12 Jan. 215HW REMARKS. All's Well that Ends Well. To those who are accustomed to study Shakspeare through the distorted medium of a Theatre, this play is utterly unknown; yet should curiosity prompt them to a perusal, they will be surprised that a drama possessing so much variety of character, such delightful scenes of sentiment and humour, should be altogether laid aside and forgotten. It is only in the closet that we become familiar with the genius of Shakspeare. The heavy hand of the player has no power over our musing moments. Nor are we deafened with the shouts of an applauding multitude, as ignorant as himself. Let this great poet be more generally studied, and the Drama's reformation will speedily follow. The stage will no longer be the pander of public taste, but its monitor. The serious portion of this comedy comprises the characters of the Countess Rousillon, Helena, and the King of France. The comic, those of Lafeu, the Clown, and that most amusing of all cowardly boasters, (Falstaff alone excepted,) Paroles. The Countess is a noble Lady, who has been so familiar with sorrow; who has felt -"So many quirks of joy and grief, "That the first face of neither, on the start Her maternal love for Helena becomes more interesting, compared "Be thou blest, Bertram; and succeed thy father The King is a portrait of that happy old age which contemplates the past with complacency, and the future without dread: from whom time has not taken away the power of temperate eujoyment, nor in whom enjoyment has created an unwonted desire to live. How admirably illustrative of his character is his speech to Ber. tram, where he calls to mind the beloved companion of his youth, and draws a picture of unequalled gracefulness and beauty. "I would I had that corporal soundness now, "First try'd our soldiership! He did look far "Clock to itself, knew the true minute when "And bow'd his eminent top to their low ranks, and in what perfect harmony with this description, is the following pathetic wish-a wish to which every mind of feeling and sensibility cannot fail to respond. "After my "Let me not live flame lacks oil, to be the snuff "Of younger spirits; whose apprehensive senses All but new things disdain: whose judgments are "Merefathers of their garments; whose constancies Expire before their fashions." Upon which the King engrafts the following wish of his own: "I, after him, do after him wish too, "Since I nor wax, nor honey, can bring home, "I quickly were dissolved from my hive, "To give some labourer room." Shakspeare has been peculiarly happy in his pictures of female devotedness and constancy. To an enchanting delicacy he has added an heroic spirit, that can despise danger when opposed to woman's love. The character of Helena is highly impassioned. Her ardent affection for Bertram, and her modest concealment, are touched with infinite tenderness; and her candid avowal, when the Countess commands her to disclose the state of her heart, is worthy of a maid "Too virtuous "For the contempt of Empire." Her reflections on the many dangers to which Bertram is exposed by their untoward marriage, and her resolution to depart a barefoot pilgrim, that her presence may no longer be a bar to his return, are in perfect accordance with her noble character; and we hardly think that poetical justice is awarded, when the unworthy Bertram, to use the phrase of Johnson, is dimissed to happiness. The Clown inherits all the quibbling qualities of his motley bre thren. His colloquies with Helena and the Countess, though they partake too much of those licentious freedoms that were the vice of the age, are rich in humour. We particularly instance his several reasons for marriage, and his bountiful answer that fits all questions, "O Lord, Sir!" We have here some curious allusions to old customs turned to very merry account. The French lord, Lafeu, is a gay old courtier, that points his jokes with infinite pleasantry. We do not remember a recurrence of this witty portrait in any other of Shakspeare's plays. The Boaster and Coward Paroles is greatly superior to the Thraso of Terence. It is not often that a character every way contemptible is productive of such abundant merriment. He has none of Falstaff's Instinct to help him out of a dilemma, nor is he planetstruck like the Braggadocio Bobadil. He has not even Pistol's consolation of swearing while he swallows his leek, Yet does his whimsical candour ensure him a favourable reception. He is a coward, and scruples not to confess it-for he threatens to put his tongue into a butter-woman's mouth, and to buy another of Bajazet's mule. His soliloquy about the recovery of the drum, and the various lies that he proposes; such as the drowning of his clothes, the baring of his beard, and leaping thirty fathoms from the window of a citadel, are quite as good as Falstaff's hacking his sword, and tickling Bardolph's nose with spear-grass to make it bleed. His opening dialogue with Helena might have been spared; its grossness however is more to be imputed to the lady, who to her quick questions could expect nothing less than merry answers. Falstaff, with all his waggery, scarcely excites more laughter than Paroles. The Clown chants certain fragments of ancient ballads, which give a still keener edge to our antiquarian research on their recovery. He lets no occasion slip of satirizing the Puritans for their superstitious abhorrence to a Surplice," because they say 'tis made of the same thing that your villanous sin is committed in, of your profane Holland," (Cupid's Whirligig 1616.) He also makes an allusion to the flowery way that leads to the broad gate," for which we could have him whipped. It is certain that Shakspeare is never so dull as when he has recourse to profaneness. There can be no doubt that the original title of "All's Well that Ends Well," was " Love's Labour Won," and was intended For by Shakspeare as a counter-title to "Love's Labour Lost." Mr. Malone Meres particularly notices a Drama under this title. conjectures that the alteration was suggested in consequence of the adage being found in the body of the play. The name indeed occurs twice-viz. in Act 4th, Scene 4th, and in Act 5th, Scene 1st: in the two speeches of Helena. The story belongs to Boccace, but Painter's Gilletta of Narbon, in the first volume of The Palace of Pleasure, 4, 1598, is the source whence Shakspeare immediately derived his plot. But if for the serious portion he is partly indebted to the Novel, the Comic is entirely original. GD -G. STAGE DIRECTIONS. The Conductors of this work print no Plays but those which they have seen acted. The Stage Directions are given from their own personal observations, during the most recent performances. EXITS and ENTRANCES. R. means Rihgt; L. Left; D. F. Door in Flat; 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 of Centre. L. C. Left of Centre. *The Reader is supposed to be on the Stage facing the Audience. L. R. RC. C. LC. 8 Costume. KING OF FRANCE.-First dress-Black velvet dress, and shoes. Second dress-Purple velvet dress, robe, and crown. BERTRAM.-White shoes, buff waistcoat and pantaloons, scarlet fly, military sash, sword and hat, yellow boots. LEFEU-Crimson velvet dress and cloak, white stockings, black velvet shoes, and hat. DUMAIN.-Buff waistcoat and pantaloons, green fly, military sash, sword, hat, and boots. LEWIS.-Buff waistcoat, &c. the same as Bertram's. BIRON.-Light blue dress, cloak, and pantaloons, boots, sword, and hat. JAQUES.-The same as Biron's. TOURVILLE.-Light blue dress, crimson puffs, blue pantaloons, sword, and white sash. PAROLES.-First dress-White dress, blue puffs, white sash, scarlet fly, blue pantaloons, sword, boots, and hat. Second dressAn old blue and black dress, and stockings. STEWARD.-Grey worsted dress, brown puffs, brown pantaloons, and sword. CLOWN.-Blue, orange, white, and scarlet dress, one yellow and one red stocking, hat the same, shoes, and sword. FIRST SOLDIER. -- Jackets and short breeches, scarlet SECOND SOLDIER.- stockings, boots, and hats. HELENA,-First dress-White, neatly trimmed and spangled. Second dress-A pilgrim's gown, &c. WIDOW. Plainly trimmed peasant-dress. DIANA. MARIANA. Peasant dresses. Cast of the Characters, as performed at the Theatre Royal Gentlemen,-Officers-Soldiers,--Citizens of Florence. |