[Aside. And there is in this business more than nature Pro. Sir, my liege, How fares my Set Caliban and his companions free : There are yet missing of your company Re-enter ARIEL, driving in CALIBAN, STEPHANO, Seb. Or stole it, rather. [Exeunt CAL. STE. and TIN. To hear the story of your life, which must Pro. I'll deliver all; And promise you calm seas, auspicious gales, man take care for himself; for all is but fortune:- Trin. If these be true spies which I wear in my nead, here's a goodly sight. Cal. O Setebos, these be brave spirits, indeed! How fine my master is! I am afraid What things are these, my lord Antonio! Ant. Very like; one of them Is a plain fish, and, no doubt, marketable. Pro. Mark but the badges of these men, my His mother was a witch; and one so strong Cal. should they Find this grand liquor that hath gilded them?"— Trin. I have been in such a pickle, since I saw you last, that, I fear me, will never out of my bones: I shall not fear fly-blowing, Seb. Why, how now, Stephano? Be free, and fare thou well!-[Aside.] Please you, EPILOGUE. SPOKEN BY PROSPERO. Now my charms are all o'erthrown, As you from crimes would pardon'd be, [It is observed of The Tempest, that its plan is regu lar; this the author of The Revisal thinks, what I think too, an accidental effect of the story, not intended or regarded by our author. But whatever might be Shak speare's intention in forming or adopting the plot, he has Ste. O, touch me not; I am not Stephano, but a made it instrumental to the production of many charac cramp. on. Pro. You'd be king of the isle, sirrah? Cal. Ay, that I will; and I'll be wise hereafter, ters, diversified with boundless invention, and preserved JOHNSON. 5 That is, work the same effects as the moon without her delegated authority. 6 The allusion is to the elixir of the Alchemists The phrase of being gilded was a trite one for being drunk Fletcher uses it in the Chances : 3 This parenthetical passage seems to mean:-"When I have explained to you, then these strange events shall a seem more probable than they do now." 4 Honest. Duke. Is she not drunk too? Wh. A little gilded o'er, sir; old sack, old boys. 7 By your applause. Noise was supposed to dissolve spell. Thus before in this play : Hush be mute; Or else our spell is marrid" TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA PRELIMINARY REMARKS. THIS is one of Shakspeare's earliest if not his first condemned for adopting a mode of writing admired by play. It was not printed until 1623, but it is men- his contemporaries; they were not considered low and tioned by Meres in his Wit's Treasury, printed in 1598.trifling in Shakspeare's age, but on the contrary were It bears strong internal marks of an early composition. very generally admired and allowed for pure and ge Pope has observed, that "the style of this comedy is nuine wit. Yet some of these scenes have much farciless figurative, and more natural and unaffected than cal drollery and invention: that of Launce with his dog the greater part of Shakspeare's, though supposed to in the fourth act is an instance, and surely "Speed's be one of the first he wrote." Malone is inclined to con- mode of proving his master to be in love is neither defisider this to be in consequence of that very circumstance, cient in wit or sense." and that it is natural and unaffected because it was a youthful performance. "Though many young poets of ordinary talents are led by false taste to adopt inflated and figurative language, why should we suppose that such should have been the course pursued by this mas ter genius? The figurative style of Othello, Lear, and Macbeth, written when he was an established and long practised dramatist, may be ascribed to the additional knowledge of men and things which he had acquired during a period of fifteen years; in consequence of which his mind teemed with images and illustrations, and thoughts crowded so fast upon him, that the construction, in these and some other plays of a still later period, is much more difficult and involved than in the productions of his youth." "The tender scenes in this play, though not so highly wrought as in some others, have often much sweetness of sentiment and expression." Schlegel says: "it is as if the world was obliged to accommodate itself to a transient youthful caprice, called love." Julia may be considered a light sketch of the lovely characters of Viola and Imogen. Her answer to Lucetta's advice against following her lover in disguise has been pointed out as a beautiful and highly poetical passage. "That it should ever have been a question whether this comedy were the genuine and entire composition of Shakspeare appears to me very extraordinary," says Malone. "Hanmer and Upton never seem to have considered whether it were his first or one of his latest pieces:-is no allowance to be made for the first flights of a young poet? nothing for the imitation of a prece ding celebrated dramatist, which in some of the lower dialogues of this comedy (and these only) may, I think, be traced? But even these, as well as the other parts of the play, are perfectly Shakspearian (1 do not say as finished and beautiful as any of his other pieces ;) and the same judgment must, I conceive, be pronounced concerning the Comedy of Errors and Love's Labour's Lost, by every person who is intimately acquainted with his manner of writing and thinking."" Hanmer thought Shakspeare had no other hand in this play than the enlivening it with some speeches and fines, which, he thinks, are easily distinguished from the rest. Upton peremptorily asserts, that if any proof can be drawn from manner and style, this play must be sent packing, and seek for its parent else. where." "How otherwise," says he, "do painters distinguish copies from originals, and have not authors their peculiar style and manner, from which a true critic can form as unerring judgment as a painter?" To this Johnson replies very satisfactorily: "I am afraid this illustration of a critic's science will not prove what is desired. A painter knows a copy from an original by rules somewhat resembling those by which critics know a translation, which, if it be literal, and literal it must be to resemble the copy of a picture, will be easily distinguished. Copies are known from originals, even when a painter copies his own picture; so if an author should literally translate his work, he would lose the manner of an original. Upton confounds the copy of a picture with the imitation of a painter's manner. Copies are easily known; but good imitations are not detected with equal certainty, and are, by the best judges, often mistaken. Nor is it true that the writer has always peculiarities equally distinguishable with those of the painter. The peculiar manner of each arises from the desire, natural to every performer, of facilitating his subsequent work by recurrence to his former ideas; this recurrence produces that repetition which is called habit. The painter, whose work is partly intellectual and partly manual, has habits of the mind, the eye, and the hand; the writer has only habits of the mind. Some of the incidents in this play may be sup Yet some painters have differed as much from them-posed to have been taken from The Arcadia, book 1. selves as from any other; and I have been told, that there is little resemblance between the first works of Raphael and the last. The same variation may be expected in writers; and, if it be true, as it seems, that they are less subject to habit, the difference between their works may be yet greater." "But by the internal marks of composition we may discover the author with probability, though seldom with certainty. When I read this play, I cannot but think that I find both in the serious and ludicrous scenes, the language and sentiments of Shakspeare. It is not indeed one of his most powerful effusions; it has neither many diversities of character, nor striking delineation of life, but it abounds in yvopat beyond most of his plays, and few have more lines or passages which, singly considered, are eminently beautiful. am yet inclined to believe that it was not very successful, and suspect that it has escaped corruption, only because, being seldom played, it was less exposed to the hazards of transcription." Pope has set what he calls a mark of reprobation upon the low and trifling conceits which are to be found in this play. It is true that the familiar scenes abound with quibbles and conceits; but the poet must not be Sir William Blackstone observes, "that oue of the great faults of the Two Gentlemen of Verona is the hastening too abruptly, and without preparation, to the denouement, which shows that it was one of Shakspeare's very early performances." Dr. Johnson in his concluding observations has remarked upon the geogra phical errors. They cannot be defended by attributing them to his youthful inexperience, for one of his latest productions is also liable to the same objection. To which Malone replies: "The truth, I believe, is, that as he neglected to observe the rules of the drama with respect to the unities, though before he began to write they had been enforced by Sidney in a treatise which doubtless he had read; so he seems to have thought that the whole terraqueous globe was at his command; and as he brought in a child at the beginning of a play, who in the fourth act appears as a woman, so he seems to have set geography at defiance, and to have considered countries as inland or maritime just as it suited his fancy or convenience." ch. vi. where Pyrocles consents to head the Helots. The Arcadia was entered on the Stationers' books in 1588. The love adventure of Julia resembles that of Viola in Twelfth Night, and is indeed common to many of the ancient novels. Mrs. Lennox informs us, that the story of Proteus and Julia might be taken from a similar one in "The Diana" of Montemayor. This pastoral romance was translated from the Spanish in Shakspeare's time, by Bartholomew Young, and published in 1598. It does not appear that it was previously published, though it was translated two or three years before by one Thomas Wilson, perhaps some parts of it may have been made public, or Shakspeare may have found the tale elsewhere. It has before been observed that Meres menItions the Two Gentlemen of Verona in his book, pub. lished in 1598. Malone conjectures that this play was the first that Shakspeare wrote, and places the date of its composition in the year 1591. Malone points at Lilly, whose comedies were per formed with great success and admiration previous to Shakspeare's commencement of his dramatic career Think on thy Proteus, when thou, haply, seest When thou dost meet good hap; and, in thy danger, If ever danger do environ thee, Val. And on a love-book pray for my success. Pro. Upon some book I love, I'll pray for thee. Val. That's on some shallow story of deep love, How young Leander cross'd the Hellespont. Pro. That's a deep story of a deeper love; For he was more than over shoes in love. Val. "Tis true; for you are over boots in love, Val. No, I will not, for it boots thee not. What? Pro. 'Tis love you cavil at; I am not Love. 1 Milton has the same play upon words in his Comus. 2 The expression shapeless idleness is admirably expressive, as implying that idleness prevents the giving form or character to the manners. 3 The allusion is to Marlow's poem of Hero and, Leander, which was entered on the Stationers' books 1593. though not published till 1598. It was proba. bly circulated in manuscript in the interim, as was the custom at that period. The poem seems to have made an impression on Shakspeare, who appears to have recently perused it, for he again alludes to it in the third act. And in As You Like It he has quoted a line from it. JULIA, a Lady of Verona, beloved by Proteus. SILVIA, the Duke's Daughter, beloved by ValenLUCETTA, Waiting-woman to Julia. tine. Servants, Musicians. SCENE, sometimes in VERONA; sometimes in MILAN; and on the frontiers of MANTUA. And he that is so yoked by a fool, Methinks should not be chronicled for wise. Pro. Yet writers say, As in the sweetest bud The eating canker dwells, so eating love Inhabits in the finest wits of all. Val. And writers say, As the most forward bud Is eaten by the canker ere it blow, Even so by love the young and tender wit Pro. And thither will I bring thee, Valentine. Val. Sweet Proteus, no; now let us take our leave. To Milan, let me hear from thee by letters, Pro. He after honour hunts, I after love. Speed. Sir Proteus, save you: Saw you my Pro. But now he parted hence, to embark for Speed. Twenty to one then he is shipp'd already; Speed. You conclude that my master is a shep herd then, and I a sheep? Pro. I do. Speed. Why then, my horns are his horns, whe ther I wake or sleep. Pro. A silly answer, and fitting well a sheep. 4 A proverbial expression, now disused, signifying, 'Don't make a laughing-stock of me.' The French have a phrase Bailler foin en corne: which Cotgrave interprets, 'to give one the boots; to sell him a bargain.' Perhaps deduced from a humorous punishment at har. vest home feasts in Warwickshire. 5 Circumstance is usea equivocally. It here means conduct; in the preceding line, circumstantial de duction. 6 The construction of this passage, is, "Let me hear from thee by letters to Milan," i. e. addressed to Milan. 7 In Warwickshire, and some other counties, a sheep is pronounced a ship. Without this explanation the jest, such as it is, might escape the reader" Pro. It shall go hard, but I'll prove it by another. Speed. The shepherd seeks the sheep, and not the sheep the shepherd; but I seek my master, and my master seeks not me: therefore I am no sheep. Pro. The sheep for fodder follow the shepherd, the shepherd for food follows not the sheep; thou for wages followest thy master, thy master for wages follows not thee: therefore thou art a sheep. Speed. Such another proof will make me cry baa. Pro. But dost thou hear! gav'st thou my letter to Julia? Speed. Ay, sir; I, a lost mutton, gave your letter to her, a laced mutton; and she, a laced mutton, gave me, a lost mutton, nothing for my labour. Pro. Here's too small a pasture for such a store of muttons. Speed. If the ground be overcharged, you were best stick her. letter. Speed. Well, I perceive I must be fain to bear with you. Pro. Why, sir, how do you bear with me? Speed. Marry, sir, the letter very orderly; having nothing but the word, noddy, for my pains. Pro. Beshrew me, but you hav a quick wit. Speed. And yet it cannot overtake your slow purse. Pro. Come, come, open the matter in brief: What said she? Speed. Open your purse, that the money and the matter may be both at once delivered. Pro. Well, sir, here is for your pains: What said she? Speed. Truly, sir, I think you'll hardly win her. Pro. Why? Could'st thou perceive so much from her? Speed. Sir, I could perceive nothing at all from her; no, not so much as a ducat for delivering your letter: And being so hard to me that brought your mind, I fear she'll prove as hard to you in telling your mind. Give her no token but stones, for she's as hard as steel. Pro. What, said she nothing? Speed. No, not so much as-take this for thy pains. To testify your bounty, I thank you, you have testern'd3 me; in requital whereof, henceforth carry your letters yourself: and so, sir, I'll commend you to my master. Pro. Go, go, begone, to save your ship from wreck; Which cannot perish, having thee aboard, SCENE II. The same. Garden of Julia's house. Jul. But say, Lucetta, now we are alone, Would'st thou then counsel me to fall in love? Luc. Ay, madam; so you stumble not unheed fully, Jul. Of all the fair resort of gentlemen, That every day with parle encounter me, In thy opinion, which is worthiest love? Luc. Please you, repeat their names, I'll show my mind According to my shallow simple skill. Jul. What think'st thou of the fair Sir Eglamour? Luc. As of a knight well-spoken, neat and fine But, were I you, he never should be mine. Jul. What think'st thou of the rich Mercatio? Luc. Well of his wealth; but of himself, so, so. Jul. What think'st thou of the gentle Proteus ? Luc. Lord, lord! to see what folly reigns in us! Jul. How now! what means this passion at his name? Luc. Pardon, dear madam; 'tis a passing shame, That I, unworthy body as I am, Should censure thus on lovely gentlemen. Jul. Why not on Proteus, as of all the rest? Luc. Then thus,-of many good I think him best. Jul. Your reason? Luc. I have no other but a woman's reason, I think him so, because I think him so. Jul. And would'st thou have me cast my love or. him? Luc. Ay, if you thought your love not cast away Jul. I would, I knew his mind. Peruse this paper, madam. That the contents will show. Jul. Say, say; who gave it thee? Luc. Sir Valentine's page; and sent, I think, from Proteus: He would have given it you, but I, being in the Jul. Now, by my modesty, a goodly broker!" Luc. To plead for love deserves more fee tnan hate. 5 To censure, in Shakspeare's time, generally signi fied to give one's judgment or opinion. Thus in The Winter's Tale, Act. ii. Sc 1 How blest am I In my just censure? in my true opinion ?" 6 Fire is here pronounced as a dissyllable. 7 A matchmaker. It was sometimes used for a tro curess. Ju. Will you be gone? Luc. That I might sing it, madam, to a tune: Give me a note: your ladyship can set.3 Jul. As little by such toys as may be possible: Luc. It is too heavy for so light a tune. Jul. And why not you? Luc. I cannot reach so high. Jul. Let's see your song:-How now, minion? Luc. No, madam; it is too sharp. And mar the concord with too harsh a descant:4 [Tears the letter. To be so anger'd with another letter. [Exit. Jul. Nay, would I were as anger'd with the same! O hateful hands, to tear such loving words! 1 First folio, ye. 2 Stomach, for passion or obstinacy. Injurious wasps! to feed on such sweet honey, I throw thy name against the bruising stones, He couples it to his complaining names: SCENE III.-The same. A Room in Antonio' Pant. Ant. Nor need'st thou much importune me to Whereon this month I have been hammering. 7 Since. 8" for catching cold," i. e. lest they should catch cold, anciently a common form of expression. See Horne Tooke's explanation of this word in the first volume of "The Diversions of Purley." 9 Month's mind, a longing, probably from "the longing of women, which takes place (or commences, at least) in the first month of pregnancy." This is the 3 Set is here used equivocally; in the preceding speech in the sense in which it is used by musicians, and in the present line in a quite different sense. To set by in old language signifies, to make account of, to estimate. See the first Book of Samuel, xviii. 30. 4 Descant signified formerly what we now call vari-ingenious conjecture of John Croft, Esq. of York. The ations. It has been well defined to be musical paraphrase The mean is the tenor in music. 5 To bid the base means, to run fast, challenging another to pursue at the rustic game called Base, or Prisonbase. The allusion is somewhat obscure, but it appears to mean here, "to challenge to an encounter." 1. e. bustle, stir. commentators have endeavoured to refer this passage to 11 Impeachment in this passage means reproach or imputation. |