SHAKSPERE gis Jimcr fife AS INTIMATED IN HIS WORKS LONDON : UOBSON AND SOX, GREAT NORTHERN PRINTING WORKS. PANCRAS ROAD, N.W. ^%*^J BY CHARLES BACON SHAKSPERE its Inner fife AS INTIMATED IN HIS WORKS BY JOHN A. HERAUD Hwrct thu ece God, eac gemengest tha hcof oncundan hither with eorthan saula with lice siththau wuniath: this eorthlice and thaet ece samod, saul in floesce. Hwaet hi simle to the hiona f undiath, forthrcm hi hider of the seror comon : sculon eft to the. KINO ALFRED LONDON JOHN MAXWELL AND COMPANY 122 FLEET STEEET M DCCC LXV I TO THE EIGHT HONOUKABLE WILLIAM EWAPtT GLADSTONE, M.P., P.O., CHAXCELLOB OF THE EXCHEQUER, ETC. WHOSE COPIOUS AND LUCID ILLUSTRATIONS OF HOMER AND THE HOMERIC AGE ENTITLE HIM TO THAT EMINENCE AMONG SCHOLARS WHICH HIS DISTINGUISHED PUBLIC SERVICES HAVE SECURED AMONG STATESMEN, Oe ollafoitt0 IN GRATEFUL ACKNOWLEDGMENT, IS INSCRIBED BY THE AUTHOR. 852304 PEEFACE. TASTE, as the reflex of Genius, follows the law of the greater light by which it is informed ; but, relieved from the labour of creation, it has leisure to contemplate a variety, and to com- pare together a number of products. Taste, accordingly, fre- quently complains of defect. Failing to find in one work of genius what has existed in another, it contrasts the present with the past. Taste and Genius being present in the same indi- vidual, the former controls the quality of production, and the Artist becomes critical, the Critic becomes artistic. In schools of Art both are united, originating an organon of criticism which ultimately outgrows mere Art-limits, penetrates the domain of philosophy, regulates the sequence of thought, and prescribes a method to the order of our ideas. In this manner a Kant and other system-mongers are generated. Criticism then attains a dignity which entitles it to enter into the very con- ception and execution of high works of art; as it did into Schiller's later dramas, such as Wallenstein, The Maid of Or- leans, Wilhelm Tell, Mane Stuart, and The Bride of Messina. It is one of the marvellous facts connected with Shakspere's works, that, not only in general structure, but minute detail, they practically anticipate the rules of philosophical criticism, and compel us not only to admire his original genius but his inborn taste. If one is inspiration, the other is instinct. The poet's mind displays an automatic action, especially true viii Preface. of the spiritual organism, though attended by self-conscious- ness at every step of its manifestation. The union of Taste and Genius in one personality marks a man whose observation is equal to his more abstract powers ; one who, like Leonardo da Vinci for instance, not only thought intensely, but studied objects with unwearied diligence. The creative impulses of true genius are much aided by the opera- tions of taste. In youth, poets commence with imitation, and in their progress become more and more original. Many, unless stimulated by example, would never have attained to the consciousness of hidden power. It is the same with Art as with Life. The associated forces of the observing mind o with the observed object make the latter a portion of the in- telligence that it helps to form, to excite, and to develope. In the history of Art-progress the constant inherence of the past in the present is also exemplified. In the commencement of the sixteenth century a confluence of various tendencies had begun to act on each other with remarkable power. Classic, Christian, social art thus intermingled in poetry as well as in painting. The influences of that period have since blended with those of intervening centuries, and others of the present will enter into combination with still newer elements in the future. Taste, being essentially of an eclectic character, pro- ceeds by selecting points in the works submitted to it ; united with genius it reproduces such points in unexpected combina- tions. With nature, also, the same privilege of selection is claimed by the gifted artist, and with the happiest results. Taste in art implies progress in art. Genius, as the produc- tive principle, works like Love, prior to reasoning, and inde- pendent of judgment. Taste comes after, and is subordinate to both. It, however, implies a mind naturally predisposed to its exercise. In every acceptable work, there must be a mani- fest obedience to law law self-imposed, but suggested by the consistency which makes itself felt in every well-designed and well-executed product. Neither poet nor artist may despise Preface. ix rules, even when lie "snatches a grace" beyond them. An exception may be permitted ; but what is absurdly called " the wild extravagance of genius" offends the connoisseur. No- thing of this appears in the genuine Shaksperian dramas; and to disabuse the mind of hasty or prejudiced readers that examples are discoverable in them of such excesses, formed no small part of the purpose designed in the projection of the present work. But we must guard against the opposite error, that desir- able results are obtainable by the mere study of technical rules of art, or the technical terms of philosophy. Only the prac- tical working out of the laws within us, and the practical edifi- cation of the moral reason by a perpetual exercise of its noble functions, in obedience to an enlightened conscience, and in harmony with an energetic will made strong by constant exer- cise, can avail to produce those immortal works in which Taste and Genius combine. The authority of Eeason must, in the severest manner, govern and prevail in the general purpose and the variety of detail. Imagination may astonish, and fancy dazzle; but to delight, they must confess their alle- giance to natural and moral laws, any transgression of which impairs the beauty and lessens the influence of an art-product. Nor let us mistake, for either the moral or rational, the conventional manners or opinions of any place or period. These frequently, by pretending to a delicacy merely artificial, prove themselves to be most indelicate. Some such mistake led Voltaire into his absurd opinions concerning Shakspere's genius and works. Time has vindicated the poet and punished the critic. But the errors of the latter appear occasionally in our journalists, and show that they still survive in vulgar minds. But that taste which should always be identified with practical reason will not substitute the laws of any time or country for those autonomies of the moral being which give motive to human action, and in which Shakspere found the x Preface. leading ideas which are so copiously and lucidly illustrated in his later dramas. Having been a reader of the Elizabethan poets from his twelfth to his sixty-fifth year, the author may have contracted a sort of partiality for their manner of thinking and style of composition ; but having also, as a professional critic during a great portion of the same period, reviewed an indefinite num- ber of modern works, he may, he thinks, reasonably indulge in the belief that he has gone through enough of general study to preserve him from a mere one-sided estimate of the literature of that remarkable period. In the hope that his reader will ultimately unite with him in this conclusion, he ventures to commend the following pages to his careful perusal. J. A. H. London, Jan. 1865. CONTENTS. PORTRAIT OF SHAKSPERE BY C. BACOX (facing Title}. PAGE DEDICATION v PREFACE vii INTRODUCTION 1 PART I. ELEMENTARY AND IMPULSIVE PERIOD 1585-1591. CHAPTER I. Shakspere as a sonnetteer The true theory concerning his Sonnets His protest against celibacy, and his testimony in favour of the Reformation His " Venus and Adonis" " Tarquin and Lucrece" Biological view of Shakspere's works " The Two Gentlemen of Verona" Shakspere travels to London His first impressions Mechanical arrangements in the structure of his plays Shakspere's education and classical learning " The Comedy of Errors" " Love's Labour's lost" Claims of the revived learning advocated "Hamlet" Thomas Kyd's Spanish Tragedy The Hystorie of Hamblet "All's well that ends well" The supernatural and causeless "Romeo and Juliet" Brooke's poem Books read by Shakspere The Shepherdess Felismena Idealising the real. p. 21 CHAPTER II. "Pericles," "Titus Andronicus," not Shakspere's Pre-Shaksperian drama Resume, and further criticism Pure comedy The dia- logue of " Hamlet" Fortinbras Christian poet A great poet a great philosopher Poetic instincts The Infinite in Love Mode- ration The elementary and impulsive, what ? . . p. 67 xii Contents. CHAPTER III. Theatrical performances in Stratford Nash Spenser Regularity and prudence of Shakspere's life The two lives of men of genius Turner Rembrandt Consistency of Shakspere's outer and inner life Polonius and Laertes Earls of Southampton, Pembroke, and Montgomery Shakspere, according to Greene, " civil and honest" Hamlet and Laertes Law of duality in the drama . . p. 90 PART II. FANTASTIC AND HISTOKICAL PERIOD 1591-1598. CHAPTER I. Recapitulation Theatrical pageants Mysteries Miracle plays Mo- ralities Masques Ancient tragedy Marlowe, the .ZEschylus of English tragedy The Blackfriars and other theatres Legislative enactments Royal license " First Part of Henry VI." Extreme protestantism " The Taming of the Shrew" " Second and Third Part of Henry VI." Duke of Gloster, afterwards Richard III. " Richard II." Shakspere, as manager of a theatre, commanded assistance "Richard III." Peculiarities of style Throughout Shakspere's His theology "King John" The policy of Eng- land p. 105 CHAPTER II. Fancy and Memory " The Merchant of Venice" The characters of Shylock and Portia " Midsummer-Night's Dream" Shakspere's theory of poetic creation . . . . . . . p. 161 CHAPTER III. The Kenil worth Festivities Shakspere's early associations, and his first steps toward attaining a social position The " Two Parts of Henry IV." Sir John Oldcastle Sir John Falstaff, a special indi- viduality Its idea its basis classical, its final outcome romantic Hotspur Concealed myths " Henry V." Shakspere's estimate of French character National Individualities . . . p. 189 Contents. xiii PAET HI. COMIC PEEIOD 1599-1601. CHAPTER I. Shakspere's comic tendencies "Much Ado about Nothing" His comic creations Beatrice and Benedick, improved on Biron and Rosa- lind Hero Shakspere's lighter pieces, to be properly appreciated, must be viewed from a high elevation " As you like it" Shak- spere's fools "Merry Wives of Windsor" " Twelfth Night" Universal character Shakspere's anticipation of philosophical dis- coveries p. 223 CHAPTER II. External corroborations Shakspere's outer life from 1594 to 1G01 An independent man, and therefore a free artist The Ideal in the Real seen by him Refinement and elegance The Inward Vision The light of an Idea Revelation Taste, its outward action some- times injurious Shakspere his own model His liberty and men- tal quiet secured, an upward flight possible Shakspere in 1598 an acknowledged poet Data and proofs "Sir John Oldcastle," by Munday, Drayton, Wilson, and Hathaway, attributed to him Robert Chester's " Love's Martyr" The death of John Shakspero (1G01) The relation of morals and manners in Shaksperian co- medy, and the predominance of the Ideal Genius and nature Intuition and experience p. 253 PART IV. EPIC AND IMAGINATIVE PEKIOD 1G01-1613. CHAPTER I. Simple construction General recapitulation "Othello" eminently a love-tragedy "Measure for Measure" its mythological mean- ing Poetic insight p. 263 CHAPTER II. Complex Structure, (a) Conventional Shakspere's choice of epic subjects, such as " Lear," and his introduction of episodes into the xiv Contents. ground-plan " Troilus and Cressida" These dramas not written for the sake of popularity, but for his own satisfaction as an artist They are transcendental in their character ; but they are also conservative as against the reactionists of his age, and intended to reestablish conventions, disturbed by revolution, but designed to be better secured by the Reformation The reconstruction of order and authority henceforth his aim Differences between Shakspere and Homer Analogies between him and Bacon " Cymbelinc" This play also in favour of marital conventions Treats of a period more civilised than the two former plays Mulmutius Dunwallo, the legendary founder of our laws Shakespere's knowledge and art Dr. Johnson's incompetency as a dramatic critic Shakspere's testimony in favour of woman and of marriage " A Winter's Tale" Ballad literature Second marriages. (&) Universal Ideal and purely Poetic Imagination "Macbeth" Superstition Pertains to the age as well as to the hero The weird-sisters used as exponents of his mental state Correction of some mistakes usually made as to the relative positions of Macbeth and his wife The symbolic nature of this tragedy, and its treat- ment The English equally superstitious with the Scotch at the period of the action The relative nexus of religion and super- , stition Political motives, with the superstitious, dominate right Lady Macduff The cluster of Eoman plays "Coriolanus" " Julius Caosar" " Antony and Cleopatra." ({) Abstract and Intellectual The purely imaginative and ideal play of "The Tempest" Shakspere's two last, and somewhat incom- plete, dramas of " Timon of Athens" and " Henry VIII." The Globe Theatre burned down . . . . . . P- 293 CONCLUSION #>. 421 APPENDIX. A. REPRINT OF THE ARTICLE ON SHAKSPERE'S SONNETS from Temple Bar, April 1862 p. 485 B. CHRONOLOGY OF THE PLAYS, ETC 503 C. A PAPER ON MACBETH, reprinted from People's and Hewitts Jour- nal, August 1849 p. 505 INTRODUCTION INTKODUCTION. THERE are men whose names are written on the page of history, as it were, in large type, who nevertheless in their own day were not perceived to be of more than ordinary size. We contemplate them in the glass of time, which in such cases has a magnifying power, and operates on its objects like the microscope on the minute shapes of creation. The medium does not deceive us ; it merely increases the force of vision, and thereby enlarges, or brings nearer. to the eye, the forms that we would investigate. Thus we are en- abled to take a fuller and truer view of the merits of the heroes of the past than was possible to their contemporaries ; because we can contemplate the former in their entire proportions, and see more of them than could be witnessed by the latter. Their life and their works from birth to death are before us, and not merely a portion of either ; so, knowing all (or all that can be known), we have the advan- tage even of wiser men who could only know a part. Of such typical or representative men was WILLIAM SHAKSPERE ; a man who, though greatly respected, was B 4 Inner Life of Shakspere. evidently not appreciated according to the plenitude of his merits, in his lifetime; but who occupies a wider and a wider space in critical esteem, as the suc- cessive ages empower his fellow-men to estimate him. and his times with increased capacity of vision and judgment. As the generations develope in intelli- gence and morals, so his fame, and that of other mighty spirits like him, necessarily receive augmen- tation. The contemplative mind grows from century to century; and observation, with practice, and by means of facilities which increased experience contin- ually supplies, acquires an instrumentality and a habit, by aid of which what was once secret or neglected is brought into light, and added to the stock of for- mer knowledge. And by this process old fames are benefited, and what had already grown into giant stature, finally becomes even titanic. As nebulae are dissolved into stars by artificial aid, so the dark places of character or circumstance gradually clear them- selves of obscurity, as the accumulated science and wisdom of ages improve the perception of the rever- ential inquirer. The capacity of the average mind becomes recipient of the greatness of particular great minds in the distant and more distant past, and mea- sures it according to the measure of an improved judg- ment and by means of rules that repeated application renders easier of employment. Thus apparently the men of old grow into heroes and demi-gods; but, if we reflect a little, we shall find that it is the ob- servers of the present day who have really advanced in power and importance; and who, in acknowledg- Introduction. 5 ing the greatness of the world's earliest teachers, only prove how great they have themselves become, by means of the mysterious influence which, like a disembodied spirit, has survived the first immediate teaching, and acted ever since as an inspiration on the minds of successive races. In the mean while the object, that has thus ap- parently enlarged, remains the same in itself. It was as great essentially in the beginning, as it is now ; but the power of appreciation in the many was less, and they saw less than we now see of that excellence, the magnitude of which they had not acquired the ability to apprehend. Only minds like Jonson's, that stood nearly on the same level with his own, properly understood the merits of Shakspere. And the terms in which this recognition is expressed are as wonderful as the fact : " Triumph, my Britain ! thou hast one to show, To whom all scenes of Europe homage owe : He was not of an age, but for all time." Marvellous was the greatness of Jonson, that could so sympathise with the greatness of a contemporary. It is observable also, that he gives Shakspere credit for Art as well as Nature, a truth not perceived until the nineteenth century, and then insisted on by another great mind, that of Coleridge. It marks a certain inferiority in Milton that he did not perceive this truth; but contrasted the flow of Shakspere's " easy numbers" with those produced by " slow-en- deavouring art." If, however, we are to believe Jonson, this same " slow-endeavouring art" was prac- 6 Inner Life of Shakspere. tised by Shakspere. " He," says the sturdy and right- thinking Ben, " Who casts to write a living line, must sweat (Such as thine are), and strike the second heat Upon the Muses' anvil ; turn the same (And himself with it), that he thinks to frame ; Or for the laurel he may gain a scorn : For a good poet's made, as well as born, And such wert thou." It is true that this statement somewhat militates against that made in the Players' Preface to the first folio edition of Shakspere's works, which preface is supposed to have been written by Jonson, and records that Shakspere, " as he was a happy imitator of Nature, was a most gentle expresser of it. His mind and hand went together; and what he thought he uttered with that easiness^ that we have scarce received from him a blot in his papers." The fact is no doubt truly stated ; but it is probable that those " papers" were fair copies, not the original draughts ; such copies, in fact, as are now made for theatres of new plays, in order to their performance. The original draughts are scarcely fit for such an oince, and would certainly never be used. Such copies, too, are liable to inaccuracies; and, so far as the eldest folio was printed from such, we may account in this way for many of the manifest errors in it. That it was not altogether printed from them, we know, notwith- standing the boast to the contrary made in the pre- face ; for in many of the plays the errors are continued which originated with the "divers stolen and surrepti- tious copies, maimed and deformed by the frauds and Introduction. 7 stealths of injurious impostors," which the preface affects to condemn. That preface, in fact, is a mere publisher's advertisement, affixed to the folio in order to promote its sale, albeit it was signed by the players, and probably written by Jonson. These few remarks may serve to symbolise the amount of uncertainty and misrepresentation, both of friends and foes, against which the fame of Shakspere has had to struggle. We do not, indeed, yet directly know what works are his and what are not; nor is there any recognised external testimony which can satisfy a logical mind. The reflective reader, therefore, is fain to procure, from a careful perusal of the various works attributed to the poet, such internal evidence as may enable him to fix approximately the value of external proof, and to correct the errors of historians and biographers. The result of such a process is, of course, dependent in a great degree on the mind of the inquirer. Its predilections, associations, a priori con- ditions, extent of knowledge, and state of opinion (to say nothing of its genius or its taste), are all elements that enter into the argument, mingle with the premises, and affect the conclusions derived from it and them. Coleridge, Ulrici, Gervinus, and others,* have attempted this task for themselves, and as a needful portion of it, have endeavoured not only to decide what plays are Shakspere's, but the chronological order of their Victor Hugo has also given a classification in his book entitled William Shakespeare; but his classification is altogether so wild and disorderly that it defies analysis. That work, indeed, is a magnificent rhapsody, but neither critical nor accurate in its statements 8 Inner Life of ShaJcspere. composition. This latter duty I have found to be the necessary antecedent to all other inquiry; and many years ago, having gone through all the evidence at my command, I arrived at a specific arrangement, as having the balance of probability in its favour. To this end, it was expedient that I should estimate not only the mere inner evidence, but the Inner Life of the productions examined. I had to settle what Life was ; and to trace it from mere individuation to in- dividuality; rising from the inorganic to the organic in the former, according to its different degrees, and in the latter, threading the folds of the historical and fantastic, taking note of comic peculiarities, and aiming at the heights of Ideal characterisation, whether simple, complex, or spiritual. This, however, was rather the metaphysical than the chronological table, though lying at the root of it, and will be better given at an advanced stage of the discussion. For the present I will content myself with dividing the table of the most probable chronological arrangement of Shakspere's plays into four periods. The first, the Elementary and Impulsive ; the second, the Historical and Fantastic ; the third, the Comic ; and the fourth, the Epic and Imaginative, the fourth displaying itself in two forms, namely, (1) Simple Construction, and (2) Complex Structure; the last including (a) the conventional, (b) the universal, ideal and purely poe- tic, and finally (c) the abstract and intellectual in conception and treatment. Here follows Introduction. THE TABLE. PLAYS. Period of earliest mention, meau date, &c. Probable period of composi- tion. I. ELEMENTARY AND IMPULSIVE PERIOD. 1585-1591. Two Gentlemen of Verona (Meres) 1598 1585 Comedy of Errors (Meres) ..... 1598 1586 Love's Labour's lost (Meres), printed 1598 per- 1 1589 1 ^8ft formed Christmas 1597 ; alludes to Bank's Horse ) (m. d.). 1