Page:Notes and Queries - Series 12 - Volume 8.djvu/341

 12 s. vm. APRIL 2, i92i.] NOTES AND QUERIES. 279 the site of the Old Farthing Pie House which was in existence in 1724, and where it is said ' bits of mutton were put into a crust shaped like a pie and actually sold for a farthing ' ' The London Directory of this year gives the title of the public -house as The Green Man only, without the addition of " Still." A helpful article by MB. E. E. NEWTON in The Hampstead and Highgate Express, suggested by the centenary of John Keats, tells us that, at the time of the poet's residence in Hampstead, there existed another Green Man Tavern. It was situate where the present Wells Hotel now stands in Well Walk. The Green Man and the adjoining house in which Keats lodged with Bentley, "the village postman" in the summer of 1817, were razed about the year 1849. Readers of ' N. & Q.' will be interested in this further record of a title whose raison d'etre has provoked some controversy. CECIL, CLARKE. Hamlet and the Scottish Succession. By Lilian Winstanley. (Cambridge University Press, 10s.) THIS is an adventurous and interesting attempt to find a new interpretation of Hamlet in con- temporary history, and even to show that Shake- speare wrote it as a political pamphlet in support of the claim of James VI of Scotland to the English throne. The use of the drama as a commentary on current events is probably as old as dramatic art itself, and the likelihood of a play having a half -concealed political meaning is naturally increased when the times are so dan- gerous that outspoken criticism on matters of public interest is liable to be treated as a crime. We know that in the turmoils of Elizabeth's reign the stage supplied that outlet for public opinion which we now have in the newspaper press, and that, as Miss Winstanley points out, the play of Richard II did actually bring Shake- speare under suspicion of treasonable sympathies. There is therefore some temptation to apply historical research to the case of * Hamlet,' and make the events that chiefly stirred men's minds at the time explain a play that had a striking popular success. This book purports to show that ' Hamlet ' is a commentary, first, on the blackest tragedy of Elizabeth's reign, that is, the mystery of Darnley's murder, and the crimes and terrible fate of Mary Stuart ; secondly, on the great political problem of the later years of the reign, that of the succession to the English throne, and the claims of king James of Scotland ; and in connexion and some confusion with this, on the conspiracy and execution of Essex, whose defence against the charge of treason was that he had desired the throne for James and not for himself. There is much that is very fresh and illuminating in this effort to understand the play better by reconstructing the mental background supplied J by the audiences to which Shakespeare's company played. It should be borne in mind, however,, that no task is more dubious or difficult than this reconstruction of a state of feeling far removed from our own, and the uncertainty of the date of ' Hamlet ' increases the difficulty, and makes it unfortunate that so much stress is laid on the political situation which was engaging attention at the " exact moment " when ' Hamlet * was written. Even the date adopted in the book is far from being an exact moment, as the time of composition is extended over the years from 1601 to 1604. Nor is any exact moment vital to the argument, as all the dates suggested are at least late enough to allow for acquaintance with the historical events which concern the theory advanced. According to this theory, Denmark, in the play, stands for Scotland, Hamlet's father fop Darnley, his mother for Mary Queen of Scots, - Claudius for Bothwell, indeed for Bothwell the younger also Laertes is Raleigh, Polonius is Burleigh combined with Rizzio ; and, most remarkable of all, Hamlet himself is James combined with Essex ; while the Gonzago play is inserted in order to give the audience a himV that there is a political purpose to be sought for. . These parallelisms are worked out with great- ingenuity, but are pressed beyond all probability,., and we cannot entirely sympathize with the tendency to interpret a work of abiding greatness purely in the light of passing events. A creative artist is very apt indeed to make use of material supplied by contemporary events and characters, but we have had enough great poets in our own time to know that nothing enrages them more- than the attempt to explain all their work, by the literal following of this clue, and the patient identification of each allusion. It is true that many of the circumstances of the time are reflected in the play of ' Hamlet 'much : more faithfully than are the details of the original ! " Amleth " saga which is commonly called its source. But the identification of the most fas- cinating character in literature with the most ungainly figure in history, and at the same time of the most romantic, if faulty, character in > history with one of the most coldly repulsive women in literature, though an extraordinary tour de force, revolts our instincts too deeply to be successful. The disparity of soul over-rides all i coincidences of moral conduct or of small detail. . Some of these coincidences really prove little, as > when they are exceedingly common characteristics,. such as fear of violence, want of firmness in dealing with crime, and a self-defensive trick of quibbling, with questioners ; or when very slight, like the use- of " tablets " for taking notes, or a coincidence in age. We are offered a better and very interest- ing reason for the comparison, when it is sug- gested that Shakespeare, writing before he had seen James, who had not yet set foot in England, endowed him with imaginary attractions in order to commend him to the nation. Another and not quite consistent account of the charm ofr Hamlet's character is provided by deriving itt from the character of Essex, but there is nothing^ necessarily convincing about the points they have in common a studious nature, an irresolute will, and fits of overwhelming depression.. And this theory introduces the confusion of.