their hands under their husbands' feet--no reference being made to
the act as a token of duty--in some unexplained manner, "might procure
them ease."

"Laying our hands under their feet to tread,
If that by that we might procure their ease,
And, for a precedent, I'll first begin
And lay my hand under my husband's feet."--p. 213.

One more instance, and I have done. Shakspeare has imparted a
dashing humorous character to this play, exemplified, among other
peculiarities, by such rhyming of following words as--

"Haply to _wive_ and _thrive_ as least I may."

"We will have _rings_ and _things_ and fine array."

"With _ruffs_, and _cuffs_, and farthingales and things."

I quote these to show that the habit was Shakspeare's. In Act I. Sc.
1. occurs the passage--"that would thoroughly woo her, wed her, and
bed her, and rid the house of her." The sequence here is perfectly
natural: but observe the change: in Ferando's first interview with
Kate, he says,--

"My mind, sweet Kate, doth say I am the man
Must wed and bed _and marrie_ bonnie Kate."--p. 172.

In the last scene, Petruchio says,--

"Come, Kate, we'll to bed:
We three are married, but you two are sped."

Ferando has it thus:--

"'Tis Kate and I am wed, and you are sped:
And so, farewell, for we will to our bed."--p. 214.

Is it not evident that Shakespeare chose the word "sped" as a rhyme to
"bed," and that the imitator, in endeavouring to recollect the jingle,
has not only spoiled the rhyme, but missed the fact that all "three"
were "married," notwithstanding that "two" were "sped"?

It is not in the nature of such things that instances should be
either numerous or very glaring; but it will be perceived that in all
of the foregoing, the purpose, and sometimes even the meaning, is
intelligible only in the form in which we find it in Shakespeare. I
have not urged all that I might, even in this branch of the question;
but respect for your space makes me pause. In conclusion, I will
merely state, that I have no doubt myself of the author of the _Taming
of a Shrew_ having been Marlowe; and that, if in some scenes it appear
to fall short of what we might have expected from such a writer,
such inferiority arises from the fact of its being an imitation, and
probably required at a short notice. At the same time, though I do
not believe Shakspeare's play to contain a line of any other writer,
I think it extremely probable that we have