King. O Lord Archbishop, Thou hast made me now a man! Never, before This happy child, did I get anything. This oracle of comfort has so pleas'd me, That when I am in heaven I shall desire To see what this child does, and praise my Maker. I thank ye all. To you, my good Lord Mayor, And you, good brethren, I am much beholding; I have receiv'd much honour by your presence, And ye shall find me thankful. Lead the way, lords. Ye must all see the Queen, and she must thank "Tis ten to one this play can never please All that are here. Some come to take their ease, And sleep an act or two; but those, we fear, We have frighted with our trumpets; so, 'tis clear, They'll say 'tis naught: others, to hear the city Abus'd extremely, and to cry, "That's witty!" THE TRAGEDY OF TITUS ANDRONICUS IN Henslowe's Diary, under the date April 11, 1591, is recorded the performance of a play called “tittus and Vespacia," marked “ ne,” i. e., new, or newly revised. Among the plays in the volume of Englische Comedien und Tragedien (1620), performed by English actors in Germany, there is a tragedy of Tito Andronico, which is apparently a degraded form of some version of the present play. In it Lucius is named Vespasian, and this affords a hint, corroborated by other evidence, that this German play is based on “tittus and Vespacia." In 1641 there appeared in Holland a Dutch play by Jan Vos, entitled Aran en Titus, the plot of which is essentially that of Titus Andronicus. Both this and a lost German play, acted in 1699, of which only a program is preserved, seem to be based on a Dutch translation of an English original. A comparison of the extant German, Dutch, and English plays points to the conclusion that the Shakespearean tragedy was a recasting of two English originals, on which, directly or indirectly, Tito Andronico and Aran en Titus were respectively founded. 66 On January 23, 15934, Henslowe records that a new play, "Titus and Ondronicus," was produced by the servants of the Earl of Sussex. On February 6, 15934, there was entered in the Stationers' Register to J. Danter" A Noble Roman Historye of Tytus Andronicus." Later in the same year appeared a quarto edition of our Titus Andronicus, as it was plaide by the Right Honourable the Earle of Darbie, Earle of Pembrooke, and Earle of Sussex their servants... printed by John Danter." A second quarto with some changes appeared in 1600, and a third quarto, printed from the second, appeared in 1611. On none of these Quartos does the name of Shakespeare appear; nor is there any external evidence to connect the play with him before its inclusion in the First Folio, except its occurrence in Meres's list of Shakespeare's tragedies in Palladis Tamia (1598). The text of the First Folio is derived from the Third Quarto; and the text of the present edition is based on the Second Quarto, the unique copy of the newly discovered First Quarto being inaccessible. It is not agreed whether Henslowe's "Titus and Ondronicus" was the present play or one of its predecessors; but if the play entered to Danter on February 6, 1594, was, as seems most likely, the First Quarto, printed by him in the same year, it places the date of the composition of Titus Andronicus not later than 1593. From the evidence gathered from the German and Dutch versions, it becomes apparent that the question of Shakespeare's authorship narrows itself down to one of the amount of re-writing implied in the re-casting of the older dramatic versions of the story. The main features of the Shakespearean play which cannot be proved to have existed in the earlier dramas are the rivalry between Saturninus and Bassianus for the throne; the funeral of Titus's sons killed in war; the sacrifice of Alarbus; the kidnapping of Lavinia by Bassianus. with the death of Mutius; the sending of young Lucius with presents to the sons of Tamora; and the whole of III. ii., which appears only in the First Folio, and is, perhaps, a later addition. These, with some minor details, and a revision of phraseology and metre which cannot be exactly estimated, seem to indicate the extreme limit of Shakespeare's responsibility. Nevertheless, it cannot be denied that other hands may have worked on the play between the stages represented by the Continental versions and that in which it is here printed; and some students still limit Shakespeare's share to "some master-touches to one or two of the principal characters,” accepting the late seventeenth-century tradition, reported by Ravenscroft, that this was all Shakespeare added to the work of "a private author." Evidences of the authorship of the earlier dramatic versions are purely internal. Attempts have been made to associate the play with nearly every contemporary dramatic author of note; but traces of the style of Peele and Greene point to the possibility of these writers' having had a share in it, although at what stage it is not possible to determine. If ever Bassianus, Cæsar's son, crown. 15 Lives not this day within the city walls. Bleeding to Rome, bearing his valiant sons 35 And now at last, laden with honour's spoils, Dismiss your followers, and, as suitors should, Bas. Marcus Andronicus, so I do affy In thy uprightness and integrity, And so I love and honour thee and thine, Thy noble brother Titus and his sons, And her to whom my thoughts are humbled all, Gracious Lavinia, Rome's rich ornament, That I will here dismiss my loving friends, And to my fortunes and the people's favour Commit my cause in balance to be weigh'd. [Exeunt soldiers [of Bassianus]. Sat. Friends, that have been thus forward in my right, I thank you all and here dismiss you all, And to the love and favour of my country Commit myself, my person, and the cause. [Exeunt soldiers of Saturninus.} Cap. Romans, make way! The good Andronicus, Patron of virtue, Rome's best champion, Successful in the battles that he fights, With honour and with fortune is return'd From where he circumscribed with his sword And brought to yoke, the enemies of Rome. Drums and trumpets_sounded, and then enter two of Titus's sons [MARTIUS and MUTIUS]; and then two Men bearing a coffin covered with black; then two other sons [LUCIUS and QUINTUS]. Then TITUS ANDRONICUS; and then TAMORA, the Queen of Goths with her [three] sons [Alarbus,] DEMETRIUS, and CHIRON; AARON the Moor, and others as many as can be. They set down the coffin, and Titus speaks. Tit. Hail, Rome, victorious in thy mourning weeds! 70 Tam. Stay, Roman brethren! Gracious con 129 queror, Victorious Titus, rue the tears I shed, A mother's tears in passion for her son; And if thy sons were ever dear to thee, O, think my son to be as dear to me! Sufficeth not that we are brought to Rome, To beautify thy triumphs and return, Captive to thee and to thy Roman yoke, But must my sons be slaught'red in the streets For valiant doings in their country's cause? O, if to fight for king and commonweal Were piety in thine, it is in these. Andronicus, stain not thy tomb with blood! Wilt thou draw near the nature of the gods? Draw near them, then, in being merciful; Sweet mercy is nobility's true badge. Thrice noble Titus, spare my first-born son! Tit. Patient yourself, madam, and pardon me. These are their brethren, whom your Goths beheld Alive and dead; and for their brethren slain Religiously they ask a sacrifice. To this your son is mark'd, and die he must, To appease their groaning shadows that are gone. Luc. Away with him! and make a fire straight; And with our swords, upon a pile of wood, To tremble under Titus' threat'ning look. Secure from worldly chances and mishaps! Here lurks no treason, here no envy swells, 151 |