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existant controlled and checked the minds of men. With the other foot he touched the domain of a future, in which the awaking power of the people, more particularly of the Germanic nations which-alarmed at the narrow formalism, at the thoughtless outwardness, the intellectual oppression and the decline of morality, to which the one-sided and prevailing tendency had led, and rebelling against the slavish subjection into which they had fallen-began to question the right of the existing, and thus, by enquiring and testing, to place themselves above authority, and to vindicate the divine privilege of free self-determination and independent knowledge, the imperishable right of self-renovation in progressive culture and civilisation, the power of reflection and criticism;* in other words, Shakspeare was close upon a future in which the subjectivity of the mind began to reign.

The gradual decay of the former tendency, and the growing supremacy of the latter, were the necessary results of the Reformation, for it had given rise to both. However, with the Reformation, that is, after the Church -the basis of medieval existence-had decayed, the whole building which was raised upon it, inevitably collapsed also. The Middle Ages were coming to a close, and the modern era was beginning. Both, however, the former in its exit, the latter in its advent, were still almost equally vigorous in Shakspeare's days. In his poetry they are both equally present, and in the following chapters it is my intention to show more in detail, that in his poetic view of life, the romantic Middle Ages with their wealth of sentiment and imagination, their youthful and idealistic strivings, their natural and sensuous freshness and fulness of power, together with the free, variable, searching, investigating, and reflecting mind of modern timeswhich is clothed in all possible forms and colours of subjective and characteristic peculiarity-appear combined and blended into an organic unity.

* How cutting the spirit of criticism was even in Shakspeare's day and how it attacked everything, Drake, 456, has shown by severa. striking examples.

CHAPTER II.

THE EARLY YEARS OF SHAKSPEARE.

ENGLAND'S greatest poet was not born in London, nor in any of the larger towns, but in the small country town of Stratford-on-Avon, in Warwickshire. He did not belong to the higher and more educated ranks, for his family was probably one of that, in most cases, well-to-do class of artisans and farmers-whose name, sometimes spelt Shaxper or Shakspere, sometimes Shakspeare or Shakespearet-which,

*The actual substance of the following biography of the poet, except where special authorities are referred to, is founded upon J. 0. Halliwell's Life of William Shakespeare, including many Particulars,' &c. London, 1848; also his Illustrations of the Life of Shakespeare.' London, 1874. J. P. Collier's 'Life of William Shakespeare,' in his edition of Shakspeare's works, London, 1858, vol. i., and upon A. Dyce, 'Some Account of the Life of Shakespeare,' in the second edition of his Shakspeare, vol. i., London, 1864. In Halliwell and Dyce the reader will find accurate and complete copies of all the deeds and documents referring to the life of Shakspeare. S. W. Fullom's History of W. Shakspeare, Player and Poet,' etc., although already in its second edition, (London, 1864), is not so much a biography as it is a tissue of conjectures and poetical embellishments, such as probably a novelist would warp round the skeleton of historical facts and traditions.

† The poet's will is not written in his own handwriting, but is signed by him in three different places in perfectly distinct characters. His signature is also affixed to the contract of purchase for the house within the precincts of Blackfriars; in both cases he clearly and distinctly signs himself 'Shakspeare,' as any one may see from the Memorials of Shakspeare, by W. Staunton (London, Day, 1864), which contains a lithograph of the two documents. I do not consider it justifiable to differ from this authentic spelling of the poet's name. The reasons which have been adduced against the poet's own signature 'Shakspeare' instead of the now customary spelling 'Shakespeare,' are chiefly founded upon the title pages of the old quartos and folios, which (with one exception) give the disputed e, and also upon the circumstance, that the literary contemporaries of the poet, also invariably write the name Shakespeare. It has also been supposed that the form 'Shakspeare' is merely a' Warwickshire provincialism.' I must say that this 'important' reason appears to me very unimportant. For Shak

stood close by. Behind the tower were six eagles skilfully contrived, in the bodies of which musicians and trumpeters were concealed. In the next place two horses appeared, without saddles, and gilded all over, and on each sat a little boy with golden locks, and clothed in flowing robes of silver tissue. Then came a triumphal car, which apparently moved backwards, on which sat the three Sisters of Fate, dragging after them by a golden chain, a noble knight as prisoner. On the following day, when the sword fight took place, there was no want of similar ingenious and fanciful devices.*

The morality of the time was, indeed, not of the strictest order. The relation between the sexes was very light and loose, and had retained the stamp of a chivalrous, sensuous and fanciful gallantry, rather than the serious, religious and moral character which was generally maintained in the Middle Ages, at least in England. Intrigues in love and gallant adventures were regarded as part of the life of a young gentleman. Elizabeth herself, though perhaps, in reality chaste, set an enticing example by her frivolous way of displaying by words and actions the inclinations of her heart. For instance she gave the Earl of Leicester a chamber close to her own sleeping apartment; Hennage, Hatton, Raleigh, Oxford, Blount, Simier and Anjou, were generally regarded as her declared suitors; of her fondness for Essex she subsequently made no secret, after having had him executed for treason; and even at a very advanced age she conferred extraordinary favours upon an Earl of Clanricarde, for no other reason than his great personal beauty. She seems to have been unable to exist without a lover of this kind, who was half a servant of her Majesty, half a worshipper of her beauty. Courtiers and all who approached her tried to outrival one another in gallantries and flatteries, in order to gratify this weakness of her mind, heart, and excessive vanity. The whole court imitated the example set by the Queen, and it cannot cause surprise that strict moralists, like Faunt and Harrington, called the Court a place where every enormity

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*Raumer: Briefe aus Paris zur Erläut. der Gesch. des 16 und 17 Jahrhunderts, etc., ii. 500 f., 504.

† Lingard, l.c., vi. 633.-Raumer: Beiträge, 610, 614.

prevailed, where there was little godliness or practise of religion, where in general the most licentious habits and evil conversation were to be met with, and where there was no love but that of the wanton god Asmodeno.'* That the nation should to some extent follow the example set by the court, may at once be supposed; Molino expressly charges the English people with intemperance and gluttony. The vice of drunkenness, especially, seems to have been rather general.†

However reprehensible all this is, still it cannot be denied that this kind of festive luxuriousness and the freedom of manners in a youthful, vigorous age, necessarily invested life with a poetical halo, which could not but encourage the development of poetry. On the other hand, it should be remembered that the extreme licence of the court had its antidote in the dull severity of the Puritans, and that, as sharp contrasts in history always find their adjustment, it may be assumed that in general the middle classes, at least, were sound in heart and maintained the right medium between the frivolity of the court and the Pharisaism of the Puritans.

However, the Queen did more than merely give fêtes and devote herself to luxury in dress and love; she was at the same time an accomplished lady, and patronised art and science from the lively interest she herself felt in them. How much poetry, especially, advanced during Elizabeth's reign, is evident from what has already been said in our first Book. We are astounded at the great number of poetical productions, and the no less numerous dramas that appeared, during Shakspeare's time, in every branch of poetry, and we cannot but agree with laborious Drake ‡ who enumerates them all, in regarding the fiftytwo years, between 1564 and 1616 as the most prolific period in English literature. This redundant wealth, more particularly in the domain of dramatic poetry, is very simply explained by the general fondness of the nation for dramatic plays, which, as Froude § says, were the principal amusements of Englishmen in the sixteenth century from the palace to the cottage. Still Elizabeth contributed her

* Birch, i., 39, 25.-Nugæ antiquæ, 166.-Lingard, l.c.
Drake, ii. 124, 128 f.

+ I., 601 ff.

Sl.c., i. 43.

share in encouraging art and philosophy, for although she did not exactly spend large sums in patronising them, still she possessed what was better and more effective—a cultivated taste and a genuine love especially for music and poetry. She played extremely well on the harpsichord, sang to the guitar, made translations from Horace and other classic authors, and tried her own powers of composition in some lyrical pieces which, it is impossible to deny, possess a certain grace and poetical elevation.* That courtiers, nobles, and people, vied with her in these accomplishments, needs no proof after what has been said above, and will be still more evident from what is to follow. But even philosophy was held in high estimation and even encouraged as far as the practical rather than contemplative spirit of the age permitted; for with the Reformation, a new dawn had broken upon it. Petruccio Ubaldini of Florence, writes of England as early as the year 1551: Those who have the means, let their sons and daughters study and learn Latin, Greek, and Hebrew, for since the storm of heresy first burst over the land, it has been considered useful to read the Scriptures in the original. Poorer persons who are unable to give their children a learned education, are nevertheless anxious not to appear ignorant and altogether wanting in the refinement of life.'t

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The name of Lord Bacon, who justly stands at the head of modern science and philosophy, alone proves that men soon no longer devoted themselves only to religious interests, but that with devoted zeal, and urged on by the spirit of philosophy, they entered its service for its own sake. Bacon is by no means the only one, but the best known representative of that free scientific enquiry, which from the time of the Reformation began to extend into every province of intellectual life, and thus forms the beginning of a new period of culture in which the human mind endeavoured, by means of the power of enquiring thought, to fathom the laws of all existence in nature and history, in religion and morality, in art and

*Raumer: Geschichte, ii. 616 f.-Lingard, l.c., vi., according to Camden, p. 736; Keralio, v. 464; Andrews, i. 107, 204; Lodge, ii. 41, iii. 148; Sydney papers, i. 373, 375, ii. 262.

† Raumer: Briefe aus Paris, &c., ii. 70.

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