The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1878-04-24

special study 10 any one OF Lhe pIotess
ions with the learning Of al
of which he shows himself
SO acutely familiar. 1t seems probable
that the rational explanation Of Shakes
peare's technical kn )wledge of subjects
which, in his day as as in ours, were only
taught in distinctive schools, is found in
his wonderful quickness of appreciation
snd reteutive memory. He needed no
apprenticeship to en- attorney to pick up
what he knew about the processes OF law
he was not necessarily compelled to read
Galen and Hippocrstes TO know what hs
knew about medicine; nor did he neces
sarIly have recourse to the "LiVes OF the
Saints" TO write with such subtle accuracy
in accordance with the theology Of his
| time. Numerous passages in his plays
show that he was thoroughly versed in
music, but it is extremely doubtful that
he ever received from teacher lesson
in the first rudiments Of the
art. He exhibits skill as con-
noiseur of painting and sculpture
yet there is no evidence that he ever
read book about art or ever critically
examined painting or statue. His
military science is correct, but there ls
no evidence that he ever set a squadron
IN the field. 1t seems that TO Shakes.
pesre the slow processes of education
were unnecessary and that ne knew by
rapid mprehension-almost intuition
that which, to ordinary men, is only
the fruit of lsborious years Of scquisi-
ton
Added to this was his wonderful power
of expresslon-hs iecundity of illustra.
Lion-his marvellous wealth Of imagery
his unexampled rhetoric-his mar
shalling of words that give life and
movement to the figures Of mis- fancy, and
while they stir the spirit OF the reader,
rive fl. expression 10 his thought-eI-
citing the emotion and translatiD e
it into breathing words. The
reader finds himself, almost
against his will, Transformed into one OF
the real personsges OF the scene, and
feels the weight of the horrible secret
and the stern duty that oppressed the
tagging and phllosophic Hamlet; the
agonizing jealousy of Othelloi and the
intensity OF suffering which flial ingrati-
tude wrought upon poor old despised
Lear. lie cannot escape some feeling Of
the spell which Cleopatra threw around
the captive Antony, nor some touch OF
the tender and passionate love-crazS OF
young Romeo. la short, there Is no one
of the leadirg characters 10 any OF
Shakespeare'S plays that is not complete
lv human. The best and the worst sides
OF our common nature with all their in
termediate grades are faithfully portray
cd, and Shakespeare characters make
up an entire world.
One of the remarkable omissions in
Shakespeares dramatic works is the ut
ter silence Of self. The little concerns Of
the daily lite of the poet; his
own Joys and SORROWS; his personal
hopes and dissppointments' are never al
luded to except rs they were in common
with those of the whole human race.
He wrote tor all mankind, Of which he
was but one. and We fail TO find In any OF
his plays a single passage which can be
fairly interpreted IS revelation of his
own private and peculiar Joy or grief.
The critics think that the sOnnets, which
seem to have not been originally intend.
ed for publication, (for Meres mentioned
in 1898 chs sugred sonnets among his
private friends") contain something OF
the personal revelation that is absent
from the plays. The sonuets were first
collected and published IN qusrto form IN
1869, certainly without their authors
consent, and some Of them are OF
doubtful authenticity, although by far
the greater number are believed to
be Shakespeare's own. There are
traces in these of the writer's devoted
ness to q triend-Oi an estrsngement and
q reconciliaLiOn-of al amour and an
absndonment-whic have been pieCed
together by the critics and from
obsure hints, Interpreted as heart
history of the authors self. The evil
dence upon which the superstructure is
founded is very slight indeed and is
scarcely better than the conjecture that
when Prospero, the ben,gnsnt and con-
templative magician o. "Ihe Tempest"
"breaks his staff, browns his bOoks-snd
dismisses his airy spirits, going back to
his dukedom, Shakespeare was thinking
of his own resignIng OF his powers OF
imaginative enChantment, his parting
from the theatre where his attendant
spirits hSd played their parts, and his re-
turn to Stratford." Although The
Tempest was one of the latest written Of
Shskespeare's plays and it is quite pro-
bale that ut the time of Its
composition he felt that his long cher
ished desire Of retirement from work,
and of the enjoyment of res: and ease
upon the patrimonisl acres which his
well-earned wealth had repurchased and
redeemed was near It's Consummstlon,
vet it is refinement of conjecture to
which we can scarce give credence that
Shakespeare consciously presented Pros
pero AS an image Cf himself. True,
Shakespeare is msgicisn-hls tateiVI
wand throws spell upon oar spirits IN
each of his mstchless creations, and
touches at will the fountain OF our laugh
ter or our tears. He breathed upon the
dry bones of tradition and living Kings
snd heroes stand forth; he touched with
his alchemic pen the rude and gross
creations of Italian nOvellsts and dross
is Transmitted into gold, the rags Of
coarse sensuahty are replaced by the
robes Of chaste and sparkling mirth,
garment of praise for the spirit
OF hesyiness;" bu. with sll this
the minor concerns of the individual life
Of the writer never obtrude themselves
and are never known. Indeed such 50
important matter AS the religious belief
of the writer-writlng as he did st time
when religious party lines were strictly
drswr-when the terms Protestant snd
Papist, Couformist snd Puritan, hsd
much more significance and much more
Of material import to the personal con-
fort of the subject thsn now-ls Still
s,udiously concealed. He is claimed by
Protes,st and Catholic alike, but neither
has been able to prove cohclusively, from
his plsys. to which form Of worship he
personally inclined. 1t can be safely as
serted thst he was not Puritan, for the
PLAYERS were the especial objects OF an
Athena by the Puritan divine:, and 81
theatres were closed and al plays inter
: l:..,l g.,-;-.- .ba sCn hra DrpiOminAnCe