A LITERARY CORNER

New Zealand Times, Volume XLV, Issue 10431, 8 November 1919, Page 8

A LITERARY CORNER

(R.A.L.) "THE ROUND TABLE." A'fine'number for September makes tho continuity of excellence which distinguishes this able production. It has a disfigurement, which, considering that it is a negation of truth, justice, and democracy, is in this publication amazing. But it ceases to be so when you reflect on the difficulties of the Irish question. Tho writer seeks to solve the eternal problem by applauding tho scheme of Homo llulo put forth by "Tho Times." It is a scheme which is introduced by a perfectly correct and most admirable statement of principles, and turns out to be a fraud in application. It embodies Home Itule in two State Legislatures, ono for Ulster and the otiier for- tho rest of Ireland, with a central Legislature for both. Tho essence of it is that Ulster has half the representative power in.the central body, while iV>thing enacted by that body can bo valid in the Stato districts without the sanction of their Legislatures, which have the power of veto. Tho mere statement of suoh a travesty is enough to condemn it to tho scornful ridicule of mankind. But tho fact that it has found favour w'ith an authority so generally broadminded as "The Round Table" is a proof of the difficulty which the Irish quostion presents to so many, and of the consequent confusion of many minds. Even the "Round Table" presents the sorry spectacle of* a weary traveller, who, after long wanderings after a will-o' the-wisp, finds himself sunk helplessly in an Ir'sh. marsh—say the Bog of Allen, For the rest, the artioles are good. The "Harvest of A7ictory" is the best possible historic summary of the war situation, and what preceded it. The "Economio and Financial Situation" is robust, with its masterly conclusion that the only safety of the world lies in the gospel of work and mutual understanding, and would have been perfect if it had not omitted to note the spur of self-preservation which, must stimulate, and is already stimulating, the world to take up tho said goapoi. Tho "Nationalisation as a Remedy'' is a most illuminating contribution to the study of a great quostion. An article on the Winnipeg strike is both, strong and valuable, and another on the Saraoan Mandate handles the subject well. "SHORT STUDIES IN SHAKBSPEAHE." A. Wilson. (AVhitoomb© and Tombs, AVollington, etc.) Mr Wilson is well known as the rector of the Boys' High School of Uunedin. He is aho well known as a writer of literary charm and thoughtful capacity, whose graceful handling of many subjects delights numbers of readers. These short studies of Shakespearean characters amply sustain that reputation. They are simply delightful in their descriptive charm, their strenjrth of sensible criticism, and their originality of treatment—a great and very honourable thing to ho said' of a critic who contributes to a vast heap of criticism accumulated by the efforts of many minds, some of great genius, in tho course of two ceuturies.

The best of these studies is the study of "Rosalind." Written with thetenderest sympathy and the deepest insight, it is a worthy to stand in the very tirst rank of the abounding Shakespearean literature. Indeed we cannot remember a better presentment of the most charming woman in the fast range of the characters with which the great dramatist has delighted so many generations of men and will delight very many more. There is something of the same fine touch in the chapteron "Shakespeare's Women," who are reviewed with the nicest discrimination. And he avoids in his treatment a fault into which many critics have fallen. That fault can best be indicated by quoting his own statement in one of these studies, that Sha.kespeare was probably far greater than ho himself ever imagined. The correctness of this will be admitted very generally, even by those who are inclined to stress the fact that Shakespeare, like all great writers took great delight in the practice of his art. The point is that the thought that Shakespeare was probably greater than he himself imagined has led critics to read something into his mind which is not borne out by tho action of tho characters they analyse. The safer plan is to tako the characters as they are, without adding things of critical imagining, however plausible they may be aa speculations. This safer method runs through Mr Wilson's studies, and is very agreeable to the reader, who after all—and that is a point to ho remembered—wants to hear more about tho mind of Shakei speare than about tho mind of Shakespeare's critic or acjulator as the case may be. The study of Julius Caesar is a strong case in point. Wo know Caesar from his own writings—tho Gallic war for examplo—and from history, broadly and deeply. There are less favourable estimates of him, notably Phu tarch's. The question is from which of these angles Shakespeare viewed' him. Mr Wilson thinks he viewed him from Plutarch's point of view, and so ho finds the' Shakespearean Caesar iuforior to tho great Caesar of history. It is the correct view of Shakespeare's work, not tho view of a. man who through reverence for Shakespeare tries to strain the linos of Shakespeare to make them fit & different and greater character. .

It is impossible to follow theso most thoughtful studies in detail. Enough that they all are scholarly, thoughtful, and of most commendable freedom, fresh therefore, and sparkling. The studies of Shylock, Henry V'., jj/id Hamlet w e may add, are the most forcible and tho deepest of the collection, which is a collection of the studies addressed to the. "Dunedin Shakepoare Club," of which Mr Wilson was president. They woro written twenty years ago, but their appearance—especially in tho attractive form in which they are published—is' nevertheless welcomo. AVe quote from tho study on Rosalind:— In this character, such is the admirable blending of all the qualities characteristic of the best womanhood and of genius that to fill the role with success has been the. ambition of every groat actress during the last two centuries; for, although "As You Like It" was road and studied further back than that, it was only in tho second deoado of the eighteenth century that tho plav was discovered to be a good acting comedy, and tho part

of Eosalind assigned to a wAaan. The firat Eosalind who took London by storm was the famous dancer, Hoster Santlow, ancestress of more than one English peer. iTora that time to the present, the part has been appropriated by an uninterrupted succession of i r /J," liant women: sweelAvoiced PmUchard; Peg Waflington, with the manners of a princess and the warm heart of an Irish girl, who in this very play, in the middle of the epilogue, was overtaken by a living death; Mrs Barry, Mrs Bulkeley, Mrs Pope, Mrs Siddons, and, in quite recent times, Lady Martin and Mrs Scott-Siddons. The part is attractive to actresses because it is full of charm, of variety, and of difficulty. There is, perhaps, no groat part that is so easily spoiled, and nono so unwelcome when it is spoiled. The difficulty of representing the character of Rosalind largely proceeds from the indelicacy of the situation in which tho girl is placed. No doubt Shakespeare was attracted to this device of disguising his women in man's attire by the facility it afforded for casting boys in women's parts; since it saved the boy, during the greater part of the play at least, from the impossible task of managing his skirts. But in the device there was tho danger of making the character hard and mannish; and there can be up doubt that when the part was taken by boys the representation must have offended in this respect. Further, the variety and rapid transition of mood in Rosalind are quite beyond the powers of any bov; and it is, therefore, no wonder that the great charm of this character was revealed only when women of genius took up the role. The incongruity of the situation gives a delightful piquancy to tho part of Eosalind. One is always on the edge of a surprise. . You soe a delicately nurtured prinoess, in her innocence and inexperience, assume a rolo which would make each hair on the head of any honest court prude to stand upright in genteel horror. With the boy 6 dress Eosalind must put. on the boy'a manners, his rollicking swagger, his insouciance, his pertness: but sho must wear them with a difference, not so well as to conceal boneath the jerkin hor own native modesty, variableness, and sensibility. If the boy's double is too consistently worn, the part becomes coarse and hard. On the other hand, if there is any touch of frigidity, of overstrained and so'.f-conscious modesty, that is equally fatal to tho character. A difficult task the young girl has to perform—this feat of balancing between opposite qualities; forward •and modest, arch and coy, timid, fearless, hopeful, dowribast, in per-

plexingand bewitching alternation. Then, she is tho wittiest of Shakesspeare's witty women and her wit is of the kindliest; it is like her frown, it would not hurt a fly. As to the real inward Eosalind, just as she is, and not flaying a part, you have only to think of the merriest, sunniest, archest, wittiest, kindest, most mutable, most exasperating tittle entity in literature or out of it, and that is Eosalind, Queen of Aid en.