that Willobie, 'being suddenly affected
with the contagion of a fantastical wit at the first sight of Avisa,
pineth a while in secret grief. At length, not able any longer to endure
the burning heat of so fervent a humour, [he] bewrayeth the secrecy of
his disease unto his familiar friend _W. S._, _who not long before had
tried the courtesy of the like passion and was now newly recovered of the
like infection_. Yet [W. S.], finding his friend let blood in the same
vein, took pleasure for a time to see him bleed, and instead of stopping
the issue, he enlargeth the wound with the sharp razor of willing
conceit,' encouraging Willobie to believe that Avisa would ultimately
yield 'with pains, diligence, and some cost in time.' 'The miserable
comforter' [W. S.], the passage continues, was moved to comfort his
friend 'with an impossibility,' for one of two reasons. Either 'he now
would secretly laugh at his friend's folly' because he 'had given
occasion not long before unto others to laugh at his own.' Or 'he would
see whether another could play his part better than himself, and, in
viewing after the course of this loving comedy,' would 'see whether it
would sort to a happier end for this new actor than it did for _the old
player_. But at length this comedy was like to have grown to a tragedy
by the weak and feeble estate that H. W. was brought unto,' owing to
Avisa's unflinching rectitude. Happily, 'time and necessity' effected a
cure. In two succeeding cantos in verse W. S. is introduced in dialogue
with Willobie, and he gives him, in _oratio recta_, light-hearted and
mocking counsel which Willobie accepts with results disastrous to his
mental health.

Identity of initials, on which the theory of Shakespeare's identity with
H. W.'s unfeeling adviser mainly rests, is not a strong foundation, {157}
and doubt is justifiable as to whether the story of 'Avisa' and her
lovers is not fictitious. In a preface signed Hadrian Dorell, the
writer, after mentioning that the alleged author (Willobie) was dead,
discusses somewhat enigmatically whether or no the work is 'a poetical
fiction.' In a new edition of 1596 the same editor decides the question
in the affirmative. But Dorell, while making this admission, leaves
untouched the curious episode of 'W. S.' The mention of 'W. S.' as 'the
old player,' and the employment of theatrical imagery in discussing his
relations with Willobie, must be coupled with the fact that Shakespea