The words that deceive are 'our now
flourishing metricians,' by which Harvey does not mean 'now living,' but
now admired or in vogue; and what proves this is that in his catalogue he
mixes the living and the dead, for Thomas Watson was dead before 1593.
With respect to Axio Philus, I think you will agree with me hereafter
that not Spenser, but another person, was meant. Having more than once
named Spenser, there could surely be no occasion to use any mysterious
appellation with respect to that poet. My theory is that Harvey bought
the book in 1598 on its publication, and then sat down to read it, and
that his observations were afterward inserted at various times. That
passage, which is at the very end, and subjoined to Lydgate's catalogue,
one may reasonably suppose was not written till after he had perused the
whole volume."
The tragedy of _Hamlet_ is familiarly alluded to more than once in the
play of _Eastward Hoe_, printed in 1605, in a manner which indicates
that the former drama was very well established in the memories of the
audience. There is a parody on one of Ophelia's songs which is of some
interest in regard to the question of the critical value of the quarto of
1604; the occurrence of the word "all" before "flaxen" showing that the
former word was incorrectly omitted in all the early quartos excepting
in that of 1603.
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