The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1883-10-31
A New Shakespeare.

Mr. WILLIAM sHAKEspRARR's COMEDIES, HISTORIES,
glossaria historical and explanatory notes. by Richard
Grant white, three volumes, bostoni Hougnton'
Inside and out these volumes are In the very
neat style for which the Riverside Press is
famed:
"Plain without pomp and rich without show"
And of the soul that lives within the Utmost
shell and shines gloriously throughout its ma
terial garb-of the genius of Shakespeare-we
may quote a line Of his own:
"shew your image in some antique book"
But we must not try to "gild refined gold"
The two most wonderful books in the world are
the Bible and Shakespeare Indeed, there are
remarkable resemblances in them; in language,
pure English of its day; Shakespeare and the
translators of our Bible lived at the same time,
in the same country and used the same lam
guage, Another agreement Is in the presenta-
ton of human nature as 1t ever has been and
is and forever will be until the millennial age
shall have come. There are differences, too,
and first and chief, in purpose; the one is to
win man to immortality in the new heavens
and the new earth; while the other is to amuse
and instruct in this world Another is in pre-
senting like pictures in different modes To
borrow an illustration from the fine arts, the
portraits in the Old Testament are etchings,
presenting boldly peculiarly characteristic feat
ures. For example, Abraham. He was highly
favored by God, and we infer from line here
I"
world judges rich, and the designated fore
father OF our Lord Jesus Christ who had not
where to lay his head;' but we have him in
bold relief, as a coward, a liar, and altogether
SO unworthy, in Gods sight, that his faith
alone was Imputed to him for righteousness
Shakespeare has similar portraits, drawn
with a few sharp strokes of his pen, but many
are more like the work of the skillful steel en-
graver, with the lights and shades of charac-
ter deity drawn, and presenting picture per-
feet in all its parts The root and trunk OF our
language are 60 Teutonic quite rough in the
bark, but exceedingly strong in the body
while the branches are from many tongues,
grated at various times, to adorn and soften
II, therefore, we would have the history of our
language, we must have books that were writ
ten at different epochs, and have them, as
nearly as possible, precisely as the authors
prote them. The late George P. Marsh-an
acknowledged master in many toDgues-named
Wickliffe and his school as mines of wealth,
and Chaucer and Shakespeare as masters of
English in the fourteenth, sixteenth and be-
ginning of the seventeenth centuries. A
few years previous, however, to the ad-
vent of Mr.. Marshs admirable book on
the English Language and its Literature, "
we sought a study of our language through
the English classics printed as they aoere
Uritten. In this we succeeded measurably
in covering the same period as did Mr.. Marsh,
but there was shockingly broad hiatus
no Shakespeare as he aUrOte-Hamlet with
the part of Hamlet left out! We sorrowfully
abandoned the scheme, and gave away our
choice collection of old authors. In the preface
to this Riverside edition, Mr.. White says:
Its purpose is not to furnish material for
critical study either OF the Elizabethan dram
| atists or of the English language. 1t seeks
rather to enable the reader of general intelli-
gence to understand, and therefore to enjoy,
| aohat Shakespeare DrOte as nearly as possible
| in the very ,0dy he aoould hare understood and
| enjoyed 1t II he had Tired IN London IN the reign
| of James T." Probably Mr.. White DIES not
| mean that his edition of the great master OF
| the language will not be useful in critical
| study of it. First this edition is copy Of the
| text Of the folio edition of 1923, which was
published only seven years after the poet g
DEATH and secondly to the obsolete words,
| and words and phrases to which Shakespeare
| gave a peculiar meaning, Mr.. White has added
| explanatory foot-notes, and he is we'll known
| as competent critic; 80 we conclude that the
| Riverside edition fills as fully as possible the
hiatus to which we have alluded above, and is
at the same time far superior for general read.
ers to any edition within our knowledge. The
volumes are convenient to the hand, and the
| Typography suited to all eyes. E.P. W.
*Mr. Marshs book Is an octave, but want study
of English In hand book books consisting of seec
tons from the classics in chronological order, and fac
simies of manuscripts typography, and engravings
Mr. White and the Riverside are welcome to this hint