In my last communication on the subject of _Henry VIII._, I referred to
certain characteristic _tricks_ of Fletcher's style of frequent occurrence
in that play, and I now beg leave to furnish you with a few instances. I
wish it, however, to be understood, that I advance these merely as
illustrative specimens selected at random; as there is scarcely a line of
the portions of the play I assume to be Fletcher's but would furnish some
evidence to a diligent student of this writer's style: and that, although I
think each separate instance as strongly characteristic of Fletcher as it
is unlike Shakspeare, it is only in their aggregate number that I insist
upon their importance.
The first instance to which I call attention is the use of the substantive
"one" in a manner which, though not very uncommon, is used by no writer so
frequently as Fletcher. Take the following:--
"_So_ great ones."--_Woman's Prize_, II. 2.
"And yet his songs are sad ones."--_Two Noble Kinsmen_, II. 4.
and the title of the play, _The False One_.