SHAKSPEARE CORRESPONDENCE.
In reply to J. M. G. of Worcester, who inquires for a MS. volume of English poetry containing some lines attributed to Shakspeare, and which is described in Thorpe's Catalog of MSS. for 1831, I can supply some particulars which may assist him in the research. The MS., which at one period had belonged to Joseph Hazlewood, was purchased from Thorpe by the late Lord Viscount Kingsborough; after whose decease it was sold, in November, 1842, at Charles Sharpe's literary sale room, Anglesea Street, Dublin. It is No. 574. in the auction catalogue of that part of his lordship's library which was then brought to auction.
The volume has been noticed by Patrick Fraser Tytler, in his Life of Sir Walter Raleigh, Edinburgh, 1833 (in Appendix B, p. 436., of 2nd edit.), where, citing the passage from Collier, which is referred to by J. M. G., he asserts that the lines are not Shakspeare's, but Jonson's. But he does not appear to me to have established his case beyond doubt; as the lines, though found among Jonson's works, may, notwithstanding, be the production of some other writer: and why not of Shakspeare, to whom they are ascribed in the MS.? Some verses by Sir J. C. Hobhouse originally appeared as Lord Byron's: and there are
numerous instances, both ancient and modern, of a similar attribution of works to other than their actual authors.
Arterus.
Dublin.
The Island of Prospero.—We cannot assert that Shakspeare, in the Tempest, had any particular island in view as the scene of his immortal drama, though by some this has been stoutly maintained. Chalmers prefers one of the Bermudas. The Rev. J. Hunter, in his Disquisition on the Scene, &c. of the Tempest, endeavours to confer the honour on the Island of Lampedosa. In reference to this question, a statement of the pseudo-Aristotle is remarkable. In his work "περὶ θαυμασίων ἀκουσμάτων," he mentions Lipara, one of the Æolian Islands, lying to the north of Sicily, and nearly in the course of Shakspeare's Neapolitan fleet from Tunis to Naples. Among the πολλὰ τερατώδη found there, he tells us:
"Ἐξακούεσθαι γὰρ τυμπάνων καὶ κυμβάλων ἦχον γέλωτα τε μετὰ θορύβου καὶ κροτάλων ἐναργῶς. λέγουσι δέ τι τερατωδέστερον γεγονέναι περὶ τὸ σπήλαιον."
If we compare this with the aerial music heard by Ferdinand (Tempest, I. 2.), especially as the orchestra is represented by the genial burin of M. Retsch in the fifth plate of his well-known sketches (Umrisze), it will appear probable that Shakspeare was acquainted with the Greek writer either in the original or through a translation. As far as I am aware, this has not been observed by any of the commentators.—From The Navorscher.
J. M.
Coincident Criticisms.—I shall be obliged if you will allow me through your pages to anticipate and rebut two charges of plagiarism. When I wrote my Note on a passage in The Winter's Tale ("N. & Q.," Vol. vii., p. 378.), I had not seen the Dublin University Magazine for March last, containing some remarks on the same passage in some respects much resembling mine. I must also declare that my Note on a passage in All's Well that ends Well ("N. & Q.," Vol. vii., p. 426.) was posted for you some time before the appearance of A. E. B.'s Note on the same passage ("N. & Q.," Vol. vii., p. 403.). The latter coincidence is more remarkable than the former, as the integrity of the amended text was in both notes discussed by means of the same parallel passage. Apropos of A. E. B.'s clever Note, permit me to say, that though at first it appeared to me conclusive, I now incline to think that Shakspeare intended Helen to address the leaden messengers by means of a very hyperbolic figure: "wound the still-piecing air that sings with piercing" is a consistent whole. If, as A. E. B. rightly says, to wound the air is an impossibility, it is equally impossible that the air should utter any sound expressive of sensibility. The fact of course is, that the cannon-balls cleave the air, and that by so cleaving it a shrill noise is produced. The cause and effect may, however, be metaphorically described, by comparing air to Bertram. I believe it is a known fact that every man who is struck with a cannon-ball cries out instinctively. Shakspeare therefore might, I think, have very poetically described the action and effect of a cannon-ball passing through the air by the strong figure of wounding the air that sings with the piercing which it is enduring.
In concluding this Note, I beg to express what is not merely my own, but a very general feeling of disappointment in respect of Mr. Collier's new edition of Shakspeare. To it, with a new force, may be applied the words of A. E. B. in "N. & Q.," Vol. vi., p. 296.:
"But the evil of these emendations is not in this instance confined to the mere suggestion of doubt; the text has absolutely been altered in all accessible editions, in many cases silently, so that the ordinary reader has no opportunity of judging between Shakspeare and his improvers."
That Mr. Collier should be the greatest of such offenders, is no very cheering sign of the times.
C. Mansfield Ingleby.
Birmingham.
Dogberry's Losses (Vol. vii., p. 377.).—I do not know whether it has ever been suggested, but I feel inclined to read "lawsuits." He has just boasted of himself as "one that knows the law;" and it seems natural enough that he should go on to brag of being a rich fellow enough, "and a fellow that hath had lawsuits" of his own, and actually figured as plaintiff or defendant. Suppose the words taken down from the mouth of an actor, and the mistake would be easy.
John Doe.