there is truth more or less in every party and sect, he is the honest representative of them all. He had an Englishman's love of fair play, and a Christian's charity and fellowfeeling which rendered him hostile only to injustice and inhumanity. See above, p. 268 note. CHAP. III., p. 327, sect. 12. Among the instances 'of less elaborate comparison,' for which Shakspeare would seem to have been indebted more or less to the Bible, produced pp. 328-32, the following also may find a place: In K. Richard II. the Earl of Salisbury says, Act ii. Sc. 4. Ah! Richard, with the eyes of heavy mind I see thy glory like a shooting star Fall to the base earth from the firmament, which may well remind us of our Lord's words in Luke x. 18: XXX. 29, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven. I am IBID., pp. 330-332, sect. 13. A commentator on Job a brother to dragons, and a companion. to owls,' has suggested that the former comparison was in Shakspeare's mind, when he put into the mouth of Coriolanus: I go alone, Like to a lonely dragon, that his fen Makes feared, and talked of more than seen. Act iv. Sc. I. And the temple-haunting martlets,' in Macbeth, Act i. Sc. 6, was doubtless suggested by Ps. lxxxiv. 3. The swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, even Thine altars. IBID., pp. 332-334, sect. 14. To the examples of metaphorical images there given, as borrowed by Shakspeare from the Bible, the following may be added:Ps. lxxx. 5. Tears to drink. Comp.drink the waters of mine eyes.' King Henry VI., 3rd Part, Act v. Sc. 4. My tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth. Ps. cxxxvii. 6. Comp. my tongue cleave to my roof within my mouth.' K. Rich. II., Act v. Sc. 3. In the Bible, the Lord is described by the Psalmist as his 'fortress,' cxliv. 2. So in Pt. 1, K. Henry VI., we read, 'God is our fortress.' Act ii. Sc. 1. Again, we read in Prov. xviii. 10, 'The name of the Lord is a strong tower;' and in K. Richard III., Act v. Sc. 3, 'The king's name is a tower of strength.' In the Bible, God is said to use a vial' from whence to discharge His wrath, as in Rev. xv. 7. In Winter's Tale, Act v. Sc. 3, we find the same metaphor used in a good sense. See above, p. 204. In the Bible, woman is the weaker vessel,' 1 Pet. iii. 7. So in As you like it we read: 'I must comfort the weaker vessel. Act ii. Sc. 4. See also Merchant of Venice, Act i. Sc. 1, and Winter's Tale, Act iii. Sc. 3. In the Bible we read: If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning. Ps. cxxxvii. 5. So in K. Henry V.: We therefore have great cause of thankfulness; Sooner than quittance of desert and merit. Act ii. Sc. 2. In the Bible to taste' is used metaphorically; as in Ps. xxxiv. 8, 'O taste and see that the Lord is good.' So again in K. Henry V. we read : And not a man of them than we can take, Act iv. Sc. 7. Again, Which shall not taste of death.' Matt. xvi. 28. 'The valiant never taste of death but once.' F. Cæsar, Act ii. Sc. 2. Among other remarkable expressions, borrowed apparently from the Bible, are the following: viii. 10. 1. Sc. 2. = 'Stars eminent persons.' K. John, Act v. Sc. 7. Dan. 'Redeeming time.' K. Henry IV., 1st Part, Act Eph. v. 16. Fiery indignation.' K. John, Act iv. Sc. i. Hebr. x. 27. 'Hot coals of vengeance.' K. Part, Act v. Sc. 2. Psalm cxl. 10. King Henry VI., 1st Part, Act i. Sc. 5. Womb of the morning.' Ps. cx. 3: K. Henry V., Act iv. Chorus. StumJohn, Act v. Sc. 5. S. John xi. 10. K. John, Act v. Fove's own book.' Henry VI., 2nd 'Potter's wheel.' Psalm lxxxiii. 13. 'Womb of night.' bling night.' K. "Tempts us not to bear above our power.' Sc. 6. I Cor. x. 13. Enrolled in Coriolanus, Act iii. Sc. 1. Wright, in his note on this passage, refers to Mal. iii. 16, or Exodus xxxii. 32. The speech of Bottom' in Midsummer Night's Dream. iv. Sc. I. 'The eye of man hath not heard, the ear of man hath not seen, man's hand is not able to taste, his tongue to conceive, nor his heart to report, what my dream was affords a curious instance of burlesque on S. Paul's words, I Cor. ii. 9, not unsuitable to the speaker's character. Act IBID., p. 340, sect. 16. To the Scriptural Proverbs there quoted may be added from 2nd Pt. K. Henry VI., Act ii. Sc. 1. 'Medice, te ipsum' (qu. insert cura'), which is from the Vulgate of Luke iv. 23, Physician, heal thyself.' IBID., p. 342. The turn of expression in Hamlet— O shame! where is thy blush? Act iii. Sc. 4is probably to be traced to the sublime apostrophe of S. Paul, in 1 Cor. xv. 55, O death! where is thy sting?' CONCLUSION, p. 352. In strict impartiality and regard for truth, I ought not to adopt Mrs. Jameson's remark there quoted without pointing out one apparent exception to the last clause of it, in 2nd Pt. K. Henry IV., Act iv. Sc. 2 (see above, p. 262). Johnson, not without reason, has expressed his indignation that such gross violation of faith in the conduct of Prince John, though based on historical fact, should have been allowed to pass without some mark of disapproval and censure on the Poet's part. See also the observation made above, in reference to clandestine marriage, p. 192. IBID., p. 353. I am glad to be able to produce here the final judgment of Gervinus in corroboration of the conciusions I have myself formed, and endeavoured to illustrate in this volume, upon the religious element in Shakspeare's plays; and the testimony is the more valuable because he had previously committed himself to a somewhat different view. A MS. note found among his papers after his death tells us that it was his intention to express his conviction that Shakspeare's moral philosophy is CHRISTIANITY, PURIFIED FROM EVERYTHING EXAGGERATED OR EQUIVOCAL;' that is—as I venture to understand the words, and as the evidence of the facts of the case at once allows and requires us to interpret them-Christianity alike Scriptural, Catholic, and Reformed. In regard to the last epithet, I think we may see, among other proofs, our poet's conviction of the necessity of the Reformation expressed in Coriolanus : What custom wills, in all things should we do't, And mountainous error be too highly heaped Commentaries, 1877, p. 888, note. 890. Act ii. Sc. 3. See also Ibid., p. |
