The Sun.
London, England, 1818-01-10 00:00:00

LITERARY REVIEW.

SHAKSPEARE AND HIS TIMES: including the. Biogra-
phy of that Port ; Criticisms on his Genius ;_a New Chro-
nology of his Plays; a Disquisition "on the Object of his
Sonnets; and a History of the NI-antlers, Customs, &c. &c:
of his Age. By NATIIAN DRAKE, M. D. Author of " Li-
terat y Houis,". and of "Essays on Periodical Literature."
Two Vols. 4to. 1817. CADELL and DAVIES.

At the fifth chapter, Dr. DRAKE begins his
view of rural life in the time of SHAKSPEARE ; a
view as amusing as it is curious. He begins with
Country Squires, and their houses, of which the
following very curious description is copied from
Harrison's Account of -England, published in
HOLLINSHED :—" The old timber mansions," the
historian says, " were now covered with the
finest plaster; which, besides the delectable
whitenesse of the stuffe itselfe, is laied on so
even and" so smoothlie; as 'nothing, in my judg-
ment, can be done with more exactnesse." He
continues—" Of old time, our countrie houses,
instead of glasse, did use much lattise, and that
made either of wicker, or fine rifts of oke, in
checkerwise. I read that some of the better sort,
in and before the time of the Saxons, did make
panels of borne instead of glasse, and fix them in
wooden calmes. But as borne is now quite laied
downe in everie place, so our lattises are also
growne into lesse use, because glasse is come to
be so plentifull, .and within a eerie little so good,
.cheape, if not better than the other. The wale
of our houses on the inner sides in like sort be
either hanged with tapesterie, arras worke, or
painted cloths, ‘vherein eithe.r diverse histories,
-or hearties, beasts, knots, and such •like, are
stained, or else they are seeled
,with oke of our
owne, or wainscot brought hither out of the east
countries, whereby the roomes are not a little
commanded (Qu..commended), made warme, and
much more close than otherwise they would -be.
\As for stooves, we have, not hitherto used them
greatlie, yet doolhey now begin to be made in
diverse houses of the gentrie."—p. 73.
The particulars of the hospitality and festivity

of (hose times are then detailed, and illustrolea

by a judicious selection from orsryautho-
ri,ties..Theties. The•whole, indeed, is little-more than a
tissue, or what the Italians call a pasticciopof
quotations ; but the art with which they are in-
troduced and connected is very striking. The
following, description of a Country Pedant Will
shew how the AuthOr brings his matter to. bear
upon the writings of his principals abject, Ski Air.,
•

" From the description.. of.the character -.of a
country CleriCal Tutor, it is an easy: transitiOn
to- that of 'the Rural_ Pedagogue or Schoolmaster; a
personage. of .not less colisequende in the dayi of
ELIZABETH, than at the preSent.period.. Ire-
(ineptly combined, indeed, in the sixteenth • cen-
tury, the reputation of• a conjuror with that of. a
schoolmaster, arid accordingly, in. the comedy of
Errors; Pinch, in the dramatis persona, is de-
scribed as .a schoolmaster and a conjuror; and the
following not very amiable portrait of his person
,is given towards the conclusion .of the play •

They brmight one Pinch, a hungry,.lean4aced.villain,

A mere anatomy, a mountebank;

A thread-bare juggler, and 4 fortune•teller,
A needy, hollow-eyed, sharp-looking wretch,

A living dead man : this pernicious slave,

For;ooth, took on him as a conjuror.

"BEN JONkIN also alludes to this union of occv...
pations, when he says, 1 would have ne'er
cunning schoolmaster in England, 1 mean a cun-
ning man as a schoolmaster ; that is, a conjuror.'

" A less formidable figure of a schoolmaster
has been given us by SHAKSPEARE, under the cha-
racter of Holofernes, in. Love's Labour Lost, where
he has drawn a full-length caricature .of the 'too
frequent pedantry of this profession. Yet Ho
fernes, though he speak a teash of languages at
once; is wt. deficient either in' ability or discrimi-
nation ;Im ridicules, with much good sense and
htimour, the literary fops of his 'day, the rackets
of orthography ; and his conversation is (lit-
scribed by his friend, Sir Nathaniel,, the cu-
rate, as possessing all the requisites to perfec-
tion. • Sir, your reasons at (linnet' have been
sharp
,and sententious, pleasant without scorri-,
lity, witty wi,hotit affection [i.e. affectation], nu.
thiciotis without impudency, learned without opi-
nion [i. e. prejudice], and strange without heresy.'
It is very ilillicult, reit:talks Dr. JOHNSON, to add
any thing to this charade'. of the schoolmaster's
table talk; arid perhaps, all the precepts of CAS.
TIGLIONE will scarcely be found to eomprehend'a
rule for conversation so justly ,delineated, so
widely dilated,and so nicely limited."—p. 95.

In this way does the author go through the va-
rious ranks of rural society, selecfing, fro:n poet's
as well as prose-writers, whatever is calculated to
illustrate the• subject,. and enliien Ahe picture.
After speaking of the favourite beverage of spiced
ale, warmed by a toast, and roasted crab apples
throWn in,

" When toasted crabs biss in the bowl,"

he proceeds to the custom of telling :ales of amuse-
ment, while round the bowl did trot " " The
Winter's Tale 'of .SHAKSPEARE." he says, " owes
its title to this.custom, of which' an example is
placed before us in the first Scene of the -second
Act—'

Herm. Come Sir,
pray. you sit by us,
And tell's a tale.
Mani. Merry or sad, sbalt'be ?
Hem. As merry as you will,
And BURTON, the'tirst edition of whose Anatinny
of Melancholy was published in 1607, enumerates,
among the ordinary reereations'of *inter," merry
tales of errant knights, queens, lovers,
ladies, giants, dwarfs, thieves, cheaters, witches,
fayries, goblins, friars, &c. which some delight to
hear, some to tell, all at•e well pleased WiTh
and he remarks shortly afterwards, '' µ hO-1 three
or, four good companions meet, they tell -old
italics by the fire-side, or the sun, as old folks
usually do, remembering afresh and with 'pleasure
}indent ;natter, and such like accidents which hap-
pened in their younger years." MILTON 8181, in"
his Allegro, printed in 1645, gives a conspicuous
station

" To the spicy not-brown ale,
With stories told of many a feat."

and adds,

"'Thus done the tales, to bed they creep,
By whisp'ring winds soon lull'd to sleep."—p. 107.

This chapter is continued to p. 122, and is fol-
lowed by ch. vi. on the manners, customs, holi-
days, and. festivals of the country. In this part,
though he traverses nearly the same ground, in
many instances, with that which has been so well
delineated in the new and much-improved edition
ofßßAND'S.Popular Antiquities (in two v015..4t0)
and sometimes with BRACY'S Claris Calendaria,
yet, by the authors. quoted, and the manner-of
introducing them, Dr. DRAKE has contrived to
give his account a very atttactive degree of no-
velty. The Hesperides .of ROBERT HERRICK are
'often resorted to for apposite and pleasing illus.
trationsi nor is any author neglected who can
-throw light upon Che subjects. • The .account
of the May Games, Morrice Dancers, Maid Ma-
rian, &c. is particularly good, and well.digested;
containing some particulars not usually adverted
to by those who have attempted tb eluCidate these
antiquated festivities. This chapter extends to p.
208, and the subject•=is continued through the
seventh, eighth, and ninth chapters ; occupying,
on the whole, a very large proportion of this am-
ple volume.

(7'o be continued.)