Imagens das páginas
PDF
ePub

To the best bride-bed will we,
Which by us fhall bleffed be;"
And the iffue, there create,
Ever fhall be fortunate.

So fhall all the couples three
Ever true in loving be:

And the blots of nature's hand
Shall not in their iffue ftand;
Never mole, hare-lip," nor fcar,
Nor mark prodigious," fuch as are
Defpifed in nativity,

Shall upon their children be.

Titania leads another fong, which is indeed loft like the former, though the editors have endeavoured to find it. Then Oberon difmiffes his fairies to the defpatch of the ceremonies.

The fongs, 1 fuppofe were loft, because they were not inferted in the players' parts, from which the drama was printed.

JOHNSON.

[ocr errors]

To the best bride-bed will we, Which by us fhall bleffed be;] We learn from " Articles ordained by K. Henry VII. for the Regulation of his Household,' that this ceremony was obferved at the Marriage of a Princefs. All men at her comming in to bee voided, except woemen, till thee bee brought to her bedd; and the man both; he fittinge in his bedd in his fhirte, with a gowne caft about him. Then the Bifhoppe, with the Chaplaines, to come in, and bleffe the bedd: then everie man to avoide without any drinke, save the twoe estates, if they lifte, priviely." p. 129. STEEVENS.

6

hare-lip,] This defect in children feems to have been fo much dreaded, that numerous were the charms applied for its prevention. The following might be, as efficacious as any of the reft. "If a woman with chylde have her fmocke flyt at the neather ende or skyrt thereof, &c. the fame chylde that he then goeth withall, shall be safe from having a cloven or hare lippe." Thomas Lupton's Fourth Book of Notable Thinges, 4to. bl. 1. STEEVENS,

7 Nor mark prodigious,] Prodigious has here its primitive fignification of portentous. So, in K. Richard III:

"If ever he have child, abortive be it,

"Prodigious, and untimely brought to light. STIEVENS.

8

With this field-dew confecrate,

Every fairy take his gait;

8

And each feveral chamber bless,”

Through this palace, with fweet peace:
E'er fhall it in fafety reft,'

And the owner of it blest.
Trip away;
Make no ftay;

Meet me all by break of day.

[Exeunt OBERON, TITANIA, and Train.

PUCK. If we hadows have offended,

Think but this, (and all is mended,)
That you have but flumber'd here,
While thefe vifions did appear.
And this weak and idle theme,
No more yielding but a dream,

take his gait;] i. e. take his way, or direct his steps. So, in Spenfer's Faery Queen, B. I. c. viii:

"And guide his weary gate both to and fro.

Again, in a Scottish Proverb:

[ocr errors]

"A man may fpeer the gate to Rome." Again, in The Mercers' Play, among the Chefter collection of Whitfun Myfleries, p.

-:

"Therefore goe not through his cuntrey,

[ocr errors]

"Nor the gate you came to day.' STEEVENS.

By gate, I believe is meant, the door of each chamber.

9 Every fairy take his gait;

M. MASON.

And each feveral chamber blefs, &c.] The fame fuperftitious kind of benedidion occurs in Chaucer's Miller's Tale, v. 3479. Tyrwhitt's edit.

"I crouche thee from elves, and from wightes.
"Therwith the nightspel said he anon rightes
"On foure halves of the hous aboute,

"And on the threfwold of the dore withoute.

[ocr errors]

Jefu Chrift, and Seint Benedight,

Bliffe this hous from every wicked wight,

"Fro the nightes mare, the wite Paternofter," &c.

STEEVENS.

Gentles, do not reprchend;
If you pardon, we will mend.
And, as I'm an honeft Puck,"
If we have unearned luck'
Now to 'fcape the ferpent's tongue,

We will make amends, ere long :
Elfe the Puck a liar call.

So, good night unto you all.

Give me your hands, if we be friends,
And Robin fhall reflore amends.

[Exit. "

2

an honeft Puck,] See Mr. Tyrwhitt's note, &c. A& II.

fc. i. on the words

3

[ocr errors]

"Sweet Puck."

STEEVENS.

unearned luck] i. c. if we have better fortune than we

have deferved,

STEEVENS.

4 Now to Scape the ferpent's tongue,] That is, if we be difmiffed without hiffes. JOHNSON.

So, in J. Markham's English Arcadia, 1607:

"But the nymph, after the custom of distrest tragedians, whose firft ad is entertained with a fnaky falutation," &c.

STEEVENS.

Give me your hands,] That is, Clap your hands. Give us your applause. JOHNSON.

6 Wild and fantastical as this play is, all the parts in their various modes are well written, and give the kind of pleasure which the author designed. Fairies in his time were much in fashion; common tradition had made them familiar, and Spenfer's poem had made them great. JOHNSON.

See pp. 53, 54, 55.

And heard a mermaid, on a dolphin's back, &c. &c. &c.] Dr. Warburton, whofe ingenuity and acuteness have been long admired, is now, I believe, pretty generally thought to have fome times feen not only what no other perfon would ever have been able to discover, but what, in reality, unless in his own playful imagination, did not exist. Criticism is a talifman, which has, more than one occafion, dispelled the illusions of this mighty magician. I fhall not difpute, that, by the fair veftal, Shakspeare intended a compliment to Queen Elizabeth, who, I am willing to believe, at the age of fixty eight, was no lefs chafte than beautiful;

on

1

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

but whether any other part of Oberon's fpeech have an allegorical meaning or not, Iprefume, in direct oppofition to Dr. Warburton, to contend that it agrees with any other rather than with Mary Queen of Scots. The mixture of fatire and panegyrick" I fhall examine anon, I only wish to know, for the prefent, why it would have been "inconvenient for the author to speak openly in ،، difpraife" of the Scotifh Queen. If he meant to pleafe "the imperial votress," no incenfe could have been half fo grateful as the blackeft calumny. But, it feems, ،، her fucceffor would not forgive her fatirift. Who then was her "fucceffor" when this play was written? Mary's fon, James? I am perfuaded that, had Dr. Warburton been better read in the hiftory of those times, he would not have found this monarch's fucceffion quite fo certain, at that period, as to have prevented Shakspeare, who was by no means the refined fpeculatift he would induce one to fuppofe, from gratifying the "fair veftal” with fentiments fo agreeable to her. However, if the poet has fo well marked out every diftinguishing circumftance of her life and chara&er, in this beautiful allegory, as will leave no room to doubt about his fecret meaning,' there is an end of all controversy. For, though the satire would be cowardly, false and infamous, yet, fince it was couched under an allegory, which, while perfpicuous as glass to Elizabeth, would have become opake as a mill-ftone to her fucceffor, Shakspeare, lying as fnug as his own Ariel in a cowllip's bell, would have had no reason to apprehend any ill confequences from it. Now, though our fpeculative bard might not be able to foresee the fagacity of the Scotifh king in fmelling out a plot, as I believe it was fome years after that he gave any proof of his excellence that way, he could not but have heard of his being an admirable. witch-finder; and, furely, the fkill requifite to detea a witch must be fufficient to develope an allegory; fo that I must needs question the propriety of the compliment here paid to the poet's prudence. Queen Mary is called a Mermaid, 1. to denote her reign over a kingdom fituate in the fea. In that refpe&t at least Elizabeth was as much a mermaid as herself. ،، And 2. her beauty and intemperate luft; for as Elizabeth for her chastity is called a Veftal, this unfortunate lady, on a contrary account, is called a mermaid. ' All this is as falfe as it is foolish : The mermaid was never the emblem of luft; nor was the "gentle Shakspeare" of a character or difpofition to have infulted the memory of a murdered princefs by fo infamous a charge. The most abandoned libeler, even Buchanan himself, never accufed her of" intemperate luft; and it is pretty well underltood at prefent that, if either of thefe ladies were remarkable for her purity, it was not Queen Elizabeth. ،، 3. An ancient ftory may be fuppofed to be here alluded to; the Emperor Julian tells us that the Sirens (which with all the modern poets are mermaids) contended for precedency with the Mufes, who

"

[ocr errors]

66

overcoming them took away their wings." Can any thing be more ridiculous? Mermaids are half women and half fishes: where then are their wings? or what poffible ufe could they make of them if they had any? The Sirens which Julian fpeaks of were partly women and partly birds: fo that the pollufion," as good-man Dull hath it, by no means "holds in the exchange." The quarrels between Mary and Elizabeth had the fame caufe and the fame iffue." That is, they contended for precedency, and Elizabeth overcoming took away the others wings. The fecret of their conteft for precedency fhould feem to have been confined to Dr. Warburton: It would be in vain to enquire after it in the hiftory of the time. The Queen of Scots, indeed, flew for refuge to her treacherous rival, (who is here again the mermaid of the allegory, alluring to deftruction, by her fongs or fair speeches,) and wearing, it fhould feem, like a cherubim, her wings on her neck, Elizabeth, who was determined fhe should' fly no more, in her eagerness to tear them away, happened inadvertently to take off her head. The fituation of the poet's mermaid, on a dolphin's back, evidently marks out that diftinguishing circumftance in Mary's fortune, her marriage with the dauphin of France." A mermaid would feem to have but a ftrangely aukward feat on the back of a dolphin; but that, to be fure, is the poet's affair, and not the commentators: the latter, however, is certainly anfwerable for placing a Queen on the back of her husband: a very extraordinary fituation one would think, for a married lady; and of which I only recollect a fingle inftance, in the common print of "a poor man loaded with mifchief." Mermaids are fupposed to fing, but their dulcet and harmonious breath muft in this inftance to fuit the allegory, allude to " thofe great abilities of genius and learning," which rendered Queen Mary the most accomplished princefs of her age." This compliment could not fail of being highly agreeable to the "fair Vestal." By the rude fea is meant Scotland incircled with the ocean, which rofe up in arms against the regent, while the [ Mary] was in France. But her return home quieted thefe diforders: and had not her flrange ill conduct afterwards more violently inflamed them, fhe might have passed her whole life in peace." Dr. Warburton whofe fkill in geography, feems to match his knowledge of hiftory and acutenefs in allegory, muft be allowed the fole merit of difcovering Scotland to be an island. But, as to the diforders of that country being quieted by the Queen's return, it appears from hiftory to be full as peaceable before as it is at any time after that event. Whether, in the revival or continuance of these disorders, fhe, or her ideot husband, or fanatical fubjects were mot to blame, is a point upon which doctors ftill differ; but, it is evident, that, if the enchanting fong of the commentators mermaid civilized the rude sea for a time, it was only to render it, in an inftant, more boisterous than ever: those great

[ocr errors]
« AnteriorContinuar »