The San Francisco call., 1899-10-16

live registered upon their brazen tombs."
But the best laid schemes, even Of a stu
dlQus king and his bookmates, gang aft
agiey. A Princess of France comes upon
the scene with her ladies'. as an ambassa-
dress from her old father. OF mere ne
cesslty the late made VOWS are broken.
The King and his lords enter into parley
with the Princess ana her ladies'. and no
sooner enter into parley than they fall in
love, and no sooner fall in love than they
Degln to WOO their miStTeSSeS. The ladies'
not ignorant of the vows rashly made and
quickly broken, repay their court with
merry scorn, till at the close a graver note
strikes across the silver laughter. as a
messenger announces the death Of the
King of France. The Princess retres to
a years SoJOurn in a mourning house and
Tor twelve months space the lovers
must wait for their answer. "Our wooing
doth not end like an old play" says the
irrepresSible Berowne. with half a sigh
for the penalty assigned him. Jack hath
not Jill And so for the year at least
loves labors lost. Could any plot be
lighter. slighter, brighterl
Even in the character drawing we see
indeed of greater things to come, but still
the prentice hand. The King and the
Princess are graceful but shadowy fig
ureS. There is not q hair to choose be-
tween Longaville and Dumain, or between
katherine and Maria. Even the humorous
persons of the play-Armado, Holofernes.
Costard-follow along lines strictly laid
down in the old cOmedy-the Braggart
the Pedant and the CloWn-as indeed thew
are sometimes called in the first edition.
But If any one wishes TO see how much
OF the wine of wit Shakespeare has pour
ed into these old bottles, one has but to
compare Armada with his prototype Sir
Tophas, in Lilly's 'Endymion." Only in
the figures of Berowne and ROsaIine
where the prentice hand has been rein
forced by the masters touch, do we feel
ourselves In the presence of a pair of
Shakespeare's men and women, so much
more alive than the crowds that go about
the street and make as though they lived
Berowne, in especial, is a masterpiece
His ready wit, HIS firm hold on the facts
Of life, his unquenchable good humor.
mark him as one of the characters that
Shakespeare loved. He subscrbes the
oath presented by the King with laugh
ing protest against its ideality. He falls
in love and jests at his own folly.
What. I! I love! I suel seek wifer'
With what good-humored malice does
he upbraid his fellows when their broken
vows come TO light; with what easy grace
does he confess the fact when his one
loYe-caused perjury is revealed. How elo-
Quently he defends the oath-breaking Of
the little band of lovers and extols its
cause:
From womans eyes this doctrine I derive;
They sparkle still the right Promethean fire;
Ihey are the books, the arts, the academies
mat snow, contain and nourish all the world"
Unconquerably sanguine he rises above
each rebuff Of his mocking lady. and ac-
cepts with whimsical resignation her SEN
tence TO Jest a twelvemonth in hospi-
character, it was little more of the milk
Of human kindness, a little more OPEN
eyed perception of the suffering in the
He will finish his years penance not
sadder, but perhaps a gentler man.
Rosaline, the first of tie mad girls
tina. mock their lovers So" is a fair
FORTRESS Of that temple Of the comic
spirit. More than a match in the fence of
wit for Berowne himself yet always pre-
serving certain decorum which lifts her
above most of the characters of the pIav
she is as wise as she is witty She knows
the worth of her lover and his weakness
as we'll and with unerring instinct laws
her finger on the spot. When she turns
upon the man ''replete with mocks fuII
Of comparisons and wounding fioutsi and
dispatches hIUn 70
Visit the speechless sick and still conver..
With groanius wretches. and your task shal he
Win 'al the herce endeavor of your Wit
To force the Pained impotent to smile
we feel the Justice as well as the severity
OF the sentence, at once a punishment and
a remedy.
Dr. Brandes sees in Rosaline and Be
rowne the first sketch of Beatrice and
BenedicK, and there is a certain similarity
in the situation. But when we hear Rosa
promising herself all the joys of a petty
tyranny-"This same Berowne I'll torture
ere | go"-we are irresistibly reminded of
a gentler lady than Beatrice and a wiz
tier maid than Rosaline herself. the pret- ret
ty page of the forest of Arden, who led
Orlando through such a mad cure for the
madness of love. being "efeminafe
changcabe, longing and liking; proud
fantastical, apish, shallow. inconstant'
sion something and for no passion truly
anything" The dawn Of Rosaline is the
promise OF Rosalind.
Note-Studies Nos. II. III, " and V
are by DR.. Parrot Of Princeton Univer-
sity. The study of Loves Labor's Lost"
viii be continued on Monday next.