Shakespeare, Ben Jonson, Beaumont and Fletcher Part 36

"The Wildgoose Chase."

Act ii. sc. 1. Belleur's speech:-

... "That wench, methinks, If I were but well set on, for she is a _fable_, If I were but hounded right, and one to teach me."

Sympson reads "affable," which Colman rejects, and says, "the next line seems to enforce" the reading in the text.

Pity, that the editor did not explain wherein the sense, "seemingly enforced by the next line," consists. May the true word be "a sable"-that is, a black fox, hunted for its precious fur? Or "at-able,"-as we now say,-"she is come-at-able?"

"A Wife For A Month."

Act iv. sc. 1. Alphonso's speech:-

"Betwixt the cold bear and the raging lion Lies my safe way."

Seward's note and alteration to-

"'Twixt the cold bears, far from the raging lion"-

This Mr. Seward is a blockhead of the provoking species. In his itch for correction, he forgot the words-"lies my safe way!" The bear is the extreme pole, and thither he would travel over the s.p.a.ce contained between it and "the raging lion."

"The Pilgrim."

Act iv. sc. 2.-

Alinda's interview with her father is lively, and happily hit off; but this scene with Roderigo is truly excellent. Altogether, indeed, this play holds the first place in B. and F.'s romantic entertainments, _l.u.s.tspiele_, which collectively are their happiest performances, and are only inferior to the romance of Shakespeare in the _As You Like It_, _Twelfth Night_, &c.

_Ib._-

"_Alin._ To-day you shall wed Sorrow, And Repentance will come to-morrow."

Read "Penitence," or else-

"Repentance, she will come to-morrow."

"The Queen Of Corinth."

Act ii. sc. 1.-

Merione's speech. Had the scene of this tragi-comedy been laid in Hindostan instead of Corinth, and the G.o.ds here addressed been the Vishnu and Co. of the Indian Pantheon, this rant would not have been much amiss.

In respect of style and versification, this play and the following of _Bonduca_ may be taken as the best, and yet as characteristic, specimens of Beaumont and Fletcher's dramas. I particularly instance the first scene of the _Bonduca_. Take Shakespeare's _Richard II._, and having selected some one scene of about the same number of lines, and consisting mostly of long speeches, compare it with the first scene in _Bonduca_,-not for the idle purpose of finding out which is the better, but in order to see and understand the difference. The latter, that of B. and F., you will find a well-arranged bed of flowers, each having its separate root, and its position determined aforehand by the will of the gardener,-each fresh plant a fresh volition. In the former you see an Indian fig-tree, as described by Milton;-all is growth, evolution;-each line, each word almost, begets the following, and the will of the writer is an interfusion, a continuous agency, and not a series of separate acts.

Shakespeare is the height, breadth, and depth of Genius: Beaumont and Fletcher the excellent mechanism, in juxta-position and succession, of talent.

"The n.o.ble Gentleman."

Why have the dramatists of the times of Elizabeth, James I., and the first Charles become almost obsolete, with the exception of Shakespeare? Why do they no longer belong to the English, being once so popular? And why is Shakespeare an exception?-One thing, among fifty, necessary to the full solution is, that they all employed poetry and poetic diction on unpoetic subjects, both characters and situations, especially in their comedy. Now Shakespeare is all, all ideal,-of no time, and therefore for all times.

Read, for instance, Marine's panegyric in the first scene of this play:-

... "Know The eminent court, to them that can be wise, And fasten on her blessings, is a sun," &c.

What can be more unnatural and inappropriate (not only is, but must be felt as such) than such poetry in the mouth of a silly dupe? In short, the scenes are mock dialogues, in which the poet _solus_ plays the ventriloquist, but cannot keep down his own way of expressing himself.

Heavy complaints have been made respecting the transposing of the old plays by Cibber; but it never occurred to these critics to ask, how it came that no one ever attempted to transpose a comedy of Shakespeare's.

"The Coronation."

Act i. Speech of Seleucus:-

"Altho' he be my enemy, should any Of the gay flies that buz about the court, _Sit_ to catch trouts i' the summer, tell me so, I durst," &c.

Colman's note.

Pshaw! "Sit" is either a misprint for "set," or the old and still provincial word for "set," as the participle pa.s.sive of "seat" or "set." I have heard an old Somersets.h.i.+re gardener say:-"Look, Sir! I set these plants here; those yonder I _sit_ yesterday."

Act ii. Speech of Arcadius:-

"Nay, some will swear they love their mistress, Would hazard lives and fortunes," &c.

Read thus:-

"Nay, some will swear they love their mistress so, They would hazard lives and fortunes to preserve One of her hairs brighter than Berenice's, Or young Apollo's; and yet, after this," &c.

"They would hazard"-furnishes an anapaest for an _iambus_. "And yet," which must be read, _anyet_, is an instance of the enc.l.i.tic force in an accented monosyllable. "And yet," is a complete _iambus_; but _anyet_ is, like _spirit_, a dibrach u u, trocheized, however, by the _arsis_ or first accent damping, though not extinguis.h.i.+ng, the second.