8 | 0
Othello, | 2 | 0
Lear, | 5 | 1
Timon (whole), | 16 | 5
(Sh. in Fleay), | 14 | 7
(Sh. in Globe), | 13 | 2
Macbeth, | 21 | 2
-----------------------------------------

Now here the figures for the first three plays tell us practically
nothing. The tendency to a freer use of these endings is not visible. As
to _Timon_, the number of weak endings, I think, tells us little, for
probably only two or three are Shakespeare's; but the rise in the number
of light endings is so marked as to be significant. And most significant
is this rise in the case of _Macbeth_, which, like Shakespeare's part of
_Timon_, is much shorter than the preceding plays. It strongly confirms
the impression that in _Macbeth_ we have the transition to Shakespeare's
last style, and that the play is the latest of the five tragedies.[290]

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 282: The fact that _King Lear_ was performed at Court on
December 26, 1606, is of course very far from showing that it had never
been performed before.]

[Footnote 283: I have not tried to discover the source of the difference
between these two reckonings.]

[Footnote 284: _Der Vers in Shakspere's Dramen_, 1888.]

[Footnote 285: In the parts of _Timon_ (Globe text) assigned by Mr.
Fleay to Shakespeare, I find the percentage to be about 74.5. Koenig
gives 62.8 as the percentage in the whole of the play.]

[Footnote 286: I have noted also what must be a mistake in the case of
Pericles. Koenig gives 17.1 as the percentage of the speeches with broken
ends. I was astounded to see the figure, considering the style in the
undoubtedly Shakespearean parts; and I find that, on my method, in Acts
III., IV., V. the percentage is about 71, in the first two Acts (which
show very slight, if any, traces of Shakespeare's hand) about 19. I
cannot imagine the origin of the mistake here.]

[Footnote 287: I put the matter thus, instead of saying that, with a
run-on line, one does pass to the next line without any pause, because,
in common with many others, I should not in any case whatever _wholly_
ignore the fact that one line ends and another begins.]

[Footnote 288: These overflows are what Koenig calls 'schroffe
Enjambements,' which he considers to correspond with Furnivall's 'run-on
lines.']

[Footnote 289: The number of light endings, however, in _Julius Caesar_
(10) and _All'