“As many devils enter (or enter’d) swine; and _to her, boy_,
say I:”—
a somewhat profane, but not un-Shakespearian, allusion to the “legion” in
St. Luke’s “gospel.”
“Measure For Measure.”
This play, which is Shakespeare’s throughout, is to me the most
painful—say rather, the only painful—part of his genuine works. The comic
and tragic parts equally border on the μισητὸν,—the one being disgusting,
the other horrible; and the pardon and marriage of Angelo not merely
baffles the strong indignant claim of justice—(for cruelty, with lust and
damnable baseness, cannot be forgiven, because we cannot conceive them as
being morally repented of); but it is likewise degrading to the character
of woman. Beaumont and Fletcher, who can follow Shakespeare in his errors
only, have presented a still worse, because more loathsome and
contradictory, instance of the same kind in the _Night-Walker_, in the
marriage of Alathe to Algripe. Of the counter-balancing beauties of
_Measure for Measure_, I need say nothing; for I have already remarked
that the play is Shakespeare’s throughout.