COMMENDATORY VERSES. Upon the Effigies of my worthy Friend, the Author, An Epitaph on the admirable Dramatic Poet, W. Shakespeare.1 What need my Shakespeare for his honour'd bones, The labour of an age in piled stones Or that his hallow'd reliques should be hid Under a star-ypointing pyramid? Dear son of memory, great heir of fame, What need'st thou such dull witness of thy name ? To the Memory of the deceased Author, Master W. Shakespeare. Shake-speare, at length thy pious fellows give Shall loathe what's new, think all is prodigy Of his, thy wit-fraught book shall once invade: 1 An Epitaph on the admirable Dramatic Poet, W. Shakespeare.] These lines, like the preceding, have no name appended to them in the folio, 1632, but the authorship is ascertained by the publication of them as Milton's, in the edition of his Poems in 1645, 8vo. We give them as they stand there, because it is evident that they were then printed from a copy corrected by the author: the variations are interesting, and Malone pointed out only one, and that certainly the least important. Instead of "weak witness" in line 6, the folio 1632 has "dull witness :" instead of "live-long monument," in line 8, the folio has "lasting monument:" instead of "heart," in line 10, the folio has "part," an evident misprint: and instead of "itself bereaving," in line 13, the folio has herself bereaving," The last is the difference mentioned by Malone, who also places" John Milton” at the end, as if the name were found in the folio of 1632. 2 Than when thy half-sword parleying Romans spake :] Leonard Digges prefixed a long copy of verses to the edition of Shakespeare's Poems in 1640, 8vo, in which he makes this passage, referring to "Julius Cæsar," more distinct; he also there speaks of the audiences. Shakespeare's plays at that time drew, in comparison with Ben. Jonson's. This is the only part of his production worth adding in a note. "So have I seen, when Cæsar would appear, And on the stage at half-sword parley were Brutus and Cassius, O, how the audience Were ravish'd! with what wonder they went thence! Nor shall I e'er believe or think thee dead, Or till I hear a scene more nobly take, L. DIGGES. To the Memory of my beloved, the Author, Mr. William To draw no envy (Shakespeare) on thy name, I, therefore, will begin :-Soul of the age, When, some new day, they would not brook a line And though the Fox and subtil Alchymist, Though these have sham'd all th' ancients, and might raise And Benedick be seen, lo! in a trice The cock-pit, galleries, boxes, all are full, To hear Malvolio, that cross-garter'd gull. Brief, there is nothing in his wit-fraught book, Whose sound we would not hear, on whose worth look," &c 3 Perhaps the initials of John Marston. 4 Referring to lines by William Basse, then circulating in MS., and not printed (as far as is now known) until 1633, when they were falsely imputed to Dr. Donne, in the edition of his poems in that year. All the MSS. of the lines, now extant, differ in minute particulars. Thou art a monument without a tomb; And shake a stage: or, when thy socks were on, Of all that insolent Greece, or haughty Rome, For a good poet's made, as well as born: And such wert thou. Look, how the father's face Lives in his issue; even so the race Of Shakespeare's mind, and manners, brightly shines In his well-turned and true-filed lines; In each of which he seems to shake a lance, As brandish'd at the eyes of ignorance. To see thee in our water yet appear; And make those flights upon the banks of Thames, And despairs day, but for thy volume 's light. BEN JONSON. On worthy Master Shakespeare, and his poems.1 A mind reflecting ages past, whose clear And equal surface can make things appear, Distant a thousand years, and represent Them in their lively colours, just extent: To outrun hasty time, retrieve the fates, Roll back the heavens, blow ope the iron gates Of death and Lethe, where (confused) lie Great heaps of ruinous mortality: In that deep dusky dungeon to discern To raise our ancient sovereigns from their hearse, -While the plebeian imp, from lofty throne, This, and much more, which cannot be express'd And she whose praise the heavenly body chants; crown'd, Which never fades; fed with ambrosian meat, So with this robe they clothe him, bid him wear it; 1 On worthy Master Shakespeare, and his Poems.] These lines are | may have been appended to the other copy of verses by him prefixed subscribed I. M. S. in the folio 1632, "probably Jasper Mayne," says to the folio of 1632, in order that his initials should stand at the end Malone. Most probably not, because Mayne has left nothing behind of the present. We know of no other poet of the time capable of him to lead us to suppose that he could have produced this surpassing writing the ensuing lines. We feel morally certain that they are by tribute. I. M. S. may possibly be Iohn Milton, Student, and no name Milton. Upon the Lines, and Life, of the famous Scenic Poet, The following are Ben Jonson's lines on the Portrait of Master W. Shakespeare. Those hands which you so clapp'd, go now and wring, You Britons brave; for done are Shake-speare's days: His days are done that made the dainty plays, Which made the Globe of heaven and earth to ring. Dried is that vein, dried is the Thespian spring, Turn'd all to tears, and Phoebus clouds his rays; That corpse, that coffin, now bestick those bays, Which crown'd him poet first, then poet's king. If tragedies might any prologue have, All those he made would scarce make one to this; Where fame, now that he gone is to the grave, (Death's public tiring-house) the Nuntius is: For, though his line of life went soon about, The life yet of his lines shall never out. HUGH HOLLAND. Shakespeare, precisely as they stand on a separate leaf opposite to the title-page of the edition of 1623, and which are reprinted in the same place, with some trifling variation of typography, in the folio of 1632. THE NAMES OF THE PRINCIPAL ACTORS IN ALL THESE PLAYS. WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE. RICHARD Burbadge. JOHN HEMMINGS. AUGUSTINE PHILLIPS. WILLIAM KEMPT. RICHARD COWLY. JOHN UNDERWOOD. NICHOLAS TOOLEY. WILLIAM ECCLESTONE. JOSEPH TAYLOR, ROBERT BENFIELD. HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH DRAMA AND STAGE TO THE TIME OF SHAKESPEARE, In order to make the reader acquainted with the origin of which it relates, and of the persons concerned in them. The the English stage, such as Shakespeare found it when he title of the piece, and the year in which the events are supbecame connected with it, it is necessary to mention that a posed to have occurred, are given at the close, where we miracle-play or mystery, (as it has been termed in modern are told that it is "The Play of the Blessed Sacrament"," times), is the oldest form of dramatic composition in our and that the miracle to which it refers was wrought "in language. The stories of productions of this kind were the forest of Arragon, in the famous city of Araclea, in the derived from the Sacred Writings, from the pseudo-evan- year of our Lord God 1461." There can be no doubt that gelíum, or from the lives and legends of saints and martyrs. the scene of action was imaginary, being fixed merely for Miracle-plays were common in London in the year 1170; the greater satisfaction of the spectators as to the reality and as early as 1119 the miracle-play of St. Katherine had of the occurrences, and as little that a legend of the kind been represented at Dunstaple. It has been conjectured, was of a much older date than that assigned in the manuand indeed in part established', that some of these perform- script, which was probably near the time when the drama ances were in French, as well as in Latin; and it was not had been represented. until the reign of Edward III. that they were generally acted in English. We have three existing series of miracleplays, all of which have been recently printed; the Towneley collection by the Surtees Club, and those known as the Coventry and Chester pageants by the Shakespeare Society. The Abbotsford Club has likewise printed, from a manuscript at Oxford, three detached miracle-plays which once, probably, formed a portion of a connected succession of productions of that class and description. During about 300 years this species of theatrical entertainment seems to have flourished, often. under the auspices of the clergy, who used it as the means of religious instruction; but prior to the reign of Henry VI, a new kind of drama had become popular, which by writers of the time was denominated a moral, or moral play, and more recently a morality. It acquired this name from the nature and purpose of the representation, which usually conveyed a lesson for the better conduct of human life, the characters employed not being scriptural, as in miracle-plays, but allegorical, or symbolical. Miracle-plays continued to be represented long after moral plays were introduced, but from a remote date abstract impersonations had by degrees, not now easily traced, found their way into miracle-plays: thus, perhaps, moral plays, consisting only of such characters, grew out of them. In its form it closely resembles the miracle-plays which had their origin in Scripture-history, and one of the characters, that of the Saviour, common in productions of that class, is introduced into it: the rest of the personages engaged are five Jews, named Jonathas, Jason, Jasdon, Masphat, and Malchus; a Christian merchant called Aristorius, a bishop, Sir Isidore a priest, a physician from Brabant called "Mr. Brundyche," and Colle his servant* The plot relates to the purchase of the Eucharist by the Jews from Aristorius for 1007., under an assurance also that if they find its miraculous powers verified, they will become converts to Christianity. Aristorius, having possession of the key of the church, enters it secretly, takes away the Host, and sells it to the Jews. They put it to various tests and torments: they stab "the cake" with their daggers, and it bleeds, while one of the Jews goes mad at the sight. They next attempt to nail it to a post, but the Jew who uses the hammer has his hand torn off and here the doctor and his servant, Mr. Brundyche and Colle, make their appearance in order to attend the wounded Jew; but after a long comic scene between the quack and his man, highly illustrative of the manners of the time, they are driven out as impostors. The Jews then proceed to boil the Host, but the water turns blood-red, and taking it out of the cauldron with pincers, they throw it into a A very remarkable and interesting miracle-play, not blazing oven: the oven, after blood has run out "at the founded upon the Sacred Writings, but upon a popular crannies," bursts asunder, and an image of the Saviour legend, and all the characters of which, with one exception, rising, he addresses the Jews, who are as good as their purport to be real personages, has recently been discovered word, for they are converted on the spot. They kneel to in the library of Trinity College, Dublin, in a manuscript the Christian bishop, and Aristorius having confessed his certainly as old as the later part of the reign of Edward crime and declared his repentance, is forgiven after a suitIV.2 It is perhaps the only specimen of the kind in our able admonition, and a strict charge never again to buy or language; and as it was unknown to all who have hitherto sell. written on the history of our ancient drama, it will not here be out of place to give some account of the incidents to 1 See Hist. of Engl. Dram. Poetry and the Stage, vol. ii. p. 131. 2 We are indebted for a correct transcript of the original to the zeal and kindness of Dr. J. H. Todd, V.P., R.S.A. 3 In another part of the manuscript it is called "The Play of the Conversion of Sir Jonathas, the Jew, by the Miracle of the Blessed Sacrament;" but inferior Jews are converted, besides Sir Jonathas, who is the head of the tribe in the "famous city of Araclea." This very singular and striking performance is opened, as was usual with miracle-plays, by two Vexillators, who 4 This name may possibly throw some light on an obscure passage, in a letter dated about 1535, and quoted in "The History of Engl. Dram. Poetry, and the Stage," I. 131, where a person of the name of Thomas Wylley informs Cromwell, Earl of Essex, that he had written a play in which a character called "Colle, clogger of Conscience," was introduced, to the great offence of the Roman Catholic clergy. |