"He is either himsell a (diel from Hell ;) I wadna' hae' ridden that wan water For a' the gowd in Christentie."" As fine a specimen of the ancient minstrelsy as can be given is what Coleridge called "the grand old ballad of Sir Patrick Spens." It is one of the historical ballads the precise occasion of which is wrapped, however, in mystery, except that it has some relation to the Scottish princess who was seated on the throne of Norway, thus occasioning an intercourse between those two countries. It is a noble example of the unknown minstrel's powers of description: "The king sits in Dunfermline town, Drinking the blude-red wine; "Oh, up and spake an eldern knight "Our king has written a braid letter, "To Norroway, to Norroway "The first word that Sir Patrick read, SIR PATRICK SPENS. "Oh, wha is this has done this deed, To send us out, at this time o' the year "Be it wind, be it weet, be it hail, be it sleet, Our ship must sail the faem; The king's daughter of Norroway,'Tis we must fetch her hame.' "They hoysed their sails on Monenday morn, They ha'e landed in Norroway, "They had na' been a week, a week, In Norroway, but twae, When that the lords of Norroway Began aloud to say, "Ye Scottishmen spend a' our king's gowd, And a' our queenis fee.' 'Ye lie, ye lie, ye liars loud, Fu' loud I hear ye lie. "For I brought as much white monie As gane my men and me; And I brought a half-fou of gude red gowd 66 Make ready, make ready, my merry men a', "I saw the new moon, late yestre'en 157 "They had na' sailed a league, a league, A league but barely three, When the lift grew dark, and the wind blew loud, And gurly grew the sea. "The ankers brake and the topmasts lap, It was sic a deadly storm; And the waves cam o'er the broken ship "Oh, where will I get a gude sailor, "Oh, here am I, a sailor gude, "He had na' gane a step, a step,— When a bout flew out of (our) goodly ship, "Gae fetch a web o' the silken claith, Another o' the twine, And wap them into our ship's side, "They fetched a web o' the silken claith, Another o' the twine, And they wapped them round that gude ship's side, But still the sea cam in. "Oh, laith, laith were our gude Scots lords To weet their cork-heeled shoon; But lang or a' the play was played They wat their hats aboon. ARMSTRONG'S GOOD-NIGHT. "And mony was the feather-bed That fluttered on the faem; And mony was the gude lord's son "The ladyes wrang their fingers white, "Half ower, half ower to Heberdom And there lies gude Sir Patrick Spens, 159 Let me take leave of these ancient strains with one very short fragment,-Armstrong's "Good-night,"in which, if I have been presuming too much upon your patience, you may find a wish of your own expressed for you : "This night is my departing night; For here nae longer must I stay; "What I have done through lack of wit I hope ye're a' my friends as yet: Good-night, and joy be with you all." LECTURE V. Shakspeare. Spenser's death and Shakspeare's birth-Influence of the age-Independence of his imaginary creations-Small knowledge of the individual-Unselfishness of Genius-A spiritual voice in all time -Shakspeare traditions-His birth, A.D. 1564-Death, A.D. 1616— Cervantes's death-Epitaph-Education-Ben Jonson-Power over language-The Dramatic Art congenial to his genius-Kenilworth and Queen Elizabeth-Shakspeare in London-The Armada-His patriotism and loyalty-Subjectiveness of the modern European mind-Shakspeare and Bacon-Venus and Adonis-Lucrece-The Dramas-The Sonnets-Dramatic Art in England-Sacred Dramas -Mysteries and Moralities-Heywood-Minor Dramatists-"The gentle Shakspeare"-The acting drama- Primitive Theatres— Modern adaptations-Lear and Richard III.—The supernatural of the Drama-Macbeth-The Tempest his last poem. Ar the very time when, in an obscure lodging in London, the gentle spirit of Edmund Spenser was passing away from its fresh sorrows and the worldly troubles so meekly complained of in various passages of his poems, there was dwelling under some humble roof of the same city the mightiest of his many contemporaries among the poets,-WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE. The beginning of his dramatic career dates about the time of the publication of the "Fairy Queen," not far from the close of the sixteenth century. The term of his authorship belongs not, like Spenser's, exclusively to the reign of 160 |