84 SOME REMARKS ON THE PHILOSOPHY^ &C. 



Even with Beatrice and Benedict, however favourably Mrs. Ja- 

 mieson excuses Benedict, he is no match for dear Ladie Disdain : — 

 with him wit is, in great part, an acquirement, and no little does he 

 owe to the celerity of his circulation. Benedict is constitutionally 

 smart, with fine humour, and just enough waywardness to be agree- 

 able. Beatrice is sexually witty ; her fancies cluster in her mind 

 brilliant as dew-drops in the sun — a grotto radiant with the light 

 of its own thousand gems. Benedict was, happily, born with a 

 wide capacity for enjoyment, a heart the bravest and the most 

 sensitive ; one who can cry and curse at the same moment — the 

 slave of affections that he would conceal by ridiculing. Were 

 Benedict and Beatrice insensible to love they would satirize it less ; 

 they are both ashamed of their own propensities. Extravagance 

 springs not from indifference ; they are too excessive in their aver- 

 sions to be careless of the object. 



Benedict and Mercutio are similar in many points — lively, hu- 

 mourous, and satirical ; but Benedict is not so refined. There is a 

 sullenness in Benedict, in Mercutio there is a perennial cheerful- 

 ness. It is not too much to say that the most miraculous genius of 

 Shakspeare is an image of the /4 //-creative Deity. No other era- 

 bodied mind could ever approach him in the universality and indi- 

 viduality of his genius. Like the infinite shades of the human 

 countenance, which, however similar, are never the same, Shak- 

 speare has distinguished every character by a peculiarity differing 

 from every other ; so that, however resemblant, they are never 

 identical. Benedict is inferior to Beatrice : had she been coupled 

 with Mercutio, she would have been silenced by the innate con- 

 sciousness of his intellectual superiority. Mercutio could never 

 have loved Beatrice — she mnst have loved him. Benedict turns 

 misogynist from love ; and after all, though they may be " too 

 wise to woo peaceably," yet that Benedict will not escape the 

 " predestinated scratched face" I do not think. I rather believe 

 that a Beatrice, as a wife, however " pleasant-spirited," would 

 soon feel less witty and more fond, and that a Benedict would be- 

 come, if not uxorious, yet a tender, quiet-spoken husband — 



" Supremely blest if to their portion fall 

 Health, competence, and peace." 



w. 



[We are reluctantly compelled to limit the "Remarks on the Philosophy 

 and Observances of Shakspeare" to the above brief sketch of Signior Mon - 

 tan to. In our next number we shall, however, have the pleasure of present- 

 ing our readers with a continuation of the series. — Eds.] 



