Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1891-03-15

c.sas ~ uvns or TINS, and cites numerous
sha Js .. pFecocious genius to prove THAT
SnaAspefe was entirely adequate IA rho
eoncention of such q plot af mo 49, w ~
twenty-five, which Is about the ti,no ~
"p9sch ne hxes his hrst draft of The trso,.dv
,,o - oi's = az Idle reader. that IL 10 saw
Pe,soh Tree ffom the pernicious skinn,ne
usvit and unAccustomeh To bevinnint,
oooA ~ the wrong end, Il seems a litfle
strange that the author should expend Ed
.9 tlme and research upon a mere once.
.,on OF GATE. But unimportant as Il Am.
pcsss, TINS Is indeed the keystone of the
49, isu.u s Tor once admit that the eoneep.
Soh on Hamlet" was q Youthful fiuke ~
Shakspere's genius and Colonel IohnSton
mas the reader on the hip" and proeeeds
40 Pie coincidence on proof to establish
sue iact that the play was written as a
sihd OF sop 20 the wounded feelings ~
James at the moment of his uuhannv
mothers execution, or even ner-
haps, was intended TO be tho hair
which should break the back of Eliza
peth's resolution against Mary's most in.
hospltanie murder. To tho eyes of the
sTtnor the Auing OF pressing old Polonius
Death OF Riz2lo, the Charming. The
drunken habits of Boutwell, are Tepeated
Ia the debaucheS of Claudius. Darnley's
bcauty blooms anew in the grand fgure of
the elder Hamlet, and the pitiful madness
OF poor Lady Gowrie is remembered in the
SAD plight of the fair Ophella. whose too
hvelY remembrance Of the Princes sins
ana iatuities was her undoing.
Els MOST INGENIOUS MANNER.
AS TO Hamlet himself the points Of re-
semblance TO the Scotch prototype are
brought out IN Colonel Johnston's most
INGENIOUS manner; First he bids his
reader remember that the James /. of Sir
waiter Scott was by no means the flames
vi. OF whom this imaginary portaiture il
drawn. lie enumerates the points of re-
sem alliance that united the Dane and tho
Scotchman; their booksh tendencies.
ther love for the stage, and the eouai
popularity OF their situation. That thew
had similar disregard for women is argued
rom JSmes's well-known habits and Ham,
let's remark: Man delights not me; no.
nor woman neither. though by your smiling
You seem TO say So" Even the scenery
OF the drama Is made 10 tell against the
superstition that the name of Elsinore
was given to the hero's abode in all good
falth, for Colonel Johnston reminds his
readers that the character of the country
surrounding the DANISH castle is fiat and
sandy, while the flushed Arthur's seat
would give a color 10 that "beetling cliff"
which so obstinately refuses TO agree with
the actual Danish landscape. In tho face
or so much learning, so brilliantly arrayed,
II seems almost presumption to battle for
the same conservative view of Hamlet in
which the piece stands on its artistic merit
alone, without further claim to political
notice, 20 q closer and more critical COM
parisOn Of the play and the theory, as the
wonderful verisimihtude seems TO melt
into beautiful, Elusive mist, which serves
alone 70 increase the beauties of both
books by shrouding their outlines.
First OF all in the long line Of objections
which space must necessarily sbridge is it
not strange that the idea did not present
itself TO Colonel Johnston that another
and equally trenchant lesson might be
drawn from the action of the play? The
duty OF ayenglng parent would certainly
apply as vitally TO a fugitive mother new
~ decapitated III an allied kingdom where
she had sought refuge, as to father long
since dead, whose memory must have
faded into an unpleasant but comfortably
decent recollection. Indeed, it is quite
possible that Shakspcre and his noble pa
irons might have found in this piece of
literary diplomacy a boomerang which,
returning on its course, would have work
ed more woe than veal TO its projectors.
If. as the new theory supposes, Jamess
duty of revenging his fathers untimely
taking OFF, was the lesson Shakspere
sought to inculcate how. then, could he
have made that flial obligation so binding
upon the Danish prince. whose very re.
verse was 30 desired in Scotland's king
In the play the very ghost, hot from the
fires of his place of torment, charges his
excited son TO spaid the guilty Gertrude
all but mental anguish. He should speak
daggers, but use none.h Yet, according
TO this new theory. in the prototype it was
the WORKOUT life Of poor, beautiful Mary
which was the very point OF attack.
POINT OF LIKENESS.
Clsudius's drunken habits, in which Colo
mel Johnston sees so strong a resemblance
to the debaucheries of Boutwell,, may in
deed be a point of likeness; but do they
not also recall a hundred other popular
bugbears who from time lmmemorial have
been accredited in the public mind with
this most disgusting of misdemeanors as q
GROWING touch to their responsiveness
Artistically the antithesis between the
characters of Hamlet and Claudius was
greatly heightened by this inebriety. 1t
would be hard to imagine vice more IN
nately repellant TO the philosophlc and dis
eased ascetic mind Of his stepson, whose
bitter contempt seasons every reference 70
this national custom. No stronger are the
evidences of Identification in Mary's case
when in the case of Gertrude Ophella's
compliment 70 the beauteous majesty OF
Denmark" is called into play TO bind the
personalities of the two queens together
This. too, in a day when even the doubtful
charms Of Elizabeth were sufficient to
illustrate the poetical fire of Sponsors ano
even of Shakspere's own pen. Nor are the
instances of beaut7's permanence so lev
that Mary's should be the only name winch
could spring to our lips at the mention OF
woman who had preserved the spring
time of fairness under the sc0rching sun
of middle age. The similarity OF the posi-
tjon of Mary and Gertrude as TO the sue
cassion is too obviously coincidence te
no considered as corroborative evidence.
Asto the supposition that in the rawlings
of tbe unhappy Ophelia there Is an echo
of the madness of Lady Gowrle, II seem;
rather a far-fetched fancy that so practlceo
a courtier as Shakspere should seek 10 IN
corporate a memory lntrlnsically olsa
cTasable TO James il the very play whlcE
was according to Colonel Johnston, IN,
tended To be a salve TO sensiblltleS SUI
smartinc with the fresh outrage OF al:
nother's death. But TO touch des Pttoes
-, Hamlet himself, vacillating, NOR
hid and unsuccessful, is hardly such
tvne as the professed schemer would aar'
IN present to the King as q nj reprSsseuta
tive of his characteristics, least Oh az ~ -
van a man and one so enamored Oh III ~
oWn EinpcTaft as was 0atbpo - NANy -.
nortrayai must have proved an insuit
therefore, it could hardly be that the WIZ
noIitieians of the Elizabethan court wonIIs
tb,,s rnthlessly touch the raw suseeptip phi
ti n and wound the vanity of the sensit,y'
lanes at a time when his qulescent atOl
1nde was matter of such paramount I'm
nortance TO themselves as well as 10 tnen
queen. -
MORE SCHOLAR THAN POLITICIAN.
II "a true that Hamlet and Jamss wer'
elite students, but the learning or I'M
n Hi,~ was rather that OF the scnoia
ths1 the politician, and had faiied U
d Isl in him any of that administrative
ebiIity upon which James c,ongratnla..eS
himself. and, incidentally. his suoleSss
'r,ne thew were united in their love am
enc SS of the stage; but wa
more determination to be e1pecleeII y
sbakspere. the manager of the ,Gtso op'
Tbeatre' than we fndin the conduct OF IN.
so-lv Christians who execrated thelr per
eecTtors and blessed their protectors l.
is hardly TO be inferred that the pay
wriobt would forget to endow ms ne so
w;t6 a love of the most intellectual anus u.s.;
Wv, . tba 4inne or would neglect 80 eEi