Studies of Shakspere: Forming a Companion Volume to Every Edition of the Text

Book I. Chapter Page

I. Pageants and Mysteries 3

II. Bible Histories and Moralities 7

III. Itinerant Players . 10

IV. The Lawfulness of Plays 15

Y. The Earliest Historical Drama 19

YI. The Dramatists of Shakspere's First Period 26

VII. On the Chronology of Shakspere's Plays . . . - 35

Book V. Chapter Page

L King John . . . 196

II. A Midsummer Night's Dream 207

III. Romeo and Juliet 214

IV. The Merchant of Venice ........... 228

V. Much Ado about Nothing . . 240

VI. The Merry Wives of Windsor 246

Book X. Contents

vii

BOOK XL

SHAKSPERE'S CRITICS.

CHAPTER PAGE

I. Milton — Edward Phillips 505

II. Cibber — Dryden — Rymer — Gildon — Dennis— Addison 513

III. Rowe — Pope — Theobald — Hanmer — Warburton 528

IV. Johnson — Yoltaire — Mrs. Montagu — Martin Sherlock — Hume .... 535 Y. Capell — Farmer — Steevens — Malone — Garrick — Richardson — Morgann —

Whately — Percy — Warton — Lamb — Hazlitt — Coleridge 545

*** The five miniature-portraits of Shakspere, forming the frontispiece, are taken from the following authorities : — top, left — The Chandos Picture, now in the possession of the Earl of Ellesmere ; — top, right — Droeshout's Print, prefixed to the folio of 1623 ; — centre, The Bust at Stratford, as drawn by the late Mr. Phillips, R.A., and engraved under the direction of Mr. Britton ; — bottom, left — Mr. ISTicol's Picture, of which there is an engraving ; — bottom, right — An Ancient Picture (with the panel frame of the wainscot in which it was inserted), in the possession of Mr. Knight.

ADVERTISEMENT.

The present Volume, entitled ' Studies of Shakspere,' will consist of a republication, with additions and corrections, of the critical Notices that are scattered through my editions of Shakspere, known as 'the Pictorial' and 'the Library.' These Notices are not included in my edition in one volume, nor in my ' Cabinet ' edition.

It may appear somewhat presumptuous that I should devote a volume of a 6 National Library of Select Literature' to a republication of my own writings. I have seriously weighed this possible objection, and I thus meet it. There are very few readers who have not access to some edition of the works of " the greatest in our literature — the greatest in all literature." But there are a vast number who have no aids in the proper appreciation of Shakspere' s excellence, dependent as such a judgment is upon an adequate comprehension of his principles of art. In developing those principles I have felt it necessary, on the one hand, to combat some opinions of former editors which were addressed to an age nearly without poetry ; which looked upon the age of Shakspere as equally remarkable for the rudeness as for the vigour of its literature ; and which considered Shakspere himself under the vulgar aspect of the miraculous,— a genius perfectly untaught and unregulated. On the other hand, I have as sedulously brought forward and enforced the doctrines of that more recent school of aesthetics which holds that " the Englishman who, without reverence, a proud and affectionate reverence, can utter the name of William Shakspere, stands disqualified for the office of critic." These Essays, therefore, are not to be received as the opinions of an individual, but as an embodiment of the genial spirit of the r\ew school of Shaksperean criticism, as far as a humble disciple may interpret that spirit.'

But even to those who are familiar with critical editions of Shakspere, and with the great mass of critical writings upon Shakspere, the present volume will have the value of a comprehensive arrangement. It will exhibit the rude beginnings of the Drama previous to Shakspere's appearance ; it will trace the growth of his powers, as far as can be gathered from positive and circumstantial evidence, in his earliest works ; it will carry forward the same analysis through the second period of his meridian splendour ; it will show, in like manner, the glory of his mature day, and the sober lustre of his evening. In each of these periods the characters and productions of his dramatic contemporaries will be examined. The reader will proceed step by step in a systematic knowledge of the Shaksperean Art,

B ii

ADVERTISEMENT.

and view it in connection with, the circumstances which attended it in each successive stage of its advancement.

Since the completion of my larger editions of Shakspere many new materials for the History of our Dramatic Literature have been published by 'The Shakespeare Society/ and by individual critics and antiquaries. It will be my duty to consult these authorities, so that this work may be rendered of some additional value to those friends who, possessing my 'Pictorial' or c Library' editions, have expressed a desire to see the ' Notices, ' of each play in a collected form, and sold at a cheap rate, so as to form a Companion Volume to the many thousand copies of Shakspere which are diffused amongst our countrymen.

Januaey 1, 1849.

CHARLES KNIGHT.

STUDIES OF SH AKSPERE.

Book I. Chaptek I

PAGEANTS AND MYSTERIES.

The city of Coventry, within a moderate distance of Stratford upon Avon, was amongst the last places which retained the ancient pageants. Before the Reformation, these pageants, "acted with mighty state and reverence by the friars of this house [the Grey Friars], had theatres for the several scenes, very large and high, placed upon wheels, and drawn to all the eminent parts of the city for the better advantage of spectators ; and contained the story of the New Testament composed into old English rhyme, as appeareth by an ancient manuscript, entitled Ludus Corporis Christi, or Ludus Coventriw."* Henry V. and his nobles took great delight in seeing the pageants ; Queen Margaret, in the days of her prosperity, came from Kenilworth to Coventry privily to see the play, and saw all the pageants played save one, which could not be played because night drew on ; the triumphant Richard III. came to see the Corpus Christi plays ; and Henry VII. much commended themf. In these Corpus Christi plays there were passages which had a vigorous simplicity, fit for the teaching of an uninstructed people. In the play of ' The Creation,' the pride of Lucifer disdained the worship of the angels, and he was cast down —

" With mirth and joy never more to mell."

* Dugdale.

\ See Sharp's quotations from the manuscript Annals of Coventry, ( Dissertation,' page 4.

In the play of c The Fall,' Eve sang —

" In this garden I will go see All the flowers of fair beauty, And tasten the fruits of great plenty That be in Paradise ; "

In the same play we have a hymn of Abel, very sweet in its music : —

" Almighty God, and full of might,

By whom all thing is made of nought, To thee my heart is ready dight, For upon thee is all my thought."

In the play of 'Noah,' when the dove returned to the ark with the olive-branch, there was a joyful chorus : —

These ancient Coventry plays were forty-three in number J. The general spread of knowledge might have brought other teaching, but they familiarized the people with the great scriptural truths ; they gave them amusements of a higher nature than military games, and contentions of mere brute force. In the boyhood of Shakspere the same class of subjects was handled by rude artificers. Let us attempt to describe such

t See the f Ludus Coventria?,' published by the * Shakespeare Society.'

b2

SHAKSPERE.

[book I.

a scene as the great city of the Black Prince would have presented during the boyhood of Shakspere.

The morning of Corpus Christi comes, and soon after sunrise there is stir in the streets of Coventry. The old ordinances for this solemnity require that the Guilds should be at their posts at five o'clock. There is to be a solemn procession — formerly, indeed, after the performance of the pageant — and then, with hundreds of torches burning around the figures of our Lady and St. John, candlesticks and chalices of silver, banners of velvet and canopies of silk, and the members of the Trinity Guild and the Corpus Christi Guild bearing their crucifixes and candlesticks, with personations of the angel Gabriel lifting up the lily, the twelve apostles, and renowned virgins, especially St. Catherine and St. Margaret. The Reformation has, of course, destroyed much of the ceremonial ; and, indeed, the spirit of it has in great part evaporated. But now, issuing from the many ways that lead to the Cross, there is heard the melody of harpers and the voice of minstrelsy; trumpets sound, banners wave, riding-men come thick from their several halls ; the mayor and aldermen in their robes, the city servants in proper liveries, St. George and the Dragon, and Herod on horseback. The bells ring, boughs are strewed in the streets, tapestry is hung out of the windows, officers in scarlet coats struggle in the crowd while the procession is marshalling. The crafts are getting into their ancient order, each craft with its streamer and its men in harness. There are " Fysshers and Cokes, — Baxters and Milners, — Bochers, — Whittawers and Glovers, — Pynners, Tylers, and Wrightes, — Skynners, — Barkers, — Corvysers, — Smythes, — Wevers, — Wirdrawers, — Cardemakers, Sadelers, Peyntours, and Masons, — Gurdelers, — Taylours, Walkers, and Sherman, — Deysters, — Drapers, Mercers."* At length the procession is arranged. It parades through the principal lines of the city, from Bishopgate on the north to the Grey Friars' Gate on the south, and from Broadgate on the west to Gosford Gate on the east. The crowd is thronging

* Sharp's e Dissertation/ page 160.

to the wide area on the north of Trinity Church and St. Michael's, for there is the pageant to be first performed. There was a high house or carriage which stood upon six wheels ; it was divided into two rooms, one above the other. In the lower room were the performers ; the upper was the stage. This ponderous vehicle was painted and gilt, surmounted with burnished vanes and streamers, and decorated with imagery ; it was hung round with curtains, and a painted cloth presented a picture of the subject that was to be performed. This simple stage had its machinery, too ; it was fitted for the representation of an earthquake or a storm ; and the pageant in most cases was concluded in the noise and flame of fireworks. It is the pageant of the company of Shearmen and Tailors, which is to be performed, — the subject the Birth of Christ and Offering of the Magi, with the Flight into Egypt and Murder of the Innocents. The eager multitudes are permitted to crowd within a reasonable distance of the car. There is a moveable scaffold erected for the more distinguished spectators. The men of the Guilds sit firm on their horses. Amidst the sound of harp and trumpet the curtains are withdrawn, and Isaiah appears, prophesying the blessing which is to come upon the earth. Gabriel announces to Mary the embassage upon which he is sent from Heaven. Then a dialogue between Mary and Joseph, and the scene changes to the field where shepherds are abiding in the darkness of the night— a night so dark that they know not where their sheep may be ; they are cold and in great heaviness. Then the star shines, and they hear the song of " Gloria in excelsis Deo." A soft melody of concealed music hushes even the whispers of the Coventry audience ; and three songs are sung, such as may abide in the remembrance of the people, and be repeated by them at their Christmas festivals. "The first the shepherds sing :" —

" As I rode out this endersf night, Of three jolly shepherds I saw a sight, And all about their fold a star shone bright;

t Enders night— last night.

PAGEANTS AND MYSTERIES.

They sang terli terlow :

So merrily the shepherds their pipes can blow."

There is then a song " the women sing :" —

" Lully, lulla, you little tiny child ; By, by, lully, lullay, you little tiny child :

By, by, lully, lullay.

0 sisters two, how may we do

For to preserve this day

This poor youngling, for whom we do sing

By, by, lully, lullay]

Herod the king, in his raging, Charged he hath this day His men of might, in his own sight, All young children to slay.

That woe is me, poor child, for thee, And ever mourn and say, For thy parting neither say nor sing By, by, lully, lullay."

The shepherds again take up the song : —

" Down from heaven, from heaven so high, Of angels there came a great company, With mirth, and joy, and great solemnity: They sang terly, terlow : So merrily the shepherds their pipes can blow."

The simple melody of these songs has come down to us : they are part songs, each having the treble, the tenor, and the bass*. The star conducts the shepherds to the " crib of poor repast," where the child lies ; and, with a simplicity which is highly characteristic, one presents the child his pipe, the second his hat, and the third his mittens. Prophets now come, who declare in lengthened rhyme the wonder and the blessing : —

" ISTeither in halls nor yet in bowers Bom would he not be, Neither in castles nor yet in towers That seemly were to see."

The messenger of Herod succeeds ; and very curious it is, and characteristic of a period when the king's laws were delivered in the language of the Conqueror, that he speaks in French. This circumstance would carry

* This very curious pageant, essentially different from the same portion of Scripture-history in the ' Ludus Coventrize,'' is printed entire in Mr. Sharp's ' Dissertation,' as well as the score of these songs.

back the date of the play to the reign of Edward III., though the language is occasionally modernized. We have then the three kings with their gifts. They are brought before Herod, who treats them courteously, but is inexorable in his cruel decree. Herod rages in the streets ; but the flight into Egypt takes place, and then the massacre. The address of the women to the pitiless soldiers, imploring, defying, is not the least curious part of the performance ; for example —

" Sir knightes, of your courtesy, This day shame not your chivalry, But on my child have pity,"

is the mild address of one mother. Another raves —

"He that slays my child in sight, If that my strokes on him may light, Be he squire or knight, I hold him but lost."

The fury of a third is more excessive : —

" Sit he never so high in saddle, But I shall make his brains addle, And here with my pot ladle With him will I fight."

We have little doubt that he who described the horrors of a siege, —

" Whiles the mad mothers with their howls confused

Do break the clouds, as did the wives of J ewry At Herod's bloody-hunting slaughtermen," f — ■

had heard the howlings of the women in the Coventry pageant. And so "fynes lude de taylars and scharmen"

The pageants thus performed by the Guilds of Coventry were of various subjects, but all scriptural. The Smiths' pageant was the Crucifixion ; and most curious are their accounts, from 1449 till the time of which we are speaking, for expenses of helmets for Herod, and cloaks for Pilate ; of tabards for Caiaphas, and gear for Pilate's wife ; of a staff for the Demon, and a beard for Judas. There are payments, too, to a man for hanging Judas, and for cock-crowing. The subject of the Cappers' pageant

t Henry V., Act in., Scene nr.

STUDIES OE SHAKSPEUE. [BOOK I.

was the Resurrection. They have charges for making the play-book and pricking the songs ; for money spent at the first rehearsal and the second rehearsal ; for supper on the play-clay, for breakfasts and for dinners. The subject of the Drapers' pageant was that of Doomsday ; and one of their articles of machinery sufficiently explains the character of their performance—-" A link to set the world on fire/' following " Paid for the barrel for the earthquake." We may readily believe that the time was fast approaching when such pageants would no longer be tolerated. It is more than probable that the performances of the Guilds were originally subordinate to those of the Grey Friars ; perhaps devised and supported by the parochial clergy* But when the Church became opposed to such representations — when, indeed, they were incompatible with the spirit of the age— it is clear that the efforts of the laity to uphold them could not long be successful. They would be certainly performed without the reverence which once belonged to them. Their rude action and simple language would be ridiculed ; and, when the feeling of ridicule crept in, their nature would be altered, and they would become essentially profane. There is a very curious circumstance connected with the Coventry pageants, which shows the straggle that was made to keep the dramatic spirit of the people in this direction. In 1584 the Smiths performed, after many preparations and rehearsals, a new pageant, the Destruction of Jerusalem. The Smiths applied to one who had been educated in their own town, in the Free School of Coventry, and who in 1584 belonged to St. John's, Oxford, to write this new play for them. The following entry appears in the city accounts : — " Paid to M.r Snrytlic of Oxford the xvth daye of aprill 1584 for hys paynes for writing of the tragcdye— xiij1, vjs, viijd."

We regret that this play, so liberally paid for when compared with subsequent payments to the Jon sons and Dekkers of the

* It is clear, we think, that the pageants performed by the Guilds were altogether different from the ' Ludus Coventrise,' which Dugdale expressly tells us were performed by the Grey Friars.

true drama, has not been preserved. It would be curious to contrast it with the beautiful dramatic poem on the same subject, by an accomplished scholar of our own day, also a member of the University of Oxford. But the list of characters remains, which shows that the play was essentially historical, exhibiting the contests of the Jewish factions as described by Josephus. The accounts manifest that the play was got up with great magnificence in 1584 ; but it was not played again until 1591, when it was once more performed along with the famous Hock Tuesday. It was then ordered that no other plays whatever should be performed ; and the same order, -which makes this concession "at the request of the Commons," directs " that all the May-poles that now are standing in this city shall be taken down before Whitsunday next, and none hereafter to be set up." In that year Coventry saw the last of its pageants. But Marlowe and Shakspere were in London, building up something more adapted to that age ; more universal : dramas that no change of manners or policies can destroy.

The pageant of ' The Nine Worthies ' was often performed by the dramatic body of the Coventry Grammar School ; the ancient pageant, such as was presented to Henry VI. and his Queen in 1455, and of which the Leet-book contains the faithful copyf . The lofty speeches which the three Hebrews, Joshua, David, and Judas Maccabeus ; the three Infidels, Hector, Alexander, and Julius Csesar ; and the three Christians, Arthur, Charlemagne, and Godfrey of Boulogne, utter in this composition, are singular specimens of the mock heroic. Hector thus speaks : —

" Most pleasant princes, recorded that may be, I, Hector of Troy, that am chief conqueror, Lowly will obey you, and kneel on my knee."

And Alexander thus : — "1, Alexander, that for chivalry beareth the ball,

Most courageous in conquest through the

world am I named, — Welcome you princes."

f Sharp, page 145.

BIBLE HISTORIES AND MORALITIES.

And Julius Caesar thus : — " I, Julius Caesar, sovereign of knighthood And emperor of mortal men,, most high and mighty,

Welcome you, princes, most benign and good." Surely it was little less than plagiary, if it were not meant for downright parody, when, in a pageant of c The Nine Worthies 5 presented a few years after*, Hector comes in to say — .

" The armipotent Mars, of lances the almighty, Gave Hector a gift, the heir of Ilion : A. man so breathed, that certain he would fight, yea,

From morn to night out of his pavilion.

I am that flower."

And Alexander : —

" When in the world I lived, I was the world's

commander; By east, west, north, and south, I spread my

conquering might : My 'scutcheon plain declares that I am Alis-

ander."

And Pompey, usurping the just honours of his triumphant rival : —

" I, Pompey am, Pompey surnamed the Great, That oft in field, with targe and shield, did make my foe to sweat."

CHAP

BIBLE HISTORIES

We have very distinct evidence that stories from the Sacrecl Scriptures, in character perhaps very little different from the ancient Mysteries, were performed upon the London stage at a period when classical histories, romantic legends, and comedies of intrigue, attracted numerous audiences both in the capital and the provinces. At the period which immediately preceded the true drama there was a fierce controversy on the subject of theatrical exhibitions ; and from the very rare tracts then published we are enabled to form a tolerably accurate estimate of the character of the early theatre. In one of these tracts, which appeared in 1580, entitled ( A Second and Third Blast of Retrait from Plaies and Theaters/ we have the following passage : — " The reverend word of God, and histories of the Bible, set forth on the stage by these blasphemous players, are so corrupted by their gestures of scurrility, and so interlaced with unclean and whorish speeches, that it is not possible to draw any profit out of the doctrine of their spiritual moralities. For that they exhibit under laughing that which ought to be taught and received reverenclly. So that their au-

» * ' Love's Labour's Lost,' Act. v.

FER II.

A1\D MORALITIES.

ditory may return made merry in mind, but none comes away reformed in manners. And of all abuses this is most undecent and intolerable, to suffer holy things to be handled by men so profane, and defiled by interposition of dissolute words." (Page 103.) Those who have read the ancient Mysteries, and even the productions of Bishop Bale which appeared not thirty years before this was written, will agree that the players ought not wholly to have the blame of the a interposition of dissolute words." But unquestionably it was a great abuse to have " histories of the Bible set forth on the stage;" for the use and advantage of such dramatic histories had altogether ceased. Indeed, although scriptural subjects might have continued to have been represented in 1580, we apprehend that they were principally taken from apocryphal stories, which were regarded with little reverence even by those who were most earnest in their hostility to the stage. Of such a character is the very curious play, printed in 1565, entitled e A pretie new Enterlude, both pithie and pleasaunt, of the story of King Daryus, being taken out of the third and fourth chapter of the third book of Esdras.'

SHAKSPERE.

[BOOK I.

" The Prolocutor " first comes forward to explain the object of " The worthy Entertainment of King Daryus : "

" Groocl people, hark, and give ear awhile, For of this enterlude I will declare the style.

, A certain king to you we shall bring in

| Whose name was Darius, good and virtuous;

J This king commanded a feast to be made,

| And at that banquet many people had.

j And when the king in counsel was set Two lords commanded he to be fet, As concerning matters of three young men ; Which briefly showed their fantasy then : In writings their meanings they did declare, And to give them to the king they did not spare.

| Now silence I desire you therefore, ! For the Yice is entering at the door."

The stage-direction then says, " The Prologue goeth out and Iniquity comes in." This is " the formal Vice Iniquity " of 'Richard III.;' the " Vetus Iniquitas" of ' The Devil is an Ass ; 5 the Iniquity with a " wooden dagger," and "a juggler's jerkin j with false skirts/' of 6 The Staple of News.' | But in the interlude of ( Darius ' he has less ! complex offices than are assigned him by | Gifford — " to instigate the hero of the piece i to wickedness, and, at the same time, to pro- ; tect him from the devil, whom he was peri mitted to buffet and baffle with his wooden I sword, till the process of the story required i that both the protector and the protected : should be carried off by the fiend, or the J latter driven roaring from the stage by some I miraculous interposition in favour of the re- ,' pentant offender."* The first words which Iniquity utters indicate, however, that he was familiar with the audience, and the audience familiar with him

" How now, my masters; how goeth the world now]

I come gladly to talk with you."

And in a most extraordinary manner he does talk ; swaggering and bullying as if the whole world wras at his command, till

* Ben Jonson's Works. Note on ' The Devil is an Ass.'

Charity comes in, and reads him a very severe lecture upon the impropriety of his deportment. It is of little avail ; for two friends of Iniquity — Importunity and Partiality— come to his assistance, and fairly drive Charity off the stage. Then Equity enters to take up the quarrel against Iniquity and his fellows ; but Equity is no match for them, and they all make way for King Darius. This very long scene has nothing whatever to do with the main action of the piece, or rather what professes to be its action. Its tediousness is relieved by the Vice, who, however dull was his profligacy, contrived to make the audience laugh by the whisking of his tail and the brandishing of his sword, assisted no doubt by some well-known chuckle like that of the Punch of our own days. King Darius, however, at length comes with all his Council; and most capital names do his chief councillors bear, not unworthy to be adopted even in courts of greater refinement — Perplexity and Curiosity. The whole business of this scene of King Darius is to present a feast to the admiring spectators. Up to the present day the English audience delights in a feast, and will endure that two men should sit upon the stage for a quarter of an hour, uttering the most unrepeatable stupidity, provided they seem to pick real chicken-bones and drink real port. The Darius of the interlude feasted whole nations — upon the representative system ; and here Ethiopia, Persia, Judah, and Media eat their fill, and are very grateful. But feasts must have their end ; and so the curtain closes upon the eaters, and Iniquity "cometh in singing:" —

"La, soule, soule, fa, my, re, re, I miss a note I dare well say : I should have been low when I was so high; I shall have it right anon verily."

Again come his bottle-holders, Importunity and Partiality ; and in the course of their gabble Iniquity tells them that the Pope is his father. Unhappily his supporters go out ; and then Equity attacks him alone. Loud is their debate ; and faster and more furious is the talk when Constancy and Charity come in. The matter, however,

Chap. Ii.1 Bible Histories

AND MORALITIES.

ends seriously ; and, they resolving that it is useless to argue longer with, this impenitent sinner, "somebody casts fire to Iniquity," and he departs in a tempest of squibs and crackers. The business of the play now at length begins. Darius tells his attendants that the three men who kept his chamber while he slept woke him by their disputing and murmuring, —

" Every man to say a weightier matter than the other."

The subject of their dispute was, what is the strongest thing ; and their answers, as we are informed by the King's attendants, had been reduced to writing : —

" The sentence of the first man is this, Wine a very strong thing is; The second also I will declare to you, That the king is stronger than any other

thing verily; The third also I will declare — Women, saith he, is the strongest of all, Though by women we had a fall."

Of their respective texts the three young men are then called in to make exposition ; and certainly, whatever defects of manners were exhibited by the audiences of that day, they must have possessed the virtue of patience in a remarkable degree to have enabled them to sit out these most prolix harangues. But they have an end ; and the king declares Zorobabel to be deserving of signal honours, in his demonstration that, of all things, woman is the strongest. A metrical prayer for Queen Elizabeth, uttered by Constancy, dismisses the audience to their homes*.