This is

ardour of the nation, which was then rather languid; the Commons did not like the taxes in 1593. some evidence that Shakspere was a loyal subject, and did not regard "good Queen Bess" as "a tyrant," according to the lamentable explanation of the Sonnet 107, ed. 1609; "the great popularity she enjoyed proves, that she did not infringe any established liberties of the people;" that he, "who did so take Eliza," should instantly, the breath scarcely out of her body, so insult her memory, is incredible; "the mortal moon hath her eclipse endured," is a genuine Shaksperian expression; she lives but a month, and is therefore excessively mortal, though not a "human mortal;" has not such a celerity in dying" as Cleopatra; the line should be compared with a passage in Hamlet :

Upon whose influence Neptune's empire stands,
Was sick almost to dooms-day with eclipse."-
Act i., scene 1.

the

This play, Edward III, is divided into two parts ;— In the first part the point of the action turns upon ove of the king for the beautiful Countess of Salisbury, whom he had released from the besieging Scottish army. The whole of this connexion is no further mentioned in the following part; it comes to a total conclusion at the end of the second act, where the king, conquered, and at the same time strengthened, by the virtuous greatness of the countess, renounces his passion, and becomes again the master of himself. The countess then disappears wholly from the scene, which is changed to the victorious campaign of Edward III, and his heroic son

the Black Prince. The play thus falls into two different parts,—In the first two acts we have the Edward of romance, a puling lover, a heartless seducer, a despot, and then a penitent. In the three last acts we have the Edward of history,-the ambitious hero, the stern conqueror, the affectionate husband, the confiding father." -Pictorial Shakspere.

How applicable is this to Shakspere from the autumn of 1592 to the autumn of 1594; only instead of being the heartless seducer, he was himself most probably the one led astray, as he says in defence of his friend :

"And when a woman woos, what woman's son

Will sourly leave her 'till she have prevail'd."

:

"There is a very long and somewhat ambitious scene, in which the king instructs his secretary to describe his passion in verse. During the tempest of Edward's passion, the Prince of Wales arrives at the Castle of

Roxburgh, and the conflict in the mind of the king is well imagined:

Edw. "I see the boy. O, how his mother's face,

Moulded in his, corrects my stray'd desire,
And rates my heart, and chides my thievish
Who, being rich enough in seeing her,
Yet seeks elsewhere: and basest theft is that
Which cannot check itself on poverty.—
Now, boy, what news?

eye;

Prince. I have assembled, my dear lord and father,
The choicest buds of all our English blood,
For our affairs in France; and here we come,
To take direction from your majesty.

Edw. Still do I see in him delineate

His mother's visage; those his eyes are hers,

Who, looking wistly on me, make me blush ; For faults against themselves give evidence: Lust is a fire; and men, like lanthorns, show Light lust within themselves, even through themselves. Away, loose silks of wavering vanity! Shall the large limit of fair Brittany By me be overthrown? and shall. I not Master this little mansion of myself? Give me an armour of eternal steel; I go to conquer kings; and shall I then Subdue myself, and be my enemy's friend? It must not be.-Come, boy, forward, advance! Let's with our colours sweep the air of France. Lod. My liege, the countess with a smiling cheer, Desires access unto your majesty.

Advancing from the door and whispering him. Edw. Why, there it goes! that very smile of hers Hath ransom'd captive France; and set the king, The dauphin, and the peers, at liberty.

Go, leave me, Ned, and revel with thy friends."

"The countess enters, and with the following scene suddenly terminates the ill-starr'd passion of the king;

I am awaked from this idle dream."

"The remarks of Ulrici upon this portion of the play are conceived upon his usual principle of connecting the action and characterisation of Shakspere's dramas with the development of a high moral, or rather Christian principle. The concluding observation of Ulrici is"Truly, if this piece, as the English critics assert, is not Shakspere's own, it is a shame for them that they have done nothing to recover from forgetfulness the name of this second Shakspere, this twin-brother of their great poet.''There is one thing wanting,' says Mr. Knight,

'to make the writer a twin-brother,' which is found in all those productions, [historical plays;] Where is the comedy of Edward III?" If the reader should be of opinion, that in these interesting extracts Shakspere is giving utterance to his own thoughts and feelings, he can readily answer the suggestive query, "Where is the comedy of Edward III. ?"

Having thus "awaked from this idle dream" the poet fights the good fight again in Lucrece, published in May, 1594; an effective counterblast to the Venus and Adonis. In the same year in a more softened mood, though still haunted by the image of the Ethiop he composes the Merchant of Venice, his mind now dwelling on that "gentle spirit."

In fact we here behold a scene in real life the reverse

of Faustus with his good and evil angel :

G. Ang. "Sweet Faustus, leave that execrable art.
Faust.

Contrition, prayer, repentance,-what of them?
G. Ang. Oh, they are means to bring thee unto heaven!
E. Ang. Rather illusions, fruits of lunacy,

That make men foolish that do trust them most. G. Ang. Sweet Faustus, think of heaven and heavenly things."

However distinct the characters may be, Jessica is evidently intended for Juliet's sister; she has'nt a thought for her father:

"I will make fast the doors, and gild myself

With some more ducats and be with you straight." Mr. Hunter in his Illustrations observes, "We may remark, however, upon this part of the scene, that it exhibits a curious proof, that when Shakspere delineated, in a manner to make the scene visible to every eye, the garden of Portia, he thought of the garden he had himself created of the Capulets at Verona. The passages which open a view of this little process of the poet's mind are these: Portia.-"Swear by your double self;" Juliet.-"Swear by your gracious self." Bassanio.

"The blessed candles of the night;" Romeo.-"Night's candles are burnt out." Bassanio's hyperbolical compliment to the eyes of Portia,

"We should hold day with the Antipodes

If you should walk in absence of the sun,"

is not more worthy of the poet than the words which he had put into the mouth of Romeo,—

"Her eye in heaven

Would through the airy regions stream so bright
That birds would sing and think it were not night."

Nor can we avoid the supposition, that in the garden scene Shakspere is speaking through Lorenzo, and discoursing most sweetly "of heaven and heavenly things" in the character of tutor or instructor to his companion; and considering the time and circumstances under which this play was composed, the following passage is peculiarly significant:—

Lor. "And now, good sweet, say thy opinion,

How dost thou like the lord Bassanio's wife.