Nugae literariae: prose and verse

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Thero is not the Alightest ground to suppose that Shakspeare intondod her insane. It is life realised to the in Ward paris momory is but verissed in ali iis impressions, and judgmenthiat illuminated in ali iis convictions. It Would be madness not

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I seel the future in the instant

in the instant is noW croWded, and lives, ali the past. Μalcoim could have no knowledge that she

I he physician has ordered to bo

The Sorcery of the play agrees to the superstitions of that distant age; it Was scarcely eXploded in the times of Our bard. Ηe very ingeniousty connecis it With the Classical Μythology, subordinating the witches to Hecate. The cave of Acheron is,as by her speti, brought near, or ali by the enchaniment arehurriod thither. Αnd there is consistency in this. For in the solitoquy of Μacbeth, ere the beli is struch, he says :

Νo power is so changelat as this. It is celestial and infernat. It is Diana, that Panonym and Μultiform. She bears spiriis Doni Earth to Hades. She is the authority of ali incantations. She presides over ali magic riteS.

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Look not like the inhabitants of the earth.

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Νow, had he no heir, nor reason te liope of one, this complaint would bo absurd. He had not issue to ascend his throne, and yet grudges the unlinealr successor. But tho fallure of themonarchy in his biood, the rise of another dynasty, is his constant theme of agonised Suspense:

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ON THE TRAGIC GENIUS OF SHAKSPEARE.

not introduced unnecessarily to pain us by the helplessness of their nature, and the missortune of their orphanage. Stili thomorat is rat sed by that storm of v geance Whicli salis upon the devoted Ηouse, Whicli spares neither root nor branch, betWeen Whose rudest bursis the cry of the young child may be heard, and upon the ruins whicli it heaps may be seen the bl Ood of the poor innocentsi There is an Order of Shakspeare's plays Which may be called Classicat. Iulius Caesar is probably the greatest. Iis languagemight hecome the Senate, and iis action is liks the march of thorival levios hastoning to the sold. This has been cursorilyreviewed besore. Coriolanus is a nobie picture os military andaristocratio pride. Ηe stands lony, firm, toWering, abrupi asthe Tarpeian roch, froni Whicli his enemies Would huri him. In Antony and Cleopatra there is much sine expression, butthe heroine disgusis us too Ioathingly to alloW our pity, and theenerVate Sol dier provokes Our contempl. How might he have envied his murdered friend, once a captive in these totis too, butwho laad rent them, and who when he seli, feli greatly, strichen by princes.' Troilus and Cressida is the principat fallure. WoWant something more Homeric. Achilles and Agamemnon speahunWorthily of their fame. Ulysses is best supported, and nexi Thersites. The camp is not weli pitched, and the Warriors arenot weli harnessed. The Μaeonian sublimity is not approached.

Αnd why is this 8 It is a Woll-meritod retribution that thogenius of the author should forsako him, and that he inould bo degraded in the degradation os such polluted scenes. Whon Aristotio defined it to bo the province of Τragedy tomove pity and terror, he did not intend that the excitement of

these emotions Was iis ultimate use. These are the instruments

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ssas more buoyantly in spiriss flicti. The massi is no portionos his tragic paraphernalia, and he but strikes, for his most

and dialogue, the true dramatio Ahape. Shakspeare has obtained Such a mastery of the human mind, such a throne in the worid

For more than two centuries has his name been glorifying. EVer-Strengthening is his speti. Tho guardian of youth and theminister os religion have here no easy Path to Walli, norianhesitating counset to enunciate. It cannot be dented that, in perusing him, there is danger of morat contamination. It is Vain to say that his Worsi ovit is his fidelity, that ho calis thospade the spade. There is somelimes a lavisti pruriency. HispoWer is occasionalty for evil as Weli as good. Explore his deoplore of human nature, study the principies and laWs Which he soclearly expounds, m k how even he can only mahe vice look frictimi and leprousty deformed,-and, as Our iaste PaSSes by his verbal conceit and idie pian, let our beller and purer sensibilities rejeci and spurn the oblique, and the too osten undisguised,

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the poet, So injurious to the dramatist, so unWorthy of theman lPlato, describing the poetic inspiration, says that it loves tovisit a tender and solitam spirit. How happily do these epitheis describe the poet of Whom We spes k. How tender Was his nature to every impulse and contacti It was like one sensorium. It was the cloud of spring, pliant to every form, reflective ofeVery hue, and tremulous With every gale.-Ιt, too, with ali iis followships, dweli apart. ΗΟW it soared above, and was unlike ali common things. It waiked amidst the haunts of men in asWeetly contemplative lonesiness. It Was the star, it rose and

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PLATO.-SymPOSium. Quanquam ridentem dicere verum Quid vetat 3 ut pueris olim dant crustula blandi Doctores, elementa velint ut discere primat Sed tamen amoto quaeramUS Seria ludo. ΗΟRACE. Satirarum, lib. i. I. Res severa est verum gaudium. SENECA.

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ΤΗΕ sollowing Essay must be considered the sequel and, indeed, the pendent, of the preceding one. The Tragic genius of our great bard Was there placed in the presence of some of themightiest masters of that tony ari, and Was tried by the modolos some of their nobtest compositions. Chiefly were adduced the works of AEschylus and Euripides, with rapid selections ostheir most sublime or tender passages. That the referenoeshould not be exclusive to the muse of Greece, We Venturedalso a stight allusion to the tragedies of Seneca. As comparisonWas our principat purpose, thoSe portionS of these authors Were

generalty citod whicli furnished the best adapted materials for it.

Parallelism, and even contrast, could only be attempted where the ancient and the modern made Some approach to each other.

Μuch, theresere, it is but just to say, of the Attic and Romancothurnus could Dot traverse our litile temporary stage. It is alike necessary to remark that Slia kspeare Was far more aggrieved by such a hurried furvey, and Such an Unequally-malched competition. It is confidently assumed that ali, who have allowed thomsolves to look dispassionalesy at these severat rivals, must admit, that in true natural action, in profound developinent of hUman character, in accurate tracing out of motive, in uncloyingrichness and versatilily of metaphor, in invention of character, in dialogue for every lip and ear, in magnificent machinerywhicli moves ideat and supernatural Worlds, e, Who So longlias been the boast and pride of our literature, e, Who So longlias ruted our Dars and touched our sensibilities, s not onlyWorthy to stand in this illustrious fellowship, this memor lechoir, but that he transcends, but that his song is fulier,

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THE CLASSICA L COMEDY COMPARED

grander, sWeeter, than them alli Having accomptishod thattash, I am anxious noW to treat of his comic genius. Yet I am consciolis of some reluctance. I know that his lautis, as also,

What must not be blinked, his vices, ite most numerousty and flagrantly in this path. Perhaps the reflection has crossed mymind that my solemn engagemenis esseWhere, scarcely justised this lighter species of analysis and criticism. Eut aWare that Shakspseare is ali but universalty read, that no interdici canproscribo him, that no index expurgatorius can castiter and banish him, it seemed not wholly unfitiing, Withal belligmyself nearly committed to the endeavour, to describe hisbeauties, to reprobate his deformities, and to apply to his stu-Pendous poWers, rules for the discrimination of both. In Comedy there is no more evit than in the sister style. Each is but tho representation of What is. Directly Elther assecis the unimaginabie, iis design is vacated. This Order of histrionism ought to be gentie, kindly, cheerfui. Crime belongsnot to it. Guill must not overshadow it. But it alnis to correctand to improve. By banter and satiro it lashes folly and infirmity. Ιis cunning smile, iis open laugh, may mahe Viceashamed. Tragedy, theresere, need not vaunt a deeper moralas invariably hers. The rocking of the earlhquake, the rollingos the thunder, cause Us to tremble: the soti sunrise, the vernal

simply excite our disgust and horror. Tragedy HWays seelis, and probably alWVS require8, amore than ordinary sphere and condition os lise. It wanis PalaceS, temples, Senate-houses, for iis canopy; hingdoms and batile-solds for iis sexhibition, - heroes and princes for iis enaciment. This canon is not capriciolis, but is est lislied in very intelligibio principies. To sill the scene, there must bemighty vicissitude, tremendous reverse. Dethronement, deseat in batile, the funerat of a royal heir, rogicide, tho exile of the imperiat matron and maid,-theso aro iis chosen and most sitiing