CLASSICAL AND POLITE CRITICISM. CRITICAL REMARKS on the HISTORICAL CHARACTERS of SHAKSPEARE, intended to elucidate the Caufes why they are fo peculiarly impreffive. [From a Volume of ESSAYS, by a SOCIETY of GENTLEMEN at EXETER.] "O OTH THER dramatic poets deal in generals, Shakspeare in individuals. Other poets treat of kings, queens, and heroes, in the abftrati, he particularizes them.. Theirs are merely kings, queens, and heroes, all of the fame nature, marked with the fame family features, and inveterate likeneffes' to each other. But his are Henrys and Richards, Margarets and Catharines, Warwicks and Hotfpurs -all men and women, difcriminated from each other, and infinitely diverfified. This difcrimination is commonly effected by exhibiting fome marking feature, peculiar anecdote, or minute circumftance, appropriate to the character reprefented, in appearance cafually introduced, but which, if I may be allowed the expreffion, identifies and realizes it. When Edward tells the famous Warwick that he would Wind his hand about his coal-black hair' Hen. 6, 3d part, A. 5. S. 1. the fable locks of the proud fetter up and puller down of kings,' prefent themselves immediately to our view. 'Tis faid of Hotfpur, that " by his light 'Did all the chivalry of England move To do brave acts: he was indeed the glafs, "He had no legs that practifed not his gait : And, fpeaking thick, which nature made his blemish, Became the accents of the valiant.' Hen. 4th, 2d part, A. 2, S. 6. Who, after reading these lines, can entertain a doubt, but that the gallant Percy had a twang of that north-country burr,' for which the county, from whence he was to have derived his hereditary title, is remarkable to this present day. "Such little traits bring the perfonages immediately before our eyes; nor would it be an eafy matfentations were untrue. By fimilar ter to perfuade us, that the repremeans Homer impreffes on our minds the idea of his heroes' reali ty. They are not, like a modern regiment, clothed in the fame uniform; nor appear to be of one family, like Virgil's Gyas and Cloanthus; whom he characterises, with great frugality of diction, by one and the fame epithet; but they are kept diftinct by their appearremarkable for height of ftature, One is ance, habit, and manners. fhoulders; one for the elegance, another for the breadth of his another for the rufticity of his apparel; one adopts a peculiar attitude in haranguing a public audience, another ftrikes us with the grace F3 grace or deformity of his perfon. The colour of the hair, the device of a fhield, or beauty of the crest, and a hundred other minutiæ, mark and diverfify his characters. "He refembles our bard like wife in giving, occafionally, fome little characteristic trait or anecdote, generally communicated in familiar converfation, not always indeed effential to the story, but which, from that very circumftance, is often more interefting. When Diomede starts afide from the natural tenor of his difcourfe to boast of his horfe's pedigree or of his own; or when Neftor as unfeasonably expatiates on his former exploits, we, at once, become acquainted with them. In fuch kind of mannerspainting converfation (particularly ftriking in the latter part of the Odyffey) we lofe fight of the poet. It feems to be the genuine effufion of nature, and its inartificial appearance ftrengthens the decep tion. "Shakspeare never ftudied Homer, but was as deeply read as the Grecian bard in the page of nature. In the familiar and confidential converfation occafionally held by his characters, we catch their minds, as if by furprize, in an undrefs; we detect their peculiar habits, and feel, like confidants in an intrigue, a fatisfaction in having thofe fe. cret traits communicated to us. "Who, for inftance, can doubt that the proud nothern lord Clifford of Cumberland,' exercifed his baronial privilege of fwearing, uncontrouled, to an eminent degree, when we read Warwick's and Richard's fcofling addreffes to him as he lay expiring on the field of battle? Richard. What, not an oath! nay, then the world goes hard 'When Clifford cannot fpare his friends an 'oath I know by that he's dead.' Hen. 6th, 3d part, A. 2. S 9. tions are merely drawn from images, "If we fuppofe such representaformed in his creative mind, ftill they live to us; and, through his happy mode of introduction, we become as well acquainted with them as with our own cotemporaries. Iam, however, inclined to fufpect, that Shakspeare, where he does not foltow the beaten path of hiftory, drew his characters and incidents from traditionary ftories and family anecdotes ;-fometimes, probably, from preceding dramas in which fhort-lived publications that have they were preferved, and other long fince perished in the tide of time. Surrey to cardinal Wolfey, from "The reflexion thrown out by its being fo circumftantial in point appears to have been founded on of time and defcription of perfon, fome well-known ftory in Shakfpeare's time. I'll startle you' [exclaims the intemperate Worfe than the facring bell, when the brown peer,] 'wench Lay kiffing in your arms, lord Cardinal.' It may be noticed, however, that Hen. 8th, A. 3d, S. 5. the nobility; and his cotemporary Wolfey was particularly odious to Skelton, the fashionable fatyrift of the day, remarks of him, in a rhyme, to which Devonshire-men only can do juftice in the pronunciation, that He regardeth lords No more than potfherdes." Warwick. They mock thee, Clifford, ed, by means of thofe powerful fwear as thou was wont.' enemies. Yet it must not be dif guifed that this lord Cardinal' was notorious for his incontinency: and the laureat, in numbers no lefs fublime than thofe already cited, and we may fufpe&t equally true, ironically obferves, that To kepe his fleshe chafte He concludes his invectives with this affecting expostulation: Spareth neither maide ne wyfe- We cannot but smile at this wretch ed doggrel of Skelton; yet there is little doubt, but that it was preferred by our illuftrious defender of the faith, and his obfequious courtiers, to the genuine humour and characteristic rhymes of Chau cer. "I once thought, likewife, that the more creditable anecdote of Cranmer, given by Hen. 8th, was merely a traditionary ftory. 'The common voice, I fee, is verified Of thee, which fays thus, Do my lord of A fimilar speech, however, is at tributed in Strype's Memorials, (B. 3, C. xxx.) not to the king, but to Dr. Hethe, archbishop of York. "We have often reafon to fuppofe, that many incidents, now unknown, are alluded to, and fome real characters fhadowed under fictitious names, not only in Shakfpeare's comedies, but alfo in his hiftoric dramas. The old lady,' for example, in that last quoted, and which may not be improperly ftiled an anonymous defignation, the friend of Anne Bullen, who tells the turbulent monarch, that his daughter was as like him as cherry is to cherry,' (A. ̧. S. 1.) appears to me no ideal perfonage. Mr. Walpole has ingenioufly obferved, that Leontes and Her'mione,' in The Winter's Tale,' were the typical reprefentatives of Henry 8th and Anne Bullen; and the character of Paulina feems to be that of this identical old lady, placed in a more confpicuous and advantageous point of view. The fame officious zeal to ferve her mitrefs, and the fame kind of garrulous intrepidity towards an irafcible monarch, is apparent in both. characters. The child,' fays Paulina, 'is yours,' And, might we lay th' old proverb to your 'charge, So like you 'tis the worfe. Behold, my lords, 'Altho' the print be little, the whole matter And copy of the father: eye, nofe, lip, And trick of his frown.' A. 2, S. 5. "The conjecture which I am again going to hazard, may appear, like this, too fanciful. That Shakfpeare, however, often covertly alactions in the days of queen Elizaluded to different perfons and tranfbeth, and of her father, has been clearly fhewn by his commentators in various instances: but the fol lowing paffage in All's well that fervation, or impofed on mine. ends well, has eluded their obfented a ring to Helen, The king fays, that he had pre And bade her, if her fortune ever food 'Neceffitated to help, that by this token "I would relieve her. A. 5, S. 4. "It appears to me, that the romantic ftory of queen Elizabeth's having delivered a ring to Effex, with a promife to affift him in any diftrefs on his producing it, gave birth to this incident. Its reality has been questioned and ridiculed by Voltaire, but it has been fupported with ability and fuccefs by Walpole. At any rate it appears to have been a popular fory; of courfe fufficient for Shakspeare's purpose, and for mine.-This opinion, I confefs, cannot be fupported, if we allow thofe dates to be accurate, which are prefixed to Shakspeare's dramas by Mr. Malone in Johnfon and Steevens's edition. He fuppofes that All's well that ends well,' was reprefend in 1598. As Effex was not dead at that time; and as it cannot be imagined, even had he been fo, that any thing allufive to fuch an inftance of the queen's partiality for him, would have been brought forward on the ftage during her lifetime, we muft either rank this play among Shakspeare's latter productions, or my conjecture must be given up as deftitute of any foundation. Mr. Malone fppofes likewife, that The Winter's Tale' came out in 1594; and if fo, it could not have been intended, according to Mr. Walpole's opinion, as a fequel to Hen. 8, for that drama appears not to have been written till 1601. I am, however, unwilling to give up cither Mr. Walpole's conjecture or my own; and it is obfervable that Mr. Malone, who has fatisfactorily afcertained the dates, of Shakspeare's other plays, exprefles fome diffidence in regard to The Winter's Tale' and All's well that ends well.' He obferves that, if they • did come out in 1594 and 1598, they came out under different titles from thofe they now bear. -Though fupposed to have been early productions, they were not publifhed, it must be acknowIcdged, in Shakspeare's life-time, but for the dates of them we rely . only on conjecture." Again, The Winter's Tale' was not entered at Stationers' Hall, [neither does it appear that the other comedy was] nor printed till 1623; but probably is the play mentioned by Meres under the title of Love's Labour won.' These conjectures carry no conviction with them; and the probability feems to reft on the other fide of the queftion, namely, that we ought to number thofe plays among the latter productions of Shakspeare; particularly if the perfonal allufions are admitted. "I mentioned that feveral real characters and incidents are alluded to in our poet's comedies. Some have been pointed out, but, doubtlefs, in refpect to the greater part, no clue remains to guide our fteps and direct us to the original. I am fully convinced, that mafter Slender fat for his picture to our unrivalled portrait-painter, as well as his couin Shallow. His little wee face,' his little yellow cain-coloured beard,' his having fought with a warrener, been intoxicated and robbed by his knavifh companions, and other exploits, equally memorable, feem to mark a real character, and to record real facts: circumstances, probably, that excited no little mirth at the time of reprefentation. But we are not to wonder at thofe allufions being now totally loft and forgotten, if we reflect with what rapidity the perfonal fatire of Foote, which fo often in our own days fat the play-house in a roar,' is pofting on towards the-oblivious gulf. The greater part of the firft fcene in The Merry Wives of Windfor,' may have been copied from the life, and have paffed in Sir Thomas Lucy's judicial hall. Even the breaking open the lodge and kiffing the keeper's daughter, daughter, which Falstaff (a cha-yet at leaft to hold up thy hand in racter, it is faid, partly drawn for an inhabitant of Stratford) humoroufly difavows, may have been charges there feriously urged againft Shakspeare and his riotous afsociates. "As our bard is univerfally allowed to be a copyift of nature, it induces us to place an almoft unlimited confidence in him. We cannot but fuppofe in his hiftoric dramas, even where we are unable to trace him, that he dwells on real, not imaginary tranfactions; and has preferved many genuine anecdotes, not of weight fufficient to have gained admittance into the page of hiftory, or taken from authors, whofe writings fcarcely furvived their own exiftence. "The following remarkable incident, attending cardinal Beaufort's death, is fo forcibly characteriftic, that we cannot eafily fufpect it to be invention, though no history mentions the circumftance. Lord Cardinal, if thou think'ft on heaven's blifs, Hold up thy hand, mak: fignal of thy hope. Hen. 6th, 2d part, A. 3. S. 3. The defcription of his anguifh and defpair occurs in Hall's chronicle, but the additional circumftances thrown in by Shakspeare, wonderfully increase the horror of the fcene. The address to the cardinal may be illustrated by a little devotional book, intitled, The Key of Paradife opening the Gate to eter⚫nal Salvation, republifhed at St. Omer's in 1675, but when first printed I know not, in which is the following MEDITATION. Imagine thyfelf lying in thy death-bed, with a hallowed candle in thy hand, a crucifix on thy breaft, and thy ghoftly father calling on thee, that if thou canst not speak, 4 taken of thy hope, and affiance in 'the mercies of Chrift.' "The death of Glofter, in the fame drama, (A. 3. S. 3.) though, according to hiftory, its manner was uncertain, is marked with fo many minute and appropriate circumftances, that Shakfpeare most probably heard it thus particularly defcribed, or took his defcription from actual obfervation, on a fimilar event. "The interview between Henry 5th and Williams the foldier (Hen. 5th, A. 4. S. 4.) the night preceding the battle of Agincourt, with their interchange of gloves, and the trick in confequence played on Fluellin, appears to have been founded on fome traditionary ftory. Our hearts, at leaft, will not allow it to be a fiction, but feel delighted at fuch an unexpected, though by no means unnatural, recurrence of Hal's original humour. "There are many other little incidents, like the foregoing, which we ought not to confider as invention, because we cannot trace them to their fource. Had the ftory of Simpcox of St. Alban's, and the combat between the armourer and his apprentice Peter (Hen. 6th, 2d part,) been no where recorded but in Shakspeare, they would probably have been confidered merely as ludicrous fiétions, introduced to put the upper gallery in good humour. Each of thofe incidents, however, is noticed in different chronicles of the times. The numerous circumftances relative to the death of lord Haftings, form a kind of episode in the tragedy of Richard 3d, and they are adopted from hiftory:-even the compliment which the fubtle tyrant pays to the bifhop of Ely's ftrawberries, and the unimportant errand on which he fends the courtly |