The San Francisco call., 1899-12-28

giacal or romantical. With il Spenser
portrayed the bucolic scenes OF his "Shep-
herds Calendar Sidney his adventurous
and courtly Arcadia !" Lodge his rustic
and romantic story OF ROsallnd. Lyly his
euphuistic and mythological Gallathea.
Barnfield his semi-classiCal, erottC sonnet
cycle. and many other productions.
Admirably did the pastoral lend itself
TO the drama. Was IL not dramatic
thing TO see princess tripping in shep-
herdess attire along the sunny slope Of
the hillside or in the gloom Of the fOrest2
Gould anything be more entertaining than
10 hear the gallant cOurtier discuss In
euphuistic fashion the merits OF pastoral
life or rural liberty? Amid such a setting
the most compromising situations. tho
most reasonable speeches became harm
less innocence In the dramatists creation.
To him IL was the liberty OF the press:
to his audience II was the familiar and
pieaSlhS alleBOry combining realism and
idealism. To the average EliZbethan
pastoralism was, moreover, a mode OF
naturalism.
Pastoralism being essentially dramatic.
the drama made use OF II from the very
earliest times. The miracles and mys-
.eIles sQmetiInes represented Cain as a
typical bOorish shepherd. and later the
morallttes and interludes never refused
the valuable aid Of pastoralism. The au-
cient myth of Robin Hood and hls folly
outlaws, under the greenwood tree OF
Sherwood forest, entered into many n
dramatic production and lent a true Eng
lish aspect 10 the exotic tendencies of ths
renaissance pdstorals. Lyly and Greene
both admitted pastoral scenes into their
dramas, the former depicting a pseudo
classic type OF shepherd and shepherdess
while the latter gives startIinEiv Vivii
pictures OF real English country life Both
were preparing the way for the great
artist OF pastoralism.
The commentators have tarried longest
with the melancholy Jaques Every wood
should have its hermit But such a her
NIT, so melancholy. so Philosophical. so
humOrously sad and so egotisticaIt IN ia
Sald that actors love To play this part
world. And what an opportunity II Is on
the stage 10 tell the world that
All the worlds a stage.
And all the men and women merely players:
They have their exits and their entrances
And one man in his time plays many parts
His acts being seven ages.
The description OF these seven ages is
picturesque-you should see the mans
acts as retOld In the artistic cOloring Of
stained glass along the staircase OF the
Shakespeare memorial in Stratford TO
realize how picturesque. But Jaques'
melancholy, like his name. Is an unsOlved
problem. He confesses: 1T Is a melan-
choly OF mine own, compounded OF many
simples, extracted from many objects
and indeed the sundry contemplation OF
my travels, which. by often ruminatiOn.
wraps me in most humorous sadness"
Here was man brought nearer TO ma
lures heart. He was sort OF fOrerun-
ner Of Jean Jacques Rousseau, senti-
mental advocate of naturalism- The life
OF our Jaques Is red in close communion
with nature, but after IL had been sur
feited with the artificial life OF the So
called social world. Jaques had sought
the sequestratiOn OF the forest 20 nurse
his sentimental thoughts. 20 observe. 20
weep and TO cherish his scOrn Of the out
side world. In these Arcadian wales ha
found room for SAD humOr, for his bitter
observations: in spite Of his peaceful sur
rOundings his heart was eaten with mel
ancholy and he rallied against our mis-
tress, the world. and all our misery" To
all the others Arden was place OF refuge
from a world OF misery. but for Jaques
IL was an observatory from which he
loved TO watch the misery OF the world:
20 the others Arden was hospital where
their sorrOws were being healed, 10 Jaques
IL was a dssecting room where he could
hold an autopsy on his own heart. Ar
cadia then Is in the heart. like the king
dom OF heaven. The fool was right.
Shakespeare had a reason 70 keep the fool.
but he could never have dispensed with
Jaques. All men then would have been
searching for Arden. The critics would
have found In IL a Shakespeare OF IDEAL
ism. Jaques and Audrey are the fruits
of II. One is the bitter. the other the
sweet at least the pOtentiality OF sweet
ness Melancholy and Love might have
gone hand in hand through the forest OF
Arden, but Humor Joined their company
and made the play a comedy.