Notes and Queries, Number 13, January 26, 1850 by Various
page 6 of 63 (09%)
page 6 of 63 (09%)
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as he will then make still remained to be made. The first passage is
from the so-called _old "Taming of a Shrew"_ (six old plays, 1779, p. 161.), and runs as follows:-- "Now that the gloomy shadow of the night, Longing to view Orion's drisling looks, Leaps from th' Antarctic world unto the sky, And dims the welkin with her pitchy breath;" the second is from _Doctor Faustus_ (Marlowe's Works, vol. ii. p. 127.), which, however, I shall save myself the trouble of transcribing; as, with the exception of "look" for "looks," in the second line, and "his" for "her," in the fourth, the two passages will be found identical. Being, some years ago, engaged, in connection with the first of these plays, in the pursuit of a very different object,--in which I cannot say that I altogether failed, and the result of which I may take an opportunity of communicating,--I made a note of the above; and at the same time followed it up by a general examination of the style of Marlowe. And, to make a long matter short, I may say that in this examination, besides meeting with a dozen instances of the identity of the writer of passages in the _Taming of a Shrew_ and of passages in Marlowe's two plays, _Doctor Faustus_ and _Tamburlaine_, I found such general resemblance in style as left no doubt upon my mind that, if one of these plays be his acknowledged work, as indisputable will be his claim to the other two. I was not aware at that time of the evidence, in Henslow's _Diary_, of Marlowe's authorship of _Tamburlaine_; but, so far from considering it inferior, I was inclined to place it, in some important respects, at the very head of his plays. I will not take up your space now with the parallel passages which I |
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