of expenses, made out by the Master of the Revels, and still preserved in the Audit Office :— "By His Matis Plaiers. On Shrovsunday a play of the Marchant of Venis." "By his Matis Players. On Shrovtusday a play cauled the Martchant of Venis againe, commanded by the Kings Matie " The name of Shaxberd, for Shakespeare, as "the poet which made the play," is added in the margin opposite both these entries. Notwithstanding the popularity of this drama before the closing of the theatres in 1642, it seems to have been so much forgotten soon after the Restoration, that in 1664, Thomas Jordan made a ballad out of the story of it in his "Royal Arbor of Loyal Poesie," and thought himself at liberty to pervert the original, by making the Jew's daughter the principal instrument of punishing her own father: at the trial, she takes the office which Shakespeare assigns to Portia. AS YOU LIKE IT. ["As You Like It" was first printed in the folio of 1623, where it occupies twenty-three pages, viz. from p. 185 to p. 207 inclusive, in the division of "Comedies." It preserved its place in the three subsequent impressions of that volume in 1632, 1664, and 1685.] "AS YOU LIKE IT" is not only founded upon, but in some points very closely copied from, a novel by Thomas Lodge, under the title of "Rosalynde: Euphues Golden Legacie," which was originally printed in 4to, 1590, a second time in 1592, and a third edition came out in 1598. We have no intelligence of any re-impression of it between 1592 and 1598. This third edition perhaps appeared early in 1598; and we are disposed to think, that the re-publication of so popular a work directed Shakespeare's attention to it. If so, As You Like It" may have been written in the summer of 1598, and first acted in the winter of the same, or in the spring of the following year.1 The only entry in the registers of the Stationers' Company relating to "As You Like It," is confirmatory of this supposition. It has been already referred to in the "Introduction" to "Much Ado about Nothing" and it will be well to insert it here, precisely in the manner in which it stands in the original record: “4 August. "As you like yt, a book. Henry the ffift, a book. Every man in his humor, a book. The Commedie of Much adoo about nothinge, a book." date of " As You Like It." Shakespeare probably intended to make no allusion to any particular fountain. It is not to be forgotten, in deciding upon the probable date of "As You Like It," that Meres makes no mention of it in his Palladis Tamia, 1598; and as it was entered at Stationers' Hall on the 4th August [1600], we may conclude that it was written and acted in that interval. In A. iii. sc. 5. a line from the first Sestiad of Marlowe's "Hero and Leander" is quoted; and as that poem was first printed in 1598, "As You Like It" may not have been written until after it appeared. There is no doubt that Lodge, when composing his "Rosalynde: Euphues Golden Legacie," which he did, as he informs us, while on a voyage with Captain Clarke, "to the islands of Terceras and the Canaries," had either "The Coke's Tale of Gamelyn" (falsely attributed to Chaucer, as Tyrwhitt contends in his Introd. to the Cant. Tales, I. clxxxiii. Edit. 1880.) strongly in his recollection, or, which does not seem very probable in such a situation, with a manuscript of it actually before him. It was not printed until more than a century afterwards. According to Farmer, Shakespeare looked no farther than Lodge's novel, which he followed in "As You Like It" quite as closely as he did Greene's "Pandosto" in the "Winter's Tale." There are one or two coincidences of expression between "As You Like It" and "The Coke's Tale of Gamelyn," but not perhaps more than might be accidental, and the opinion of Farmer appears to be sufficiently borne out. Lodge's "Rosalynde " has been recently printed as part of "Shakespeare's Library," and it will be easy, therefore, for the reader to trace the particular resemblances between it and "As You Like It." In his Lectures in 1818, Coleridge eloquently and justly praised the pastoral beauty and simplicity of "As You Like It;" but he did not attempt to compare it with Lodge's "Rosalynde," where the descriptions of persons and of scenery are comparatively forced and artificial: Shakespeare, " said Coleridge, never gives a description of rustic scenery merely for its own sake, or to show how well he can paint natural objects: he is never tedious or elaborate, but while he now and then displays marvellous accuracy and minuteness of knowledge, he usually only touches upon the larger features and broader characteristics, leaving the fillings up to the imagination. Thus in 'As You Like It' he describes an oak of many centuries growth in a single line: 'Under an oak whose antique root peeps out.' Other and inferior writers would have dwelt on this description, and worked it out with all the pettiness and impertinence of detail. In Shakespeare the 'antique root' furnishes the whole picture." These expressions are copied from notes made at the time; and they partially, though imperfectly, supply an obvious deficiency of general criticism in vol. ii. p. 115, of Coleridge's "Literary Remains.' Opposite this memorandum are added the words "To be staied." It will be remarked, that there is an important deficiency in the 'entry, as regards the purpose to which we wish to apply it: the date of the year is not given; but MaAdam Spencer is a character in "The Coke's Tale of Gamelone conjectured, and in that conjecture I have expressed concurrence, that the clerk who wrote the titles of the four plays, lyn," and in Lodge's "Rosalynde:" and a great additional inwith the date of "4 August," did not think it necessary there terest attaches to it, because it is supposed, with some appearto repeat the year 1600, as it was found in the memorandum ance of truth, that the part was originally sustained by Shakeimmediately preceding that we have above quoted. Shakespeare himself. We have this statement on the authority of speare's "Henry the Fifth," and "Much Ado about Nothing," Oldys's MSS.: he is said to have derived it, intermediately of were both printed in 1600, and Ben Jonson's "Every Man in course, from Gilbert Shakespeare, who survived the Restorahis Humour" in the year following; though Gifford, in his tion, and who had a faint recollection of having seen his broedition of that poet's works (vol. i. p. 2), by a strange error, ther William "in one of his own comedies, wherein, being to states, that the first impression was in 1608. The "stay," as personate a decrepit old man, he wore a long beard, and apregards "Henry the Fifth," "Every Man in his Humour," and peared so weak and drooping, and unable to walk, that he "Much Ado about Nothing," was doubtless soon removed; was forced to be supported and carried by another person to for "Henry the Fifth" was entered again for publication on a table, at which he was seated among some company, whe the 14th August; and, as has been already shown, Wise and were eating, and one of them sung a song." This description Aspley took the same course with "Much Ado about No- very exactly tallies with "As You Like It," A. ii. sc. 7. thing" on the 23rd August. There is no known edition of "As You Like It" prior to its appearance in the folio of 1623, (where it is divided into Scenes, as well as Acts) and we may possibly assume that the "stay" was not, for some unexplained and uncertain reason, removed as to that comedy. Malone relied upon a piece of internal evidence, which, if examined, seems to be of no value in settling the question when "As You Like It" was first written. The following words are put into the mouth of Rosalind:-"I weep for nothing, like Diana in the fountain" (A. iv. sc. 1), which Malone supposed to refer to an alabaster figure of Diana on the east of Cheapside, which, according to Stowe's "Survey of London," was set up in 1598, and was in decay in 1603.["The Taming of the Shrew" was first printed in the iolio of This figure of Diana did not "weep" for Stowe expressly states that the water came "prilling from her naked breast." Therefore, this passage proves nothing as far as respects the 1 If we suppose that the third edition of Lodge's "Rosalynde" was occasioned by the popularity of Shakespeare's comedy, founded upon Shakespeare found no prototypes in Lodge, nor in any other work yet discovered, for the characters of Jaques, Touchstone, and Audrey. On the admirable manner in which he has made them part of the staple of his story, and on he importance of these additions, it is needless to enlarge. It is rather singular, that Shakespeare should have introduced two characters of the name of Jaques into the same play; but in the old impressions, Jaques de Bois, in the prefixes to his speeches, is merely called the "Second Brother." TAMING OF THE SHREW. 1623, where it occupies twenty-two pages, viz. from p. 208 to page 229 inclusive, in the division of "Comedies." It was reprinted in the three later folios.] one of the earlier impressions in 1590 or 1592, it would show that "As You Like It" was acted in 1598, and might have been written in 1597 could scarcely have failed to mention it; so that we have strong negative evidence of its non-existence before the appearance of Palladis Tamia. When Sir John Harington, in his "Metamorphosis of Ajax," 1596, says, "Read the booke of Taming a Shrew,' which hath made a number of us so perfect that now every one can rule a shrew in our country, save he that hath her," he meant the old "Taming of a Shrew," reprinted in the same year. In that play we have not only the comedy in which Petruchio and Katharine are chiefly engaged, but the Induction, which is carried out to the close; for Sly and the Tapster conclude the piece, as they had begun it. SHAKESPEARE was indebted for nearly the whole plot of his | Shakespeare is also important: had it then been written, he Taming of the Shrew" to an older play, published in 1594, under the title of "The Taming of a Shrew." The mere circumstance of the adoption of the title, substituting only the definite for the indefinite article, proves that he had not the slightest intention of concealing his obligation. When Steevens published the "Six Old Plays," more or less employed by Shakespeare in six of his own dramas, no earlier edition of the "Taming of a Shrew" than that of 1607 was known. It was conjectured, however, that it had come from the press at an earlier date, and Pope appeared to have been once in possession of a copy of it, published as early as 1594. This copy has since been recovered, and is now in the collection of the Duke of Devonshire: the exact title of it is as follows: "A Pleasant Conceited Historie, called The taming of a Shrew. As it was sundry times acted by the Right honorable the Earle of Pembrook his seruants. Printed at London by Peter Short and are to be sold by Cutbert Burbie, at his shop at the Royall Exchange. 1594." 4to. It was reprinted in 1596, and a copy of that edition is in the possession of Lord Francis Egerton. The impression of 1607, the copy used by Steevens, is in the collection of the Duke of Devonshire. There are three entries in the Registers of the Stationers' Company relating to "The Taming of a Shrew" but not one referring to Shakespeare's "Taming of the Shrew." When Blounte and Jaggard, on the 8th Nov. 1623, entered "Mr. William Shakspeere's Comedyes, Histories, and Tragedyes, soe many of the said copies as are not formerly entered to other men," they did not include "The Taming of the Shrew:" hence an inference might be drawn, that at some previous time it had been "entered to other men;" but no such entry has been found, and Shakespeare's comedy, probably, was never printed until it was inserted in the folio of 1623. As it is evident that Shakespeare made great use of the old comedy, both in his Induction and in the body of his play, it is not necessary to inquire particularly to what originals the writer of "The Taming of a Shrew" resorted. As regards the Induction, Douce was of opinion that the story of "The Sleeper awakened," in the Arabian Nights' Entertainments," was the source of the many imitations which have, from time to time, been referred to. Warton (Hist. Engl. Poetry, iv. 117. Edit. 1824) tells us, that among the books of Collins was a collection of tales by Richard Edwards, dated in 1570, and including "the Induction of the Tinker in Shakespeare's 'Taming of the Shrew.'" This might be the original employed by the author of the old "Taming of a Shrew." For the play itself he, perhaps, availed himself of some now unknown translation of Nott. viii. fab. 2, of the Piacevoli Notti of Straparola. The Suppositi of Ariosto, freely translated by Gascoyne, (before 1566, when it was acted at Grey's Inn) under the title of "The Supposes," seems to have afforded Shakespeare part of his plot: it relates to the manner in which Lucentio and Tranio pass off the Pedant as Vincentio, which is not found in the old "Taming of a Shrew." In the list of persons preOn the question, when it was originally composed, opinions, ceding Gascoyne's "Supposes " Shakespeare found the name including my own, have varied considerably; but I now think of Petruchio, (a character not so called by Ariosto,) and hence, we can arrive at a tolerably satisfactory decision. Malone first perhaps, he adopted it. It affords another slight link of conbelieved that "The Taming of the Shrew" was written in nexion between "The Taming of the Shrew" and "The 1606, and subsequently gave 1596 as its probable date. It Supposes;" but there exists a third, still slighter, of which no appears to me, that nobody has sufficiently attended to the notice has been taken. It consists of the use of the word apparently unimportant fact that in "Hamlet" Shakespeare "supposes," in A. v. sc. 1, exactly in the substantive sense mistakenly introduces the name of Baptista as that of a wo-in which it is employed by Gascoyne, and in reference to that man, while in "The Taming of the Shrew" Baptista is the part of the story which had been derived from his translation. father of Katharine and Bianca. Had he been aware when he How little Shakespeare's "Taming of the Shrew "" was known wrote "Hamlet" that Baptista was the name of a man, he in the beginning of the eighteenth century, may be judged would hardly have used it for that of a woman: but before he from the fact, that "The Tatler," No. 231, contains the story produced "The Taming of the Shrew" he had detected his of it, told as of a gentleman's family then residing in Lincolnown error. The great probability is, that "Hamlet" was shire. written at the earliest in 1601, and "The Taming of the Shrew" perhaps came from the pen of its author not very long afterwards. The recent reprint of "The Pleasant Comedy of Patient Grissill," by Dekker, Chettle, and Haughton, from the edition of 1603, tends to throw light on this point. Henslowe's Diary establishes, that the three dramatists above named were writing it in the winter of 1599. It contains various allusions to the taming of shrews; and it is to be recollected that the old "Taming of a Shrew" was acted by Henslowe's company, and is mentioned by him under the date of 11th June, 1594. One of the passages in "Patient Grissill," which seems to connect the two, occurs in Act v. sc. 2, where Sir Owen producing his wands, says to the marquess, "I will learn your medicines to tame shrews." This expression is remarkable, because we find by Henslowe's Diary that, in July, 1602, Dekker received a payment from the old manager, on account of a comedy he was writing under the title of "A Medicine for a curst Wife." My conjecture is, that Shakespeare (in coalition, possibly, with some other dramatist, who wrote the portions which are admitted not to be in Shakespeare's manner) produced his "Taming of the Shrew" soon after "Patient Grissill” had been brought upon the stage, and as a sort of counterpart to it; and that Dekker followed up the subject in the summer of 1602 by his "Medicine for a curst Wife," having been incited by the success of Shakespeare's "Taming of the Shrew" at a rival theatre. At this time the old "Taming of a Shrew" had been laid by as a public performance, and Shakespeare having very nearly adopted its title, Dekker took a different one, in accordance with the expression he had used two or three years before in "Patient Grissilla." The silence of Meres in 1598 regarding any such play by 1 Malone was mistaken when he said (Shakespeare by Boswell, vol. ii. p. 342.) that "our author's genuine play was entered at Stationers' Hall" on the 17th Nov. The entry is of the 19th Nov. and not of Shakespeare's "Taming of the Shrew," but of the old "Taming of a Shrew." ALL'S WELL THAT ENDS WELL. ["All's Well that Ends Well" was first printed in the folio of 1623, and occupies twenty-five pages, viz. from p. 230 to p. 254 inclusive, in the division of "Comedies." It fills the same space and place in the three later folios.] THE most interesting question in connexion with "All's Well that Ends Well" is, whether it was originally called "Love's Labour's Won?" If it were, we may be sure that it was written before 1598; because in that year, and under the title of "Love Labours Wonne," it is included by Francis Meres in the list of Shakespeare's plays introduced into his Palladis Tamia. It was the opinion of Coleridge, an opinion which he first delivered in 1818, and again in 1818, though it is not found in his "Literary Remains," that "All's Well that Ends Well," as it has come down to us, was written at two different, and rather distant periods of the poet's life. He pointed out very clearly two distinct styles, not only of thought, but of expression; and Professor Tieck, at a later date, adopted and enforced the same belief. So far we are disposed to agree with Tieck; but when he adds, that some passages in "All's Well that Ends Well," which it is difficult to understand and explain, are relics of the first draught of the play, we do not concur, because they are chiefly to be discovered in that portion of the drama which affords evidence of riper thought, and of a more involved and constrained mode of writing. Surely those parts which reminded Tieck, as he states, of "Venus and Adonis," are to be placed among the earlier efforts of Shakespeare. There can be little doubt, however, 2 If we suppose Shakespeare, in Act iv. sc. 1, to allude to T. Heywood's play. "A Woman Killed with Kindness," it would show that "The Taming of the Shrew" was written after Feb. 1602-3; but the expression was probably proverbial, and for this reason Heywood took it as the title of his tragedy. that Coleridge and Tieck are right in their conclusion, that "All's Well that Ends Well," which was printed for the first time in the folio of 1623, contains indications of the workings of Shakespeare's mind, and specimens of his composition at two separate dates of his career. towards the end of the drama, by the duplicity, and even It has been a point recently controverted, whether the "Love Labours Won" of Meres were the same piece as "All's Well that Ends Well." The supposition that they were identical was first promulgated by Dr. Farmer, in 1767, in his "Essay on the learning of Shakespeare." On the other hand, the Rev. Joseph Hunter, in his "Disquisition on the Tempest," 8vo. 1839, has contended that by "Love Labours Won" Meres meant "The Tempest," and that it originally bore "Love Labours Won" as its second title. I do not think that Mr. Hunter, with all his acuteness and learning, has made out his case satisfactorily; and in our Introduction to "The Tempest," some reasons will be found for assigning that play to the year 1610, or 1611. Mr. Hunter is only general. argues that "The Tempest," even more than "All's Well that Ends Well," deserves the significant name of "Love Labours Won;" and he certainly is successful in showing, TWELFTH-NIGHT: OR, WHAT YOU that "All's Well that Ends Well" bespoke its own title in two separate quotations. They are from towards the close of the play; and here, perhaps, we meet with the strongest evidences that this portion was one of its author's later efforts. My notion is (and the speculation deserves no stronger term) that "All's Well that Ends Well" was in the first instance, and prior to 1598, called "Love's Labour's Won," and that it had a clear reference to "Love's Labour's Lost," of which it might be considered the counterpart. It was then, perhaps, laid by for some years, and revived by its author, with alterations and additions, about 1605 or 1606, when the new title of "All's Well that Ends Well" was given to it. At this date, however, "Love's Labour's Lost" probably continued to be represented; and we learn from the Revels' Accounts that it was chosen for performance at court between Jan. 1 and Jan. 6, 1604-5. The entry runs in these terms :— "Betwin Newers Day and Twelfe Day, a play of Loves Labours Lost.' The name of the author, and of the company by whom the piece was acted, are not in this instance given. We have no information that "All's Well that Ends Well" met with the same distinction; and possibly Shakespeare altered its name, in order to give an appearance of greater novelty to the representation on its revival. This surmise, if well founded, would account for the difference in the titles, as we find them in Meres and in the folio of 1623. WILL. ["Twelfe Night, Or what you Will," was first printed in the folio of 1623, where it occupies twenty-one pages; viz. from p. 255 to 275 inclusive, in the division of "Comedies," p. 276 having been left blank, and unpaged. It appears in the same form in the three later folios.] at court, nor is there any mention of it in the books at StaWE have no record of the performance of "Twelfth-Night" tioners? 'Hall until November S, 1628, when it was registered by Blount and Jaggard, as about to be included in the first and Tragedies." It appeared originally in that volume, under folio of "Mr. William Shakespeare's Comedies, Histories, the double title, "Twelfth-Night, or What You Will," with the Acts and Scenes duly noted. We cannot determine with precision when it was first written, but we know that it was acted on the celebration of the Readers' Feast at the Middle Temple on Feb. 2, 1602, according to our modern computation of the year. The fact of its performance we have on the evidence of an eye-witness, who seems to have been a barrister, and whose Diary, in his own hand-writing, is preserved in the British Museum (Harl. MSS. 5353). The memorandum runs, literatim, as follows:"Feby. 2, 1601[2]. At our feast we had a play called Twelve-Night, or What You Will, much like the comedy of errors, or Menechmi in Plautus, but most like and neere to that in Italian, called Inganni. A good practise in it to make the steward believe his lady widdowe was in love with him, by counterfayting a letter, as from his lady, in generail termes telling him what shee liked best in him, and prescribing his gestures, inscribing his apparaile, &c., and then when he came to practise, making him beleeve they tooke him to be mad." was written Without here entering into the question, whether Shakespeare understood Italian, of which, we think, little doubt can be entertained, we need not suppose that he went to Boccaccio's Decameron for the story of "All's Well that Ends Well," because he found it already translated to his hands, in "The Palace of Pleasure," by William Painter, of which the first volume was published in 1566, and the second in 1567.2 It is the 9th novel of the third day of Boccaccio, and the 28th This remarkable entry was pointed out in the "History of novel of the first volume of "The Palace of Pleasure." In English Dramatic Poetry and the Stage," vol. i. p. 327. Svo, the Decameron it bears the following title, which is very lite-1881, and the Rev. Joseph Hunter, in his "Disquisition on rally translated by Painter:-"Giglietta di Nerbona guarisce The Tempest," 8vo, 1839, has ascertained that it was made il Re di Francia d'una fistola: domanda per marito Beltramo by a person of the name of Manningham. It puts an end to di Rossiglione; il quale contra sua voglia sposatala, a Firenze the conjecture of Malone, that "Twelfth-Night se ne va per isdegno; dove vagheggiando una giovane, in in 1607, and to the less probable speculation of Tyrwhitt, that persona di lei Giglietta giacque con lui, e hebbene due figliuhebbene due figliu- it was not produced until 1614. Even if it should be objected oli; perchè egli poi havutala cara per moglie la tiene." The that we have no evidence to show that this Comedy was comEnglish version by Painter may be read in "Shakespeare's posed shortly prior to its representation at the Middle TemLibrary" and hence it will appear, that the poet was only ple, it may be answered, that it is capable of proof that it was indebted to Boccaccio for the mere outline of his plot, as re-written posterior to the publication of the translation of Lingards Helena, Bertram, the Widow, and Diana. All that schoten's "Discours of Voyages into the East and West Inbelongs to the characters of the Countess, the Clown, and dies." In A. ii. sc. 2. Maria says of Malvolio:-"He does Parolles, and the comic business in which the last is engaged, smile his face into more lines than are in the new map, with were, as far as we now know, the invention of Shakespeare. the augmentation of the Indies." When Malone prepared The only names Boccaccio (and after him Painter) gives are his "Chronological Order" he had "not been able to learn Giglietta and Beltramo: the latter Shakespeare anglicised to the date of the map here alluded to," but Linschoten's "DisBertram, and he changed Giglietta to Helena, probably be- cours of Voyages" was published in folio in English in 1598, cause he had already made Juliet the name of one of his hero- and in that volume is inserted "the new map with the augines. Shakespeare much degrades the character of Bertram, mentation of the Indies." Meres takes no notice of "Twelfth way. According to my supposition, these passages, as well as another in the Epilogue, "All is well ended, if this suit is won," were added when the comedy was revived in 1605 or 1606, and when a new name was given to it. "All's well that ends well" is merely a proverbial phrase, which was in use in our language long before Shakespeare wrote. See note 1, p. 97. of "The Comedy of Errors.” 2 They were published together in 1575, and hence has arisen the error into which some modern editors have fallen, when they suppose that "The Palace of Pleasure" was first printed in that year. Painter dates the dedication of his "second tome" "From my pore house, besides the Towre of London, the iiij. of November, 1567." Night" in his list, published in the same year, and we may | tronati di Siena, which was several times printed; last, perconclude that the Comedy was not then in existence. The words "new map," employed by Shakespeare, may be thought to show that Linschoten's "Discours" had not made its appearance long before "Twelfth-Night" was produced; but on the whole, we are inclined to fix the period of its composition at the end of 1600, or in the beginning of 1601: it might be acted at the Globe in the summer of the same year, and from thence transferred to the Middle Temple about six months afterwards, on account of its continued popularity. Several originals of "Twelfth-Night," in English, French, and Italian, have been pointed out, nearly all of them discovered within the present century, and to these we shall now advert. haps, in the collection Delle Commedie degl' Accademici Intronati di Siena, 1611, 12mo. Whether our great dramatist saw either of these pieces before he wrote his "Twelfth-Night " may admit of doubt; but looking at the terms Manningham employs, it might seem as if it were a matter understood, at the time "Twelfth-Night" was acted at the Temple on Feb. 2, 1602, that it was founded upon the Inganni. There is no indication in the MS. Diary that the writer of it was versed in Italian literature, and GU' Inganni might at that day be a known comedy of which it was believed Shakespeare had availed himself. An analysis of it is given in a small tract, called "Farther Particulars of Shakespeare and his Works, Svo, 1889, but as only fifty copies of it were printed, it may A voluminous and various author of the name of Barnabe be necessary here to enter into some few details of its plot, Rich, who had been brought up a soldier, published a volume, conduct, and characters. The "Argument," or explanatory which he called "Rich his Farewell to Military Profession," Prologue, which precedes the first scene, will show that the without date, but between the years 1578 and 1581: a re-author of GV Inganni did not adhere to Bandello by any impression of it appeared in 1606, and it contains a novel means closely, and that he adopted entirely different names entitled "Apolonius and Silla," which has many points of for his personages. resemblance to Shakespeare's comedy. To this production more particular reference is not necessary, as it forms part of the publication called "Shakespeare's Library." If our great dramatist at all availed himself of its incidents, he must of course have used an earlier edition than that of 1606. One minute circumstance in relation to it may deserve notice. Manningham in his Diary calls Olivia a "widow," and in Rich's novel the lady Julina, who answers to Olivia, is a widow, but in Shakespeare she never had been married. It is possible that in the form in which the comedy was performed on Feb. 2, 1601-2, she was a widow, and that the author subsequently made the change; but it is more likely, as Olivia must have been in mourning for the loss of her brother, that Manningham mistook her condition, and concluded hastily that she lamented the loss of her husband. Rich furnishes us with the title of no work to which he was indebted; but we may conclude that, either immediately or intermediately, he derived his chief materials from the Italian of Bandello, or from the French of Belleforest. In Bandello it forms the thirty-sixth novel of the Seconda Parte, in the Lucca edit. 1554. 4to, where it bears the subsequent title: "Nicuola, innamorata di Lattantio, và à servirlo vestita da paggio; e dopo molti casi seco si marita: e ciò che ad un suo fratello avvenne. In the collection by Belleforest, printed at Paris in 1572, 12mo, it is headed as follows:"Comme une fille Romaine, se vestant en page, servist long temps un sien amy sans estre cogneue, et depuis l'eust à mary, avec autres divers discours." Although Belleforest inserts no names in his title, he adopts those of Bandello, but abridges or omits many of the speeches and some portions of the narrative: what in Bandello occupies several pages is sometimes included by Belleforest in a single paragraph. We quote the subsequent passage, because it will more exactly show the degree of connexion between "Twelfth-Night" and the old French version: it is where Nicuola, the Viola of Shakespeare, disguised as a page, and under the name of Romule, has an interview with Catelle, the Olivia of "Twelfth-Night," on behalf of Lattance, who answers to the Duke. Mais Catelle, qui avoit plus l'œil sur l'orateur et sur la naïve beauté, que l'oreille aux paroles venant d'ailleurs, estoit en une estrange peine, et volontiers se fut jettée à son col pour le baiser tout à son aise; mais la honte la retint pour un temps: à la fin n'en pouvant plus, et vaincue de ceste impatience d'amour, et se trouvant favorisée de la commodité, ne sceut de tant se commander, que l'embrassant fort estroitement elle ne le baisast d'une douzaine de fois, et ce avec telle lascivité et gestes effrontez, que Romule s'apparceut bien que cette-cy avait plus chere son accointance que les ambassades de celuy qui la courtisoit. A ceste cause luy dit, Je vous prie, madame, me faire tant de bien que me donnant congé, j'aye de vous quelque gracieuse responce, avec laquelle je puisse faire content et joyeux mon seigneur, lequel est en soucy et tourment continuel pour ne sçavoir votre volonté vers luy, et s'il a rien acquis en vos bonnes graces. Catelle, humant de plus en plus le venin d'amour par les yeux, luy sembloit que Romule devint de fois à autre plus beau." Upon the novel by Bandello two Italian plays were composed, which were printed, and have come down to our time. The title of one of these is given by Manningham, where he says that Shakespeare's "Twelfth-Night" was most like and neere to that in Italian called Inganni." It was first acted in 1547, and the earliest edition of it, with which I am acquainted, did not appear until 1582, when it bore the title of "Gl' Inganni Comedia del Signor N. S. The other Italian drama, founded upon Bandello's novel, bears a somewhat similar title:-GV Ingannati Commedia degl' Accademici In Anselmo, a Genoese merchant who traded to the Levant, having left his wife in Genoa great with child, had two children by her, one a boy called Fortunato, and the other a girl named Gineura. After he had borne for four years the desire of seeing his wife and family, he returned home to them, and wishing to depart again, he took them with him; and when they were embarked on board the vessel, he dressed them both in short clothes for greater convenience, so that the girl looked like a boy. And on the voyage to Soria he was taken by Corsairs and carried into Natolia, where he remained in slavery for fourteen years. His children had a different fortune; for the boy was several times sold, but finally here in this city, which, on this occasion, shall be Naples; and he now serves Dorotea, a courtesan, who lives there at that little door. The mother and Gineura, after various accidents, were bought by M. Massimo Caraccioli, who lives where you see this door; but by the advice of the mother, who has been dead six years, Gineura has changed her name and caused herself to be called Ruberto; and, as her mother while living persuaded her, always gave herself out to be a boy, thinking in this way that she should be better able to preserve her chastity. Fortunato and Ruberto, by the information of their mother, know themselves to be brother and sister. M. Massimo has a son, whom they call Gostanzo, and a daughter named Portia. Gostanzo is in love with Dorotea, the courtesan to whom Fortunato is servant. Portia, his sister, is in love with Ruberto, notwithstanding she is a girl, because she has always been thought a man. Ruberto, the girl, not knowing how to satisfy the desires of Portia, who constantly importunes her, has sometimes at night conveyed her brother into the house in her place: he has got Portia with child, and she is now every hour expecting to be brought to bed. On the other hand, Ruberto, as a girl and in love with her young master Gostanzo, has double suffering-one from the passion which torments her, and the other from the fear lest the pregnancy of Portia should be discovered. Massimo, the father of Portia and Gostanzo, is aware of the condition of his daughter, and has sent to Genoa to inquire into the parentage of Ruberto, in order that if he find him ignoble, and unworthy to be the husband of his daughter, whom he believes to be with child by him, he may have him killed. But, by what I have heard, the father of the twins, who has escaped from the hands of the Turks, ought this day to be returned with the messenger, and I think that every thing will be accommodated." In this play, therefore, Portia, who is the Olivia of Shakespeare, is not stated to be a widow, and our great dramatist avoided the needless indelicacy of representing her to be with child. In G Inganni, Gineura (i. e. Viola,) as will have been seen from the "Argument," is not page to the man with whom she is in love, but to Portia: while Gostanzo, whose affection Gineura is anxious to obtain, is brother to her mistress. This of course makes an important difference in the relative situations of the parties, because Gineura, disguised as Ruberto, is not employed to carry letters and messages between the characters who represent the Duke and Olivia. Gostanzo being in love with a courtesan, named Dorotea, in the first Act, Gineura endeavours to dissuade him from his lawless passion, in a manner that distantly, and only distantly, reminds us of Shakespeare. Ruberto (i. e. Gineura) tells Gostanzo to find some object worthy of his affection: "Gostanzo. And where shall I find her? Ruberto. I know one who is more lost for love of you, than you are Gostanzo. Where is she? Ruberto. Not far from you. Gostanzo. And will she be content that I should lie with her. Gostanzo. How shall I get to her? Ruberto. As you would come to me. Gostanzo. How do you know that she loves me? Ruberto. Because she often talks to me of her love. Ruberto. As well as you know me. Gostanzo. Is she young? Ruberto. Of my age. Gostanzo. And loves me? F Ruberto. Adores you. Gostanzo. Have I ever seen her? Ruberto. As often as you have seen me. Gostanzo. Why does she not discover herself to me? Ruberto. Because she sees you the slave of another woman." The resemblance between Gineura and her brother Fortunato is so great, that Portia has mistaken the one for the other, and in the end, like Sebastian and Olivia, they are united; while Gostanzo, being cured of his passion for Dorotea, and grateful for the persevering and disinterested affection of Gineura, is married to her. Our great dramatist has given an actual, as well as an intellectual elevation to the whole subject, by the manner in which he has treated it; and has converted what may, in most respects, be considered a low comedy into a fine romantic drama. So much for GV Inganni, and it now remains to speak of G' Ingannati, a comedy to which, in relation to "TwelfthNight," attention was first directed by the Rev. Joseph Hunter in his "Disquisition on Shakespeare's Tempest," p. 78. GV Ingannati follows Bandello's novel with more exactness than Gi Inganni, though both change the names of the parties; and here we have the important feature that the heroine, called Lelia, (disguised as Fabio) is page to Flamminio, withi whom she is in love, but who is in love with a lady named Isabella. Lelia, as in Shakespeare, is employed by Flamminio to forward his suit with Isabella. What succeeds is part of the Dialogue between Lelia, in her male attire, and Flam minio: "Lelia. Do as I advise. Abandon Isabella, and love one who loves you in return. You may not find her as beautiful; but, tell me, is there nobody else whom you can love, and who loves you? Flamminio. There was a young lady named Lelia, whom, I was a thousand times about to tell you, you are much like. She was thought the fairest, the cleverest, and the most courteous damsel of this country. I will show you her one of these days, for I formerly looked upon her with some regard. She was then rich and about the court, and I continued in love with her for nearly a year, during which time she showed me much favour. Afterwards she went to Mirandola, and it was my fate to fall in love with Isabella, who has been as cruel to me as Lelia was kind. Lelia. Then you deserve the treatment you have received. Since you slighted her who loved you, you ought to be slighted in return by others. Flamminio. What do you say? Lelia. If this poor girl were your first love, and still loves you more than ever, why did you abandon her for Isabella? I know not who could pardon that offence. Ah! signor Flamminio, you did her grievous wrong. Flamminio. You are only a boy, Fabio, and know not the power of love. I tell you that I cannot help loving Isabella: I adore her, nor do I wish to think of any other woman.” nothing but incident in common with "Twelfth-Night." The vast inferiority of the former to the latter in language and sentiment may be seen in every page, in every line. The mistake of the brother for the sister, by Isabella, is the same in both, and it terminates in a somewhat similar manner, for the female attendant of the lady, meeting Fabricio (who is dressed, like his sister Lelia, in white) in the street, conducts him to her mistress, who receives him with open arms. Flamminio and Lelia are of course united at the end of the comedy. The likeness between Gl' Ingannati and "Twelfth-Night" is certainly in some points of the story, stronger than that between GV' Inganni and Shakespeare's drama; but to neither can we say, with any degree of certainty, that our great dramatist resorted, although he had perhaps read both, when he was considering the best mode of adapting to the stage the incidents of Bandello's novel. There is no hint, in any source yet discovered, for the smallest portion of the comic business of "Twelfth-Night." In both the Italian dramas it is of the most homely and vulgar materials, by the intervention of empirics, braggarts, pedants, and servants, who deal in the coarsest jokes, and are guilty of the grossest buffoonery. Shakespeare shows his infinite superiority in each department: in the more serious portion of his drama he employed the incidents furnished by predecessors as the mere scaffolding for the erection of his own beautiful edifice; and for the comic scenes, combining so admirably with, and assisting so importantly in the progress of the main plot, he seems, as usual, to have drawn merely upon his own interminable relectures in 1818, that the passage in Act ii. sc. 4, beginning It was an opinion, confidently stated by Coleridge in his sources. "Too old, by heaven: let still the woman take An elder than herself," &c. had a direct application to the circumstances of his own marriage with Anne Hathaway, who was so much senior to the poet. Some of Shakespeare's biographers had previously enforced this notion, and others have since followed it up; but Coleridge took the opportunity of enlarging eloquently on the manner in which young poets have frequently connected themselves with women of very ordinary personal and mental attractions, the imagination supplying all deficiencies, clothing the object of affection with grace and beauty, and furnishing her with every accomplishment. THE WINTER'S TALE. ["The Winter's Tale" was first printed in folio in 1623, of LITTLE doubt can be entertained, that "The Winter's Tale "" was produced at the Globe, very soon after that theatre had been opened for what might be called the summer season in 1611. In the winter, as has been well ascertained, the king's players performed at "the private house in Black-friars," and they usually removed to the Globe, which was open to the sky, late in the spring. Three pieces of evidence tend to the conclusion, that "The Winter's Tale" was brought out early in 1611: the first of these has never until now been adduced, and it consists of the following entry in the account of the Master of the Revels, Sir George Buc, from the 31st of October, 1611, to the same day, 1612: "The 5th of November: A play called the winters nightes Tayle." Elsewhere the resemblance between "Twelfth-Night" and GV' Ingannati, in point of situation is quite as strong, but there the likeness ends, for in the dialogue we can trace no connexion between the two. The author of the Italian comedy has obviously founded himself entirely upon Bandello's novel, of which there might be some translation in the time of Shakespeare more nearly approaching the original, than the version which Rich published before our great dramatist No author's name is mentioned, but the piece was represented visited the metropolis. Whether any such literal translation at Whitehall, by "the king's players," as we find stated in had or had not been made, Shakespeare may have gone to the margin, and there can be no hesitation in deciding that the Italian story, and Le Novelle di Bandello were very well The Winter's Night's Tayle" was Shakespeare's "Winter's known in England as early as about the middle of the six- Tale." The fact of its performance has been established by teenth century. If Shakespeare had followed Rich we should Mr. Peter Cunningham, in his valuable work, entitled, “Exprobably have discovered some verbal trace of his obligation, tracts from the Accounts of the Revels at Court," 8vo, 1842, as in the cases where he followed Painter's "Palace of Plea- printed for the Shakespeare Society1. "The Winter's Tale sure," or, still more strikingly, where he availed himself of was probably selected on account of its novelty and poputhe works of Greene and Lodge. In G' Ingannati we find larity. 1618. 1 From the Introduction to the same work, we find that "The Winter's Tale" was also represented at court on Easter Tuesday, 2 The expenses of eleven other plays are included in the same account, viz. "The Tempest," "King and no King, ""King and no King," "The City Gallant, "The Almanack," "The Twins' Tragedy," "Cupid's Revenge," "The Silver Age," "Lucretia," "The Nobleman," "Hymen's Holiday," and "The Maid's Tragedy." At most, only one of these had been printed before they were thus acted, and some of them never came from the press. "The Nobleman," by Cyril Tourneur, was entered at Stationers' Hall for publication on 15th February, 1611. "Lucretia" may have been a different play from Heywood's "Rape of Lucrece," which bears date in 1608 if so, there is no exception, and all that came from the press at any period were printed subsequently to 1611-12, the earliest in 1613, and the latest in 1655 Hence a strong inference may be drawn, that they were all dramas which had been recommended for court-performance by their novelty and popularity. 1 |