cher. But even
as a critic we must differ from Professor Thorndike; he accuses Miranda
of unpardonable indelicacy, and says she "proposed" to Ferdinand! He
gives her language from "Tempest," and remarks with satisfaction that it
sounds "very much like one of Beaumont and Fletcher's heroines," meaning
of course Arethusa, and so draws the obvious conclusion that Shakspere
in this remarkable instance clearly "imitated" the "creators" of the
"heroic romantic drama." The difficulty with this statement first of all
is, that it is not true: Miranda does not "propose" to Ferdinand; before
her sweet confession of love, Ferdinand had given all lovers the best
form of proposal ever spoken, in this language:

"I,
Beyond all limit of what else i' the world,
Do love, prize, honor you."

Arethusa does "propose" to Philaster, and therefore her "proposal" does
not "sound very much like" the proposal in "Tempest," or, if it does, it
tends strongly to show that Beaumont and Fletcher attempted an
"imitation" from "The Tempest." Professor Thorndike the critic has here
been misled by his zeal as the partisan: isn't it just possible that the
like zeal has misled him in the conclusion that "Cymbeline" was an
imitation of "Philaster"?

The second class of "types," as shown by the dramas of Beaumont and
Fletcher, is the "evil woman"--Evadne in the "Maid's Tragedy," Bacha in
"Cupid's Revenge," Megra in "Philaster," Brunhalt in "Thierry and
Theodoret" and Arane in "A King and No King." Professor Thorndike says
that "four of them brazenly confess adultery, and four attempt murder,"
and that "the resemblance ... is unmistakable ... and on the stage even
more than in print" these characters "must have seemed to all intents
identical."

The only parallel to this in Shakspere's "romances," as drawn by
Professor Thorndike, is that the "wicked Queen in 'Cymbeline' is very
like the wicked queens of Beaumont and Fletcher," and that "there are
other characters ... who show resemblances to Beaumont and Fletcher's
stock types." What the resemblances are we are not told, and we need not
inquire until we learn which "type" is the original, which the
"imitation." Meanwhile, we may rest upon the fact that, so far as queens
are concerned, there is no "stock type" in Shakspere; they differ from
each other as widely as Hamlet's mother from Imogen's mother-in-law. If
any of them resemble Beaumont and Fletcher's queens, it is clear that
Beaumon