The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1881-11-23

influence over his ompanion.in-Rrms, anC
an avenging tate was over all, working GU
the eternal law. A lesson Of Csssius i!
that, in politics, personal feeling should
not DO permitted To become the motive o.
action, and that, when this is the case, il
effect is to vitiate judgment, and to bring
confusion and accident.
Mark Antony is the type OF class
which has wrought much disturbance and
harm. A brilliant orator always Yields q
power mighty for good or evil. Antony
was an adroit and splendid orator; but the
moving force OF his elOquence was always
his own selfish purpose, His Grafton over
dead Caesar is marvellous piece OF litera.
ture, and we are SHOWN how it moved the
Roman popuaco 10 whatever feeling this
artful demagogue deemed necessary Tor his
own designs. The citizens, who, ut the
close OF Brutus' speech, cried, Live Bru.
tus bring him with triumph home! give
him statue with his ancestors let him be
CGsarw after Antony's eloquence are
ready to burn the house OF Brutus, and
drive him and his iellOw-conspirators out
OF the gates OF Rome. The capriciOusness
OF the multitude,-"the beast with many
heads, US Shakespeare elsewhere calls the
Roman CitiZenS,--is finely illustrated in
these scenes and the political teaching full
OF instruction. The further career OF An
tony, in the play OF .lHtOny and Cleopatra,
shows how selfish life, however helped
out by splendid abilities and golden oppor-
tunities, must end, serving no good pur-
pose to itself or the State but bringing
death and disgrace to the one, and disas.
ter battle, ind blOOdshed to the other.
That Shakespeare fully appreciated the
high moral attributes and cultivation that
should 50 tOmakG up the governing power,
is evident when he makes that wise old
hero, Ulysses, say;
There Is mystery In the soul Of state,
Which hath an operation more divine
Than breath, pen, can give eXpnSsurC TO-"
! might multiply instances, but these
may be sufficient, perhaps, for my design;
which is simply to show where this form
Of political teaching is to be found; and how
Shakcspeare's plays are full of it, Nor are
these lessons too Anticipated for present
usefulness. The great poets mind was OF
such capacity that il reached far beyond his
own time in its conception Of truth; which
is often so startingly exhibited in the light
Of the present that his utteranCes seem in.
spired by prophetic power This gives
us faith in his teachings; and the student
Of his plays always gains breadth Of
thought by instructions that, while refer
ring to special instances, teaching specific
truths, and showing great examples, are eX-
tending the reaches Of his thoughts.
To those who are prCjudiced against the
theatre ON account Of conspicuous faults
that have murrcd the work Of famous dra-
matte writers, ! can on y say: let lis not
condemn the good with the bad. The
drama is u power and always will be; for it
appeals too strongly to our hearts and i'm
NginNtions ever to tall into decay. Its
power Of teaching is commensurate with
the startling effects Of its liiG.likc reprcsen-
taliOns. When passions are excited by it
without the development Of principles lead.
ing to moral or political truth, it may Justly
be condemned us idle or pCrnic0uS; but
this is not the case with Shakespeare
plays, which are full Of noble purpose, and
instinct with divine principles and ever
lsting truth. Their study cannot fail to
make us wiser and better and can safely
rcfcrNllwhO would learn that broader kind
OF political knowledge, which comes Of
anacQuNintanre with the hearts Of men and
mOvingsprngS Of human action, to that
mighty magician, to whom it was given to
look into the bOsOms OF mankind and read
in this living book history Of passions,
emotions, aspirations, fears and hopes, to
comprehend with miraculous apprchen.
sion the divine truths Of human nature;
and to set down all this in tho impcrish-
able characters Of sublime pOCtry-pOptry
that appeals, in its own marvellous way, to
the strange mystery OF our souls; calling
up pcrccptive and imaginative faculties
that, in their weird power, reach far above
the plane OF ordinary thought, rs II spring.
ing up TO Il divine original. Thus the i'm.
prcssiyc force Of SlNkCspCNre's lessons is
due not only to their power OF truth, but
to the cnChAntmcnt OF the poets art.
In place Of the dim, uncertain, shadOwy
forms Of political principles that may be
floating in our minds, he hangs up in the
cham bcH OfmcmOry magnificent paintings,
grand works OF art; where mighty figures
look down upon us from the canvass; show
Ing, in brilliant cOlOring and absolute dis.
tinCtncSs, all the forms Of beauty, grandeur,
sorrow, terror, nobility, misery, crime, and
innocence, in which ho has depicted the
human soul. And under each one Of these
great pieces Is inscribed Macbeth, liking
Lear" "julus Cesar" "Coriolanus" or
Antony and Cleopatra" through the list
Of plays that need not repeat; for who,
that has once seen or read them, ever for
gets?