he possessed a power, which they had not. Iago, on the same principle, conscious of superior intellect, gave scope to his envy, and hesitated not to ruin a gallant, open and generous friend in the moment of felicity, because he was not promoted as he expected. Othello was superior in place, but Iago felt him to be inferior in intellect, and unrestrained by conscience, trampled him.-Falstaff, not a degraded man of genius, like Burns, but a man of degraded genius, with the same consciousness of superiority to his companions, fastened himself on a young Prince, to prove how much his influence on an heir-apparent would exceed that of a statesman. With this view he hesitated not to adopt the most contemptible of all characters, that of an open and professed liar even his sensuality was subservient to his intellect; for he appeared to drink sack, that he might have occasion to show off his wit. One thing, however, worthy of observation, is the perpetual contrast of labor in Falstaff to produce wit, with the ease with which Prince Henry parries his shafts; and the final contempt which such a character deserves and receives from the young king, when Falstaff exhibits the struggle of inward determination with an outward show of humility. ORDER OF SHAKSPEARE'S PLAYS. Various attempts have been made to arrange the plays of Shakspeare, each according to its priority in time, by proofs derived from external documents. How unsuccessful these attempts have been might easily be shown, not only from the widely different results arrived at by men, all deeply versed in the black-letter books, old plays, pamphlets, manuscript records and catalogues of that age, but also from the fallacious and unsatisfactory nature of the facts and assumptions on which the evidence rests. In that age, when the press was chiefly occupied with controversial or practical divinity,—when the law, the church and the state engrossed all honor and respectability,when a degree of disgrace, levior quædam infamiæ macula, was attached to the publication of poetry, and even to have sported with the Muse, as a private relaxation, was supposed to be—a venial fault, indeed, yet-something beneath the gravity of a wise man,—when the professed poets were so poor, that the very expenses of the press demanded the liberality of some wealthy individual, so that two thirds of Spenser's poetic works, and those most highly praised by his learned admirers and friends, remained for many years in manuscript, and in manuscript perished,when the amateurs of the stage were comparatively few, and therefore for the greater part more or less known to each other,when we know that the plays of Shakspeare, both during and after his life, were the property of the stage, and published by the players, doubtless according to their notions of acceptability with the visitants of the theatre,-in such an age, and under such circumstances, can an allusion or reference to any drama or poem in the publication of a contemporary be received as conclusive evidence, that such drama or poem had at that time been published? Or, further, can the priority of publication itself prove any thing in favor of actually prior composition. We are tolerably certain, indeed, that the Venus and Adonis, and the Rape of Lucrece, were his two earliest poems, and though not printed until 1593, in the twenty-ninth year of his age, yet there can be little doubt that they had remained by him in manuscript many years. For Mr. Malone has made it highly probable, that he had commenced a writer for the stage in 1591, when he was twenty-seven years old, and Shakspeare himself assures us that the Venus and Adonis was the first heir of his invention.* Baffled, then, in the attempt to derive any satisfaction from outward documents, we may easily stand excused if we turn our researches towards the internal evidences furnished by the writings themselves, with no other positive data than the known facts, that the Venus and Adonis was printed in 1593, the Rape of Lucrece in 1594, and that the Romeo and Juliet had appeared in 1595,-and with no other presumptions than that the poems, his very first productions, were written many years earlier,-(for who can believe that Shakspeare could have remained to his twenty-ninth or thirtieth year without attempting poetic composition of any kind ?)-and that between these and Romeo and Juliet there had intervened one or two other dramas, or the chief materials, at least, of them, although they may very possi* But if the first heir of my invention prove deformed, I shall be sorry it had so noble a godfather, &c. Dedication of the V. and A. to Lord Southampton. bly have appeared after the success of the Romeo and Juliet and some other circumstances had given the poet an authority with the proprietors, and created a prepossession in his favor with the theatrical audiences. CLASSIFICATION ATTEMPTED, 1802. The London Prodigal. Cromwell. Henry VI., three parts, first edition. The old King John. Edward III. The old Taming of the Shrew. Pericles. All these are transition-works, Uebergangswerke; not his, yet of him. Second Epoch. All's Well That Ends Well :-but afterwards worked up afresh (umgearbeitet), especially Parolles. The Two Gentlemen of Verona; a sketch. Romeo and Juliet; first draft of it. Third Epoch rises into the full, although youthful Shakspeare; it was the neg ative period of his perfection. Love's Labor's Lost. Twelfth Night. As You Like It. Midsummer Night's Dream. Richard II. Henry IV. and V. Henry VIII.; Gelegenheitsgedicht. Romeo and Juliet, as at present. Merchant of Venice. Fourth Epoch. Much Ado About Nothing. Merry Wives of Windsor; first edition. Henry VI.; rifacimento Fifth Epoch. The period of beauty was now past; and that of devóτns and grandeur succeeds. Lear. Hamlet. Timon of Athens; an after-vibration of Hamlet. King John, as at present. Merry Wives of Windsor. Taming of the Shrew. } umgearbeitet. Measure for Measure. Othello. Tempest. Winter's Tale. Cymbeline. CLASSIFICATION ATTEMPTED, 1810. Shakspeare's carliest dramas I take to be, Love's Labor's Lost. All's Well That Ends Well. Comedy of Errors Romeo and Juliet. In the second class I reckon Midsummer Night's Dream. As You Like It. Tempest. Twelfth Night. In the third, as indicating a greater energy-not merely of poetry, but-of all the world of thought, yet still with some of the growing pains, and the awkwardness of growth, I place Troilus and Cressida. Cymbeline. Merchant of Venice. Much Ado About Nothing. Taming of the Shrew. In the fourth, I place the plays containing the greatest char acters: Macbeth. Lear. Hamlet. Othello. And lastly, the historic dramas, in order to be able to show my reasons for rejecting some whole plays, and very many scenes in others. CLASSIFICATION ATTEMPTED, 1819. I think Shakspeare's earliest dramatic attempt-perhaps even prior in conception to the Venus and Adonis, and planned before he left Stratford-was Love's Labor's Lost. Shortly afterwards I suppose Pericles and certain scenes in Jeronymo to have been produced; and in the same epoch, I place the Winter's Tale and Cymbeline, differing from the Pericles by the entire rifacimento of it, when Shakspeare's celebrity as poet, and his interest, no less than his influence as a manager, enabled him to bring forward the laid-by labors of his youth. The example of Titus Andronicus, which, as well as Jeronymo, was most popular in Shakspeare's first epoch, had led the young dramatist to the lawless mixture of dates and manners. In this same epoch I should place the Comedy of Errors, remarkable as being the only specimen of poetical farce in our language, that is, intentionally such; so that all the distinct kinds of drama, which might be educed a priori, have their representatives in Shakspeare's works. I say intentionally such; for many of Beaumont and Fletcher's plays, and the greater part of Ben Jonson's comedies are farce-plots. I add All's Well That Ends Well, originally intended as the counterpart of Love's Labor's Lost, Taming of the Shrew, Midsummer Night's Dream, Much Ado About Nothing, and Romeo and Juliet. |