manner; but I see no reason to suppose that it was his, but the common tradition, which is however by no means well established. The subsequent acts are confessedly Fletcher's, and the imitations of Shakespear which occur there (not of Shakespear's manner as differing from his, but as it was congenial to his own spirit and feeling of nature) are glorious in themselves, and exalt our idea of the great original which could give birth to such magnificent conceptions in another. The conversation of Palamon and Arcite in prison is of this description-the outline is evidently taken from that of Guiderius, Arviragus, and Bellarius in Cymbeline, but filled up with a rich profusion of graces that make it his own again. "Pal. How do you, noble cousin? Arc. How do you, Sir? Pal. Why, strong enough to laugh at misery, And bear the chance of war yet. We are prisoners, I fear for ever, cousin. Arc. I believe it; And to that destiny have patiently Laid up my hour to come. Pal. Oh, cousin Arcite, Where is Thebes now? where is our noble country? Must we behold those comforts; never see And as an east wind, leave 'em all behind us Outstript the people's praises, won the garlands, And deck the temples of those Gods that hate us : Arc. No, Palamon, Those hopes are prisoners with us: here we are, Loaden with kisses, arm'd with thousand Cupids, To glad our age, and like young eaglets teach 'em Pal. "Tis too true, Arcite! To our Theban hounds, That shook the aged forest with their echoes, Even from the bottom of these miseries, Whilst Palamon is with me, let me perish Pul. Certainly, 'Tis a main goodness, cousin, that our fortunes Were twinn'd together; 'tis most true, two souls Put in two noble bodies, let 'em suffer The gall of hazard, so they grow together, Arc. Shall we make worthy uses of this place, That all men hate so much? Pal. How, gentle cousin? Arc. Let's think this prison a holy sanctuary To keep us from corruption of worse men! We're young, and yet desire the ways of honour: That, liberty and common conversation, The poison of pure spirits, might, like women, Woo us to wander from. What worthy blessing Can be, but our imaginations M May make it ours? And here, being thus together, We are an endless mine to one another; We are, in one another, families; I am your heir, and you are mine; this place Dare take this from us; here, with a little patience, A wife might part us lawfully, or business; Crave our acquaintance; I might sicken, cousin, (I thank you, cousin Arcite) almost wanton It is to live abroad, and every where ! "Tis like a beast, methinks! I find the court here, I'm sure a more content; and all those pleasures, That woo the wills of men to vanity, I see thro' now: and am sufficient To tell the world, 'tis but a gaudy shadow Arc. I would hear you still. Pal. You shall. Is there record of any two that lov'd Better than we do, Arcite? Arc. Sure there cannot. Pal. I do not think it possible our friendship Should ever leave us. Arc. Till our deaths it cannot." Thus they "sing their bondage freely:" but just then enters Æmilia, who parts all this friendship between them, and turns them to deadliest foes. The jailor's daughter, who falls in love with Palamon, and goes mad, is a wretched interpolation in the story, and a fantastic copy of Ophelia. But they readily availed themselves of all the dramatic common-places to be found in Shakespear, love, madness, processions, sports, imprisonment, &c. and copied him too often in earnest, to have a right to parody him, as they sometimes did, in jest.-The story of the Two Noble Kinsmen is taken from Chaucer's Palamon and Arcite; but the latter part, which in Chaucer is full of dramatic power and interest, degenerates in the play into a mere narrative of the principal events, and possesses little value or effect. It is not improbable that Beaumont and Fletcher's having dramatised this story, put Dryden upon modernising it. - |