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ah * ne * f ecotekets apparently inseparable from the -commentating mind . No Shakspearian library would be complete without Mr . Singer ' s text ; bat readers will use their own discretion as to its adoption . The Notes are good of their . kind , but the kind is detestable . Nineteen times out of twenty notes to Shskzpexre are inflictions on the reader . If antiquariamsm must have it * lumber bound up -with poetry , let the lumber be thrown into an appendix at the eadof the volume , where those wh © are curious may seek it To giy < e the xeader specimens of Mr . Singer ' s notes , we will open at random . Our ehaikce has lighted on volume Y-, page 8 . We there read in the text : — ' Here is a dear and true-industrious mend , Sir Walter Blunt , new lighted torn Ms torse , Stained with the variation of each soiL Does any one feeL the slightest need of a note here ? And if he feels the need , does he find satisfaction m what Mr . Singer adds to the word stained ?—
No circumstance could have been better chosen to mark the . expedition of Sir Walter . It is used hy Falstaff in a similar manner : " To stand stained with travel . " Surely i&is is slightly imbecile . No circumstance , it appears , better marks an expedition than the expression " stained ! " We are favoured with Falstaff ' s use of the similar phrase , lest we should think the word str ^ age . Two pages further on Falstaff says , " Let us be Diana ' s foresters , gentlemen of ± be « hade , minions of the moon ; " whereupon we have this note : — " Exile and slander are justly me awarded , My -wife and heixe lacfce lands and lawful right ; And me their lord made dame Diana ' s knight . "
Thia is the lament of Thomas Mowbray , Duke of Norfolk , in The Mirror for Magisix&tee . HaU , ia his Chronicles , says that certain persons who appeared as foresters an a pageant exhibited in the reign of King Henry VIII . were called Diana ' s knights . It is needless to weary the reader with more specimens ; these are typical of a large proportion of the notes . Injustice to Mr . Singer , we will now < juote two of the better kind ; notes in which antiquarian knowledge is really brought to bear on obscure points . Falstaff says he is melancholy , and Prine © Henry asks— " What sayest thou to a hare , or the melancholy of Moor-ditch : " — The hare was esteemed a melancholy animal , from her solitary sitting in her form ; and , according to the physic of the times , the flesh of it was supposed to generate melancholy . So in . Vittoria Corombona , 1612 : — " Xdke your melancholy hare , Feed . after mid night . " And in Dcayton's Polyolbion , Song xr : —
_ — _ ^ _ ^ jm . 44 * ^ M . . .. _ _ . 1 1 . - . 3 } " The melancholy hare is form'd in brakes and briars . PSeros , in his Hieroglyphics , Kb . xii ., says that the Egyptians expressed melancholy by a hare sitting in her form . Moor ~ ditch , a part of the drtch surrounding the city of London , l > etween Bishopsgate and Cripplegate , opened to an unwholesome , impass--aTble morass , ana was consequently trot frequented by the citizens , like other suburbial fields , and therefore had an air of melancholy . Thus in Taylprs Pennylesse Pilgrini-. age , 1618 : — " My body being tired with travel , and my mind attired with moody . muddy Moore-ditch melancholy . This is elucidative , but it might just as well have been printed at the end of the volume : so might this : —
After all the discussion about Falstaff ' s favourite beverage , here mentioned for the first time , it appears to have been the Spanish wine which we now call sheri-y . Falstaff expressly calls it sherris-sack , that is , sack from Xeres . " Sherry sack , so called from Xeres , a sea-town of Corduba , in Spain , where that kind of sack is made . " Blounfs Glosaograpkia . It derives its name of sack probably from being a dry wine , vin sec . And it was anciently written seek . " Your best saeke , " says Gervase Markham , " are of Seres in Spaine . "—Engl . Housewife . The difficulty about it has arisen from the later importation of sweet wines from Malaga , the Canaries , &c . which were it first called Malaga or Canary sacks ; sack being by that time considered as a name . applicable to all white wines . " I read in the reign of Henry VII . that no sweet l
-wines were brought in to tbaa reign but Malmsyes , " says Ho-well , in bis Londinopois , p . 108 . And soon after , " Moreover no sacks were sold but Rumney , and that for medicine more than for drink , but now many kinds of sacks are known and used . " One of the sweet -wines still retaining the name of sack has thrown an obscurity .. over the original dry sack ; but if further proof were wanting , the following passage -affords it abundantly ;— " But what I have spoken of mixing- sugar with suck , must . he understood of Sherrie sack , for to mix sugar with other wines , that in a common appellation are called sack , and are sweeter in taste , makes it unpleasant to the pallat , .. arid fulsome to the taste . "—Venner ' s Via Recta ad Vitam Longam , 1637 . He afterwards carefully distinguishes Ganarie wine , of some termed a sackc , with this adjunct sweete , from the genuine sack .
Finally , with regard to Mr . " Watkiss Lloyd ' s " Life of the Poet and Critical Essays on the Plays , " we are obliged to Bay that duller writing we . seldom remember , even on this subject—at least , when the writer had anything to say . Mr . Lloyd is very painstaking and very ponderous . He deals in moral truisms an-d elaborately worded commonplaces , but he has occasional passages of really good remark . The very best we have met with we wquote ; it contains something on Falstaff and his relation to the Prince , which , if not novel nor very felicitously put , ' was worth saying : — Falstaff , Bardolph and Poins Intend to partition England , like the allies at Bangor ; they look to obtain full share of the power of the future Henry V ., impunity in all plunder and excoaa , and robbery legalized or honourable . For fchia they calculate on their hold on the prince , of which it must bo clear to all that Falataff ia tho main
stay . The primary misconception is gross enough , and the world ia now familiar with , it ; but men who . know Horace by heart , have still been astonished at tho treatment of 'Tom Mootb or Bh *« id » n , Mrs . Jordan or Lady Hamilton , by royalties and nobilitioa ¦—to Bay -notbiBg of thellrummola of meaner stamp . Tho prince never forgets that fceia a prince , and evidently expects that othere ahull bear iii mind that he is merely contort to keep his dignity , out « C tight , und i » playing at forgetting it JFamili&dtyiy accepted under auoh conditions , whether from the iirat pago in the pftev&gfi or the latest hanger on upon the lowest round of the acolo of titular honour , « sa lxavie but one ending . Eolstkff recognizes tho condition and accepts it ; ho shows tn « fc ho ia fully awaro of it by turning hJa juluaions so repeatedly to tho contrast of ibe pnlttcely dignity and the circumstances of tho Boar ' s Head ; but ho is weak enough not to see the consequences . Like tho rest ho betrays his proper aolnshneus , by calumniating and undermining tho othora In the prmce ' o favour ; and thus each gives
On the other hand , Falstaff ' s intellectual quickness is unrivalled—he far surpas the prince who is even less practised than Poins ; he suggests half the wit that see the prince ' s : his bulk seems the ground tone of his character ; it has overlaid a i tural capacity of activity , and now his wits are the faculty that acquire abnori vigour in compensation . . . , ¦• » In the secondjart of Henry IV . Falstaff lets out the principle and secret of sveophancy . " O it is much , he says , that a lie with a slight oath and a jest wit ] sad brow will do with a fellow that never had the ache in his shoulders . The ro infallibl y divines the prince ' s rejoinder to every remark he makes , grossly as he m takes as to the main point of the ultimate hold he supposes himself to possess on habits or sympathies . To supply the prince with mirth is his business and Ins enjoyme and he gains his ludicrous points by exaggerating his p ^ sor ^ lunwieldmess and vr a _ , . ,.
him the sanction from precedent in own an which he fully applies . Jack announces Poins as he approaches , for an ommpot vSain ; Poins curries favour for himself by a plot against Falstaff , who again sei the occasion of the play extempore to suggest exclusive attachment of the prince himself , and therefore fairly enough Bardolph and Peto tell the tale of the had sword with relish , and Bardolph betrays the threat about the copper ring . Lig ht * and frivolousness , however , I have said , are dominant even over their insmcerit . None of- the group think it worth while to resent an attack , and in truth it is the 1 expression of idleness and shallowness of design and purpose , that while they ba . bite they still retain a certain attachment to each other , despite mutual injuries this kind , that might b « expected to create entire coolness at least , if not enmity . I an infidelity in friendship , as in wedlock , meets -with easy condonation from minds a certain vulgar type , which , deficient in self-respect , do not severely , or w animosity judge others who fail to respect them . There is among natures of lower erade the same readiness to heal after a wound that is found among the loi organizations , and the tendency in truth , if not rather a vice than a virtue , is rat defect than a faculty . . ^ - ** . ^^^* ^^^ ^^ ^ ^* ^^ ** ^^^
of mind and habit , ever with full reliance that the prince will fall into the trap o never discern the trick . When wit and mirth and nimbleness of imaginative st gestions are in question . Falstaff is as superior to the prince as the master to instrument , and it is the very use of this superiority that misleads him into the be ] that he has equal sway over his earnest purposes . The prince is even inferior to Po in the imaginative design and conduct of a jest , and has to be led step by step < r one obstacle after another in the scheme of robbing the robbers ; the best he can in this way is the perplexity of Francis , which by no means satisfies the sestnc requirements of a pregnant jest as conceived by Poins Poins who , »» t » ves 1 double robbery only as introductory to the amusing lies of Falstaff— the virtue the jest " and is fain to inquire of the bad imitation , " What cunning match have y made with this jest of the drawer ? come , what ' s the issue ? " inninof his first and tb
The prince is never so witty as at the beg g scene , even onr future knowledge of the knight teaches us that he asked the time , of day v , ~ mock purposeful concern , with design to provoke the sense of an incongruity . Af that , every one of the prince ' s rejoinders is fairly laid in his way by Falstaff , and would have been dull indeed to miss them , as he is still dull enough to takqall ere with himself for quickness and originality . When after Palstaffs avowal that he tv be damned for never a king ' s son in Christendom , he responds briskly to the princ proposal to take a purse , " Where thou wilt , lad , I'll . make one ; " of course he pi ceived the incongruity , and put on the utmost unconsciousness in order to height it and so throughout , as when -with lips scarce dry he protests that he is a rogue he ' has drink to-day—a lie with a slight oath , or when he professes the vigilance as a cat to steal cream . He has succeeded in exciting the prince to the perception certain points of ludicrousness , and to these sensitive centres he addresses himself u consists in the exact
remittingly ; and the delicacy of the delineation expression this finesse on hia part , in endlessly diversified forms on the part of the prince , and that precise form of apprehensiveness that enables him to find a relish in wit that can scarcely be said to properly appreciate . Hal is keen enough to form a not int curate estimate of motives and character but not to suspect or penetrate to the seci of the management by which he is played upon and amused . Thus the prince truth loses a large proportion of the wit , and that of the better kind , that the reac or spectator enjoys in the contemplation of the prince and Falstaff together . In fa wo may suspect that to Prince Hal , Falstaff Avas rather ludicrous than witty . Th in the tavern scene after the robbery , ho is amused at the gross bravadoes of a i liar whom he anticipates the pleasure of surprising with exposure and conviction , 1 j he loses the point of the jest that is salient to the spectator , who is amused by t ¦ wily quickness of tfalataff , who , beforehand with his expectations , goes on with dari presumption on his gullibility , to multiply two rogues in buckram into eleven wi accumulative rapidity that one would say it argues dulness in the prince not to pc
ceive to be conscious , but that so many readers since have been as blind as he is . . fact , wo are left at hist with a suspicion that the knight verily recognised the U roguea through their buckram , and ran and roared more heartily in order to hold t good jest up , and not only bragged so outrageously because ho was aware of the eftc he was producing , but hacked hia sword and made his companions stain their cloth with blood from their own nose tips , on tho certain calculation that he would be h trayed . Falstaft' in this scene ia to Prince Harry— " thou claybraincd guts ; tlu knotty pated fool "—but this is a false ostimateTndeed of the spirit of ^ ho fat knigli and tho prince himself was much more of a butt than the fool that he despised as fool and laughed at . Falstaff may underrate the prince as grossly when he rates li capabilities as to bo a pantler , " he would have chipped bread well ; " but assured Iiia wit is but of royal calibre , and such are the conditions of this quality that eviden of flatterers apart and deducting for the wonder of rarities and ^ approximations , w —sterling wit , is perhaps the single mental power and accomplishment that hi most rarely been found on a throne , or approached so near to it aa an heir-aj parent .
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SHAKSPEAItE'S ENGLAND . JShaJcspere ' s England ; or , / Sketches of our Social History in the Jiaign of Elizabeth . 1 G . W . Thornlmry . 2 vols . " Longman and C ( Skooni > Notice . ) The second volume of this amusing book opens with a chapter on tl Theatre and Shakspeare , which although neither so full in detail nor f accurate aa critical rendera Avould desire it to be , Avjill give the ' genor ; reader' very acceptable information . Here , for instance , ia a l'KKP INTO TIIE PXjKYliOnSK . The real boau never entered the theatre till tho trumpets were blowing for tho prc loguo , for when the house was only half full , tho richnoHB of hia drcsa could not 1 Bufliciently applauded ; then , aa if he waa one 6 f the proprietor ^ ox had droppc from tho hanging ** , ho crept from behind tho arras , it three-legged atool in one han and the tester to p * y the boy in the other . Tho real blaaS man of funhion never nj poared amused ; tlio more miserable and unmoved , the more fashionable Hi « en woo , in tho midst of tJUo auddcat acenoa of Lear or Othello , to turu away , aa if ho hft
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their conduct for sacrificing associate 04 , 2 THE LEADER . [ go . gg ^ ATTOPAY ^ _ J ^ ^^^^^^^^^^ n ^^^ . ^ m ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^™^^™^^ . ^^^*^^^^^^^^ . ^^ ' ^*^^^^^^^^^^^^*^^^**^*^^^^^^^^^ " ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ iim ^^^^ ¦ MMB ^ B ^ M ^^^ MM ^ B ^ BM ^ M ^^^ H ^^^^^ ff ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ a-vA - ^ A ~ & - ¦ A vv «^* a ia A mr % ^^« L
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Leader (1850-1860), July 5, 1856, page 642, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2148/page/18/
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