The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1904-09-04
ETTOTS of the Bard.
What Shakespeare Common
tatoTS Say About the Sea-
coast of Bohemia.


That Shakespeare, with the limited
geogra phical information at hand dur
ing his time. should have made errors
is in accord with reason. Considering
the tumble Of INSTRUMENTATION. for eX-
ample. that burdens us at this time re-
garding the present seat of war I'm the
Orient il is little wonder that Shake
speare, over 800 years ago. should have
tripped when ne comes to refer 70 re-
mote regions Of the globe
One of the chief blundcT bCacous 10
be found in his works. and the one most
often referred to by the error hunters.
is found in THE Winters Tale" which
Viola Allen is to produce next season.
In the third act. third scene, the follow
ing line is put I'm tire mouth of Anti
genus. mariner: our ship hath
touched upon the deserts OF Bohemia.
when in point OF fact, Bohemia is an in
land country. Dr. Furness made an ex-
haustive study of this matter. and says
that Hammer refused t. accept DO
hemia' at ali lie pronounced il
.'blunder and an absurdity OF which
Shakespeare i'm Justice ought not to be
thought capable" and that as Shake
speare had changed throughout the
names of the characters in Greene's
novel. IL is probable that he had changed
"Bohemia" into Bithynia. which the
printers had corrupted and brought
back again TO Bohemia by "a less varia-
ton in the letters than they have been
guilty of in numberless other places OF
this work
The blame cannot, however be thrown
on the printers. Ben johnson at
one time visited Scotland. and wAile
there spent three weeks with William
Drummond. Of Howthornden. who has
left a record Of his guests conversation.
This record was reprinted by the shake
spearc Society, and we find the tUllow-
ing remark by Ben JonsOu.
Shakespeare, in play brought in a
number Of men saying they had suffe"-
I'd shipwreck in Bohemia, wher Their
is no sea neer by some 100 miles" This
conversation took place i'm 1919, and rs
far as We know "Thc Winters Tale"
was not printed before 1923. It was not.
therefore. from a printed page that
Jorson spoke; he must have heard the
'seacoast of Bohemia mentioned on
the stage, or. what is possible but not
probable. read it in manuscript.
But Hammer knew nothing Of the
conversation with D5ummond. although
fl had been printed f. l7l1. thirty years
before Hammers edition of Shakespeare
cd the ''scacoast Of Bohemia have been
chiefly concerned with shielding Shake
speare's reputation by offering reasons
why ne should have followed Greene
Capell 90. 1872 supposed that Shake
speare retained the name Bohemia De
cause while 81 had harmony and vas
pleasing, IL stood connected so with ST.
ella in the minds Of his whole audi
ence that removing il had been remov-
ing foundations: the CauIt had been ever
looked in the storr book. which was
popular and then a great favorite, and
h was in no fear but it would be so in
the play; his changing all the other
names generally throughout the fable,
arose partly from judgment, and partly
from his ears goodness which could rot
put up with Garinter, Frinion. and PAN
desto, and such like. which have Meth
or music in themselves nor relation to
The places the scene is layed in"
Farmer says that "Cervantes ridicules
these geographical mistakes. when ne
makes the Princess MicomIcona land at
Ossuna. But is this correctly ex-
pressed? Cervantes Intentionally makes
us laugh openly as much as the princess
laughed secretly, over her slip in making
Ossuna seaport town. is this ridicul-
ing the mistake2 Corporal Trims
KING OF Bohemia. Farmer continues.
"oengnted in navigation. and had never
a seaport in his domains" and my Lord
Herbert tells us that De Luines, the
prime minister of France. when he was
ambassador there, demanded whether
Bohemia was an inland country or lay
upon the sea-
Collier quotes from "a popular author
Of the time who ridicuIes vulgar err
ror OF the kind'-Taylor. the water
poet who" Collier goes on 10 say.
made a journey 70 Prague in l6ZU. nine
years after The Winters tale. was
acted, and on his return published an
account Of his expedition. the address
TO the reader contains the following par
agraph, laughing al the ignorance OF the
aldermen Of London on matters OF
geography am no sOnor eased of him
but Gregory GaudergoOse. an alderman
OF Gotham. catches me by the COLL. de-
handing II Bohemia be a great town
whether there be any meat i'm it. and
whether the last fleet of ships be ar
rived there Sir Gregory GandergoosC
had derived his knowledge from such
sources as Grecne's "Dorastus and Faw-
MIA and The Winters Tale"
Thus far We have listened to those
only. who have acknowledged that a
seacoast Of Bohemia is a blunder. and
have attempted 10 frame excuses OF
Ialliations for IT, But in "a little OBJ
scurc corner of THE Monthly Maga-
zine. FOR the first OF Januar, 1911. there
Is here mo breach Of geograpl "" The
is a short note, which says that there
note is as follows:
In the year lz7O the provinces Of SirIa
and Carniola were dependent on tE,
crown of Bohemia. Rudolf. who became
King Of tho Romans I'm 1913. took these
provinces from Outocar. the King Of Bo-
hemia, and attached them TO the DOS
sessions or the house of Austria The
dependencies OF "A large empire are often
denominated from the seat of govern
ment; so that a vessel sailing to Aqui-
LEILA or Trieste. might. IN the middle OF
the thirteenth century. be correctly de
scribod as bound for Bohemia The
shipwreck, On The Winters Tale is ma
breach or geography"
IN later times George Sand cEcuIpates
Shakespeare memory from a gross
geographical blunGer" But II IS 10 be
feared that her knowledge Of the blum
DER was obtained from hcarsay. She
says in foot note that Il is well known
that in one OF HIS dramas Sbalyespear 70