"dozen white luces in their coat." It is curious to contrast this with the manner in which the New England poet of the present day describes his hero, the leader of the Puritan band of the seventeenth century— He was a gentleman born, could trace his pedigree plainly Back to Hugh Standish of Duxbury Hall, in Lancashire, England, Still bore the family arms, and had for his crest a cock argent It is evident from many passages that in Shakspeare's days, every man with any pretension to good breeding made his way to the metropolis,—at any rate for a portion of his life. How different is the tone of the great poet of the present age; how vast is the distance between master Shallow, and the portrait which Tennyson has drawn of Sir Walter Vivian of Vivian Place No little lily-handed Baronet he, A great broad-shoulder'd genial Englishman, A lord of fat prize-oxen and of sheep, A raiser of huge melons and of pine, A patron of some thirty charities, A pamphleteer on guano and on grain, A quarter-sessions chairman, abler none; But if the squirearchy of Warwickshire formed subjects for Shakspeare's mirth, the "hempen home-spuns" of the country town-Bottom the weaver, Quince the carpenter, Snug the joiner, Flute the bellows-mender, Snout the tinker, and Starveling the tailor-receive exactly the same treatment: there is no attempt at making heroes of these "rude mechanicals." Indeed they are partly used by Shakspeare to set 66 * Merry Wives of Windsor, Act i, Scene 1. + Longfellow's Miles Standish. Tennyson's Princess. off the nobleness of the character of Theseus, duke of Athens, who finds pleasure in the simpleness and duty these hardhanded men tender to him and insists, against the wishes of his court, on their performing their uncouth play. It was reserved for a later age to discover that the English navvy, beneath a rough exterior, has the heart and feelings of an English gentleman,—and to sing of The smith, a mighty man is he, With large and sinewy hands; His hair is crisp, and black, and long, His brow is wet with honest sweat, He earns whate'er he can, And looks the whole world in the face, For he owes not any man.* Even the English yeoman hardly receives his due, though Shakspeare describes many battle scenes, and has many opportunities for praising the sterling worth of the common soldier. There is indeed one passage where he receives full justice-it is when Henry V addresses his troops before the battle of Agincourt, and shews a full appreciation of the stuff of which they were made And you, good yeomen, Whose limbs were made in England, shew us here The mettle of your pasture; let us swear That you are worth your breeding; which I doubt not; That hath not noble lustre in your eyes.+ There is also the scene in Henry V, where Williams challenges Fluellin, and by his blunt bearing exhibits the independent spirit of the English rank and file. But these are exceptions; battles were fought by kings and nobles, state * Longfellow's Poems. + Henry V, Act iii, Scene 1. policy was framed to suit their wishes and promote their interests, and as a rule the commonalty were but little thought of. It was the close of the last century before the songs and ballads of the people and the heroes of the people were accepted as such by men of letters. Though Shakspeare never or very rarely attempted to make heroes of the labouring classes, no poet has more fully praised their fidelity, and expressed their words and thoughts and philosophy of their minds. For instance, when Richard II was a captive in Pomfret Castle, deserted by all the lords and nobles of his court, one old retainer came to see him, who thus described himself I was a poor groom of thy stable, king, When thou wert king; who, travelling towards York, Here Shakspeare has seized the connecting link between the groom and his royal master, and has prominently brought forward their one common interest, the favourite horse of the sovereign, and the pride of the stable. Again, in the same play, we have the scene in the garden, when the Queen and her ladies overhear two gardeners discoursing on state affairs Go thou, and like an executioner, Cut off the heads of too-fast-growing sprays, That look too lofty in our commonwealth: Bolingbroke Hath seiz'd the wasteful king.-Oh! what pity is it, As we this garden! We at time of year • Richard II, Act v, Scene 5. Lest, being over-proud with sap and blood, They might have liv'd to bear, and he to taste Could there be a better version of a gardener's philosophy than this? Shakspeare, whose father was a leading member of the corporation of a country town, was no doubt well acquainted with the character of such bodies. His estimate of them does not seem to have been a high one, and in Dogberry and Verges, he has held them up as subjects for laughter for all time to come. He has, however, sketched a few village scenes; and these pictures of the sixteenth century will remain for the instruction of coming ages. For instance, in the Twelfth Night, where the duke says The song we had last night: Mark it, Cesario; it is old, and plain : The spinsters and the knitters in the sun, And the free maids that weave their thread with bones, Do use to chaunt it.+ Can we doubt that Shakspeare had a real man and a real shop in his mind's eye, when he described the apothecary in Romeo and Juliet? Meagre were his looks, Sharp misery had worn him to the bones: And in his needy shop a tortoise hung, An alligator stuff'd, and other skins Of ill-shap'd fishes; and about his shelves A beggarly account of empty boxes, Green earthen pots, bladders, and musty seeds, Remnants of packthread, and old cakes of roses, From the plays of Shakspeare we may learn something of * Richard II, Act iii, Scene 4. Romeo and Juliet, Act v, Scene 1. + Twelfth Night, Act ii, Scene 4. the sports of Old England. The principal ones were hunting and hawking, but they do not belong to this part of my paper. Next to them comes bear-baiting, which seems to have been the favourite amusement of the multitude: indeed it was one in which all classes took part. Master Slender thought the subject fit for a lady's ear, one by which he might ingratiate himself with sweet Anne Page. Whilst, "the rampant bear chained to the ragged staff, old Nevil's "crest," forms the theme of one of the scenes in Henry VI, where the followers of the Red Rose and of the White engage in angry altercation Clifford Are these thy bears? we'll bait thy bears to death, Run back and bite, because he was withheld; Hath clapp'd his tail between his legs, and cry'd.* Shakspeare lived in an interregnum; the chief pleasures and pastimes of the middle ages, the times of joust and tournament were almost gone, leaving a love of pageantry behind them; but the athletic games of the present age had not taken their place-cricket is not once mentioned in his plays; whilst the present annual contests, the boat races, seem to have been quite unknown. England was then as guiltless of rowing clubs and eight-oars as of the chariot races and the foot races of the games of Greece. Nor have we any allusions to our present horse races. There is one passage in the Tempest which shows that England was then very much what it now is a land where the multitude will run after any strange show. It is where Trinculo discovers Caliban, and takes him for a monster with ancient and fish-like smell." He is delighted with "a very 2 Henry VI, Act v, Scene 1. |