of Shakspere, for the purpose of showing that the "romance" or the
heroic "romance" was a new style of drama, "created" by Beaumont and
Fletcher and probably adapted and improved by Shakspere.

Whether there is any difference in definition between the "romance" and
the "heroic romance" seems immaterial, since Professor Thorndike uses
one term as synonymous with the other. He gives "the most noticeable
characteristics of the romances": "A mixture of tragic and idyllic
events, a series of highly improbable events, heroic and sentimental
characters, foreign scenes, happy denouements." This definition is
elaborated in connection with the "romances" of Beaumont and Fletcher:

1st. They took the plots from any source.

2nd. The plots are ingenious and improbable.

3rd. The plots lack realism.

4th. The plots deal with heroic persons and actions.

5th. The characters are not historical.

6th. The plays are located far off, for example, in Milan, Athens,
Messina, Lisbon.

7th. The action has little to do with the real life of any historic
period, but with "romance."

8th. The story is of sentimental love, as contrasted with gross, sensual
passion.

9th. There is variety of emotional effect.

10th. There is always a happy denouement.

All these elements of the definition are applied to "Cymbeline," "The
Tempest" and "Winter's Tale," and it is maintained that none of
Shakspere's previous dramas present the same features. This is a
convenient method of showing that Beaumont and Fletcher "created the
romantic drama" and that Shakspere was "influenced" in writing
"Cymbeline" by "Philaster," but it is not criticism; it is rather an
attempt to "create" a definition and apply it to "Philaster," and then
to deny its application to "Midsummer Night's Dream," "Much Ado About
Nothing," "The Merchant of Venice," "Twelfth Night" or "Measure for
Measure."

Why does Professor Wendell call the "Two Gentlemen of Verona" a
"romantic comedy," if Beaumont and Fletcher "created" the type which
Professor Thorndike pronounces "romance"? He deliberately classifies
"Much Ado" and "Twelfth Night" as "romantic comedies." Is not
"Philaster" a "romantic comedy"? Then, as "Much Ado" was probably
written in 1599, "Twelfth Night" in 1598, when Beaumont was twelve or
thirteen and Fletcher twenty-two or twenty-three, it seems quite
"probable" that they were "influenced" in writing their "romances" by
Shakspere. If there is any fundamental differ