The Republican journal., 1875-04-01
Written for the journal.
Sermons from Various Texts.

rattcrO
No, let the canded tongue lick absurd pomp;
And crook the pregnant hinges of the knee,
Where thrift may follow fawning.
Hamlet, act 3, scene >.
When l lay down volume of Shakespeare,
even after the shortest reading, there almost
invariably arises in my mind the question,
whether there was any one of the weaknesses
of this poor human nature that escaped the
keen discernment Of the great dramatist; yet
this question does not suggest that his eye was
quicker to perceive the foibles than the virtues
of his fellow mortals. All the brightest and
most shining qualities of the men and women
of history, up to his time, have been placed
upon his page in so alluring manner that we
are possessed Of the spirit of emulation, and
filled with vain wishes to attain similar yir-
tues. But he was unsparing of the obloquy
which he dealt to the selfishness, meanness,
and small vices of men. Had it been possible
that anything could be neglected at his hands,
the greater rogues would have had some chance
of being overlooked by him, while he pursued
the lesser ones whom the world so often suffers
to elude their proper punishment. The most
perfect villain, Iago in merely held up to the
gaze OF the world in his natural wickedness,
with all the deformities of his mind laid bare.
The poet can trust the world to cXecrate such
moral hideousness as lagos. But the fawners,
the parasites, the sycophants, and the sneaks,
to whom the world gets accustomed and to
whose meannesses it becomes blinded from
use, these he whips with his own hand and
the rod is often applied.
At the time when Shakespeare wrote, there
were not wanting examples Of the fawning law
shed upon the powerful and great by their re-
volving satellites, nor of the cringing attitude
assumed by the commonalty towards those
who had succeeded in gaining place, power,
riches, or titles, by fraud, favor, chicanery, or
merit. Such examples abounded on every
hand, and are frequently made use of by him.
This obsequousness to those of superior world
ly position is peculiarly an English weakness.
Even in this age OF democratic tendencies there
is hardly anything that the average English
man would not willingly be, do, or suffer for
the sake of the intimacy Of lord. In the text
above quoted Hamlet is made to alude to and
rebuke this tendency of the time. He has just
been giving his friend Horatio assurance of his
regard for him, and has said to him:
"Horatio, thou art cen as just man
AS eer my conversation COPIED withal"
To which Horatio replies, ''Oh, my dear lord,' y
- as though he We're not deserving Of such
an encomium, and almost implying a doubt OF
Hamlets sincerity. Whereupon the latter ad-
dresses his friend in the words of the text,
knows to be in receipt of mo revenues" and
having no advancement" to give in return for
| 1attery and, thus disavow!ng the purpose to
| become 4 flatterer, he inveighs against the
| prevalent folly of the time in the words:
| why should the poor be flatter'd:
| No, let the candied tongue lick absurd pomp
| And crook the pregnant hinges of the knee
! Where thrift may follow fawning."
| The critic, referred to by the editor of the
| Journal in the issue of last week, "who thought
| that Shakespeare was much oNer-rated, and that
| most of his expressions might be bettered,
would probably ask chow 'candied tongue
can crook the pregnant hinges Of the knee, .
| and would have to be told by some one, that the
owner of 1.-THE candied tongue" was also pos
[! SCISSOR of 'the pregnant hinges" which he might
| 'crook," if he liked, without any great strain
| Of poetic license; it being allowable to let q
| quality, or property, stand for the person.
Doubtless we all are quite ready to admit that
this disposition to truckle to the great in world
ycondition, by the less successful, was obvious
in Shakespeare's time, and that it grew in force
| and frequency until it became known to the
rest Of the world as, distinctively, an English
trait; but shall we as readily admit that in its
expectation from England across the ocean, in
| the breasts of the pilgrim fathers and mothers
| il suffered no diminutlon of force and virtue
but was ready to spring up and flourish under
new skies and new conditions? Or shall we
claim that, because one Of the first acts of the
new community was to abolish titles. this hui
man weakness became eradicated from the
minds and hearts of the descendants of that
little band which came over the sea for the sake
Of liberty of opinion. and soon after began
hanging the Quakers? Are we any wiser or
better IN this our day and generation, N respect
to this little weakness, than were our ancestors
OF the British Isles? 1T is true, we have nc
lords before whom TO "crook the pregnant
hinges OF the knee Dukes, marquseS, earls,
Nlscounts, bar0ns, baronets and knights are I'M
known to us save in the pages of history and
novels, and the columns of foreign journals.
But haye we not found something before which
to bow, not so worthy of obeisance as the lords?
lord is by no means despicable object. The
descendant of long line of ancestry whose
members were of service to state and king, as
soldiers or cOunselors. the inheritor as he may
qualities, he realizes his position before the
p,,I 1,
brought from France by the Norman William,
and the lordly set that came with him, ''n0WesSe
o6hge," he endeavors to so regulate his life and
actions as to prove worthy example both to
them who stand beside him, and to those whose
walk in life is on a lower plane. 1t is no great
wonder that Englishmen do clearly love a
lord" for they have had many such examples
among them, and, to-day, we shall find many
score Of these gentlemen who most heartily and
sincerely agree with the ploughman poet in the
sentiment,
The rank is but the guinea's stamp,
The mans the gowd, for a that"
But our idol is not "the rank" nor 1.-THE
man." nor the ''stamp" of the guinea, but s'the
guinea itself. We care not for rank. We
boast of our independence of character, with
our possessing it, and, to show it, we scarcely
to our highest officials the common
courtesy due from every gentleman to all.
They are our servants" we say. ''We elevated
them to their positions, and they must not put
on airs" We care not for s'the man. He
virtues may be sufficient to canonize him. he
will be overlooked if he be poor. We care for
The man only as the representative of money.
We can take to our bosoms the rich man, with
he hug of the grizzly bear, provided, only, |
hat he be rich enough. The possessor of a few
paltry thousands must not expect such an en- |
brace, unless it be from some very poor rela-
ions. But the rich man shall have it, and it is |
hard to let him go from this EMBEDDING in our
arms. Our hands linger caressingy upon his |
shoulders. There is golden aura emanating |
rom him, which subtle fluid passes to us |
through our lingering fingers, filling us with |
sense of warm comfort and delightful expect
incy of the thrift" that ''may follow fawning.
His virtues may be limited to the two whose
presence makes the money-getter, industry and