SOME REMARKS ON THE PHILOSOPHY, &C. 83 



convenient size, and will, of course, ever rank amongst the most 

 splendid contributions to ornithological science. We are given to 

 understand that only a few copies of the Birds of Europe remain 

 unsubscribed for. We shall return to this subject in our next num- 

 ber, and hope to be able to present our readers with a critical ana- 

 lysis of two parts in each succeeding publication. 



SOME REMARKS ON THE PHILOSOPHY AND 

 OBSERVANCES OF SHAKSPEARE. 



v.— MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING. 



Mrs. Jamieson, in her inimitable character of Beatrice, has so 

 completely depicted the character of Benedict that one must possess 

 almost a supernatural sight to discover any new feature. Beatrice 

 and Benedict are so essentially similar that to think of one is to 

 think of both. Twin stars of the zodiac, who owe their brilliance 

 to their approximation — an " ingeniorum cos/' as Burton expresses 

 it, to each other. The only difference between them is owing, per- 

 haps, more to the reader's prejudices than to any dissimilarity in the 

 characters of Signior Montanto and Ladie Disdain. 



Though Beatrice be the prima donna of wit and gaiety, and, as 

 Mrs. Jamieson remarks, incomparable with the fine lady of modern 

 comedy, yet that such a character belongs naturally to all women 

 cannot be denied ; the smart repartee, the sparkling satire, is 

 peculiar to the sex ; it arises out of the delicacy of their organiza- 

 tion — a defensive weapon with which nature has endowed them. 

 That few ladies are Beatrices is, perhaps, more the fault of selfish 

 man than any incapacity in themselves. Holding the power by 

 the most despotic of all titles, that of hereditary, he subdues the 

 intellect of woman into a form and quality agreeable to his own 

 inclinations. Thus, because man is too dull to encounter the nim- 

 ble and sparkling wit of woman, he disables her by a mental restric- 

 tion of the worst kind, and under the plea of modesty, becomingness, 

 propriety, and all those terms included in the word amiability, 

 she is taught, from childhood, to restrain every light-hearted 

 word, lest she be betrayed into rudeness — every ingenuous repar- 

 tee, lest it degenerate into pertness. Like the beautiful statue of 

 Memnon, that seems no longer re-animated by the presence of its 

 deity, every brilliant thought is concealed, every kindling emotion 

 is suppressed, and wit, the most enlivening, reserved merely as a 

 penalty for impertinence. 



