The Press. — London, England, 1856-05-03 00:00:00

MAY 3, 1856. The sailors sought for safety by our boat, And left the ship, then sinking-ripe, to us. 3ly wife, more careful fur the latter-born, ii d fasteu'd him unto a small spare mast, S u ch as seafaring men provide for storms : To him one of the other twins wad bound, Whilst I had been like heedful of the other. The children thus dispos'ci, my wife and I, Firing our eyes on whom our care was fir'd, Fasten'd ourselves at either end the mast ; And floating straight, obedient to the stream, Were carried towards Corinth, as we thought. At length the sun, gazing upon the earth, Pispers'd those vapours that offended us, And by the benefit of his wish'd light The seas war'd calm, and we discovered Two ships from far making amain to us; Of Corinth that, of Epidanrus this: lint ere they came,—O, let me say no More ! Gather the sequel by that went before. Duke. Nay, forward, old man ; do not break off so, For we may pity, though not ps.rdon thee. „Epos. 0, had the gods done so. I had not now Worthily terra'd them merciless to us! For ere the ships could meet by twice five leagues, We were encounter'd by a mighty rock, Which being violently borne upon, Our helpful ship was splitted in the midst; So that in this unjust divorce of us Fortune had left to both of us alike What to delight in, what to sorrow for. Her part, poor soul! seeming as burdened With lesser weight, but not with lesser woe, Was carried with move speed before the wind, And in our sight they three were taken up By fishermen of Corinth, as we thought. At length another ship had seized on us; And knowing whom it was their hap to save, Gave healthful welcome to their shipwreck'd guests ; And would have reft the fishers of their prey, Had not their bark been very low of sail, And therefore homeward did they bend their course. The line for elucidation in this passage is : For, ere the ships could meet by twice fire kaguec. By the description of 2Egeon it would appear that the two ships he had discerned could have been at no great distance when the disaster which separated him from his wife occurred. He was able to make out to what ports they belonged, and he was a wit ness to his wife and the two children being rescued from the sea. We may be quite sure, therefore, that Shakespeare never wrote, "by twice five leagues," which would be absolute nonsense. Three or four miles would be the utmost distance that we could allow for the ships when seen in the first instance, and that distance must have been much lessened before the wreck took place. " Twice five leagues " make a distance of thirty miles ; but dEgeon speaks as if the ships were rapidly approaching when his mischance happened, his calamity being aggravated in recollection by the very circumstance of succour being so near at hand. It is improbable that, in the speech as originally written, there is any allusion to distance at all. A man in .Egeon's perilous state would not think of estimating the exact distance which separated him from aid. Had he said, " ere the ships could meet by half a mile," the passage would have been intelligible, but assuredly not poetic. We fancy he must have contented himself with say ing "ere the ships could meet," as above he had said : But ere they came,—O, let me say no more ! At all events, it must be evident that the passage is most corrupt as it stands, nor can we think of any satisfactory emendation ; but assuredly if we had the genuine text of Shakespeare before us, as it is as sinned the corrector bad, the error would be dis covered at a glance ; and it is, at least, remarkable that while the MS. corre c tor has, according to what is said by the reviewer, anticipated so many of the emendations which have been published by the com mentators, he should not have touched many pas sages where the corruption has been unnoticed or is inexplicaJle. The true sense of the above passage we imagine should. be "ere the ships could meet, by ad "verse fortune--or a continuance of the mischance " which befell us from the first—we were encountered "by a mighty rock ; " and it is not improbable, nc w that the corruption is pointed out, that some acute mind may be able to suggest the right reading. " League " is so remarkable a word that we are inclined to think it must have been originally used, and the line might have read something like— For, ere the ships could meet, by ill fates leagued Vie were encuunter'd, But we do not venture to propose any reading. We only adduce the passage to rebut the monstrous assumption that a prima-facie case has been made out that the text of the corrector is the genuine text of Shakespeare. In connection with the passage quoted, we may mention that the last word in the line-- While I had been like careful of the other, should be altered to the plural sense, " others:: as -Egeon is speaking of the two companion children to those secured by his wife. We find that the cor rector's Pen has been busy with this very scene. In the line printed in the folio— To seek thy help by beneficial help, ti n h 0 fl S R a a b 13 a II b ti 1 a a e 11 11 is 11 a I 0 is THE PRESS. the corrector substitutes " hope" for the first "help." Mr. Singer, as we showed in a previous article, had proposed " fine." The probabilities, we think, are in favour of the word we suggested : 1.. To seek thy hap by beneficial help. Egeon had, at the commencement of the scene, used " hap" in a precisely similar sense : In Syracusa was I born ; and wed Unto a woman happy but for me, And by me, too, had not our hap been bad. The word " hope" is altogether inadequate to the sense, for /Egeon, as he tells us, was himself " hopeless ;" and if the choice lies between the two words "hope" and "hap," we believe no Shake sperian will hesitate to take the word suggested by conjecture, rather than the one we are told we ought to receive on authority,—though to be sure, if common sense has nothing to do with the matter, as the reviewer positively asserts, there can be no objection to making nonsense of the text of Shakespeare as fast as such " authorities " as Mr. Collier's corrector can effect it. (To be continued.) ••• We have received a number of communications on the "text of Shakespeare," for which we will endeavour to find room in succeeding issues. tint Iris. THE ROYAL ACADEMY. THE eighty-eighth exhibition of the Academy will open to the public on Monday. The private view took place yesterday, when the usual number of political, literary, and fashionable notables visited the rooms, and by skimming the cream of the expo sition obtained sundry conversational advantages available for three dinner-parties; but all will be equal again at Monday's board. The exhibition con tains more pictures of excellence than mual. A few of our best names are not in the catalogue. Mul ready, Maclise, Egg, Eastlake, and Creswick (except in one work, and in conjunction with another artist) are absent, but the majority of the leading men of the day have put forth their strength. We propose merely to give, upon this occasion, a glance at the principal features of the exhibition, reserving de tailed criticism. Mr. Millais has several works, the largest being a domestic subject, an invalided officer, with his lovely wife and children, at the time when the journals announce that "peace is concluded." The wife is silent with intense happiness, and the children have placed upon her lap, from the treasures of Noah's ark, the four animals representing the powers, to which they now add the dove and olive-branch. Another of Mr. Millais's works, " Autumn Leaves," represents a group of girls, of various auractions, making a bonfire. The " Child of the Regiment," with its little arm hurt in the battle raging outside an old church, has been carefully laid to sleep on the tomb of some Crusader, and a soldier's coat is thrown over it by its friend wbo has rushed back to the melee. The most remarkable of this artist's works is the "Blind Girl," in which the peculiarities of the school to which he belonged, but upon which his genius has enabled him marvellously to improve, are more illustrated than in his other contribu tions. Mr. Stanfield's great work this year is the "Abandoned," a wreck alone in the ocean—the idea suggested by Washington Irving: this artist has also a second work, of a less melancholy character, a 'Guards Costa riding out a Gale." Sir Edwin Lanill-eer has s painting of a noble dog that has just saved a child front the sea. The little fellow is still livid and insensible, with a streak of sea-weed across his breast, but he is "saved "—this will be a house hold picture. Another of Sir Edwin's works is called " Highland Nurses," and represents some female deer licking the wounds of an injured stag; dedi cated, rather curiously, to Miss Nightingale. Mr. David Roberts has a grrnd interior of St. Peter's at Rome, at the Christmas festival, with the Pope borne in procession ; anl this gentleman's archi tectural kn orledge and power of dealing with details have possibly never been more severely tested. He also has other works, including one of bis favorite promontories with classic ruins bathed in sunshine. Mr. Webster has but one picture, some cottage chil dren at " Hide and Seek ; " the entire family intent upon the sport, and every likely and unlikely hiding place being selected by the players. Mr. Frank Stone has a painting upon the subject he always clings to so faithfully, but this time he preaches the salutary 1 sson that a love vow made in haste may be repudiated upon consideration. Mr. Leslie has but one, a statuesque " Herrnione." Mr. Patten shows us some full limbed, half clad, female beauty; and Mr. Frith has a family parts a little girl, surrounded by a great garland, receiving the con- 427 gratulations of all her relatives on her " Birthday; • she seems less than grateful for the demonstration. Mr. Frost presents us with the " Graces," and a " Nereid," and a " River Nymph ;" and Mr. Pickers gill has five or six portraits. Mr. E. M. Ward's works are Marie Antoinette's farewell to her chil dren, before her murder, and Lord Byron, in his youth, gazing through a window into a chamber of Annesley hall, where the object of his passion is dancing. Among the works by artists at present untitled, and which will excite attention, are Ary Scheffer's remarkable portrait of Mr. Charles Dickens; a por trait of the Empress of the French, on horseback, but with her hat removed, by M. Pontibonne (" not pretty enough," is the verdict of visitors) ; a portrait, by Mr. Claxton, of the venerable Bishop of Calcutta; three masterly portraits, by Mr. H. W. Phillips, of Owen Jones, Sir C. Campbell, and Dr. Sandwith ; a street scene in Cairo, by Mr. Lewis; the " Death of ChatterOn," by Mr. Wallis, and the same painter's " Andrew Marvell returning Danhy's bribe ;" a " Fisherman's Haunt," by Mr. George Chester (pity that it is hung where its real merits are almost undiscoverable) ; Mr. Hunt's marvellous "Scape goat," with its deep pathos and wonderful back ground; Mr. Robinsou's clever imitation of Maclise; Mr. Solomon's pretty young ladies having their fortunes told on the cards; and Mr. Halliday's capital study in the nature school—the lover measuring the lady's finger for the ring. Baron Marochetti's bust of the Queen, in tinted marble, and Mr. Bailey's, in white, have the places of honour in the sculpture hall, where also are a great many of those pleasing but characterless imita tions of Greek art which pass for English statuary. There are some pretty statuettes, and several ex cellent busts, including several admirable likenesses by Mr. John E. Jones ; and Mr. Munro has displayed his usual delicate grace in his children. Indeed, if one could see these sculptures, we have some idea that the collection would be deemed a good one. We are happy to add that the other oubliette, which used to be known and hated as the Octagon room, has ceased to be used as a condemnedicell for artists. OLD WATER-COLOUR SOCIETY. Tins exhibition opened on Monday last. Though the number of works presented to the public does not exceed three hundred, the number of good pictures is larger both absolutely and in proportion to the whole than the corresponding number in any of the other exhibitions of the season, the Royal Academy itself excepted. Both figure-subjects and landscapes are numerous and excellent. Among the first, Mr. Gilbert's "Her Majesty inspecting the wounded Coldstream Guards in the Hall of Buckingham Palace" (83), commands attention from its size and the importance of the subject; but the eye soon grows tired of a collection of mere portraits however striking the principal likenesses. Mr. Gilbert has spoiled a fine subject by an utter want of sentiment. We are irresistibly reminded of the woodcuts in an illustrated newspaper as we look at the stolid faces of the Crimean heroes and the theatrical attitudes of the chief figures in the picture. Mr. Lewis's "Frank Encampent in the Desert of Mount Sinai " (134) is certainly the finest picture in the room, but it needs study to be fully appreciated. The incident chosen is the presentation of a scheikh by a dragoman to an English nobleman. The con trast of expression in the personages of the scene is perfect. The self-importance of the scheikb, the in dolent self-possession of the Frank, stretched at full length on the ground, and the quizzical coolness of the interpreter, are admirably given; while the marvellous eiaboration of the minutest details—the tent-ropes, the smallest bit of stone lying broken on the parched and glaring soil, the dead game, the cane backed chair, the ornaments on the chibouk, the coffee-cups, even the Galignani and the Quar terly—surprises us by its almost microscopic accuracy of imitation. The contrast of colour is striking, and in the richest harmony ; but Mr. Lewis's flesh is positively disgusting,—it is like dirty clay, dead, pasty, repulsive. Mr. Burton sends but one subject this year: "A Tale—Beggars of 0 ber- Fran ken " k 2221, full of truth of expression. The distinction between the life long sufferings of the grandmother's face and the prema ture misery of the child's is exquisitely marked. Mr. C. Haag's " Sabine Peasant " and "Pifferari " are full of his peculiar cleverness. Mr. A. Fripp's " Italian Peasant Woman " and " Neapolitan Peasant Girl" are remarkable for great correctness of draw ing. Mr. F. Tayler's "Dog-fight" (281) is capital: full of spirit and vigour, telling the story, perhaps, a little too plainly for " nice people," who may turn with more gratification to his " Huntsman's Boy and Bloodhounds," where the heavy watchfulness of the dogs is strikingly caught and expressed. Among the landscapes we may notice especially Mi. Branwhite's "On the River TeiA ;" Mr. Smith's " Clan Gwynn ;" and Mr. Gastineau's " River Dcchart." There are some beautiful flower-pieces by •