The Bookman

Evening Post, Volume CIX, Issue 75, 29 March 1930, Page 21

The Bookman

SHAKESPEARE AND TATE

"LEAR'S" HAPPY ENDING

fBOMBAST AND BALDERDASH

(By "Ajaz.")

' ' The omission, as John Forster says, 'of "the grandest things, including the Fool;" the addition of a love affair 'between Cordelia and Edgar, and the replacement of the terrors of the last Act with a happy endiDg, are the principal changes by which Nahuni Tate accommodated "King Lear" to the taste of 1681, and—what was far more astounding—to that of five subsequent . generations also. In the Dedication, from which I quoted last week, the play, as Shakespeare left it, is de- . scribed by Tate as a Heap of Jewels, unstrung, and unpoHsht; " yet so dazling in their Disorder, that 1 • soonperceiv'd I had seiz'd a Treasure. It was Tate's function not merely to rearrange these disordered jewels and string them together on a happy lovestory, but to put a polish on some of the shabbier ones, or where the defect was more radical to provide substitutes of finer, quality. • ■#■■•.■•• Of the last two processes, the first two. gsamples given by H. H. Furness in the' Appendix to his edition of "King Lear, in the New Variorum Shakespeare, may be quoted. In I. ii. 109 Gloucester says to Edinond: Seek him out; wind me into him, I pray you, ■where' Mr. W. J. Craig notes that "me" is an example of the "dativus ethieus," like Hotspur's "comes me cranking in, "and that "wind" means "to make cautious, indirect advances." Here, says Furness, Tate so polishes up one of Shakespeare's "jewels" as to make it dazzling.., . : The ■ man of Stratford would hardly have recognised his handiwork after ■ Tate had touched it up as follows: — wind me into him, - That I may: bite the Tray tor's Heart and ; fold ■-.:...■ ■ His bleeding Entrals on my vengeful arm. There's polish for you! There is also : something rich, tasty, aud meaty about it which conveys a pleasant reminder 'of the Sausage-seller in the Greek comedy who used to bring the raw materials 'of his trade on to the stage with him 1 and' clout the rival demagogues over 'the head with them when milder argu- ' rnents failed. And do not fail to note ' the aptitude—the almost too perfect aptitude—of the verb "fold" in its application to the small goods on the victor's arm. Here, at any rate, Tate was writing, as Mat. Arnold I believe, says the poet should write, "with his eye on the object." .-■ -■•:■• .*■ • -Fui-pess's second specimen is taken from "King Lear," 11. iv. 266, where Goneril and Regan arc cutting-, down the old man's staff frpm 100 to 25, 10, 5 in quick succession, and finally Regap suggests that one may be more than enough. | 'When Regan says, "What need one:'" and Lear, in the original, replies m tliose musical words o£ saddest pathos. Oil, reason not the need," we have instead m die Version: _ Re<ran: What need one.' - . Lear: Bloud! Fire! hare—Leprosies and, '. bluest Plagues! . | • Room, room for Hell to belch Her Hor- ','., rors up .. ■ .'h And drench the Circes in a stream or a -tfire, , ' '.. H'eark how tlv Internals re-echo to my rage, * : ; Their Whips and Snakes •Regan: How lewd a thing is Passion! Gonevil: So old and stoniachful. ifWhat I like in a girl." says Teddie —in'one of Barry Pain's' sketches, I think—"is go." ' That is exactly what I like in a play, and when I read a passage like that I know that I Have got it. ■ iTate can be tender too. There is a speech of. Cordelia's which begins with the rather quaint line, By the dear' Vital. Stream that baths my Heart, but- Furness interrupts with the bracketed comment which, by the way, reminds us of Gray's . "Bar<}." ■ It certainly had not reminded ■me of anything-in the "Bard," but if the linos in: that poem of which Furness was reminded are Dear as the light that visits these sad eyes, Dear as the ruddy drops that warm my heart. he was surely paying Tate a quite undeserved compliment. Gray, I may addj was borrowing, as he acknowledges in a' note, from. Shakespeare, "Julius Caesar," II i. 289. As dear to me as are the ruddy drops That- visit my sad heart. ~..»••■» » .' * Bartlett brings Otway aJso into the comparison: Dear as the vital warmth that feeds my life; Dear as .these eyes, that weep in fondness -. o'er thee. "Venice Preserved" v.i. Ofcvray.is a go.od deal nearer to Tate's level than Gray, but there is no reason to suspect him of borrowing, and if he did. he certainly got nothing of any value. Gray's indebtedness to Shakespeare is a very different matter and a very interesting one. The way in which he has divided his loan between two., different images and lines is of special interest, but he has only got one!good line out of — Dear: as the light that visits these sad ; .-'■■ eyes; ' The second line is tame. But.this is, as Furness says, by the way! / < to vt' , Tate's additions to the play include two less edifying love affairs than Cordelia's. Both her sisters are in love with Edmund, and he exults over his double success in language which Furness describes as "somewhat too warm for modern taste." There is a genuine Bprgian touch about its finale. When Edmund falls mortally wounded in a duel' with his brother, Goneril reveals her administration of poison to Regan at the banquet on the previous evening and her hope to sco TZvqr ,WftU that' blasted Beauty will be- ■ > jjiKe ■JonJ.ealing Blwd, and Octilh'a convulsive t*angs. But; Regan is fortunately ulilu to retort'that she had treated her sister in the same way at her own banquet. In both- cases the poison appears to havo been slow in its operation, but it sufficed. ' .!' 'Tis more difficult to save than 'tis to" Kill," says Dryden in the passage quoted by Tate in his dedication. Here fortunately Tate found it : impossible. The; noble trio who had been so inti-mate'-in-thoir lives fell, if not "all of a' heap," yet. so close together that in their deaths they were not divided. Cine of the best of Furness's samples sk?%|!^Bdirtund just before the finish tryiig to "compose what he well dd-

scribes as the "untimely strife" of the other two, and consoling himself as he is carried off with the proud reflection: Who would not chuse, like me, to yield his Breath T' have Rival Queens contend for him in . Death. « « <:• » Edmund's farewell reminds mo that I have omitted to notice in its proper place the marvellous peroration in which the unfortunate Gloucester consoles himself for the loss of his eyes. By exhibiting himself to the crowd and exciting their sympathy for himself and Lear he resolves to stir up a rebellion and when this has succeeded —which of course it does —to commit suicide. He will throw himself from a precipice on to "the ragged Flint below" Whence my freed Soul to her bright Sphere shall fly, Through boundless Orbs, eternal Regions And like the Sun, bo all one glorious Eye. Where's your Willie Shakespeare now? It would have taken him all his time to beat this exquisite conceit. • • ♦ • But it is time that I hastened to the happy ending. Albany restores _ the Kingdom to Lear; Lear passes it on to Cordelia whom he had previously cut off with a shilling or less, and gives her, throne and all, to Edgar Th' Imperial grace fresh blooming on her Brow. Instead of dying broken-hearted himself Lear retires to end his days with the faithful Kent in peaceful meditation, and Edgar brings the curtain down with some admirable moral sentiments. Lear,—Thou, Kent, and I retir'd to some close Cell, Will gently pass ■ our short reserves of Time In calm Reflections on our Fortunes past Cheer'd with Relation of the- prosperous Reign Of this celestial Pair; thus our Jtemams Shall in an even Course of Thought be past Enjoy-the present Hour, nor fear the Last. Eclgv—Our drooping Country now erects her Head, Peace spreads her balmy Wings, and Plenty blooms. Divine .Cordelia, all the Gods can Witness How much thy Love to Empire I prefer! Thy bright Example , shall convince the World (Whatever Storms of Fortune arc decreed) That Truth and Ver':v.e shall at lust succeed. ' * * * * Truth and virtue had .triumphed, and the triumph, as already mentioned, endured for 150 years. "Reformed according' to the chimerical notions of poetical justice" the play had, in Addison's opinion, "lost half its beauty." The beauty and the terror were restored in full measure by Maeready, and Tate's queer balderdash is not likely to face the footlights again.