ILLUSTRATIVE COMMENTS. ACT II. (1) SCENE IIІ. Be unto us as is a nurse's song Douce, in his "Illustrations of Shakspeare," has an interesting note on the burden lullaby. "It would be a hopeless task to trace the origin of the northern verb to lull, which means to sing gently; but it is evidently connected with the Greek λαλέω, loquor, or λάλλη, the sound made by the beach at sea. Thus much is certain, that the Roman nurses used the word lalla to quiet their children, and that they feigned a deity called Lallus, whom they invoked on that occasion; the lullaby or tune itself was called by the same name. As lallare meant to sing lalla, to lull might in like manner denote the singing of the nurse's lullaby to induce the child to sleep. Thus in an ancient carol composed in the fifteenth century, and preserved among the Sloane MSS. No. 2593: ""che song a slepe wt her lullynge "In another old ballad, printed by Mr. Ritson in his Ancient Songs, p. 198, the burden is 'lully, lully, lullaby, lullyby, sweete baby,' &c.; from which it seems probable that lullaby is only a comparatively modern contraction of Lully baby, the first word being the legitimate offspring of the Roman lalla. In another of these pieces, still more ancient, and printed in the same collection, we have 'lullay, lullow, lully, bewy, lulla baw baw.' "The Welsh appear to have been famous for their lullaby songs. Jones, in his Arte and science of preserving bodie and soule, 1579, 4to., says:-'The best nurses, but especially the trim and skilfull Welch women, doe use to sing some preaty sonets, wherwith their copious tong is plentifully stoared of divers pretie tunes and pleasaunt ditties, that the children disquieted might be brought to reste: but translated never so well, they want their grace in Englishe, for lacke of proper words: so that I will omit them, as I wishe they would theyr lascivious Dymes, wanton Lullies, and amorous Englins.' "Mr. White, in reviewing his opinion of the etymology of good-by, will perhaps incline to think it a contraction, when properly written good b'ye, of God be with you, and not 'may your house prosper!" "To add to the stock of our old lullaby songs, two are here subjoined. The first is from a pageant of The slaughter of the innocents, acted at Coventry in the reign of Henry the Eighth, by the taylors and shearers of that city, and most obligingly communicated by Mr. Sharpe. The other is from the curious volume of songs mentioned before in p. 262. Both exhibit the simplicity of ancient manners : ""Lully, lulla, thou littell tine childe, By by lully lullay, Lully lullay thou littell tyne child, "O sisters too, how may we do, For to preserve this day This pore yongling, for whom we do singe ""Herod the king, in his raging, Chargid he hath this day; His men of might, in his owne sight, ""That wo is me, pore child for thee, ""By by lullaby Rockyd I my chyld Me thought I hard a maydyn say Rockid I my child by by. Thus rockyd she her chyld By by lullaby, rockyd I my chyld.'" (2) SCENE IV.--A precious ring, that lightens all the hole.] The gem supposed to possess a property of emitting native light was called a carbuncle, and is frequently mentioned in early books; thus, in "The Gesta Romanorum," b. vi.:"He further beheld and saw a carbuncle in the hall that lighted all the house." So also in Lydgate's "Description of King Priam's Palace," L. II. : "And for most chefe all derkeness to confound, And so Drayton, in "The Muses' Elysium :"- But the best illustration of the passage we have met with (1) SCENE III. ACT V. Then, afterwards, to order well the state, The following is the ballad registered by Danton when he entered the "Historye of Tytus Andronicus" on the Stationers' Rolls. It is extracted from Percy's "Reliques of Antient Poetry," Vol. I. :– TITUS ANDRONICUS'S COMPLAINT. "In Rome I lived in fame fulle threescore yeeres, "For when Romes foes their warlike forces bent, "Just two and twenty of my sonnes were slaine "When wars were done I conquest home did bring, "The emperour did make this queene his wife, "The Moore soe pleased this new-made empress' eie, "Then she, whose thoughts to murder were inclined, "Soe when in age I thought to live in peace, "My deare Lavinia was betrothed than "He being slaine was cast in cruel wise "The Moore then fetcht the emperour with speed, "But nowe, behold! what wounded most my mind, "When they had tasted of soe sweete a flowre, "But when I sawe her in that woefull case, With teares of bloud I wet mine aged face; For my Lavinia I lamented more, Than for my two and twenty sonnes before. "When as I sawe she could not write nor speake, "For with a staffe without the help of hand "I tore the milk-white hairs from off mine head, "The Moore delighting still in villainy, "The Moore I caused to strike it off with speede, "But as my life did linger thus in paine, "Then past reliefe I upp and downe did goe, "The empresse then, thinking that I was mad, "I fed their foolish veines a certaine space, Untill my friendes did find a secret place, Where both her sonnes unto a post were bound, And just revenge in cruell sort was found. "I cut their throates, my daughter held the pan "Then with their fleshe I made two mighty pyes, "Myself bereav'd my daughter then of life, "Then this revenge against the Moor was found, CRITICAL OPINIONS ON TITUS ANDRONICUS. "ALL the editors and critics agree with Mr. Theobald in supposing this play spurious. I see no reason for differing from them; for the colour of the style is wholly different from that of the other plays, and there is an attempt at regular versification, and artificial closes, not always inelegant, yet seldom pleasing. The barbarity of the spectacles, and the general massacre, which are here exhibited, can scarcely be conceived tolerable to any audience; yet we are told by Jonson, that they were not only borne, but praised. That Shakespeare wrote any part, though Theobald declares it incontestable, I see no reason for believing. "The testimony produced at the beginning of this play, by which it is ascribed to Shakespeare, is by no means equal to the argument against its authenticity, arising from the total difference of conduct, language, and sentiments, by which it stands apart from all the rest. Meres had probably no other evidence than that of a title-page, which, though in our time it be sufficient, was then of no great authority; for all the plays which were rejected by the first collectors of Shakespeare's works, and admitted in later editions, and again rejected by the critical editors, had Shakespeare's name on the title, as we must suppose, by the fraudulence of the printers, who, while there were yet no gazettes, nor advertisements, nor any means of circulating literary intelligence, could usurp at pleasure any celebrated name. Nor had Shakespeare any interest in detecting the imposture, as none of his fame or profit was produced by the press. "The chronology of this play does not prove it not to be Shakespeare's. If it had been written twentyfive years in 1614, it might have been written when Shakespeare was twenty-five years old. When he left Warwickshire, I know not; but at the age of twenty-five it was rather too late to fly for deerstealing. "Ravenscroft, who in the reign of Charles II. revised this play, and restored it to the stage, tells us in his preface, from a theatrical tradition, I suppose, which in his time might be of sufficient authority, that this play was touched in different parts by Shakespeare, but written by some other poet. I do not find Shakespeare's touches very discernible." - JOHNSON. VOL. III. 641 TT "In the course of the notes on this performance, I have pointed out a passage or two which, in my opinion, sufficiently prove it to have been the work of one who was acquainted both with Greek and Roman literature. It is likewise deficient in such internal marks as distinguish the tragedies of Shakspeare from those of other writers; I mean, that it presents no struggles to introduce the vein of humour so constantly interwoven with the business of his serious dramas. It can neither boast of his striking excellencies, nor his acknowledged defects; for it offers not a single interesting situation, a natural character, or a string of quibbles from first to last. That Shakspeare should have written without commanding our attention, moving our passions, or sporting with words, appears to me as improbable, as that he should have studiously avoided dissyllable and trisyllable terminations in this play, and in no other. "Let it likewise be remembered that this piece was not published with the name of Shakspeare till after his death. The quarto in 1611 is anonymous. "Could the use of particular terms employed in no other of his pieces be admitted as an argument that he was not its author, more than one of these might be found; among which is palliament for robe, a Latinism which I have not met with elsewhere in any English writer, whether ancient or modern; though it must have originated from the mint of a scholar. I may add, that 'Titus Andronicus' will be found on examination to contain a greater number of classical allusions, &c. than are scattered over all the rest of the performances on which the seal of Shakspeare is indubitably fixed. -Not to write any more about and about this suspected thing, let me observe that the glitter of a few passages in it has perhaps misled the judgment of those who ought to have known, that both sentiment and description are more easily produced than the interesting fabrick of a tragedy. Without these advantages many plays have succeeded; and many have failed, in which they have been dealt about with the most lavish profusion. It does not follow, that he who can carve a frieze with minuteness, elegance, and ease, has a conception equal to the extent, propriety, and grandeur of a temple." - STEEVENS. |