Port Tobacco times, and Charles County advertiser. (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1845-1898, 1852-02-04

HIS OWL CFedtlouS
Unhapply for US, literature in the time
Of Elizabeth was too stately thing to be
employed as the vehicle for gossip: Shakes
peare was not blessed with Boswell no
Horace WaIpole had arisen TO enliven his
own and instruct after ages by his PIquanI
anecdotes and lively sketches of society,
bringing us face to face with our great-grand-
fathers and grandmolhers, and giving us an
assurance of their veritable existence, which
history, in the ordinary accepIa,lon of the
term, fails to convey. Had Shakespeare
been as fortunate in this respect as Dr..
Johnson, how much labour might have been
saved 10 commentators; how many an OBJ
scure passage would have been cleared up;
with what interest might we have recognls-
ed Mercu,io or Benedict in some Of the gay
flutlerers of the Court, under names posi-
bly, not unknown to fame; or enjoyed the
castIga.ion inflicted on folly and presumP'
lion in the persons of Slender and Malvolio.
1t is worthy of remark .ha. the only char
aclers in this play which are not copied
from Lodges "Rosalynd'' are those Of
Jaques and Touchstone. Neither is of the
slightest service in the conduct of the plot,
and both bear the strong impress of origin
al,y which invariably belongs to all OF
Shakspeare's own creations. The correct
ness of the portraits would doubtless soon
be recognised by those who were familiar
with the originals, and mus, have lent much
extrinsic interest to the play in the eyes, of
those with whom the real Joques, by right
of birth, and the ori ginal Touchstone, by
virtue of his proTe >sion, were entitled 10 as
socia,e. The character of Jaques affords
much internal evidence in support of this
theory; the naughty, cynical temper of the
disappointed courtier the rebuke Of the
duke-for RaIcigh's life had no, been blame
less the turn for philosophical specualion;
The state Of Sir Walters fortunes at the date
when the play is supposed to have been pro-
duced-about the year l6OO-all agree with
what we know Of his character and history.
One striking passage must no, he overlook
ed. In Act w., Scene |, we find the follow
ing dialogue between Jsques and Rosalind:
"Jaques. | have neither the scholars melancho-
ly, which is emulation; nor the magician's, which
is fantastical nor the soldiers which is ambi-
tious; nor the lawyers, which is polite nor the
lady's which is nice nor the lovers, which is all
these but it is melancholy of mine own. Co.n-
pounded of many simples, extracted from many
objects, and indeed the sundry contemplation OF
my travels, in which my often rumination wraps
me, is most humorous sadness.
'sRosalind. A traveller! By my faith, you
have great reason to be sad! l fear you have
sold your own lands to see other mems though to
have seen much, and have nothing; is to have rich
eyes and poor hands.
''Jaques. Yes, have gained my experienceH ~
|. is scarcely necessary TO point out the
applicability of this passage 10 Raleigh, who.
eminen, as he was in many respects, was
doubtless best known as a traveller. The
allusion to his broken fortunes, in the reply
Of Rosalnd, is pointed and apropoS. That
such was the result Of Raliegh's experience
is confirmed by his own testimony. In his
dedication Of his discovery of Guiana, pub.
Ished in 1896, we find The following pass
age: 81 do NOT. then, know whether should
bewail myself either for my too much travel
and expense, or condemn myself for owing
less than tina, which can deserve nothing.
For myself, ! have deserved no thanks. for
have returned beggar and wilhered."-
These condolences may possibly be mere
ly accidental; but they q, least form a. broad
a foundation as many upon which imposing
structures of hypo,heses have been erected.
1t is, at all events, interesting even to ina
CINE that we can discover some traces Of one
Of the best specimens Of our national char
acter fossilized, as Ii were, in the poetry Of
our great drama,st. Many Of Raleigh's
poems have doubtless perished. Spenser
refers 10 projecled work of his which was
to have been entitled "Cynlhia." |, was
intended 10 celebrate the glories Of the maid
en- queen, and was probably planned upon
a large scale, since Spenser alludes to it as
being in some sort a rival Of the "Fairy
Queen" But the adventurous spirit which
possessed him was incompatible with the
life of conlemplaive solitude ndispensably
necessary to great work Of art. For his
larger prose works the world is indebted TO
the tedium Of his frequent sea-voyages and
the constrained seclusion of his latter years.
The few poetic specimens which we possess
are scarcely mo'e than ejaculatory-the al
most involuntary expressions OF mind
keenly alive to sense Of the beautiful, an!
clohing its thoughts inuiively in poetic
dress, as their most appropriate garb, with
little appearance of labour or premedila'on.
Spencer has recorded the circumstances
OF Sir Walters first introduction TO him in
"Colin Clout's Come Home Again. in which
he pays high tribute to the poetic genius
of the ''Shepherd Of the Ocean p
"Emulng my pipe, he took in hand
My pipe, before that amuled of many,
And played thereon, for well that skill ne
conncd,
Himself as Skilful in that art as any, ~
1t seems that Raleigh was at that time under
the cloud Of regal displeasure:
ellis song was all lamented lay,
Of great unkindness, and Of usage hard;
Of Cynthia, the lady of the sea,
Which from her presence fautless him debarred
And ever and anon, with singults rife,