y called "A
Winternyght's Pastime" is entered at Stationer's Hall as early as 1594.
Professor Thorndike fixes the date between January 1st and May 15th,
1611 and assumes that the drama is imitated from Jonson's "Masque of
Oberon." He suggests that as in the "Masque" the chariot of Oberon is
drawn by two white bears, "perhaps here, as in the dance, costume and
actor reappeared in the play, in the bear who chases Antigonus."
Anything to show that Shakspere imitated anybody.

The argument is based upon this chronology and the alleged similarity
between the enumerated dramas: the issue is made upon the respective
dates of Beaumont and Fletcher's "Philaster" and Shakspere's
"Cymbeline." There is no claim that Shakspere imitated Beaumont and
Fletcher or was influenced by them, except in his three "romances," and
of these, "Cymbeline" is placed first. Professor Thorndike undertakes to
prove that "Philaster" was written before October 8th, 1610, and this
is his reasoning:

"In the 'Scourge of Folly' by John Davies of Hertford, entered in the
Stationer's Register October 8th, 1610, occurs an epigram referring to
this play." Let us examine this statement first. On the next page he
says: "The '_Scourge of Folly_' furnishes no further clue in regard to
the date of the epigram." On page 59 of the same essay, referring to
another play, "Don Quixote," the statement is made that it was "entered
S. R. 1611 and printed 1612." The entry was therefore in the nature of a
"license to print." It is clear that in this instance the actual
printing or publication was after the entry. The same rule must apply to
other plays of the same period. The date of entry affords no proof
whatever of the date of publication or of presentation. Therefore the
date of the entry of "The Scourge of Folly," October 8th, 1610, as
Professor Thorndike states, "affords no clue in regard to the date" of
Davies's "epigram." The "epigram" may have been written long after the
entry in the Stationer's Register, and probably was, because it is not
to be assumed that the "epigram" appeared in the entry of the play, and
Davies cannot be assumed to have had any knowledge of the existence of
"Philaster" until it appeared upon the stage, a date entirely uncertain.

Further, Professor Thorndike says: "There is no reason why 'Philaster'
may not have been produced before Burbage took up the Blackfriar's lease
in 1608. There is in fact no early limit that can be set for the date;