SHAKESPEAEE AND PIRACY. 295 



Piracy on the high seas in Shakespeare's days may be said to have been of two kinds : 

 that which was practically legalised, for purposes of reprisal on foreign foes, and that 

 which was for private and individual plunder. How prevalent it was may be gathered from 

 the passages indicated below. * 



In Measure for Measure we find the freebooter's calling satirised in the comparison : 

 " like the sanctimonious pirate that went to sea with the Ten Commandments, but scraped 

 one out of the table " that one, of course, being, " Thou shalt not steal." Their reckless 

 life is literally described by Richard Plantagenet in the Second Part of King Henry VI,, 

 where he says 



" Pirates may make cheap pennyworths of their pillage, 

 And purchase friends, and give to courtezans, 

 Still revelling, like lords, till all be gone " 



while Suffolk dies by pirates later on. In the same historical play King Henry again 

 describes his condition, harassed by the rebel Jack Cade and the troublesome Duke of 

 York, as 



" Like to a ship, that having 'scaped a tempest, 

 Is straightway calmed and boarded with a pirate." 



Queen Margaret in Richard III. addresses three noble lords as 



" Ye wrangling pirates, that fall out 

 In sharing that which you have pill'd f from me." 



In Pericles Shakespeare introduces the not uncommon episode of a birth at sea, which 

 occurs in a terrible gale, the mother apparently dying immediately afterwards, to be later 

 cast into the sea in a chest, and revive when thrown upon the shore. 



And for our last Shakespearian quotation, in Cymbeline we have a fine description of 

 our own little island and its impregnability. " Remember," says the Queen 



"The natural bravery of your isle, which stands 

 As Neptune's park, ribbed and paled in 

 With rocks unscaleable and roaring waters ; 

 With sands that will not bear your enemies' boats, 

 But suck them up to the topmast. A kind of conquest 

 Caesar made here ; but made not here his brag 

 Of came, and saiv, and overcame : with shame 

 (The first that ever touched him), he was carried 

 From off our coast twice beaten ; and his shipping 

 (Poor ignorant baubles !) on our terrible seas, 

 Like egg-shells moved upon their surges, cracked 

 As easily 'gainst our rocks ; for joy whereof, 

 The famed Cassibelan, who was once at point 

 (0 giglot+ fortune !) to master Caesar's sword, 

 Made Lud's town with rejoicing fires bright, 

 And Britons strut with courage." 



* Let Shakespearian students note the allusions to piracy contained in the following references -.Twelfth Night, 

 Act V. scene 1; Measure for Measure, \. 2, and IV. 3; Merchant of Venice, I. 3; Second Part of Henry VI., 

 IV. 1,9; Richard III., I. 3 ; Antony and Cleopatra, I. 4, II. 6 ; Pericles, IV. 2, 3 V. 1 ; Hamlet, IV. 6. 



t Pillaged. j Wanton. 



