Page:Notes and Queries - Series 9 - Volume 7.djvu/351

 y s. vn. MAY 4, 1901.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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Shakspeare's own, there was no need of a Shakspeare to write it. The other great comedies are poetical comedies ; and of these 'Twelfth Night/ 'As You Like It,' 'The Merchant of Venice,' and 'Much Ado about Nothing' may be thought the chief. Of these the last is the least agreeable. ' Twelfth Night ' and ' Much Ado about Nothing ' are frequently lauded as the two great comedies of Shakspeare, and of the two the latter is sometimes the more highly esteemed. I confess that I -cannot see why it should be so. 'Twelfth Night' appears to me to be the most charming work in the world ; and not even ' Macbeth ' or 'The Tempest ' stands higher in my estimation. But the other comedy, I think, has been overpraised. It is more on a level with ' All 's Well that Ends Well,' with the important exception that there is no character so good in it as Parolles. Benedick is more flippant than witty. Beatrice is vulgar. Claudio's coarse lan- guage towards Hero, whom he suspects of infidelity on very slight grounds, is ungentle- manly. His levity, not only when he hears of her reported death, but also after he knows that his accusation has been proved false, is disgusting. The humour of Dogberry, such as it is, consists entirely in misplacement of words and confusion of ideas. There is a vast difference between Dogberry and Shak- speare's higher creations in comedy, such as Falstaff, Master Slender, Sir Andrew Ague- cheek, and Parolles. Although Shakspeare has made a comedy of ' Measure for Measure ' the story is fitter for tragedy ; and the novel of Cinthio from which the play came is tragic. Isabella's character seems to be more amiable and natural in the novel than in the play. Her virtue, as Shakspeare has de- lineated it, is very capricious, if not repul- sive. When she believes that her brother has been executed by order of Angelo, she can actually plead for the life of Angelo more readily than she did for that of her brother. For the reproach of Lucio un- doubtedly was just :

If you should need a pin You could not with more tame a tongue desire it.

And, had it not been for Lucio, she would have left her brother to his fate without a word more. In the novel she pleads for the life of Angelo, notwithstanding the death of her brother ; but, as he was then her husband, there was some reason for her doing so.

Moliere was an accomplished verse-maker, and possessed as much taste as wit and humour. His art, too, in dramatic construc- tion probably was heightened by his experi- ence as an actor. But, unlike Shakspeare, he

never rose above the region of pure comedy. His natural element, I think, was farce. ' Le Mariage Force' is the most exquisite of farces. ' L'Ecole des Femmes ' with Arnolphe and Horace is like 'The Merry Wives of Windsor' with Falstaff and Ford. But Shak- speare plays on many strings, and Moliere on one string.

The Duke of Buckingham's 'Rehearsal' is a comedy written somewhat after the manner of Aristophanes. As is well known, Sheridan's 'Critic' is an imitation of it. Sneer is very like Smith, Dangle somewhat like Johnson, and Puff like Bayes ; and the burlesque plays rehearsed have a simi- larity. Gay's Beggar's Opera ' may be con- sidered a comedy. It is very witty and very wicked. It makes a jest of crime, and at the same time tends to set men against men. Probably it was altogether written by Gay, though it is above his average. But Gay was a follower of Swift and Pope, and the in- fluence of Swift appears to be discernible in it. So perhaps the play was in some measure the work of that stronger author, though not actually written by him. Pope says that the play was Gay's own writing, but acknow- ledges that he and Swift gave now and then a correction, or a word or two of advice. This interference ma}' or may not have had a great effect on the character of the whole play. One does not know. Fielding's 4 Jonathan Wild ' must have been suggested by the 'Beggar's Opera.' Peachum is like Jonathan Wild ; ana there are other simi- larities. Gay may be easily credited with the whole authorship, without the aid of his powerful friends, of the inferior sequel, ' Polly.' It is somewhat surprising that, whilst Goldsmith's worse comedy holds possession of the stage, his better is banished from it. But there is at least one awkward situation in 'The Good-natured Man'; and this may be the reason why it is no longer played. With their indubitable humour and some- times excellent character-drawing, such as that of Croaker, there are such manifest absurdities in both of Goldsmith's comedies that neither readers nor spectators can per- suade themselves that the plays are repre- sentations of real life. Sheridan has none of these absurdities ; and his comedies are more consistent with nature. E. YARDLEY.

SHAKESPEARIANA.

'A FICTITIOUS SCENE IN "HAMLET."'-

Under this title a pamphlet has been issued

by a well-informed Russian critic, Mr. S. G.

Moskalenko (St. Petersburg, office of the