y 'Henry VIII.' The play was nearly
associated with the final scene in the history of that theatre which was
identified with the triumphs of Shakespeare's career. 'Henry VIII' was
in course of performance at the Globe Theatre on June 29, 1613, when the
firing of some cannon incidental to the performance set fire to the
playhouse, which was burned down. The theatre was rebuilt next year, but
the new fabric never acquired the fame of the old. Sir Henry Wotton,
describing the disaster on July 2, entitled the piece that was in process
of representation at the time as 'All is True representing some principal
pieces in the Reign of Henry VIII.' {261} The play of 'Henry VIII' that
is commonly allotted to Shakespeare is loosely constructed, and the last
act ill coheres with its predecessors. The whole resembles an
'historical masque.' It was first printed in the folio of Shakespeare's
works in 1623, but shows traces of more hands than one. The three chief
characters--the king, Queen Katharine of Arragon, and Cardinal
Wolsey--bear clear marks of Shakespeare's best workmanship; but only act
i. sc. i., act ii. sc. iii. and iv. (Katharine's trial), act iii. sc. ii.
(except ll. 204-460), act v. sc. i. can on either aesthetic or metrical
grounds be confidently assigned to him. These portions may, according to
their metrical characteristics, be dated, like the 'Winter's Tale,' about
1611. There are good grounds for assigning nearly all the remaining
thirteen scenes to the pen of Fletcher, with occasional aid from
Massinger. Wolsey's familiar farewell to Cromwell (III. ii. 204-460) is
the only passage the authorship of which excites really grave
embarrassment. It recalls at every point the style of Fletcher, and
nowhere that of Shakespeare. But the Fletcherian style, as it is here
displayed, is invested with a greatness that is not matched elsewhere in
Fletcher's work. That Fletcher should have exhibited such faculty once
and once only is barely credible, and we are driven to the alternative
conclusion that the noble valediction was by Shakespeare, who in it gave
proof of his versatility by echoing in a glorified key the habitual
strain of Fletcher, his colleague and virtual successor. James
Spedding's theory that Fletcher hastily completed Shakespeare's
unfinished draft for the special purpose of enabling the company to
celebrate the marriage of Princess Elizabeth and the Elector Palatine,
which took place on February 14,