The Authorship of " King Henry VI." 161 



It must be admitted as axiomatic that mere similarity or identity 

 of language between two works does not of itself imply common 

 authorship. In the case of Shakespeare, for example, striking repeti- 

 tion of the wording of genuine plays in a doubtful work would go 

 far to discredit the claim of the latter, because Shakespeare, who 

 was often imitated by other writers, was never much disposed to 

 repeat his own Hues and phrases. In the present case, before the 

 parallels in question can be used to support the theory of Marlowe's 

 authorship of the Contention and Trite Tragedy, it will be necessary 

 first to prove from the certainly genuine plays that Marlowe was 

 accustomed to reproduce his ideas and expressions in the particular 

 manner in which our plays reproduce them, and then to show that 

 the passages which appear in the plays before us cannot be reasonably 

 explained as an alien poet's imitation of Marlowe's work. I believe 

 it possible to establish both these theses. 



Marlowe's tendency to hark back to a favorite image or idea and 

 to ring the changes upon any line which by its mellifluous flow had 

 caught his fancy, is, indeed, too familiar to require much illustration. 

 The following examples, selected rather at random among the undis- 

 puted plays, will serve as a basis for comparison with the Marlovian 

 parallels in the Contention and True Tragedy : 



(a) Tamburlaine, 1.729: "And now we will to faire Persepolis." 



1. 745 : " To follow me to faire Persepolis." 

 1. 754 : " And ride in triumph through Persepolis. " 

 1. 755 : " And ride in triumph through Persepolis. " 

 1. 759 : " And ride in triumph through Persepolis. " 



(b) Doctor Faustus, 11. 1422-1430: 



" Stand stil you euer moouing spheres of heauen, 

 That time may cease, and midnight neuer come : 

 Faire Natures eie, rise, rise againe, and make 

 Perpetuall day, or let this houre be but 

 A yeare, a moneth, a weeke, a naturall day, 

 That Faustus may repent, and saue his soule. 



The starres mooue stil, time runs, the clocke wil strike 

 The diuel wil come, and Faustus must be damnd 



Edward II, U. 2050-2056 : 



" Continue euer thou celestiall sunne. 

 Let neuer silent night possesse this clime. 

 Stand still you watches of the element. 



