New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1855-04-10

sould crafty his DESIRE aud at The "a no un'
A,s unyaryirg object Of pleasing bic royal ms''e' W
.v,k,nng symps,by for her Lane Nferi an snse''y'"
en.,. ring Edward and Henry, AID rendering .","
vtskpesses less glazing by the strong c'n'' y
DARK and deep infsuy Of the msn ~ro usa'P '.'"
eyep.. II the poet had always oraNh h'' iu'pH"
ten from the bright fresh fountain OF his an FANCY
and NOT from the mo'bid reoevoir OF cour'y 'as'e'
ke veu,d have seeced his heroes auf hsr'ioss IRON
the luxurant ard poetic characters Of the pas.i'aa'e
South and dreamy North. He would h;ve drawn
kem the rich lore of Ciuthio and B'cao-
eio. and the romantic my'h Of DenmNk or
Of Scotland, and reveled in the creations OF
Othello and Romeo, Of Haml-t aud ha;ossn.
He would have wandered among ms VIVA
and unconfned mountains Of imaginaden, and no'
dsteerded TO the sober ard hedged helds oil hos'su
history. Yet In biz rsDbles about the good e'd Guy
of London, his ever.wakefui aud conprenens"ei mn"
~, hsvo been derfully touched by the traditions
which clustered around every house ana nc con'1 not
h.ve entered the Tower and stood those spots still
stained with the blood Of some da'k deed or where,
n the stain be botted ont, the age which blo.s it
rsses in It's s ad befo the eye an image OF strange
horror uitbou, having his imagination powerfully in
fuspctd We can well fancy, as he gazed on the
chamber in which "the gentle babes we're cut do ~n
IKE flowers before the ruff an blast Of ambidon that
tbore thrilling words we're born which placed even
on the lips of their hireliog mur6erers, will VIII lie
hearts b. At upon this earth, leave cad, sympbouous
echo to move sg.in and again, and for all time 10
come, tbo.e chords which lie tenlefest and deepest
'Ohus ... lay the gentle babes
within heir ssbas.er il noe sDt srm,:
TIER lips for rcd roses 70 sax.
which il their sumner te,ut? Kissed e'ch Other
A book Of prsyers on their pillow lay;
Bu
The most rep.ni.hsd s9eet worn Of oatare
Tb.r, from The priooe creation, e'er che ffsuid"
Cold AZ hard must be tn besrt which would not
love tie IT, an who wrote those words But 1t there
wa hefe and there incident which startled from
lie rect beautiful thought or noble emotion, and II
the comparative freshness OF the occurrences clothed
b,s ram es in the Tower and in the streets OF Lon
don with peculiar interest still this very freshness
derived history Of that hazy vail which, mythical
or ancient story is the chief ohsrmer of the poet,
who're fancy is allured and developed by the mys
teious dimness Of the vague and distant but checked
and &C fined by the positive and near.
In Hsmlet, Mscbe'h, Lear, OthelO, Percles, ri
olsnus, Anti ony and CIeop,tr and even in Julius
Cassr, bis imagination had unbounded fling because
the history alegori al or remote enough to allow
him to mold it to bis fancy; but in dramas founded
on events which happened only an age before he
wrote, his imagination YVES bemDed ia among the
historical records and almost memories of these
events by which be vas surrounded, AID he had con-
sequenuy to govern it by the requirements of strict
historic truth.
While the wings of poe'y were thus clipped, he
found even in the lower and more confined region of
rsliiy in which re had to bound his fl ght difficulty
Of mott trying description. The English character
, in s nature, essentially undramsc. 1t spositive
4
sophisticated in his villsny English hero is
direct and demonsratve in bis beroism. There is
nothing ideal In the character Of either. No hesta-
ipg scrupes lend their drapery Of romance to sone
what subcue the horror nspired by the one. No
frsn weaknesses give softening tone to the stern
rspect inspired by the o,her Each ia perfect
ubi,y-but the unity of highly colored picture
without touch of thude. the few parting sood-
nessos which linger sometimes round the villains
vices make him less hateful; the few parting weak
pesses which lineer round the heros virtues, make
him better loved. Strong coloriDg without Ell .de
startes II eye but does not touch he heart. Com
Mon sense unehasiened by the comp anonship OF her
more exquisite sister, may win our judgment bat docs
not cspiivate our feelings. IL this which drove
Sbakspere to wander into more generous and genial
soils. That stubborn common sense which is at the
rame time the strength and the weakness Of the En-
glsh character, is the very anpooe Of impulse aud
Of fancy. Thus Shaktpere drew bis nobest pictures
Of men and sweetest of women from other lande
Hamlet and Antonio Desdemons aud Portia were
foreigners. In fact the genius Of Shskspere seened
70 grow upon the absence OF all tn =, by which genius
Il usually fed The more barren and material men
and things around him, the more spiritual
his conception, and the more exalted his thought.
lie himsef admits this barrenness OF inspiring mate
rial in England and her history, which has driven
him in his historic dramas often to substitute crowd Of
incident for exuberance of imagination aud to supply
the absence of poetic element, with rush Of positive
event. Thus, in his dramas of the Henrys, we fnd
multitude of incidents which would require each do
minion for its development compressed together into
one. So again in Richard Ill, Shakspere was re-
duoed to the same alternative by the uncongenial
nature Of the characters In weaving the play
Of Richard Shakspere influenced by the patriotic
impulse of clothing with the enchantmerts OF his
genius these eyeps with which every street and
stone around him was 80 eloquentiy full, and at
Abe came time by the serve instinct Of seizing the
historic opportunity to pander to Elzabeths vanity
and pride. TO achieve this latter purpose, Shakspere
undoubtedly hung the blacklist and deepest shades
around the already dssk historic picture Of Richard
III. But ne was no 50 extravagan in the blsckness
of his draping, as was attempted to be ikown By
Horace Walpole. who had strong politieal bias
sgainst the TudoSs and who alec no doubt
Influenced by that eccentric, errs'ic impulse cenmon
even to great minds, but especially to those Of his
ingenious class to ga;nsay what the rent of the wsrld
be)ieves. Shakspcre took his ;dss Of Richard from
Holipsheds Chronicles, which represent him as al
unDitjgated villain; and we find the HouA of Com