c., H. A. EVANS.
Previous page
