At the first opening of the gorgeous east, They are three brothers, or rather three manifestations of the same spirit re-appearing at different periods, and under different circumstances. Coleridge thus speaks of Biron's celebrated speech:-"It is logic clothed in rhetoric;-but observe how Shakspere, in his two-fold being of poet and philosopher, avails himself of it to convey profound truths in the most lively images,—the whole remaining faithful to the character supposed to utter the lines, and the expressions themselves constituting a further development of that character." But Biron is not "the germ," "the pre-existent state' of Benedick, the type of all that is elegant and fascinating; nor Rosaline of Beatrice; Biron is a far higher and loftier character; Benedick may be, as Horatio would say, "a piece of him; " he was played upon; but had any one attempted to play upon Biron, they would have caught a Tartar; no one ever succeeded in that game, save and except one man. In the wit-combats at the Mermaid between Shakspere and Jonson, Ben had very little chance with his opponent, who was an old sworder" at the game, and had in his younger days played at the cudgels with a far more formidable competitor. I allude to the wit-combats between Shakspere and Lyly at the Mitre, where the gentle Willy met his match; the combatants were thoroughly good-humoured, for each could take as well as give. Nobody rejoiced more in the success of Hamlet than John Lyly; and he had shown his love and esteem for Shakspere on a former occasion in a most marked and flattering manner. In the comedy of Endymion, Cynthia is supposed to represent Queen Elizabeth, and no doubt her gracious majesty appropriated to herself all the compliments, as the courtly poet intended. But under this superficial allegory was concealed a far more beautiful and poetical one. Endymion is the youthful poet, in love with Tellus, or nature, but loving, worshipping in a far higher degree Cynthia, the poetry of nature; for of poetry, as of the moon or Cynthia, it may be said, the form is ever changing, but the spirit is the same. Is then Endymion himself merely a poetical conception, a poet's dream, or a living reality? His friend Eumenides is unmistakably John Lyly, the satirical wit: Cynth. "Endymion you must now tell who Eumenides shrineth for his saint. End. Cynth. Eum. Semele, Madame. Semele, Eumenides? is it Semele? the very wasp of all women, whose tongue stingeth as much as an adder's tooth? It is Semele, Cynthia; the possession of whose love must only prolong my life."-Act v., scene 3. That Shakspere is Endymion may be deduced from the following circumstances:-In the opening of the comedy, Endymion says, "my thoughts, Eumenides, are stitched to the stars, which being as high as I can see, thou maist imagine, how much higher they are than I can reach." This passage is an allusion to the line in the Two Gentlemen of Verona :— "Wilt thou reach stars, because they shine on thee;" which line again was in fact a complimentary quotation from Campaspe, where Apelles says, "stars are to be looked, not reach'd at." Again in Endymion: Epi. Why, you know it is said, the tide tarrieth no man. Sam. Epi. True. A monstrous lie, for I was tied two hours, and tarried for one to unlose me." The expression, "you know it is said," is evidently an acknowledgment, a direct complimentary reference to a well-known and humourous scene in a popular comedy : Pan. "Away, ass; you will lose the tide, if you tarry any longer. Launce. It is no matter if the tied were lost; for it is the unkindest tied, that ever man tied. Pan. What's the unkindest tide? Launce. Why, he that's tied here, Crab, my dog." Two Gentlemen of Verona, act ii., scene 3. These two allusions, the stars and the pun, clearly point at Shakspere as being the youthful poet Endymion; but since it is generally supposed Shakspere borrowed the pun as well as the stars, let us examine into the dates of these three plays; Campaspe was published in 1584, the Two Gentlemen of Verona was most probably written in 1586, and Endymion in 1587; for in act third, scene fourth, Eumenides soliloquizes, "how secret hast thou been these seven years? now Euphues was published in 1580; and again, Endymion says, "re membering my solitary life almost these seven years, whom have I entertained but mine own thoughts and thy virtues?" Shakspere at this time was in his twentyfourth year, so that his consciousness of poetical inspiration as being a votary of the Muses dates from his seventeenth year, not an unreasonable supposition. Having thus from internal evidence established the date of the play, and that Endymion and Eumenides are Shakspere and Lyly, we can readily understand the whole drift of the allegory; at the instigation of Tellus, Endymion is thrown into a deep sleep by the enchantress Dipsas, and is re-awakened by a kiss from Cynthia; or in other words, Shakspere, having written two plays full of poetry and nature, falls asleep under the hands of the goddess of dulness, or bad taste, and writes Titus Andronicus, a tale of horrors; his poetical genius soon after pricks his conscience, he awakens and perceives the error he has committed. Side by side, and parallel with Endymion, runs the character of Sir Tophas, the bragging soldier, with Epi his page, a most ridiculous and amusing caricature of Marlowe; the dulness of the wit is intentional on the author's part and in character: Epi. "Nothing hath made my master a fool but flat scholarship." "O lepidum caput, O madcap master! you were worthy to win Dipsas, were she as old again, for in your love you have worn the nap of your wit quite off and made it threadbare."-Act v., scene 2. Top. Why fool, a poet is as much as one should say, a poet. But soft, yonder be two wrens, shall I shoot at them? Epi. They are two lads. Top. Larks or wrens, I will kill them. Epi. Larks? are you blind? they are two little boys. These two larks or wrens are of course the two parts of Tamburlaine, otherwise the whole passage is merely silly, childish nonsense; to add to the humour, the two little boys are pages to Endymion and Eumenides. Like Endymion, Sir Tophas falls in love, but with Dipsas, and has an absurd dream of an owl [with the face of Dipsas] the bird of wisdom, for Marlowe was a learned man : Top. "Learned? I am all Mars and Ars. Top. Mock you me? you shall both suffer, yet with such weapons, as you shall make choice of the weapon, wherewith you shall perish. Am I all a mass or lump, is there no proportion in me? am I all ass? is there no wit in me? Epi, prepare them to the slaughter. Sam. I pray, sir, hear us speak? we call you mass, which your learning doth well understand is all man, for Mas maris is a man. Then As [as you know] is a weight, and we for your virtues account you a weight. Top. The Latin hath saved your lives."—Act i., scene 3. The following passage is evidently a caricature of Tamburlaine's love for Zenocrate ;-on hearing of Dipsas being married, Sir Tophas meditates suicide :— my Top. "O heavens, an husband? What death is agreeable to fortune? Sam. Be not desperate, and we will help you to find a young lady. Top. I love no grissels they are so brittle, they will crack like glass, or so dainty, that if they be touched, they are |