The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1858-10-26 00:00:00

BRIDPORT.

BRIDPORT LITBRA.RVANTBcrzyrIfIO INSTITU•
nort.—On Tumidity evening last a deeply interesting
lecture was delivered at the above institution, by
Mr. J. T. Topham, on " Shakspeare especially con-
aidered as • moral teacher." There was a very good
attendance. In commencing, the lecturer remarked
that he supposed it might safely be asserted that no
writer who ever lived how great soarer might be
his literary renown, had received such homage, or
commanded such universal attention as Shakspeare.
Dryden had styled him "Sweetest Shakspeare,
fancy's child ;" " Ben Jonson, "Thou Star of
Poets ;" whilst Dr. Chalmers, Coleridge, and other
learned men had bestowed upon him the highest
encomiums. Mr. Topham then spoke of the altera-
tions which had been made from time to time in
Shakspeare's "Merchant of Venice," "King Lear,"
the Tempest," &c., remarking that the age in
which they were brought out accepted them as im-
provements ; the present age, however, disregarded
them, the better taste of the present day being better
able to appreciate the beauty of the text of Shako-
peace. He also gave some amusing instances of the
ideas which were entertained as to the meaning of
Shakspeare in certain portions of his lines. For
example,
•

. -
"These a divinity doth ehape our rode,
Rough-hew them how we may."
has been put down by one writer as referring to
butchers' skewers. They were not raid the lecturer,
about to ask whether Shakspeare possessed learning,
whether he was a wild genius, or a great artist; it
was enough for lum to know him as a great poet.
He next alluded to the fact that the words of Shake-
peare were quite universal even with those who were
not acquainted with his poetry. How often did they
hear quoted, "The devil can cite scripture for his
purpose," which was from the "Merchant of Venice."
1110,
Ili oliserved of all observers," "Where mer-
chant ' '`'.4t do congregate," "What's in a name,"
&c.w also quotations from Shakspeare, and these
might 6 extended considerably. The lecturer then
passed on to notice the spirit of Shakspeare's teach-
ing. The poet lived in an age when bear and bull
baiting were oommon ; when tyranny ruled, and in•
tollerance abounded. Although born in the lath
century, he bad little in common with the spirit of
that age. He taught a tyrannical age the charms of
meroy. He taught that it was excellent to have •
giant's strength, but cruel and tyranous to use it like
a giant. He says,

" Could great men thunder
As Jove himself does, Jove would ns'er be quiet,
For every pelting, petty °Meer
Would use Ms heaven for thunder; nothing but thunder.—
Merciful heaven ;
Thou rather, with thy sharp and sulphurous bolt,
fiplit'st the unwedgeable and gnarled oak,
Than the soft myrtle: 0, but man, proud man I
DNA In a little brief authority ;
Moat Ignorant of what he. mut assur'd,
His gluey essence—like an angry ape,
Plays suoh fantastic tricks before high heaven,
As make the angels weep."

Nothing taught meroy more beautifully than the words
of Isabella, in 'Measure for Measure," when she
says,
"00 to your boeorn ;
)(nook there ; and ask your heart what It cloth
That's like my brotherk fault."

Speaking of mercy, in another place, filhakspeare
says,
"It Is twin blera'd :
It bleasith him that gives and him that taksa."
And again, he writas,

"Though justice he thy plea, oonelder this,—
That In the oourie of Juolc• none of us
Should N. @Ovation : we In pray for mercy ;
And that same prayer cloth teach us all to render
The dads of moray."
So the lecturer went on, commenting with greet
tome and fluency, in the most appreciative and en.
lightened spirit, on the sterling and striking lessons
of morality and virtue taught by the immortal Bard,
and designed to have what force they might in a
rude and unpolished age, but which have descended
to our times with a tenfold power and effect, and
will endure for the amelioration of mankind as long
as the world may last. At the conclusion of the
lecture, Mr. Topham received a rapturous round of
applause from the audience, being unmistakable
evidence of the pleasure which his talented and silo.
quaint lecture had afforded. [When good lecturers
ars so rarely to be met with—when affectation and
pedantry too often assume the task of instrueting
the people from the reading desk—when stale and
unprofitable subjects, such as the fictitious beauties
and the captivating genius of a barbarous language,
seek to enlist our attention, the management of the
Bridport Institution, in our opinion, deserve much
praise for a discerning judgment in securing the
valuable services of Mr. Topham, whose subject is as
elevating as it is interesting—opens up a prodigious
and most prolific field of philosophical reflection and
mental refinement—and is treated by that gentleman
with a care and ability commensurate with its mag-
nitude and admitted moral usefulness—ED. D.C.E.]

BRIDPORT COUNTY COURT.—The next court for
the trial of causes in the Bridport distriot, will be
held at the Townhall on Wednesday, the 10th
November. All applications for summonses must
be made on or before the With of October. Judg-
ment aumrnouses may be obtained up to the 2nd of
November.