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                             ILLUSTRATIONS

                                  OF

                              SHAKSPEARE.

[Illustration: _Published by T. Tegg Cheapside, Sept.ʳ 1839._]




                             ILLUSTRATIONS

                                  OF

                              SHAKSPEARE,

                                AND OF

                           ANCIENT MANNERS:

                                 WITH

                             DISSERTATIONS

                ON THE CLOWNS AND FOOLS OF SHAKSPEARE;

     ON THE COLLECTION OF POPULAR TALES ENTITLED GESTA ROMANORUM;

                   AND ON THE ENGLISH MORRIS DANCE.


                           By FRANCIS DOUCE.

                  THE ENGRAVINGS ON WOOD BY JACKSON.

                            A NEW EDITION.

                                LONDON:

                  PRINTED FOR THOMAS TEGG, CHEAPSIDE;

        R. GRIFFIN AND CO., GLASGOW; TEGG AND CO., DUBLIN; ALSO
               J. & S. A. TEGG, SYDNEY AND HOBART TOWN.

                                 1839.

       PRINTED BY RICHARD KINDER, GREEN ARBOUR COURT, OLD BAILEY.




PREFACE.


The practice, and also the necessity of explaining the writings of
Shakspeare, have already been so ably defended by former commentators,
that no other apology on the part of those who may elect to persevere
in this kind of labour seems to be necessary than with regard to the
qualifications of the writer: but as no one in this case perhaps ever
thought, or at least should think, himself incompetent to the task
assumed of instructing or amusing others, it may be as well, on the
present occasion, to waive altogether such a common-place intrusion
on the reader's time. It is enough to state that accident had given
birth to a considerable portion of the following pages, and that design
supplied the rest. The late Mr. Steevens had already in a manner too
careless for his own reputation, and abundantly too favourable to his
friend, presented to public view such of the author's remarks as were
solely put together for the private use and consideration of that
able critic. The former wish of their compiler has, with the present
opportunity, been accomplished; that is, some of them withdrawn, and
others, it is hoped, rendered less exceptionable.

The readers of Shakspeare may be properly divided into three classes.
The first, as they travel through the text, appeal to each explanation
of a word or passage as it occurs. The second read a large portion of
the text, or perhaps the whole, uninterruptedly, and then consult the
notes; and the third reject the illustrations altogether. Of these
the second appear to be the most rational. The last, with all their
affectation, are probably the least learned, but will undoubtedly
remain so; and it may be justly remarked on this occasion, in the
language of the writer who has best illustrated the principles of
taste, that "the pride of science is always meek and humble compared
with the pride of ignorance." He, who at this day can entirely
comprehend the writings of Shakspeare without the aid of a comment, and
frequently of laborious illustration, may be said to possess a degree
of inspiration almost commensurate with that of the great bard himself.
Mr. Steevens has indeed summed up every necessary argument in his
assertion that "if Shakspeare is worth reading, he is worth explaining;
and the researches used for so valuable and elegant a purpose, merit
the thanks of genius and candour, not the satire of prejudice and
ignorance."

The indefatigable exertions of Messrs. Steevens, Malone, Tyrwhitt, and
Mason, will ever be duly appreciated by the true and zealous admirers
of Shakspeare's pages. If the name of a celebrated critic and moralist
be not included on this occasion, it is because he was certainly
unskilled in the knowledge of obsolete customs and expressions.
His explanatory notes therefore are, generally speaking, the most
controvertible of any; but no future editor will discharge his duty to
the public who shall omit a single sentence of this writer's masterly
preface, or of his sound and tasteful characters of the plays of
Shakspeare. Of all the commentators Dr. Warburton was surely the worst.
His sentiments indeed have been seldom exhibited in modern editions but
for the purpose of confuting them.

The wide dispersion of those materials which are essential to the
illustration of inquiries like the present, will necessarily frustrate
every endeavour at perfection; a circumstance that alone should teach
every one discussing these difficult and obscure subjects, to speak
of them with becoming diffidence. The present writer cannot flatter
himself that he has uniformly paid a strict attention to this rule; the
ardour of conjecture may have sometimes led him, in common with others,
to forget the precepts he had himself laid down.

It may be thought by some, and even with great justice, that several
of the corrections are trifling and unimportant; but even these may
perhaps be endured wherever it shall be manifest that their object,
and it is hoped their effect, has been to remove error and establish
truth; a matter undoubtedly of some consequence in the school of
criticism. One design of this volume has been to augment the knowledge
of our popular customs and antiquities, in which respect alone the
writings of Shakspeare have suggested better hints, and furnished
ampler materials than those of any one besides. Other digressions too
have been introduced, as it was conceived that they might operate in
diminishing that tedium which usually results from an attention to
matters purely critical; and that whilst there was almost a certainty
of supplying some amusement, there might even be a chance of conveying
instruction. Sometimes there has been a necessity for stepping in
between two contending critics; and for showing, as in the case of many
other disputes, that both parties are in the wrong.

Some excuse may seem necessary for obtruding on the reader so many
passages from what Mr. Steevens has somewhere called "books too mean
to be formally quoted." And yet the wisest among us may be often
benefited by the meanest productions of human intellect, if, like
medicinal poisons, they be administered with skill. It had escaped the
recollection of the learned and accomplished commentator that he had
himself condescended to examine a multitude of volumes of the above
class, and even to use them with advantage to his readers in the course
of his notes.

With respect to what is often absurdly denominated _black letter_
learning, the taste which prevails in the present times for this sort
of reading, wherever true scholarship and a laudable curiosity are
found united, will afford the best reply to the hyper-criticisms and
impotent sarcasms of those who, having from indolence or ignorance
neglected to cultivate so rich a field of knowledge, exert the whole of
their endeavours to depreciate its value. Are the earlier labours of
our countrymen, and especially the copious stores of information that
enriched the long and flourishing reign of Elizabeth, to be rejected
because they are recorded in a particular typography?

Others again have complained of the redundancy of the commentators,
and of an affected display of learning to explain terms and illustrate
matters of obvious and easy comprehension. This may sometimes have
been the case; but it were easier to show that too little, and not
too much, has been attempted on many of these occasions. An eminent
critic has declared that "if every line of Shakspeare's plays were
accompanied with a comment, every intelligent reader would be indebted
to the industry of him who produced it." Shakspeare indeed is not more
obscure than contemporary writers; but he is certainly much better
worth illustrating. The above objectors, affectedly zealous to detect
the errors of other men, but more frequently betraying their own
self-sufficiency and over-weening importance, seem to forget that
comments and illustrations are designed for the more ignorant class of
readers, who are always the most numerous; and that very few possess
the happiness and advantage of being wise or learned.

It might be thought that in the following pages exemplifications of
the senses of words have been sometimes unnecessarily introduced where
others had already been given; but this has only been done where the
new ones were deemed of greater force or utility than the others, or
where they were supposed to be really and intrinsically curious. Some
of the notes will require that the _whole_ of others which they advert
to, should be examined in Mr. Steevens's edition; but these were not
reprinted, as they would have occupied a space much too unreasonable.

At the end of every play in which a fool or clown is introduced there
will be found particular and discriminative notice of a character which
some may regard as by no means unworthy of such attention.

The Dissertations which accompany this work will, it is hoped, not
be found misplaced nor altogether uninteresting. The subject of the
first of them, though often introduced into former notes on the plays
of Shakspeare and other dramatic writers, had been but partially and
imperfectly illustrated. The _Gesta Romanorum_, to which _The Merchant
of Venice_ has been so much indebted for the construction of its
story, had, it is true, been already disserted on by Mr. Warton with
his accustomed elegance; but it will be found that he had by no means
exhausted the subject. The _morris dance_, so frequently alluded to in
our old plays, seemed to require and deserve additional researches.

This preface shall not be concluded without embracing the opportunity
of submitting