Its value, as must always be remembered, lies in the
fact that the results of these different tests in the main agree with
each other and with such external evidence as we have.

Then, wholly aside from metrical details, there is a large amount of
internal evidence of other kinds,--evidence which cannot be measured by
the rule of thumb, but which every intelligent reader must notice. We
feel instinctively that one play mirrors the views and emotions of
youth, another those of middle age. A man's face does not change more
between twenty-five and forty than his mind changes during the same
interval; and the difference between his thoughts at those periods is
as distinct often as the difference between the rounded lines of youth
and the stern features of middle age. This is a subject which will be
better understood in the light of the next chapter.

+The Order of the Plays+.--Upon such evidence as has been described, a
list of Shakespeare's plays in their {83} chronological order can now
be presented. The details of evidence on date may be found in the
account of the plays which appears in Chapters X-XIII.

Love's Labour's Lost . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1590-1591
The Comedy of Errors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1590-1591
II and III Henry VI . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1590-1592
Richard III . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1592-1593
Two Gentlemen of Verona . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1592
King John . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1592-1593
Richard II . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1593-1594
Titus Andronicus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1593-1594
Midsummer Night's Dream . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1593-1596
Romeo and Juliet . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1591, revised 1597
The Merchant of Venice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1594-1596
The Taming of the Shrew . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1596-1597
I Henry IV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1597
II Henry IV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1598
Henry V . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1599
Merry Wives of Windsor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1599
Much Ado about Nothing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1599
As You Like It . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1599-1600
Julius Caesar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1699-1601
Twelfth Night . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1601
Troilus and Cressida . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1602
All's Well That Ends Well