. . . . . . . . . . . . 1602
Hamlet . . . . . . . . . . . 1602, 1603-1604 (two versions).
Measure for Measure . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1603
Othello . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1604
King Lear . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1604-1605
Macbeth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1605-1606
Antony and Cleopatra . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1607-1608
Timon of Athens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1607-1608
Pericles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1608
Coriolanus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1609
Cymbeline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1610
The Winter's Tale . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1610-1611

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The Tempest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1611
King Henry the Eighth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1612-1613

Among the many books and articles on the subject of this chapter, the
following may be mentioned: _Shakespeare Manual_ by F. L. Fleay
(Macmillan and Co., London, 1876); _Shakspere_, by E. Dowden (American
Book Co., New York); _Cartae Shakespeariante_ by D. Sambert.

[1] This play is either lost, or preserved under another title.

[2] Quoted in full in Chapter I, p. 10.

[3] This form of evidence is usually weak and unreliable. Most of the
supposed allusions are much more vague than the two given. Where there
have been similar events in history, the allusion might be to one which
we had forgotten when we thought it was to a similar one which we knew.

[4] Mr. Ingram makes a distinction between "light" and "weak" endings.
Both are classed together as weak endings above. The distinction seems
to us too subtle for any but professional students.

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CHAPTER VII

SHAKESPEARE'S DEVELOPMENT AS A DRAMATIST

As the reader will remember, our main aim in attempting to date
Shakespeare's plays was to trace through them his development as a
dramatist and poet. Just as the successive chambers of the nautilus
shell show the stages of growth of its dead and vanished tenant, so the
plays of Shakespeare show how

"Each new temple, nobler than the last,
Shut him from heaven with a dome more vast."

The great thing which distinguishes the genius from the ordinary man,
we repeat, is his power of constant improvement; and we can trace this
improvement here from achievements less than those of many a modern
writer up to the noblest masterpieces of all time.

Much of the materia