THE SHAKESPEARE CLUB.

Otago Witness, Issue 1432, 3 May 1879, Page 7

THE SHAKESPEARE CLUB.

An entertainment to celebrate the 315 th anniversary of the birth of Shakespeare was held on the 24th ult., in the Odd-Fellows' Hall, R&ttray street, his Honor Mr Justice Johnston presiding. There was a very large attendance. The entertainment consisted of Shakespearian readings, and selections of vocal and instrumental music. The readings were : — " Henry 1V.," act 1, scene 3 ; " Macbeth," act 3, scenes 1, 2, and 4 ; and " Much Ado about Nothing, 1 act 3, scenes 3 and 5, and act 4, scene 2. They were interpreted in a highly creditable manner by the members of the Club ; and tbe musical portion of the programme also passed off very successfully. During the evening the Rev. A, E. Fitchett; 8.A., delivered a " Shakespearian address," the special subject of which was " The Ethical Qualities of Shakespeare's Writings." He said that two feelings had influenced him in complying with the request of the members of the Club to bo present that evening and give an address One feeling was hia general sympathy with the work which $0 Society was doing.— (Hear, hear.) As an

outsider, he was very grateful to the Shakespeare Club for the opportunity of attending from time to time their exceedingly pleasant entertainment*, and he thought they would all agree with him that the kind ef recreation which was provided in them was of a more intellectual quality than we were accustomed to get elsewhere. In his opinion the Society was rendering, in a quiet and unpretentious way, good service to the work of popular education. — (Applause ) Another fealing that influenced him in being present on that occasion was one which he was sure they would all share with him— a desire to pay homage to the mighty poet who3e birthday we in the antipodes, the Dams of which Shakespeare had never heard, were commemorating in a humble way that evening.— (Loud applause.) The name of Shakespeare enkindled in our breasts a warmer feeling than that of pride : he had attached himself to us by something like a bond of peWonal attachment and devotion. We knew next to nothing about bis personal history; iudeed, it was extremely difficult to gather from his writings any knowledge of himself, for he was the mo3t impersonal of writers. And yet he bad laid hold of the minds of those who read him as no other poet, historian, or English author had succeeded in doing. The reason of this was, that nobody had done for us so much as Shakespeare. He had contributed very much to our pleasures, had expounded to us our deepest feelings, and had expanded before our eyes the fairy realms of imagination ; and no man had such great claims on our sympathies and admiration as this mighty magician.— (Applause.) However, he would like to say a few words with a yiew of indicating the moral drift and bearing of Shakespeare's works — their ethical qualities and value. In all his greater and more serious creations there was a distinct moral purpose — there waa the working out of the natural history of some particular form of wrongdoing. This was what we might find in all his tragedies, for instance, in which with infinite subtlety and power were develooed a series of illustrations of what might be called the law of moral retribution. As being illustrative of this, he (Mr Fitchett) analysed the tragedies of Macbeth, Othello, and Hamlet, in which he said were propounded more accurately and vividly than could be done from the pulpit, the natural history of wrongdoing, and this lesson was taught : When we broke the moral laws of the universe we did harm to our own souls.— (Applause.) What a contrast wa3 this to the pessimist English literature so common at the present day ! He might instance some of the works written by a lady who signed herself " Ouida." In one of her books — he could not remember the particular one at that moment — all the good characters lived miserable lives and met with premature deaths, and the villains triumphed throughout. — (Laughter.) This was the pessimist literature to which Shakespeare provided the antidote, and although he (Mr Fitchett) did not claim the poet as one of the divines, he claimed for him the honour of being the propounder of a moral philosophy whioh was soundest after the Bible.-— (Loud applause.)