SHAKESPEARE.
“The evening following what I have already told, the young man
presented himself at the little red house where dwelt the Lady Bowenni,
and was met at the door by Harriette, the daughter. Servant and
stranger he no longer was, but friend. The young woman’s cheeks glowed,
her eyes flashed with all the eagerness of restless purpose.
“Spread out on the table were sundry curiously-bound books and
pamphlets, some written and some in print; for the nobleman had been a
great collector, and had secured the best wherever literary treasures
were to be found. The young man was cool, composed, and had not the
slightest idea of what the work would be or where it should begin.
“‘Draw up your chair to yonder table, William, while I sit on the other
side. Now look straight at me (‘I can’t do otherwise,’ he gravely
said), and listen close while I the story tell which I have got from
three old books--two of them from Spain were brought, one from France.
I have dropped and left out this and that, and put in more, here
interpolated, there proclaimed a truth I once did hear you say. Now let
us get the plot all firmly fixed in our two hearts, and then you it
is shall write; for you do toy with words--they are your playthings.
You strive not, nor reach out, nor falter, search or look around, but
straightway you do get the thought, words, gentle words come trooping
to you like a thousand fairies, each in its own order, leading its
mate full gently by the hand. For learned men may work and strive and
sweat and never do they reach the smoothness you do bring even without
a second thought. Careless, William, you are in manner. You know no
rule, yet I might study a thousand years and could not thus express the
feeling that within me burns; but hinted once by me to you, straightway
you weave the beauteous thought into a chaplet gay, and then upon my
brow you place it, and seriously you proclaim it mine, when ’tis not
mine, nor thine, but _ours_.’
“Thus did speak this winsome girl after the story she had told, and
thoughtful sat the man and not a word he seemed to hear as still she
chatted on. When suddenly he aroused and said:
“‘The pens, my lady! An eagle’s pinion, and this story you have told
shall we give wing! But note you! three stories have you taken and
woven into two instead of one. So shall it stand. Two stories shall we
tell, the one within the other held.’[2]
“And straightway were pens and paper brought and he did write--steadily
and seemingly without thought of form or rounded sentences, but surely
without stop--and as the pen went gliding o’er the parchment, and page
on page were turned aside, the fair young girl did seize and greedily
did read, with pen in hand to make an alteration, although but slight,
and her cheeks did burn and now and then she sighed and raised her
hands. But the young man, he looked not up, but with calm face and
steady hand the work went on; and as he held the pen in his right hand,
his left hand moved, as though unknown to him, across the narrow table,
and gently did she hold it fast--and still the work went on. A few more
nights--the play was done and to the judges sent. They read aloud. Some
wondered, others sniffed the air, one said: ‘What rubbish is this sent
to us? What folly! and written by a big peasant boor!--use it to light
the fire. Here, servant, you, bring on the next so to quickly get this
horrid taste out of our mouths.’
“The young man heard the sentence, smiled softly, and to himself did
say, ‘Oh man, proud man, clothed in a little brief authority, doth cut
such fantastic tricks before high heaven as does make angels weep! Now
for myself I do not care, but the lady forsooth, whose play it is,
or was before ’twas burned--shame on them!--how can I tell her?’ And
so he wandered forth and met but who? Why, Harriette, who sought the
youth full far and wide, for she had heard the news and grieved she was
and sick, fearing the blow might prove too much for him whose play it
was. ‘I care not for myself,’ she said; ‘but how--how can I tell him?’
They met--each read full in the other’s eyes what each would say. Both
smiled and walked away.”
FOOTNOTE:
[2] It is a fact known to all students that Shakespeare was the first
dramatist who wrote the double play--that is, the first plot of high
characters with a second story worked out by the lower or comedy
characters. This peculiarity is now made use of by all writers of
plays. Note, _The Merchant of Venice_, _As You Like It_, _Comedy of
Errors_, etc.