The San Francisco call., 1899-10-26

dead AS a closet drama II SIlll dppedls
to our interest in several ways.
In the first place, 1t is probaDly
the earliest play that Shakespeare wrote.
Critics dispute whether it was produced
in 1889 1891 or little earlier or later
than these dates. If 1889 be correct,
Shakespeare was 25 years of age. HOW
fascinating is the spectacle of the dra-
matist trying his prentice hand at the
form of literature in which he was to
surpass any writer who ever lived. he
had married seven years before, and had
now been in London three years. There
had not been time for him to forget the
Latin which he had conned at the STRAIT
ford grammar school. nor the master un-
der whom he had learned it. The rus
ties of the countryside appear as ia
ouenetta, Costard and Dull, while the Gu
rate and pedagogue who had amused his
boyish years are condemned to an i'm.
mortality of ridicule as Sir Nathaniel
and Holofernes. Shakespeare had not
been so long away that he could not re-
member every rural somehow 1t was
when daisies pied and violets blue
do paint the meadows with de-
light" when shepherds pipe on oaten
straws and merry larks are plowmen
clocks or, on the other hand
when icicles hang by the wall,
And Dick the shepherd blows his nail,
And Tom bears logs into the hall,
"A
To him the life in Warwickshire may
we'll have been among the solidest of re-
alities He had left it behind him for the
time being, and could afford to make fun
of it; but he knew it intimately and was
in after times to long for it and make it
once more in very deed his own.
He had come into new world, the
world ef-which London was the center
and epitome, world in which Mary
Queen of Scots had but recently been exc
cuted and the Armada scattered to the
winds, in which Hakluyt was publishing
ing their dramas and Spenser his Fairy
Queen Henry of Navarro, better known
as Henry " of France was making good
his title to the throne which ne aseended
in 1889. Sidney was dying at Zutphen.
Charles Duke of Biron, two years older
than Shakespeare, a soldier who had been
at 27 like Henry his King at 36, storming
cities and capturing fair ladies' hearts,
Unsuitable in arms as in love. Tongue
Vile, another doughty general, was a Wig
orous supporter Of Henry and Mayenne
was his most dreaded opponent in the
field. 1t was a time of adventure and of
profusion. Men We're prodigal OF others
blood, of their own lives, of sentiment, Of
lovers oaths, of discourse, of poetry. 1t
was a world of generous illusions, of ro-
nance, of the incredibly marvellous come
Into this world loves Labor's Lost was
born, and this world, too, like the petty
world of a Warwickshire village, figures
on its pages. Here, under transparent
disguises, though such as were only pene
trated in our generation by Mr. Sidney
Lee, are Henry of Navarro and his two
formidable foe. Mayenne,- transmitted
into another supporter, Dumain. AS
Henry and his followers in 1886 had met
St. Bfce al fhe snd sdeP be6 Of
parley with them, so do the imaginary
King and his companions encounter a
French Princess and her maids of honor.
AS the ambassadors of Russia, on a mis-
sion to WOO bride for the Gar, had in
1888 been entertained with elaborate cere-
mony at York House, while Lady Mary
he'd state in a pavilion erected on the
lawn. SO in the PLAY we have deputa-
ton disguised as Russians. and a pavilion
pitched in the open field. The Spaniard,
play breathes of the fanciful and fam
tastic, of gallantry, of poetry. no less than
Shakespeare is still in the period of his
sonnets and Of his non-dramatic poems.
such as venus and Adonis.., In the
play. as in the sonnets (Nos 127: 100, 1879,
cant that the Rosaline of Romeo and
Juliet" like Berowne's mistress. has
black eyes compare Act III. scene !, line
scene 4. line 1D. The poets lyrical effu-
sions have ease and grace. and he has
seldom done anything better In their kind
III,
II. 101-12O 312-S53, and the song already
quoted Act v, scene II, II. 904-939
Shakespeare thus discloses himself to
us, in his earliest play, as devotee at
once of romance and of realism and
though he was on occasion to blend the
two more perfectly yet he here an
nounces his adhesion to both. Thus the
fairies and the tedious brief scene bv
''hard- handed men" in the Midsummer
Nights Dream" exemplify the double
loyalty. 1t has often been remarked that
Jaquenetta and Costard are first sketches
for Audrey and Touchstone, as Berowne
and Rosaline for Benedick and Beatrice
The poet already embodies precocious
wisdom in gnoTnic lines and couplets. as
The blood of youth burns not with such excess
AS gravity's revolt to wantonness;
or,
Honest, plain words best pierce the ear Of
grief.
Some of the mintage of this maiden essay
is proverbial, or deserves to be so. | in
stance only Act I. sc. /. II. II, 1914 ,25.
S5-SS 1851. us; Act II. sc. t. Il, 66-76
Act III, sc. /, II. 1856, 1925; Act ". Sc
II, IL, 56, 126; Act ", sc. iii, II, 167-17O;
Act V, SC. l. Il. 4o-41; Act VI, SC. IL, H.