Page:Notes and Queries - Series 10 - Volume 1.djvu/579

 io*s.i.Ju.vEii,i9w.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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Shakespeare, whom they persistently and slavishly imitated, is, of course, beyond all notion of com- parison. Ben Jonson eclipses them as a comic dramatist. Marlowe, Ford, and Webster strike deeper notes ; and even subordinates, such as Decker and Heywood, are touched to finer issues. Mas- singer is most closely akin to them, and, while he surpasses them in dramatic grip, comes nowhere near them in poetry or pathos. In respect of a solid mass of high accomplishment they stand all but paramount. Bulk of work, it has to be acknow- ledged, counts for somewhat, and it is not wholly fortuitous that the best writers are among the most fecund. The dramas of Beaumont and Fletcher constitute a world of romance, in which the sympathetic reader may wander at will and turn his steps in every direction with the certainty of delight. In this respect they have affinities with ' The Fairy Queen ' and the ' Arcadia,' and seem not wholly remote from the ' Mort d'Arthur.' It is a veritable land of enchantment in which we wander. In spite of Fletcher's q^uaint notions concerning metre, the plays abound in poetry, and the general versification is, as a rule, superior to that of all the Tudor poets, except the highest. One comes in perusal upon exquisite scenes, and there are pas- sages which Milton did not scorn to imitate, and others which Shakespeare himself need not have disowned. ' The Faithful Shepherdess ' is, in the full sense, immortal, and is still, as a pastoral drama, set occasionally before the public. In lyrics Beaumont and Fletcher come, in Tudor times, next to Shakespeare, and have a grace and beauty which none of their immediate successors, except Milton and perhaps Herrick, could equal. Against these things there is only to be urged a wantonness of speech scarcely to be rivalled in Restoration times, and than which little in the poetry of their own period is more regrettable.

Dyce's Beaumont and Fletcher, which was adequate in all respects, has been virtually for a generation out of print, and is one of the costliest of dramatic works. It forms the basis of the edition now in progress, and will always hold a position in the market and on the shelves. Previous collections with the exception of the first folio (1647), con- taining thirty-six plays, and the second (1679), con- taining fifty have neither value nor authority, though, in the absence of more trustworthy texts, their price has gone up in the market.

The order of arrangement adopted by Mr. Bullen is that of the second folio, which was accepted by Weber in his fourteen- volume edition of the works, and observed in the two-volume edition of Moxon which followed, and has long been the most generally accessible of forms in which the dramatists can be studied. Five plays, happily representative of the various styles of Beaumont and Fletcher, constitute the first volume, and consist of ' The Maid's Tragedy' and ' Philaster ; or, Love lies Bleeding,' edited by Mr. Daniel, and ' A King and No King,' 'The Scornful Lady, 1 and 'The Custom of the Country,' edited by Mr. Warwick Bond. Pre- liminary matter to each of these supplies all biblio- graphical particulars, an argument of the play which is a distinct boon and an account of the text, the source, and the history. In four cases out of five the frontispiece to the first quarto is given in facsimile, and there is a beautiful process reproduction of a portrait of Beaumont, from the fine gallery at Knole Park. Some time will pro- bably pass before the entire work is in the hand

of the reader. It is hoped, however, that the second volume, containing, like the present, five plays, will be issued during the year. We could write inexhaustibly upon this subject, since for a generation past we have pressed for an edition such as the present. How limited is the space we can allot to reviews is, however, apparent, and we content ourselves with pronouncing the edition the greatest gift for which the Shakespearian student lad to hope.

Great Masters. Part XVI. (Heinemann.) WITH ' The Miracle of St. Mark ' of Tintoretto, from the Accademia, Venice, the sixteenth part of ' Great Masters ' begins. What is the exact nature of the miracle being wrought by the descending saint who is, of course, the patron saint of Venice we fail to grasp, and we should have been glad of information which is not vouchsafed us. An eminently dramatic work, crowded with figures, it is interesting, among other things, for giving us among the characters a good por- trait of the painter. Next comes Gainsborough's ' Elizabeth, Viscountess Folkestone,' recently exhi- bited in the Birmingham Art Gallery. It is- from the collection of Mrs. George Holt, and is a fine portrait of a head neither youthful nor beautiful. ' Don Ferdinand of Austria,' by Velas- quez, from the Prado, Madrid, is one of the finest portraits in the world. The cardinal prince is- holding a gun and is accompanied by a dog, which also is superbly painted. Last comes, from the Vienna Gallery, Van Dyck's ' The Blessed Herman Joseph,' a striking religious picture, with, as the introduction states, rich pagan types substituted for the ascetic types of mediaeval painters.

IN the Fortnightly Mr. W. S. Lilly writes on ' Shakespeare's Protestantism.' Like many other Roman Catholics, Mr. Lilly seems to have persuaded himself that Shakespeare was of the ancient faith. When dramatic utterances are taken as personal, it is easy to establish almost anything. Mr. Francis Gribble deals with the autobiography and philo- sophy of Herbert Spencer, and Canon MacColf with ' Lord Acton's Letters to Mary Gladstone.' Mrs. Rosa Newmarch gives a full account of ' Vassily Verestschagin : War Painter,' whose loss is recent and lamentable. ' The Niece of Napoleon ' supplier an animated account of the Princess Mathilde. ' The Plague of Novels,' by Mr. Cuthbert Hadden, i& more remarkable for smartness than for any other quality. Mrs. Maxwell Scott writes, in the Nine- teenth Century, on ' The Youth of James III.,' the mere title showing the point of view from which her article is undertaken. Like the famous flies in amber, the thing is neither rich nor rare, and we can only wonder how it climbed into the place it occupies. Mr. Lord enunciates some not very im- portant conclusions on ' The Kingsley Novels,' under which title he comprises the novels of Charles and Henry Kingsley, writers who do not seem to have much in common besides the name. 'Franz von Lenbach' is an interesting study by Anita MacMahon. A picture by Sir E. J. Poynter, called ' Asterie,' serves as frontispiece to the Pali Mall. Marie van Vorst supplies a competent and well-illustrated account of Paul Albert Bernard, the Parisian painter, for some time a resident in London. Lady Jersey describes, from personal observation, ' The Women of India.' Mr. J. A. Hammerton follows on the track of Robert L.