Nonsense! of all things in the world.— She was a wife, if ever such wife were, To suckle fools and chronicle small beer. That is to say, the model wife, possessed of all, the domestic virtues ascribed to her by the speaker, has after all, no higher praise, because no higher career than to raise a family of children, and retail the petty gossip of the neighborhood. I think the word wight in this line, is a misprint for wife. JOHN T. DOYLE. Menlo Park, March 29, 1887. [Without wishing for one moment to pass judgment on Judge Doyle's change of 'wight' into wife, let me gently suggest that it is imprudent to deal in universal assertions. If there be a rule without an exception it is that you should never say 'never' in reference to the use of words. As soon as I read this interesting note, which my friend, Mr. Lawrence Barrett, sent to me for transmission to SHAKESPEARIANA, and which has been printed above, and came to the assertion that the word 'wight' is 'never applied to a woman,' and that it is defined as of common gender 'solely on the authority of this single line of Shakespeare,' there flashed into my mind this stanza from the old ballad of Fair Rosamund and Queen Eleanor,' which I quote from memory: And when that death through all her limbs Had worked his cruel spite, Her chiefest foes did then confess 'She was a glorious wight.' H. H. FURNESS.] GERVINUS MISQUOTED. TO THE EDITOR: Mr. Appleton Morgan, in his article in the April number of SHAKESPEARIANA, p. 188, gives a quotation which I think is incorrect. Says Gervinus: 'Shakespeare had a leaning to the aristocratic principle, inasmuch as he does not dwell on the truths he tells of the nobles in the same. proportion as he does on those he tells of the people.' Gervinus did not write this; he gives it as 'the view expressed by Hazlitt.' * Nor is this Gervinus's opinion. He says Hazlitt's view will lead to' wrong conclusions.' * He then proceeds to state fairly and strongly all the depreciatory and contemptuous remarks of the populace put in Coriolanus's mouth by Shakespeare, and then continues: On the other hand, we must not be, like Coriolanus, unreasonable, and overlook the fact that Shakespeare has introduced some better and braver among the people, who, when the General calls for volunteers, all shout and follow him, to his great joy and admiration. We must not omit to observe that the whole mass of the people acknowledge the merit of Coriolanus, that the zeal to admire and applaud the conqueror is universal, that his party among the people seems very great, that even the inflamed and excited people acknowledge that he is not avaricious, that he is not more proud than brave; that, with regard to his haughtiness, they take into consideration the power of his nature, and acknowledge that his merit surpasses their power to recompense. Here, in fact, the good and bad qualities of the multitude are weighed truly and even with moderation. † Gervinus further expresses his views on this subject as follows:Shakespeare has, indeed, sympathy with the lower classes who are poor and destitute, and he makes the mighty of the earth, who have forgotten poverty, remember it in their own adversity, but whither the equalisation and prosperity of Communism would lead he has made most plain in Cade's revolution. seq. ‡ Such, according to Gervinus, is Shakespeare's opinion of the masses. WM. H. FLEMING. New York, April 11, 1887. A CORRECTION.-In the article on 'Shakespeare at School,' in the May number of SHAKESPEARIANA, the printer has left out the bracketed words in the following sentence: We hope the urchins did not find this more suggestive of stealing apples [out of school] than of * Commentaries, p. 748, Scribner, Welford and Armstrong. 1877. Idem, p. 925. gathering the rich fruit of the tree of knowledge within.' If he had dropped the 'within' also, it would have been well enough; but I fancy that more than one reader has wondered why that' within' was added to the sentence. While I am writing let me add that the article was originally written for a company of school boys. This will explain the simple and familiar treatment of the subject. W. J. ROLFE. The Drama. Betwixt mine eye and heart a league is took, -Sonnet XLVII. FANNY DAVENPORT'S BEATRICE, like Wordsworth's ideal woman, is 'a creature not too bright or good for human nature's daily food.' And the every-day quality given her is an interesting feature of this actress's representation of her. One of the reasons why Shakespeare's people live among us of today, like glorified neighbors, whom close or casual Shakespearian readers, whom Clubs, Societies, actors, and playgoers innumerable and various, discuss and differ and agree upon as they do upon their friends next door, is because they present, like these living personalities, so many phases to each view. The kind and degree of sympathetic relation instinctively established between two living beings upon their meeting, and during the course of their companionship has its match in the different feelings of recognition with which each actor approaches the impersonation of a Shakespearian character. So, aside from the strict consideration of whether the dramatic art shown by a Shakespearian actor is fine or crude, good or bad; aside, also, from the judgment of whether his impersonation is true to the play, we have the triple interest of ascertaining what the special relation is between the actor and his part-what is the main point of sympathy felt-and what the dominant trait revealed. The harvest of impressions the critical onlooker reaps from all sorts and conditions of actors of Shakespearian parts is as much richer than from the same players in other plays, as Shakespeare himself is richer in seizable traits, to all sorts and conditions of actors, than any other dramatist is. Notwithstanding the inequality of different capacities, says Emerson, of Shakespeare, 'see the perfect reception this wit, and immense knowledge of life, and liquid eloquence finds in us all.' It is curious to compare some of these paths of approach in Beatrice. To Modjeska, it seems, the intellectual delicacy, alert and piquant, and the pure-hearted fidelity of Beatrice-the underlying strata of character from which spring the witty graces of her charming presence— are the points of sympathy on which she lays the accent in her impersonation; Ellen Terry catches the very white fire of sprightliness, the moving lights of variable ardor, and all the fascinating caprices that sparkle upon the half-guessed depths of a woman yet unknown to herself; Fanny Davenport, far less subtle and nimble of expression than either, yet finds anew and prominently shows in Beatrice the warm amiability and homely loyalty which pulses robustly within the body of a healthy, quibbling wit. Benedick declared with justice, at one of her sallies, that she had frighted the word out of his right sense, so 'forcible' was her wit. (V, ii, 55.) Who has not known such a Beatrice, of overflowing, animal wit, as distinguished from the more restrained humor of the contemplative fancy? And who may not see that this woman of 'forcible wit' was of a warm and wholesome impulsiveness worked upon through prompt perceptions that are scarcely ruled or re-inforced at all, as were Portia's or Hermione's, by that deeper-seated reason which, in them, joined with as prompt perceptions, indicates the more than intellectual, the almost spiritual capability of a woman's mind? Beatrice, on the contrary, is more exclusively perceptive and emotional. And though Shakespeare's Beatrice cannot be too quick and acute, neither can it be but good to insist somewhat upon the staunch supremacy of her merry heart, and the natural freedom of her swinging pace throughout the humors of the play. Until, indeed, as Fanny Davenport makes us follow her, something almost like a comfortable domesticity seems ready to be developed. What is this that has come over the quick tongue, when she confesses to Benedick that she loves him with so much of her heart that none is left to protest?' She is so still, only long enough to say, 'now I am still '-and she rallies him again directly, but, for an instant, she has rested silent in an inward consciousness that she has allowed herself to show, and which asserts its mastery over the outward bent of her wit. That a Beatrice of this description is the one Fanny Davenport sees in Much Ado About Nothing is evident to one who has witnessed her presentation of that play this season, and that this is the notion of Beatrice she has thought out in her study of the part may be seen in her own words in the following article she contributes. C. P. BEATRICE. N the empire of literature Shakespeare rules alone, and equally alone and unique is his rule within the hearts of true artists and lovers of his great writings, for his characters are beloved as dear friends-friends that are for all moods, either sad, silly, grave, or gay; and he is to be pitied that cannot among so large an assembly find enjoyment thorough and wholesome. That each character is open to a dozen different interpretations is its greatness and continual newness, and in giving my humble opinions and conception of his 'Beatrice' I have perhaps seen her in a different light from that in which the critics, men of letters, and artists, whose writings I have read, have seen her. In the first place, it was my desire to understand and comprehend the inner part of her nature. That she was a virago or man-hater, is surely a misguided impression, nor can I believe anyone who gives full thought to and inwardly digests the words put into her mouth by the great poet could conceive her in this manner. That an interested |