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THE comedy of 'Twelfth Night' is amongst the most perplexing of Shakspere's plays to the sticklers for accuracy of costume. The period of action is undefined. The scene is laid in Illyria, whilst the names of the Dramatis Personæ are a mixture of Spanish, Italian, and English. The best mode of reconciling the discrepancies arising from so many conflicting circumstances appears to us to be the assumption, first, that duke or count Orsino (for he is indifferently so entitled in the play) is a Venetian governor of that portion of Dalmatia which was all of the ancient Illyria remaining under the dominion of the republic at the commencement of the seventeenth century, and that his attendants, Valentine, Curio, &c., as well as Olivia, Malvolio, and Maria, are also Venetians; and, secondly, that Sir Toby Belch and Sir Andrew Ague-cheek are English residents; the former, a maternal uncle to Olivia

her father, a Venetian count, having married Sir Toby's sister. If this be allowed, and there is nothing that we can perceive in the play to prevent it, there is no impropriety in dressing the above-named characters in the Venetian and English costume of Shakspere's own time, and the two sea-captains and Sebastian in the very picturesque habits of "Chimariot, Illyrian, and dark Suliote." Viola, the twin-sister of Sebastian, might therefore, by assuming the national male dress, be more readily mistaken for her brother, as it is absurd to suppose that she could otherwise, by accident, light upon a facsimile of the suit he appears in; and any manifest difference, either in form or colour, would tend to destroy the illusion, as we have already observed in the case of the two Dromios and their masters ('Comedy of Errors"). We leave the decision, however, to our readers, at the same time referring those who think with us

cellio. The embroidered jacket and greaves, "the snowy camisa and the shaggy capote," of the Greek captains, have become almost as familiar to our sight as a frock-coat, Wellington boots, and trousers.

to 'The Merchant of Venice,' 'Othello,' and the Habiti Antiche e Moderni' of Cæsare Ve"The Taming of the Shrew,' for the Venetian and English costume of the commencement of the seventeenth century, and confining our pictorial illustrations of this part of our labours to the dress of a woman of Mitylene (supposed the Messalina of the play) from

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INTRODUCTORY REMARKS.

THIS comedy was first printed in the folio collection of 1623. The original edition is divided into acts and scenes. It also gives the enumeration of characters as we have printed them, such a list of "the names of the actors" being rarely presented in the early copies. It has been recently ascertained that Measure for Measure' was presented at Court by the King's players (the company to which Shakspere belonged) in 1604.

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an unbearable violation of our sense of justice.

The leading idea of the character of Isabella is that of one who abides the direst temptation which can be presented to a youthful, innocent, unsuspecting, and affectionate woman-the temptation of saving the life of one most dear, by submitting to a shame which the sophistry of self-love might represent as scarcely criminal. All other writers who have treated the subject have conceived that the temptation could not be resisted. Shakspere alone has confidence enough in female virtue to make Isabella never for a moment even doubt of her proper course. But he has based this virtue, most unquestionably, upon the very highest principle upon which any virtue can be built. The foundation of Isabella's character is religion. The character of Angelo is the antagonist to that of Isabella. In a

"A man of stricture and firm abstinence."

He is

"Precise;

Stands at a guard with envy; scarce confesses
That his blood flows."

He is one who

"Doth rebate and blunt his natural edge

The general outline of the story upon which Measure for Measure' is founded is presented to us in such different forms, and with reference to such distinct times and persons, that, whether historically true or not, we can have no doubt of its universal interest. It is told of an officer of Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy; of Oliver le Diable, the wicked favourite of Louis XI.; of Colonel Kirke, in our own country; of a captain of the Duke of Fer-city of licentiousness he is rara. In all these cases an unhappy woman sacrifices her own honour for the promised safety of one she loves; and in all, with the exception of the case of Colonel Kirke, the abuser of authority is punished with death. Whatever interest may attach to the narrative of such an event, it is manifest that the dramatic conduct of such a story is full of difficulty, especially in a scrupulous age. But the public opinion, which, in this particular, would operate upon a dramatist in our own day, would not affect a writer for the stage in the times of Elizabeth and James; and, in point of fact, plots far more offensive became the subject of very popular dramas long after the times of Shakspere. It appears to us that, adopting such a subject in its general bearings, he has managed it with uncommon adroitness by his deviations from the accustomed story. By introducing a contrivance by which the heroine is not sacrificed, he preserves our respect for her, which would be involuntarily lost if she fell, even though against her own will; and by this management he is also enabled to spare the great offender without

With profits of the mind, study and fast.” But he wanted the one sustaining principle by which Isabella was upheld. After Shakspere had conceived the character of Isabella, and in that conception had made it certain that her virtue must pass unscathed through the fire, he had to contrive a series of incidents by which the catastrophe should proceed onward through all the stages of Angelo's guilt of intention, and terminate in his final exposure. Mr. Hallam says, "There is great skill in the invention of Mariana, and without this the story could not have anything like a satisfactory termination." But there is great skill also in the management of the incident in the Duke's hands, as well as in the invention; and this is produced by the wonderful propriety with which the character of the Duke is drawn. He is described by Hazlitt as a very im

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