The Authorship of " King Henry VI." 211 



from the Shakespearean alteration — ^more powerful in plot-interest 

 and more impressive in psychological portraiture. At the period 

 during which these plays seem to been written and revised— be- 

 tween 1590 and 1592 — Marlowe was undoubtedly a maturer and 

 a more effective dramatist than Shakespeare. The very traits upon 

 which Shakespeare's later unapproachable superiority was founded 

 — his broad impartial view of human character and his wealth of 

 poetic fancy — make his earlier style appear diffuse and muddy in 

 contrast with the forceful clarity of Marlowe's more restricted 

 outlook. 



