DELINEATION OF VICE. 143 to; but we do not mean to insinuate that this defect attaches to all Shakspere's characters. The propriety of the minute delineation of vice has been frequently discussed. It can only be determined by the nature of the vice to be portrayed. There are crimes ministering to the passions of fallen humanity, that meet with so ready a response in every heart, that the less they are detailed the better. There are others so revolting to nature, that their exhibition is not calculated to excite similar sentiments. Homicide is of this class. The exhibition of a murderer in his true colours can only interest in his character those who have descended to a degree of almost fiendish depravity. We say in his true colours, because we are aware that what is ordinarily called Newgate literature, invests even murder with a fictitious adornment. This is not the case, however, with the historical tragedies of our great dramatist. There is nothing about his delineations of "Macbeth" and "Richard the Third," to palliate the crimes either of high treason or of murder. The portraits are innocuous, just because they are truthful. But the same truthfulness in the drama of "Pericles," from the different nature of the enormities referred to, is an evil rather than a good-a blemish instead of a recommendation. There is another defect in the moral of Shakspere's writings, arising out of that already noticed as inci dental to dramatic composition,-its inability to express character except through the medium of dialogue or soliloquy. When a depraved person is introduced, his real disposition has to be revealed through the medium of language in accordance with his character. This neutralizes the effect of a moral lesson. "Evil communications corrupt good manners." We have this upon the very highest authority. Perhaps of all the pests that afflict society, none are more noxious than conversation of an improper tendency. When it is inserted in a drama, the response which it receives from our own depraved minds will cause it to be remembered much longer than the moral of the story. Yet it is almost inseparable from dramatic literature,-and for this reason we do not agree with those who think that the stage may become an efficient moral instructor. In narrative composition, it can be said, for example, that observations were made of a character unsuitable for repetition; and this mode of expression will be adopted by all writers of history or of fiction, who are gifted either with good taste or moral discernment. The style of the drama, however, requires an insertion of the improprieties. These remarks must not be taken as bearing hardly upon Shakspere,-for the fault is not so much in himself, as in the form of composition to which he directed his genius. Family editions of his 66 MASQUE OF COMUS." 145 works have been prepared, excluding those portions that are unsuitable for the domestic or social circle. It is almost needless to remark, that in proportion as these are omitted, the characteristics of the heroes are unsustained. We mean not that such editions are altogether to be discouraged; for nothing should be discouraged that is a step in the direction of moral purity or refinement; but we do mean, that in judging of their moral influence, Shakspere's writings ought to be taken as he left them, and not as they may have been amended to suit the taste of recent generations. Milton united to equal genius a more refined sense of moral propriety. When he depicts human character, it is in connexion with those elements that are calculated to bring about its regeneration. His greatest poetry is fully imbued with the spirit of religion. The epic form of "Paradise Lost" did not oblige him to stoop to the hurtful details of depravity; yet his delineation of the character of Satan is certainly not deficient in the diabolical attributes. But he did not restrict himself to the epic form of composition. One of his earliest productions was the masque of "Comus," and this beautiful drama will bear an advantageous comparison with the masterpieces of Shakspere. In many respects, it presents a striking parallel to the "Midsummer L Night's Dream," and in proportion to that resemblance will be found to be superior. In "L'Allegro," Milton has paid a just tribute to the talents of his great predecessor : "Or sweetest Shakspere, Fancy's child, Warble his native wood-notes wild." No lines can be more truly descriptive of the summer evening's vision so exquisitely sung by the bard of Avon. It contains, perhaps, more acute delineations of character, fewer improprieties of dialogue, more vividness of imagination, and more of those home truths, which, in his own language, are “Familiar in our mouths as household words," than any other of his wonderful compositions. The current sayings, "Single blessedness," "The course of true love never did run smooth," ""Maiden meditation, fancy free," "Ay, that way goes the game," "More strange than true," "The iron tongue of midnight hath told twelve," have all been derived from this beautiful drama. It includes also several passages well known in quotations, as the following address of Helena to Hermia : "Oh happy fair! Your eyes are load-stars, and your tongue sweet air; More tuneable than lark to shepherd's ear, When wheat is green, when hawthorn buds appear.' *Act i. Scene 2. A DRAMA OF SHAKSPERE'S. 147 Or the passage in which the same speaker so beautifully depicts the juvenile attachment between herself and her friend :— "Is all the counsel that we two have shared, The sisters' vows, the hours that we have spent All school-days' friendship, childhood innocence P Have with our neelds created both one flower, Two lovely berries moulded on one stem: Two of the first, like coats in heraldry, Due but to one, and crowned with one crest."* We have also the well-known description by Theseus of the glowing visions of a poetic imagination :— "The poet's eye, in a fine frenzy rolling, Doth glance from heaven to earth, from earth to heaven; The forms of things unknown, the poet's pen Turns them to shapes, and gives to airy nothing A local habitation and a name."+ Between this drama and Milton's there are many * Act iii., Scene 2. Act v., Scene 1. |