Page:The Review of English Studies Vol 1.djvu/57

Rh three times in Shakespeare’s works, in the second in Sir Thomas More, but not in Shakespeare.

21. As to habits of style, it is impossible to overlook the fondness of the author of the insurrection-scene for interrupting himself with a short sentence, commencing with “as.” This we find no less than three times in the comparatively short passage:

I do not find this habit in Shakespeare.

22. “a made my Brother Arther Watchins Seriant Safes yeoman.” The name “Sergeant Safe”? does not sound Shakespearian. E. Erler’s collection, Die Namengebung bet Shakespeare (Schücking’s Anglistische Arbeiten, No. 2), Heidelberg, 1913, shows that Shakespeare for his significant names preferred objects which are characteristic for the name-bearers’ vocation, as: Weaver Bottom, Musician Soundpost, Cook Potpan, constables Fang and Snare, or he calls a schoolmaster Pinch; sometimes, too, the comical names lack the association of this sort: constables Oatcake and Seacole. If he chooses simple adjectives, they help to characterise the bearer in a witty way: recruits Feeble and Mouldy, parson Dumbe; Slender, Simple, Justice Shallow; a hostess is called Mrs. Quickly, presumably from the shout of the impatient guests. But we look in vain in his works for a soldier Valiant or a parson Pious. There is too little wit in a “Sergeant Safe” for Shakespeare.

So great an authority on the English drama as Professor A. W. Ward has summed up his opinion on the Thomas Moore scenes in question, that it is “genuinely Shakespearian in feeling (and) it is with difficulty (it) can be conceived to have been written by any other contemporary author.” This conception has been endorsed by the authors of Shakespeare’s Hand, etc. In order to gain a critical standpoint for this high appreciation it is necessary to sketch out the trend of ideas in More’s great speech first.