The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1876-12-23

charming passages WHICH lllunIue tue
hook from beginning TO end. ] must
however ask the indulgence OF the reader
for one more extract which Ia inCompar.
ably the finest thing in the tragedy. Il
| ia HaroId's soliloquy, and may be found
on mage 1862, When the reader has read
Il, the critic would ask him II he thinks
II presumption 10 call II nearly as good,
II not quite, as Cato'S soliloquy on the
Immortality Of the soul in Addison; as to
comprehensiveness Of thought, elegance
OF diction, and constructive arrangement
OF ideas 1t lis spoken on the eve Of i'm.
pending conflict with William the Nor.
man, and shows touchingly the gloom
that is settling over him, and which is
soon 10 marshal his final defeat on the
battle Geld Of Hastings.
"Llie-a short day-au interval bOtResn
Nothing and dArkne5s- alttins eOnIeiouSneAs,
Vivid and StArtllng a. the lightning's flash;
And Ilks that binding glare bOholllng al,
But In an Instant gone beyond recall.
Death-R grim phantom ever haunting LIE
The Night that swallows Day-a ifshtIul pause
The black reverse Of Glory's shining shield
Lies opposite, whose emblem b tho grave. t'N
Life, Death-thS Two conditions Of one thing; b.
Whose margins meet; which Il the noruaal stltts
Which real, and which the shadow Which Il
hcalth2 Is'4 r ! sI..f.s gLt .IiHI
And which dIseaIe?-to-day We have the one "a.
Tomorrow comes the othef--a slaves spear,
A random arrow, some disastrous chance
And on this day Of life black eclipse. gJr it
To him who dies Il d the world, hU.a..l. d 81
This solid, solid, steadt1st earth, on which ID WTl
Forever 10 its sunshine, at ID touch
Melted again In chaos.S sAT7TiF-E Pd9S lo2.
Taking the above elegant extracts col
lectiyely, no hesitancy need be observed
in pronouncing the author TO be- a true
interpreter Of the dignity Of 'iambic verse
for the purposes Of heroic tragedy, -(show-
ing its adaptabiIity indeed to any dlgni6ed
form OF ideality; and well does'he acquit
himself Of any serious intraction Of its
established canons. He at once seems
TO have Invested himself Of the students
cap and to have, donned the Insignia Of
tho master. His we'll measured verse
has almost the smoothness Of q mirror;
its rythmic pulsations have the even
onward movement ofavoluminous and re-
sistless river. He rarely ofiends in his
choice OF words-andd "a rarely In his
conceptions. We're The trriter cfthii iarti!
Gle required toprOiueey from tie book IL. high.
est type Of the Authors sympathy; uih ths
truly beautiful and grand, he would take
the lines as quoted above; (page l35, and
1917. They refer to an historical occur.
renee at the time. viii the reader please
refer to them again In the above extracts
from the tragedy,-they will amply repay
his trouble. The author makes almost
mastery use Of the: portentous obtruder,
The comet. and strikes the readers imagi.
nation with rapt admiration OF the
felicity ofthe poets invention, as he In
corporated the profound occurrence into
his admirable drama. ~ 'gt .NIrfN
To say the work has no fault, were
saying more than the author himself
would claim. An acknowledged axiom
is quite appropos here-it is this: There
never was writer OF any ability, who, in
some part or parts OF his work, has not
written down parts Of passages which the
reader may discover as not entirely orig.
inal. In the heat OF conception and com.
position, this is not intentionally done,
but 1t often occurs nevertheless. The
great Shakespeare himself, sometimes is
guilty Of something like the same thing,
or ii not Ben Jonsonis. It is generally
believed that Jonson wrote Every Man
In His Humor" prior to Shakespearc's
"Hamlet." Ifso, let the reader turn To-
act LIST, scene LIST OF the former play and
read i'KnoweIl's" Advice to "Master
Stephen" and then turn 10 Hamlet" and
read the advice given by "Polonius" 70
"Laertes," act 1st, scene 81, and lle will
pronounce at once that either Shakes.
peare has initiated Jonson, or II "Hamlet"
was written first, Jonson has plagiarised
Shakespeare! The passages are too long
10 be quoted here, but tho reader can
readily refer 10 them. In respect 10
aight plagiarism (unconsciously no doubt
the author will have TO plead guilty. To
be definite, please refer to age ll6.
(AUTnoE-"Tob be the weight, to pull you down
from y."-"GODwIS's sons"
1 (SiAKESPHARRl-"Thers was tho weight that
pulled me own."-"IIESRr VIII
Again, page ll2-"1 no golden round oil soVeF-
ognty. "-"GoDwIN's SoSS"
| ISpAHRsPKARE)-tThe round and top Of golden
soyereiSaty. 90 MAcDKTn," Act ". scoue l.
Such oversights may easily creep into
the work OF any writer in spite OF him.
self. Take the speech Of the Bishop 10
Shakespesre's "Richard H." Scene II,
and read:
Brsuor-"My lord, wise mon pS'er 81. and wall
their woes"
Then refer to "Henry W." 81 part,
Act v, Scene ~: "
QuxES-' Great lords. wise men user sit md wall
their lOss."
1t Ia not to be supposed that Shakes.
peare would have repeated himself had
The resemblance Of the last two links oc-
CURED to him at the time.
or what emanation. OF like or similar
character can absolute perfection be
truthfully claimed? When the writer
would mention the works. Of those who
have made centuries ring with the echoes
OF their fame, he pauses at the threshold
OF their fame with veneration, as he sees
in i sort OF vision their mighty shades
But in the pause, comes the assurance 70
him that such critical giants as Pope,
Addison, Clifford, Lamb, Haslitt, and
others equally, exalted, have pronounced
against the absolute. perfection Of even
the greatest achievements Of either the
Forum or the Stage Having such COM
mandipg authorities, no need not obtrude
any Of his own opinions on the reader.
This we're an objectionable impertinelee,
but he would beg 70 be permitted to
claim, however, for the author ot1aGod:
wins Sons" that as the high priests OF
cultured criticism have decided that po-
siiiye and absolute perfection has no ex-
istence, the modest author, ,of this truly
beautiful work may receive the same
grace at the hands Of his. reviewers that
has, always been accorded by the might.
iest OF their guild to every emanation oil
sterling genius and talent either in the
poetical world or that Of prose- II oc-
curb to the writer that the uthor might,
without detriment to the work, have
made Tostig produce, for dramatic effect,
more mischief and villainy in the play
than he does, as too close an adherence
to history Is not required. The eharac:
ter is one that would have admitted Of
being made At least quite the equal IN
villainy-oi shakespeare's Edmund, In
Lear. Neither would II have Injured the
play, II may be assumed, for the author
10 have protracted the last scene in the
book, where Edith, wild with insanity,
attended by priests at night, goes to the
battle field Of Hastings and discoverS
Harold slatn nv tina nroWess OF the mighty