1881.] on ShaJcspeare Criticism. 579 



real; it was this presentment by actors of human beings — not of 



stilted heroes with the unfeeling and conventional declamation of 



the stage. I saw Romeo, Virginius, William Tell, Sbylock, Othello ; 



I saw Macready, Kean, and Young. Then I read, I devoured the 



library of the foreign stage, and I saw that in the world of tho 



drama all springs from Shakspeare, as in the greater world all springs 



from the sun. I saw that no writer could be compared with him. 



He was as dramatic as Corneille, as comic as Moliere, as daring as 



Calderon, as thoughtful as Goethe, as passionate as Schiller." 

 ****** 



After commenting on various foreign translations of Shakspeare, 

 Mr. Pollock cited the following as a specimen of some of tho very 

 strange annotations and translations. Moratin, the Spanish trans- 

 lator, in a note says : " They paint now the Omnipotent in the 

 act of hurling thunderbolts at man ; indeed it is quite common. 

 But to imagine the Almighty discharging a park of artillery at him, 

 is certainly something very new ; whilst it should be noted that in 

 the time of Hamlet there were neither cannons nor gunpowder." 

 This amazing note is explained by the fact that he translates : 



as follows 



" Or that the Everlasting had not fixed 

 His canon 'gaiust self-slaughter," 



" O ! el Todopoderoso no asestara 

 El cauon contra el homicida de si mismo. 



Later translators substitute fusil (gun) for canon. 



In conclusion, Mr. Pollock read the beautiful version of the 

 Willow Song by the elder Dumas. 



