A Letter on Shakspere's Authorship of The Two Noble Kinsmen Part 8

The Fourth Act may safely be p.r.o.nounced wholly Fletcher's. [Sidenote: Wants all the leading features of Shakspere's style.] All of it, except one scene, is taken up by the episodical adventures of the jailor's daughter; and, while much of it is poetical, it wants the force and originality, and, indeed, all the prominent features of Shakspeare's manner, either of thought, ill.u.s.tration, or expression. There are conversations in which are described, pleasingly enough, the madness of the unfortunate girl, and the finding of her in a sylvan spot, by her former wooer; but when the maniac herself appears, the tone and subjects of the dialogue become more objectionable.

[Sidenote: Act IV. scene ii.]

In the second scene of this act, the only one which bears reference to the main business of the piece, Emilia first muses over the pictures of her two suitors, and then hears from a messenger, in presence of Theseus and his attendants, a description, (taken in [44:1]its elements from the Knightes Tale,) of the warriors who were preparing for the field along with the champion lovers. [Sidenote: Emilia's soliloquy on the pictures, not Shakspere's.] In the soliloquy of the lady, while the poetical spirit is well preserved, the alternations of feeling are given with an abruptness and a want of insight into the nicer shades of a.s.sociation, which resemble the extravagant stage effects of the 'King and No King,'

infinitely more than the delicate yet piercing glance with which Shakspeare looks into the human breast in the 'Oth.e.l.lo'; the language, too, is smoother and less powerful than Shakspeare's, and one or two cla.s.sical allusions are a little too correct and studied for him.

[Sidenote: Act IV. scene ii. Fletcher's.] One image occurs, not the clearest or most chastened, in which Fletcher closely repeats himself:--

[Sidenote: His description of Arcite, paralleld in his _Philaster_.]

What a brow, Of what a s.p.a.cious majesty, he car ries!

Arched like the great-eyed Juno's, but far sweet er,-- Smoother than Pelop's shoulder. Fame and Hon our, Methinks, from hence, as from a promontor y Pointed in Heaven, should clap their wings, and sing To all the under-world, the loves and fights Of G.o.ds and such men near them.[45:1]

[Sidenote: Act V. is Shakspere's,]

In the Fifth Act we again feel the presence of the Master of the Spell.

Several pa.s.sages in this portion are marked by as striking tokens of his art as anything which we read in 'Macbeth' or 'Coriola.n.u.s.' The whole act, a very long one, may be boldly attributed to him, with the exception of one episodical scene.

[Sidenote: except scene iv. (Weber: sc. ii. Littledale).]

The time has arrived for the combat. Three temples are exhibited, as in Chaucer, in which the rival Knights, and the [45:2]Lady of their Vows, respectively pay their adorations. One princ.i.p.al aim of their supplications is to learn the result of the coming contest; but the suspense is kept up by each of the Knights receiving a favourable response, and Emilia a doubtful one. [Sidenote: Act V. sc. ii.[45:3] (i.

L.) is lower in key.] [Sidenote: Act V. sc. i. iii. (Weber: both i.

Littledale) are Shakspere's all through.] Three scenes are thus occupied, the second of which is in somewhat a lower key than the other two; but even in it there is much beauty; and in the first and third the tense dignity and pointedness of the language, the gorgeousness and overflow of ill.u.s.tration, and the reach, the mingled familiarity and elevation of thought, are admirable, inimitable, and decisive. From these exquisite scenes there is a temptation to quote too largely.

[Sidenote: Act V. scene i.]

In the first scene, Theseus ushers the Kinsmen and their Knights into the Temple of Mars, and leaves them there. After a short and solemn greeting, the Kinsmen embrace for the last time, Palamon and his friends retire, and Arcite and his remain and offer up their devotions to the deity of the place. [Sidenote: Spirit and Language Shakspere's.] A fine seriousness of spirit breathes through the whole scene, and the language is alive with the most magnificent and delicate allusion. In Arcite's prayer the tone cannot be mistaken. [Sidenote: His reflection on Fortune and strife.] The enumeration of the G.o.d's attributes is coloured by all that energetic depth of feeling with which Shakspeare in his historical dramas so often turns aside to meditate on the changes of human fortune and the horrors of human enmity.[46:1]

_Theseus._ You valiant and strong-hearted enemies, You royal germane foes, that this day come To blow the nearness out that flames between ye,-- Lay by your anger for an hour, and dove -like, Before the holy altars of your Help ers (The all-feard G.o.ds) bow down your stubborn bod ies!

Your ire is more than mortal: so your help be!

[Sidenote: Shakspere phrases.]

_Arcite._ ... Hoist we Those sails that must these vessels port even where The Heavenly Limiter pleases!

[46:2]Knights, kinsmen, lovers, yea, my sacrifi ces!

True worshippers of Mars, whose spirit in you Expels the seeds of fear, and the apprehen sion Which still is father of it,--go with me Before the G.o.d of our profession. There Require of him the hearts of lions, and _The breath of tigers, yea the fierceness too, Yea the speed also!_ to go on I mean, Else wish we to be snails. You know my prize Must be draggd out of blood: Force and great Feat Must put my garland on, where she will stick The queen of flowers; our intercession then Must be to him that makes the camp _a ces tron Brimmd with the blood of men_: give me your aid, And bend your spirits towards him!

(_They fall prostrate before the statue._)

[Sidenote: Shakspere's own work,]

Thou mighty one! that with thy power has turn'd Green Neptune into purple,--whose approach Comets prewarn,--_whose havock in vast field Unearthed skulls proclaim_,--whose breath blows down The teeming Ceres' foyson,--who dost pluck _With hand armipotent from forth blue clouds_ The masoned turrets,--that both mak'st and break'st The stony girths of cities;--me, thy pup il, Young'st follower of thy drum, instruct this day With military skill, that to thy laud I may advance my streamer, and by thee Be styled the lord o' the day: Give me, great Mars, Some token of thy pleasure!

(_Here there is heard clanging of armour, with a short thunder, as the burst of a battle; whereupon they all rise and bow to the altar._)

[Sidenote: Shakspere again.]

Oh, great Corrector of enormous times!

_Shaker of o'er rank states!_ Thou grand Decid er Of dusty and old ti tles; --_that heal'st with blood The earth when it is sick_, and cur'st the world O' the pleurisy of people! I do take Thy signs auspiciously, and in thy name To my design march boldly. Let us go! (_Exeunt._)

[Sidenote: Palamon's prayer in V. ii (i. L.) not equal to V. i. or iii.

(i. L.), but is yet clearly Shakspere's.]

The pa.s.sionate and sensitive Palamon has chosen the Queen of Love as his Patroness, and it is in her Temple that, in the [47:1]second scene, he puts up his prayers. This scene is not equal to the first or third, having the poetical features less prominently brought out, while the tone of thought is less highly pitched, and also less consistently sustained. But it is distinctly Shakspeare's. The rugged versification is his, and the force of language. [Sidenote: Even the incompetent old husband bit is his.] One unpleasing sketch of the deformity of decrepit old age, which need not be quoted, is largely impressed with his air of truth, and some personifications already noticed are also in his manner.

[Sidenote: Act V. scene ii. (Weber; i. Littledale) is Shakspere's.]

[Sidenote: A Shakspere touch.]

_Palamon._ Our stars must glister with new fire, or be To-day extinct: our argument is love!

. . . . . (_They kneel._)

Hail, sovereign Queen of Secrets! who hast pow er To call the fiercest tyrant from his rage To weep unto a girl!--that hast the might Even with an eye-glance to choke Mars's drum, And turn the alarm to whis pers! ...

What gold-like pow er Hast thou not power upon? To Phbus thou Add'st flames hotter than his: the heavenly fires Did scorch his mortal son, thou him: The Hunt ress All moist and cold, some say, began to throw Her bow away and sigh. Take to thy grace Me thy vowd soldier,--who do bear thy yoke As 'twere a wreath of roses, yet is heav ier Than lead itself, stings more than net tles:-- I have never been foul-mouthed against thy law; ... I have been harsh To large confessors, and have hotly askt them If they had mothers: _I_ had one,--a wom an, And women 'twere they wronged....

Brief,--I am To those that prate and have done,--no compan ion; To those that boast and have not,--a defi er; To those that would and cannot,--a rejoi cer!

Yea, him I do not love, that tells close offices The foulest way, nor names concealments in The boldest language: Such a one I am, And vow that _lover never yet made sigh Truer than I_....

(_Music is heard, and doves are seen to flutter: they fall upon their faces._)

[48:1]I give thee thanks For this fair token!...

[Sidenote: Emilia's Prayer is surely Shakspere's.]

Emilia's Prayer in the Sanctuary of the pure Diana, forming the third scene, is in some parts most nervous, and the opening is inexpressibly beautiful in language and rhythm. Several ideas and idioms are identically Shakspeare's.

[Sidenote: Act V. scene iii. (Weber; i. Littledale) Shakspere's]

_Emilia._ (_Kneeling before the altar._) Oh, sacred, shadowy, cold, and constant Queen!

_Abandoner of revels!_ mute, contemplative, Sweet, solitary, white as chaste, and pure As wind-fanned snow!--who to thy _female knights_ Allow'st no more blood than will make a blush, Which is there order's robe!--I here, thy priest, Am humbled 'fore thine altar. Oh, vouchsafe, With that thy rare _green eye_,[49:1] which never yet Beheld thing maculate, look on thy virg in!

And,--sacred silver Mistress!--lend thine ear, (Which ne'er heard scurril term, into whose port Ne'er entered wanton sound,) to my pet.i.t ion Seasoned with holy fear!--This is my last Of vestal office: [49:2]I'm bride-habited, But maiden-heart ed. A husband I have, appoint ed, But do not know him; out of two I should Chuse one, and pray for his success, but I Am guiltless of election of mine eyes.[49:2]

(_A rose-tree ascends from under the altar, having one rose upon it._)

See what our general of ebbs and flows Out from the bowels of her holy al tar With sacred act advances! But one rose?

If well inspired, this battle shall confound Both these brave knights, and I a virgin flow er Must grow alone unplucked.

(_Here is heard a sudden tw.a.n.g of instruments, and the rose falls from the tree._)

[49:3]The flower is fallen, the tree descends!--oh, mis tress, Thou here dischargest me: I shall be gath ered, I think so; but I know not thine own will; Unclasp thy mystery!--I hope she's pleased; Her signs were gracious. (_Exeunt._)