The Arkansaw traveler., 1884-10-04

I0U4cG. GE G34&3K6 o} tuH3cu 0ls- eoveries in which he did this has been often quoted, as venture with some con- iiience to think. without just apprecia- ton of iss meaning and its importance. Ionson-a scholar, gco- critic. a poet. although not a great one. playwrght, like the man he tells us thaf he loved, and 10 whom he was indebted for the production of his iirs, play says this :;
 -s=s-ashe--A ,he players have often men toned II zs an honor 10 Shakespeare tha, m his xriiIaS whatsoever he penned he never plotted c2; a me. My ansxrr Asfh been. wouic he had plotted A thousand Winch they thought a msleyoient speech. | had rot told roste,iiy ihis but for their ignorance. who chose that circumstance 10 commend tseir frieni by wherein he mos; ianlte6 He had an excellent phanisie, essse 10 tons and gentle expressions ~here,a Ne showed xi:h that facility that sosnrtssie a vas necessary ke 'sto1id be sto2'e sgtlarss nandus erai as Augustus sasa e Haterias. His wii Sas n hss osn poSer Sou.e the rule O; II had oren so. too May rm-s he fell into those things ,ha, eouid'no, escape laughter. As when ne saie he persoa ei Cesar. one speaking io klal. | tsar isoG dos, ne wrong. He sep.y | "e essf eie never ~reEg ssut with just cause and such ike which were rasiea,oas. Bu. te tt
 
 vas ever more .a han io te sGasss9 than to be pA.coned
 The o.an4ei here attributed io Shakes pea,e IS no; found | he play as |; ap- pears iu the ia.io oi le,s our only text. But Is notably chsTa -,eiisac oi hIm n his needless raonaeats. ard II IS 4, .eas, proo4o.e that 'he pas age, IS we have T. is corrected ee suss af saCh criticism as Ionsons
 ionson ef.i.C!sE Ieves.s the seose. ai Shakespeare style ,fs ccns,an; uchpe>, ard Us e'ier spieuGot, and also ,:s ire. quen. tlul,s The secret IS an open orc II is saakeSDeare's atf. .enee of thoughts aua oi wotes. and me heaolons heed iessness Mi,h which he of;en wrote Ills facii,ty af though, and of expression was sr great ;fat as had 10 be stopped Sei;i tnlin aGdus erai: that, Is. |; was neces- sary IT AT active sernaeLlar phr ase, a put or the brakes Bat thls chaIas- icsizaiion of Ha,etius by Augustus. whieh lonson applies 10 Shakespeare. occurs Tn passage the whole ef which lenson pla,n.y hadiin mind, and which $ SC per then; ,o Shakespeare and so explanatory of ionson's criticism ,ha: II vii. be well 10 consider II Tn full.
 So ,!isas aussssa scll sad oai Hate rus needed io tr caeekcd. or he seemed nc: ia run. bn, to rush hea1lGrg. Nor Lad he only an a-' icnee Of words. but 0i facts ana thoughts.
 There could hardly be A more exAo, anc complete description ef Shakes peares style than this criticism by Aug us,us of ,he almost unknown Ha;erias who was an advocate and rhetorieian of the pos;-CiceroEian per.od. The flood of utteraIee, the haste of words which becomes hurry. the pressure of knowledge and of thought ali this tou; not the repetition of one thing IS Shakespeare 10 the life. This criticism nigh, be beaten ou, thin until |, covered pages il, nigh; be me drawn. until II would serve Shakespeare ,s,eksy spirit 10 pG, about the earth but that would T. ot add gra n to its weight, or increase by a cara, IS value. Ionson. by the help of him vho could no; add a word 10 ;he Latin Ian guage has perteotly characterized aud described Shakespeare wly of wiring He had an ircomparable copiousness of thought and o: language. and he ased both with facility which resulted mostly ir an a'fiuenoe of splendor. bei some t'res, and too often. in btillian: ,niu- sion.
 Jonson considers the form and ,he sub stance Of Shakespeare poetry; wc do not know who t was who revealed io h s contemporaries i,s spirit. and told them why II was that this mans plays at ,r.c,ed and charmed them, both IT the acting and ln the reading. as DO other , did. In the year l1o9 when Shakespeare was forty hve years old, very new play of his was published. one ,ha, had never been ac,ed--a singular fortune, for Shakespeare plays were written only for the stage, and in every other instance had become well-knoxn through the r,heater before they were printed How an authentic copy Of this play was ob- tained we have no means of knowing. This first edition of |, was preceded by an address entitled 4 Never Writer 10 an Ever Reader. Newes,1 and it's frs, sentences are these:
 Eiernali reader you have heere nex play. never sial'd si,h ,hc stage, never eiapper ciasd wth ;he palEes Of ,he vulgar, ans yei passing iuii Of the palm comieai for II Is A book Of your brain-. that never undertook anything eomic2.i yaIneiy and were bu, ,h. yaine names of Commedies ehans9e for the titles of comfao6i;.es or Of f!ayes for Pleas. you should see all those g.z.d censors that nos silie them such sarit!es. flock 10 them for ihe maine grace Of iheir gr4yi;ies especially thts authors Commedies that are so grained 10 the life hat they serve for tse most common Commentaries of all the se- tons of OFT lives, &hoSipg such desterstie and power Of ~ifte hat the most dixpie2sed ~Iih Piayes are pleased <iih his Comrieciss. And all such dull and hsasy xitted world linEs as were n.YsT capable Of ihe site cf a Commecie, coming by report of fhefs. 10 his representations. have founde that siti- there that they never found n themselves. and have parted better wgted than they came . feeling an edge of ~itte set sn them more than ever they dream'd they had brasne to ground on.
 I do not hesitate a. saying that in this passage is told oomp1ctiy, but compre- nensively, the whole secret of Shakes peare's hold upon the world. Like Jon- sons criticism of his form and substance, is may by beating be spread ou. thinner,