ciful combinations of the individual with the circumstances of his social position, when we surround him with the scenes which belong to his locality, his time, and his condition of life. NOTE ON THE BALLAD UPON SIR THOMAS LUCY. MR. CAPELL, after noticing the tradition repeated by Mr. Thomas Jones, of Tarbick, gives us the first stanza of the ballad which Mr. Jones put down in writing as all he remembered of it. This stanza, worthless as it is, has been so often reprinted, that we can scarcely be justified in omitting it. It is as follows: "A parliamente member, a justice of peace, At home a poor scare crowe, at London an asse ; Yet an asse in his state We allowe by his ears but with asses to mate. But the tradition sprang up in another quarter. Mr. Oldys, the respectable antiquarian, has also preserved this stanza, with the following remarks:-"There was a very aged gentleman living in the neighbourhood of Stratford (where he died fifty years since), who had not only heard from several old people in that town of Shakspeare's transgression, but could remember the first stanza of that bitter ballad, which, repeating to one of his acquaintance, he preserved it in writing, and here it is, neither better nor worse, but faithfully transcribed from the copy, which his relation very courteously communicated to me."* The copy preserved by Oldys corresponds word by word with that printed by Capell; and it is therefore pretty evident that each were derived from the same source, the person who wrote down the verses from the memory of the one old gentleman. In truth, the whole matter looks rather more like an exercise of invention than of memory. Mr. de Quincey has expressed a very strong opinion "that these lines were a production of Charles II.'s reign, and applied to a Sir Thomas Lucy, not very far removed, if at all, from the age of him who first picked up the precious filth: the phrase 'parliament member' we believe to be quite unknown in the colloquial use of Queen Elizabeth." But he has overlooked a stronger point against the authenticity of the ballad. He says that the "scurrilous rondeau has been imputed to Shakespeare ever since the days of the credulous Rowe." This is a mistake. Rowe expressly says the ballad is "lost." It was not till the time of Oldys and Capell, nearly half a century after Rowe, that the single stanza was found. It was not published till seventy years after Rowe's 'Life of Shakspeare.' We have little doubt that the regret of Rowe that the ballad was lost was productive not only of the discovery, but of the creation, of the delicious fragment. By and by more was discovered, and the entire song 66 was found in a chest of drawers that formerly belonged to Mrs. Dorothy Tyler, of Shottery, near Stratford, who died in 1778, at the age of 80." This is Malone's account, who inserts the entire song in the Appendix to his posthumous 'Life of Shakspeare,' with the expression of his persuasion "that one part of this ballad is just as genuine as the other; that is, that the whole is a forgery." We believe, however, that the first stanza is an old forgery, and the remaining stanzas a modern one. If the ballad is held to be all of one piece, it is a self-evident forgery. We give the "entire song," of which the new stanzas have not even the merit of imitating the versification of the first attempt to degrade Shakspere to the character of a brutal doggrel-monger : "A parliement member, a justice of piece, At home a poore scarecrowe, in London an asse. MS. Notes upon Langbaine, from which Steevens published the lines in 1778. He thinks hymself greate, yet an asse in hys state Synge Lowsie Lucy, whatever befall it. He's a haughty, proud, insolent knighte of the shire, Synge Lowsie Lucy, whatever befall it. To the sessions he went, and dyd sorely complain His parke had been rob'd, and his deer they were slain. This Lucy is Lowsie, as some volke misscall it, Synge Lowsie Lucy, whatever befall it. He sayd twas a ryot, his men had been beat, Soe haughty was he when the fact was confess'd, Though Lucies a dozen he paints in his coat, If a iuvenile frolick he cannot forgive, And Lucy the Lowsie a libel may call it, Malone observes that the greater part of this precious relic of antiquity "is evidently formed on various passages in the first scene of The Merry Wives of Windsor, which certainly afford ground for believing that our author, on some account or other, had not the most profound respect for Sir Thomas Lucy. The dozen white luces, however, which Shallow is made to commend as a good coat,' was not Sir Thomas Lucy's coat of arms." Life of Shakspeare, p. 141. NOTE ON THE SHAKSPERIAN LOCALITIES. We have endeavoured to render the local descriptions and allusions in this chapter, and in preceding passages, more intelligible, by subjoining a map of the neighbourhood of Stratford. In this neighbourhood there is little of that scenery which we call romantic; but the surpassing fertility, the undulating surfaces, the rich woodlands, the placid river, and the numerous and beautiful old churches, render it an interesting country to walk over, independent of its associations. Those associations impart to this neighbourhood an unequalled charm; and the outline map here given may probably assist the lover of Shakspere in a ramble through his "Daily walks, and ancient neighbourhood." The very beautiful sketches of Mr. Harvey, of which we can attest the fidelity, as far as regards their local accuracy, may also lend an interest to such a visit. The map has been constructed with reference to the insertion of places only which are either named in Shakspere's works, or with which he or his family were connected, or which have appeared to us demanding mention or allusion in his biography. The map is, of course, a map for the present day, but there are very few names inserted which are not found in Dugdale's Map of the hundreds which contain this neighbourhood. Many, of course, are omitted which are there found. |