s a
bookseller's mistake or deception without warrant. _Locrine_, "newly set
forth, overseen, and corrected by W. S., 1595," is a play of about the
date of _Titus Andronicus_, and is probably by Greene, Peele, or some
imitator of Marlowe and Kyd. _Sir John Oldcastle_ appeared in 1600 in
two quartos, one of which ascribed it to William Shakespeare, but it was
clearly composed for the Admiral's men as a rival to the Falstaff plays
which the Chamberlain's men had been acting. _Thomas Lord Cromwell_
(1602) and _The Puritan_ (1607) were ascribed to W. S., on their
title-pages, but offer no possible resemblances to Shakespeare. _The
London Prodigal_ (1605) and _A Yorkshire Tragedy_ (1608) were both acted
by Shakespeare's company, and bore his name on their first editions, and
the latter also on a second edition, 1619. The external evidence for his
authorship is virtually the same as in the case of _Pericles_, which
also was acted by his company, appeared under his name during his
lifetime, but was rejected by the editors of the First Folio. No one,
however, can discover any suggestion of Shakespeare in _The London
Prodigal_. _A Yorkshire Tragedy_ is a domestic tragedy in one act,
dealing with a contemporary murder. It gives the conclusion of a story
also treated in a play, _The Miseries of Enforced Marriage_ (1607) by
George Wilkins, the author of a novel _The Painful Adventures of
Pericles_, and sometimes suggested as a collaborator on the play
_Pericles_. _A Yorkshire Tragedy_ is very unlike Shakespeare, but it has
a few passages of extraordinarily vivid prose, which might conceivably
owe something to him.

[Page Heading: The Two Noble Kinsmen]

_The Two Noble Kinsmen_ was registered April 8, 1634, and appeared in
the same year with the following title-page "The Two Noble Kinsmen:
Presented at the Blackfriars by the Kings Maiesties servants, with great
applause: Written by the memorable Worthies of their time;

Mr. John Fletcher, and }
} Gent.
Mr. William Shakespeare}

Printed at London by the Tho. Cotes for Iohn Waterson; and are to be
sold at the signe of the Crowne in Paul's Church-yard. 1634." The
exclusion of the play from the First Folio may be explained on the same
basis as the exclusion of _Pericles_; for in each play Shakespeare wrote
the minor part. There is now general agreement that _The Two Noble
Kinsmen_ was written by two authors with distinct styles, and that the
auth