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EDITORIAL INTRODUCTION.

ays when "merrie England" was a term of meaning, and aptly the festive spirit common among the people at their periodical 1 festivals, which they indulge in with a heartiness and a zest unus modern utilitarians, Shakspeare flourished and was the delight e. Many of his plays were written to meet the wishes, or to foster s, of his audiences; for he was a Player as well as Author, and d that knowledge of the predilections of the public which the proI artist or dramatist has, or should have, to render him a successful of public amusement.

is discriminative knowledge of our great poet, we perhaps owe the ful Comedy of" Twelfth Night." The closing of the great festival stmas, was, as it were, the climax of the revelries which, in the ime, marked the twelve days appropriated for keeping this, the most of the high festivals of the Christian Church. In the period anteceo the foundation of the English National Drama. "The Mysteries [oralities," with all their accessories of barbarous, but quaint and exve imagery, were the delight alike of the learned, the noble, and the lous of the land. To these rude foreshadowings of the regular drama, ceded pageants, masques, and allegorical devices, all imbued with a imaginative spirit, that endeared them to the tastes and feelings of multitude. Shakspeare, whose fertile ginius led him into the regions ancy and imagination, there to revel and create a world of his own, Fents us in this delightful comedy, a complete epitome of all that rened the revelry of "Christmas tide" so delightful to the populace ;, to add to the charm, and, as it were, as a fitting prologue to his merry , he designates his labors by the expressive title of "Twelfth Night, or, at you Will."

And truly has he performed his task-for, in the exquisite combination of joyous, laugh-creating personages, with the delicate fancies and poetical beauty of his sentimental characters, he has concentrated into one frame all the pictures which are dispersed through the antic pageants and grotesque masques then in vogue, enriching all with the glowing colors of his own exhaustless fancy, and his truthful analysis of nature.

And yet, Twelfth Night is rather a picture of the poetry of life, than a faithful transcript of natural realities. We are willing to subscribe to the opinions of a cotemporary, and say :

"It cannot, indeed, be said that the characters of this piece are not drawn from nature,---for when was Shakspeare unnatural? but it may be affirmed that it is nature as exhibited in vision. The love, the folly, the passion, the humor, all are fancy, all are the results of the nighest poetical imagination. Nothing is shown as it really is, but as a youthful mind would picture it to be in the days of inexperience."

Such, perhaps, is the true character of this exquisite comedy. It is, perhaps, no "just picture of life :" we may object to the improbabilities surrounding Viola; but who does not feel that she is the impersonation of a poetical ideal in woman? The fatuity of Sir Andrew Ague-Cheek may be overcharged; but his prototype, in a modified form, may be found in the phases of the human heart. The moral and comic effect of Malvolio's character is overwrought; and yet how true to nature is the ludicrous conceit and dominant vanity of this richly-drawn character. Sir Toby Belch is the jolly roysterer of the Elizabethan period-and the Clown is the Vice of the ancient morality, the Jester, or Fool of the age, common and familiar to every spectator of those times. The Duke, Olivia, and Sebastian, are poetical creations, endowed with all the richness of the poet's teeming fancy; and Maria is the queen of waiting maids, the model of a class.

Commentators have been puzzled to assign the precise origin and date of this play. It was formerly the opinion, that it was among the latest, if not the last, of Shakspeare's productions, but the indefatigable research of Mr. Collier has settled the latter question. This vigilant Shaksperian critic has found in the British Museum, the Diary of one Manningham, a Barrister, who was an eye-witness to the representation of Twelfth Night on the on the celebration of the Readers' Feast, at the Middle Temple on February 2, 1602. The memorandum runs as follows:

601, (2.)-At our feast we had a play called Twelve night, u Will,' much like the comedy of errors, or Menechmi of ut most like and neere to that in Italian, called Inganni." rom this curious relic, that Shakspeare was supposed to have elf of an Italian drama founded on a novel of Bandello. It mon practice of our great bard to borrow the plots on which ted his magnificent productions. But in his hands, these rude ike the unhewn block submitted to the chisel of the mastere artist, became, by his skill and magic, instinct with life-like osing almost entirely any traces of their original identity. nedy still retains its place upon the stage, its varied character beauties rendering it one of the most effective of our poet's ductions. Its last revival at the Park was peculiarly successful. forget the Viola of Mrs. Kean, that exquisite embodiment of a creation? The Malvolio, too, of Mr. Bass, deserves a place in the ance of every lover of the acted drama: nor should we omit the ng of Mr. Barrett, in Sir Andrew Ague-Cheek. Poor John Fisher's Belch was among the last of his performances, and, bating the of physical weight, it was an inimitable portraiture of the recksterous old debauchee. Mr. George Andrews completed this admiast, by giving great effect to the character of the Clown, and Mr. = Kean rendered the part of Orsino prominent by his scholar-like ap-ion and beautiful delivery of the poetry; while Olivia has seldom more lovely or lady-like representative, than was found in the person =. Abbott.

H.

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DUKE ORSINO.-Black velvet and gold jacket, full breeches, and cloak lined with crimson silk of the Elizabethau fashion, black stockings, gold clasps, square-toed shoes with crimson rosettes, hat with white feathers, jewels round neck, white linen collar round neck. VALENTINE.-Similar dress, but white.

CURIO AND OTHER LORDS.-Do., but various colors.

SIR TOBY.-Brown cloth coat picked out with black, brass buttons, large boots, heavy belt and sword, hat and black feather, and cloak.

SIR ANDREW AGUE-CHEEK.-Blue and white dress, with scarlet stockings, long flaxen hair.

SEBASTIAN.-Deep amber tunic, with short sleeves; white body and pantaloons, trimmed with sky blue and black feathers.

ANTONIO.--Dressed as Albanian sea captain.

ROBERTO-Blue doublet and trunks, trimmed with gold lace.
FRIAR--Long Black gown and hood, beads, sandals and fleshings.
MALVOLIO.--White vest striped with black, black stockings and white
shoes, and cloak.

CLOWN.--As court fool.

FABIAN.--Jacket and trunks of green, picked out with black.

FIRST AND SECOND OFFICERS.--Long black gowns, edged with do., white wands, three-cornered hats.

OLIVIA.White satin cloak, black ornaments, demi-train, and black veil. MARIA.-White mu-lin dress, trimmed with black, black velvet jacket, white stockings, black cloak and shoes, with smail velvet cap.

VIOLA.-Modern Greek ladies' costume. Second Dress-Saine as Sebas ther's.

LADIES' ATTENDANTS.-White muslin dresses, black veils.

EXITS AND ENTRANCES.

R. means Right; L. Left ; R. D. Right Door; L. D. Left Door; S. E. Second Entrance; U. E. Upper Entrance; M. D. Middle Door.

RELATIVE POSITIONS

R. means Right; L. Left; C. Centre; R. C. Right Centre; L. C. Left

Centre.

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