At page 237, "Layd out more for the company, in pte of paymente for a booke called 'Medsen for a curste wife,' the some of unto Thomas Deckers, ten shillings."

At page 238, "Pd at the apoyntment of the Company, the 1 of Septmbr, in pte of paymente for a comodey called 'a medysen for a curste wiffe' to Thomas Deckers some of thirty shillings."

Collier's note appended to this entry is as follows: "This sum of 30s. with the £4 in the preceding entry, £2 on 31st of July and 10s. which Dekker received on the 27th August, made up the sum total of £8 for the play of 'A Medicine for a curst wife."" On the 27th of September, Dekker was paid 10s. over and above his price for the "Medicine for a curst wife," owing perhaps to its great success when acted.

The entry to which Collier refers appears on page 240 of the Diary and reads thus: "Pd unto Thomas Deckers, the 27 of Septmbr 1602 over and above his price of his boocke called a Medysen for a curste wiffe some of ten shillings."

It appears therefore that Dekker not only received. from the hard-fisted Henslowe a good price for his clever comedy, but he opened his purse-strings to the amount of ten shillings more as a gift to Dekker in consequence of the great success of the play.

Is Collier right in his opinion that this was a version of the old Taming of a Shrew, and am I right in asking the reader to believe with me that this costly comedy of Dekker's was the comedy which appeared in the Folio of 1623 as a Shakespeare play, revised and amended, however, by another hand?

I support my belief that Dekker's "Medicine for a curst wife" is the "Taming of the Shrew," as found with

amendments and additions in the Shakespeare plays, for the following reasons:

The ejaculations, familiar expressions and phrases are such as Dekker habitually used, and they are not found, at least to any extent, in the writings of other dramatists of that era.

The ejaculations are as follows: "A vengeance on; aye, prithee, Fie, fie, Gramercies; God-a-mercy; O, pardon me; O, this woodcock; Tush, tush."

The phrases are as follows: "A meacock wretch; Belike (twice used); By this light; Get you hence (twice used); God give him joy; God send you joy; Here's no knavery; I am undone; I charge you in the Duke's name; imprimis (twice used); In brief (twice used); Lead apes in hell; Nay, I have ta'en you napping; Of his signs and tokens; Old worshipful; Old master; Pitchers have ears; Resolve me that; Take heed; 'Tis passing good; Where be these knaves."

The words used only once in the plays and also used by Dekker are, "coney-catched, logger-headed, o'erreach, metaphysics, mother-wit."

All these ejaculations, expressions, and words are found in Fortunatus, Satiro-mastix, The Shoemakers' Holiday, and the Honest Whore.

A most remarkable phrase of identification is found in the first act and first scene. Dekker was fond of using Latin sentences, and he aired his Latin in his prose and poetry whenever he could get an opportunity. In his Belman's Night Walk he quoted the following from the Eunuch of Terence, "Redime te captum quam queas minimo," and so to make a rhyme, he puts into the mouth of Tranio, in the Shakespeare play, Act 1, Scene 1, the following:

"If love have touched you, nought remains but so,
Redime te captum quam queas minimo."

Dekker can also be traced in the Induction. "Paucas pallabris" was a favorite expression of his. See the Roaring Girl, Act 5, Scene 1. "Go by, says Jeronimo," he was fond of quoting. "I'll not budge an inch, boy" is repeated in the Honest Whore; and the expression, "But I would be loth" is also used by Dekker in Act 2, Scene 2, of Fortunatus.

The style of the writer is the style of Dekker. Take for instance the first words of Grumio, in the hall in Petruchio's Country-house as set out in Scene 1 of Act 4:

"Gru.-Fie, fie, on all tired jades, on all mad masters, and all foul ways! Was ever man so beaten? was ever man so rayed? was ever man so weary? I am sent before to make a fire, and they are coming after to warm them. Now, were not I a little pot, and soon hot, my very lips might freeze to my teeth, my tongue to the roof of my mouth, my heart in my belly, ere I should come to a fire to thaw me; but, I, with blowing the fire, shall warm myself, for, considering the weather, a taller man than I will take cold. Holla, hoa! Curtis!"

There are in the play of Patient Grissel, written by Dekker, Chettle, and Haughton, several allusions to the taming of shrews. I cite one.

In Act 5, Scene 2, Sir Onan, producing his wards, says to the Marquess "I will learn your medicines to tame shrews." This play was printed in 1603, and the expression is remarkable because Henslowe's Diary shows, as heretofore set out, that Dekker in the summer of 1602 received money from Henslowe on account of the comedy

he was writing, called by the illiterate manager "A medicine for a curst wife."

While Dekker should have credit for the composition of the major part of the Taming of the Shrew, I can not help thinking that the man who wrote the Venus and Adonis amended the Induction to this play and smoothed the rough portions of it. Dekker was a hasty and careless writer, and every reader of his works will agree with me that he was always in need of a literary polisher.

CHAPTER XXXI.

MEASURE FOR MEASURE, TITUS ANDRONICUS, AND PERICLES EXAMINED.

"Opinion's but a fool."

--Pericles, ii, 2.

How can the literary public make some reparation to the poet and dramatist of Lincolnshire, the sturdy and amiable Thomas Heywood, who wrote or had “a main finger" in the writing of over two hundred and twenty plays, many of which were stolen from him without any recognition of his authorship by the printers and publishers who flourished in those days? I know that the reader will be pleased if the author of "A Woman Killed by Kindness" can be truthfully connected with the composition of part or all of any one or more of the Shakespeare plays.

Henslowe's Diary shows, at page 230, the following

entry:

"Ld owt at the apoyntment of Thomas Hewode, in earnest of a play called Like quits Like unto Mr. Harey Chettell and thomas Hewode, the 14 of Janewary 1602 some xxxx s." It is evident, therefore, that in 1602 Heywood and Chettle wrote a play for Henslowe's Company which Henslowe called "Like quits Like."

In Act 5, Scene 1, of Measure for Measure, the play now under consideration, the following words are uttered by the Duke: