ABSTRACT
A New Wonder, A Woman Never Vext was entered on the Stationers’ Register as the work of Rowley and published as by William Rowley. It is with some reluctance that one considers the possibility that Heywood did indeed collaborate with Rowley on this play. One may speculate that Heywood transcribed a play written by himself and Rowley, without necessarily crediting him with a large share of the composition. The majority of critical opinion, then, and external evidence as there is – Stationers’ Register and title-page – unite in ascribing the play to Rowley. David Lake gives a wide range of linguistic evidence to be tested but in many cases Thomas Heywood and Rowley’s usages are similar and cannot plausibly be distinguished. The linguistic features preserved in the quarto text are not incompatible with the suggestion of divided authorship.
