THE TEMPEST.

See Page 1.

N this comedy, Shakespeare is thought by able critics to have given us his most finished literary composition, and one in which the great poet has expressed his highest and serenest view of life. One of his latest productions, first published in 1623, no source of the story of the play can with any certainty be pointed out. Malone supposes it to have been written in the year 1611, and probably produced in the latter part of 1612 for the first time. Shakespeare, who was fond of music, makes admirable use of this art in The Tempest. Indeed, the serious parts of the drama are well suited for an opera. SCENE. -The sea with a ship, afterwards an uninhabited isle.

In a cave hewn out of the solid rock lived the aged Prospero and his good and beautiful daughter, Miranda. This home was on an island, and thither Miranda had come with her father when she was hardly three years old. The cave in which they resided was divided into several cells, one of which, serving as Prospero's study, was provided with a number of books on astrology and magic, the knowledge of which Prospero had made exceedingly useful since his arrival on this island, which had been enchanted by the witch Sycorax, who died there shortly before his coming. Prospero by his art released many good spirits which the sorceress had imprisoned in the trunks of giant trees, because the spirits had refused to obey the wicked behests of the old enchantress. These liberated spirits were, after his coming, the instruments of the obedient will of Prospero. Ariel was the most prominent, who, gentle as he otherwise was, bore a deep-seated grudge towards the monster Caliban, the son of Sycorax. Caliban was found by Prospero during one of his excursions through the island, and was brought by him to the cave, where Caliban was taught to speak, but, owing to his perverted nature, little good and useful could he learn, and therefore was employed to do the more menial work, such as carrying wood and water. Ariel's duty was to compel the monster to perform these services. Ariel, invisible to all other eyes but those of Prospero, would often torment and harass Caliban. By the aid of these powerful spirits, Prospero ruled the winds and the waves of the sea. Thus he raised a violent storm, in the midst of which he showed his daughter a large ship, which he told her was full of human beings like themselves. Miranda begs her father to have mercy on their lives. The father soothes her agitation, and informs her that no person of the ship's company shall be hurt, that all transpiring would be done on behalf of his dear child.

He now relates to her the cause of their inhabiting this island. "I was Prince of Milan," said he, "and you a Princess and only heir. My younger brother, whose name was Antonio, I intrusted with all my affairs of state, and devoted myself in retirement to profound study. My brother, deeming himself the duke, with the aid of the King of Naples, a powerful prince and deadly foe of mine, effected my downfall. Knowing that they durst not destroy us because of the strong love of my people, they carried us on board a ship, and when some leagues out at sea Antonio forced both of us into a small boat without sail or mast. But a faithful lord of my court, named Gonzalo, had secretly hidden water and provisions on board, and also some invaluable books. Our food lasted until we landed on this island, and ever since my pleasure has been to instruct my darling child. This tempest I have raised so that by this accident the King of Naples and your treacherous uncle might be brought to this shore."

Prospero having concluded his narrative touched Miranda with his magic wand, and she fell fast asleep. At this instant Ariel appears and gives a vivid account of the tempest to his master. Of the ship's crew not one soul has perished, and the vessel, invisible to them, is safely moored in the harbor. Meantime Ferdinand, the duke's son, reaching the island, meets Miranda. They mutually express surprise, and fall in love. Ariel, bidden by his master, now brings the king, Antonio, and the noble Gonzalo before Prospero, who embraces his brother and forgives him his past treachery. Prospero then dismisses Ariel from his service, buries his wand and books in the earth, vowing never henceforth to make use of the magic art. He then returns with the king, his brother, Gonzalo, Ferdinand, and Miranda to his native land, where, soon after their arrival, the nuptials of the hero and heroine, Ferdinand and Miranda, are celebrated, and "honor, riches, marriage-blessing" await them.

The characters in this play, while real and living, are conceived in a more abstract way, more as types, than in any other work of Shakespeare. Prospero is the embodiment of the highest wisdom and moral attainment; he is the great enchanter, and altogether the opposite of the vulgar magician. With the command over the elemental powers which study has brought to him, he possesses moral grandeur and command over himself. He sees through life, but does not refuse to take part in it. Gonzalo is human common sense incarnated. All that is meanest and most despicable appears in the wretched conspirators. Miranda is framed in the purest and simplest type of womanhood, while Ariel is a being of life and joy knowing no human affection; in Caliban is his opposite, a creature of the passions and appetites. There is a beautiful spirit of reconciliation and forgiveness presiding over all, like a providence.

THE TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA.

THERE

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was no edition of this comedy until 1623, but according to Malone as well as Chalmers, it was written in 1595. Though this play furnishes fewer occasions for music than some others, yet musicians are employed in the plot as well as musical allusions. Shakespeare in this play introduces all the musical terms in use in his time; as, a tune, a note, sing out, too sharp, too flat, harsh descant, the mean base, etc. SCENE. -At times in the cities of Verona and Milan, or on the frontiers of Mantua. Valentine and Proteus were two young gentlemen, who lived in the city of Verona, between whom a firm friendship subsisted. They pursued their studies together, and passed their leisure hours in each other's | company, except when Proteus visited a lady whom he loved; and these visits to Julia and his passion for her, were the only points on which the two gentlemen | differed. Valentine, who was not in love, often wearied to hear his friend so incessantly talking of his Julia, and occasionally would taunt Proteus for his passionate and idle fancies. One morning, Valentine came to Proteus and informed him that they must separate for a time, as he was going to Milan. Proteus, however, tried to induce his friend not to leave him; but without avail. The two friends parted with vows of unalterable friendship. After his companion had left, Proteus wrote a letter to Julia, which he intrusted her maid Lucetta to deliver to her mistress. Julia, though loving Proteus as much as he did her, acts coquettishly, refuses to accept the letter, and orders her maid to leave the room; but being curious to know the contents of the missive, calls Lucetta in again, and asks her what o'clock it is. Lucetta, who knew that her mistress rather desired to see the letter, without heeding the question, again presents the rejected epistle. Julia, incensed at this presumption on the part of her servant, tore the missive in pieces and threw them on the floor, ordering Lucetta out of the

room.

When Julia found herself alone, she gathered the fragments up and began to piece them together, and made out the words, "love-wounded Proteus," but she could not make out the whole, and mortified at her own perversity in destroying such sweet and loving words, she pens a much kinder letter to Proteus than she had ever done before. While Proteus was in raptures over his letter, he was interrupted by the appearance of Antonio his father, who asks him what letter he was reading, and is told that it is one he received from his friend Valentine, at Milan. His father desires to read the news, but the son, greatly alarmed, assures him that there is nothing new, further than Valentine is well beloved by the Duke of Milan, who greatly benefits him with favors, and desires his friend Proteus to be the partner of his fortune. Antonio, deeming the advice of Valentine very worthy of attention, resolves to send the son at once to Milan, to spend some time there in the Duke of Milan's court. Proteus, knowing how peremptory was the will of his father, bid Julia a mournful farewell. They exchanged rings, and mutually promised to keep each other forever in remembrance. Proteus set out on his journey, and, arriving at Milan, found his friend Valentine really in favor with the duke; and moreover Valentine had become as ardent a lover as Pro

teus ever was. The lady of his love was Silvia, daughter of the duke, and his love was returned, though they concealed their affections from the duke,

who intended his daughter should marry the courtier Thurio, whom Silvia despised. While these two rivals were, one day, on a visit to Silvia, the duke himself entered the room, and informed them of the arrival of Proteus, who soon thereafter made his entrance, and was introduced by his friend to the fair Silvia. Valentine imparted to him in confidence the whole history of his love, how carefully they had concealed it from the duke, and that, despairing of ever obtaining the father's consent, he had urged Silvia to leave the palace that very night and go with him to Mantua. Then he showed Proteus a ladder of ropes, by help of which he intended to aid Silvia to get out of one of the windows at dark. Upon hearing this confidential recital, strange to say, Proteus resolved to go and disclose the plan to the duke. The duke, after hearing the intelligence, resolved to frustrate Valentine's intentions, and by artifice makes Valentine betray the secret himself, and after upbraiding him for his ingratitude, banished him from the court and city of Milan. While Proteus was thus treacherously betraying his friend, Julia, who is inconsolable over the absence of her lover, resolved to dress herself and her maid Lucetta in men's clothes, and thus set out for Milan. Here she was hired by Proteus as a page, who, not knowing that she was Julia, sent her with letters and presents to Silvia-even sending her the very ring she gave him as a parting gift at Verona. Silvia, utterly amazed at this, rejects the suit of Proteus and refuses the ring, and Julia (disguised as the page Sebastian) praises Silvia and confides to her that Proteus had a love in Verona, who, as she knew, fondly loved him. Valentine, who hardly knew which course to pursue after his banishment, was set upon by robbers, who prevail on him to become their captain, threatening, if he refuses their offer, they would kill him. Valentine exacted of them a promise never to outrage women or to rob the poor. Silvia, to avoid a marriage to Thurio, at last resolved to follow Valentine to Mantua, whence she presumed him to have fled, and in company with Eglamour, an old courtier, sets out on her journey, but on reaching the forest where Valentine and the banditti dwelt, was seized by one of the robbers, who intended to take her before their captain. Proteus, who had heard of Silvia's flight, pursued her to the forest, and still accompanied by Julia, his page in disguise, appears at this moment. While Proteus was rudely pressing Silvia to marry him, all were amazed by the sudden appearance of Valentine.

Julia, having thus proved, by her disguise of the page, the insincerity of her lover Proteus, produces in an affected mistake the rings he has made presents of to herself and Silvia, and at the same time discovering her sex, exposes his duplicity to his second mistress. Proteus, who now realizes that the page Sebastian is no other than Julia, and thrilled with this proof of her constancy and true love for him, took again his own dear mistress and joyfully resigns all pretensions to Silvia to Valentine, who so well deserved her. Proteus and Valentine while enjoying their happy reconciliation, were surprised by the appearance of the Duke of Milan and Thurio, who came there in pursuit of Silvia. Thurio, when sternly rejected by Silvia, drew back in trepidation, leaving Valentine, his rival, in full possession of lady Sylvia. The lovers and the duke return to Milan, where the nuptials are conducted with all due pomp and ceremony.

Shakespeare has in this play settled down in the field of Italian story, which is to be hereafter the scene of his greatest triumphs. The Two Gentlemen of Verona and its incidents were great favorites with Shake

speare, as is evident by his use of them in after plays. The heroine of the drama is without doubt Julia; she suffers most, she loves most, and she says the best things. The hero Valentine is a most generous, frank fellow, with a touch of dulness withal, as he cannot understand, for instance, Silvia's love messages when she gives him back his own love-letter; Speed has to explain it to him. There seems a contradiction in Silvia's character in her giving Proteus her picture; it looks like yielding to coquetry, but as Julia does not seem to feel it so, perhaps we cannot complain. Notice the quick Italian turn for intrigue in Proteus, and in the duke's instantly forming the plan to entrap Valentine.

THE MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR.

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him a severe thrashing, from his abode. Mrs. Ford now imparts to her husband the whole affair, cures him of his jealousy, and, in company with Mr. and Mrs. Page, prepares the third practical joke at Falstaff's expense. A rendezvous at night is planned, under the oak of the fabulous hunter, Herne, where, according to a popular superstition, fairies and elves carry on their revels at midnight. Mrs. Ford and Mrs. Page, in pursuance of their plan to revenge on Falstaff his attempt on their chastity, decoy him, under pretence of an amorous meeting, into Windsor Park at midnight, where he is attacked by Evans and all the kin and kindred of the family. Ford and Page, who are dressed as goblins, torment him with torches, and pinch and plague him in various other ways. Falstaff is represented ludicrously disguised, having a buck's head forced on his head, and seated beneath the oak with his mistresses, who affect surprise at their being discovered. In juxtaposition, and yet distant from the story of seduction and deception, a case of elopement is enacted former sub

nevertheless, it shows an earnest intention and demonstration although jocosely carried out to prove the sacredness of wedlock. Queen Elizabeth, whose ear was perpetually assailed by fulsome panegyric, and who encouraged all sorts of silly shows, May games, and buffooneries, was not insensible to Shakespeare's talent; and having been much delighted with the character of Falstaff, as delineated in the first and second parts of Henry the Fourth, advised, or, perhaps we may rather say, commanded, the bard to portray the fat knight in love. Such is the tradition of the origin of the play, some incidents of which may have pleased the daughter of Henry VIII., although they are somewhat repulsive to modern taste and delicacy. According to Chalmers, this comedy was written in 1596, while Malone asserts 1601 as the proper date.

SCENE.-At Windsor, or near to it. Falstaff, the droll hero of the trilogy of Henry IV. and V., is unable, on account of his limited income, to defray the costs of his extravagant tastes. He hits upon the odd idea, which is doubly amusing from his age and physical defects, of trying his luck in love, and thus replenish his empty purse. He writes love-letters to Mrs. Page and to Mrs. Ford simultaneously. His followers, Nym and Pistol, angry at him, resolve to inform the husbands of this shameful conduct. Both ladies having received letters of the same import, show them to each other, and mutually agree to retaliate upon Falstaff. As a mediator, they choose their talented friend Mrs. Quickly, who informs Falstaff that both ladies accept his suit, and expect to see him. Page has implicit confidence in his wife's fidelity, but Ford does not trust his wife, and disguising himself, assumes the name of Brook, asking Falstaff's assistance in his designs upon Mrs. Ford. He learns from Falstaff that this lady had promised to meet him. Just as the knight is about to enjoy the company of Mrs. Ford, Mrs. Page informs him that the injured husband is on his way hither, having half the inhabitants of Windsor at his back. The unlucky lover is hastily thrown into a clothes-basket and covered with a quantity of dirty linen. He is carried to a bleachery and there thrown into a shallow ditch. But, despite this involuntary bath, Falstaff is not yet the wiser, and runs again into the trap set for him. In Ford's house he is found again by the jealous husband. The ladies this time dress him up in the garb of an old woman, who is known as the disreputable sorceress, or old witch of Brentford. Ford, who had forbidden this hag to enter his threshold, drives Falstaff, after giving

Page have a marriageable daughter, Anne Page, for whose hand and heart three lovers woo-Squire Fenton, whose love is good and true, is responded to by Anne; and Slender, the cousin of the country Justice Shallow, a dunce with an annual rent of £300, who is the favorite of Anne's father, and last, the dandified French Doctor, Caius, who is favored by Mrs. Page. Under Herne's oak, where Anne is enacting the queen of the fairies, Slender, according to the father's plan, is to elope with the daughter; but the mother, having planned a like affair, wants her to elope with Dr. Caius. The shrewd Anne apparently accedes to each plan, but on her part plots and prepares with her lover a different understanding, in consequence of which Slender indeed elopes, according to the plan of the father, with a fairy dressed in white; Dr. Caius, after the plan of the mother, with one in a green garb; but neither of the two have Anne Page, nor, even another girl, but only disguised boys. Fenton and Anne, however, gain their purpose, and reach the church, from which they return husband and wife. The parents yield, with great resignation and heartiness, to the inevitable, and after a general reconciliation, from which even the fat and guilty Falstaff is not excluded, the comedy closes.

In Falstaff, bubbling over with humor combined with that consummate conceit which makes his character so ineffably droll, we have a picture that only Shakespeare could draw. Falstaff is the representative, in his idleness and self-indulgence, of the debauched professional soldier of the day. But this lewd court hanger-on, whose wit always mastered men, is outwitted and routed by the Windsor Wives: "Wives may be merry, and yet honest too," is the healthy moral. The play has no pathos about it: it is only merry; but, nevertheless, it is admirably constructed. The double plot works through it without a hitch; and the situations are comically first-rate, though we confess the tone is lower than in both Shakespeare's earlier and later works. There are no grandees in the play; it seems a play of contemporary manners and a direct sketch of English middle-class life. The sweetness of "sweet Annie Page" runs all through it. She is the young English girl of Shakespeare's admiration

not seventeen, pretty, brown-haired, small-voiced, whose words are few, but whose presence is everywhere felt. True to her love, she is ready-witted, and dutiful to her parents, only disobeying them for the higher law of love. Her real value is shown by the efforts of those three lovers to get her. Fenton is a

the argument of the play is to show the triumph of grace and mercy over the punishment of justice, since no man is so secure against transgression as to set himself up as judge over his fellow-creatures. This comedy is founded upon George Whetstone's The Historie of Promos and Cassandra, which appeared in print in 1578. Malone thinks it was written in 1603, while Chalmers thinks the date of its writing is 1604, when Shakespeare was in his fortieth year. Though this play has less music in it than some of Shakespeare's productions, yet at the beginning of Act IV. a song from the poet's own Passionate Pilgrim is sung.

SCENE.-City of Vienna.

Under the mild government of the Duke of Vienna, the laws had lost all their wonted vigor; intrigue and immorality became general among the young people of the metropolis because these vices could be practised with impunity: especially was the marriage vow no longer kept sacred. At this juncture the duke resolves suddenly on a governmental change in the administration of the land from mildness to great severity, and, for the purpose of more thoroughly carrying out this plan, he determines to absent himself for awhile from his dukedom, meantime leaving the government in the hands of Angelo, Lord Deputy, during his absence. Angelo is instructed to watch over the execution of the laws with strictness. The duke, disguised as a monk, meanwhile secretly observes Angelo and his conduct from the neighborhood of the city. A young nobleman, named Claudio, is taken in custody on the charge of seducing a lady named Juliet, and sentenced to be beheaded under the severe laws of the new régime. Claudio's sister, the beautiful and virtuous Isabella, a novice under probation, appears before the Lord Deputy and beseeches him to spare the life of her beloved brother; but in vain: the law must have its course; her suit is rejected. But it so happens, that the charming interceder, by her dazzling beauty as well as by her innocence and virtue, inflames the passions of Lord Angelo, and he demands, as the price of the forfeited life of her brother, the virtue of the sister, who of course with utter scorn rejects his advances. Isabella then visits her brother in prison, informs him of the ill success she has met with and of the baseness of Angelo. She admonishes him to fortify himself with courage and resignation to endure his approaching fate. But the terror of death overpowers he entreats the hitherto courageous Claudio, and be en trots is

nally, the duke appears in his true character, forgiving, rewarding, and punishing. Angelo, who sincerely repents of his intended misdeeds, but which wickedness, without merit on his part, had been frustrated, receives forgiveness; but has to make atonement for his wrongs towards Mariana by marrying her. Claudio is induced to marry Juliet, the lady whom he had seduced. Isabella, the heroine, the true and good, does not re-enter the convent, but, the duke falling in love with her, is made the Duchess of Vienna; and bestowing happiness and blessing all around, henceforth shines by the duke's side as his noble wife.

In the character of Isabella we have a beautiful portraiture of a noble Christian woman, steadfast and true, firm in strength and energy, and among the highest type of women Shakespeare has drawnequal or superior to Portia, the wife of Brutus, Cordelia, or Volumnia. The scene in court, and the trial, as it were, before the duke, and the exposure of Angelo, are graphically portrayed. There is a tone of deep and serious feeling running all through the play - its dealing with death and the future world, the weight of reflection, the analysis of Angelo's character, the workings of conscience, the lovely saintliness of Isabella, although we must look on her as no hard recluse, but as Isabel, sweet Isabel! with cheeks of roses, gentle and fair." She believed that the son of her heroic father was noble, like herself; and when she found he was willing to sacrifice her honor for his life, her indignant "take my defiance, die, perish," was the fit answer to her brother's base proposals, which brings the blood tingling in sympathy to the reader's cheek. In Angelo we have a terrible analysis of character, a self-revelation to any man who has striven for purity, has fancied himself safe, and in the hour of trial has failed. Claudio is the type of the self-indulgent, life-enjoying man of the world, to whom death has the greatest terrors. His words on after death" are among the most poetical in Shakespeare.

66

THE COMEDY OF ERRORS.
See Page 78.

Plautus have furnished our

To Menaechmi for this lively, entertaining, and poet ingeniously executed play, which is so full of a witty spirit. It is one of his earliest dramatic efforts, and perhaps was written before the year 1591, though Malone fixes the date at 1593. In the Comedy of Errors music has no mention.

SCENE.-Ephesus.

Various and prolix disputes and contentions between the cities of Syracuse and Ephesus caused, in retalia

tion for the precedent set by the former city, the enactment of a cruel law, according to which all intercourse between these two places was abolished, and any inhabitant of Syracuse seen in Ephesus was punished with death and confiscation of his estate if he were not able to pay a ransom of one thousand marks. Ignorant of this law, Ægeon, an aged merchant of Syracuse, is found in the streets of Ephesus, arrested, and by the duke condemned to be executed. Upon the question, what has induced him to visit Ephesus, he relates that his wife had borne him twins, who had so extraordinary a resemblance to each other that he had purchased of their poor parents two twin brothers, whom he had brought up to attend upon his own sons. Suffering shipwreck Ægeon had been separated from his wife, with their older son and his comrade. The younger son, who, after he had grown to manhood, had been afflicted with an irrepressible longing to go in search of his lost mother and brother, was still engaged in this search; both sons he now deemed lost to him, since for seven years he had sought for them on all seas, but in vain, and it was thus he had come to Ephesus. The duke, influenced by a feeling of pity, grants Egeon one day to procure the thousand marks for his ransom. Egeon's sons, of exact form and size and bearing the same name-t -that of Antipholus were at this time in Ephesus with their servants the Dromios, who were also counterparts of each other. The younger Antipholus had just arrived with his Dromio; the older brother, however, had already lived twenty years in the city, having, as a courageous soldier, once saved the duke's life, and had in the course of time become a rich and highly respected merchant. He married a rich heiress of Ephesus named Adriana, whose beautiful and wise sister Luciana resided with them. The twins and their followers, who bear such striking resemblance to each other, cause many vexatious and entangling mistakes, and thus, quite naturally, many very comically amusing scenes are enacted, and errors upon errors follow. One bewitching mistake confounds the other. The errors which are occasioned by confounding the two gentlemen and their servants with each other, cause the Antipholus of Syracuse to believe that he is under the influence of magicians, and therefore seeks refuge in a cloister, whose abbess, Æmilia, charitably grants to him a place of refuge. Adriana, who presumed the fugitive to be her husband, complains to the duke of the conduct of the abbess, who refuses to give up the fugitive, who is deemed insane, before his cure is effected. One word draws another, until it becomes finally apparent that the jealous Adriana is the wife of the Ephesian Antipholus, whom she had often tortured with her silly suspicions. After confessing her behaviour to the abbess, the latter seriously expostulates with her. Meanwhile, evening comes and Ægeon is to be executed, when opportunely at this juncture the twin pairs, and those with whom they have been confounded, all meet in the vicinity of the convent. The penetration of the duke at once solves this mystery of errors. The excellent abbess is none other than Emilia, the long lost wife of Egeon and the loving mother of the two Antipholus. The noble duke now pardons Ægeon, without the payment of ransom; Adriana is permanently cured of her jealousies, while Antipholus of Syracuse marries her sister the good and fair Luciana.

In the Comedy of Errors, which commentators believe to be either the first or the second written of the dramas of Shakespeare, he has exquisitely brought in the pathetic element in Ægeon's story and threatened

death, the mother's love and suffering, and the reuniting of the family at the end of the play. He has also presented the beautiful element of the affection of Antipholus of Syracuse for Luciana-the first introduction of that serious and tender love which is never after absent in Shakespeare's plays. The sweetness of Luciana in dissuading her sister from jealousy, in her advice to Antipholus of Syracuse, her sister's supposed husband, in Scene 2 of Act III., before she consents to her suitor's love, is very beautiful in its tender thoughtfulness. Adriana, though jealous and shrewish, really does not mean to be, and truly urges that her love is the cause. The contrast between the two brothers of Syracuse and of Ephesus is finely marked. The Antipholus of Ephesus was a man without a father's or a mother's training, and with no purpose in life like his brother. He is a brave soldier, but has no true view of love and marriage; he has taken a wife, yet consorts with a courtesan. Antipholus of Syracuse, brought up under a father's watchful care, is a far better type of a man. The search for his lost twin brother has given him a purpose in life; and although his temper is somewhat too unrestrained and he beats his servant too often, yet he reverences women, and declines the opportunity to avail himself of the mistake of his unknown brother's wife. Of the two Dromios, the Syracusan seems to have been the better. He is more humorous and cool and takes his troubles better than his master. The noble and pathetic figure of Ægeon forms a fine background to the play, his long search for his wife appealing to all hearts. This drama forms a fine acting play, the humor being brought out most comically.

THE

MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING.

See Page 92.

The

HE more serious parts of the material on which this. comedy is founded, were known to the reading pub-lic of England, at the time of our poet, through various works, such as the episode of Ariodant and Genevra, in Ariosto's Orlando Furioso, which already then existed in two English translations. The nearest resemblance to this play is a novel of Bandello, entitled, "Timbreo di Cardonia, and Felicia Leonata." other comical parts of the play, and the persons represented therein, seem to be altogether Shakespeare's. own creation. According to Malone, the play was written in 1600; while Chalmers reports it a year earlier, that it was printed in quarto, and was entered at Stationers' Hall, August 23, 1600, under the name of Benedick and Beatrice. There is much music in the play, especially in the masquerade, Act II., Scene 2,. and several songs are introduced. In the last Act, Scene 8, the epitaph and song are beautiful, and well calculated for music.

SCENE.- Messina.

Leonato, the Governor of Messina, has an only daughter, named Hero, who lives with his niece, Bea-trice, in her father's palace. Beatrice is a lively, mirthful, and witty girl, the very counterpart of the sedate Hero. Returning from a happily ended war, appear as the guests of Leonato, Don Pedro, Prince of Arragon, with his favorites, Claudio and Benedick, all old friends and acquaintances of the governor and his family. Claudio sues for the quiet Hero, wins her love, and, through the mediation of the Prince, obtains the consent of her father. Benedick and Beatrice, both animated by a spirit of thoroughly inexhaustible