The Bride of Lammermoor imitates Macbeth, again, in its introduction of hags, who play a unique part in the development of the plot. Their work in both productions is limited wholly to their utterances, but their value to the plot is easily felt. They furnish what is known in literary nomenclature as the "environing action," a function which is best understood, perhaps, by reference to the Greek drama. In the Greek drama, the Oracle plays a very essential part in the development of the plot. The Greeks' belief in the supremacy of Destiny gave rise to the famous Oracles, which were supposed to be message-bearing agencies of Destiny. The use of the Oracle, consequently, became a favorite device of the Greek dramatists. Sophocles' Oedipus Rex is unquestionably the best example of the Oracular Drama. Shakespeare apparently imitates the Greek device by giving oracular power to his Witches in Macbeth. These foul, unnatural creatures seem to know the future. Their relation to the drama is restricted wholly to their speeches. They themselves perform no action which materially affects the plot, but their utterances have a powerful effect on Macbeth and Banquo.

Scott, in turn, imitates Shakespeare by introducing three unnatural creatures who seem to know the future. One is "eighty years of age and upwards"; another, "a paralytic"; and the remaining member of the trio, "lame of a leg from some accident.” Like Shakespeare's Witches, they do nothing which materially affects the action of the story. Their only part in the development of the plot is limited to their conversation. True, they will "send doun for bread and for yill, and tobacco, and a drap of brandy to burn, and a wee pickle saft sugar; and be there deil or nae deil, lass, we'll hae a merry night o't"; but in no way is the plot affected by their action. Their conversation, furnishing the "environing action," gives them their only importance in the plot development. In their conversation they predict the future of the Master of Ravenswood, as the Witches predict the future of Macbeth.

"Will he die by sword or by ball, as his forbears hae dun before him, mony ane o' them ?" asks one.

"Ask me nae mair questions about it-he'll no be graced sae far," replies the one predicting.

As a matter of fact, the predictions which are made throughout the story have a real Shakespearean flavor. Alice, for example, warns William:

"My lord, take care what you do; you are on the brink of a precipice. You have driven matters hard with the house of Ravenswood. Believe a true tale: they are a fierce house, and there is danger in dealing with men when they become desperate." This warning in substance has its origin in Macbeth. "Macbeth! Macbeth! Macbeth! beware Macduff; Beware the thane of Fife."

The effect on Sir William and Macbeth is the same. plains the feelings of Sir William, by saying:

Scott ex

"The old dame had, either intentionally or by accident, harped aright the fear of the Lord Keeper."

Shakespeare lets Macbeth talk for himself:

"Whate'er thou art, for thy good caution, thanks;

Thou hast harped my fear aright."

Scott goes so far in this resemblance as to imitate even the important words of Shakespeare.

Old Caleb's prediction, already quoted in another connection, has precisely the same effect on the Master of Ravenswood as the prophecy in Macbeth, which says:

"Be lion-mettled, proud; and take no care

Who chafes, who frets, or where conspirers are:
Macbeth shall never vanquish'd be until

Great Birnam wood to Dunsinane hill

Shall come against him."

Both characters are comforted and lulled into a kind of security which proves injurious to them. Ravenswood's reply to his faithful old servant is:

"Well, Caleb, I give you the best possible credit for your good advice on this occasion; but as I do not go to Ravenswood to seek a bride, dead or alive, I hope I shall choose a better stable for my

horse than the Kelpie's quicksand, and especially as I have always had a particular dread of it since the patrol of dragoons were lost there ten years since."

Ravenswood, in his misguided judgment, considers himself immune to the danger, because he does not seek a bride, dead or alive, nor has he any such foolish intention as stabling his horse in quicksand.

Macbeth serves as the model of confidence for Ravenswood, for Macbeth feels perfectly secure in his position. Upon hearing his reassuring prophecy, he asks:

"Who can impress the forest, bid the tree

Unfix his earth-bound root? Sweet bodements! good!" What greater assurance does he need? When will nature perform such a miracle? "That will never be." But these predictions possess that ambiguous quality of the Greek Oracle, after which they are apparently modeled. Taken literally, the first in either story inspires fear; the second, confidence. It is true, however, that the predictions in The Bride of Lammermoor are made to different persons, whereas in Macbeth they are made to the same person; but the principle involved is the same. Scott is clearly imitating Shakespeare's oracular device, by introducing hags who seem to know the future, and by letting them utter mysterious and misleading prophecies.

The imitations which we have thus far noted have been those of Romeo and Juliet and Macbeth. There remains just one very close resemblance to a scene in Hamlet to be discussed before we dismiss the subject. The graveyard scene in Hamlet is imitated in The Bride of Lammermoor. In the model, Hamlet and the clown carry on a bantering conversation, in which the clown alludes to Hamlet, not knowing, of course, the identity of the person whom he is addressing. He alludes to Hamlet as "he that is mad and sent into England." In The Bride of Lammermoor, the Master of Ravenswood carries on a bantering conversation with the old grave-digger, who does not know who Ravenswood is. In a free and perfectly open manner, the old grave-digger talks about the Ravenswoods, for whom he has not the fondest admiration.

He expresses an opinion which is not by any means complimentary to the renowned family. "As for the Ravenswoods," prates he, "I hae seen three generations of them, and deil ane to mend other." Ravenswood, like Hamlet, draws the grave-digger out. Neither Hamlet nor Ravenswood discloses his identity, but by maintaining his disguise secures information which he otherwise might not have obtained. Scott's indebtedness to Hamlet for the scene is too obvious for a protracted discussion.

Such are a few of Scott's imitations of Shakespeare. Our brief discussion is by no means exhaustive. In fact, no attempt has been made to exhaust the subject. Other resemblances are easy to detect. Other plays of Shakespeare surely Richard III -furnish occasional ideas and devices for Scott; but the aim of the discussion has been to report the most obvious imitations. Let it suffice, then, that The Bride of Lammermoor is especially attractive to the student of Comparative Literature because so many of its memorable passages bear marked resemblances to Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, Macbeth, and Hamlet.

The Normal School Library: An Educational

Institution

WILLIS H. KERR, LIBRARIAN, KANSAS STATE NORMAL SCHOOL, EMPORIA, KANSAS.

T

HE phrasing of this topic suggests that the normal school library should not only do library work, but should also be an effective teaching department. It should have enough body and soul of its own to be an educational institution within and without its parent, the normal school or the teachers' college.

The immediate, practical work of the normal school library is to provide material from the world of print as needed by the instructors and students. This is perhaps a simple statement of the body of its work. The soul of its work, without which in the end there can be no body, is to teach the knowledge of books, the use of books, and the love of books, tɔ its clientele within and without the campus. Body and soul, it is always conscious that it is helping in the education of teachers, whether in training or at work.

To have such a body, to be such a soul, the normal school library must have books and equipment, definite service expected of it, a staff of book-workers and book-teachers, and a conscious educational purpose. If it is deficient in any one of these, it suffers in all its service. Per contra, the stronger its book and building equipment, the more important will be the service expected of it, the more skilled and devoted must be its staff, and the more active an educational institution it must be. Likewise, a skilled and adequate staff of librarians goes far to get or make its equipment, creates and satisfies and again creates the demand for its service, and is always finding new ways to make the life that is in the world of print serve teachers and their pupils, the great public. If you had to choose among the four foundation stones for your teachers' college library-equipment, library-workers, expectation,