The Sun.
London, England, 1818-03-24 00:00:00

LITERARY REVIEW•

SitAICSPEARE AND HIS TIMES : including the Iliogita
~phy Of.that Poet; Criticisms on his Genius; ttNew Cbro-
.-nolvity of his Plays; a Disquisition on the Object 6: his
Sonnets; and a History of the Manners,'CudoMS, &c. &c.
of his Age. By NATHAN DRAKE, M.D. Author of " Li-
teral y flouts," am! of " Essays on Periodical Literattite."
Two Vols. 40. I 81;. CAD.ELL and DAvms.

(Concluded.)

Interesting as this work i-, in every part, to the

lovers of English Poetry, and pre•eminently 50,,t0
that numerous body, the admirers of SR, KSPEARE,
we come now to a portion of it which more

powerfully at rests our attention than any other;
that is, the chronology, and critical view of our

great Poet's Dramas. These objects occupy the
9th, 1014, II dr, and 12th -Char et s of Ihe•Second
Part ; and are illustrated with more felicity of re-
search, conducted by a mote cool and steady.
itOgareut, than have hitherto been brought to the
inquiry.

• Thm in an arr,+ngen►ent ►there ►ve have sip Utile
aid from I,ct or secure th)ci4ment, a great pait

rest lip on" coolectute, will readily be allowied„
The task ut 1)r. PR ‘K'n, has been principally to
r,:nonare and weigh the conieetnres of former
writers, anti by the aid ot a new and critical %iew
of the' Dramas theins• I%,es, either to 'confirni their
Opinions, or to piopose his own.
Here we imiy observe,' float one play, Pericles,
is established as the work of SHAKSPEARE, which
ba4brforebecn regarded as doubtful. But that
two which have had a place ill all modern vtli-
tions, natucly, the First Parf cf henry anal
Titus ..-Indronicus, are completely excluded. Nor

is the smallest cOuntenaneegiVettio theclaimsof
Locrine, Sir John Oldcastle,- Lord Cromiiell, The
London Prodigal, The Puritan, The Yorkshire
Tragedy, which indeed lia.c never been supported
by any competent author. As they had been
sometimes atttihutecl,• Mr. MALoNa thought tit to
reptint them, with Pericles, iu a supplemental
'volume, but without much contending for' their
authenticity. The genuine productions of Our
Poet for the Theatre are therefore stated as 35 ;
the I st, and succession of which, according to
Dr. DaAKE's vier, were given in a former ar-
ticle.

I. Pericles, the first of these, is considered as
the earliest effort ortbe young Dramatist, in
1590: and as being principully, if not entirely,

. . .
own. This.play was printed in Ito. as early,
as 1609, by LlEt+.2tt,y GossoN, ‘vho explicitly gat-
it as the work of SHAE.SPEARR. It is not 'among
the twenty gaartirS rvpribted by Mr..SiligYtots,
in.toue volumes, prohatily because, at the time of
that publication, the Editor bud not considered it.
The testimony of DRYDEN is. With propriety
ad-
cil►ced as of creat authority, both for its being
SHAKSPEARE'S, and for its •beiu,, his eat 'lest play:
Shakspeare's own Mnse his I'l2-ides first 'pre,
The Prince of 'lyre ;vas elder than the Moor.

Foul. 19 Circe. 1077.

After enforcing tbe external, Dr. DRAKE (l ells

Opon the internal evidence for this play, tviiinh he
disptays with great strength, by the citation of
many beautiful passases,. For its dumb•shvws,
and other irresu'arities, a ready apology is found,
in the practice of our I'o is predeces,ors ; by
which it is not Wonderful that lit should have been,
seduced in .his very frst attempt. Front a sug-
gestion of Mr. ST.EFViLNS, it is shown to be pro-
bable that StiAkse,4HE meant his Prince of Tyre
to be called Pp odes. a tunne butrowed trout SID-
NEY'S Arcadia, published in 15t30, and Much
atl-
mired by SHAKESPEAEE. 119ty it became COI"-
T,MICO or confused into Pericles is au certain.-
The conclusion of the whole inquiry, to which
more space is allotted than to aty other, is this :
" That by far the greater part of this play issued
from the pen of SHAKSPEARE, that 'it was his first
tlramatic production, that it appealed towards the
close Of the year 1590, and that it deserves to be
removed (rout the Appendix to the editions of
§HAKSPEARE, Where it has hitherto appeared,
and incorporated into the body of hi 3 works."—

p . 286.
The Comedy of Errors, which stands in this list
es the second play, is ably defended by Dr..
DRAKE from many imputed faults. Of Lore's
Labour Jost, the next in order, it is allowed that
" no play in the Author's works exhibits more
decisive ;walks of jity iiii :" yet it is asserted,
that it displays several poetical gems, contains
many jnsc moral apophthegms, and is distin-
guished by ;'an intrinsic and almost inexplicable
power of pleasing, which serves, perhaps, better
than any other criterh,ra, to ascertain. the gennin,
property of :SHAKSPEARE,“ Wltich, if applied .to
Titus Andronicus, anti what has been called The
First Part of Henry VI. at once evinces the vanity
eif rheir pretensions." The spuriousness of the
latter of these has indeed -beers fully proved by

Mr. MALONE, awl- is here confirme(l by further

proofs. Itejeciin.4 this, therefore, the two play.•
hitherto called the 241-and 3d parts of //enry
will stand as tiie first and second ; and are.con-

tittered by Dr. D. .as the next productions of the
poet ; origin 34, perhaps, sketched by illatiLow,
PEELP., and others, but totally recast and re-
formed by the masterly hand of SIiAKSPEAtIE.
" lf, however," says Dr. D. " it.shoold be thought
convenient to have the Old Play of henry the
Sixth (i e. the Ist pitt) at hand for reference, let
it be placed in an Appendix to the Poet's works
dislodging for that purpose the diSgnsting Tragedy
of Titus Andronicus, which has. hitherto, 'to the
disgrace of our national literature, and of our
noblest Poet, accompanied every edition. aspiring
to be complete, from the folio of 1623, to the
re•impression of 1813 1"
As we cannot thus go through the whole list
of these plays, we shall content ourselves with
producing a few specimens of the author's ani.-
mated and eloquent opinions on the plays of
SHAKSPEARE. Jo his account of the sth of them,
the Midsummer Night's Di-eum, be launches out
into a copious but very-amusing view of the va-
rious fictions of Fairy History, antecedent to
SrtAKseenas, particularly among the Goths and
the Scotch and concludes by shoring with what

.
teatly Of im4gination SHAKSPEAttE has made a
new Fairy BN-stein for himself, which from that
tithic has superseded every other. `.‘' The canvas, it
is true," says our author, " which SHAKSPEARE
stretched, has.' since been expanded, and new
groupes have been introduced ; but the outline
and the mode of `calotiring.whieh he' employed,
have been invariably folloWM. It is,` in short, to
his picture of the Fairy Wort& that we are in-'
debted for .the Nymphidin of DRAYTON, the
Robin Goodfellow of JoNsotsr, the miniatures of
FLErcnER and littowNit, the full-length' Portraits
of HERRICK, the sly allusions Of CORBET, atul
the spirited picturesque sketches, of MILTON."
P. 344.
Dr. DRAKE quotes several fine eulogies upon
Our great Bard from a Gerinan. Author, ACGLIS'..
TUS kVILLIAst SCHLEGEL, whose Lectures oh'
amatic Alt were translated in 1815; by 1111--..
BLACK ; and the English Reader has great obliga-
tions to him fur bringing to his notice nn author
of so much metit. Yet his own pen is equally.
aisle in charactelizing, wheneVer he undertakes
it, the peculiar excellencies of part icubir Drama.
On Romeo and Juliet he thus expresses his feel-
ings :
" Such is the force of the appeal which the
Port makes to the heart, in this bewitching
Drama,- that, were it not relieved by the urea-
sional intervention of lighter emotions, the effect
would be truly painful but with his wonted ferti-
Ury of resource, our author has effected this pur-
pose in a manurr, which, while it heightens by the
poWer of contrast, at the same' time diversifies
the picture, anti exhilirates the mind. Every hue
of many-coloured life, the effervescence of hope,
and the hushed repose of di,,appointment, the
bloom of youth, the withered aspect of age, the
intoxication of rapture.,and the bitterneis of-grief,
the scintillations of wit, and the speechless agonies
of despair, tears and smiles, gloans and laughter, '
are so blended in the texture of this piece, as to
produce the necessary relief, without, disturbing
the union and harmony of the whole, or impair-
in the smallest degree,• the gradually aug-
menting interest which accompanies the hapless
lovers to their tornb."—p. 362.
In speaking of the Two Gentlemen of Verona,
Dr. justly. condemns the hlind anti tasteless
decisions Of 11ANMER, THEOBALD, and UPTON,
who not only. dispUted. the authenticity of this
Mama, but condetntied it as a very interior pro-
duction. So, far are these. opinions, however,
from having any just foundation, that we may
safely assert the peculiar style of SHAKSPPARF. 10
lie'vividly impressed on all the parts of this
Drama, whether serious or comic. Dr. JOHN-
SON also supports him in the opinion that no one
of his plays niore abounds t, ith aphoristic sen-
tences ; and " few have more lines and. passages
which, singly considered, are eminently 'beauti-
fol."—p. 30.3.
Without further extending our view of this truly
attractive wink, which tempotary circumstances
tnAe it difficult for us to attempt, me may sniely
feel confident, that no intelligent reader can have
perused what we have written upon it, without
being convinced that we have directed his alien,
tiou to a book admirably planned, and executed
with vigour and ability abundantly sufficient ro do
Justice to that plan. In fact', diligent investigatiOu,
accurate discernment, sound judgment, and ele-
gant taste will be fonntiemployed in-every pair ;
in full proportion to the demands, for each of
them tespectively, from the various subjects of
discussion.

(hiel part of the Work, which is of neces-
si:y the shot test, exhibits to us SnAKsPE.Atre only
in his retirement at Stratford, where with heart-
felt satisfaction we see him flourishing in wealth,
acquired by efforts of talent and genius, which at:
once have mule the name of the author immortal,.
and have added the brightest wreath of gloiy to
his country. •

AS it was lately noticed in our roper that some
&seeudants of the bard have been discovered it,
indigeiit circumstances, let 115 hope that the inti-
mation wdl not he lost ; but that the libet>slity of
the country will at least give competence to the
descend.ints of him to whom we are so deeply in-
debted for natiuu glory.