Two Gentlemen of Verona, It appears that none of the commentators on Shakspeare have been able to fix the date in which he wrote The Two Gentlemen of Verona. Pope, in whose opinion Johnson seems to coincide, says it was "supposed to be one of the first." Upton seems to have determined against Shakspeare's being the author; and Hanmer doubted whether he did more than enliven it with some speeches, here and there; but Pope and Johnson thought differently. The latter says-" That this play is rightly attributed to Shakspeare, I have little doubt. When I read this play, I cannot but think that I find, both in the serious and ludicrous scenes, the language and sentiments of Shakspeare. In this play there is a strange mixture of knowledge and ignorance, of care and negligence. The versification is often excellent-the allusions are learned and just; but the author conveys his heroes by sea from one inland town to another in the same country; he places the Emperor at Milan, and sends his young men to attend him, but never mentions him more; he makes Proteus, after an interview with Silvia, say he has only seen her picture; and if we may credit the old copies, he has mistaken places, and left his scenery inexplicable. The reason of all this confusion seems to be, that he took his story from a novel, which he sometimes followed, and sometimes forsook-sometimes remembered, and sometimes forgot." THE PLOT. by the lady, disguised in male apparel. Sir Proteus is joyfully welcomed of Sir Valentine, his true and early friend, who makes him the confidant of his love with the Lady Silvia, and speaks him of good report to the Duke. But Sir Proteus turns traitor to his friend, and communicates to the Duke, in order to serve his own perfidious ends, the intended clopement of his friend with the Lady Silvia. The Duke intercepts Sir Valentine on his way to the lady's chamber, and stays him with a fictitious tale of an amour, in which he pretends to seek his advice, and having reproached him, banishes him from his states. Sir Valentine flies from Milan towards Mantua; on the borders of which place he is intercepted by some outlaws, who appoint him their captain. In the mean time, his false friend engages with the Duke to forward the suit of Sir Thurio with Silvia, but secretly urges his own. She, disgusted with the choice made by the Duke, and detesting the treacherous Sir Proteus, with the assistance of Sir Eglamour, a gentleman of the court, flies towards Mantua. They are pursued by the Duke, Sir Thurio, and Sir Proteus, attended by Julia and others; but all falling into the hands of the outlaws who beset the forest in which they travel, they are brought before Sir Valentine. His generous conduct induces the Duke to favour him, and, at his entreaty, to pardon the outlaws. The treachery of Sir Proteus becomes apparent to all; Julia discovers herself, and, together with Sir Valentine, forgives the inconstant Proteus; he promises amendment, and they return to Milan to solemnise their nuptials. MORAL. The play opens at Verona, with a farewell interview between the two gentlemen, Sir Valentine and Sir Proteus, the former being about to depart for the court of the Duke at Milan. Soon after he arrives at Milan, he In this play Shakspeare has finely illusbecomes enamoured of the Lady Silvia, who trated the proverbial saying, “To err is hureturns his love with equal affection, but is man-to forgive divine;" and has pointed out destined by the Duke, her father, for Sir Thu- to his readers how little dependence is to be rio, on account of his wealth, a man of sorry placed on the professions of mortals, when at understanding. In the interim, Antonio, the variance with what they deem their own infather of Sir Proteus, sends his son to reside terest, the gratification of any passion. Neither at the court of the Duke, in order to advance has he neglected to set forth the folly of being his fortune. Having sworn constancy and ex-guided by the desire of wealth alone, nor the changed pledges with Julia, he sets out for rewards which ultimately attend patience and Milan, to which place he is followed soon after constancy in the paths of virtue. The Merry Wives of Windsor. The Merry Wives of Windsor, according to a traditionary tale which has been preserved by Rowe, and credited by most of Shakspeare's commentators, owes its origin to Queen Elizabeth; who, being much pleased with the admirable character of Falstaff, as delineated in the two parts of Henry the Fourth, commanded our author to continue it for one play more, and to exhibit the Knight in love. The power of this play-that power by which all works of genius shall finally be tried--is such, that perhaps it never yet had reader or spectator who did not think it too soon at an end. The precise time at which it had its birth, like many others of the inimitable Shakspeare, is not determined. Steevens says "It was first entered at Stationers' Hall, Jan. 18, 1601, by John Busby;" and Gildon observes, in his Remarks, but which Theobald seems to doubt, "he was very well assured that Shakspeare wrote it in a fortnight." Farmer thought that the adventures of Falstaff, in this play, seemed to have been taken from the story of The Lovers of Pisa; an old piece, named "Tarleton's News out of Purgatorie;" and Steevens imagined that some of the incidents might have been taken from a translation, entitled, "The fortunate, the deceived, and the unfortunate Lovers." Be it from whence it may, this comedy embraces a double plot-the lechery of Falstaff, and the love of "Sweet Ann Page:" but both so admirably interwoven and kept, that the catastrophe of each is discovered at the same instant of time. THE PLOT. Falstaff and his fellows have taken some unwarrantable license with Justice Shallow; discussing which, himself, Slender his nephew, and Sir Hugh Evans, enter Page's house. After rehearsing the above in the presence of Falstaff, he departs, and Page agrees to marry his daughter, at the instance of Shallow, to his nephew. In the mean time, Mrs. Page promises the like to Dr. Caius, a testy Frenchman, who is past his hey-day of life: but the daughter, liking neither, entertains an affection for Fenton, a gay young man, who is rejected by the father. Falstaff makes love to Mrs. Page and Mrs. Ford, who discover that he has written to both in precisely the same terms, and resolve to put a trick upon him. In the interim, Nym and Pistol, two fellows discharged by Falstaff, in revenge communicate the intrigue to Ford; who, becoming jealous, introduces himself to Falstaff under the assumed name of Brook, in order to ascertain his wife's disloyalty; and, pretending to have a passion for her, offers Sir John money to procure him her company. Ford's wife, with the connivance of Mrs. Page, makes two assignations with Falstaff, at her own house, which he communicates to Brook, who, believing himself dishonoured, hurries home with a mob at his heels. Falstaff escapes from the house in a basket, but is afterwards soused in the Thames, the first time; and in the second, he is beaten by Ford, who mistakes him for an old witch he has forbid his house, in whose dress Falstaff is disguised. Mrs. Ford and Mrs. Page develop the whole plot to their husbands, and propose a third remedy to cure Sir John's lechery. Falstaff accepts the assignation, and promises to meet them at midnight, in the park, under Herne's Oak, disguised with a pair of buck's horns on his head. Elves and fairies are prepared to attack, and suddenly pinch and burn him. Sir Hugh is to be chief of the first, and sweet Ann Page is to head the latter; with whom Slender, Dr. Caius, and Fenton, are each, in the midst of the frolic, to elope. The first by desire of the father, the second at the connivance of the mother, and the third by her own consent. She names a different dress and pass-word to each; and Fenton, with the assistance of mine host of the Garter, procures two post-boys, who are disguised in dresses answering to those by which she is to be known by Slender and the Doctor. The hour arrives; Falstaff is bedevilled; Slender and Caius run off with the two post-boys, and Fenton with sweet Ann Page, to whom he is married, by a clergyman procured by mine host for the occasion; and, finally, after some slight recrimination, Falstaff is invited with the rest to celebrate their nuptials. MORAL. In this comedy, by a train of exquisite ridicule, Shakspeare has exhibited the pride of gallantry in old men; and folly of parents, in wishing to connect their children with igno rance and age, from motives of interest. Twelfth Light: or, What You Will. BEN JONSON ridiculed the conduct of Shakspeare in this play; but Dr. Johnson, who thought it somewhat defective as a picture of life, eulogizes it by saying "It is, in the graver part, elegant and easy; and, in some of the lighter scenes, exquisitely humorous. Aguecheek is drawn with great propriety; and the soliloquy of Malvolio is truly comic." According to Steevens, the serious part of the plot is from Bellesforest's Histoires Tragiques; but the comic is entirely the production of Shakspeare's fertile imagination. The period of its first appearance is unknown. A comedy, called "What you Will," the second title, but which the last-named commentator" believed" to be by Marston, was entered at Stationers' Hall, August 6th, 1607. THE PLOT. The scene opens in the palace of Orsino, Duke of Illyria, who loves, but is rejected by Olivia, a noble lady. During this period a vessel has been wrecked near the coast, on board of which are the twin brother and sister, Sebastian and Viola. Viola is saved, but she supposes Sebastian to be the prey of the waves; and, after mourning his loss, disguised in male attire like her brother's, she engages | Yaa in the service of the Duke, under the assumed name of Cesario; who delegates her to urge his suit with Olivia. The lady remains inexorable; and, ignorant of her sex, becomes enamoured of Viola, who entertains a secret passion for the Duke. Sebastian and Antonio, a sea-captain, by whom his life was preserved in the storm, arrive at Illyria three years after; and the exact resemblance of Sebastian and Viola to each other, causes various mishaps. He meets Olivia, who, mistaking him for Viola, surprises him with a declaration of her love, and induces him to become her husband. He next encounters and wounds Sir Andrew Ague-cheek, who also mistakes him for Viola, his imaginary rival; he having been destined by her uncle, Sir Toby Belch, to become Olivia's lover. In the interim, Malvolio, Olivia's steward, whose vanity has made him the victim of a well-timed stratagem, is confined as a madman. Finally, the parties all meet: Olivia claims Sebastian as her husband; and the real sex and relationship between Sebastian and Viola, together with her love for the Duke, appearing, he espouses her as his future bride; and the whole concludes with the liberation of the enraged Malvolio. MORAL. In this play Shakspeare has displayed great skill in pencilling the portraits of Folly and Vanity, in the persons of Ague-cheek and Malvolio; and, with a not less masterly hand, he has exhibited the weakness of the human mind, when Love has usurped the place of Reason. Measure for Measure. THE PLOT. Vincentio, Duke of Vienna, deputed Lord Angelo to govern in his stead, pretending to travel; but, assisted by a friar, he remains incog. as father Lodowick, in order to observe the motions of the state. Soon after, a gentleman named Claudio, having been betrothed to a lady named Juliet (for particular reasons held secret,) he is accused of seducing her, and Angelo takes advantage of an old neglected law. to condemn Claudio to death for the crime. At the instance of Claudio, his sister Isabella entreats his pardon of Lord Angelo, which he grants on condition that her honour should be the price paid to his lust. She hastens to the prison of Clandio, and communicates the dishonourable condition; which after a time he entreats her to pay, and save him. She, disgusted with him, refuses to consent. The dialogue is overheard by the Duke, who has been with Claudio as confessor; and he proposes to Isabella, that Mariana, a noble lady to whom Angelo had been contracted, but had deserted her from interested motives, should be introduced to Angelo in her stead, and save the life of Claudio, and her honour. This is done; notwithstanding, an order is issued for the immediate execution of Claudio, contrary to the pledge of Angelo; but he is saved by a stratagem of Lodowick, unknown to Isabella. The Duke, having addressed letters to Angelo to that effect, makes a public entry into Vienna; and, counselled so to do by him, as Lodowick, Isabella and Marisna accuse Angelo before the Duke of his crimes, which he denies; and the Duke, feigning to believe him innocent, leaves them to his mercy. Finally, the Duke enters the presence as Lodowick; and as they are about to lead him to prison, his hood falls off, and he is discovered. He then obliges Angelo to marry Mariana, and condemns him, but pardons him at her entreaty; and having, to the surprise of Isabella, presented Claudio to her, he rewards her constancy and virtue with the offer of his hand and heart. MORAL In the catastrophe of this play, we behold in Angelo an example of the length to which the mortal will go, to gratify a master passion; and in Claudio the littleness to which he will descend, to prolong an earthly existence. Contrasted with these, we have two characters worthy of imitation: the Duke dispensing mercy, and protecting the oppressed; and Isabella as a pattern of virtue. Much Ado about Nathing. which the ludicrous blends with the tender, and our follies turning round against themselves in support of our affections, retain nothing but their humanity." THE PLOT. IT is observed by Pope, that somewhat resem-point of comedy was never more nicely hit, in bling the story of this play is to be found in the fifth book of Ariosto's Orlando Furioso. Steevens adds,-"In Spencer's Faery Queen, Book ii. Canto 4, as remote an original may be traced." A novel, however, of Belleforest, copied from another of Bandello, seems to have furnished Shakspeare with his fable, as it approaches nearer in all its particulars to the play before us than any other performance known to be extant. Dr. Farmer, however, is of opinion that Shakspeare drew his plot from the Geneura of Turberville. Much Ado About Nothing has always been a great favourite both on the stage and in the closet. The characters of Benedick and Beatrice have never been exceeded even by our great poet himself. Steevens, however, objects to the conduct of the fable. He says, "I wish some other method had been found to entrap Beatrice, than that very oue which before had been successfully practised on Benedick." But Schlegel, the great German critic, and one worthy of more frequent and honourable mention, referring to this objection, remarks, "The drollery, however, lies in the very symmetry of the deception." We perfectly agree with Hazlitt, when he says, "Perhaps that middle Don Pedro, Prince of Arragon, returning from the wars, accompanied by Count Claudio and Benedick, two young lords, his favourites, comes upon a month's visit to Leonato, Governor of Messina. Claudio becomes enamoured of Hero, the daughter of Leonato, and imparts his love to the prince, who agrees to woo the lady by proxy at a masquerade given by her father, and to obtain her consent to his friend's suit. In the meanwhile, Don John, a bastard brother of the prince, envious of the degree of favour in which Claudio is held by his brother, consults with Borachio and Conrad, two creatures of his own, how he may best and most safely thwart the happiness of Claudio, whose marriage with Hero is to take place on that day week. On the day preceding the nuptials, he waits upon the prince and Claudio, and, with a show of seeming friendship, warns the latter against the marriage, stating that Hero is unchaste, and offering to supply proof of it. By a contrivance of his own, they overhear Borachio addressing Margaret, an attendant upon Hero, at her window-and the prince and Claudio are led to believe that their doubts have been confirmed. Claudio, as the ceremony is about to proceed, denounces Hero before her father, the friar, and the whole company, and abruptly retires with the prince, leaving Hero in a swoon. The friar, who was about to join the hands of the young couple, counsels the distracted Leonato to give out that his daughter is dead, until it shall be proved whether she is innocent or guilty. In the interim Borachio and Conrade are overheard by the watch conversing about the conspiracy; during which conversation Borachio tells his friends how much he has received from Don John for the success of his villany. They are taken up, and the whole plot is discovered. Leonato, upon this, informs Claudio that his own daughter being dead, if Claudio will consent to wed the daughter of his brother Antonio, his revenge will be satisfied. Claudio, stricken with remorse, consents, and is married to Hero, who, unveiling, discovers herself to her lover. The underplot, which softens down the painful interest of the main design, is certainly the Bene most delightful portion of the play. dick, the wit, the humourist, the gentleman, and the soldier, is a professed railer against the female sex; but is encountered by Beatrice, the cousin of Hero, who, on her part, is by no means disposed to recognise the supremacy of the lords of the creation. Benedick overhears a conversation between the prince, Claudio, and Leonata, in which the love of Beatrice towards him is dwelt upon, whilst a similar deceit is practised upon Beatrice by Hero, and one of her attendants. Each believes the story, and, conscious of the worth of the other, is entrapped into a love-match, which terminates in marriage. MORAL. There may probably be said to be two morals in this play. In the first instance, we are shown how suddenly, and by what unforeseen accidents, the most cunningly devised calumny may be discovered, and how certainly virtue will at last be rewarded; and in the case of Benedick and Beatrice, we may learn the folly of affecting feelings which only serve to conceal our real nature, from ourselves, and which may prevent our happiness, if they do not destroy it. A Midsummer-Light's Dream. MALONE supposes this play to have been written in 1592. It is mentioned by Meres, in his catalogue of 1598, but was not entered at Stationers' Hall till October 8, 1600. Steevens says, "It is probable that the hint for it was received from Chaucer's Knight's Tale;" and he had been informed that the original of Oberon and Titania were to be sought in the ancient French romance of Huon de Bordeaux. The learned editor of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, printed in 1775, observes, in his introductory discourse, that Pluto and Proserpine, in the Merchant's Tale, appear to have been the true progenitors of Oberon and Titania. THE PLOT. The nuptials of Thesens, Duke of Athens, and of Hippolyta, queen of the Amazons, are about to be celebrated. Egeus, waiting upon the Duke, complains that his daughter Hermia has refused to espouse Demetrius, who has obtained his consent, and that she prefers Lysander. The Duke remonstrates with Hermia upon her obstinacy in rejecting the man of her father's choice, and (in spite of Lysander's plea, that Demetrius, the favoured suitor of the father, by marrying Hermia would wrong Helena, the daughter of Heden) allows her but four days to re-consider her determination; on the expiration of which, she must either marry Demetrius, prepare to die, or be immured in a convent for life. The lovers, upon this, resolve to fly beyond the reach of the Athenian law. Helena, to whom this resolution has been imparted, communicates the flight of Lysander and Hermia, and their place of refuge, to Demetrius, her perjured lover, who, instigated by passion and jealousy, pursues them, followed by the adoring Helena. Oberon, King of the Fairies, overhears a conversation between these two, in the wood, during which the love of Helena is rejected by Demetrius with insulting scorn. He resolves that Demetrius shall return the love of his first mistress, which, by his art, he is enabled to effect. The juice of a certain flower sprinkled upon the lids of any mortal asleep, will cause him, when he awakes, to dote upon the first person he may chance to behold. He entrusts this commission to Puck, his favourite sprite, who, discovering Lysander and Hermia asleep, drops the juice by mistake upon the eyelids of the former, who, awaking, and first beholding Helena, pursues her, fired by a passion which the magic influence of Oberon had superinduced. In the meanwhile, Oberon discovering the error of his agent, dismisses him to anoint the lids of Demetrius; and after a game of cross-purposes, caused by the mistake of Puck, the antidote of another flower is called in aid, and Lysander becomes himself again. At this juncture, Theseus and his bride Hippolyta, hunting in the wood, on the morning of their intended marriage, discover the four lovers, and all is explained. Lysander receives his Hermia with the consent of her father, and Demetrius is made happy in the possession of Helena. Loor's Labour's Lost. THIS play is one of Shakspeare's earliest pro-ridden father, to demand back a province which ductions, and assuredly is not entitled to rank he held in pledge. He is compelled to give with the best of his performances. Malone her audience; falls immediately in love with conjectures that this play was written in 1594. her; and matters do not succeed better with It was, however, not entered at Stationers' Hall his companions, who, on their parts, renew till January 22, 1606-7, but is mentioned by their old acquaintance with the attendants of Meres in his Wits' Treasury, being the second the Princess. Each is already, in his heart, part of Wits' Commonwealth, in 1598, and was disposed to violate his vow, without knowing printed in that year. In the title-page of this the wishes of his associates: they overhear edition (the oldest hitherto discovered) this each other, as they in turn unfold their pains piece is said to have been "presented before in a poem to the solitary forest: every one jeers her highness (Queen Elizabeth) the last Christ- and confounds the other who follows him. mas [1597]" and to be newly corrected and Biron, who, from the beginning, was the most amended. So that, it appears, more additions satirical amongst them, at last steps forth, and were made to it between 1594 and 1597, and that rallies the king and the two others, till the disthe play had been originally represented in a covery of a love-letter reduces even him to hang less perfect state than that in which it appears down his head. He extricates himself and his at present. Gildon says, "he cannot see why the companions from their dilemma, by ridiculing author gave it that name." Steevens could not the folly of the vow which they have broken; discover any novel on which this comedy ap- and after a noble eulogy on women, invites them peared to be founded; "and yet," he adds, "the to swear allegiance to the colours of love. story of it has most of the features of an Finally, the princess being recalled, by the ancient romance." sudden tidings of her father's death, accepts the hand of the prince, on condition that he performs a twelvemonth's penance in a hermitage; and Rosaline, Maria, and Katharine impose upon the three gentlemen similar articles of agreement. THE PLOT. Ferdinand, a young King of Navarre, with three of his courtiers, Biron, Longaville, and Dumain, has made a vow to pass three years in rigid retirement, employed in the study of wisdom; and for that purpose he has banished all female society from court, and imposed a penalty on the intercourse with women. But scarcely has he conceived this determination, in a pompous discourse worthy of the most heroic achievements, when the daughter of the King of France, accompanied by three of her ladies, Rosaline, Maria, and Katharine, appears at his court in the name of his old and bed MORAL The moral inculcated in this comedy is, perhaps, rather an appeal to the sentiment than to the judgment. Nevertheless, the absurdity of making vows to perform things which may as easily be accomplished without entailing upon ourselves a rigid adherence to the conditions of any vow whatever, is strongly, and with a humorous subtlety, set forth. Merchant of Venice. stones without, and within full of dead men's bones: and thereupon was engraved this posie; Whoso chooseth me, shall find that he deserveth. The second vessel was made of fine silver, filled with earth and worms: the superscription was thus: Whoso chooseth me, shall find that his nature desireth. The third vessel was made of lead, full within of precious stones, and thereupon was insculpt this posie: Whoso chooseth me, shall IN Dr. Johnson's remarks on the plot, fable, and construction of The Merchant of Venice, he observes, that the style is even and easy, with few peculiarities of diction, or anomalies of construction. The comic part raises laughter, and the serious fixes expectation. The probability of either the one or the other story cannot be maintained; but the union of two actions in one event is in this drama eminently happy. In Steevens' and Malone's editions of Shak-find that God hath disposed for him. The lady, speare, will be found a distinct epitome of the novels from which the story of this play is supposed to be taken. It should, however, be remembered, that if our poet was at all indebted to the Italian novelists, it must have been through the medium of some old translation, which has hitherto escaped the researches of his most industrious editors. Dr. Farmer, however says, that the story was taken from an old translation of the Gesta Romanorum, first printed by Wynkyn de Worde. The book was very popular, and Shakspeare closely copied some of the language. Three vessels are exhibited to a lady for her choice. The first was made of pure gold, well beset with precious after a comment upon each, chooses the leaden vessel.-In the critical remarks of Tyrwhitt, we find the following passages: "The two principal incidents of this play are to be found separately in a collection of odd stories, which were very popular, at least five hundred years ago, under the title of Gesta Romanorum. The first, Of the Bond, is in ch. xlviii. of the copy which I choose to refer to, as the completest of any which I have yet seen. MS. Harl. n. 2270. A knight there borrows money of a merchant; upon condition of forfeiting all his flesh for non-payment. When the penalty is exacted before the judge, the knight's mistress, disguised, in forma viri et vestimentis pretiosis induta, comes into court, and |