The Shakespeare-Expositor. Thomas KeightleyЧитать онлайн книгу.
It is posterior to 1598, as Meres does not mention it, and was entered in the Stationer's Registers, August 4, 1600, by the booksellers Wise and Aspley; but for some reason, which we cannot now discover, they did not print it.
Origin. It is founded on Lodge's novel of Rosalynde, of which the chief origin was The Coke's Tale of Gamelyn, ascribed, but wrongly, to Chaucer. The characters of Jaques, Touchstone, and Audrey, and of course all the comic scenes, are Shakespeare's own.
Much Ado About Nothing.
Editions. 4to, 1600; in the folio, 1623.
Date. Not being mentioned by Meres, it is posterior to 1598; and as it is said, in the title-page of the 4to, that "it hath been sundry times publicly acted," it may have been written in 1598, and may be older than As You Like It; but we have no means of deciding.
Origin. The story of Ariodante and Ginevra in the Orlando Furioso, which Shakespeare may have read either in the original or in Sir John Harington's translation, published in 1591. The story had also been translated by Beverley and Turberville; and there was a play on it, performed before the Queen on Shrove Tuesday 1582–83; so that it was well known. Shakespeare's other authority was the novel of Timbreo di Cardona, &c., in Bandello, in which occur the names Pietro di Aragona, Messina, and Felicia Lionata, and with which therefore Shakespeare must have been acquainted. As there was no known translation of it, save a French one in Belleforest's Histoires Tragiques, I am of opinion that Shakespeare had read the original Italian. It need hardly be added that all the comic scenes and characters are our author's own.
The Merry Wives of Windsor.
Editions. 4to, 1602; 4to, 1619; in the folio, 1623.
Date. It was entered in the Stationers' Registers 18th January 1601–02, and was, consequently, written between 1597 (it is not in Meres's list) and that date; but we have no means of ascertaining the exact time. Mr. Dyce thinks it was written before 1600. It may be observed that, though some of the characters are the same as those in Henry IV. and Henry V., it is quite independent of these plays. I must here remark that the play is so brief, and, as it were, elementary, in the 4tos as compared with the folio, that it seems quite clear that the poet revised and augmented it some time after its first appearance; and this gives some probability to the tradition of its having been written at the command of the Queen, and in a few days, possibly in 1598 or 1599. Further, as in the 4tos there is no allusion whatever to the Lucy coat of arms, it is highly improbable that the poet showed in it any ill feeling towards that family. Lastly, the occurrence in the 4tos of numerous riming couplets which are not in the folio, completely upsets Mr. Collier's theory of that edition having been made up from memory, and from notes taken at the theatre. The expression "king's English" (I. 4) might seem to indicate that the enlargement of the play was not made till after the accession of James. The change, however, of queen to king may have been made by the Editors; but surely Shakespeare must have been aware that Falstaff lived in the time of the Henries.
Origin. Though some Italian and English tales are referred to as the possible sources of the plot, we may, I think, regard it as, at least in the greater part, Shakespeare's own invention. There is, however, a strong resemblance in part of it to a German play by Duke Henry Julius of Brunswick, who died in 1611. See on The Tempest.
Twelfth Night.
Edition. Only in the folio, 1623.
Date. We learn from the MS. diary of a barrister named Manningham, that this play was performed in the Middle Temple, on the 2nd of February 1601–02. It was therefore written between 1597 and that date; but the exact time is quite uncertain.
Origin. The more remote origin of this play is apparently one of the tales of Bandello, which Shakespeare may have read in the original, or in a French or English version of it; for there were such. But the Rev. Jos. Hunter directed attention to three Italian comedies, two named "Inganni"—one of which is noticed by Manningham—and a third named "Gl'Ingannati," or "Il Sacrificio;" and the resemblance between this last and Twelfth Night is so strong that it is hardly possible to suppose that Shakespeare was unacquainted with it. If so, as it was never translated, as far as we know, he must have read it in the original Italian, which was printed in 1537.
N.B. The reader will observe with respect to these last four comedies, that all that we know with certainty respecting their date is that they were written between 1597 and 1600 or 1602. The arranging of them is little more than guess-work. I have placed first those that we know to have been written before 1600.
Measure For Measure.
Edition. Only in the folio, 1623.
Date. In the Accounts of the Revels at Court, we are informed that this play was performed at Whitehall December 26, 1604. It was therefore probably written in that or the preceding year.
Origin. "The right excellent and famous History of Promos and Cassandra, a drama in Two Parts, by George Whetstone," published in 1578. Whetstone's drama was taken from one of the tales in the Hecatommithi of Cinthio, which Shakespeare may also have read. The comic scenes are of course all his own.
The Winter's Tale.
Edition. Only in the folio, 1623.
Date. It appears from the MS. diary of Dr. Forman, that he saw this play performed at the Globe, May 15, 1611; it was also performed at Whitehall on the 5th of November following. Its exact date cannot be assigned; but the great probability is that it could not have been written earlier than 1610. I am disposed to regard it as anterior to The Tempest, which was probably the last play that ever Shakespeare wrote. When we consider the probable date of this play, we see how utterly untenable is the theory of some writers that it was an indirect apology for Anne Boleyn, and a direct compliment to her royal daughter. I may here observe that those ingenious persons who find allusions (except in a very few plain instances) to public events and public persons in Shakespeare's plays merely waste their own and their readers' time. Thus Sir Philip Sidney died the very year the poet came to London; and yet we are told that he is figured in Hamlet, a play not written till many years afterwards!
Origin. With the exception of the comic scenes—which as usual are wholly Shakespeare's own—it was founded on Green's popular novel of Pandosto, The Triumph of Time.
The Tempest.
Edition. Only in the folio, 1623.
Date. As it (II. 1) copies a passage from Florio's translation of Montaigne's Essays, published in 1603, we may assume that it is posterior to that year; and Malone has directed attention to the shipwreck of Sir George Somers on the island of Bermuda in July 1609, which may have suggested the scene of "The Tempest." We may therefore venture to assume that it may have been written not long after the account of that event reached England.
Origin. Collins, the poet, told Warton that he had seen a romance called "Aurelio and Isabella," printed in Italian, Spanish, French, and English in 1588, which was the original of the Tempest. But no such romance has ever been discovered, and it may justly be questioned if ever such a one existed. Still it is not improbable that Shakespeare may have heard or read some story of people cast away on a desert island. There is also a German play by Jacob Ayrer of Nuremberg, who died early in the seventeenth century, named "Die schöne Sidea," which in its plot and principal characters, bears so strong a resemblance to The Tempest that it is very difficult to avoid supposing a connexion between them; and it might thence appear that Collins was correct, for Shakespeare could hardly have had any knowledge of a German drama. It may, however, be said that he got his knowledge of the plot, &c., from one of the English actors who, as it is now well known, used to go over and perform in Germany.
HISTORIES.