Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

you have happened upon the most excellent | own, but the stain of all other nations and
vocation in the world for money; they come
north and south to bring it to our playhouse;
and for honours, who of more report than
Dick Burbage and Will Kempe? He is not
counted a gentleman that knows not Dick
Burbage and Will Kempe: there's not a
country wench that can dance Sellenger's
Round, but can talk of Dick Burbage and
Will Kempe." Here we have a testimony
to the wide-spread popularity of two of the
original representatives of Shakspere's clowns
and heroes. Kempe died before Shakspere;
Burbage within three years after him.
Burbage is almost identified with some of
Shakspere's greatest characters, and espe-
cially with Richard III.; and yet the at-
traction of the great tragic plays died not
with Burbage. Before the suppression of
the theatres this actor had his immediate
successors; and during the eighteen years in
which the theatres were closed, the original
hits and points of the Richards, and Hamlets,
and Macbeths, and Lears, were diligently re-
corded; and immediately after the Restora-
tion actors again arose, ambitious to realize
the mighty conceptions of the great master
of the dramatic art. During the period when
the theatres were shut, the readers of plays
would still be numerous, and they probably
would be most found among the younger
men who had a vivid recollection of the re-
presentations of the successors of Shakspere.
We can understand what the later taste was,
by the mode in which Shirley, in his pre-
face to the collated edition of Beaumont and
Fletcher, in 1647, speaks of these writers:-
"Whom but to mention is to throw a cloud
upon all former names, and benight posterity;
this book being, without flattery, the greatest
monument of the scene that time and hu-
manity have produced, and must live, not
only the crown and sole reputation of our

languages; for it may be boldly averred, not
one indiscretion hath branded this paper in
all the lines, this being the authentic wit
that made Blackfriars an academy, where the
three hours' spectacle, while Beaumont and
Fletcher were presented, was usually of more
advantage to the hopeful young heir, than
a costly, dangerous, foreign travel, with the
assistance of a governing monsieur or signor
to boot; and it cannot be denied but that the
young spirits of the time, whose birth and
quality made them impatient of the sourer
ways of education, have, from the attentive
hearing these pieces, got ground in point of
wit and carriage of the most severely em-
ployed students, while these recreations were
digested into rules, and the very pleasure
did edify. How many passable discoursing
dining wits stand yet in good credit, upon
the bare stock of two or three of these single
scenes!" This is a low estimate of the power
and capacity of the drama; and one which
is a sufficient evidence of a declining taste
amongst those who were perforce contented
with reading plays during the silence of
the stage. From "the greatest monument
of the scene that time and humanity have
produced," was to be learned what was of
more advantage "than a costly, dangerous,
foreign travel." Hence were to be acquired
"wit and carriage," and "dining wits stand
yet in good credit" by passing off the re-
partees of these dramatists as their own.
Shirley knew the character of those whom
he addressed in this preface.
In the con-
tentions of that tragical age few of the se-
rious thinkers would open a play-book at all.
To the gay cavaliers, Beaumont and Fletcher
would perhaps be more welcome than Shak-
spere; and Shirley tells us the grounds upon
which they were to be admired.
But as-
suredly this is not oblivion of Shakspere.

CHAPTER II.

CIBBER.-DRYDEN.-RYMER.-GILDON.-DENNIS.-ADDISON.

THE theatres were thrown open at the Restoration. Malone, in his 'Historical Account of the English Stage,' informs us, that, "in the latter end of the year 1659, some months before the restoration of King Charles II., the theatres, which had been suppressed during the usurpation, began to revive, and several plays were performed at the Red Bull in St. John's Street, in that and the following years, before the return of the King." He then adds, that in June, 1660, three companies seem to have been formed, including that of the Red Bull; and he enters into a history of the contests between the Master of the Revels, and Killigrew and Davenant, who had received a patent from the king for the exclusive performance of dramatic entertainments. It is scarcely necessary for us to pursue the details of this contest, which, as is well known, terminated in the permanent establishment of two theatres only in London. Malone has ransacked the very irregular series of papers connected with the office of Sir Henry Herbert, who appears to have kept an eye upon theatrical performances with a view to demanding his fees if he should be supported by the higher powers. From these, and other sources, such as the List of Downes, the prompter of the principal plays acted by Killigrew's company, Malone infers, that "such was the lamentable taste of those times that the plays of Fletcher, Jonson, and Shirley were much oftener exhibited than those of Shakspere." The plays acted by this company, as he collects from these documents, were 'Henry IV.,' 'Merry Wives of Windsor,' 'Othello,' and 'Julius Cæsar.' At Davenant's theatre, which boasted of the great actor Betterton, we learn, from Malone, that the plays performed were 'Pericles,' 'Macbeth,' 'The Tempest,' 'Lear,' 'Hamlet,' 'Romeo and Juliet,' 'Henry VIII.,' "Twelfth Night,'Taming of the Shrew,' 'Henry V.' Malone does not do justice to the value

of his own documents, for, when he gives us one list, he points out that there are only three plays of Shakspere-"a melancholy proof" of his decline; and at another list he shakes his head, reciting "the following plays of Shakspeare, and these only." Now it appears to us that, if any proof were wanting of the wonderful hold which Shakspere had taken of the English mind, under circumstances the most adverse to his continued popularity, it would be found in these imperfect lists, which do not extend over more than eight or nine years. Here are absolutely fourteen plays of Shakspere revived-for that is the phrase— in an age which was prolific of its own authors, adapting themselves to a new school of courtly taste. All the indirect testimony, however meagre, exhibits the enduring popularity of Shakspere. Killigrew's new theatre in Drury Lane is opened with Henry IV. Within a few months after the Restoration, when heading and hanging are going forward, Pepys relates that he went to see 'Othello.' In 1661, he is attracted by 'Romeo and Juliet;' and, in 1662, we have an entry in his diary, with his famous criticism: "To the King's Theatre, where we saw 'Midsummer's Night's Dream,' which I had never seen before, nor shall ever again, for it is the most insipid ridiculous play that ever I saw in my life." Here, upon unquestionable authority, we have a fifteenth play added to the fourteen previously cited. But why need we search amongst such chance entries for evidence of the reputation of Shakspere immediately after the Restoration? Those who talk of Shakspere as emerging some century ago into celebrity after having fallen into neglect for a lengthened period; those who flippantly affirm, that "the preface of Pope was the first thing that procured general admiration for his works," are singularly ignorant of the commonest passages of literary history. To the vague and random assertions and assumptions, whether old or new, about the

L L

neglect into which Shakspere had fallen as a popular dramatist, may be opposed the most distinct testimony of one, especially, who was a most accurate and minute chronicler of the public taste. COLLEY CIBBER, who himself became an actor, in 1690, in the one privileged company of London, of which Betterton was the head-a company formed out of the united strength of the two companies which had been established at the Restoration-describes the state of the stage at the period of the first revival of dramatic performances: "Besides their being thorough masters of their art, these actors set forward with two critical advantages, which perhaps may never happen again in many ages.' One of the advantages he mentions, but a secondary one, was, "that before the Restoration no actresses had ever been seen upon the English stage.' But the chief advantage was, "their immediate opening after the so long interdiction of plays during the civil war and the anarchy that followed it." He then goes on to say, "What eager appetites from so long a fast must the guests of those times have had to that high and fresh variety of entertainments!" Provided by whom? By the combined variety of Jonson, and Fletcher, and Massinger, and Ford, and Shirley, and a host of other writers, whose attactive fare was to be presented to the eager guests after so long a fast? No. The high entertainment and the fresh variety was to be provided by one man alone, the man who we are told was neglected in his own age, and forgotten in that which came after him. "What eager appetites from so long a fast must the guests of those times have had to that high and fresh variety of entertainments which Shakespeare had left prepared for them! Never was a stage so provided. A hundred years are wasted, and another silent century well advanced*, and yet what unborn age shall say Shakespeare has his equal! How many shining actors have the warm scenes of his genius given to posterity! Betterton is idolized as an actor, as much as the old man venerates Shakspere: "Betterton was an actor, as Shakespeare was an author, both without

[ocr errors]

*Cibber is writing as late as 1740.

competitors; formed for the mutual assistance and illustration of each other's genius. How Shakespeare wrote, all men who have a taste for nature may read, and know; but with what higher rapture would he still be read, could they conceive how Betterton played him!" Whenever Cibber speaks of Betterton's wondrous excellence, it is always in connection with Shakspere: "Should I tell you that all the Othellos, Hamlets, Hotspurs, Macbeths, and Brutuses whom you may have seen since his time, have fallen far short of him, this still should give you no idea of his particular excellence." For some years after the Restoration it seems to have been difficult to satiate the people with the repetition of Shakspere's great characters and leading plays, in company with some of the plays of Jonson and Fletcher. The two companies had an agreement as to their performances: "All the capital plays of Shakespeare, Fletcher, and Ben Jonson were divided between them by the approbation of the court, and their own alternate choice. when Hart was famous for Othello, Betterton had no less a reputation for Hamlet." Still, the test of histrionic excellence was Shakspere. So far from Shakspere being neglected at this period, it is almost evident that the performance of him was overdone; for every one knows that a theatrical audience, even in the largest city, is, in a considerable degree, composed of regular frequenters of the theatre, and that novelty is therefore an indispensable requisite to continued success. The plays of Shakspere were better acted by the company of which Betterton was the head, than by the rival company; and this, according to Cibber, led to the introduction of a new taste:- "These two excellent companies were both prosperous for some few years, till their variety of plays began to be exhausted. Then, of course, the better actors (which the King's seem to have been allowed) could not fail of drawing the greater audi

ences.

So that,

Sir William Davenant, therefore, master of the Duke's company, to make head against their success, was forced to add spectacle and music to action, and to introduce a new species of plays, since called dramatic operas, of which kind were 'The

Tempest,' 'Psyche,' 'Circe,' and others, all set off with the most expensive decorations of scenes and habits, with the best voices and dancers.

"This sensual supply of sight and sound coming into the assistance of the weaker party, it was no wonder they should grow too hard for sense and simple nature, when it is considered how many more people there are that can see and hear than think and judge. So wanton a change of the public taste, therefore, began to fall as heavy upon the King's company as their greater excellence in action had before fallen upon their competitors. Of which encroachment upon wit several good prologues in those days frequently complained."

[ocr errors]

There can be no doubt that most of the original performances of Shakspere, immediately after the Restoration, were given from his unsophisticated text. The first improvements that were perpetrated upon this text resulted from the cause which Cibber has so accurately described. Davenant, to make head against the success of the King's company 'was forced to add spectacle and music to action." What importance Davenant attached to these novelties, we may learn from the description of the opening scene of 'The Enchanted Island;' that alteration of "The Tempest,' by himself and Dryden, to which Cibber refers :-"The front of the stage is opened, and the band of twenty-four violins, with the harpsicals and theorbos which accompany the voices, are placed between the pit and the stage. While the overture is playing, the curtain rises, and discovers a new frontispiece joined to the great pilasters on each side of the stage. This frontispiece is a noble arch, supported by large wreathed columns of the Corinthian order; the wreathings of the columns are beautified with roses wound round them, and several Cupids flying about them. On the cornice, just over the capitals, sits on either side a figure, with a trumpet in one hand and a palm in the other, representing Fame. A little farther on the same cornice, on each side of a compass pediment, lie a lion and a unicorn, the supporters of the royal arms of England. In the middle of the arch are

| several angels holding the King's arms, as if they were placing them in the midst of that compass-pediment. Behind this is the scene, which represents a thick cloudy sky, a very rocky coast, and a tempestuous sea in perpetual agitation. This tempest (supposed to be raised by magic) has many dreadful objects in it, as several spirits in horrid shapes flying down amongst the sailors, then rising in the air. And, when the ship is sinking, the whole house is darkened, and a shower of fire falls upon 'em. This is accompanied with lightning, and several claps of thunder, to the end of the storm."

In the alterations of this play, which were made in 1669, and which continued to possess the English stage for nearly a century and a half, it is impossible now not to feel how false was the taste upon which they were built. Dryden says of this play, that Davenant, to put the last hand to it, “designed the counterpart to Shakespeare's plot, namely, that of a man who had never seen a woman; that by this means those two characters of innocence and love might the more illustrate and commend each other." Nothing can be weaker and falser in art than this mere duplication of an idea. But still it was not done irreverently. The prologue to this altered Tempest (of his own part of which Dryden says, “I never writ anything with more delight") is of itself an answer to the asinine assertion that Dryden, in common with the public of his day, was indifferent to the memory of Shakspere:

[blocks in formation]

This did his love, and this his mirth digest: One imitates him most, the other best. If they have since out-writ all other men, "Tis with the drops which fell from Shakespeare's pen.

The storm which vanish'd on the neighb'ring

shore

Was taught by Shakespear's Tempest first to

roar.

That innocence and beauty which did smile
In Fletcher, grew on this Enchanted Isle.
But Shakespear's magic could not copied be,
Within that circle none durst walk but he.
I must confess 'twas bold, nor would you

now

That liberty to vulgar wits allow,

Which works by magic supernatural things: But Shakespear's power is sacred as a king's. Those legends from old priesthood were receiv'd,

And he then writ, as people then believ'd.

Of DRYDEN's personal admiration of Shakspere, of his profound veneration for Shakspere, there is abundant proof. He belonged to the transition period of English poetry. His better judgment was sometimes held in subjection to the false taste that prevailed around him. He attempted to found a school of criticism, which should establish rules of art differing from those which produced the drama of Shakspere, and yet not acknowledging the supremacy of the tame and formal school of the French tragedians. He did not perfectly understand the real nature of the romantic drama. He did not see that, as in all other high poetry, simplicity was one of its great elements. He was of those who would "gild refined gold." But for genial hearty admiration of the great master of the romantic drama no one ever went beyond him. Take, for example, the conclusion of his preface to 'All for Love :' "In my style I have professed to imitate the divine Shakespear; which that I might perform more freely, I have disencumbered myself from rhyme. Not that I condemn my former way, but that this is more proper to my present purpose. I hope I need not to explain myself that I have not copied my author servilely. Words and phrases must of necessity receive a change in succeeding

ages. But 'tis almost a miracle that much of his language remains so pure; and that he who began dramatic poetry amongst us, untaught by any, and, as Ben Jonson tells us, without learning, should, by the force of his own genius, perform so much, that in a manner he has left no praise for any who came after him.”

:

Dryden had the notion, in which Shaftesbury followed him, that the style of Shakspere was obsolete, although we have just seen that he says, ""Tis almost a miracle that much of his language remains so pure.” Yet with this notion, which he puts forward as an apology for tampering with Shakspere, he never ceases to express his admiration of him; and, what is of more importance, to show how general was the same feeling. The preface to "Troilus and Cressida' thus begins :—" The poet Eschylus was held in the same veneration by the Athenians of after-ages as Shakspeare is by us." In this preface is introduced the 'Grounds of Criticism in Tragedy,' in which the critic applies a variety of tests to the art of Shakspere, which only show that he did not understand the principles upon which Shakspere worked: but still there is everywhere the most unqualified admiration; and in the prologue to the altered play, which, being addressed to the people, could scarcely deal with such rules and exceptions for the formation of a judgment, we have again the most positive testimony to the public sense of Shakspere. This prologue is "spoken by Mr. Betterton, representing the ghost of Shakspeare."

"See, my lov'd Britons, see your Shakespear rise,

An awful ghost confess'd to human eyes!
Unnam'd, methinks, distinguish'd I had been
From other shades, by this eternal green,
Above whose wreaths the vulgar poets strive,
And with a touch their wither'd bays re-
vive.

Untaught, unpractis'd, in a barbarous age,
I found not, but created first, the stage.
And, if I drain'd no Greek or Latin store,
'Twas, that my own abundance gave me

more.

On foreign trade I needed not rely,

Like fruitful Britain, rich without supply.

« AnteriorContinuar »