The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1900-11-08
THIRTY
SHAKESPEARE EVENINGS.



In the British museum there is a copy
of FIorio's translation OF Montaigne. with
shskespeare's autograph in It. II this
autograph es genuine. and there is some
reason to think that II Is. II is the only
book that we may definitely associate
with his library. II Is certain from Con
zaio's description Of an ideal common
wealth In 1.-THE Tempest that Shake
speare was acquainted with Montaigne.
and II IL probable that he saw Florio's
translation OF the essays before II was
published. Brandes finds many passages
IN the other plays that suggest Mon
faigne There must have been something
in the brilliant Frenchman to attract one
who was. like himself. a profoundly nv
man souI--"a human being, natural,
msny-sided. full Of ability. rich in con-
tradictions."
This Is evidently one book that Shake
speare read: were there others7 And
how many more7 In 1913 J. Payne Collier
published what he called shakespeare
I,ibrary',--a collection Of the ronances
and novels. etc. that the dramatist used
IN writing his plays This list was found
incomplete by later scholars. and so W.
G. Hazlitt brought out new edition OF
Golfers work in six volumes. containing
All the sources of the plays. It would be
well for every student 10 have access 10
this very important work. SO that he may
make at least one or two studies compar-
Ing the respective plays and their sources.
This In the material with which we mr.
worry ont the way in which Shakespeare
used the raw material and evolved his
plays Through these sources we get an
idea OF his way Of working.
Bv FAR the most useful books were
"TIoljnshed's Chronicles and "North's
TRANSACTIONS Of Plutarch's Lives the
former published In 1871 and the latter In
1ss7. Roth 81 them we're interesting be-
cause they supplied him with studies OF
the most interesting men the world mao
known. and also with incidents tnat
might be- worked into plots. From Hol-
yn-hed ne got the material for about ten
n,svs ana from North all OF his Roman
rlavs ana 'sT1mon Of Athens" Next 10
th~se books he relied mostly on 'Ges'a
Romanoruu1" collections OF faifan nov.
els. old plays. old ballads and songs anu
Tor single plays such things as Lodges
.poe.lvnde.' Brooke's "Romeus ana
Juliet" etc. He may have read "chap.
nsu's Homer in writing "Troilus emo
T~rsssi8a." and ne was doubtless familiar
,wsyb Chaucer's "Troilus and Criseyne
ana The 'sKnieht's Tale"
one is struck with the small number OF
hooks that Shakespeare read we won-
der how such man as ne was. LYNX
N
v.sd a. ufsls classic literature so little
FRENCH and Italian literature. The great
e~t Of roets did not know Homer OF
vIrsfl or Dantel Such limited read'nR
bss caused the absurd theory to be adj
vanc~d that such an ignorant man could
not have written tho plays we nave
from his pen. Such a theory nsco
detair Us no longer than TO say fnat
learning ala not produce Shakespesres
plays, nor literary culture. He was or
ali men the least bookish. He had the
genius to get hold Of Just what he needed
IN the way OF books. and to learn that
with abe rapidty Of his marvellous genius
Hut his greater teacher was the iife OF
Ms day Someone asked WORDSWORTH
servant one dav where the masters study
was The reply was that his books were
In the house, but hts study was orf or
doors And % ghnkespearss study WINS
in the sheater anf the tavern ana on
the street He picked up more from
conversation and observation thar most
Il easy 10 see what was not in his
library for ne Was ms far removed as
possible from tho scholarly Milton or the
Ana ycs I hasten TO say tina, he was in
a sense very dependent on HIS books
There II SCARCELY an original plot IN MS
plays, only tSo or three in which he Is
not indebted to someone OF the sources
have already mentioned. He was ono OF
the greatest OF --plaxiarists. II
you please. What Lowell said OF Chau-
shskc sp,'sr W." whenever he saw anything
directed 10 him he took II and never used
nuotaticn marks. Though he read but
iisis' ne was ma rsage OF wn mae me e ca
preston Of Emersen's. There are scenes
In his Roman plays. for instance. that
are almost paraphrases o. plutarch Many
have raved over may be found In che
sources that he used.
Indeed, tho first Impression OF one who
makes thu study We are suggesting Is the
striking similarity between the play and
It's source One explanation OF such SINH
isrity N that the dramatist Of that day
that his yn Sar h. one 'sun q
adapted to the stage he used. very much
as a modern playwright would dramatize
The Scarlet Letter" Shakespeare seems
utterly Indifferent as 20. any charges OF
plasarism that might be brought; he took
what other men had done and used II for
his own purposes.
and Cleopatra" Romeo and Juliet" and
Piutareh's Life OF Mark. Antony" for
Juliet and for the third Lodges Rosa
iynde" I have seen more than one stu
dent with much Of his hero worship gone
after making. the study OF these three
poor reader OF Antony and Cleopatra"
would get about as much out OF Piutarch
az he would from the play.
When one has some idea Of the good
things that Shakespeare got from his
sources II with be interesting to see tho
bad things he got, He did not always
winnow the wheat from the chan. and the
result was that he retained many Of the
crudsti-s Of tho raw material. For In
stance. many Of the ccnceits and auih-
bgs In "As You Lake IT. are 10 Lodges
'sEcsalynde.- and some Of the things IN
the old play Of Hamlet remain 90 mar
tie beauty of the play as ws have IL now.
One OF the nost interesting Of the recent
stutles Of Hamlet II that by Mr.. John
corhin, developing the point I have just
sagrSsted
Hat after all has been said about
ShakespcAre's Indebtedness 60 other men
II stiil remains that his plays are his. and
not anothsr's. The changes he made ara
much more remarkable than the parallel
isms The sharing spirit OF imagination
took hold ~ what was crude ore ard
made II into gold. lie vttaiEed Hoiiashasi.
rpirttualired Piutsrch and "eternized~
every story he made uSe Of Ito did for
them what browning tii FOR the book no
found On the hNokstau In Florence ono
day-rossA his live soul ans THAI inert
fe ~ ss, WN 40 sh. a. a.