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Rascally sheep-biter."—" Lady of the strachy.”— "_" Hang thee, brock !'—"The stannyel checks at it."-" Sowter."'Daylight and champian."-" Tray-trip."-" To the gates of Tartar."-Act II., Scene 5.

By "sheep-biter," is meant, we presume, a fellow who, as is still the horrible common practice, converts young rams into wethers with his teeth.-The word "strachy" much puzzles the commentators; some of whom (confirmed in their conjecture by the fact, that in the old copies the word is printed in italics, and with a capital S) insist that we should read, "the lady of Trachy," or Thrace; but what "lady of Thrace" it was who married a "yeoman of the wardrobe," they do not inform us. Others suggest that we should read, lady of the starchy," or starchery; the superintendence of the starchery department of the laundry being an important and highly respectable charge in Shakspere's day, when frills and ruffs were starched of no less than five different colours, and lessons were given in the art by Dutch professors of it.-A brock is a badger.-A stannyel is a hawk, which, in falconry, is said to check, or fly at, a thing.-Sowter is the name of a hound.-Champian is the open country.-Traytrip, or three-and-trip, is a school-game.-Tartar is Tartarus, the classical hell.

"O, for a stone-bow, to hit him in the eye!"-Act II., Scene 5.

A stone-bow was a cross-bow, from which stones were sometimes shot; but we have heard it insisted upon that this passage should be read thus: "O, for a stone, now, to hit him in the eye!"

"Having come from a day-bed."-Act II., Scene 5. Day-beds, or couches, were a luxury among the rich in Shakspere's time; and, according to a line of Spenser :

"Some for untimely ease, some for delight."

"Wind up my watch."-Act II., Scene 5. Pocket watches were first brought from Germany about the year 1580, so that in Shakspere's time they were very

uncommon.

"Yellow stockings."-Act II., Scene 5. Before the civil wars, yellow stockings were much worn.

"Enter Clown, with a tabor."-Act III., Scene 1. "Tarleton, the celebrated fool or clown of the stage before Shakspere's time, is exhibited in a print affixed to his jests (1611) with a tabor. Perhaps," says Malone, "in imitation of him, the subsequent dramatic clowns usually appeared with one."

"A cheveril glove."—" The haggard."-Act III., Scene 1.

A cheveril glove is a kid-glove; caprillus being the Latin, ciaverello the Italian, and chevereul the French word for a kid. "Cheverel consciences" is an expressive phrase of Decker, in his "OLD FORTUNATUS." A haggard is an illtrained hawk, or one that is utterly untameable.

"I would play Lord Pandarus of Phrygia," &c.

Act III., Scene 1. This passage will be fully understood after the perusal of "TROILUS AND CRESSIDA."

"A Brownist."-Act III., Scene 2.

The Brownists were an innovating, religious sect, in the reign of Elizabeth, which sect subsequently merged into that of the Independents. Their founder was Robert Brown, whose family was nearly allied to that of the Lord Treasurer Cecil. His career of opposition to the established church commenced in 1510; but he returned to its communion some time previously to his death. After a life of licentious turbulence, he died in 1630, in Northampton gaol, to which he had been committed for two very orthodox offencesassaulting a magistrate, and insulting a constable.

"Be curst and brief.”· -"At the cubiculo."
Act III., Scene 2.

Be snappish and abrupt.-At the lodging-house.

"The youngest wren of nine."—Act III., Scene 2. The smallest and sprightliest bird of the brood.

"He does smile his face into more lines than are in the new map, with the augmentation of the Indies."-Act III., Scene 2.

An allusion to a map published in 1598, with a translation of "JOHN HUGH VAN LINSCHOTEN'S VOYAGES TO THE EAST INDIES." This map is remarkable for its many-lined appearance.

"Why dost thou smile so, and kiss thy hand so oft?"
Act III., Scene 4.

This fantastical custom is taken notice of by Barnaby Rice, in "FAULTS, AND NOTHING BUT FAULTS," (1606):— "And these 'Flowers of Courtesie,' as they are full of af fectation, so are they no less formal in their speeches, full of fustian phrases, many times delivering such sentences as do betray and lay open their masters' ignorance: and they are so frequent with the kisse on the hand,' that word shail not passe their mouthes, till they have clapt their fingers over their lippes."

"Am I made ?"-Act III., Scene 4.

We would read "maid," to the convicting of Olivia of a pun; otherwise, the question appears pointless.

"We will bring the device to the bar, and crown thee for a finder of madmen.”—Act III., Scene 4.

Juries sitting in inquest upon cases of lunacy were formerly called "finders of madmen."

"He is knight, dubbed with unhacked rapier, and on carpet consideration."-Act III., Scene 4.

He is a carpet-knight; not dubbed in the field, after a bloody fight, but on a carpet, after a festivity, and with sword unhacked in any battle.

"By the duello."-Act III., Scene 4. By the laws of duelling.

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"Bonos Dies, Sir Toby; for as the old hermit of Prague," &c. Act IV., Scene 2.

In this speech of the Clown is probably intended "a fling" at the jargon of the schools, once so prevalent, in such phrases as "Whatsoever is, is ;" and, "It is impossible for the same thing to be, and not to be;" &c. The old hermit of Prague, was, doubtless, a very admirable logician in his time, and family-physician to King Gorboduc.

"Nay, I am for all waters."-Act IV., Scene 2. The old dictionaries define the term water, applied to gems, as "a certain lustre of pearls, diamonds, and other precious stones." This will sufficiently explain the Clown's play of words upon the chaplain's name.

"Like to the old vice," &c.-Act IV., Scene 2.

The vice, in the old church-plays, called " MYSTERIES," and "MORALITIES," was as regularly introduced a personage as is the harlequin in our modern pantomimes. The devil, also, was another of their prominent heroes; and the belabouring of this latter worthy by the vice, with his dagger of lath," afforded as much amusement to the audiences of the time, as to our Christmas holiday-makers do the magic thumps of harlequin's wand upon the backs of clown and pantaloon.

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"Whiles you are willing."-Act IV., Scene 3. "Till such time as you are willing."

"Primo, secundo, tertio, is a good play," &c.

Act V., Scene 1.

If the jester's wit be here too latent for the detection of the reader, it is so, also, for that of all the learned commentators, who, accordingly, pass it over in very discreet silence; and we are compelled humbly to tread in the steps of their ignorance. Festo is, nevertheless, in this place, as everywhere, intelligible enough-by implication.

"Like to the Egyptian thief," &c.-Act V., Scene I.

An allusion to an affecting story in the Ethiopics of Heliodorus, the famous sophist, of which an English version, by Thomas Underdowne, appeared in 1587. Thyamis, a native of Memphis, and captain of a band of robbers, being deeply enamoured of a lady named Chariclea, who had fallen into his hands, and being surprised by a company of banditti, stronger than his own, caught her by her tresses with his left hand, and with his right plunged his sword into her heart, to prevent her becoming their victim after his inevitable death.

"A passy-measure pavin."-Act V., Scene 1.

The names of grave pedantic dances of the time. The pavin (paven, or pavan), so called from the Latin pavo, a peacock, was of Spanish origin, and was performed by gentlemen dressed with cap and sword, by the long-robed gentry in their gowns, by princes in their mantles, and by ladies in gowns with long trains; "the motion whereof, in the dance," says Sir John Hawkins, "resembled that of a peacock's tail."

"When that I was and a little tiny boy," &c. Act V., Scene 1. This ballad-epilogue (for such it is), superciliously sneered at by some of the learned commentators, is to us expressive, and suggestive of much that is sublime.

"A great while ago the world begun,

With, hey, ho, the wind and the rain!
But that's all one-our play is done."

As the play, so is the world. "A great while ago❞ it began, as did the play: the play is ended, and the world must end:

"The cloud-capped towers, the gorgeous palaces,
The solemn temples, the great globe itself,
Yea, all which it inherit, shall dissolve;
And, like this unsubstantial pageant faded,
Leave not a rack behind! We are such stuff
As dreams are made of, and our little life
Is rounded with a sleep."

MEASURE

FOR

MEASURE

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INTRODUCTORY REMARKS

HIS is a play in which one of the main features of conventional morality is treated in a very extraordinary manner, being equally enforced and set at defiance: sometimes regarded, even to a vindictive and sanguinary degree, as the purest code of conduct; and in the next scene, either by sentiments or actions, ridiculed and utterly dismissed with characteristic impartiality. The philosophy of Shakspere is always upon the broadest scale; and in that universality of view, each man may find his own likeness, and the world its lasting lessons. The principle and plot of the play, taken as a whole, are very fine; its parts are, however, unequal, defective, and in some scenes as trivial and offensive as they are unnecessary. To speak in general terms, the only really objectionable things in Shakspere are those which have nothing to do with his subject. "MEASURE FOR MEASURE" is also a good illustration, in other respects, of his mode of composition. He enforces no particular theories or opinions; but, with intense dramatic truth, makes all his characters individually think and act for themselves. They give their own justifications-good, bad, and indifferent-for their conduct; and according to the understanding, and the natural and acquired moral standard of the reader, so do they become the objects of sympathy, antipathy, of aversion, admiration, or of mixed feelings, in which the abstract intellect and imagination exercise their speculations, and thus, perhaps, add to knowledge, and extend the bounds of mental experience.

Dr. Johnson's estimate of " MEASURE FOR MEASURE" does not tend to enhance our admiration of the play, nor of his critical judgment. "Of this play," says he," the light or comic part is very natural and pleasing; but the grave scenes, if a few passages be excepted, have more labour than elegance." Giving the elegance or inelegance (a mere matter of style and externals) its due weight only in the question, most readers will be apt to consider the comic part as sometimes very heavy, and always rather idle and supererogatory, however natural; while most of the serious scenes have long been felt to be admirable in spirit and masterly in execution, both as wholes and in the many noble passages they

contain.

The story of " MEASURE FOR MEASURE," and a portion of the construction of the plot for acting, were probably taken directly from a comedy by George Whetstone, entitled "THE RIGHT EXCELLENT AND FAMOUS HISTORIE OF PROMOS AND CASSANDRA," of which a black-letter edition was printed in 1578. The same story was also published by Whetstone, in his "HEPTAMERON," 1582. The origin of the main incidents will be found in an old Italian novel, by Cintio Giraldi, of which no translations, it is said, were extant in Shakspere's time. The crime of Angelo, in "MEASURE FOR MEASURE," has many historical parallels, which the curious reader may find in an anecdote of Charles the Bold, who punished a noble with death for a similar offence, as related by Lipsius (on which story a French tragedy was written); in the conduct of Olivier le Dain, described in "THE MEMOIRS OF PHILIP DE COMINES;" in the story of Colonel Kirke, as told by Hume; and in the story of Don Garcias, related in "COOKE'S VINDICATION OF THE PROFESSORS AND PROFESSION OF THE LAW," 1646. A similar anecdote also occurs in Lupton, and in the writings of Belleforest. But the chief, if not the only source from which Shakspere derived the raw materials of "MEASURE FOR MEASURE," seems really to have been the above-mentioned comedy of Whetstone. In this old play, he found enough to save himself much trouble; and to its crude management, after altering various details with the finest judgment, he communicated that spiritual force and reality by which he always so far excels and outshines his models, that it becomes difficult to distinguish their dull outlines amidst his dazzling fulness. "MEASURE FOR MEASURE" is considered by the most recondite authorities to have been written in 1603 or 1604.

R. H. H.

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