n the fourth, the two passages will be found identical.
Being, some years ago, engaged, in connection with the first of these
plays, in the pursuit of a very different object,--in which I cannot say
that I altogether failed, and the result of which I may take an
opportunity of communicating,--I made a note of the above; and at the
same time followed it up by a general examination of the style of
Marlowe. And, to make a long matter short, I may say that in this
examination, besides meeting with a dozen instances of the identity of
the writer of passages in the _Taming of a Shrew_ and of passages in
Marlowe's two plays, _Doctor Faustus_ and _Tamburlaine_, I found such
general resemblance in style as left no doubt upon my mind that, if one
of these plays be his acknowledged work, as indisputable will be his
claim to the other two. I was not aware at that time of the evidence, in
Henslow's _Diary_, of Marlowe's authorship of _Tamburlaine_; but, so far
from considering it inferior, I was inclined to place it, in some
important respects, at the very head of his plays.

I will not take up your space now with the parallel passages which I
noted; but, should you wish it, and be able to make room for them, I
will furnish you with a list. It is, of course, obvious that the one I
have quoted proves nothing by itself; accumulated instances, in
connection with the general question of style, alone become important. I
will conclude, by giving a list which I have made out of Marlowe's
plays, in favour of which I conceive there to be either internal or
external evidence:--

"Locrine.

Tamburlaine the Great (two parts).

Jew of Malta.

Doctor Faustus.

Edward the Second.

Massacre of Paris.

Taming of a Shrew.

Dido, Queen of Carthage (with Nash)."

SAMUEL HICKSON

St. John's Wood, Jan. 12. 1850

[We trust our correspondent will favour us with the further
communications he proposes on this very interesting point.]

* * * * *

BEETLE MYTHOLOGY.

Mr. Editor,--I never thought of asking my Low-Norman fellow-rustics
whether the ladybird had a name and a legend in the best preserved of
the northern Romance dialects: on the score of a long absence
(eight-and-twenty years), might not a veteran wanderer plead
forgiveness? Depend upon it, Sir, nevertheless, that should any
reminiscences exist among my chosen friends, the stout-hearted and
industri