Produced by Jonathan Ingram, Mike Zeug, Lisa Reigel, and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries) Transcriber's Notes: Variations in spelling and hyphenation have been left as in the original. Words in italics in the original are surrounded by _underscores_. Words in bold in the original are surrounded by =equal signs=. Words in a Gothic font in the original are surrounded by +plus signs+. A row of asterisks represents a thought break. In poetry quotations, a row of periods indicates an ellipsis. A few typographical errors have been corrected. A complete list follows the text. A LETTER ON SHAKSPERE'S AUTHORSHIP OF +The Two Noble Kinsmen;+ AND ON THE CHARACTERISTICS OF SHAKSPERE'S STYLE AND THE SECRET OF HIS SUPREMACY. BY THE LATE WILLIAM SPALDING, M.A., FORMERLY PROFESSOR OF RHETORIC IN THE UNIVERSITY OF EDINBURGH AND AFTERWARDS PROFESSOR OF LOGIC, RHETORIC, AND METAPHYSICS IN THE UNIVERSITY OF ST ANDREW'S; AUTHOR OF 'A HISTORY OF ENGLISH LITERATURE,' ETC., ETC. +New Edition, with a Life of the Author,+ BY JOHN HILL BURTON, LL.D., AUTHOR OF 'THE HISTORY OF SCOTLAND,' ETC., ETC. PUBLISHT FOR +The New Shakspere Society+ BY N. TRÜBNER & CO., 57, 59, LUDGATE HILL, LONDON, E.C., 1876. +Series+ VIII. +No.+ 1 JOHN CHILDS AND SON, PRINTERS. FOREWORDS This _Letter_ by Prof. Spalding has always seemd to me one of the ablest (if not the ablest) and most stimulating pieces of Shakspere criticism I ever read. And even if you differ from the writer's conclusion as to Shakspere's part, or even hold that Shakspere took no part at all, in the Play, you still get almost as much good from the essay as if you accept its conclusions as to the authorship of _The Two Noble Kinsmen_. It is for its general, more than for its special, discussions, that I value this _Letter_. The close reasoning, the spirited language, the perception and distinction of the special qualities of Shakspere's work, the investigation into the nature of dramatic art, the grasp of subject, and the mixt logic and enthusiasm of the whole _Letter_, are worthy of a true critic of our great poet, and of the distinguisht Professor of Logic, Rhetoric, and Metaphysics, who wrote this treatise, that at once delights and informs every one who reads it. No wonder it carrid away and convinct even the calm judicial mind of Hallam.