natural; and I must confess, for my own part, that I should have
been more surprised if the coincidence had been less exact."

We will borrow one more paragraph from Mr. Spedding's communication
(which is distinguished throughout by the liberality of tone of a true
scholar), and we doubt not that the wish expressed at its conclusion is
one in which our readers join as heartily as ourselves:--

"I hope, however, that Mr. Hickson may be induced to pursue his
own investigation further, and to develop more fully the
suggestion which he throws out as to a difference of style
discernible in the scenes which he attributes to Shakspeare. If
I understand him rightly, he sees traces in this play of the
earlier as well as the later hand of both poets. I cannot say
that I perceive any indications of this myself, nor, if it be
so, can I well make out how it should have come to pass. But I
should be glad to hear more about it."

It will be seen by the following extract from Mr. Emerson's
_Representative Men_, for which we are indebted to our correspondent
A.R., that the subject had attracted the attention of that distinguished
writer.--

"In _Henry VIII._, I think I see plainly the cropping out of the
original rock on which his (Shakspeare's) own finer stratum was
laid. The first play was written by a superior, thoughtful man,
with a vicious ear. I can mark his lines, and know well their
cadence. See Wolsey's Soliloquy, and the following scene with
Cromwell, where, instead of the metre of Shakspeare, whose
secret is, that the thought constructs the tune, so that reading