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thought which he is realizing, and is unconscious of its true import, nevertheless acts simply as the instrument of its development, and by its influence rules the minds and wills of others. Thus it is that Prospero is indebted for his supremacy to the profundity and might of his science and art. In direct contrast to Prospero, who represents the secret and irresistible influence of goodness, stands Caliban, the monster of evil and brute nature, born of the lowest dregs of human reprobation, and the very personification of evil will. He is tamed merely for a time by foreign force and by his own impotence; in will he is still mischievous, and he exemplifies the profound truth, that although, as action, evil invariably destroys itself and ministers to good, still as will, even in the moment of its weakness, and in the divine and consequently eternal act of its annihilation, which is at the same time, its punishment, it is itself eternal, in so far as it is a part of the immortal mind and liberty of man. This appears to us to be the profound meaning of this singular creation of Shakspeare's poetic phantasy, which, in spite of all its rare and fanciful monstrosity, looks, nevertheless, marvellously real and like to life. He is no arbitrary creation of poetic caprice-no chance birth; although, in order to harmonize with the fanciful character of the whole piece, fantastically shapen and grotesque, he is yet a necessary member of the artistic organisation. As Prospero evidently is a mind of more than ordinary endowments, and who, like every other eminent leader of men, maintains the supremacy of the universal and objective over the subjective and individual, so Caliban, his organic contrary, is not merely individual, but also a representative of the general, in so far as the universal sinfulness of man is, as it were, concentrated and personified in his character. With him are joined Trinculo, Stephano, and the Boatswain, as the impersonations of folly and perversity, and of rude, sensual materialism. The very unconsciousness with which they do wrong constitutes their guilt, and in this respect they form, as it were, the transition to Antonio, Sebastian, and the King, whose faults are not undesigned or unconsciously committed, but nevertheless redeemed by some noble and generous traits. Their criminality is far from equal; all, however, are not so far lost as to be incapable of rapid conversion and repentance. On the other

side, Ferdinand, Miranda, and the old noble Gonzalo, side with virtue and goodness, and group themselves with Prospero. Lastly, the courtiers Adrian and Francisco are the general types and representatives of the middle classes, and appear to be introduced for no other purpose than to supply the intermediate gaps between good and evil, and to leave no space unoccupied on the stage of history.

In this way do the characters of the piece, severally and collectively, harmonize with the ground-idea, and constitute an organic and consistent whole. Out of them, the action, as I have described it, flows easily and naturally, and is in perfect union with the general conception. Viewed from this centre every particular appears to possess its deep and adequate motive, and all the parts to hang together in beautiful and well-ordered con

nexion.

That the "Tempest" was not produced before 1609-10 is shewn to be probable, by Drake (ii. 503). At all events, so serious and earnest a tone pervades it-the general structure, the composition, language, and characterization, so decidedly betoken the writer's perfect mastery of his subject-matter and his art-that the majority of critics agree in placing it among the latest of our poet's productions. All that is certainly known of it is, that it was acted in the beginning of 1613. (Collier, i. 383). Tieck is of opinion that it had a reference to the marriage of the Princess Elizabeth with the Palsgrave Frederick, which took place in February, 1613. Besides other passages, he is inclined to consider the interlude of Miranda's courtship with Ferdinand in this light, which as a mere episode is, no doubt, somewhat tediously spun out. But it is impossible to look upon this noble poem as a mere occasional piece, which owes its value and importance solely to the object of its production, and, to be rightly understood, requires to be interpreted by such allusions. Shakspeare may no doubt at times have taken advantage of the passing interests of the day, and in this respect we cannot sufficiently admire the rare taste and judgment which he has shewn in interweaving such ephemeral references with the profound and deathless meaning of his poems, without doing dishonour to the high dignity of art.

4. LOVE'S LABOUR'S LOST-TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA-ALL'S WELL THAT ENDS WELL.

"Love's Labour's Lost" attaches itself immediately to "Twelfth Night, or What You Will." The fantastic element in its composition is distinctly apparent. Caprice and chance, the most extravagant wit, the most whimsical conceits, with the most wonderful fantastic characters and comic situations, keep up the merry game. Intrigue, however, preponderates; since what little of action there is in the piece is confined to the plots and counterplots of the two contending parties who stand opposed to each other on the field of love. We propose, therefore, to commence with this play the series of pieces which, from their prevailing tone, we would designate as Comedies of Intrigue.

The youthful King of Navarre, with three of his knightly companions, have adopted the strange conceit of devoting three years to the study of wisdom and science, in strict retirement from the world, and especially from all female society. To this engagement they have bound themselves by oath. Their steadiness, however, is quickly put to the proof by the arrival of the beautiful Princess of France, with her ladies, demanding an immediate audience on urgent affairs of state, which admit not of delay. The votaries of wisdom and retirement fall in love at first sight with these fair dames, who are not more beautiful than mischievous. Hereupon commences a merry combat of wit and repartee, the knights either taunting each other with their violated oaths, or seeking to justify themselves to their own conscience, or striving to win their ladies' hearts, which the latter as cleverly defend, retorting wit for wit, and inflicting a just punishment on their affectation of superior wisdom, and the engagement which is broken as quickly as it was foolishly made. Interwoven with all this is the sprightly contrast afforded by the comic scenes, where we are introduced to the two insipid pedants, and a knightly pretender to taste and learning, a young saucy page, and a privileged fool. The motley web is, however, suddenly cut short by news of the death of the Princess's aged and infirm father, and the

piece concludes with a lesson intrinsically serious, however jestingly conveyed. The task which the King and his companions, in a light humour, had engaged in, is enjoined upon them with some slight modification by their lady-loves, in punishment of their arrogant caprice. The whole concludes with a song between Spring and Winter, maintained by the Cuckoo and the Owl, which, with its poetic chiaro-oscuro, diffuses a soft halo over the meaning and purport of the poem.

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The leading idea of the piece is, in short, the significant contrast of the fresh, youthful, and ever-blooming reality of life, and a dry, lifeless, and recluse study of science. Either member of the contrariety, nakedly opposed to the other, and placed in hostile opposition to, and wholly uninfluenced by it, becomes untrue, preposterous, and absurd. The science which abstracts itself from reality and retires in lonely contemplation, must either quickly entomb itself in the barren sands of a tasteless and pedantic erudition, or else, overcome by the gay seductions of life, give itself up to excessive pleasure and learned trifling, and earn for itself the merited reproach of affectation or pretension. One of these results is embodied in the Curate, Sir Nathaniel, and the Village Schoolmaster, Holofernes-those truthful representatives of the retailers of learned trifles and in the and bombastic Spanish Knight, Don Adriano de Armado-the Quixote of a highsounding phraseology. The other is indicated by the King and his companions. From the pursuit of wisdom, which they blindly hope to gain by abstract study, they soon fall into the veriest silliness and fooleries of love-making; in spite of their oaths and fraternity, nature and truth quickly make themselves felt, and gain an easy victory. But this victory over false wisdom is fundamentally nothing more than the defeat of folly by folly. For, on the other hand, nature and reality, taken by themselves, are but fugitive and illusory images when apart from the solidity of the cognizant mind; separated from this, the merry sport of love and life is checked and damped; talents, shrewdness, and acquirements, become a mere vain and superficial wit, and love itself, when unassociated with the solidity, earnestness, and moderation, which occasional solitude and contemplative reflection alone can bestow upon the mind, sinks into a tawdry show of tinsel and spangle.

And to such meditation the Prince and his courtiers are for a while consigned by the objects of their adoration. We have here the triumph of the fine and correct judgment of a noble woman, which is as complete as that of her social wit and clever management. The speech of the Princess, in which she condemns the Prince to twelve months of seclusion and self-denial, and the words of Rosaline, which indignantly expose the thorough worthlessness of wit and talents when exclusively directed to festive and social amusement, convey, as it were, the moral of the fable. The end of the comedy returns, so to speak, into its beginning: the dialectic of irony has palsied both members of the truth when presented to it in their untenable and one-sided exclusiveness. The highest splendour and pleasures of life, wit and talents, without the earnestness and profundity which a thoughtful mind lends to them, are a mere false tinsel, while learning and science, abstracted from, and undirected to the realities of life, are equally worthless and unsubstantial. The same truth is conveyed by the closing contrast between Spring and Winter; separate from each other they either lose themselves in self-destroying and pernicious excess, or in the cold and stiffness of death; in reality, however, they are not in truth, and cannot be made, thus independent of each other, but by their constant interaction and mutual influence produce life and fertility.

Thus considered the present comedy likewise acquires a profound poetical significance. We have no longer to look about for the meaning of those ridiculous characters, Sir Nathaniel, Holofernes, Armado, and Dull, and of the apparently superfluous and impertinent scenes in which they are introduced. And we also see grounds for the partiality with which Shakspeare evidently regarded this piece, and which led him to submit it to several revisions and corrections *. It was a merry parody on the tasteless imitation of Lilly by a pedantic literary clique of his contemporaries, who were doing all in their power to corrupt their native tongue by coquetting with alliteration and antithesis, by introducing orthographical improvements and the most fanciful

* In the oldest known edition, the title-page has the words-" newly corrected and augmented."

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