His Life and Genius 175 



of love." In the blind passion of young Troilus 

 for the fair and false Cressida, and in the in- 

 fatuation of mature Anthony for the licentious 

 Cleopatra, is striking proof how well alive Shak- 

 speare was to the tricks and guiles of the faithless 

 mistress, the lurking dumb-discoursing devil of 

 her each cunningly tempting grace, and the over- 

 powering fascination with which the chasteless 

 creature attracts and holds captive her doting 

 victim. Is it not quite preposterous to suppose 

 that the characters of Cressida and Cleopatra 

 could have been drawn so effectively by one who 

 had never learnt by personal experience what 

 treachery in love was ; as likewise that the coarse 

 scenes and brutal persons of the brothel into 

 which the gentle Marina's ungentle fortune cast 

 her for a while, could have invaded the imagina- 

 tion of him who had not seen anything like that 

 which he represented dramatically ? The illu- 

 minating flash of intuition emergent from sym- 

 pathy of feeling is no less necessary rightly to 

 conceive and dramatically delineate a vicious than 

 a virtuous person ; even the wildest vagaries of 

 dreams and the mad fantasies of the brain-sick 

 imagination need and use the observed forms and 



* Un homme amoureux oublie a 1'instant meme ce qu'il sait 

 le mieux a l'egard des femmes en general. Telle femme, eut 

 elle trente ans et quatre enfants, il lui fera des questions in- 

 sidieuses pour voir si vraiment elle n'aurait pas garde jusqu'au 

 h&sard de sa rencoiitre avec lui une precieuse virginite. — 



Alpkonse Karr. 



