Ill 



tratioD, and gorgeous imagery, lacking the moral con- 

 solidation of lofty principle, it would still, as a modem 

 and Christian literature, be defective, undeserving the 

 high honour awarded to it by many minds, and that 

 place th it it Avould otherwise claim as the noblest litera- 

 ture of all time. 



In proceeding to an analysis of the plays, it is only fair 

 that we should bring to the task such impartial and 

 unprejudiced consideration as we should, under similar 

 circumstances, render to any other great and world- 

 famous work, or system of art. That we should weigh 

 what has been sacrificed, as well as what has been 

 achieved, in deference to a fixed plan ; what has been cut 

 away, what rounded, what adorned; the diminution of this 

 ornament, the addition to another ; the refinement or 

 chastening of a third. To trace the gradation by which it 

 arose completely, as it stands perfected before the eye. 

 To accomplish this, it would, perhaps be the simplest 

 course, to examine one of the dramas in detail — " Measure 

 for Measure." One of the least successful of the acting 

 plays, of the most irregular structure. A play which will 

 best illustrate the want of art asserted by one side, and 

 the presence of the noblest art insisted on by the other. 

 The story, as we know, is a simple one. A governor of a 

 people leaves his realms to the mercy and rule of a 

 deputy, who, under a seeming show of virtue and pre- 

 cision, is yet unchanged at heart, and is destitute of that 

 soul of honour, and integrity of purpose founded by 

 reliance on superior power. He attempts to walk alone, 

 in his own unaided strength, and falls. Rigid in the 

 punishment of offence, unsympathetic and inflexible, a 

 ruler and not a father to his people, lie yet commits and 

 with peculiar circumstances of aggravation, the very 

 crimen he so severely visits, and is finally punished by 



