New-York tribune., 1903-05-03

Revised Edition by Horace Howard nurneSs. jr
Gdppincott Company.
THE WORKS OF SHAKESPEARE. The Tragedy
n hs lr 30 eSf fsen by Tbe Merrill
Company.
THE. WORKS or sHA5EsPEA!tF1, II, The Tragedy Ira
Xiv. so indituapo The Bowen-Merrin Conn
pany
LOVES LABoUR's LOST. Edited by Charlotte
s65. Thomas y CroqeIi & 60.
M5DsoMMfR NIGHTS i1S REEAMEi IiarEs Edes 1smS by
pp. xXiv 2l6 Thomas Y CroWell d Co.
Mr.. Frank Chapman Sharp, the author of
'S5hakeSpeares Portrayal of the Moral Life is
assistant professor of philosophy in the Univer-
sity of Wisconsin, The titles of his chapters
'.Transce:dental alisn.' The Criterion of Right
and Wrong The Nature of the Good" The
Freedom OF the Will" Virtue and Happiness"
Ethics and Metaphysics indicate very fairly
the nature of his essay, which. it must be con-
fessed. does credit to his philosophical
learning than to his sense of literary values
Occasionally one gets from the volume incl
dental recognition of some distinctiNely Eliza
bethan tone Of mind some apprecia ton of the
feudal spirit that makes much of the charm OF
Shakespeares manly time" But this is as far
as Mr.. Shdrp's literary perception goes. There
is no indication that he has made any allow
ance for the conventions of the drama for the
eXigencies of the simple Elizabethan stage. or
for the humorous. romantic, abnormally dra-
matte temper of the poet. If Mr.. Sharp had
aptitude for criticism he would inevitably re-
spond the varying influences of Shakespeare's
style: but the richly humorous Fastan and the
POLITICALLY conceived Autolycus are made 20 point
us serious a moral as is the reflective Hamlet.
If Mr. sharp had any bent for psychology he
could not ignore the study of the dramatiSt'S
ina gina ton as an alembc process. and so learn
something Of the difference between plays and
court records; but he is more deep-contempla-
tive in his treatment of the playwright than in
his treatment of Kant and Fichte; he is more
austere in his censure of Lord and Lady Mac
beth than in his reading OF the interesting pages
of the modern criminoogist.
MI sharp is a born philosopher, projecting
ethical schemes after the orthodox manner of
the mctaphys.cian, and using the plant figures
of Shakespeare's brain to illustrate compara-
lively rigid rules of right and wrong. L shall
confne myself he says, Ito an account of the
moral life as it is represented upon Shake
speare's stage l shall treat his characters as
if they We're living beings. whose consciousness
we were permitted to explore. What
thoughts arose i'll the dranatists mind he
contemplated his creations becomes 4 matter
with which 1 have nothing to do" This is to be
ingenious purpose. 1t is TO assume the
gravity OF a pedantic child.
Mr.. L. A. Sherman has a reputation for pains
taking work. both within and without the con-
fines of Shakespeare's plays; yet TO him, as to
Mr.. Sharp. every artisan with lantern seems |
to be the moon, every Snout with plaster on his
fingers a wall, and every lion fearSome Great /
ure tho-gh he gently sucking dove. !
ITO know of his dramas thoroughly says /
Mr.. Sherman, lis equivalent TO knowing Shake !
speare" In the practice Of his preaching this |
writer has tabulated with prosaic fidelity every |
detail of three of them-and these three the .
most neutrality-suspicious. The Winters !
Tale" and Romeo and Juliet" Occasionally |
however. he makes excursus from this pain
to be the sunny plains of Italy. In one of these
excursions he tells that:
Anglo-Saxon prejudices are apt to be stirred
at the notion of love at first sight. seems
based on nothing but the most superficial at
fractions. Moreover. 1t Is common
assumption that the Italian nature is tickle and
shallow and that the loves of a Juliet and
Romeo if uninterrupted. could have proved but
feetinE and owe their intensity to nothing but
the SuddenneSs of passion. There is proba bly,
no remedy for such ignorance and race Conccit
but travel and SojOurn among the miSiud.red
people. Love is founded upon imagina-
tive recognition and conception of high quail
ties worth and nobeneSS- 1t is not essential
that Il ROmeoS eye dwell upon the signs of such
nobleneSS and worth continuously, for weeks !
and months, before discerning what they stand |
for and responding to their challenge Such
might be the course of love- were the signs !
doubtful. the beauty and worth that thev
stand for partial, allOyed with baser elements