The garment of comedy does not become Shakespeare so well or sit so gracefully upon him. He was evidently aware of it; or why did he abandon it so early!

For other humorous characters we have Dogberry in Much Ado About Nothing, a very pompous and ignorant subordinate official, with a vast idea of his own importance and abilities:

Dogberry. I am a wise fellow, and which is more, an Officer, and which is more, a householder; and which is more, as pretty a piece of flesh as any in Messina, and one that knows the law, go to, and a rich fellow enough, go to, and a fellow that hath had losses, and that hath two good gowns, and everything handsome about him."

He is not humorous in himself, but his ignorance and stupidity excite laughter in others.

His humour, is of that particular brand that consists in using-like Mrs Ramsbotham-the wrong word :"Dogberry. Oh villain, thou wilt be condemned into everlasting redemption for this."

'Is our whole dissembly appeared."

And so forth.

His instructions to the Watch are about the limit of his official knowledge:

This is your charge; you shall comprehend all vagrom men; you are to bid any man stand in the prince's name. Watch. How if he will not stand?

Dogberry. Why, then, take no note of him, but let him go, and presently call the rest of the Watch together, and thank God you are rid of a knave."

Petruchio, in the Taming of the Shrew, is sometimes cited as one of Shakespeare's humorous characters. No doubt he adopts the right method in bringing to reason and subjection an ill-tempered and shrewish woman. But the humour of Petruchio is hardly the humour of to-day, and chiefly consists of rather rough horse - play, and flat contradiction. He overpowers contradiction by stronger contradiction still.

In The Twelfth Night-both in language and sentiment a very beautiful play-we have the great Sir Toby Belch, a fine gentleman, and brave man enough, but for the rest a barbarian. His humour is forcible, but coarse, and at times obscene. The really humorous character in the play is Maria, lady's maid to Olivia. It is she who plots and arranges the discomfiture of the conceited Malvolio, with all a woman's dexterous malignity and delight in wounding a nature hostile to her own.

For the rest, clowns abound in Shakespeare's works, some humorous, some witty, some a mixture of the two. There wit is, of course, frequently forced, and prepared beforehand, but that is as it should be.

Clowns are professionals, and wit is their stock-intrade, which they replenish and increase as they proceed.

CHAPTER IX

SHAKESPEARE: WIT AND SATIRE

HAVING discussed Shakespeare's humour in the last chapter, let us turn for a moment to its twin brother, wit.

The two are akin, though not identical, as has already been pointed out. Humour is usually goodnatured and void of malice; "wit," not always soone can be witty, as the saying is, at other people's expense.

Shakespeare's wit is at once crisp and brilliant, and generally arises from the play of two opposing intellects. It is the swordplay of the mind, and he loves it :—

"Now by the salt wave of the Mediterranean, a sweet touch, a quick venue of wit, snip, snap, quick and home; it rejoiceth my intellect, true wit."

as

All Shakespeare's lighter plays, or "fantasies" one must call them for want of a better appellation, are spangled over, and sparkle with this quality of wit, just as the purple of the heavens on a clear, deep night is spangled over and lit up with innumerable stars; and as some quarters of the heavens are more densely populated with these luminaries than are others, so some plays of Shakespeare's shine more brilliantly than the rest, by the light of this particular intellectual illumination.

This quality of wit abounds everywhere, in all Shakespeare's lighter creations. But as space forbids,

and patience has its limitations, it is necessary for the writer to be frugal in its distribution; and if the reader be greedy for more, let him betake himself to the fountain head, viz., Shakespeare himself.

So here let us confine ourselves to some of those stars of wit that discover themselves in the particular, and very brilliant constellations of Much Ado About Nothing, Love's Labour's Lost, As You Like It, and Midsummer Night's Dream. A beautiful and enchanting galaxy they are, shining with the reflected glory of the great sun of Shakespeare's intelligence.

The two characters in Much Ado About Nothing that shine, stand out in bold relief, and cast almost into the shade other very striking personalities, are unquestionably Benedick and Beatrice; they rivet the attention and hold the mind almost to the exclusion of the noble Claudio and the much-wronged Hero, whom Shakespeare probably intended to be the figures of the piece. It is an instance of two subordinate characters usurping unintentionally, by their inherent power and native quality, the throne that was intended for others.

Benedick is a brilliant, courtly, and much-travelled bachelor, confident of his powers, disdainful of women, and a flirt, but with the flirtation of the head rather than the heart a man who would shine and be attractive to the opposite sex, in any company he might find himself; yet withal of a good heart and a kindly nature.

The following is the character given him by the Prince Don Pedro, who had certainly no object in singing his praises, as he was inclined to a little flirtation with Beatrice on his own account:—

"D. Pedro. She doth well: if she should make tender of her love, 'tis very possible he'll scorn it; for the man, as you know all, hath a contemptible spirit.

Claud. He is a very proper man.

D. Pedro. He hath indeed a good outward happiness.
Claud. 'Fore God, and in my mind, very wise.

D. Pedro. He doth indeed show some sparks that are like wit.

Leon. And I take him to be valiant.

D. Pedro. As Hector, I assure you and in the managing of quarrels you may say he is wise; for either he avoids them with great discretion, or undertakes them with a most Christian-like fear.

Leon. If he do fear God, he must necessarily keep the peace if he break the peace, he ought to enter into a quarrel with fear and trembling.

D. Pedro. And so will he do; for the man doth fear God, howsoever it seems not in him by some large jests he will make. Well, I am sorry for your niece. Shall we go seek Benedick, and tell him of her love?"

Benedick was the confessed and sworn bachelor; love and marriage were not for him:

"Bene.

I know that; but I would have thee hence, and here again. [Exit Boy.]—I do much wonder that one man, seeing how much another man is a fool when he dedicates his behaviours to love, will, after he hath laughed at such shallow follies in others, become the argument of his own scorn by falling in love: and such a man is Člaudio. I have known

when there was no music with him but the drum and the fife; and now had he rather hear the tabor and the pipe: I have known when he would have walked ten mile a-foot to see a good armour; and now will he lie ten nights awake, carving the fashion of a new doublet. He was wont to speak plain and to the purpose, like an honest man and a soldier ; and now he is turned orthographer; his words are a very fantastical banquet, just so many strange_dishes. May I be so converted, and see with these eyes? I cannot tell; I think not: I will not be sworn but love may transform me to an oyster; but I'll take my oath on it, till he have made an oyster of me, he shall never make me such a fool. One woman is fair,-yet I am well; another is wise, yet I am well; another virtuous,-yet I am well: but till all graces be in one woman, one woman shall not come in my grace. Rich she shall be, that's certain; wise, or I'll none; virtuous, or I'll never cheapen her; fair, or I'll never look on her; mild, or come not near me; noble, or not I for an angel; of good discourse, an excellent musician, and her hair shall be of what colour it please God.-Ha, the price and Monsieur Love! I will hide me in the arbour.

[Withdraws into the arbour.

Bene. That a woman conceived me, I thank her; that she brought me up, I likewise give her most humble thanks: but