A Letter on Shakspere's Authorship of The Two Noble Kinsmen Part 7

[Sidenote: Act II. scene ii. iii. (Weber, sc. iii. iv. Littledale),]

Neither this scene, nor the following, in which the jailor's daughter meditates on the perfections of Palamon, and intimates an intention of a.s.sisting him to escape, have any thing in them worthy of particular notice.

[Sidenote: Act II. scene iv. (Weber, sc. v. Littledale),]

In the fourth scene, Arcite, victorious in the athletic games, is crowned by the Duke, and preferred to the service of Emilia.

[Sidenote: Act II. scene v. (Weber, sc. vi. Littledale), are all Fletcher's.]

In the last scene of the second act, the jailor's daughter announces that she has effected Palamon's deliverance from prison, and that he lies hidden in a wood near the city, the scenery of which is prettily described.

[Sidenote: Act III. scene i. is Shakspere's.]

Nothing in the Third Act can with confidence be attributed to Shakspeare, except the first scene. This opening scene is laid in the wood where Palamon has his hiding-place. Arcite enters; and a monologue, describing his situation and feelings, is, as in Chaucer, overheard by Palamon, who starts out of the bush in which he had crouched, and shakes his fettered hands at his false kinsman. [Sidenote: Arcite's first speech has Shakspere's clear images, and familiar dress, nervous expression, &c.] A dialogue of mutual reproach ensues; and Arcite departs with a promise to return, bringing food for the outcast, and armour to fit him for maintaining, like a knight, his right to the lady's love. The commencing speech of Arcite has much of Shakspeare's clearness of imagery, and of the familiarity of dress which he often loves to bestow upon allusion; it has also great nerve of expression and calmness of tone, with at least one play on words which is quite in his manner, and one (perhaps more) of his identical phrases. The text seems faulty in one part.

[Sidenote: Act III. sc. i. is Shakspere's.]

[Sidenote: Shaksperean phrases.]

[Sidenote: Shakspere phrase.]

_Arcite._ The Duke has lost Hippolita: each took A several laund. This is a solemn rite They owe bloom'd May, and the Athenians pay it _To the heart of ceremony_. Oh, queen Emil ia!

Fresher than May, sweeter Than her _gold b.u.t.tons_ on the boughs, or all [40:1]The enamell'd knacks o' the mead or garden! Yea, We challenge too the bank of any nymph, That makes the stream seem flowers!--Thou,--oh jew el _O' the wood, o' the world_,--hast likewise blest a place With thy sole presence. In thy rumina tion That I, poor man, might eftsoons come between, And chop on some cold thought!--Thrice blessed chance, To drop on such a mistress! Expecta tion Most guiltless of it. Tell me, oh lady For tune, (Next after Emily my sovran,) how far I may be proud. She takes strong note of me, Hath made me near her, and this beauteous morn, (The primest of all the year,) presents me with A brace of horses; two such steeds might well Be by a pair of kings back'd, in a field That their crowns' t.i.tles tried. Alas, alas!

Poor cousin Palamon, poor prisoner!...

... If Thou knew'st my mistress breathed on me, and that I _cared_ her language, lived in her eye, oh coz, What pa.s.sion would enclose thee!

There is great spirit, also, in what follows. Some phrases, here again, are precisely Shakspeare's; and several parts of the dialogue have much of his pointed epigrammatic style. The ma.s.sive acc.u.mulation of reproaches which Palamon hurls on Arcite is, in its energy, more like him than his a.s.sistant; and the opposition of character between Palamon and his calmer kinsman, is well kept up; but the dialogue cannot be accounted one of the best in the play.

[Sidenote: Shaksperean string of epithets.]

_Palamon._ ... Oh, thou most perfid ious That ever gently look'd! The void'st of hon our That e'er bore gentle token! Falsest cous in That ever blood made kin! call'st thou her thine?

I'll prove it in my shackles, in these hands Void of appointment, that thou liest, and art A very thief in love, a chaffy lord, Not worth the name of villain!--Had I a sword, And these house-clogs away!

[Sidenote: Shaksperean word-play.]

_Arcite._ _Dear cousin Pal amon!_

_Palamon._ _Cozener Arcite!_ give me language such As thou hast shewed me feat.

_Arcite._ Not finding in [41:1]The circuit of my breast, any gross stuff To form me like your _blazon_, holds me to This gentleness of answer. 'Tis your pas sion That thus mistakes; the which, to you being en emy, Cannot to me be kind....

[Sidenote: Act III. scene ii.]

In the second scene, the only speaker is the jailor's daughter, who, having lost Palamon in the wood, begins to shew symptoms of unsettled reason. There is some pathos in several parts of her soliloquy, but little vigour in the expression, or novelty in the thoughts.

[Sidenote: Act III. scene iii.]

The third scene is an exchange of brief speeches between the two knights. Arcite brings provisions for his kinsman, and the means of removing his fetters, and departs to fetch the armour. [Sidenote: is probably Fletcher's, and not Shakspere's.] In most respects the scene is not very characteristic of either writer, but leans towards Fletcher; and one argument for him might be drawn from an interchange of sarcasms between the kinsmen, in which they retort on each other, former amorous adventures: such a dialogue is quite like Fletcher's men of gaiety; and needless degradation of his princ.i.p.al characters, is a fault of which Shakspeare is not guilty. You may be able, hereafter, to see more distinctly the force of this reason. The scene contains one strikingly animated burst of jealous suspicion and impatience.

_Arcite._ Pray you sit down then; and let me entreat you, By all the honesty and honour in you, No mention of this woman; 'twill disturb us; We shall have time enough.

_Palamon._ Well, sir, I'll pledge you.

_Arcite._ Heigh-ho!

_Palamon._ For Emily, upon my life!--Fool, Away with this strained mirth!--I say again, That sigh was breathed for Emily. Base cous in, Darest thou break first?

_Arcite._ You are wide.

_Palamon._ By heaven and earth, There's nothing in thee honest!...

[Sidenote: Act III. scenes iv. v.]

In the next two scenes, placed in the forest, the jailor's daughter has reached the height of frenzy. [Sidenote: Gerrold has no spark of humour.] She meets the country[42:1]men who had encountered Arcite, and who are now headed by the learned and high-fantastical schoolmaster Gerrold, a personage who has the pedantry of Shakspeare's Holofernes, without one solitary spark of his humour. They are preparing a dance for the presence of the duke, and the maniac is adopted into their number, to fill up a vacancy. The duke and his train appear,--the pedagogue prologuizes,--the clowns dance,--and their self-satisfied Coryphaeus apologizes and epiloguizes. [Sidenote: Act III. scene iv. v.

Fletcher's.] Some of Fletcher's very phrases and forms of expression have been traced in these two scenes.

[Sidenote: Act III. scene vi.]

We have then, in the sixth and last scene of this act, the interrupted combat of the two princes. [Sidenote: Fletcher's, not Shakspere's.] The scene is a spirited and excellent one; but its tone is Fletcher's, not Shakspeare's. [Sidenote: Has not Shakspere's grasp of imagery.] The raillery and retort of the dialogue is more lightly playful than his, and less ant.i.thetical and sententious; and though there are fine images, they are not seized with the grasp which Shakspeare would have given, sometimes harsh, but always at least decided. Some of the ill.u.s.trations have been quoted (page 17). The knightly courtesy with which the princes arm each other is well supported; and their dignity of greeting before they cross their swords, is fine, exceedingly fine. Nothing can be more beautifully conceived than the change which comes over the temper of the generous Palamon, when he stands on the verge of mortal battle with his enemy. [Sidenote: Fletcher's sweet versification and romantic phraseology.] His usual heat and impatience give place to the most becoming calmness. The versification is very sweet, and the romantic air of the phraseology is very much Fletcher's, especially towards the end of the following quotation.

_Palamon._ My cause and honour guard me.

(_They bow several ways, then advance and stand._)

_Arcite._ And me my love; Is there aught else to say?

_Palamon._ This only, and no more: Thou art mine aunt's son, And that blood we desire to shed is mu tual; In me, thine; and in thee, mine. My sword Is in my hand, and, if thou killest me, The G.o.ds and I forgive thee! If there be A place prepared for those that sleep in hon our, I wish his weary soul that falls may win it!

Fight bravely, cous in; give me thy n.o.ble hand!

_Arcite._ Here, Palamon; this hand shall never more [43:1]Come near thee with such friendship.

_Palamon._ I commend thee.

_Arcite._ If I fall, curse me, and say I was a cow ard; For none but such dare die in these just tri als.

Once more farewell, my cousin.

_Palamon._ Farewell, Ar cite.

(_They fight._)

[Sidenote: Act III. scene vi.]

The combat is interrupted by the approach of the Duke and his court; and Palamon, refusing to give back or conceal himself, appears before Theseus, and declares his own name and situation, and the presumptuous secret of Arcite. [Sidenote: is in Fletcher's style.] The scene is good, but in the flowing style of Fletcher, not the more manly one of Shakspeare. [Sidenote: Death-penalty for the losing knight, a good addition to Chaucer.] The sentence of death, which the duke, in the first moments of his anger, p.r.o.nounces on the two princes, is recalled on the pet.i.tion of Hippolita and her sister, on condition that the rivals shall meantime depart, and return within a month, each accompanied by three knights, to determine in combat the possession of Emilia; and death by the block is denounced against the knights who shall be vanquished. Some of these circ.u.mstances are slight deviations from Chaucer; and the laying down of the severe penalty is well imagined, as an addition to the tragic interest, giving occasion to a very impressive scene in the last act.

[Sidenote: Act IV. all Fletcher's.]