The ancient Roman honour more appears, Than any that draws breath in Italy." In this glowing description of the high and noble qualities of his friend Antonio, it is clear, that Bassanio does not take the word "courtesy" in the sense in which alone it is now current, and which makes it equivalent with civility and urbanity things pertaining not to a man's morals, but rather to his manners. The meaning Shakspere attaches to the word is more honourable to Antonio; it is evidently used as synonymous with kindness." This is borne out by another passage in the same play. III., i., 17 — „He was wont to lend money for a Christian courtesy." And by Lear, II., iv., 55 O Regan, thou shalt never have my curse, Thou better know'st The offices of nature, bond of childhood, Effects of courtesy, dues of gratitude." IX. III., ii., 44, 5 „Should lose a hair through Bassanio's fault." This verse lacks a syllable, which Symmons has supplied by reading Should lose a hair through my Bassanio's fault." But there is no occasion to add a word. We need only spell and read thorough" instead of „,through," and the rhythm is unexceptionable. 99 X. wrote IV., 'i., 28 ,,To cut the forfeiture from that bankrupt there." This verse has one syllable too many; but Shakspere ,,To cut the forfeit from that bankrupt there." XI. IV., i., 76, 9 „From such misery doth she cut me off." This verse halts, and must be restored by reading IV., i., 95, 7 XII. ,,Of one poor scruple; nay, if the scale do turn." This lame verse can easily be cured by omitting the unnecessary auxiliary do. The termination of the verse is then, if the scale turn. This termination looks faulty at first sight, at least, if we apply the laws of classical versification. For there it is a fundamental principle that the last foot of every verse should represent the pure rhythm. The rhythm of the blank verse is iambic; the last foot, therefore, we might think, should not consist of two such words as scale turn, which can only be considered a spondee, and not an iambus. What makes this apparent neglect of the true iambic rhythm still worse, is the circumstance that in the preceding foot, if the, the rhythmical accent (the arsis) is on the short, insignificant article. I must confess this kind of verse is not pleasant to my ear. But they are so frequent in Shakspere, that we must look upon them as perfectly legitimate, and need not hesitate to introduce them in an emendation. In the Merchant of Venice," alone, we have the following examples: Pluck the young sucking cubs from the she-bear." - ,,I have engaged myself to a dear friend." IV., i., 91 ,,I take this offer then: pay the bond thrice." IV., i., 106 Therefore thou must be hang'd at the states' charge." XIII. IV., i., 133 ,,And if your wife be not a mad woman." The rhythm of this verse seems even more irregular than that of those we had just now under consideration. For here the last foot deviates more from the iambic rhythm than a spondee. It is a pure trochee, and, therefore, the verse reads precisely like a Greek skazon, i. e., limping iambic verse, where the last foot is regularly and purposely a trochee, in order to produce a peculiar and almost ludicrous effect. But, upon closer examination, much of this oddity disappears. The expression, mad woman," namely, is to be considered, not as two words, but as a compound substantive, the feminine of „madman.“ There is a difference in the accents on „mádman“ and „mad mán“ the first is a trochee, the second an iambus. Just so, „mad woman" differs from „mádwoman." The former has the accent on the penultimate, the latter on the antepenultimate. Now, by a fundamental law of the English language, in every word of three syllables, that syllable which immediately adjoins the accented syllable can, in poetry, be used as an unaccented (or short) syllable; and that syllable which immediately adjoins this short or unaccented syllable and is, therefore, separated by it from the accented syllable - receives a secondary accent, and can, therefore, be used as long. Thus, in devoteé, disregárd, entertain, the antepenultimate receives a secondary accent; in májesty, provident, tówering, the ultimate does the same. Applying this rule to the word madwoman, we shall find that it can be scanned as amphimacer mádwomán, or in other words, that the second part of it, the word "woman" can change its original. accent from that of a trochee to that of an iambus. XIV. V., i., 24 Jessica. „I am never merry, when I hear sweet music." It is worth while to inquire what is the precise meaning of "merry." Surely, Jessica cannot mean to say that music makes her sad. She speaks in general of sweet music," not of solemn adagios, only, that melt the heart, and produce that sweet, softening melancholy, so soothing and delightful. To get at the true meaning of "merry," we must widen the enquiry, and compare the opposite of „merry,“ viz., „sad.“ There is an obvious connection between ,,sadness" and "attention," "thoughtfulness" and "reflection;" and between „mirth," and thoughtlessness," and "inattention." Thus, in „Midsummer Night's Dream," IV., 1. ,,My father and the gentleman are in sad talk.“ . Blackstone quotes a statute Here, as Warburton observes, sad signifies only grave, sober. 3 Henry VII., c. xiv., which directs certain offences, committed in the king's palace, to be tried by twelve sad men of the king's household. Here we have the judex tristis of Latin phraseology, who is not a sad melancholy judge, but one composed to serious attention and gravity, the very opposite quality of that which charakterises the reveller and the merry-maker. This connection between mirth and thoughtlessness is exemplified in Goldsmith's ,,Deserted Village," 122 and 255 „And the loud laugh that spoke the vacant mind," - ,,Spontaneous joys, where nature has its play, and, on the other hand, how closely correlative are sadness and thought is shown in the same poem, v. 136 The sad historian of the pensive plain" where „pensive" evidently means mournful." Jessica, therefore, in saying she is not merry when she hears sweet music, Archiv f. n. Sprachen. XXXI. 28 |