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it is self-annulling and absurd in twisting every thing into absurdity and nullity; its end, being nugatory turns, when realized, into nothing. Everybody at the court of Messina is a wit or witling, down to the waiting-maids; the great object in life is to set off self by brilliant scintillations. Words are a fantastical banquet; virtues are " transhaped" into their opposites by the cunning of speech; the earnest purposes of life as well as the great institutions of the world particularly the Family are used as kindling wood for a jest. There is intellectual culture in Messina but totally perverted, negative; it has sharpened the faculties to that species of refined egotism which seems ready to set on fire the universe for a light by which to see and admire itself. Undoubtedly wit has a place in the order of things, but when it insists upon being the whole of that order, it turns upon itself and commits suicide; it is tragic to itself but comic to the rest of the world. All at Messina are more or less infected; if they are not playing with words, they are indulging in masks, tricks, disguises, each according to his gift; even the gray beards take part. An astonishing amount of eaves-dropping is at Messina; then they eavesdrop the eaves-dropper. It is indeed a giddy, comic world, yet perpetually threatening to become tragie through its giddiness; it is rescued in spite of its wit, by its witless but honest mem

bers. Dogberry and his associates are the saving principle; they too have a kind of wit, but unintentional. Such is the outcome of the comedy; that flashing, witty world of Messina would go up in smoke, unless it had a little stupid honesty to help it out. Yet even Dogberry has a smack of the court, the disease of word-mongering has laid hold of him too, the uneducated man, and has generated a new kind of language. In this play, then, we have, not merely the wit of comedy, but the comedy of wit; not merely some of the characters are witty, but the whole world of Messina is essentially a wit world, which is to be shown passing away like a bubble and leaving behind the reality of life.

The gay, light-hearted pleasantry of the drama has always found special favor with readers, and is its main, though not its sole, quality. It is not so poetical as some other comedies of the Poet; the ethereal glow of imagery is supplanted by the sparkling display of witty dialogue. In like manner there is a total deficiency of ideal scenery; everything takes place on the solid ground of reality. There is no transition to a pastoral or fairy realm, where the world of the imagination soothes and reconciles the conflicts of society where the individual torn by the struggles of actual life finds repose and ultimate restoration. The action lies wholly in the sphere of Real Comedy; there are the high group and the low

group of comic characters—the one set is designated by their employment of the most lively sallies of wit; the other set by a grotesque mixture of pretension and stupidity. Then there is a dark-colored thread-the group of villains, who make by no means a mirth-provoking picture. Finally, there is added the tragic element― malice assails, and for a time triumphs over, innocence; the feeling of pity rises alongside the feeling of indignation, and then both these sterner emotions are submerged in a grand overflow of merriment.. It is sometimes hard to tell which element predominates the serious of the humorous; certain it is that we hear the extreme notes of the scale of passion in very rapid succession. Most people, however, will probably decide that the leading parts of Benedict and Beatrice, together with Dogberry and his associates, as well as the general movement of the whole play, produce a more positive comic than tragic impression. On the other hand, the sad story of the innocent maid, Hero, runs through and controls the entire dramatic action. Thus the two sides are almost equally balanced.

A glance may first be cast upon the purely external structure of the work. The household of Leonato stands in the foreground; it furnishes all chief female

the women; especially the two characters are to be observed. Now comes the company of Don Pedro, which returns to this

household after a short campaign against the foe; it furnishes only men, among whom are the two lovers for the young ladies. The lively tone of the play is taken from this happy meeting; the war has been successful; honor and fame have been attained; there has also followed the restoration to home and friends. It is a time when human beings may be allowed to indulge in a merry mood, when an effervescence of wild frolic cannot possibly be prevented. Later is added the group of stupid, yet well-meaning, officials, who give a new comic tinge when the action is growing too somber. These are the three external elements which make up the story. the internal movement must be grasped differently; it has as its central points the two pairs of 1overs, and a critical analysis must follow the same line on which they move.

But

The ethical sphere in which the drama is laid is the Family, and, indeed, that phase of the Family antecedent to marriage. Two obstacles arise, each of which produces a disruption of a sexual pair. The course of the play will be to overcome the obstacles, and to unite the separated couples. But let us mark the difference between them. The one pair starts with a mutual defiance- with an intellectual separation; they berate each other with poignant, though witty, abuse; they go further, and assail the Family, as such, with bitter raillery. They, therefore, refuse to join the in

stitution, and think themselves far superior to its influence; but the institution will show itself stronger than the individual, and subordinate both of them in the end. Not only will they marry, but will marry each other; such is their comic retribution. The second pair, however, have their union disrupted by an external power, over which they have no control; the breath of calumny touches the woman and destroys her character temporarily; with her a marriage is impossible under the circumstances. This part has a serious indeed, a tragic-depth and coloring; but the difficulty is removed by the introduction of a purely comic instrumentality. To sum up the subject, there are two obstacles to union in the Family - the one is internal, in the conscious volition; the other comes from without, from an external cause. Both, however, are overcome, and the transition from separation to unity in marriage is the play.

Let us now unfold, in a general way, the clear, yet somewhat intricate, structure of the drama. The action falls into three distinct movements. The first movement exhibits a triple relation of the individual towards the Family. The first thread of it is that of Benedick and Beatrice; here is seen the conscious separation of the two sexes. The second thread is that of Hero and Claudio together with those who are promoting the match; this starts with the unconscious unity