This play abounds in wild frolicsome graces which cannot be described; which can only be seen and felt ; and which the hoarse voice of criticism scares away, as the crowing of the cocks is said to have frightened away the fairy spirits from their nocturnal pastimes. Of the mysterious power, at whose bidding nature springs up so fresh and bright about us, it were vain to speak: the secret of the magic glass is past our finding out; and our proper business is, to accept its revelations without questioning how or whence they come. It seems, indeed, as if this poetical wizard had but to think of nature, and she forthwith came to him, to weave her gayest dance, and breathe her sweetest minstrelsy about him, as at once her child, her playmate, her lover, and her lord. And we know, that "Nature never did betray The heart that loved her; 'tis her privilege, Shall e'er prevail against us, or disturb LECTURE VIII. MEASURE FOR MEASURE-MERCHANT OF VENICE-WINTER'S TALE. MEASURE FOR MEASURE is among the least attractive, yet most instructive, of Shakspeare's plays. Surpassingly rich both in poetry and wisdom, it has, however, as Hazlitt hath remarked, "an original sin in the nature of the subject, which prevents our taking a cordial interest in it." This inherent sinfulness forbids me to dwell much on the events of the play. For political philosophy Blackstone himself might, and for aught I know may have gone to school to it with advantage; while for height of moral argument and religious heroism, it occupies perhaps the summit of human conception; the tone of sentiment and character developed by the events of the drama being as pure and lofty as those events themselves are repulsive. The Duke of Vienna, a wise and merciful, but somewhat artful and intriguing prince, under pretence of going to travel, nobody knows whither, deputes one Lord Angelo, a man of the highest professions and held in the greatest esteem, to administer the government during his absence. Instead, however, of going to travel, the duke disguises himsef as a monk, and remains in the city; an unknown "Looker on here in Vienna, Where he doth see corruption boil and bubble, 'Till it o'errun the stew: laws for all faults; But faults so countenanced, that the strong statutes As much in mock as mark." His purpose in this action is so very subtle and complex, that I know not how to convey it save in his own words, wherein he unfolds his wishes and designs to the principal of the religious house where he puts up. DUKE. We have strict statutes and most biting laws, FRIAR. DUKE. (The needful bits and curbs of headstrong steeds,) That goes not out to prey: Now, as fond fathers, For terror, not to use; in time the rod Becomes more mocked than feared: so our decrees, And liberty plucks justice by the nose; The baby beats the nurse, and quite athwart It rested in your Grace To unloose this tied-up justice when you pleased: I do fear, too dreadful: Who may, in the ambush of my name, strike home, And yet my nature never in the sight, To do it slander: And to behold his sway, I will, as 'twere a brother of your order, Like a true friar. More reasons for this action, Only this one: Lord Angelo is precise; Is more to bread than stone: Hence shall we see, Drest with the duke's love, and armed with power "So to enforce or qualify the laws, As to his soul seems good," the deputy, fond of practising godliness in the streets and at the looking-glass, and glad of an opportunity to act the reformer, because under that character he can best gratify his ambition while indulging his malignity and pride, forthwith awakens the sleeping statutes, and lets them loose against the life of one Claudio. Information of which is immediately sent to Isabella, Claudio's sister, "in whose youth there is a prone and speechless dialect, such as moves men," and who, besides, "Hath prosperous art When she will play with reason and discourse, whereupon, leaving the convent where she is about enrolling herself among the holy sisterhood, she hastens to intercede with the deputy. Her intercession, however, though worthy of an angel's tongue, has no other effect upon his godly soul than to move in him the vilest lust; and, under a solemn promise of pardon, which he does not mean to keep, he immediately attempts to commit, in its blackest form, the very crime for which he has passed upon her brother's life. Thus it turns out, as the duke had suspected, and as Isabella afterwards describes him, that "This outward-sainted deputy, Whose settled visage and deliberate word His lordship, however, is suffered to go on until his guilt has fully matured itself, and he begins to exult in his success, when the duke, who has been secretly watching and thwarting all his movements, suddenly reveals himself and closes the deputation, with Lord Angelo effectually in his toils. To understand the play aright, it is proper to suppose, that his lordship, like other ambitious reformers, has long been cultivating popular arts, and, not content to let his light shine, has been trying hard to make it shine, affecting peculiar sanctity and severity of life, and perhaps murmuring against "the powers that be," with a view to ingratiate himself with the multitude; until the duke, better able to understand his motives than to persuade others of them, and knowing that one who so affects the honour of men by austerity of life, can hardly intend the honour of God thereby, wisely resolves to let him try his hand in the government. Of this, indeed, or something very like it, we have an intimation, where, when Lord Angelo pro |