Peninsula enterprise. [volume] (Accomac, Va.) 1881-1965, 1897-01-09
HOW fALSTAFF DIED.
Mr.. Locke Richardson's Clearing Up of
Sl:al1espcarean aIystery.

S.alIespcarean Mystery.
After nearly SEQ years sinco Shakes
pearc's death it is not usual for new
Interpretations OF his plays to be found.
There is practically standard text,
that of Messrs. Clark AVA Wright, and
no cancellations in the way OF liew read
ings have been i: since tae late 5ohn
Orchard Halliwell discovered the Per
kins folio, with its nov discredited al
tcrations in many of the plays. New
light is thrown constantly on meanings
hitherto obscure, and often by persons
not professedly ShalzeSpearoau students
that is, by actors who thus bear out
Charles Lambs saying that the way 10
understand Shalzespearo's plays is TO see
them acted.
"a little more than kin and less than
kind. +" says Hamlet, and for scores of
years Ha.Nlets have said the words, pro-
nooncing "kind" torhyme with blind
and makiag tho sentence practically
sensoless Comes second rate mclodra
matte actor and gives to "lsind'' 4 pro-
nunciation which makes it rhyme with
"sinned," explaining that he learned
that an ole Midland counties word for
Child" was kind" with that prouun-
citation. Presto, we have Shakespeare
an pun, and the meaningless sentence
assumes meaning. Hamlet to the king
is ga little mere than kin and less than
child" which he WAS in reality.
One OF the great Shakespearean crux-
es has been the last words of Sir John
Falstaff, as reported by Dame Quickly
in King Henry v, act ,, scene 3.
Says the Dame (wo follow The Globe
text Of Clark AID Nrighr)
"a parted even just between IL and
l, even ut the turning O. the tide, for
after saw him tumble with the sheets
aud play with flowers and smile upon
his fingers ends knew there was but
enc way, Tor his nose WAS as sharp as
pen and ~ babled OF green fields. y
The last clause is one Of the most cell
ebrated cancellations il al Shakespeare.
1t was made by Theo5ald, a not eminont
editor, who changed the table OF
greene fields" Of the first folio into "a
babled of green fields, achanso accept
ed almost universally in English now,
though other emendAtiuns have been
proposed. Such emendations are thus
recorded in the latest Cambridge edi-
tion Upon "a table OF green fells,
ION table of green frieze, " ''as stub
bic Oh shorn fields, y ION table OF
greasy fell, " and 1.-THE bill of Il green
finch. y Theobald is the "hero' Of
Pope's "Dunciad, :" but the malicious
poer has been unableJo injure his repr-
tation among Shakespearean scholars.
Even with Theobald's amendauon ac-
cepted, what did Dame Quickly mean:
No one knew. But now, il The Critic,
GENES NIr. Locke Richardson, like Viii
sou Barrett, NOT known rs Z critical
student of Shakespeare, though known
ms q reciter OF the plays Ho studies
Falstan carefully. He remembers that
the fat knight had been brought up re-
ligiously; that he had been choir boy
chad lost his voice singing psalmsl, and
he notes shat all through even his NEST
reckless speeches the old man quotes
from the Bible And then as he read
Dame Quiclly's pathetic description of
Sir Johns death there flashed into his
memory the Twenty-third Psalm, and it
came TO him THAT i'll the phrase, and
a. babbled Of green fields, lurked the
very fulfllmenv Of my conviction, that
the dear CID sinner, who never had
strength TO repent, was now, i'll his
mortal extremity, mastering his waning
Movers in en- effort ito die Il fair death
by repeating, il broken and half audible
accents, verses learned il childhood:
. The Lord is my shepherd. shall
not want. lie maketh ne to lie down
in green pastures. He leadeth me beside
the still waters. Yea, though l walk
through the valley Of the shadow OF
death, l Will fear no evil.
..EIere at last we discover the true ex-
plantation of Mistress Quickly's words
In her green fields we recognize the
green pastures Of David, and with the
recognition comes q strain of pathos IL
ralsJaffs dying hour which 10 hand
but Shakespeare could have infused. "
Dir. Horace Howard Furness, editor
of the Variorum edition, and Mrs. ".
J. Rolfe OF Cambridge have approved
Mr. Richardson's discovery, which
stands by itself without their aid. May
we not all join them i'll accepting 1t and
congratulate Mr.. Richardson on making
it? 1t clears up a Shakespcarean mystery
and adds deserved interest to the end OF
that dear old sinner" that most low
able and pitiable Of Shakespeare's char
acters, Sir John Falstaff.-Letter in
New Yorl; Sun.