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Lorsque le document est trop grand pour dtre reproduit en un seul clich6, il est film6 A partir de Tangle sup6rieur gauche, de gauche d droite, et de haut en bas, en prenant le nombre d'images ndcessaire. Les diagrammes suivants illustrent la m^thode. by errata led to ent jne pelure, aqon d 1 1 2 3 32X 1 2 3 4 5 6 « SHAKESPEARE: THE MAN f c i li \ -^ ^ -•A S H A K E S I' K A R E IHtWVN liv Mli .tons liuADK.N KKti.M IHK STHATKOKM BrsT SHAKESPEARE: THE MAN ■■'i^ •■'. 4 Ail / ^ IV S'A)- H •W i.!l ^vw .tv LJ?i. fEU ?^3 / r. ■I ^*h '.K^''' SHAKESPEARE: THE MAN AN ATTEMPT TO FIND TRACES OF THE DRAMATIST'S PERSONAL CHARACTER IN HIS DRAMAS ?^3 / r. BY GoLDwiN Smith TORONTO George N. Morang & Company, Limited 1899 < I •I SM \-r/4. / ,/• :i0ii3 Entered according to Act of Parliament of Canada, in the year one tliousand eiRht liundred and ninety-nine, by Goldwin Smith, in the OfHce of the Minister of Agriculture. PREFACE An attempt to find traces of the personal character of Shakespeare un- der the dramatist is, it need hardly be said, a different tiling from an in- terpretation of Shakespeare's art. In making it the writer does not trespass on the ground occupied by Coleridge, Gervinus, Dowden, and Hiram Corson. An apology may seem necessary for quoting in full some well-known pas- sages of Shakespeare ; but the writer does not feel sure that " iri these most brisk and giddy-paced times," when a tidal-wave of popular and sensational fiction is flowing, familiarity with Shakespeare is so common as it was in former days. i Shakespeare: The Man Such materials as there are for Shakespeare's personal history, or for the history of anyone connected with him, have been gathered with the most loving and persevering indus- try. Unhappily, they amount to very little. Entries in municipal records, names in a will, a lease, or an in- ventory, tell hardly anything of the life or character of the man. That orange has now been squeezed dry. It would seem better worth while to consider under what general influ- ences — social, political, and religious — the life was passed. 7 t Shakespeare: The Man Shakespeare was a poet of the Renaissance and of tlie Eli/. F /... Shakespeare: The Man erally represented as a pompous old fool. A manual o'c manners and social conduct might almost be gleaned out o^' Shakespeare ; and Shakespeare's jcial teachinor is not like that of Chesterfield ; it has for its basis gen- uine qualities, — This ahove all, — To thine own self be true ; And it must follow as the night the day, Thou eanst not then be false to any man. — Hamlet, I., Hi. Tliat Shakespeare had a cultivated taste for music, if he was not him- self a musician, appears not only from his anathema upon the man who has no music in his soul, which would have borne hard on Dr. Johnson, but from passages such as the speech of the Duke in Tivelftli Night and that, already mentioned, of Lorenzo in TJte Merchant of Venice. Fine 16 . . . rr--r---,^ Shakesj)eare : The Man music seems to have been Shake- speare's acme of enjoyment. The attempts to make out that Shakespeare knew law come to noth- ing. Livin^r in London, he no doubt mingled with Templars as well as with other people, and might easily pick up some phrases. There is no proof of anything more. It is deemed by the biographers im- probable that Shakespeare had trav- elled. In Love's Labour's Lost, Act III, Scene i., the old reading is This Signior Julio's giant-dwarf, Dan Cupid. For this has been conjecturally sub- stituted by critics who did not understand the allusion, This senior-junior, giant-dwarf, Dan Cupid, which is nonsense. 17 ' !J r) 'I y r ■' i Shakespeair : The Man Julio Uoniano, in a fresco in the Vatican, introduced the figure of Gradasso, "a giant-dwarf" of pigmy stature but great muscular power, tlius resembling Cupid in the com- bination of diminutiveness and might. To this fresco Shakespeare evidently refers. Had he seen it ? In the Winters Tale, Act V., Scene ii., he expresses his admiration of Romano, though, curiously enough, not as a painter but as a sculptor — Third Gentleman. — No : the princess hear- ing of her mother's statue, which is in the keeping of Paulina, — a piece many years in doing, and now newly performed by that rare Italian master, Julio Eomano; who, had he himself eternity, and could put breath into his work, would beguile nature of her custom, so perfectly he is her ape. Shakespeare's pictures of Italian life seem to show familiarity with it, and 18 ii W WI WI H UL l« H l.|. Shakespeare : The Man his epithets, such as "old Verona," are apposite. Looseness about Italian geography, if it can be proved, would not be a strong argument on the other side. If an Englishman had travelled anywhere in those days, it would probably have been in Italy. In history Shakespeare was not learned. He makes the Duke of Austria responsible for the death of Richard I. He follows the chroni- clers blindly. On the other hand, he had a wonderful eye for historical character. He dresses his Romans in cloaks and hats; but his delinea- tion of Caesar, Brutus, Cassius, and Marc Antony cannot be surpassed. " Speak ; Caesar is turned to hear " ; and *'I rather tell thee what is to 19 i ft ; -,, ' 'I II >^ N! ■ii Shakespeare The Man I fear be feared, Than what I fear; for always I am Caesar." He sometimes betrays what seems strange ignorance. He introduces artillery in the reign of John ; gives Bohemia a sea-coast ; and introduces nunneries at Athens. But may not this rather be said to be simple dis- regard of the limitations of time and place ? Athens in the Midsummer- Night's Bream, is not the classic city, but an Italian Duchy of which Theseus is the Duke. When the fashion was introduced of a spectac- ular representation of Shakespeare's plays and the manager aimed at being strictly historical, some of the results were grotesque. In the Mid- suTYim^er-Night' s Dream Lysander and Demetrius were represented as going 20 Shakespeare : The Man to fight a duel, a thing wholly foreign to Hellenic ideas, with their Hellenic swords; and Theseus, in classic attire, threatened to put Hermia, also in classic attire, into a nunnery. In Macbeth, Shakespeare's idea of the Scotch monarchy no doubt was some- thing magnificently royal, such as might tempt ambition. But the spec- tacular manager thought he was showing his fidelity to history by introducing the barbarous simplicity of primeval Scotland, and Macbeth was represented as climbing through regicide and crime to the dazzling elevation of a king enthroned on a wooden stool and banqueting on apples. The mystery of Shakespeare's Son- nets will never be solved. What is 21 111 -'1 I5 I 1^. I. < r Shakespeare: The Man certain is that the series is a product of the Renaissance, sometimes burning with intense and irrej:^ular passion. Morals of the Court of EHzabeth were loose, like those of other Courts of Europe at the time, the vestal vir- ginity of the Queen notwithstanding. It seems to be proved that the poet's marriage with Anne Hathaway took place not before it was necessary ; that it was enforced, and that he afterwards saw little of his wife and children for eleven years, so that he might w^rite with feeling, War is uo strife To the dark house and the detested wife. —AW 8 Well that Ends Well, II., in. Prospero's injunction to Ferdinand in The Tempest is so strange and apparently gratuitous, ohat we can 23 Ai t • 1/ I Shakespeare: The Man hardly help regarding it as an out- pouring of the poet's bitter experi- ence. — Prospf'ro.— Then, as my gift, and thine own acquisition Worthily purchased, take my daughter : But If thou dost break her virgin knot before All sanctimonious ceremonies may With full and holy rite be minister' d, No sweet aspersion shall the heavens let fall To make this contract grow ; but barren hate, Sour-ey'd disdain, and discord, shall be- strew The union of your bed with weeds so loathly, That you shall hate it both : therefore, take heed, As Hymen's lamps shall light you. —The Tempest, IV., i. All this considered, we have reason to be thankful for the essential sound- ness of Shakespeare's morality, especi- ally with regard to marriage. There 23 4! 4 I ^ .1 Shakenpeare: The Man is not in him anything of* the evil spirit of the Kestoration drama. Ma- trimony with him is always holy, and though attacks upon its sanctity form the subject of more than one of his plots, he carries it through them inviolate. There is no Don Juan among his heroes. It must be owned that in Measure for Measure, in some of the FalstafF scenes, and elsewhere, Shakespeare plays with certain subjects in a way suggestive of looseness in sexual morality. There is a curious passage in Hamlet {II., i.), where Folonius seems to think " drabbing " would not disgrace his son, but that incon- tinence, by which appears to be meant illicit intercourse with other than courtesans, would. Opinion on these 24 I I i- I i Shakespeare: The Man points has greatly advanced since Shakespeare, though governments still bow to supposed necessity. Too often the poet stoops to obscen- ities. This is partly the vice of the Renaissance, which shows itself to an extreme extent in Rabelais. Partly, it is the mark of the ages before delicacy, which gave birth to Boccac- cio. Partly, perhaps principally, it is a condescension to the tastes of the audience of the Globe Theatre. From Hamlet's advice to the Players, we see that there was a great demand for buffoonery. Perhaps it would be charitable to surmise that Shake- speare sought to embrace the whole of human nature as it presented itself in his time. His obscenity is mere grossness; it is not provocative 25 f i ( I. •7 I Shakespeare : The Man of lust. At worst, in him all is nature. He is never procurer to the lords of Hell. There is nothing in him vso disgusting as the laborious filth offered by Massinger as a tribute to the taste of a vulgar audience in the comic scenes of The Virgin Martyr. Shakespeare is said to have died of the effects of a drinking bout. But if the tradition is true the drinking bout was probably an ex- ception, for he evidently abhors excess. Horatio. Is it a custom? Hamlet. Ay, marry, is't : But to my miud, — though I am native here, And to the manner born, — it is a custom More honour' d in the breach, than the observance. This heavy-headed revel, east and west, Makes us traduc'd, and tax'd of other nations : They clepe us, drunkards, and with swin- ish phrase 26 j Shakespeare : The Man Soil our addition ; and, indeed, it takes From our achievements, though perform'd at height, The pith and marrow of our attribute. —Hamlet, I. , iv. He refers to the same national dis- grace in Othello, Act II., Scene iii. In the same scene we have Cassio.—^ot to-night, good lago ; I have very poor and unhappy brains for drink- ing : I could well wish courtesy would invent some other custom of entertainment. Cassio.~0 thou invisible spirit of wine It thou hast no name to be known bv let us call thee— devil ! Cassio.~I remember a mass of things, but uothnig distinctly ; a quarrel, but nothing wherefore.— O, that men should put an enemy m their mouths, to steal aAvay their brams ! that we should, with joy, revel pleasure, and applause, transform ourselves into beasts ! ''I will do anything, Nerissa," says Portia, "ere I will be married to a sponge." 27 : fl ft n. i Shakespeare : The Man Let me be your servant ; Though I look old, yet I am strong and lusty ; t'ov in my youth I never did apply Hot and rebellious liquors in my blood : Nor did not with unbashful forehead woo The means of weakness and debility ; Therefore my age is as a lusty winter, Frosty, but kindly. — As You Like It, II., in. What were Shakespeare's political sentiments ? In his time, during the early part of it at least, everybody was royalist. Domestic dissensions were suspended by the struggle with Catholic powers, and the Queen was idolized as impersonating the na- tional cause. Supremely royalist, of course, were the Lord Chamberlain's or the King's Players. In three plays probably, in the Midsummer- Night's Dreartiy in Henry VIII., assuming the genuineness of the passage, and 28 If I Shakespeare : The Man in The Tempest, the courtier is dis- tinctly seen. The Midsii7)i7ner- Night's Dream was apparently performed at some Court marriage, at what marriage we can- not now tell, though the author of the excellent article on Shakespeare in the Dictionary of National Biography conjectures that it was either that of Lucy Harrington to Edward Russell, third Earl of Bedford, on the 12th of December, 1594, or that of William Stanley, Earl of Derby, at Greenwich, on the 24th of January, 1594-5. There cannot be a doubt that Elizabeth was present and heard the well-known com- pliment to the " fair vestal throned by the West." But she also heard : u Thrice blessed they, that master so their blood 29 i Shttkespcare : The Man < \ To undergo such injiifland, tilth, vineyard, none : No use of metal, corn, or wllie, or oil : Xo occupation ; all men idle, all; And women too ; but innocent and pure : No sovereignty : — Sehastlan.~Knd yet he would be king on't. Antonio. — The latter end of his common- wealth forgets the beginning, Gonzalo. — All things in common, nature should produce Without sweat or endeavour : treason, felony, Sword, pike, knife, gun, nor need of any engine. Would I not have ; but nature should bring forth. Of its own kind, all foizon, all abundance, To feed my innocent people. — Tem2)e8t, II., i. Raleigh, who was a courtier, even to a painful extent, in his Preroga- tive of Parliaments sums up a hii^hly royalist history of the origin of the Great Charter by saying that it "had 33 i\ I m I : i ' i i'l 1 i i*» I 'K: Shid'csprarr : The Man first an obscure birtli from usurpation, and was secondly fostered and showed to the world by rebellion." Shake- speare, in King John, says not a woi'd about the Great Charter, or anythinj^ connected with it. If the Barons quarrel with the King, it is not about political rights, but on account of the deposition and murder of Arthur. Even that crime is soften- ed by reducing it to intention, Arthur's death being represented as an accident. The submission to the Pope is managed in a way as little humiliatmg as pos- sible. In the end, John is the nation- al King, supported by English patriots against the French pretender and in- vader. Of Henri/ VIII., though by no means the whole play is Shake- 34 ,! ♦>, ,_tJj-il »> 'U ' X ' Shid 'espcdve: The Man spear i an, it is pretty certain that the whole passed under Shakespeare's hand, and in it Henry is presented as an august, magnificent and appar- ently beneficent lord, without a sug- gestion of the tyrant. We see, too, where the Merry Wives of Windsor was performed, Mistress Quickiy.—Ahont, about ; Search Windsor castle, elves, within and out : Strew good luck, ouphes, on every sr.cred room ; That it may stand till the perpetual doom, In state as wholesome, as in state 'tis (it; Worthy the owner, and tlie owner it. Tlie several chairs of order look you scour With Juice of balm, and every precious flower : Each fair instalment, coat, and several crest, With loyal blazon, evermore be blest ! And nightly, meadow-fairies, look, you «i"g, Like to the Garter's compass, in a ring : The expressure that it bears, green let it be, 35 ( ;f I' - y t-v f'1 «: I Sh<(kes2^eare: The Man More fertile-fresh than all tlic field to see ; And, Hony soil qui mal y pcnsej write, In eraeralcl tuft.s, flowers purple, blue and white : Like sapphire, pearl, ..nd rich embroi- dery, Buckled below fair knighthood's bending knee : Fairies use flowers for their charactery. — Merry Wives of Windsor, F., v. The strono- lanj^uaije about the divine character of royalty, and the indelibility of the coronation balm, put into the mouth of Richard II., is in character and may be regarded as dramatic. On the other hand, there are pretty stronj^ expressions about the sacredness of royalty elsewhere. To do this deed, Promotion follows : If I could find ex- am])le Of thousands, that had struck anointed Kings, And flourished after, I'd not do't it : but since 36 Vr mmmmmaesi^ s I Shakespeare: The Man Nor brass, nor stone, nor parchment, btuirs not one, Let villainy itself forswear' t. — Whiter^ s Tale, L, it. And in Macbeth, Act II., Scene iii. MacDujf. — Confusion now hath made his masterpiece ; Most sacrilegious murder hath broke ope The Lord's anointed temi)le, and stole thence The life o' the building. In Macbeth, Act IV., Scene iii., there is a passage which, if the poet is speaking, intimates his belief in touch- ing for the Kind's Evil. — Doctor. — Ay, sir : there are a crew of wretched souls. That stay his cure : their malady convinces The great array of art ; but, at his touch, Such sanctity hath heaven given his hand, They presently amend. On the other hand, a popular nion- ai-cliy, such as James I.'s v^as not, but 37 1 r k 1*1 Shakespeare: The Man that of his son Henry might have n been, is evidently Shakespeare's ideal. h! il' 4 I 1'; SI.' 'I V 'H He shows it in the dialogue between Henry V, and the soldiers before the battle of Agincourt. His King, how- ever exalted, is a man and not a fetich. " Though I speak it to you," Henry is made to ssiy — "I thiuk, the kii'g is hut a man, as I am ; the violet smells to him, as it doth to me ; the element shows to him, us it doth to me ; all his senses have but human con- ditions ; his ceremonies laid by, in his nakedness he appears but a man ; and though his affections are higher mounted than ours, yet, when they stoop, they stoop with the like wing ; therefore when he sees reason of fears, as we do, his fears, out of doubt, be of the same relish as ours jwe : Yet, in reason, no man should possess him with any ai)peaianee of fear, lest he, by showing it, should dishearten his army." — Henry V., IV., i. The dramatist understands that it was by a noble comradeship between 38 S/iakei^peare: lite Man a ?? King and soldier and the Kino-'s holo upon the soldier's heart that at Agin- court despair was turned into victory. The poor condemned English, Like sacrifices, by their watchful fires Sit patiently, and inly ruminate The morning's danger ; and their gesture sad. Investing lank-lean cheeks, and war-worn coats, Presenteth them unto the gazing moon So many horrid ghosts. O, now, who will behold The royal captain of this ruin'd band. Walking from watch to watch, from tent to tent. Let him cry — Praise and glory on his head ! For forth he goes, and visits all his host ; Bids them good-morrow, with a modest smile ; And calls them — brothers, friends, and countrymen. Upon his royal face there is no note How dread an army hath enrounded him ; Nor doth he dedicate one jot of colour Unto the weary and all-watched night ; But freshly looks, and overbears attaint, With cheerful majesty ; semblance, and sweet 39 1(1 I Shakespeare: The Man TJiat every wretch, piiiin<>; and pale he- fore, ]3ehol(ling- him, phicks comrort Irom his looks : A hirgess universal, like the sun, His liberal eye doth give to every one, Thawing cold fear. — Henry F., IV. The wortlilessness ot* mere state is one oi* his commonplaces. O ceremony, show me but thy worth ! What is the soul of adoration ? Art thou aught else but place, degree, and form. Creating aw^e and fear in other men ? Wherein thou art less happy being fear'd, Than they in fearing. — Henry V., IV. i. Shakespeare in his political and social se.itiment must have been conservative. We can scarcely doubt that it is he who speaks in Troilus and Cressida (I., iii.) — The specialty of rule hath been neglected : And, look, how many Grecian tents do stand iO rM nmuK^itXl. snm ShakcHpcare : The Man Hollow upon this plain, so many hollow (actions. When that the general is not like the hive, To whom the foragers shall all repair. What honey is expected? Degree being vizarded, The unworthiest shows as fairly in the mask. The heavens themselves, the planets, and this center, Observe degree, priority, and place, Insisture, course, proportion, season, form, Ollice, and custom, in all line of order : And therefore is the glorious planet, Sol, In noble eminence enthron'd and spher'd Amidst the otlier ; whose med'cinable eye Corrects the ill aspects of planets evil. And posts, like the commandment of a king. Sans check, to good and bad : But, when the planets, In evil mixture, to disorder wander, What plagues, and what portents? what mutiny ? What ragings of the sea? shaking of earth ? Commotion in the winds? frights, changes horrors. Divert and crack, rend and deracinate The unity and married calm of states 41 >' n \ I i '\ 1.1 '}} r i l^ludr.speare : The Man Quite from their fixture ? O, wheu degree is sluik'd, Wiiioii is the hulder of all hij^h designs, The euterprize is sick ! How could com- munities, Degrees in schools, and brothei-hoods in citise, Peaceful commerce from dividable shores, The primogenitive and due of birth, Prerogative of age, crowns, sceptres, laurels, But by degree, stand in authentick place ? Take but degree away, untune that string, And, hark, what discord follows ! each thing meets In mere oppugnancy : The bounded waters Should lift their bosoms higher than the shores, And make a sop of all this solid globe : Strength should be lord of imbecility. And the rude son should strike his father dead : Force should be right ; or, rather, right and wrong, (Between whose endless jar justice resides,) Should lose their names, and so should justice too. Then every thing in>'ludes itself in power, Power into will, wili into appetite ; AvA appetite, an univ<^r««il wolf, So doubly seconded with will and power, Must make perforce an universal prey, And, last, eat up himself. 42 .IT ' Shakespeai'e : The Man The following passage, also against democracy, is in the mouth of Corio- lanus dramatic, but it is ah-o emphatic, — No, take more : What may be sworn by, both divine and human. Seal what I end '.vitlial ! — This double Tvorship, — Where one part does disdain with eause, the other Insult without all reason ; where gentry, title, wisdom Cannot couelude, but by the yea and no Of general ignorance, — it must omit Ileal necessities, and give way the while To unstable slightness ; purposes so barr'd, it follows. Nothing is done to purpose : Therefore, beseech you, — You that will be less fearful than discreet That love the fundamental part of state, More than you doubt the change oft ; that prefer A noble life before a long, and wish To jump a body with a dangerous physick That's sure of death without it, — at once pluck out The multitudinous tongue, let them not lick 43 u -«W*»«MI»*)WW!IH(C m ^ \ I'' i ■I . I 'i ': ■r ;?? Shakespeare : The Man The swoet whicli is their poiHoii : your dis- honour Miinj;;les true judjiiucnt, und bereaves tlie state Of tliat integrity whieli slu^uhl l)eeome it ; Not having the power to do the good it would, For the ill whieli doth control it. — Coriolanus, III., i. It Hhouhl be remembered that revo- lution in its most terrible form, that of the risings of the Anabaptists on the continent, had not been very long- laid in its grave. Some passages are instinct with intense dislike of mobs and mob- rule. The words in Goriolanus are in character, but they are strong, — I heard him swear, Were he to stand for consul, never would he Appear i' the market-place, nor on him put The napless vesture of humility ; 44 u >1 (lis- thc '. it; (1 it i. iVO- /hat on ono- nth lob- ai'e )uld him Shakespeare : The Man Nor, sliowiiig (as the manner is) liis wounds To the people, beg tlieir stinking l)re{iths. — Coriolaiius, II., i. So in JidiiDi Ccesav, Aviiat follows is full of contempt for tho folly and fickleness of the rabble. — Casca. — I can as well be hanged, as tell the manner of it : it was mere foolery. I did not mark it. I saw IMark Antony offer him a crown ; — yet 'twas not a crown neither, twas one of these coronets ; — and, as I told you, he put it by once ; but, for all that, to my tliinking, he would fain Inive had it. Then he oflered it to him again ; then he put it by again : but, to my tliinking, he was very loath to lay his fingers off it. And then he offered it the third time ; he put it the third time by : and still as he refused it, the rab- blement hooted, and clapped their chopped hands, and threw up their sweaty night- caps, and uttered such a deal of stinking breath becanse Csesar refused the crown, that it had almost choaked Cicsar ; for he swH)oned, and fell down at it ; And for mine own part, I durst not laugh, for fear of opening my lips, and receiving the bad ^^^' — Julius Csesar, 7., ii. 45 »: I ! ll 11 " "t M hi .i! ,1 Vi' J. Hhdkespt'drr : The Man "Stinking* ln-eatiiH," "chopped hands" and "sweaty ni^litcaps" are terms not only of aversion but of (lis<^ust. Tlie travesty of Cade's manifesto in Henri/ VI. is fresh at tlie present dav and used as ammunition bv mod- ern conservative writers and speakers. Cade. — Be brave then ; for your (!iiptuiii is brave, and vows reformation. There shall be, in Enj^laud, seven half-peiniy loaves sold for a i)enny ; the three-hoo])ed pot shall have ten hooi)s ; and I will make it felony, to drink small beer ; all the realm shall be in common, and in Cheapside shall my palfrey go to grass. And, when i \\\n king, (as king I will be) All. — God save your majesty ! Cade. — I thank you, good people ! — there shall be no money ; all shall eat and drink on my score ; and I will apparel them all in one livery, that they may agree like brothers, and worship me their lord. — King Henry VI., Part II., IF., ii. Demagogism is an object of dislike. 46 \ -r^s^sa SItdkespeare : The Man " I lovu tho peoplo," Hays the Duke in Mcasttre for McAisare, But do not like to sta^^e me to tlioir eyes : Though it do well, 1 do not relish well Their loud upplause, and <(rc8 vehement ; Nor do I think the man of safe diseretiou, That does affect it. — Measure for Measure, I., i. At tlie same time there are not wantino' passages breathin<^ a strong sense of the injustice and inequali- ties of society, sucli as a social radical might be glad to repeat. A man may see how this world goes, with no eyes. Look with thine eyes : see how yon' justiee rails upon yon' simple thief. Hark, in thine ear : change places ; anj .r i,l i1i r i.ii. :ri ii l[f!Wf ll lt ii J i m i | I'('. 4i ll I : ii d ^)l ! ( J S/uikespeare : The Man Your loop' (I and window" d raggedness de- fend you From seasons such as these ? O, I have ta'en Too little care of this ! Take physick, pomp ; Expose thyself to feel what Arrotches feel ; That thou may'st sliake the supcrtlux to them, And show the heavens more just. — King Lear, III., iv. Glostcr. — Here, take this purse, thou whom the heaven's plagues Have humbled to all strokes : that I am wretched, Makes thee the happier : — Heavens, deal so still ! Let the superfluous, and lust-dieted man. That slaves your ordinance, that will not see Because he doth not feel, feel your power quickly ; So distril)ution should undo excess. And each man have enough. — King Lear, IV., i. O, that estates, degrees and offices. Were not derivM corruptly ! and that clear honour Were purchas'd by the merit of the wearer ! 48 fi' l nn »^** > " Shakespeare: The Man How many then should cover, tliat stand bare ? How many be commanded, that com- mand ? How much low peasantry would then be glean' d From the true seed of honour? and how much honour Pick'd from the chalT and ruin of the times. To be new varnish'd ? — Merchant of Venice^ II., i.r. In a passage in Romeo and Juliet there is a touch of sympathy for the castaway. Art tho!! so bare, and full of wretchedness. And fear'st to die? famine is in thy cheeks, Need and oppression starveth in thy eyes, Upon thy back hangs ragged misery. The world is not thy friend, nor the world's law : The world atibrds no law to make thee rich ; Then be not poor, bi.t break it, and take this. — Romeo and Juliet, V., i. With all his feeling for the glory 49 M r I I n ^'j' hi ) i1 ■ ' i M;)i Shakespeare: The Man of Henry V., Shakespeare shows his sense of the waste of lives in iniqui- tous w^ars. — Captain. — Truly to speak, sir, and with no addition, We go to gain a little patch of ground, That hath in it no profit hut the name. To pay iive ducats, five, I would not farm it; Nor will it yield to NorAvay, or the Pole, A ranker rate, should it be sold in fee. Hamlet. — Why, then the Polack never will defend it. Captain. — Yes, 'tis already garrisoned. Hamlet. — Two thousand souls, and twenty thousand ducats. Will not debate tl -j question of this straw : This is the imposthume of much wealth and peace ; That inward breaks, and shows no cause without Why the man dies. — Hamlet, IV. , iv. There are passaj[^es expressive of a sympathy for the sufferings of animals which appears to be heart-felt. 50 Shakespeare: The Man Duke Senior. — Come, shall we go and kill us venison? And yet it irks me, the poor dappled fools, — Being native burghers of this desert city,— Should, in their own contiaes, with forked heads Have their round haunches gor'd. First Lord. — Indeed, my lord, The melancholy Jaques grieves at that ; And, in that kind, swears you do more usurp Than doth your brother that hath ban- ish' d you. To-day, my lord of Amiens, and myself. Did steal behind him, as he lay along Under an oak, whose antique root peeps out Upon the brook that brawls along this wood : To .;he which place a poor sequester' d stag. That from the hunters' aim had ta'en a hurt. Did come to languish ; and, indeed, my lord, The wretched animal heav'd forth such groans. That their discharge did stretch his leath- ern coat Almost to bursting ; and the big round tears 51 I I 1 ) Shakespeare: The Man Cours'd one another down his innocent nose In piteous chuse ; and thus the hairy fool, Much marked of the meUiucholy Jaques, Stood on the extremest verge of the swift brook, Augmenting it with tears. — As You Like It, II., i. So the PrincerjS in Love's Labour's Lost, Act IV., Scene i., — As I, for praise alone, now seek to spill The poor deer's blood, that my heart means no ill. Of the passage in the second part of Henry VI., (Ill, i.), pathetically describing the calf driven to the slaughter house of the butcher, and the dam wailing for her young one, perhaps no more can safely be said than that it passed under the hand of Shakespeare. The language which passes between 52 ^4/fAW^^ig Shakespeare: The Man men and women in the plays is some- times indelicate and such as at the present day would imply a low esti- mate of womanhood. But this is of the time. Queen Elizabeth was no paragon of delicacy either in manners or in language. That Shakespeare's estimate of womanhood was not low he has shown by giving us a gal- lery of female characters ranging in variety, within female limits, from Beatrice to Juliet or Hero ; but all supreme in beauty and loveliness. There are bad women of course, such as Regan, Goneril, and Lady Macbeth, though in Lady Macbeth, with all her wickedness and masculine dar- ing, there is nothing unqueenly. Brothel-keepers and abandoned wo- men are a class apart, too familiar 53 1 I i 'I i( M: i; |i Shakespeare : The Man to Shakespeare, hut not more familiar to him than to other writers and to people generally in that age. We appreciate Shakespeare's treatment of the female character more highly when we consider how unfavourable in all probability his experience had been. Shakespeare lived long before the advent of the New Woman, and in a state of society when the weaker vessel was more dependent for pro- tection on the strongjer than it is now. But it would be difficult, whatever the state of society might be, to reconcile Shakespeare's view of the relation between husband and wife with that of John Stuart Mill or his female disciples. The Taming of the Shrew is broad farce, though 54 I! Shakespeare: The Man perhaps not without a more serious undertone; and we may set down as dramatic the ultra-conjucral speech of the Shrew at the end of the play which she ends by putting her hand under her liusband's foot; though there are some points in it which might deserve the attention of ladies who declaim against the tyranny of man, as if he had done nothing for woman. There is noth- ing farcical, however, in the words of Beatrice in Much Ado About Nothing, — I will requite to thy loving —III., i. Or in those of Portia in The Merchant of Venice, — 55 And, Benedick, love on, thee ; Taming my wild heart hand. \A I! I, 'I \iti J' l' til Shakespeare: The Man Portia. — You see me, lord Bassanio, where I stand, Siieli as I am : thouf^li, for myself aloue, I would not be ambitious in my wish. To wish myself mueh better ; yet, for you, I would be trebled twenty times mysf^lf; A thousand times more fair, ten thousand times More rich ; That only to stand high on your account, I might in virtues, beauties, livings, friends, Exceed account : but the full sum of me Is sum of something : which, to term in gross. Is an unlessou'd girl, uuschool'd, un- practis'd : Happy in this, she is not yet so old But she may learn : and happier than this, She is not bred so dull but she can learn ; Happiest of all, is, that her gentle spirit Commits itself to yours to be directed, As from her lord, her governor, her king. Myself, and what is mine, to you, and yours Is now converted : but now I was the lord Of this fair mansion, master of ray ser- vants. Queen o'er myself; and even now, but now, 56 ^1; Shakespeare: The Man This house, these servants, and this same myself, Are yours, my lord ; I give them with this ring ; Which when you part from, lose, or give away, Let it presage the ruin of your love. And be my vantage to exclaim on you. — ///., a. The sanctity of the marriage tie, as was said before, is presented with the poet's full power. Portia's success as an advocate cannot be pleaded as encouraging to ladies to enter the legal profession. It will be observed that she gets not only her garments but her notes from her cousin Doctor Bellario at Padua. There is in Love's Labour's Lost a passage highly complimentary to the female intellect. 57 i il r i I 'I k 1 t* %i Shakespeare : The Man For Avhen would you, my lord, or you, or you, Have found the ground of study's excel- Itnco, Without the beauty of a woman's face? Frojn women's eyes this doctrine 1 derive : They -t'j the ground, the books, the acade- mes, From whence doth spring the true Pro- methean fire. Why, universal plodding prisons up The nimble spirits in the arteries ; As motion, and long-during action, tires The sinewy vigour of the traveller. Now, for not looking on a woman's face. You have in that forsworn the use of eyes; And study, too, the causer of your vow : For where is any author in the world. Teaches such beauty as a woman's eye? — IV. f Hi. Shakespeare's moral philosophy is sound, but tolerant and liberal. He seems to have suspected that the bounds between virtue and vice were less clear, and that characters were more mixed than moralists commonly 58 h Shakespeare: The Man assumed. He sees "a soul of goodness in tilings evil." " The web of our life," he says, " is of a mingled yarn, good and ill together: our virtues would be proud, if our faults whipp'd them not ; and our crimes would de- spair, if they were not cherished by our virtues" {All's Well that Ends Well, IV., Hi.) It has been remarked that there is not the slightest allusion to the grand struggle with Spain or to the Armada. The account of this may be that Shakespeare was a Court playv/right, and that war with Spain was not, of all subjects, tht) most palatable to the Court. War with Spain was forced on Elizabeth ; but her own leanings probabljT^ were rather Spanish ; so, 59 M Ui 11 V' {'' }. Ii *l ti t 111 I I'' jt " ti ii Shiikespeare : The Mail even more 'lecidedly were those of lier succesHOr. Spain was tlie Grand Monarcliy, and tlie alliance liad natural attractions for Princes, especially if their subjects were supposed to be mutinous. Shake- speare, however, like a true drama- tist, was unpolitical. It was not from want of patriot- ism, at all events, that he makes no reference to the war with Spain and the Armada. English feeling in him is very strong. This royal throne of kings, this scepter' d isle, This earth of majesty, this seat of Mars, This other Eden, demi-paradise ; This fortress, built by nature for herself. Against infection, and the hand of war : This happy breed of men, this little world ; This precious stone set in the silver sea, Which serves it in the office of a wall, 60 I n Shakespeare : The Man Oi as a moat defensive to a house, Against tlie envy of less lia])i)ier lands ; This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England, This nurse, this teeming womb of royal kings, Fear'd by their breed, and famous by their birth. Renowned for their deeds as far from home, (For Christian serviee, and true ehivalry,) As is the sepulchre in stubborn Jewry, Of the world'8 ransom, blessed Mary's son : This land of such dear souls, this dear dear land. Dear for her reputation through the world. Is now leas' d out (I die pronouncing it,) Like to a tenement, or pelting farm : England, bound in with the triumphant sea. Whose rocky shore beats back the envi- ous siege Of watery Neptune, is now bound in with shame, With inky blots, and rotten parchment bonds ; That England, that was wont to conquer others. Hath made a shameful conquest of itself : 61 \ III I ll i ij 1 '11 I Shakespeare : The Man O, would the scandal vanish with my life, How happy then were my ensuing death ! — King Richard II. ^ II., i. Shakespeare's heart evidently goes with Henry V. in his invasion of France and swells with patriotic pride as he recounts the battle of Agincourt. Maritime adventure and discovery were a great feature of the age. About these Shakespeare is rather un- accountably silent, though there are abundant references to ships and sea- faring life. The only apparent allu- sion is in The Tempest, where they land on an undiscovered island. Travellers' tales are more than once subjects of satire, though Othello wins the heart of Desdemona by his story of wanderings which take him among 62 itaft!*T Shakespeare : The Man I. the Anthropophagi and the men whose heads do grow beneath their shoulders. A passage in The Tempest (III., iii.) seems io suggest the idea that a race of men gentler than the people of Europe might be found in new coun- tries. Potatoes, one of the pro- ducts of discovery, are mentioned in The Merry Wives of Windsor (V., v.) and in Troilus and Cressida (V., ii). It is evident, however, that Shake- speare's mind did not turn much in that direction. What was Shakespeare in religion ? At the time when his intellectual life began, a series of religious revo- lutions and counter - revolutions had been closed by the Elizabethan settle- ment; a compromise, framed by poli- ticians for a political object, which 63 ^. -,•.-»■■' «■ '^1. k\ '\ l< V- i »: 'i I ( li ' fi Shakespeare: The Man failed from the outset, as it has throui^liout, to satisfy religious aspira- tion, and lias appeared to be suc- cessful only in periods of spiritual torpor. Puritanism, with its Genevan theology, was on the scene and was assailing the relics of Catholicism in the liturn;y or the vestiary, and rebelling against the autiiority of the Bishops. Martin Mar prelate was rail- ing against mitres. More thorough- going than the Puritan, who was always for a national Establishment though purged of Popery, w^as the Brownist, who, like the Indepen- dent of an after day and the Baptist, was for an entire separation of Church from State. Brownism, as a revolutionary movement, was under the ban of the Government. 14 If as it has ions jispira- o be 8UC- f spiritual 'S Genevan 3 and was lolicism in iary, and *ity of the was rail- thorough- who was il»]islinient was the Indepen- and the reparation Jrownisni, ant, was ^ernnient. Shakespeare: The Man On the other hand, there were Roman Catholics of two kinds ; those of the old school, national and patriotic, ready to fight for England against the Armada ; and those of the new, Ultramontane, and Jesuitical school, who would have been ready to fight with the Armada against England. Conscientious Roman Catholics were Recusants, refusing to attend the worship prescribed by law and in- curring fines by their non-attendance. But besides these sects, religious con- troversies and wars had not failed to produce their natural efi'ect in breed- ing among men of more daring spirit, or perhaps more libertine lives, total scepticism or indifference to religion. Among the Bohemians of the theatre this tendency was likely to prevail. 65 ' '\ J ll r"» i;^ i |i 'i I I I I -5 ri J; SliakeHpeare : The Man Marlowe is maligned as a blatant atheist, an utterer of horrible and damnable opinions, who had w^ritten a book against the Trinity and de- famed Christ. The imputation was extended to other Bohemians. There seems, however, to have been freethinking of a more serious and respectable kind. In 1583 Giordano Bruno, in the course of the philo- sophical wanderings which ended in Rome and at the stake, visited Eng- hmd. He found much that was not to his liking; dirty streets, insolent domestics, and at Oxford Dons think - incf more of their academic robes and their social position than of the advancement of learning, and with minds closed against new truths. But in London he found to his satisfac- 66 i atant and 'itten I de- was been and :dano )hilo- )d in Eno-. 3 not jolent hink- i and the with But jisfac- Shakespeare: The Man tion comparative freedom of thought and speech. A circle, of which Sir Philip Sidney and Sir Fulke Greville were the chiefs and of which Bruno was a member, discussed questions of philosophy and science with closed doors. So far as social position was concerned, Shakespeare might possi- bly have found his way into that circle. The State Church was in a very low condition. The bulk of the clergy had turned their coats under Mary and then again under Eliza- beth. Of spiritual life there was probably little among them. They were greatly impoverished, and icono- clasm had dilapidfc-ted their churches. Their representatives in the Shake- spearian drama are Sir Hugh Evans, 67 \'t J; Shakespeare: The Man who appears in The Merry Wives of Wviuhor as a boon companion and a butt, quarrelling like a dog and going out to light a duel ; and Sir Nathaniel, who plays a farcical part in Love's Labours Lost. There can be little difficulty in pronouncing Shakespeare a Conform- ist, as a servant of the Court was specially bound to be. At all events he was not a Nonconformist; for he ridicules the Nonconformists all round. If men could be contented to be what they are, there were no fear in marriage : for young Charbon the Purita i, and old Poysam the Papist, howsoe'er their hearts are severed in religion, their heads are both one, they may joll horns together, like any deer i' the herd. — AlVa Well that Ends Well, /., Hi. Though honesty be no Puritan, yet it will do no hurt ; it will wear the surplice 6S Shakespeare : The Man 38 of and and [ Sir part y in brm- was i^ents r he )und. what iage : i old learts 3 are 3ther, Hi. ret it rplice of humility over the black gown of a big heart. —AW a Well that Ends Well, I., Hi. In Tivelfth-Night {III., ii.) Sir An- drew Ague-cheek says "I had as lief be a Brownist as a politician." There is perhaps a slight compli- ment to the conscientiousness of the Puritans in Twelfth- Night, — 3/ar/a.— Marry, sir, sometimes he is a kind of Puritan . Sir Aiidrew Ague-cheek. — O, if I thought that, I'd beat him like a dog. Sir Toby Belch.— \yimt, for being a Puritau? thy exquisite reason, dear knight ? Sir Andrew Ague-cheek. — I have no ex- quisite reason for't, but I have reason good fuough. Maria.— The devil a Puritan that he is, or any thing constantly but a time pleaser. — //., Hi. Religious pretensions do not escape 69 ) fShakespeare : The Man ridicule. " Signior Bassanio," says Gratiano in the Merchant of Venice, •' hear me : If I do not put on a sober habit, Talk with respect, an '. swear but now and then, Wear prayer-books in my pocket, look demurely Nay more, while grace is saying, hood mine eyes «'^us with my hat, and sigh, and say, amen ; Use all the observance of civility. Like one well studied in a sad ostent To please his grandam, never trust me more. ^r a — 11., %i. Least of all can it be maintained that Shakespeare was a Roman Cath- olic. Would it have been possible for a Roman Catholic, even dramatically, to have written this ? — King Philip. — Here comes the holy legate of the pope. Pandulph. — Hail, you anointed deputies of heaven ! — 70 Shakespeare : Tlie Man To thee king John, my holy oiiand is. I Paiidulph, of fair Mihiu cardinal, And from pope Innocent the legate here, Do, in his name, religiously demand. Why thou against the church, our holy mother, So wilfully dost spurn ; and, force per- force, Keep Stephen Langton, chosen archbishop Of Canterbury, from that holy see ? This, in our 'foresaid holy father's name, Pope Innocent, I do demand of thee. King John. — What earthly name to in- terrogatories, Can task the free breath of sacred king? Thou canst not, cardinal, dev'.se a name So slight, unworthy, and ridiculous, To charge me to an answer, as the pope. Tell him this tale : and f nu the mouth of England, Add thus much more, — That no Italian priest Shall tithe or toil in our dominions ; But as we under heaven are supreme head, So, under him, that great supremacy, Where we do reign, we will alone up- hold, Without the assistan(!e of a mortal hand : So tell the pope ; all reverence stt apart, To him, and his usurp'd authority. 71 n Shakespeare : The Man King PMHp. — Brother of England, you blaspheme in this. King John. — Though you, and all the kings of Christendom, Are led so grossly by tliis meddling priest, Dreading the curse that money may buy out ; And, by the merit of vile gold, dross, dust. Purchase corrupted pardon of a man. Who, in that sale, sells pardon from him- self; Though you, and all the rest, so grossly led, This juggling witchcraft with revenue cherish ; Yet I, alone, alone do me oppose Against the pope, and count his friends my foes. — Kitig John, III., i. ) It in true Shakespeare treats Friars respectfully in Romeo and J id let, and elsewhere. But this shows that he was a large-minded artist, not that he was a Roman Catholic. The Friars were accessories of his Italian scenes. 72 Shakespeare : The Man To be sure he might think them, though not ministers of a purer relig- ion, characters more poetic, perhaps more spiritual, than Sir Hugh Evans y.nd Sir Nathaniel. That his respect for Friars was not religious seems to be shown when he says, — Clown. — As fit as teu groats is for the baud of an attorney, as your P'reuch crown for tafJhta punk, as Tib's rush for Tom's fore-tlnger, as a pancake for Shrove-Tuesclaj% a morris for ]May-day, as the nail to his hole, the cuckold to his horn, as a scolding quean to a wrangling knave, as the nun's lip to the friar's mouth ; nay, as the pud- ding to his skin. —AW a Well that Ends Well, 11. , it. The ghost and the purgatory in Hamlet are evidently a mere part of the fiction. No belief is indicated in purgatory any more than in ghosts. 73 t If ) 1. Shakespeare: The Man A Conformist we may safely take Shakespeare to have been ; whether he was a church-goer, we have no means of telling. Atheistical or ir- religious, he evidently was not. His general spirit is religious. With him, to be where " holy bells knoll to church," is synonymous with civil- ized life. The Almighty has fixed his canon against self-slaughter. In Tivelfth - Night Malvolio, here evi- dently serious, when asked whether he assents to a degrading opinion of the soul, answers that he thinks nobly of the soul, and by no means assents to the opinion. In Measure for Meas- ure there is a respectful allusion to the doctrine of the Redemption. Isabella. — Alas ! Alas ! Why, all the souls that were, were forfeit once 74 A Shakespeare : The Man And He that might the vantage best have took, Found out the remedy. ,, .. In The Merchant of Venice, mercy in man reflects an attribute of God. On the other hand, when Shake- speare touches the problem of human existence or that of the world to come, we cannot help feeling that we are in contact with a mind more like that of Giordano Bruno, or rather that of the Elizabethan liberals, than that of an orthodox Anglican Divine. The soliloquy in Hamlet presents nothing sceptical ; yet it and Hamlet's general uttei- ances are pervaded by the spirit of one to whom the state of man, present and future, is an unsolved mystery. We do not know "in that sleep of 75 r r li SJtake&peare : The Man death what dreams may come." The world beyond the grave is "the un- discovered country from whose bourn no traveller returns." To die is to " go we know not where." " We are such stuff as dreams are madt on ; and our little life is rounded with a sleep." This globe of ours " like an unsubstantial pageant, will vanish and leave not a wreck behind." That 3hakespeare himself speaks in such passages cannot be affirmed, but may surely, without much improbability, be divined. Among the absurdities of the Bacon- ian theory, not one is greater than the idea that Bacon could have passed, in changing his kind of composition, from the scientific orthodoxy of his acknow- ledged works to the frame of mind 76 Shakespeare: The Man characteristic of the Shakespearian drama. Of the greatness of Shakespeare's genius, this is not, any more than of the features of his art, the place to speak. His genius is so great that it has raised the whole Elizabethan drama to a height of reputation which probably none of its other writers, with the possible exception of Marlowe, could of themselves have attained. 77