Men and Letters; Essays in Characterization and Criticism (Paperback)

Book may have numerous typos, missing text, images, or index. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. 1887. Excerpt: ... THE FUTURE OF SHAKESPEARE. It happens to the ingenuous traveller upon first visiting Switzerland to experience a shock to his sensibilities not many days after he has entered the enchanted region of mountains. As he climbs some gently ascending path, with the increasing exhilaration which the upper air engenders, he is suddenly confronted by a gate or some other bar to progress, and discovers that he must pay a franc, or half a franc, before he can make his way to the one point from which a wonderful view is to be obtained. He forgets at once the gentleness of the path by which he has climbed, in indignation at the mercenary spirit which has prompted the miserable owner of this particular part of the mountain to levy upon the lover of the picturesque. He fumes inwardly and possibly sputters outwardly as he pays the tax and passes on his way; the view to which he has become entitled, of which, indeed, he is now a sort of tenant, may be ever so grand, but it is vexatiously confused with the meanness of its peasant proprietor. It is somewhat thus with our apprehension of Shakespeare. In imagination, more even than in reality, access to his meaning seems barred by the officiousness of commentators. The host of industrious scholars who have opened ways to desirable points of view are apt to seem to us rather impertinent toll-takers who will not let us into the delights and mysteries of our author unless we stop to read their notes and comments. I suspect that for a great many readers Shakespeare is an enchanted castle thickly beset by an impenetrable hedge of notes which has grown up especially during the past century so as to render the place quite inaccessible. Yet along comes the prince, riding gayly with the ardor of adventure; the thorns and trees divide at his touch; he passes the ...