. should bring the plaster." ¥ & the fascination 3 wo . ve k LTHOUGH Shakespeare. is. s0 many sided, meaning by that that there are "80 many of his characters in which the reader finds some phase of Shake Spedre the man, yet in none of 'them is he the pedint or the man remota from hiv fellows. He is the dreamer, | the business man, the lover, the war. hes lor the man of moods, the student. the Rotor, the adventurer, He Is prospercds and needy by turns; sometimes happy and more often de Spondent. * But ut all times, under ali guises, he fs the mau of his time and his class, and as he mir rored persons and clroumstances in his plays he has left a type, a pletare of his generation for succeeding fenerations. That is why he 15 as ensy to read to day as he was yesterday or the day before, Probably the fundamental reason why Shakespeare come tbe regrded ann Wighbrow: and his: works AIPficult reading was because so many boys and girls had plays, or places of Hem, crammed in with uncon- Renial tasks at a time and under conditions when it Was impossible to appreciate them. Another explana- thon of the false notion that Shakespense Is only for the learned is that many persons have sought to make Bhakespeare obscure and difficult for their own pur- Poses, so that they might act as his interpreters and expounders, One of the great galds of this year of Rhakespearian Activity may be that the man in the street, the waman in the hioge--those who work: with their hands as well as thse who toil with their brains--may find in Shakespeare stores of enjoyment from which they bave Sraviousiy cut themselves off. Reflects His Own Experiences. Shakespeare's experiences are interwoven into his plays and verses. The son of poor parents, he had Ab acquisitive mind and an active personality. which #ot him into trouble as well as into many good things. + He married; whenihe was only eighteen years old, Anne Hathaway, and she was not his first love--nor his. last': When be. bad gone to Loudon. where he lived apart feom: his family for many years, he fell in love with a lady of the court and sent a friend. a young nobleman, to sing his praises to her. Whether his representative was faithful to Shakespeare or ne, the young woman fell In love with and married him. Shakespeare refers to this miscarriage of hope several times in his plays and urges that no one in love ever trust an agent. Shakespeare's experience In London was varied. He made valuable acquaintances, mingled with al sorts and conditions of 'men; was actor, manager and writer: made money and spent it royally. He had a natural king for magnificence and munificence, As he grew older he sought to cover the wildness of his Younger days by the sentiments and conduct of a conservative who has bettered his worldly position and seen the errors of his ways. That is Shakespeare as men have heen deducing him. from his writings and. from the records. of his time, which have heen painstakingly searched for light on his character and position. The more that is known of Shakespeare's life the more is its record found in his warks, set forth lucidly and {lluminag- ingly. % "The Tempest" is held to be one of the most poet cal of Shakespeare's plays, yet in it there Is much plain matter for the ordinary man. After the ship- wreck Gougale Sips to bis friends, as might one whe escapes the perils of the submarine to-day -- . Be merry: you have cause (80 have we.alh of: jog, for our escape Is much beyond out doss. Our hint of woe 1s common; every day some sailor's avife, The master of some mérchant, and the merchant Have just our theme of wee; but for the miracle, I mean our IWeservation, few In millions Can speak like us: then, wisely, good sir, Our sorrow with eur comfort." Gonzalo and Sebastian. Like many a man who speaks such philosophic words in times of distress, they breed irvitation in those who cannot look af the situation in the same WAY. Alonso begs him hold his peace, and Sebastian SAYS, patly:--"He receives comfort like cold ridge." "Look." Sebastian continues; up the watch of his wit; Gonzalo; "When every grief is entertain'd, that's offer'd, Comes to the entertainer' ---- istian:--<"A dolar." id Gonzalo: --"Dolour comes to him, indeed; you have spoken more than you purposed." Sebastian: --"You have taken it wiselier than 1 meant you should." Gonzalo essays to speak again, but before he ean more than begin Antonio cries out, impatiently :-- "Fle, what a spendthrift he is of his tongue!" It is just such conversation as might go on among men anywhere under similar circumstances. Gon- zalo chides Sebastian when he speaks blunt truth with the expressive words, "You rub the sotg when you weigh por- "he's winding by and by it will strike." These men talk, too, Just as men do to-day about what they would do had they the power to run things 88. they, wished, Boasts Gonzalo: -- - "No kind of traffic Would I admit: no name of magistrate; Letters not be known; riches, poverty i And use of service, none; contract, succession, ? "Bourn, bound of land, tiith, vineyard, none: No use of metal, corn, or wine, or ofl; $ . No occupation, all men idle, all: . And woman, too, but innocent and pure: No rovereignty; : All things in commen should produce Without sweat or endeavor; treason, felons. Sword, pike, knife, gun or need of any engine Would 1.not have; but nature should bring. fortl, Of its owa kind. all foison, all abundance : To feed my innocent people. 3 i. - ie - - T'would with such perfection govern, sir, 0 excel the golden ages is wrote muchof travel, It had for him that it often has for many who stir but short distance: from. thelr own firesides except. in "fancy journey. To see sights, to fall iu with ail THE DREAMER, THE BUSINESS MAN, THE LOVER, THE WARRIOR, THE MAN OF MANY MOODS, THE STUDENT, THE ACTOR, THE ADVENTURER--SOMETIMES HAPPY AND MORE OFTEN DESPONDENT. Sorts of persons, to have sdventures--this Shake Speare dotes upon.' Valentine, in "Two Gentlemen of Verona," says to his friend: "Cease to persuade, my loving Proteus: Home keoping youths have ever homely wits, Were't not affe tion chains thy tender days To the sweet glances 'of fiiy hononr'd love, I rather would entreat thy company, To see the wonders of the world abroad, Than, living dilly sluggardis'd at home, Wear out thy youth with shapeless idleness." And Protens answers: "Sweet Valentine, adieu, Think on thy Protend when thou haply seest Some rare note-worthy ohjeet in thy travel; Wish me partaker in thy happiness When thou doest meet good hap." Panthine, talking with Antonio, says that his Ree ---- a ---- LT -- stow is constantly urged by Shakespeare, who had his full share of shifting fortunes. "Cease to lament for that thew canst not help, And stiidy help for that which thou lament st, Time 18 the nurse and breeder of all good." To which he adds the encouragement of "Hope is #'lover's =inff; walk hehee With that, And manage it against despairing thoughts." The love motive changes in Shakespeare's plays, but. always it is colorful Frequently, asin the fol. lowing, "he invokes love, nature and music with peculiar charm: "If music be the fond of love, play on; Give me excess of it, that, surfeiting The appetite may sicken, and so die. That strain again! It had a dying fall: Oh! It came o'er my ear like the sweet sound That breathes upon a bank of violets, Ri - -- > L Almost as mnch as love, law, its observances and violations and their consequences, large in Shakespeare. "We Must not make a starecrow of the law, Setting it ap to fear the birds of prey, And lot It keep ane shape. (1H custom make it Their pereh, and not thelr térrer." Angéla, who thus discourses in "Measure for Mens. ure," also says: -- looms "1 do net deny, 's Jife, May in the sworn twelve have a thief or two Guiltier thin him they try * ¢ « what know the laws i That thieves do pass on thieves." The jury, passing on the Prison This may have been, written fnetly in memory of the days when Shakespeare himself was canght In the toils of the law and found gullty. He mmnifests Be ------ BE et tt ---- | Brother wondered at bio letting Lis Son, Proteus spend his youth at home, "While other men of slender reputation Put forth their sous to seek preferient ont; Some to the wars, to trig heir fortunes there; Some to discover istands far away; Some to the studious univ He said that 'raoteas, And did request me to importune To let hin: d his time no more at home, Which would be great mpeachn ities, Jour son, was meet, you spot eit to his In having known ne travel in his youth." Antonio admits "1 have considered well his loss of time, And now he cannol be a perfect man, Not being tried aml tutor'd in the world." Whereupon Panthino advises Antonio to send Pro teus to the Emperor's court :- "There shall he practice tilts aud tournaments, Hear sweet discourse, converse witli noblemen, And be inaye of every exercise Worthy his youth and nobleness of birth." The Delights of Simplicity. Although Shakespenre recommends that (he young man be sent to court fu lewrn of worldly things and acquire accomplishments, a privilege that Shake speare highly esteemed, Yet he writes, too, out of itis knowledge of the evils that adhere to place and posi- tion, and pictures in ontrast the delights of siu- plieity, with which he Yokes sincerity. ' "0 place and greatne $8, millions of false eyes Are stuck upon thee. Volumes of report Run with these false and mest contrarious quests Upon thy doings: thousand escapes of wit Make thee father of thelr sdie dream And rack thee in their fancies" -- is one of the soliloquies on the frafity of human great- ness. Again: -- "Are not these woods More free from peril than the envious court? Here teel we but the penalty of Adam, The seasons' difference; as the icy fang And churlish cluding of the winter's wind, Which when it bites ahd blows upon my body, Even till I shrink with cold, 1 smile and say This is no flattery; these are counsellors That feelingly persuade me what I am. Sweet are the uses of adversity, Which, Ike the toad. ugly and Venomous, Wears yet a precious jewel in his head; And this, our life, exempt from public haunt, Finds. tongues In trees, books in the running brooks, Sermons in stones nnd This evokes the reply: "Happy is your grace That can translate the stubbornness of fortune Into 50 quiet ald so sweet a style" Adjustment to whatever conditions thé fates be- good in everything." nS Stealing and giving odor. Enough! ne more: Tis not so as it was before. ©) spirit of love! bow quick and fresh art thon, That, weel now notwithstanding thy meity, veth as the sea, wought enters there. Of what validity and pitch soe'er, But falls into abatement and low price. Even in a winate!" In: Shinkespeare's great love drama, "Romeo nnd Juliet," aie many passages which lovers never tive af reading. Although he is of the house of her heredi tary enemy, she muses: -- "Tis but thy name that is my enemy: Thou art thyself, though, not a Montague, What's Montague? It is nor band, nor foot, Nor arm, nor face, nor any other part Belonging to a man. O! be some other name. What's in a name? That which we call a rose By any other name would smell as sweet; So Romeo 'would, were he not Romeo call'd, Retain that dear perfection which he owes Without that title. Romeo, deff thy name; Amd for thy name, which is ne part of thee, Take all myself." And how he answers back to her fn the same veld -- "1 take thee at thy word Call me but love, and I'll he new baptis'd; Henceforth 1 never will be Romeo." How many lovers have thrilled to "0! that'I were a glove upon that hand, That T might toneh that chook ™' Shakespeare admonished the man to marry one of fewer vears than himself, wherein he differed from the moderns. 5 ¥ "Then let thy love be younger than thyself, Or thy affection cannot hold the bent; For women are as Moses, whose fair flower, Beiug ouve display'd, doth fall that very hour." Viola: -- "Aud so they are: alas, that they are so: + To die, even 'when they to perfection growl" 4 wa | " ---- weep respect for the law in nuny cases, but also he finds loopholes and precedents for fits evasion, ex- cases for the transgressor in many instances. Shakespeare, chiefly because of his treatment of the character of Portis. has been claimed by the suf- but some of his senthneuts wonld give him better rank with the "antis." fragettes, "A mit is master of bis liberty: Fime is their master; and when they see time, hey' cone, 1v% Luciana, "Why ry than-ours be more 7" Objects Ko, or should tueir Adriana lies out o* door." serve him so, he takes it "Because thelr business still Adriana i-"Look, when 1 fi. Luciana: Adriana: 80." Luciana "Why. headstrong liberty Is lash'd with woe. There's nothing situate under heaven's eye But hath its bound, in enrth, in sea, in sky: The beasts, the fishes and the winged fowls, Are their males' subjects, and at their controls, Men, more divine, the masters of all these, Yords of the wide worlds and wild watr'y seas, Indued with intelfectual sense and souls, Of more pre-eminence than fish and fowls, Are masters to their females, und their lords: Then, tot your will attend on thelr accords." "0! 1 know he is the bridie of your win» "There's none but asses will be bridied Antonio in "The Merchant of Venice" is the type of the great merchant prince who can afford to despise money. When Bassano applies to him for financial help he replies; -- "You know me well, and herein spend but time To wind about my love with circumstanee; And. out of doubt, you do me now more wrong, In making question of my uttermost, Than if you had made vaste of ail T have: Then do but say to me what I should do." He tells Bassanio that 411 his fortunes are at sea, but offers his credit liberally to get what money he can and to have it as if it were his own. They get the money from Shylock the Jew, but splendidly de Spise him while they are taking the nibney. "You called me dog," the money lender regina Antonio, who returns:-- Se "I am as like to call thee so . To spit on aL! to a too, If thou wilt lend this mouey, lend it not As to thy friends." Portia, too, has the same disregard of moner. "What sum owes he the Jew? Only three thet sand ducats. Pay him six thousand, double six thou. sand, and treble that." , Money is to be nothing among these fine folk. Itis only the Jew Who is to be permitted 'to love his ducats for themselves. = Shakespeare never hesitates to repeat himself in plot or expression. Over and OVER. even the same characters come upon the stage; they meet the sane temptations, dangers, and' go through the sane ox periences. Men are cast down from high positions and wander through forests: maidens put on youthe' disguise; twins add to mystery and disentanglement. How the following speech from Measure' for Measure" reminds ove of Tortin's tamotix speech, be- ginning "The quality of merey 1s fot strained": "No ceremony that to great oves longs. © Not the King's. crown. nor the deputed syord, The marshal's trunchean. not the Judge's robe, Become them with one-half so good a grace' As mercy does." Shakespeare's drinking, scenes bring out speeches of very similar import and pattern. 11s usually has a temperance sermon tacked away anwng the drink- ing bouts. Bven drinkard Who is beyond hope of reform affirms; "I'll never he bonest, ¢ivh. godly 'company, drunk with those that have the with drunken kngves." Un the other hand, Le those who would force others: "Dest thon think Bécause thou art virtuous there shall 'be no more cakes and ala? Shakespenne's humor is robust and of his Hime, and. although it seems to this age obvious and charse, it would not he true if it did not conform to the taste of the theatregoers of his day, In "The Merry Wives of Windsor." which is typieal of kis farcical treatment, there are bits to which even our times accords a Measure of wit, although fot of the highest grade. "Have I lived to be carried In a basket lke a barrow of butcher's offal demands Falstaff. "Well, if 1 ever be served such another trick ta'en out, anq buttered, and give them to the dog for A new years gift. The rogues slighted me into the river 'with as little remorse as they would bave drewned a biing bitch's puppies, fifteen I' the litter; and you may knew by my size that I have a kind of alacrity in Sinking; if the bottom were as Heep as bell ! should down. T had been drowned, but that the shore was shelvy and shallow; a death that | abhor, for the water swells a man, and whitt a thing I should have been, when I had been swelled, I should have been a mountain of a mummy : That's good Shakespesrian humor an thousands of persons are yet entertained hy the picture it con- Jures up of the situation of Falstaff, the "mountain of a mummy," Some of Shakespear's slang is surprisingly modern, 8&.in "Henry IV." where even our up to date slang of Lhe street "good Light" is to be found: Worcester: -- "I'll read you matter deep and dangerous, As full of peril and adventurous spirit As to o'er-walk a current roaring loud, On the ynsteadfast footing of a spear." Hotspur: --*"1t he fall in, good night: P In the "Comedy of Errors" one comes across 'Fle, beat it hence" Melancholy, sometimes gentle, sometimes tragic, fs a characteristic of Shakespeare. It lagen bis. phi- losophy and colors the actions of his churacters, drunk whilst I live again, hot in If 1 he drunk PH be fear of Go and not volves the ressutmient of sumptuary laws upon Sometimes it voices itself in a times, as in the address: "0. good old man! how well in thee appears. The constant service of the antique world, When service sweat for duty, not for meed! Thou art not for the fashion of there times, When nove will Sweat but for promotion, And, having that, do choke thelr service up ven with the having; itis not 50 with thee." And when Orlando Says to the Duke: -- "Under the shade of melancholy boughs, Lose and neglect the creeping hours of time, If ever you have 100K'd on better days, If ever been where Bells have knoti'd to chureh, If ever sat at any good man's feast, If ever from your eyelids wip'd « tear; And know what 'tis to pity and: be pitied, Let gentleness my strong enforcement be." The Duke, adwitting that he has heard the bells and feasted, observes: -- "Thou seest we are not all alone unhappyy This wide' and universal theatre: ~ Presents more wotul pageants than the scenes Wherein we play in." Jaques repliés to him:-- UAll the world's & stage, Aud all the men and women merely players; They have their exits and their entrances, And one man in'his time plays muny parts, His acts being seven ages." Hereupon follows the. famous description "of the "Seven Ages of Man," which' has been repeated apd learned by rote by school boys and girls of all the generations since Shakespeare's day. Johji Shakes; . the to Stratford oy yi he Taner FH Peat. sub- Stabtial fl de, ds it the statis uses 0 oe : the: school atid after be left Tried 1 maKt's wool ht: Ht ene tk choice Papi ot he hee ing Ha) Will ; had As a ) ! . 1 of Worcester, bof lesser: bis town. He D lament. for other