Act II. scene ii. iii. (Weber, sc. iii. iv. Littledale), Act II. scene iv. (Weber, sc. v. Littledale), Act II. scene v. are all Fletcher's. Act III. scene i. is Shakspere's. 40 ACT II. sc. ii.—v. (Or iii.—vi.) ARE FLETCHER'S. notion of joining in the celebration under some poor disguise, in the hope of finding means to remain within sight of his fancifully beloved mistress. Neither this scene, nor the following, in which the jailor's daughter meditates on the perfections of Palamon, and intimates an intention of assisting him to escape, have any thing in them worthy of particular notice. In the fourth scene, Arcite, victorious in the athletic games, is crowned by the Duke, and preferred to the service of Emilia. In the last scene of the second act, the jailor's daughter announces that she has effected Palamon's deliverance from prison, and that he lies hidden in a wood near the city, the scenery of which is prettily described. Nothing in the Third Act can with confidence be attributed to Shakspeare, except the first scene. This opening scene is laid in the wood where Palamon has his hiding-place. Arcite enters; and a monologue, describing his situation and feelings, is, as in Chaucer, overheard by Palamon, who starts out of the bush in which he had crouched, and shakes his fettered hands at his false kinsman. A dialogue of mutual reproach ensues; and Arcite departs with a promise to return, bringing food for the outcast, and armour to fit him for maintaining, like a knight, his right to the lady's love. The Shakspere's clear commencing speech of Arcite has much of Shakspeare's clearness of imagery, and of the familiarity of dress which he often loves to bestow upon allusion; it has also great nerve of expression and calmness of tone, with at least one play on words which is quite in his manner, and one (perhaps more) of his identical phrases. The text seems faulty in one part. Arcite's first speech has images, and familiar dress, nervous expression, &c. Shaksperean phrases. [page 42] Arcite. The Duke has lost Hippolita: each took Than her gold buttons on the boughs, or all The enamell'd knacks o' the mead or garden! Yea, We challenge too the bank of any nymph, That makes the stream seem flowers!-Thou,-oh jewel ACT III. SC. i. HAS SHAKSPERE'S CHARACTERISTICS. O' the wood, o' the world,-hast likewise blest a place I may be proud. She takes strong note of me, If Thou knew'st my mistress breathed on me, and that 41 There is great spirit, also, in what follows. Some phrases, here again, are precisely Shakspeare's; and several parts of the dialogue have much of his pointed epigrammatic style. The massive accumulation of reproaches which Palamon hurls on Arcite is, in its energy, more like him than his assistant; and the opposition of character between Palamon and his calmer kinsman, is well kept up; but the dialogue cannot be accounted one of the best in the play. Palamon. Oh, thou most perfidious That ever gently look'd! The void'st of honour Not worth the name of villain !-Had I a sword, Arcite. Dear cousin Palamon! Palamon. Cozener Arcite! give me language such Arcite. Not finding in The circuit of my breast, any gross stuff To form me like your blazon, holds me to That thus mistakes; the which, to you being enemy, Act III. sc. i. is Shakspere Shaksperean string of epithets. Shaksperean word-play. [page 43] 42 ACT III. SC. ii, iii, iv, v. FLETCHER'S. HIS MEN OF GAIETY. Act III. scene ii. Act III. scene iii. is probably Fletcher's, and not Shakspere's. In the second scene, the only speaker is the jailor's daughter, who, having lost Palamon in the wood, begins to shew symptoms of unsettled reason. There is some pathos in several parts of her soliloquy, but little vigour in the expression, or novelty in the thoughts. The third scene is an exchange of brief speeches between the two knights. Arcite brings provisions for his kinsman, and the means of removing his fetters, and departs to fetch the armour. In most respects the scene is not very characteristic of either writer, but leans towards Fletcher; and one argument for him might be drawn from an interchange of sarcasms between the kinsmen, in which they retort on each other, former amorous adventures: such a dialogue is quite like Fletcher's men of gaiety; and needless degradation of his principal characters, is a fault of which Shakspeare is not guilty. You may be able, hereafter, to see more distinctly the force of this reason. The scene contains one strikingly animated burst of jealous suspicion and impatience. Arcite. Pray you sit down then; and let me entreat | you, No mention of this woman; 'twill disturb | us; We shall have time enough. Palamon. Arcite. Heigh-ho! Palamon. Well, sir, I'll pledge | you. For Emily, upon my life!-Fool, Away with this strained mirth!—I say again, That sigh was breathed for Emily. Base cousin, Darest thou break first? Arcite. Palamon. You are wide. By heaven and earth, Act III. scenes Gerrold has no spark of humour. There's nothing in thee honest! In the next two scenes, placed in the forest, the jailor's daughter has reached the height of frenzy. She meets the country1men who had encountered Arcite, and who are now headed by the learned and high-fantastical schoolmaster Gerrold, a personage who has the pedantry of Shakspeare's Holofernes, without one solitary spark of his humour. They are preparing a dance for the presence of the duke, and the maniac is adopted into their number, to fill up a vacancy. The duke and his train appear, the pedagogue prologuizes, 43 ACT III. SC. IV, V, VI. ARE FLETCHER'S. HIS STYLE. -the clowns dance, and their self-satisfied Coryphaeus apologizes and epiloguizes. Some of Fletcher's very phrases and forms of expression have been traced in these two scenes. Act III, scene iv. v. Fletcher's B näthy Shakspere's. Has not Shakspere's grasp of imagery. We have then, in the sixth and last scene of this act, the inter- Act III. scene vi. rupted combat of the two princes. The scene is a spirited and excellent one; but its tone is Fletcher's, not Shakspeare's. The rail- Fletcher's, not lery and retort of the dialogue is more lightly playful than his, and less antithetical and sententious; and though there are fine images, they are not seized with the grasp which Shakspeare would have given, sometimes harsh, but always at least decided. Some of the illustrations have been quoted (page 17). The knightly courtesy with which the princes arm each other is well supported; and their dignity of greeting before they cross their swords, is fine, exceedingly fine. Nothing can be more beautifully conceived than the change which comes over the temper of the generous Palamon, when he stands on the verge of mortal battle with his enemy. usual heat and impatience give place to the most becoming calmness. The versification is very sweet, and the romantic air of the phraseology is very much Fletcher's, especially towards the end of the following quotation. Palamon. My cause and honour guard | me. (They bow several ways, then advance and stand.) Arcite. And me my love; Is there aught else to say? His Palamon. This only, and no more: Thou art mine aunt's son, In me, thine; and in thee, mine. My sword Is in my hand, and, if thou killest me, The gods and I forgive thee! If there.be A place prepared for those that sleep in honour, I wish his weary soul that falls may win | it! Fight bravely, cousin ; give me thy noble hand! Palamon. I commend thee. Arcite. If I fall, curse me, and say I was a coward; For none but such dare die in these just trials. Once more farewell, my cousin. Palamon. Farewell, Arcite. (They fight.) The combat is interrupted by the approach of the Duke and his Fletcher's sweet versification and romantic phrase ology. [page 45] ན 44 ACT III. SC. vi. AND ALL ACT IV. ARE FLETCHER'S. is in Fletcher's style. Act III. scene vi. Court; and Palamon, refusing to give back or conceal himself, appears before Theseus, and declares his own name and situation, and the presumptuous secret of Arcite. The scene is good, but in the flowing style of Fletcher, not the more manly one of Shakspeare. The sentence of death, which the duke, in the first moments of his anger, pronounces on the two princes, is recalled on the petition of Hippolita and her sister, on condition that the rivals shall meantime depart, and return within a month, each accompanied by three knights, to determine in combat the possession of Emilia; and death by the block is denounced against the knights who shall be vanquished. Some of these circumstances are slight deviations from Chaucer; and the laying down of the severe penalty is well imagined, as an addition to the tragic interest, giving occasion to a very impressive scene in the last act. Death-penalty for the losing knight, a good addition to Chaucer. Act IV, all Wants all the leading features of Shakspere's style. Act IV. scene ii: ['page 46] Emilia's soliloquy on the pictures, not Shakspete's. The Fourth Act may safely be pronounced wholly Fletcher's. All of it, except one scene, is taken up by the episodical adventures of the jailor's daughter; and, while much of it is poetical, it wants the force and originality, and, indeed, all the prominent features of Shakspeare's manner, either of thought, illustration, or expression. There are conversations in which are described, pleasingly enough, the madness of the unfortunate girl, and the finding of her in a sylvan spot, by her former wooer; but when the maniac herself appears, the tone and subjects of the dialogue become more objectionable. In the second scene of this act, the only one which bears reference to the main business of the piece, Emilia first muses over the pictures of her two suitors, and then hears from a messenger, in presence of Theseus and his attendants, a description, (taken in 'its. elements from the Knightes Tale,) of the warriors who were preparing for the field along with the champion lovers. In the soliloquy of the lady, while the poetical spirit is well preserved, the alternations of feeling are given with an abruptness and a want of insight into the nicer shades of association, which resemble the extravagant stage effects of the King and No King,' infinitely more than the delicate yet piercing glance with which Shakspeare looks into the human breast in the Othello'; the language, too, is smoother and less |