Further to Friday's post regarding the excerpt of Sir Thomas More, which may have been revised by Shakespeare, and Stanley Wells' book (Shakespeare: For All Time) which brought it to my attention (and which contains a reproduction of the manuscript) - a couple of things: 1. Wells rightly finds an echo of the last two lines ("... and men like ravenous fishes/ Would feed on one another") in a speech by Albany in 4.2 of King Lear ("Humanity must perforce prey on itself/ Like monsters of the deep"). And there are also Shakespearean touches in both the detailed descriptions of specific moments ("their babies at their backs") and the empathy that results. There is also the fact that the straightforward deployment of argument (as in debating) is so much a part of Shakespearean drama. Finally there is the example of word class conversion ("shark" as a verb) which shows Shakespeare's ability to transcend not only rules but expectations. I, for one, am convinced. The excerpt is the work of Shakespeare.