I

THE LOYAL SUBJECT.

T is well worthy of notice, and yet has not been, I believe, noticed hitherto, what a marked difference there exists in the dramatic writers of the Elizabetho-Jacobæan age-(Mercy on me! what a phrase for the writers during the reigns of Elizabeth and James I.!')-in respect of their political opinions. Shakspeare, in this as in all other things, himself and alone, gives the permanent politics of human nature, and the only predilection, which appears, shews itself in his contempt of mobs and the populacy. Massinger is a decided Whig ;-Beaumont and Fletcher high-flying, passive-obedience, Tories. The Spanish dramatists furnished them with this, as with many other ingredients. By the by, an accurate and familiar acquaintance with all the productions of the Spanish stage previously to 1620, is an indispensable qualification for an editor of B. and F.;-and with this qualification a most interesting and instructive edition might be given. This edition of Colman's (Stockdale 1811,) is below criticism.

In metre, B. and F. are inferior to Shakspeare, on the one hand, as expressing the poetic part of the drama, and to Massinger, on the other, in the art of reconciling metre with the natural rhythm of conversation,-in which, indeed, Massinger is un

rivalled. Read him aright, and measure by time, not syllables, and no lines can be more legitimate, -none in which the substitution of equipollent feet, and the modifications by emphasis, are managed with such exquisite judgment. B. and F. are fond of the twelve syllable (not Alexandrine) line, as

Too many fears 'tis thought too: and to nourish those

This has, often, a good effect, and is one of the varieties most common in Shakspeare.

RULE A WIFE AND HAVE A WIFE.

ACT III. Old Woman's speech :

-I fear he will knock my

Brains out for lying.

R. Seward discards the words 'for lying,' because' most of the things spoke of Estifania are true, with only a little exaggeration, and because they destroy all appearance of measure.' Colman's note.

Mr. Seward had his brains out. The humour lies in Estifania's having ordered the Old Woman to tell these tales of her; for though an intriguer, she is not represented as other than chaste; and as to the metre, it is perfectly correct.

Ib.

Marg. As you love me, give way.

Leon. It shall be better, I will give none, madam, &c.

.

The meaning is: It shall be a better way, first; -as it is, I will not give it, or any that you in your present mood would wish.'

THE LAWS OF CANDY.

ACT I. Speech of Melitus :—

Whose insolence and never yet match'd pride
Can by no character be well express'd,

But in her only name, the proud Erota.

Colman's note.

The poet intended no allusion to the word 'Erota' itself; but says that her very name, the proud Erota,' became a character and adage; as we say, a Quixote or a Brutus: so to say an Erota,' ex

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pressed female pride and insolence of beauty.

Ib. Speech of Antinous:

Of my peculiar honours, not deriv'd

From successary, but purchas'd with my blood.—

The poet doubtless wrote 'successry,' which, though not adopted in our language, would be, on many occasions, as here, a much more significant phrase than ancestry.

THE LITTLE FRENCH LAWYER.

ACT I. sc. 1. Dinant's speech :—

Are you become a patron too? 'Tis a new one,
No more on't, &c.

Seward reads:

Are you become a patron too? How long

Have you been conning this speech? "Tis a new one, &c.

If conjectural emendation, like this, be allowed, we might venture to read:

or,

Are you become a patron to a new tune?

Are you become a patron? 'Tis a new tune.

Ib. (gg)

Din. Thou wouldst not willingly

Live a protested coward, or be call'd one?
Cler. Words are but words.

Din. Nor wouldst thou take a blow?

Seward's note.

O miserable! Dinant sees through Cleremont's gravity, and the actor is to explain it. Words are but words,' is the last struggle of affected morality.

I'

ACT I. sc. 3.

VALENTINIAN.

Tis a real trial of charity to read this scene with tolerable temper towards Fletcher. So very slavish-so reptile-are the feelings and sentiments represented as duties. And yet remember he was a bishop's son, and the duty to God was the supposed basis.

Personals, including body, house, home, and religion;-property, subordination, and inter-community;-these are the fundamentals of society. I mean here, religion negatively taken,—so that the person be not compelled to do or utter, in relation of the soul to God, what would be, in that person, a lie;-such as to force a man to go to church, or to swear that he believes what he does not believe. Religion, positively taken, may be a great and useful privilege, but cannot be a right,—were it for this only that it cannot be pre-defined. The ground of this distinction between negative and positive religion, as a social right, is plain. No one of my fellow-citizens is encroached on by my not declaring to him what I believe respecting the super-sensual; but should every man be entitled to preach against the preacher, who could hear any preacher? Now it is different in respect of loyalty. There we have positive rights, but not negative rights;-for every