A. H. B. agrees on the whole.
A. H. C.: Act III., 5, and Act IV., 5 seem to me unworthy of Massinger. Perhaps a third hand wrote Act I., 3; Act II., 2-7; Act III., 1, as far as “will ripen the [pg 153] imposture”; Act III., 3; Act V., 1, as far as “Exeunt wife and daughter.”
7. Henry the Eighth. (Massinger and Fletcher.)
A. H. B. agrees, attributing a few passages to Shakspere, notably the trial scene of Catherine.
Sir A. Ward thinks that Massinger and Fletcher wrote most of the play, Shakspere only a little (H. E. D., ii., 246).
Macaulay ascribes it to Shakspere and Fletcher, “perhaps revised by Massinger.”
For a fuller discussion of this problem, cf. pp. [84-91].
8. The Two Noble Kinsmen. (Massinger and Fletcher.)
M.: Act I.; Act II., 1; Act III., 1, 2; Act IV., 3; Act V., 1 from line 19, 3, 4.
A. H. B. thinks that Shakspere wrote additions for the revival of an old play, Palamon and Arsett, which came into the hands of Fletcher and Massinger after the death of Shakspere. Massinger has interpolated his own work in some of the Shakspere passages.