Polonius-like--the cause of this defect!
'Tis certain that the sprightliest tongue must fail
To win attention to an 'oft-told tale.'
We cannot, ever, with 'crook'd Richard' fight,
Or weep with Desdemona every night;
And even cloying is the luscious sack,
If we too often sip with 'burly Jack';
Nor, every week, will people take the trouble
To witness Hecate's cauldron hiss and bubble;
Nor can we, as we have done, hope to draw
Still on the Rivals or the Heir-at-Law.
We've seen shy 'Jack' his father's anger rouse;
We've heard Lord Dowlas 'tutored' by his spouse.
Old English comedy should now give way;
It has, like Acres' 'dammes,' had its day.
Hang up bag wigs--our study now should be
The men and the moustachios that we see.
Let us some pictures of the time provide;
Let the pen practically be applied."
Whether or no the comedy gave us "the men and the moustachios that we
see," or provided "some pictures of the time," we shall not pretend to
say;--one would think so, since Blake, Burton, Bland, Dyott, Mrs.
Hughes, Mary Taylor, Miss Weston, and Caroline Chapman were in the
cast,--but, at all events, it gave us Burton's _John Smith_, which was
well worth a journey to see. _John Smith_ is "gentleman" to the _Earl of
Leamington_ (Dyott), who is making an American tour. The _Earl_ gives
his attendant a two-months' holiday to enjoy himself; and _Smith_,
having dressed within an inch of his life, is taken for the _Earl_, and
yields to the temptation to pass himself off as such. Out of this
complication arise situations ludicrous in the extreme, through which
Burton moved, the dispenser of mirth without end. His "make-up," his
air, his self-sufficiency, his ignorance,--of which he is grotesquely
unconscious,--his blundering malapropos speeches, his frequent social
collapses and absurd attempts at recovery, his facial expression at
mental mishap and irresistible by-play consequent, his constant display
of mimetic power, his voice, look, manner,--all together made a picture
of varied humor, which kept the house in hearty laughter from his
entrance to the curtain's fall.
_Mr. Sudden_, in Buckstone's "Breach of Promise," was still another of
those peculiar parts upon which Burton lavished his supreme gift of
humor; and we owe to its diverting exposition many a gladsome hour.
Funny, too, beyond measure, were _Thomas Trot_ and _Don Whiskerandos_;
we see the first in the many comic incidents during the voyage from
Paris to London; and we see _Don Whiskerandos_ "quit this bustling
scene" by rolling himself with marvellous celerity out of sight in the
folds of the stage carpet.
We have reached the end of our string, with the exception of _Triplet_,
and should love to linger in description on the blended humor and pathos
of the impersonation. Let it suffice that not even Mr. Fisher's
admirable presentment can dim the recollection of Burton's masterly
delineation.
And now let us in our remaining space recall our memories of the
Shakespearian parts in which we saw the great actor.
"A Midsummer-Night's Dream" was produced at Burton's in 1854, and the
manager played _Bottom_. We well remember with what delight the play was
received, and what a marked sensation was created by the scenery and
stage effect. The public wondered how so much could be presented on so
small a stage, and its accomplishment was a theme of general admiration.
The fairy element was made a beautiful feature, and the spirit of poetry
brooded over the whole production. The unanimity of the press in its
encomiums on the revival was remarkable; and no more emphatic
recognition of Burton's appreciation and knowledge of Shakespeare could
be given than was expressed in that approving accord.
As we think of it now, it seems to us that Burton's idea of _Bottom_ was
the true one, and we enjoyed the performance immensely. It is very easy
to make the character a sort of buffoon; but nothing, of course, was
further than that notion from Burton's conception. Mr. Richard Grant
White gives, in his "Shakespeare's Scholar," an admirable analysis of
_Bottom's_ characteristics, and at the close remarks: "As Mr. Burton
renders the character, its traits are brought out with a delicate and
masterly hand; its humor is exquisite." We remember his acting in the
scene where the artisans meet for the distribution of parts in the play
to be given before the _Duke_;--how striking it was in sustained
individuality, and how finely exemplified was the potential vanity of
Bottom. With what ingrained assurance he exclaimed: "Let me play the
lion too; I will roar, that it will do any man's heart good to hear me;
I will roar, that I will make the duke say, _Let him roar again, let him
roar again!_" He was capital, too, in the scene of the rehearsal, and in
his translation; and the love scene with _Titania_ aroused lively
interest. What pleased us greatly was the vein of engaging raillery
which ran through his delivery of the speeches to the fairies, _Cobweb_,
_Peas-blossom_, and _Mustard-seed_. It goes without saying, that as
_Pyramus_ in the tragedy Burton created unbounded amusement, and
discharged the arduous part of the ill-starred lover with entire
satisfaction to everybody.
_Sir Toby Belch_, in "Twelfth Night," was one of Burton's richest
performances, and we remember it with the greatest pleasure. It was
characterized by true Shakespearian spirit, and was acted with an
animation and unctuous humor quite impossible to describe. The scene of
the carousal wherein _Sir Toby_ and _Aguecheek_ are discovered; the
arrival of the Clown with his "How, now, my hearts? Did you never see
the picture of we three?" and _Belch's_ greeting of "Welcome,
ass,"--inaugurated an episode of extraordinary mirth, in which Burton
moved the absolute monarch of merriment. The duel scene and the scene in
the garden, when _Malvolio_ reads the letter, were full of the
comedian's diverting power; and we can recall no single instance of
humorous execution which more perfectly fulfilled all conditions.
Burton played _Touchstone_ and _Dogberry_, as has been mentioned; but it
was never our good fortune to see him in either. We saw him as
_Caliban_, in "The Tempest"; as _Autolycus_, in "Winter's Tale"; and as
_Falstaff_, in "The Merry Wives of Windsor." His _Caliban_ we have tried
to forget rather than remember; it terrified us and made us dream bad
dreams; but for all that, we know that it was a surprising
impersonation. His _Autolycus_ was a model of oily roguery, and another
instance of that wondrous versatility of genius with which the comedian
was endowed. Very dim in memory is Burton's _Sir John Falstaff_. We
remember the scene in the Garter Inn, and the letters to the merry
wives, and, of course, the _dénouement_ of the clothes-basket, and the
frolic at Herne's Oak,--but we cannot go into detail; and we always
thought we should like Burton so much better in the _Falstaff_ of "Henry
IV." The mention of "Henry IV." reminds us that it was once produced at
the Chambers Street Theatre, when Hackett played _Sir John_ to Lester
Wallack's _Prince Hal_; and in order that nothing might be lacking in
honor to Shakespeare, Burton and Blake played the two _Carriers_ in
Scene I. of Act II. Fancy those two comedians with about twenty-five
lines only between them in a play of five acts! But they must have
covered themselves with glory.
We have endeavored in this retrospect to furnish a view of the comedian
in a number of characters; and we think, however meagre our account, it
still forcibly indicates the scope and range of Burton's abilities, and
exhibits him in a wide scene of varied and striking dramatic power. We
have depicted him in farce, in comedy, and in Shakespearian
delineations; and it is not too much to say that generations will likely
pass ere his fellow shall appear. We have heard and read of attempts
being made by ambitious actors to revive his masterpieces, and that the
efforts were highly commendable. Perhaps they were--
"A substitute shines brightly as a king
Until a king be by."
MR. BURTON'S LIBRARY.
"My library was dukedom large enough."--SHAKESPEARE.
MR. BURTON'S LIBRARY.
Mr. Burton resided at No. 174 Hudson Street, New York, and owned also a
beautiful country-seat at Glen Cove, Long Island, now the property of
Mr. S. L. M. Barlow. In a building adjoining his Hudson Street
residence, and connected therewith by a conservatory gallery, were
contained his magnificent library, treasures of art, and precious
relics. Scholars, actors, and men of art and letters were frequent
visitors there, and the owner took a laudable pride in displaying his
matchless collection.
A very interesting story of the painter Elliot may be told in this
connection. He was often a visitor, and the striking resemblance between
the artist's head and the accepted bust of Shakespeare was a matter of
common observation. On one occasion, on being shown by Burton a choice
Shakespearian acquisition, he became intensely interested, and quietly
seated himself in a study-chair the better to examine the prize.
"Meantime," says our narrator, "Burton and myself were engaged in other
parts of the house, and at last we came back to the library. Burton
looked through the door, and placing one hand on his mouth, he put the
other on my chest, and thus held me back. I shall never forget his
singular look at the moment. There sat Elliot at the table, dressed in a
suit of plain black, his hand supporting his cheek, and his eyes intent
upon the book. The evening light from the ceiling fell softly upon his
high and delicately formed forehead; just over him was an exact copy of
the effigy which marks the great dramatist's grave. The resemblance, or
the hallucination, for the moment was complete, and Burton, with eyes
fairly dilating with admiration and astonishment, said: 'Shakespeare
living again! Was there ever such a resemblance?'"
It has been thought appropriate to include in this volume a description
of the library, from the pen of James Wynne, M.D., who in 1860 published
an account of his visits to various private libraries in New York, and
Mr. Burton's was among the number. At the time of Mr. Burton's death the
collection was probably larger, Dr. Wynne's visit having been made at a
much earlier date than the publication of his volume. Every lover of
Shakespeare, we think, will thank us for enriching this book with a
description of that matchless library.
WM. E. BURTON'S LIBRARY.
Mr. Burton's library contains nearly sixteen thousand volumes. Its
proprietor had constructed for its accommodation and preservation a
three-story fire-proof building, about thirty-five feet square, which is
isolated from all other buildings, and is connected with his residence
in Hudson Street by a conservatory gallery. The chief library room
occupies the upper floor of this building, and is about twenty-five
feet in height. Its ceiling presents a series of groined rafters, after
the old English style, in the centre of which rises a dome sky-light of
stained glass. The sides of the library are fitted up with thirty-six
oak bookcases of a Gothic pattern, which entirely surround it, and are
nine feet in height. The space between the ceiling and the bookcases is
filled with paintings, for the most part of large size, and said to be
of value. Specimens of armor and busts of distinguished authors decorate
appropriate compartments, and in a prominent niche at the head of the
apartment, stands a full-length statue of Shakespeare, executed by Thom,
in the same style as the Tam O'Shanter and Old Mortality groups of this
Scotch sculptor.
The great speciality of the library is its Shakespeare collection; but
although very extensive and valuable, it by no means engrosses the
entire library, which contains a large number of valuable works in
several departments of literature.
The number of lexicons and dictionaries is large, and among the latter
may be found all the rare old English works so valuable for reference.
Three bookcases are devoted to serials, which contain many of the
standard reviews and magazines. One case is appropriated to voyages and
travels, in which are found many valuable ones. In another are upward of
one hundred volumes of table-talk, and numerous works on the fine arts
and bibliography. One bookcase is devoted to choice works on America,
among which is Sebastian Munster's "Cosmographia Novum Orbis Regionum,"
published in folio at Basle in 1537, which contains full notes of
Columbus, Vespucci, and other early voyagers. Another department
contains a curious catalogue of authorities relating to _Crime and
Punishment_; a liberal space is devoted to _Facetiæ_ another to American
Poetry, and also one to Natural and Moral Philosophy. The standard works
of Fiction, Biography, Theology, and the Drama are all represented.
There is a fair collection of classical authors, many of which are of
Aldine and Elzevir editions. Among the rarities in this department is a
folio copy of _Plautus_, printed at Venice in 1518, and illustrated with
wood-cuts. The true name of this writer was T. Maccius Plautus. He was
of humble origin, and is supposed to have once been a slave. He lived at
Rome about one hundred and eighty years before the beginning of the
Christian era, and wrote a number of plays which obtained great
celebrity in the time of their author, and continued to be looked upon
as models of this species of composition for many centuries after his
decease. Twenty of his plays are extant, which are distinguished for the
purity of their style and the exquisite humor of their characters,
although Horace blames him for the coarseness of his wit. Gellius, who
held him in much esteem, says that he was distinguished for his poetry
upon the stage at the time that Cato was for his eloquence in the forum.
The first edition of his works was printed at Venice, in 1472, by
Merula. The edition of 1518, in this collection, is so rare as not to
be mentioned by Brunet, De Bure, or Michael Mattaire. There is also a
folio edition of Sallust, published at Venice in 1511, with wood-cuts;
an excellent copy of Statius, published at Venice in 1498; and a
translation from the Greek of Plutarch into Latin by Guarini, of Verona,
surnamed Veronese, who was the first of a family celebrated for their
literary attainments, and who is frequently confounded with Battista
Guarini, the author of "Il Pastor Fido." Guarini Veronese was the
grammarian of his day, and a strong advocate for the preservation of the
Greek language in its purity. He was an assiduous student, and spent
considerable time at Constantinople in copying the manuscripts of the
best models in Grecian literature. Accompanied by his precious freight,
he set sail for Italy, but was shipwrecked, and lost all of his
laboriously acquired treasure, which produced such an effect upon him as
to change his hair from a dark color to white in a single night. The
world is indebted to him for the first edition of the "Commentaries" of
Servius on Virgil, and likewise for the recovery of a number of
manuscript poems of Catullus, which he found mouldering and almost
obliterated in a garret. With the assistance of his father, he applied
himself to the task of deciphering them, and, with the exception of a
few verses, reproduced them entirely.
The collection is well supplied with editions of Virgil. In addition to
Ogilby's folio, with Hollar and Fairthorne's plates, is a choice copy of
the illustrated edition in three folio volumes, and the very rare
_fac-simile_ Florentine edition of 1741 (_Ex cod. Mediceo Laurentiano_).
This edition is now so scarce that a copy was recently sold in London
for fifty pounds sterling.
The collection also contains a copy of the Vatican edition of Terence,
in Latin and Italian, after the text of Heinsius, with numerous
illustrations of ancient masks, etc., published at Rome in two folio
volumes in 1767; an excellent copy of the best edition of Suetonius,
with commentaries by Baraldi, printed in Roman letter at Paris in 1512;
"Titi Livii," published at Nuremberg in folio, in 1514, in its original
wood binding; Livy's Roman History, published in 1600--the first English
edition; "Diogenes Laërtius de Vitis et Dogmatibus Philosophorum,"
published at Amsterdam in 1692; a vellum black-letter copy of Eusebius,
of the rare Venetian edition of 1483; Boëtius, published in 1570; the
two original editions of the eminent critic, Justus Lipsius; the Antwerp
edition of Seneca, published in 1570; the same work in folio, in 1613;
and Stephen's edition of Sophocles, published in 1518, which is an
admirable specimen of Greek typography.
Among the Italian poets is a copy of Dante, in folio, published in 1497,
with most remarkable cuts; and the "Commentaries" of Landino, the most
highly valued of all the old commentators upon this poet; also an
excellent large-paper copy of Tasso, in the original text, with
Morghen's exquisite line engravings, published in 1820, in two folio
volumes.
Cervantes appears to have been quite a favorite with the possessor of
this library, who has the excellent Spanish edition of 1738, with Van
der Gucht's beautiful plates and many inserted illustrations, in four
volumes; the quarto edition, published at La Hayé, in 1746, containing
thirty-one plates from Coypel's designs; Smollett's quarto edition of
1755, in two volumes, with plates by Grignion after designs by Hayman; a
folio edition by Shelton, with many curious engravings, published in
1652, besides several modern editions.
In the historical department is a fine edition of Montfaucon's works in
twenty folio volumes, including the "Monarchie Française"; the original
edition of Dugdale's works, including the "Monasticon" with the old
designs; Boissardus's "Romanæ Urbis Antiquitates," in three volumes,
folio; and a large number of the old Chroniclers, in their earliest and
rarest editions. Among these latter are two copies of the very scarce
"Polychronicon," by Raulph Higden, the monk of Chester: the one in
black-letter folio, printed in 1495, by Wynkyn de Worde, is wanting in
the last page; the other, printed in 1527 by Peter Traveris, and
ornamented with wood-cuts, is in perfect order. Both of these volumes
have marginal notes, probably in the handwriting of the day.
The collection is particularly rich in copies of original editions of
old English poetry, among which are the works of Samuel Daniel, 1602;
Sandy's Ovid, published in 1626; Lucan, by Sir Arthur Gorges, published
in 1614, noticed in Colin Clout, and personified as Alcyon in Spenser's
"Daphnaida"; "Arte of Englysh Poesie," with a fine portrait of Queen
Elizabeth, published in 1589; Quarle's works; Harrington's translation
of "Orlando Furioso," folio, published in 1591, with plates in
compartments; Sir W. Davenant's poems, published in quarto in 1651, with
an original poem in the author's handwriting, never published; copies
of the editions of 1613 and 1648 of George Wither's poems, and Chapman's
"Seven Bookes of the Iliad of Homer," published in 1598.
This latter writer, who was born in Kent, in England, in 1559, was one
of the coterie formed by Daniel, Marlowe, Spenser, Shakespeare, and
others, and lived upon terms of great good-fellowship with England's
greatest bard. He had no mean reputation as a dramatic writer, and was,
besides, highly respected as a gentleman. His social position appears to
have been an excellent one, and his urbanity of manner such as to endear
him to all his friends. His intimate association with Shakespeare seems
to establish the fact that in his own day the great poet occupied a
prominent place in society, and was as duly appreciated in his own time,
as Johnson and Pope in theirs. A monument was planned and erected over
the remains of Chapman by his personal friend, Inigo Jones, on the south
side of St. George's in the Fields; but in the changes which have
disturbed the repose of those who were consigned to their last
resting-place in that burial-ground, the monument has been destroyed.
This department possesses the black-letter folios of Chaucer in 1542
(the first complete edition), that of 1561, and that of 1598, all of
which are now quite scarce; the folio editions of Milton of 1692 and
1695, possessing the old but characteristic engravings, as well as the
quarto edition in two volumes, published at the expense of the Earl of
Bath; Touson's edition of 1751, with plates; a large-paper copy of the
edition of 1802, which contains Westall's plates; and Martin's edition
of 1826, enriched by twenty-four original and beautiful engravings;
likewise the first folio edition of Spenser's "Fairy Queen," published
in 1609, and Fairfax's Tasso, published in 1624.
Besides the works already noticed, are Sylvester's "Du Bartus"; Warner's
"Albion and England," published in 1586; "all the works of John Taylor,
the water-poet, being sixty and three in number," published in folio in
1630. This is a very rare work, and is said to have been sold for eighty
guineas. A similar work to this is the "Shype of Fools of the Worlde,"
translated from Brandt, and published in black-letter folio, with many
wood-cuts, in 1509. A perfect copy of this work is very rare. The one in
the present collection is wanting in the title-page and two last
leaves.[12] Its price in the catalogue Anglo-Poetica, is one hundred
guineas. The copy of Taylor, in the collection, is a fine large one, and
handsomely bound. The real value of these two last volumes, in a
literary point of view, is perhaps not great, but still from their
peculiar associations they are highly prized by _bibliophiles_. Southey
says: "There is nothing in John Taylor which deserves preservation for
its intrinsic merit alone, but in the collection of his pieces which I
have perused there is a great deal to illustrate the manners of his age.
If the water-poet had been in a higher grade of society, and bred to
some regular profession, he would probably have been a much less
distinguished person in his generation. No spoon could have suited his
mouth so well as the wooden one to which he was born. Fortunately he
came into the world at the right time, and lived at an age when kings
and queens condescended to notice his verses, and archbishops admitted
him to their tables, and mayors and corporations received him with civic
honors."[13]
[12] In the British Museum, and the _Bibliothèque Impériale_ at Paris,
are perfect copies of this work.
[13] Southey's "Uneducated Poets," p. 87.
There is a department of curiosities in the shape of odd or rare books,
which is quite interesting: among the works are the singular history of
M. Ouflé; the "Encyclopædia of Man," printed in English after the manner
of Hebrew publications, beginning at the close of the volume and reading
to the left; "Anteros," by Baptista Fulgosius, in quarto, published in
1496. This work, "Contre l'Amour," is said to be of extraordinary
rarity. Likewise the "Zodiacke of Life," published in 1588; a curious
manuscript in not very good Latin, with illuminated letters, upon the
Lord's Prayer and the Creed, by Hen. Custas, dated 1614; Memorable
Accidents and Massacres in France, in folio, published in 1598; a
singular black-letter Edict of Emperor Charles V., published in 1521; a
very singular Siamese work on the laws of marriage; Petri Bembi, with a
frontispiece by Hans Holbein, published in 1518; "Libri Exemplorum," by
Ric Pafradius, published in 1481; the original edition of "The Rogue;
or, Life of De Alfarache Guzman," folio, published in 1634, translated
by James Mabbe, otherwise known as Don Diego Puedesur.