his prize, and says "Were I in England now (as once I was,) "and had but this fish painted, not a holiday fool there but "would give a piece of silver: there would this monster “make a man; any strange beast there makes a man: when "they will not give a doit to relieve a lame beggar, they will "lay out ten to see a dead Indian.” *

Dogs come in for a share of our poet's thoughts, not only hunting dogs, but the watch dogs in the hall, the pets and playthings of the lady's bower, "Tray, Blanch, and Sweet"heart," they are none of them forgotten; or, as in another passage in Macbeth where they are more fully classified

Ay, in the catalogue ye go for men ;

As hounds, and greyhounds, mongrels, spaniels, curs,

Shoughs, water-rugs, and demi-wolves, are cleped

All by the name of dogs.+

In another place, with a few touches, Lear has painted another member of the race

Thou hast seen a farmer's dog bark at a beggar?

And the creature run from the cur? There

Thou might'st behold the great image of authority :
A dog's obeyed in office.

But the dog of which Shakspeare has drawn the most complete life picture, was the one of which Launce was the unfortunate owner. Crab, "the sourest-natured dog that lived," "that was saved from drowning when three or four of his blind "brothers and sisters went to it," whose currish nature would come out even in the presence of mistress Silvia, whose owner had dearly to mourn over his misdeeds-"I have sat "in the stocks for puddings he hath stolen, otherwise he had "been executed: I have stood on the pillory for geese he "hath killed, otherwise he had suffered for't."§

Tempest, Act ii, Scene 2.

+ Macbeth, Act iii, Scene 1.

Lear, Act iv, Scene 6.

Two Gentlemen of Verona, Act iv, Scene 4.

The age was an age of transition in more respects than one; the monasteries had fallen and with them had gone the many benevolent and educational institutions of Catholic times. Their place was partly filled by the numerous hospitals and grammar schools which had been founded, some by Edward VI of blessed memory, some by the prosperous tradesmen of the large towns. The altered state of things must have grated against the feelings of the lovers of the good old times. Shakspeare has put their sapient arguments in favour of ignorance in the mouth of the rebellious demagogue Jack Cade, when he says of Lord Say-" Thou hast "most traitorously corrupted the youth of the realm, in erecting a grammar school: and whereas, before, our fore“fathers had no other books but the score and the tally, thou "hast caused printing to be used; and contrary to the king, "his crown and dignity, thou hast built a paper-mill. It will "be proved to thy face, that thou hast men about thee, that usually talk of a noun, and a verb; and such abominable words, as no Christian ear can endure to hear."*

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But Shakspeare presents us with the other side of the picture and praises learning and the patrons of learning. For instance, there is that beautiful scene where Griffith, the "honest chronicler," relates the character of that "

"child of honour, Cardinal Wolsey."

Though from an humble stock, undoubtedly
Was fashion'd to much honour.

From his cradle,

He was a scholar, and a ripe and good one;
Exceeding wise, fair spoken, and persuading :
Lofty, and sour, to them that lov'd him not;
But, to those men that sought him, sweet as summer.
And though he were unsatisfied in getting,
(Which was a sin,) yet in bestowing, madam,
He was most princely: Ever witness for him

Those twins of learning, that he raised in you,

Ipswich, and Oxford! one of which fell with him,

* 2 Henry VI, Act iv, Scene 7.

D

great

Unwilling to outlive the good that did it;
The other, though unfinish'd, yet so famous,
So excellent in art, and still so rising,

That Christendom shall ever speak his virtue.*

The importance of the universities was then fully acknow ledged. The great educational change which has occurred in the last two centuries and a half has been the growing size and power of the great public schools; and that in great measure because those schools retain their pupils much longer than formerly, and do not send them to the universities till they become men.

There is one passage which I shall quote from Henry VIII, which will show the manufacturing character which England was beginning to assume, and the dangers connected with it-dangers of which the present century has furnished us with other examples. The Duke of Norfolk complains of Wolsey's exactions

For, upon these taxations,

The clothiers all, not able to maintain
The many to them 'longing, have put off
The spinsters, carders, fullers, weavers, who,
Unfit for other life, compell'd by hunger
And lack of other means, in desperate manner
Daring the event to the teeth, are all in uproar,
And danger serves among them.+

There is another picture in King John which must have been drawn by Shakspeare from the life. In those troublous times, when the proud Armada swept past our coasts, when Catholic powers abroad and the frail but lovely Queen of Scots and the Catholic nobles at home were plotting against the safety of the common-weal, there must have been many scenes such as this. It is when Hubert speaks of Arthur's death, and says the people

* Henry VIII, Act iv, Scene 2.

+ Ibid., Act i, Scene 2.

Shake their heads,

And whisper one another in the ear;

And he, that speaks, doth gripe the hearer's wrist;
Whilst he, that hears, makes fearful action,

With wrinkled brows, with nods, with rolling eyes.
I saw a smith stand with his hammer, thus,
The whilst his iron did on the anvil cool,
With open mouth swallowing a tailor's news;
Who, with his shears and measure in his hand,
Standing on slippers (which his nimble haste
Had falsely thrust upon contráry feet,)
Told of a many thousand warlike French,
That were embattled and rank'd in Kent.

It is curious how few passages in Shakspeare refer directly to the history of the times. I think the poets of the present day are storing up for coming generations far more of the events which are passing around; far more at any rate on one subject-the life and virtues of the Queen, in her relationships of wife, mother, widow and sovereign. In one passage, Cranmer prophesies the glorious career of Anne Boleyn's daughter as follows

Truth shall nurse her,

Holy and heavenly thoughts still counsel her:

She shall be lov'd and fear'd: Her own shall bless her:

Her foes shake like a field of beaten corn,

And hang their heads with sorrow: Good grows with her :

In her days, every man shall eat in safety

Under his own vine, what he plants; and sing
The merry songs of peace to all his neighbours.
God shall be truly known; and those about her
From her shall read the perfect ways of honour.+

There is another passage in the Midsummer-Night's Dream, where the courtier poet pours forth those dulcet strains of adulation which were so dear to the woman's heart of the great Virgin Queen. He makes Oberon allude to her in the scene near the enchanted bowers of Fairyland, where he says of Cupid

• King John, Act iv, Scene 2.

+ Henry VIII, Act v, Scene 4.

A certain aim he took

At a fair vestal, throned by the west;

And loos'd his love-shaft smartly from his bow,
As it should pierce a hundred thousand hearts:
But I might see young Cupid's fiery shaft

Quench'd in the chaste beams of the wat'ry moon;
And the imperial vot'ress passed on,

In maiden meditation, fancy-free.*

It is not my intention to enter at any length into the long list of Shakspeare's nobles, or to show how they set forth the various phases of statecraft; yet a few of them I must mention. Falconbridge, raised almost from the ranks on account of his abilities in the council and the camp, fighting for his native land against foreign foes, and boasting

This England never did (nor never shall)
Lie at the proud feet of a conqueror,

But when it first did help to wound itself.+

Bolingbroke, of noble almost royal birth, yet courting the common people's love

Wooing poor craftsmen, with the craft of smiles.

Hotspur, the great border chief, whose trade was war, murmuring even in his sleep of “ iron wars, and terms of "manage to his bounding steed," untameable among his comrades, untameable in the presence of his king, untameable even by the winsome ways of woman. Talbot, the great captain of an English host, rejoicing in the prowess of his followers, "his substance, sinews, arms, and strength," and when environed by a hostile "waist of iron,” turning grimly at bay, and like a bull-dog fighting till he died. John of Gaunt, "time-honour'd Lancaster," the aged statesman, who had spent a long life in state affairs at home

Midsummer-Night's Dream, Act ii, Scene 2. It was written during Queen Elizabeth's life, 1594.

+ King John, Act v, Scene 7.