94 



♦ KNOWLEDGE • 



[July 7, 1882. 



one is obliged to touch tlieir ill-arranged note-heaps. We 

 doubt if any one could read through what tliey tell us. 

 Dippetl into occasionally, such matter is often interesting 

 enough, and always amusuig. It is unfortunate that 

 Professor Delius's arrangement of the plays in conjectural 

 chronological order sliould have been followed, — the (irst 

 part tlms becomes mainly occupied with inferior or 

 doubtful plays. Our ideal Shakespeare edition should 

 not contain '"Titus Andronicus," whether Shakespeare 

 wrote all, any, or none, of this hideous play. Part I. 

 of " Henry VI." follows, and in all tliree parts of 

 •' Henry VI." there is much which is entirely unworthy of 

 Shakespeare, as we know him in his greater historic plays,* 

 " The Two Gentlemen of Verona " comes next, an im- 

 mense relief, and then the "Comedy of Errors," which 

 Dr. Dowden, forgetting the '■ Taming of a Shrew," calls 

 Shakespeare's only Farce. This play, whatever artistic 

 faults may be found with it, is one of Shakespeare's brighest, 

 the style of fun being something like Molierc's. It is in- 

 teresting, as seeming to bear undoubted reference to 

 Shakespeare's own life. Twins (Ilamnet and Judith) had 

 been born to him three or four yeai-s bcfore,t and twins 

 alx)und in the Comedy ; but that is not the point Pro- 

 bably about the timo when he wrote the " Comedy of 

 Errors," he being then some 23 and his wife 33, the 

 natural ellect of his unwise marriage si.\ or seven years 

 l>efore had begun to lie felt rather painfully by him. He 

 liad learned the lesson which he taught a year or two 

 later : — 



Let still tlio woman tako 

 All filler than lier.wlf ; so wears she to liiiii, 

 So sways she level to ber liiLaband's heart. 



Also, it is to be feared, tliis other lesson, that. 



However we do praise ourselves, 

 Our fancies arc more giddy and infirm, 

 More long^ing, wavering, sooner lost and worn, 

 Than women's arc. 



(At least, when the woman Ls much the elder.) 



It is no unfair assumption to suppose that in Adriana, 

 Shakespeare pictured the erst fair Ann Hathaway; in 

 .\ntipholus of Ephesus himself. (It would be sacrilege to 

 think thus of any characters in his later and greater plays). 



• It is rather sin^lar that in "Titus Andronicas" and the First 

 I'art of " Ilcniy VI.," both of which contain passages utterly atro- 

 rh.un ill Style and treatment, insomuch that some question whether 

 > , ik.-^|*.in- wrote a lino of cither, both contain lines so similar to 

 ■ ,:;.i- 111 ]Ai earlier sonnets as to leave little doubt that they canio 

 iruiM iho same pen. Thus, compare " Titug Andronicus," act ii., 

 scene 2 : — 



" 8ho is a woman, therefore may be woo'd ; 

 Shu ia a woman, therefore may be won." 

 And " Uenrr VI. ," Part I., act v., scene 3 — 



" 8he 'a beantiful, and therefore to bo woo'd ; 

 She is a woman, therefore to be won." 

 Wiih thcso lines in the forty-first sonnet : — 



" Beauteous thou art, therefore to be nssail'd ; 



Gentle thou art, and therefore to be won." 



Perhaps, however, some tcn-s}-|lablo proverbs familiar in Bhake- 



Hpearo's time may have l>cen quoted, or referred to, in all thcso 



putmges. 



+ --■•.niiiria'i wtia his first-bom. Mr. Furnivall's acconat of 



rly love is rather exceptionally absurd, llo is 



Iniit tluit if Shakespeare was a "young stupid," 



■! of us; and telling us that one day Anno and 



'■'■' ' more," he kindly explains " that is IJanto's," as 



if tl- 1 ,-,< , . f Krancesca de Himini and Paolo were not known 



to all. 



Possibly ho may have meant the Abbess's rather severe 

 teaching for his wife's special benefit : — 



Ills meat was sauced by thy upbraidings : 

 Unquiet meals mako ill digestions; 



11 is sports were hinder'd by thy brawls : 

 Sweet i-ccrcation barr'd, what doth ensue 

 But moody and dull melancholy, 

 Kinsman to grim and comfortless despair ? &c. 



The other play in this first part is " Henry VI,," 

 Part II., little better than Part I. 



All illustrations to Shakespeare are " an abomination of 

 desolation," from Sir John Ciilbert's, Harvey's, and the like, 

 down to those illustrating Dick's " Penny Shakespeare." 

 Those in the present edition are among the worst we have 

 seen. Before issuing an illustrated Shakespeare, publishers 

 should wait till they can engage an artist as great in his 

 own line as Shakespeare in his, — and /fioi they should be 

 assured that their artist understood Sliakespeare. 



A NEW GUIDE TO THE ALPS.* 



TiiK season of Continental travel has come, and guidc- 

 liooks arc in request. Murray and Baedeker are dear, and 

 they overlook sometimes the minor wants of travellers. 

 They address their readers as though already experienced 

 travellers. The guide before us is very cheap (half-a- 

 crown cannot be called a large price for a book of more 

 than 400 pages, with many elaborate maps atul diagrams, 

 and crowded with information on all sorts of topics im- 

 portant to tra^■ellers). If we do not altogether admit 

 the scientific accuracy of the description "indispensable," 

 which occupies a whole page at the beginning of the 

 book, we must admit that a work such as this claims 

 to be, is, at the price, a very desirable addition 

 to the contents of the tourist's wallet It treats of 

 Switzerland and the Swiss, and Alpine auimal.s and vege- 

 tation, gives hints to tourists, discusses the various routes 

 of travel, and deals in special articles with hotels and 

 pensions, mountaineering, what to wear, glaciers, Swiss 

 butterflies and moths, avalanches, baths and springs, the 

 Alps generally, the Upper Valais, the Bernese Oberland, 

 the Italian Lakes, and many other subjects too numerous 

 to mention. 



Some; omissions should be corrected in later editions. 

 The carriage-roads over the Ober Alp should have been 

 shown in the general map, while the railway under the 

 Lukmanier should have been omitted. We note also the 

 entire omission of the Gries Pass. Monte Gtuieroso and 

 the Ilieder Alp afl'ord good rest for the weary, not men- 

 tioned in the "J. E. M. Guide." Such omissions, however, 

 though they might be noteworthy in an old established 

 Guide, may well be excused in a new one. 



Amon(;st the many electrical companies started during tlio past 

 few days is one for working a material called insulitc. It is intended 

 to be used as an insulator, superseding glazed porcelain, ebonite, 

 Ac, and is composed of sawdust and suchlike substances, held 

 together by oxokerit. In the prospectus, it is stated that the 

 material has been supplied to the General Post Office and a 

 number of electrical authorities. So far, however, as our informa- 

 tion goes, the Post Office has only had a few specimens for trial. 

 On subjecting the insulito to a moderate temperature, it expanded 

 like so much dough, and crumbled to pieces between the fingers. 

 It is, moreover, incapable of taking small screws. Under those 

 circumstances, telegraph insulator manufacturers and ebonite 

 merchants need fear littlo from this substance, which has been 

 brought out with such a blaze of trumpets. 



• "The Alps, and Uow to See thorn: the J. K. M. Guide to 

 Switzerland." Kditcd by J. K. MudUoek. (Sirnjikin, Marshall, & 

 Co. ; Wyman 4 Sons, London.) 



