We have been favoured with a glimpse of the note-book of a great dramatic critic, who evidently contemplates giving, or selling to the world, a great national treat in the form of a new edition of the dramatists. The annotator seems to combine all the acuteness of the needle with the straightforward bluntness of the railway buffer. We subjoin a few specimens:—
NOTE ON THE TRAGEDY OF DOUGLAS.
There is a passage in this play which has escaped the attention of all critics who have preceded me; a passage which shows Glenalvon to have been of a social disposition. In one of the scenes with Norval, Glenalvon says (aside),
"His port I love."
And, from this remarkable passage, we get three facts: first, that Glenalvon liked port; secondly, that he had tasted Norval's port; and, thirdly, that the port in question was of a high character.
NOTE ON JULIUS CÆSAR.
The character of Casca has never yet had full justice done to it by the critics; but there is one passage which may be compared to a perfect thoroughfare for finding our way to Casca's real condition. He evidently belonged to the landlord or agrarian party in the State, and there can be no doubt that the terms on which his tenants held of him were exorbitant. The whole fact bursts in upon us like a thunderbolt through the roof of an out-house, or a broker through the door of an apartment with the rent in arrear, when we read the following line, spoken by Antony in the course of his funeral oration over Cæsar:
"See what a rent the envious Casca made!"
Now, this allusion to the rent made by Casca proves either one of two things: First, that he let lodgings at a high price; or, secondly, that he derived a considerable income from a landed tenantry. I am inclined to the latter supposition, for it is possible that had he let merely lodgings, some of the lodgers would have been introduced into the play, with that nice appreciation of the ludicrous for which Shakspeare is conspicuous. This not having been done, we are driven on the other hypothesis, to which, on the whole, we give the preference.
The above specimens will suffice to show the public the addition that may be shortly expected to a department and style of literature in which the English language is already rich—excessively rich—in the opinion of some of us.