The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1902-12-21

| rhyt hmic.accent tests. Let us glance,
for a moment at some Of these criteria
A weak-ending line Is a line which
| ends with some merely connective word,
such as a conjunction, a proposition or an
! auxiliary verb, instead cf ending, as a
large majority of Shakespeare's lines do
| end, In a noun, or a verb, or some other
! important vocable. Words like and. for,
that, IL, upon, be, could. NJ. are specimen,
Of weak endings. Among the examples
cited by MIR. LaI.ier are the following:
Some food we have. and some fresh water ,hss
| 4 noble Neapolitsn. Gonzalo.
| Did give us,
Again:
md my zenith doth depend upon
| A most auspicious star.
Once more
A frcckied wheip. bag -born-not honored with
| human shape.
1t Is obvious that the weak-ending line
is only a species OF the run -on line Tho
proposition or conjunction leading the mind
| and voice to find its regimen In the next
line. The weak lending line being thus
| only one sort Of ruii-on line. there would
be no necessity for erecting II into a special
class, were II not for the peculiar fact that.
| while Shakespeare's use Of the run-on limo
increased, on the whole. gradually. from
his first plays to his last. his use Of the
weak tending line may be said to have begun
abruptly. far on in his career at Macbeth
According to the computation made BY
Prof Ingram, with whose name the weak
| ending test is especially associated. there
Is not a single weak-ending line in The
Comedy of Errors which is an early play
not one In THE Two Gentlemen Of Verona
1,,l, i n =
! only two in AS You Like It." and only four
In Twelfth Night" On the other hand
when we get to Macbeth" we come sud.
denly upon twenty-three; and then. in
Antony and Cleopatra" the number
jumps up to 90, while in the Tempest
which has only about half as many verse.
lines a. Antony and Cleopatra We meet
! with 81 weak endings, equivalent to about
$50 a. compared with the other play This
numerical exhibit seems to give us an in.
sight into Shakespeare's mind a. regards
versifcation. II seems clear that up to
| q certain point he studiously avoided tho
weak-ending line. but that about the date
| OF Macbeth he entirely changed his
opinion concerning it. and thereafter per.
mitted himself too Use the weak ending
| line with perfect freedom. The result
might have been looked for. inasmuch
as the weak ending line Is only one species
Of run-on line; and the same mental process
which led him to use the run-on line more
| and more frequently must have led him to
countenanoe the weak-ending line more
willingly.
Now let US mark the application Of the
! double-ending test to Shakespeare's plays,
considered as q criterion Of authorship
and chronology. A good example of tho
double ending will be found in the lines
Oh I have suffered
With those that saw suffer: brave vessel
Who had no doubt. some noble creatures In hes.
Now it turns out that the plays shown to
be late by the other tests are also shown to
be late by the test Of double endings Ac.
| oording to q table prepared by Mr.. Fleay.
there are In Loves LAbor's Lost" only nine
double endings: in Midsummer Nights
Dream only twenty-nine; whereas in
Two Gentlemen OF Verona va advance to
2Os, and in 'As You Like It to I'll. When
We get into the second period, Macbeth
exhibits 500 double endings; Hamlet 500
| and 'Othello' e4s while In the third period
'Cymbeline" yields 72e and the Tempest
with about 100 fewer lines in its total
| than sCymbelineO 40 double endings.
Here, certainly. was an extraordinary
change in Shakespeare versifcation. Yet.
although between the late play -Cymbeline'
and the early play Loves IAbor's Lost
there Ia the enormous disproportion Of 72e
double endings az against ., 1t does not
appear that Shakespeare allowed the at
Effectiveness Of the double ending to run
| away with him, as 1t did with Fletcher.
Mr.. Fleoy, who subjected Fletcher's plays
to . minute examination. found in Custom
| Of the Country l.7so double endings; In
women Pleased" ,s2S: in wild Goose
Chase" i,s+o; in the Humorous Lieu
tenant 2.is3. and in THE Loyal Subject
2,2oo double endings.
II L. the double-ending test that IL gen.
| orally held. not only to have settled con-
| clusively that the play Of King Henry
VIII was written by Shakespeare and
Fletcher. but also to have separated with
accuracy the scenes and lines which were
| written by one from those which were
penned by the other. As early as the date
Of the publication Of Representative Men"
Ralph Waldo Emerson pointed out that
there seemed to be traces of different au-
thors in Henry WILL" and although he
did not suspect Fletcher he described him
when he attributed certain lines to "a
superior, thoughtful man with q vicious
ear In 1850 Mr.. Speeding published a
paper in which he adduced many reasons
for ascribing to Fletcher part Of Henry
WILL. and this suggestion was followed
by an independently worked-out judg-
ment OF Mr. Samuel Hicksons, published
during the same year.
The application Of the double.ending
test has not only, as we have said, con.
L.