Maumee express. [volume] (Maumee City, Ohio) 1837-1838, 1837-05-06
MAUMEE EXPRESS.
SATURDAY. MAY, 6, 1887.
HENRY REED, JR., EDITOR.
VAPOURS.

they would have exposed the source from
which flow all good and bad traits in the char
acter ofmany of the children ofmen. 1t is said
of celebrated modern writer of romances,
that she was, when engaged upon her works,
accustomed to eat hearty supper, before re-
tiring, the effect of which invariably was to
call up in her Imagination visions of those
dungeons, ruinous castles, secret passages,
daggers, skeletons and blood, with which
she has so plentifully besprinkled her produc-
tions. An equally savage effectis no doubt
produced upon the mind of the waking dream
er, who is troubled with the like disease, with
this exception, that an involuntary choice of
subjects, in the one case, is made, instead of
a voluntary one, as in the other. " Them's
our sentiments as the cockney would say,
and SO, if our readers should observe rather
an atrabillious complexion in any of our re-
marks, they--&c.
The last Knickerbocker, or one of the last,
for we don't recollect which, gives long des-
cripton of the honorable treatment which a
certain Edwin Forrest has received in Eng
land the said Edwin being an American.-
I" His whole career, has been one of constant
triumph, until at last, he stands on prouder
eminence, than in his most sanguine moments
he could ever have hoped to attain," says the
Knickerbocker. Well, who and what is this
Forrest? He is young man who has chosen
for his business, the trade of learning and re-
peating in public and for hire, certain pieces
out of the works ofan antiquated author known
as William Shakespear. These works were
intended by their author to portray the stron-
ger passions of the heart, as love, hatred, re-
venge, fear, avarice, and the like, and it is
the occupation of this Mr. Forrest, to initiate
as far as possible the acts and appearances
of those who are acting under the influence
Of such passions. But are these dramas of
Shakespear true to nature? They were writ
ten in barbarous age, when the language
in which they were written was in its infancy,
when the prevailing manners of the day were
high flown, ceremoneous, and foppish, and
when the current language of genteel society
was overstrained, pedantic and overloaded
with epithet and compliment, and they par
take of the defects incident to such a state of
manners and the language. AS an instance
let us cite one passage. A certain Roman
general ICoriolanus by name, is banished, ,-he
raises an army, and returns intending to over
throw the cty-hs wife and mother go forth
to beg him to desist, and are about to kneel,
whereupon he holds forth thus:
" What is this!
Your knees to me ? to your corrected son?
Then let the pebbles on the hungry beach
FLIP the stars then let the mutinous winds
Strike the proud cedars, gainst the fiery sun
Murd'ring impossibility, to make
What cannot be, slight work.
There If this is not precious piece of
bombast, what is it. But, another extract.
A certain Romeo falls in love, at first sight,
with the daughter of his fathers mortal enemy
He, in order to get a sight at his inamorata,
steals unto her fathers garden, by night, and
she appearing at the window, thus breaks he
forth:
&c But soft! what light through yonder win
dow breaks?
1t is the east, and Juliet is the sun
Arise, fair sun, and kill the envious moon,
WHO'S already sick and pale with grief,
That thou her maid, art far more fair than she. P"
This may be the manner in which lovers
confabulated, but if it is, it is more than we
know. Besides Shakespeare very unequal.
His heroes sometimes aboundsin high sound
ing asd lofty periods, and anon we find that
the same hero bubbering, and punning, Ia
menting and quibbling for half page at a
Time, and from thence arises monstrous
want Of consistency in the characters. Well,
is Shakespeare moral! Were modern work
to contain an equal amount of evil, with the
same quantity of good, it would be thrown
rom society, with hiss of contempt. There
ire some beautiful moral sentences contained
n Shakespeare, and there are too sentiments
which ought to'can up blush of shame upon
he cheek of every reader. The work con
aims more immodest illusions and filthy dou-
lie entendre than any other work to be found
n any family library. Shakespeare might
With great propriety be termed the " Author
# many defects" He is untrue to history,
wen in his historical dramas. He is untrue
o nature, even when not confined by facts
lie is defective in moral, even in his moral
peeches, and his antiquated and inflated style,
ften renders it impossible for his readers to