“‘Give me the man’ (says Nash) ’whose extemporal vein, in any
    humour, will excel our greatest art masters’ deliberate
    thoughts.’

“Green, in 1588, says he had been ‘had in derision’ by ’two gentlemen poets’ because I could not make my verses get on the stage in tragical buskins, every word filling the mouth like the faburden of Bow-bell, daring God out of heaven with that atheist tamburlane, or blaspheming with the mad priest of the sun.  Farther on he laughs at the ‘prophetical spirits’ of those ’who set the end of scholarism in an English blank-verse.’

    “Marlowe took his degree of Master of Arts in the very year
    when Nash was unable to do so, &c.

“I thus arrive at the conclusion, that Christopher Marlowe was our first poet who used blank-verse in dramatic compositions performed in public theatres.”—­Hist. of Dramatic Poetry, vol. iii. pp. 110, 111, 112.

This is literally all; and, I ask, can any “conclusion” be much more inconclusive?  Yet Mr. Collier has been so far misled by the deference paid to him on the strength of his unquestionably great services, and appears to have been so fully persuaded of the correctness of his deduction, that he has since referred to as a proved fact what is really nothing more than an exceedingly loose conjecture.

Of the two editors whose names I have mentioned, Mr. Knight’s hitherto expressed opinions in reference to the early stage of Shakspeare’s career in a great measure coincide with mine; and I have no reason to suppose that it is otherwise than an open question to Mr. Halliwell.  For satisfactory proof in support of my position, time only, I firmly believe, is required; but the first stage in every case is to remove the false conclusion that has been drawn, to weaken its impression, and to reduce it to its true value; and that I have endeavoured to do in the present paper.  In conclusion, I take the opportunity of saying, as the circumstance in some degree bears upon the present question, that the evidence in support of the priority of Shakspeare’s Taming of the Shrew to the so-called older play which I withheld, together with what I have collected since my last paper on the subject, is I think stronger even than that which I communicated.

SAMUEL HICKSON.

October, 1850.

[Footnote 1:  This communication was written and in our hands before the appearance of Mr. Halliwell’s advertisement and letter to The Times, announcing that the edition of Shakspeare advertised as to be edited by him and published by the Messrs. Tallis, is only a reprint of an edition, with Notes and Introductions by Mr. Halliwell, which was commenced at New York some months ago.—­ED.]

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A PLAN FOR A CHURCH-HISTORY SOCIETY.

The formation of a Society, having for its object any special literary service, is a matter so closely connected with the very purpose for which this paper was established, that we shall only be carrying out that purpose by calling the attention of our readers to a small pamphlet in which our valued correspondent DR. MAITLAND offers a few suggestions to all who may be interested in the formation of a “CHURCH-HISTORY SOCIETY, and willing to co-operate in such a design.”