1828.] REVIEW-Shaksperian Gala at Stratford. We have thus given our general readers an idea of the theory of Cuvier; only omitting details of the wonders which he has developed. We are far from thinking it final, or free from serious philosophical objection; but, for all that, it is a very fine thing, and may prompt (for facile est addere inventis) discoveries of the very grandest kind. With the exception of supposing that man had no existence before the Deluge, it confirms the most ertraordinary assertions of Scripture; but he evidently founds his hypothesis as to man upon the desideratum of fossil human remains, which is by no means conclusive argumentation. However, we minst conclude, and shall do so with stating, that Messrs. Griffith, &c. have most luminously elucidated the subject, and that we know few books equal to this in importance, curiosity, and interest. A Descriptive Account of the late Gala Festival at Stratford upon Avon, in commemoration of the Natal Day of Shakspeare. 8vo. pp. 60. SHAKSPEARE is the great delineator of English character in all its forms; and he was born on the festival day of the patron Saint of England,a very happy coincidence. SHAKSPEARE. Achilles, Cæsar, Homer, Virgil, &c. &c., are remembered as wonderful men, and SO was SHAKSPEARE. Long winded praise always defeats its object. Tedious speeches, made to show that a man is supereminently distinguished, when he is universally allowed to be so, either are disregarded, or detract from him, unless they are composed of biographical anecdotes. Shakspeare was a plain man in his manners, got as much money as he could, that he might pass his older days in easy retirement; and like other men bent upon dying worth money, had few or no serious vices and follies, and considered his literary efforts only as goods sold and delivered."-A drama without effect, he well knew, would be an Hibernicisma glass of brandy and water without the brandy. Byron had exactly the same idea of poetry; for Shakspeare well knew, and Byron well knew, that although many versifiers The Quarterly Reviewers (Sept. 1826), have mooted it very ably. 43 think to produce the miracles of the galvanic battery by the common electrifying machine, readers are like the dead frogs, they will not jump out of the glass without a shock as strong as one from an exploding powder-mill. A lumber-minded Englishman (and so were most of them in Shakespeare's æra) will not budge for all the pointlace thinking of Greece and Rome, but shoot off a pistol close to his ear, though it be only in jest, up he starts, and looks about him. Such was the galvanism of Shakspeare, and he studied character, and drew his reflections from nature-in two words, he never lost sight of striking effect and interesting nature, and finding in every auditor fellow-feeling, because he was natural, his success was proportionate.That suceess, too, had a grand issue. It established the drama for ever in this kingdom. It placed it on an equal footing with the epic, and what is that? why it elevates the soul to the heroic, and the heroic is an indispensable quality as to national prosperity; nothing but the heroic will brave danger and death, and forget self. The tendency of the drama is to encourage such high-mindedness; and its enemies are only those human formed worms who would merely fall upon their knees, though ruffians were violating their wives and daughters. The songs of Dibdin inspired the sailor with invincible enthusiam; and the wise will ever recollect that it is to victory, not to sectarianism, that they owe the enormous blessing of really enjoying life and property. Strong sense and beautiful sentiment are also inculcated by the drama; and it is only culpable when it loses sight of morality. Only culpable, we say, under this circumstance, because this blunder avoided, what else can it be but a rátional lecture in a lively amusing form? A man who will not enjoy happiness in an innocent way is a fool; for moral misery is only intended by Providence to be a corrective of vice and silliness. There is not, also, a greater friend upon earth to the propagation of that most valuable quality common sense, than the drama. How many officious mischievous gossips does not the character of Paul Pry crush in the bud? but there needs no dissertation on the subject display of character, in all its various forms and shapes, must be very instructive; and if heaven consists of 44 REVIEW. Shaksperian Gala at Stratford. innocent pleasure, such pleasure was never prohibited upon earth. We have noticed the ceremony to which this pamphlet alludes, in our Magazine for May last, p. 456. The procession was composed of the characters in Shakspeare's Plays, attired in stage costume, corrected according to authority. Among these we recollect those delightful laughing-stocks of our younger days, (1) BOттOм, (the Weaver), "with an ass's head, an excellent imitation of life; his dress a brown tunic, with a light coloured material, covering the arms and legs to imitate flesh;" and (2), OLD JACK, the finest comic character ever pourtrayed. He appeared in a scarlet cloak, with a blue cape, a white_full doublet, and scarlet pantaloons." Concerning this costume, the following remark is made: "The Falstaffs of modern times have been erroneously represented with a small black cap, with feathers hanging down; but on the present occasion a turbau formed of crimson cloth, edged with gold, was substituted; and we think with great propriety, for if we recollect right, the turban, in this shape, was the usual head-dress worn in the time of Henry the Fourth, the period in which the plot of this play is laid. Certain it is, that the two misers in the celebrated picture of that name, by Quintin Matsys at Windsor Castle, are depicted with turbans of that description." P. 22. Now this reform is not at all to our taste. The turban is far too serious a costume for the laughing knight. Harlequin performed in a cauliflower wig would be excessively grotesque, but it would have only the character of buffoonery; and Falstaff is not a monkey, or a merry Andrew. The flat velvet cap and feather was far more appropriate; and by examining Strutt's work upon dress, (pl. cxxx-cxxxii.) it will be seen, that the deviation from contemporary costume, if any, was far too slight to require alteration. By a very judicious regulation, the characters were personified by professional actors. We miss Benedict and Beatrice among them, and sorry we are; for this couple, walking arm in arm, and quarrelling and loving in character, would have had high dramatic effect. A Rosalind, too, might have been jesting with Touchstone. Sir Andrew Aguecheek, Justice Shallow, Henry VIII., Cardinal Wolsey, and Catharine should, we think, also [July, appear. We mention these additions, because we are told, in p. 33, that the pageant is to be represented at a metropolitan theatre, where any omission can be easily supplied. We shall now give an extract from the speech of Dr. Wade, viear of St. Nicholas, Warwick. It is a most brilliant and animated eulogy of our glorious Bard. It is long indeed, in matter, but much too short for the pleasure which it conveys. "If we contemplate the Father of the Drama as a literary character, he stands pre-eminently the first. What would our language be but for him? Where is there a noble sentiment that is not to be found in his writings, or to be inferred from them? From whom amongst the celebrated men of his time, or of any period before or since, can be learnt such great lessons of politics, metaphysics, logic, natural or moral philosophy? Though the period at which he appeared, was that of a great reformation, when the foundations of ignorance and barbarity were broken up-when a constellation of geniuses arose to enlighten a darkened world both in Church and State-when the world saw a Bacon, a Raleigh, and the venerable Hooker;-yet of all, Shakspeare was Lord of the Ascendant! Methinks (continued the Learned Doctor, pointing to a transparency over the door)— I see with Fancy's magic eye, SMART. "The emblem of the sun, combined with him in the same picture upon these walls, suggests to me, that the sun of his genius drew up the dews from the whole intellectual world; and having purified it, by the powerful laboratory of his mind, from all that was barbarous and unintelli gible in the jargon of antiquity, let it decend in refreshing showers of knowledge, of precepts, and of principles. Of all kinds of composition, whether epic, tragic, or comic, Tragedy is the most interesting; and here Shakspeare took his stand. Like some mighty magician, he called spirits from the vasty deep,' and celestial intelligences hovered round his sacred head. He made Tragedy to convey lessons of morality, and did what Aristotle only wished to be effected. He turned the passions of men, which, being lawless, are as devouring fires,' into a salutary and chastening spirit. From the earliest time this had been at tempted in vain. Eschylus was in this respect but a barbarian; Sophocles, however sublime, and Euripides, however pathetic, with all the assistance of pagan worship, became the ridicule of Aristophanes; and 1 828.] Shaksperian Gala at Stratford. even their audiences were disgusted-with Who steals my purse Steals trash: 'twas mine-'tis his, and has been slave to thousands.' In Ancient Rome, if the Augustan taste applauded even his approach to nature, when Terence said, that nothing relating to humanity was uninteresting to him, what would they not have said to Nature's own child, warbling his native wood-notes wild?' Though he has been denied to have possessed learning, yet he excelled in applying poetry to moral purposes - he made his characters convey sentiments of virtue -he showed how vicious principles led to vicious conduct; wherever villany was successful, he made it unhappy; and where it failed, the villain failed, the villain fell, like Lucifer, never to rise again.' Too much has been urged against the Dramatist's want of learning, as if knowledge were a sealed volume, to be opened only by a few. A Critic has observed, that an ancient Sage locked up the Temple of Knowledge, and threw away the key; and it remained closed till a countryman found the same, and reopened it. This is true-most true, as far as it relates to books. But there is a sanctuary within the temple there is a holier part than the head of man-it is his heart. Of this Shakspeare alone had the master-key wherewith to unlock all its treasures. Neither ancients nor moderns-neither the people of England, France, or Italy, could decipher the hieroglyphics of the human heart. They did not understand its hidden motives and principles. The French school was too attentive to their unities, to bestow attention upon the moral effects; even their sacred dramas failed to produce any thing except cold declamation. There was something rotten in the state of Denmark.' The German school, with their metaphysical subtleties and enthusiasm, 'o'erstepped the modesty of nature.' Materials there were, but they were a chaotic mass, and so they would have remained, had not the heaven born spirit of Shakspeare moved upon the face of the elements, and given light, activity, and moral effect to an indolent world. Gentlemen, I am uuable, and before this intelligent assembly, unwilling to presume to point out the beauties of our Bard. Suffice it to observe, that the stores of his knowledge have been ransacked by a host of critics, commentators, and learned men of all nations' He was not only witty in himself, but the cause of wit in others,'if they would have the honesty to acknowledge their obligations, and not, as some have done, ungratefully mingle envious ob 45 jections with their encomiums. It is satis- . He 'He finds tongues in trees, Books in running brooks, sermons in stones, And good in every thing.' The soul of the nation came like a comet --one of those heavenly messengers, which, while they move in eccentric orbits of their own, and are not to be confined to the periods of other planets, give heat and electric sustenance and beauty to all animate and inanimate nature. From the prodigality of his genius, many have derived a lustre not their own. His was true greatness, viz. to be imitated, not to imitate. All ranks and description of men, from the king to the beggar, learn of him to be wiser and better. His very habits and misfortunes 46 REVIEW-Bishop of Salisbury's Charge. in early life acquainted him with the common feelings of common men; when he inculcated loyalty and inclined to royalty, he hever forgot the interests of the million. His characters were not more distinguished for their variety, than for their individuality; if he did not consult the unities, he did what was of more importance, regarded the proprieties of conduct and behaviour in life. "But, Gentlemen, I should not, as a clergyman, feel justified in dilating at all upon the merits of this Great Dramatic character merely because he hath made the vices of men a scourge to whip them with,' because he hath mapped out a perfect chart of the human mind, if he had gone no further. But I see a higher object (and I speak it not profanely), religion-Christian religion was his polar star, otherwise Lear might have appalled us with his madness, and Ophelia melted us with her piteous strains in vain. As this part of his character is of the utmost importance, I am happy to find my sentiments confirmed by the opinions of several writers, and distinguished ornaments of the Church-that he is a Christian Poet. It is evident from his writings, that the volume of the Holy Scriptures was his companion; and his very forbearance from too frequent use of it on ordinary occasions, shews how he hallowed it. He alludes, in the Old Testament, to the corruptions and adulteries of the Jews, and to the New Testament, where he mentions the afflicted spirits spirits in prison.' His tenderness of heart and his benevolence also shew the operation of the Christian religion upon himself. We are all more or less indebted to Shakspeare-the Bar and the Senate,'to point a moral or adorn a tale :' nay, even the Clergy adopt passages, occasionally, though sparingly, to embellish Divinity. The great Novelist, Sir Walter Scott, and the author of Brambletye House,' (Horace Smith) have also enriched their exquisite writings by occasional references to, and quotations from the works of this great Master in the School of our Poetical Prophets." It need not be said, that the whole of the pageant was got up in excellent style; and if to disseminate pleasures of the soul among the people at large, be a national good, and we think it is, then is the public greatly obliged to the Shakspearean club and inhabitants of Stratford-upon-Avon. A Charge delivered to the Clergy of the [July, THE Bishop introduces his Charge with a preface referring to Solifidians, from which we extract the following passages concerning what is called, by a strange misnomer, the Evangelical System. His Lordship first quotes Mr. Scott, who in his life of his father, says "Sure I am that Evangelical religion is in many places wholly verging to Antinomianism the vilest heresy that Satan ever invented." p. 206.-" Perhaps speculating Antinomians abound most among professed Calvinists; but Antinomians, whose sentiments influence their practice, are innumerable among Armenians.' p. 209."There are above two thousand inhabitants in this town, almost all Calvinists, even the most debauched of them." p. 212.—“ A tendency to Antinomianism is the bane of Evangelical preaching in this day." p. 364. That God patronizes vice and folly is assuredly blasphemous, yet the Evangelical preaching here alluded to implies both; for it makes the terms of salvation either arbitrary Calvinistic predestination, or a mysticism which it makes the term justification by Faith to imply. But as the Bishop further observes "In the following passage of Bishop Jebb's Sermon on Rom. xiv. 17, is a beautiful picture of Evangelical religion without Calvinism; and the reverse of Antinomianism. But the righteousness of God's kingdom is no negative attainment. It is not merely the absence of evil, but the prevalence of good. Religion, at the just height, and in its full proportion, is the source of all virtue. It possesses and animates the entire man. In the understanding it is knowledge; in the life it is obedience; in the affections it is charity; in our conversation it is modesty, calmness, gentleness, quietness, candour; in our secular concerns it is uprightness, integrity, generosity. It is the regulation of our desires, the government of our pasisons, the harmonious union of whatsoever things are true, honest, just, pure, lovely, and of good report, virtuous and praiseworthy. It is a partaking of the divine nature, a conformity to the image of God's son; a putting on of the Lord Jesus Christ; or in the still more expressive language of the Apostle, it is Christ formed within us." Preface, xxxvii. His Lordship, in winding up an elaborate disquisition, concludes that— "There are two kinds of justification, one by faith only, and one by faith and works; that justification by faith only consists in the remission of sin, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus [v 1828.] REVIEW.-Warwick County Asylum. KRISTO 'Ingou, by Christ Jesus], that it is limited to the remission of sin by baptism; that this is our first justification, and has no other relation to our final justification in the Day of Judgment than as having the same basis of justification-the death of Christ; the two kinds of justification differing from each other in this, that one belongs to this life, the other to the next; the former unconditional, the latter conditional; one, justification from sin by faith without works; the other, justification of every man according to his works: one through faith only, the other through faith and works." -P. 139. We have numerous books published on Religious Subjects, but very little Theological Science. The Bishop very properly says "A learned Clergy was never more necessary to the Church, for the maintenance of true religion, than it is at this day, in opposition to the errors of popery, unitarianism, and fanaticism, errors founded chiefly on misrepresentations of scripture." -Pp. 12, 13. There are other parts of the Charge which merit the most solemn attention, but we had only room for selecting those which are of immediate bearing upon the prevailing mistakes of the day; mistakes which we affirm are of the worst civil consequences, by a disjunction of morals from ligion. By the critical acumen and profound learning of the Bishop, we have been much edified; but far greater, from its superior importance, has been the delight derived from the following seasonable paragraph re "The inseparable union of good works with a true faith, is evident from this :-No one can believe in Christ who does not know him, and no one can truly know Christ, or have any assurance of the sincerity of his faith in him, who does not keep his commandments; for the Apostle says, Hereby we know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. (1 John ii. 3.)" p. 144. A Memoir of the Warwick County Asylum, instituted in the year 1818, shewing that it has answered the purposes of Reformation, and diminished the County Expenditure. 8vo. pp. 36. Appendix. THE Warwick County Asylum was founded with the professed object of affording a place of refuge to criminal boys, and giving them useful instruction and honest modes of employment. The last valuable Report of the Prison Society, shows that the best 47 preventive of crime is knowledge. We are happy to corroborate it by an extract from this Memoir, which also shows the fallacy of onritting religion in juvenile tuition, and the excellent operation of our national school education. "Many, it will be observed, had learned to read, and some to write; and in general it may be remarked that these juvenile delinquents display an acuteness beyond their years. But this only forms another proof, if any such were wanting, that learning of whatever kind, when it is not made the vehicle of sound religious instruction, does but give an increased power to the mind, which may be directed either to a good or to a bad purpose. "It is a fact, that of the whole number of Asylum boys who had been tried and convicted of crime, not one had received an education under the national system. It is true, there are some of those sent to the Asylum under the suspicion of guilt, who had received that description of instruction which is sanctioned by the National Society, but none actually convicted of crime had been educated in a National School." P. 14. It appears, that the effect of the system is to reform about one half of those on whom the experiment is tried; and that the expense is so much below the cost of prosecution, &c. &c. that reformation is the cheapest policy. When examining the table, containing a short history of the boys, it is shocking to see the horrid consequences of negligent administration of the Poor Laws. Out of about one hundred boys, only six were children of respectable characters. The other unfortunates were either orphans (numerous), bastards, or children of thieves or drunkards, or of widows or widowers. Now we would humbly submit to the legislature this circumstance for particular attention. We would, with regard to orphans at least, suggest a power to be given to the parish clergyman, of laying the case of every such neglected boy before the magistrates, who might cause the parish officers to act a paternal part towards such hapless children. We also beg to impress upon the benevolent, the strong fact that the respectable poor richly deserve their patronage, because, out of one hundred juvenile delinquents, only six are found to have had parents of respectable character. What kindness then, do not such parents deserve. |