omposition those plays which
we have already succeeded in dating, we shall find certain habits of
versification steadily growing on the author, as play succeeded play.

In the first place, most of the lines in the early plays are
'end-stopped'; that is, the sense halts at the close of each line with
a resulting pause in reading. In the later plays the sense frequently
runs over from one line into another, producing what is called a
'run-on' line instead of an 'end-stopped' one. By comparing the
following passages, the first of which contains nothing but end-stopped
lines and the second several run-on lines, the reader can easily see
the difference.

(_a_) From an early play:--

"I from my mistress come to you in post:
If I return, I shall be post indeed,
For she will score your fault upon my pate.
Methinks your maw, like mine, should be your clock,
And strike you home without a messenger."
--_Comedy of Errors_, I, ii, 63-67.

(_b_) From a late play:--

"Mark your divorce, young sir, [end-stopped]
Whom son I dare not call. Thou art too base [run-on]
To be acknowledg'd. Thou, a sceptre's heir, [end-stopped]
That thus affects a sheep-hook! Thou old traitor, [end-stopped]

{80}

I am sorry that by hanging thee I can [run-on]
But shorten your life one week. And thou, fresh piece [run-on]
Of excellent witchcraft, who of force must know [end-stopped]
The royal fool thou cop'st with...--"
--_Winter's Tale_, IV, iv, 427-434.

Since Shakespeare keeps constantly increasing his use of run-on lines
in plays for which dates are known, it seems reasonable to assume that
he did this in all his work, that it was a habit which grew on him from
year to year. Hence, if we sort out his plays in order, putting those
with the fewest run-on lines first and those with the greatest number
last, we shall have good reason for believing that this represents
roughly the order in which they were written.

A second form of metrical evidence is found in the proportion of
'masculine' and 'feminine' endings in the verse. A line has a
masculine ending when its last syllable is stressed; when it ends, for
example, on words or phrases like _behold'_, _control'_, _no more'_,
_begone'_. On the other hand, if the last stressed syllable of the
line is followed by an unstressed one, the two together are called a
feminine ending. Instances of this would be lines ending in such word