2 
NORTH SHORE BREEZE 
master in the country.” Shakespeare 
had no title to*rank as a classical 
scholar, but he certainly was not ig- 
norant of other tongues besides his 
own. Such a mind as Shakespeare’s 
must have absorbed knowledge 
from every quarter. 
The drama of Shakespeare’s day 
had its forerunners in the Mysteries, 
Moralities and Miracle Plays of the 
Middle Ages, of which the famous 
Passion Play of Ober Ammergau 1s 
a survival. The purpose of these 
plays which were -performed often 
by strolling bands of monks and 
friars, and afterwards by profession-- 
al actors in town squares and on vil- 
lage greens, was at’ first to teach 
Bible history and doctrine and the 
moral duties to the masses of the 
ignorant and unlettered; they were 
under the control of the church. 
They gradually lost, however, their 
serious character, and at length de- 
generated in many cases into buf- 
foonery and blasphemy. The early 
English drama allowed great license, 
though some of the playwrights 
were writers of genius, and some 
of the plays contained passages of 
high moral strain as well as poetic 
merit. The English stage on the 
whole, in the times of the Plantage- 
nets was not an inspiration to pri- 
vate or social virtue. It was too 
often a purveyor to vice. 
Charles Lamb’s Essays and Henry 
Morley’s great work on English 
Writers contain all the information 
of the Early English Drama that 
most readers need. When the names 
of Marlow, Heywood, Greene, 
Fletcher, Webster, Massinger, Ford, 
Beaumont and Ben Jonson are 
mentioned, the best and the worst 
of this species of literary composi- 
tion is brought to mind. It was at 
a time: when dramatic art held a 
conspicuous place in the forces that 
were moulding the life of society in 
a transitional epoch, when in Lon- 
don the Globe and Blackfriars drew 
delighted crowds, that Shakespeare 
burst upon a world in which he at 
once won admiring regard and a 
name which has since shined with 
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undimmed lustre in the firmament 
of letters. 
It is true, as has been said, that 
Shakespeare “rode rough-shod over 
the unities of time and place and 
action”; he defied all the rules - of 
art and the canons of the classical 
drama; but the force of his genius 
overpowered criticism. Ben Jon- 
son noted ,that his great contempo- 
rary “wanted art,” 
all Europe would do him homage. 
In 1630, Milton wrote, 
“What needs my Shakespeare for his hon- 
ored bones 
The labor of an age in piled stones? 
Thou in our wonder and astonishment 
Hast built thyself a life-long monument.’’ 
Irom the time of Queen Anne, 
the tide of Shakespeare’s reputation 
has flowed steadily onward. Litera- 
ture has crowned him with its lau- 
rel. Germany has naturalized him. 
In America he has been studied and 
admired as greatly as in England. 
His creations of human life and. 
character appeal to universal hu- 
manity, so that no book except the 
Bible bears so well translating into 
other tongues. 
fancy and imagination seem to walk 
before us in flesh and blood; 
the sayings of his characters, as 
Hamlet and Wolsey, Lear and Mac- 
beth, Mark Anthony and Othello, 
Falstaff and Portia, are rooted in 
the speech of the civilized world. 
Shakespeare was an imperial mas- 
ter of pure, forceful English. There 
is in his writings many 
“A phrase which lives forever— 
An immortal phrase of beauty and wit, 
A luminous thought the soul of it, 
But with no baffling, wordy fence 
Between the reader and the sense.’’ 
He uses 15,000 words, and out of 
every five verbs, adverbs and nouns, 
as in the last act of Othello, four are 
Saxon. His language is that of the 
common people; it is the strong, 
rich, composite English of the reign 
of Elizabeth. It must be admitted 
that there are coarse expressions 
and passages; but we must bear in 
mind that speech and manners have 
been greatly refined since the age 
of the Tudors. It may be claimed 
that there are no writings of his 
time that contain such deep and 
impressive teaching on human life 
and duty, expressed in such noble 
language. He excels not only in 
fancy, and depth and clearness of 
vision, but in lofty morality. 
The great poet was no doubt one 
of the most lovable of men; he was 
called “gentle. Will Shakepeare” ; 
Aubrey describes him as “of a very 
-readie and pleasant smooth wit.” 
And Ben Jonson has left this trib- 
but claimed that. 
Even his beings. of: 
and. 
—— 
ute to his friend on record: “I loved 
the man and do honor his memory 
on this side idolatry as much as 
any. He was indeed honest, and of 
an open free nature, had an excel- 
lent phantasy, brave notions and” 
gentle expressions.” He touched 
life at many points, and could pie- 
ture with almost equal facility the 
characteristics of Englishman, 
Frenchman, Roman, -Greek and 
Moor. He loved nature and rever- 
enced the good and true. There isa 
sweetness and grace, a majesty and — 
power, in his style that are unsur- 
passed. He struck every note in the 
gamut of human joy and sorrow, of © 
triumph and despair. He is the 
great poet of human nature. With © 
growing age there is a graver and 
tenderer tone, a deepening of pur: 
pose, a broadening of view. The 
change for the better in his domes- — 
tic relations may have had some- 
thing to do with this; after the 
darkness came light, after” them 
storm calm; pathos mingles more ~ 
and more with love and tragedy; it 
is the beautiful autumn time of life. 
the sun sheds a softer light as it 
nears its setting. 
*ESomething concerning the 
Shakespeare’s dramas, 
sources of £ 
and his knowledge 
and use of the Bible, must be reserved for = 
another paper.] 
Contract Awarded. 
The contract for reconstructing — 
the stone crusher at Manchester, © 
for which purpose $1200 was appro-- 
priated at the town meeting, has 
been awarded during the week to 
Joseph M. Whittier of ._Danvers,)) 
who quoted $1183. The only other 
bidder was Pitman & Brown of Sa- 
lem, who bid $1235. Work will bey 
started at once. 
A Testimonial Party. 
The members of Post 67 of Man- 
chester were given a pleasant sur- 
prise at the close of their meeting 
last Friday night, when a number 
of the members of the W. R. C.spreg 
sented themselves and entertained 
for several hours. The occasion of 
their visit was more in the nature 
of a testimonial for Nathaniel Mor 
gan, one of the oldest members of 
the post, who has just resigned his 
position as janitor of the Memorial 
building and G. A. R. hall, after al- 
most 19 years of service. An ovster 
stew, coffee and fruit were served 
after which singing and speaking ~ 
were enjoyed. One of the pleasant — 
features of the evening was _ thé 
prsentation on the part of the corp: 
of a briar pipe to Mr. Morgan, pre 
sented with a few appropriate re 
marks by Mrs. Hannah Tappan. | 
