New-York tribune., 1874-12-09
THE LECTURE. PLATFOKM.
THE WOMEN OF SHAKESPEARE

ApIsCoURsE A BY THE REV. JOHN whiss
Tho Rev. John Weiss who delivered Sc
iee OF lectures upon shakespearos 'n"
sh,s eity last winter, gave 'he nts' VI
= series Of analyses OF the women oi onaA' ~
r..re at the Union League Theater last evening.
n,.n as we'll filed. Mr. Weiss began his lecture with
, reference TO the arguments which take away from
Shakespeare tho credit for authorship He himsch
favored the shakespearean theory and accounted ior
the similarity Of ideas as seen IN Shakespeares plays
and Bacon's work. by the friendly relations thar must
have existed between the poet and the lawyer
love think said he that Shakespeare wouio s'ea
AWAY from the Mermaid often than his 1eHo"-
players liked, to with Essex perhaps 10 urso h''"
with the happy suggestions OF friendship. inero was,
indeed that between the spirits OF the philosopher "
poet which qualified them 10 be mutual INSTRUCTORS
Tho structure Of Shakespeare, open at every pore
every influence pervaded with the conVersaon Vi
hts age The interchange made thoroughtare OF hm'
and as 10 passed detained all the nourshment 'ha'
his Imagination craved and let the rest escape
He lived amid the impromptu wit and kuow-
edge Of friends, passing it through mis- lungs
and transmitting 1t by magnificent pulses
purged OF superHuity, sweetened aud banehed. 3d.
whether at the Mermaid visiting the haunts Of travel
ers and sailors pick up tales listening to the
comments Of Bacon lounging TO rehearsas on the
OF Southampton, the center OF group OF brlah'
men, became the person that pervades the dramas
and all surmSes to his early employment became
tmpfrtinent.
women in the mind Of Shakespeare, or she embodied
them to play their parts AntGme. Medea.
Electra already exhausted, as the divine
Beatrice exhausts, our womanhood. They seem only
Isolated qualities sketches, that wait 10 ne lDsieu.
Medea the quality OF mortneu' nopeS'eI o,T, ox
trayagant submission OF q tender lle lhey are ull
csye The note which AlceSts emits of
Willingness TO die Imogene sounds the same at te o, y,
Of her husband. With Shakespeare women oee9 oeean 20
exist first tiIue in literature ne ulseoNtIcH
women and took note Of our generic pecuiartcS wnc
beholds the specific differences OF women. They a,i
come forth him surely as flowers to the sun vi
course do MT claim that his pages include an the
but we incline think that Nature will not be able 10
Invent fresh style unless she set1 S0s %s
which Shakespeare has described. III LORD baeon
female characters that invest them with such
dignity and grGeefuness. and this must have been
ceiyed much Of the plays, he must have known many
of the degrees of life below him. We can trust Shake
spear everywhere but we cannot imagine that Bacon
frcQuenter OF those London bauuts where Deeh.
the butcher, took his ale; where Fastaf vent where
Bottom mildly exhaed at the head Of the table A
Queens solicitor could not risk pawning the woosacs
Tor the tavern bench. Look in Bacon's writings for
trace OF that fervor which devotes plays 10 the
great ceutral passion. Read his Essay on Love, and
cona It's qT An c Ss SsH ee%Ss WAS
penetrated with the varieties OF womans temperament
with them 10 London, taking down there honest red
listed Phoebe. Audrey, Dorcas. and Mopsa with tins
and seems TO have introduced them into EIzabeth's
circle of ladies. where they so into high
sern secrets theT chasteness. % their high
spirit their tenderness their beauty OF form and SOUL
gave each OF his women portion, from Imogene
TO CeoDatra roomfull OF women served him as wen
ss a woId.full He needed not TO NOW down a whole
prairie full Of flowers 10 obtain from the alemblc OF
fancy each atom OF beauty. Woman, as she resembles
man, was Of less consequence TO Shakespeare than
woman 10 herself He only received the feminine side Of
woman luto his thought the essential woman. AL the
tendencies OF women in this age cannot transform
woman, and she will not step out Of her
self.
not 6nd themselves made obsolete by Shakespeare s
RcDIus that meet the great central passion OF love
anmating every play. steele said OF the women
ITO have loved her was liberal education" When
Shakespeare his characters In lJve the position
is as fresh as still the morning OF the world
His conversation daes with the innocence OF love- His
lovers trump obstacles out OF Overnce and subtle
them, like lecturing maldens, TO show US how
morbid the organs are This botany OF the emotions
Was the esthetics Of a later age. Miranda puts her
heart Ferdinand's hand sweetly unconscious Of
ali that action involves. There nothing but the
mask Of night on Juets face TO hide the blush
that her her lips acknowledge. Shakespeare has
fnest OF his ladies cry out with the sudden
smart II loves ideal sincerity as 1t lives IN the poets
world, to quicken suggards and scOurge prurients TO
death Shakespesres love is not puerie 1t has the in
trepdity of the seakngs, but has not their buser Its
manner is free reliant full OF sefrespect Sometimes
tt let's the flashing blade De seem sometimes Is SUP
dued in Difference until the plumes sweep the ground
shakespeare cOntrves to rear race Of women whose
physical soundness was unimpared, before the
gymansium or heahlift invented. II 5
women earned their health on horseback in the bright
English fields. 1nOgeue was prime COOK. Not one OF
OF Bysters. 50 their bodies mature like all the nature
out OF doors and become capable OF entertaining the
great passion with It's innocence and native drectness
The lecturer spoke also OF the art with which shake
spearc avoided every of violence in gesture and
description and concluded with lew words upon
beauty and harmony OF the sOnnet5.