teaches;-these, as they sank down into the depths of his great mind, seem not only to have inspired into it the conception of Lear' and 'Timon,' but that of one primary character, the censurer of mankind. This type is first seen in the philosophic melancholy of Jaques, gazing with an undiminished serenity, and with a gaiety of fancy, though not of manners, on the follies of the world. It assumes a graver cast in the exiled Duke of the same play." Mr. Hallam then notices the like type in Measure for Measure' and the altered Hamlet,' as well as in Lear' and 'Timon;' and adds, "In the later plays of Shakspere, especially in Macbeth' and The Tempest,' much of moral speculation will be found, but he has never returned to this type of character in the personages." Without entering into a general examination of Mr. Hallam's theory, which evidently includes a very wide range of discussion, we must venture to think that the type of character first seen in Jaques, and presenting a graver cast in the exiled Duke, is so modified by the whole conduct of the action of this comedy, by its opposite characterisation, and by its prevailing tone of reflection, that it offers not the slightest evidence of having been produced at a period of the poet's life " when his heart was ill at ease and ill content with the world or his own conscience." The charm which this play appears to us to possess in a most remarkable degree, even when compared with other works of Shakspere, is that, while we behold "the philosophic eye, turned inward on the mysteries of human nature”—(we use Mr. Hallam's own forcible expression)- -we also see the serene brow and the playful smile, which tell us that "the philoso 66 phic eye" belongs to one who, however above us, is still akin to us-who tolerates our follies, who compassionates even our faults, who mingles in our gaiety, who rejoices in our happiness; who leads us to scenes of surpassing loveliness, where we may forget the painful lessons of the world, and introduces us to characters whose generosity, and faithfulness, and affection, and simplicity may obliterate the sorrows of our experience of man's worser nature." It is not in Jaques alone, but in the entire dramatic group, that we must seek the tone of the poet's mind, and to that have our own minds attuned. Mr. Campbell, speaking of the characters of this comedy, says, "Our hearts are so stricken by these benevolent beings that we easily forgive the other more culpable but at last repentant characters." This is not the effect which could have been produced if the dark shades of a painful commerce with the world had crossed that "sunshine of the breast which lights up the " inaccessible" thickets, and sparkles amidst the "melancholy boughs" of the forest of Arden. Jaques may be Shakspere's first type "of the censurer of mankind;" but Jaques is precisely the reverse of the character which the poet would have chosen, had he intended the censure to have more than a dramatic force-to be universally true and not individually characteristic. Ay, now am I in Arden!" Touchstone thought that when he was at home he was in a better place. But here is the home of every true lover of poetry. What a world of exquisite images do Shakspere's pictures of this forest call up! He gives us no positive set descriptions, of trees, and flowers, and rivulets, and fountains, such as we may cut out and paste into an album. But a touch here and there carries us into the heart of his living scenery. And so, whenever it is our happy lot to be wandering "Under the shade of melancholy boughs," we think of the oak beneath which Jaques lay along,"whose antique root peeps out Upon the brook that brawls along this wood;" and of the dingle where Touchstone was with Audrey and her goats; and of the "Sheepcote fenc'd about with olive-trees," where dwelt Rosalind and Celia; and of the hawthorns and brambles upon which Orlando hung odes and elegies. In this delicious pastoral the real is blended with the poetical in such intimate union, that the highest poetry appears to be as essentially natural as the most familiar gossip; and the loftiest philosophy is interwoven with the occurrences of every-day life, so as to teach us that there is a philosophical aspect of the commonest things. It is this spirit which informs Shakspere's forest of Arden with such life, and truth, and beauty, as belongs to no other representation of pastoral scenes; which takes us into the depths of solitude, and shows us how the feelings of social life alone can give us 46 tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, Sermons in stones, and good in everything;" which builds a throne for intellect "under the greenwood tree," and there, by characteristic satire, gently indicates to us the vanity of the things which bind us to the world; whilst he teaches us that life has its happiness in the cultivation of the affections, in content and independence of spirit, PERSONS REPRESENTED. DUKE, living in exile. Appears, Act II. sc. 1; sc. 7. Act V. sc. 4. FREDERICK, brother to the Duke, and usurper of his dominions. Appears, Act I. sc. 2; sc. 3. Act II. sc. 2. Act III. sc. 1. AMIENS, a lord attending upon the Duke in his banishment. Appears, Act II. sc. 1; sc. 5; sc. 7. Act V. sc. 4. JAQUES, a lord attending upon the Duke in his Appears, Act II. sc. 5; sc. 7. sc. 1; sc. 2. Act III. sc. 2; sc. 3. Act IV. LE BEAU, a courtier attending upon Frederick. CHARLES, wrestler to Frederick. OLIVER, son of Sir Rowland de Bois. JAQUES, son of Sir Rowland de Bois. ORLANDO, son of Sir Rowland de Bois. Appears, Act I. sc. 1; sc. 2. Act II. sc. 3; sc. 6; sc. 7. Act III. Act IV. sa. 1. Act V. sc. 2; sc. 4. sc. 2. ADAM, servant to Oliver. Appears, Act I. sc. 1. Act II. sc. 3; sc. 6; sc. 7. DENNIS, servant to Oliver. TOUCHSTONE, a clown. Appears, Act I. sc. 2. Act II. sc. 4. Act III. sc. 2; sc. 3. SIR OLIVER MARTEXT, a vicar. CORIN, a shepherd. Appears, Act II. sc. 4. Act III. sc. 2; sc. 4; sc. 5. Act V. sc. 1. Appears, Act II. sc. 4. Act III. sc. 5. Act IV. sc. 2. WILLIAM, a country fellow, in love with Audrey. A person representing Hymen. ROSALIND, daughter to the banished Duke. Appears, Act I. sc. 2; sc. 3. Act II. sc. 4. Act III. sc. 2; sc. 4; Act IV. sc. 1; sc. 3. Act V. sc. 2; sc. 4. sc. 5. CELIA, daughter to Frederick. Appears, Act I. sc. 2; sc. 3. Act II. sc. 4. Act III. sc. 2; sc. 4; sc. 5. Act IV. sc. 1; sc. 3. Act V. sc. 4. PHEBE, a shepherdess. Appears, Act III. sc. 5. Act V. sc. 2; sc. 4. AUDREY, a country wench. Appears, Act III. sc. 3. Act V. sc. 1; sc. 3; sc. 4. SCENE, FIRST, NEAR OLIVER'S HOUSE; AFTERWARDS, PARTLY IN THE USURPER'S COURT, and PARTLY IN THE FOREST OF ARDEN. |