The sun., 1910-01-09

10 the world. Certainly there was no H.
erary vanity In the Bard OF Avon.
Rare Ben Jonson" ON the other hand
was as careful as Shakespeare was care
less about the publication OF his works.
Indeed he was satiriz cd by his coutem-
poraries for applying 50 ambitious a title
as Works" to mere collection Of dramas.
NJ. JIlsserand's comparison Of the oharao-
teristios Of these two men OF genius COO
stitutes one Of the most interesting por-
tons OF the present volume.
Jonson once described himself as -the
tun at Heidelberg" by reason OF his enor-
nous bulk Of body; and NJ. Jusserand
thinks that their habit OF frequenting the
sans taverns had much to do in bringing
Jouson and Shakespeare together. Yet
Jonson constantly asserted his personality,
while Shakespeare kept his out OF view;
their literary canons were radically diff
fsrent; the critical faculty, basedlon Obser-
walton and experience, controlled Jonson;
in Shakespeare fantasy, lyrical imagina-
ton, Independence, slertness and fiery
passion predominated." These two great
mon, according to NJ. Jusserand, belong
to opposite schools. These two schools
survive, though with very different for
tunes. one being the school OF freedom, Of
the DO what you please Of satisfaction
granted without stint or measure to the
general public; namely, the school which
the genius OF Shakespeare had carried 70
the highest point OF glory and which was
to fall after him into prompt decay. The
other school, that Of conscientious obser-
walton, OF -empiricks,- OF truth closely
followed, whether it be q question Of the
present or the past, OF comedy or OF his
tory, the school Of Jonson, more aooessi-
BILE to talent, remains, on the contrary,
prosperous" Jonson was as accurate in
his scholarship as Shakespeare was care
less; he himself claimed to be better
versed and to know more in Greek and
Latin than all the other poets in England.
We are confident, however, that we have
not misapprehended the meaning Of the
French critic when we say that he denies
to Jonson that touch OF the immortal fire
which constitutes the genius Of Shake
speare.
The everyday student cannot be ex-
pected to read all the works OF the great
predecessors or contemporaries OF Shake
speare or those Of the more distinguished
drama fists Of the Restoration. The presi-
dent emeritus OF Harvard thinks that
every we'll educated man must have read
Marlowe's -Dr. Faustus." For a student
Of the English drama we should add as
essential some acquaintance with the
works OF Robert Greene and Beaumont and
Fletcher. OF Greene NJ. Jusserand truly
says that some of his women, chsste
and graceful. were the best drawn femi-
nine figures that had up TO his time been
seen on the public stage. As TO Marlowe,
his tragedy OF -Tamburlane the Great"
seems To us far more characteristic OF
his genius than "Dr. Faustus." An that
was prodigious, awful, incredible, inn
mense, delighted his fancy" and all OF
horror that imagination can picture is
portrayed in this play. As NJ. Jusserand
well says, Marlowe gave the English
speaking world unique model OF a we'll
built drama, logically developed from
to end, in a style sober and
strong. a blank verse varied in its pauses |
and harmony, easy to make even more
flexible, the true verse OF the English
stage" sos.
The authors sympathetic mastery OF
his subject is little short of marvellous |
in a critic Of foreign birth.