of the divine little pilgrim to Milford-Haven. Let it be borne in mind that the predominance of rich extracts quoted in my lectures are lavished upon the second and third rate characters of our poet; 'The greatest is yet behind.' Be it repeated again and again that, to come at something like an estimate of the wealth of his mind, we have but to notice its prodigality, as heaped upon the less consequential, and even the insignificant, members of his dramatis personæ. "No being that ever lived studied less than Shakespeare the art of reserving his strength for the purpose of 'making points,' as the actors term it. He had no occasion to do this, and he must have known it, for his strength was ever at the flood; and as the event arose, so he grappled with and overcame it, like a mighty river that rolls on, resistless, now bearing all before it — rocks, trees, and spars whirled aloft in its mountain foam or equally prevailing when it meanders through some flowery dale, calm as its own face, 'And makes sweet music with the enamell'd stones, It overtaketh in its pilgrimage; And so, by many winding nooks it strays With willing sport to the wild ocean.' "Such was the genius of Shakespeare. In other plays he has doubtless manifested sublimer bursts of passion; but in no one of them has he set forth the prevailing power of his own bland and sweet disposition in the omnipotence of meek forbearance and untiring affection as in the play of Cymbeline." THE TIME-ANALYSIS OF THE PLAY I give below the summing-up of Mr. P. A. Daniel's “timeanalysis" in his valuable paper "On the Times or Durations of the Action of Shakspere's Plays" (Trans. of New Shaks. Soc. 1877-79, p. 247), with a few explanatory extracts from the preceding pages appended as foot-notes: "The time of the drama includes twelve days represented on the stage, with intervals. "Day I. Act I. sc. i.-iii. 66 66 66 66 66 An Interval. Posthumus's journey to Rome. 2. Act I. sc. iv. An Interval. Iachimo's journey to Britain. 3. Act I. sc. v.1 and vi., Act II. sc. i. and part of sc. ii. 4. Act II. sc. ii., in part, and sc. iii. [Act III. sc. i. also belongs to this day.2] An Interval. Iachimo's return journey to Rome. 5. Act II. sc. iv. and v. An Interval. Time for Posthumus's letters from [Act III. sc. i. See Day No. 4.] 6. Act III. sc. ii. and iii. An Interval, including one clear day. Imogen and 1 "Another possible arrangement in time for this sc. v. would be to make it concurrent with Day No. 2; or again, it might have a separate day assigned to it, to be placed in the interval marked for Iachimo's journey to Britain. Its position as the early morning of Day No. 3, 'whiles yet the dew's on ground,' is, however, quite consistent with my scheme of time." 2" Act III. sc. i. Britain. Cymbeline and his Court receive in state Caius Lucius, the ambassador, who comes to demand the tribute till lately paid to Rome. The tribute is denied, and Lucius denounces in the Emperor's name war against Britain. His office discharged, he is welcomed to the court, and bid 'make pastime with us a day or two, or longer.' The time of this scene is so evidently that of Day No. 4, that I am compelled to place it here within brackets, as has been done in other cases where scenes are out of their due order as regards "Day 7. Act III. sc. iv. 66 66 An Interval, including one clear day. Pisanio returns to Court. 8. Act III. sc. v. and vi. [Act III. sc. vii. In Rome. Time, between Days Nos. 5 and 6.1] An Interval, including one clear day. Cloten journeys to Wales. 9. Act IV. sc. i. and ii. An Interval- a few days perhaps. The numbers in parentheses indicate the lines the characters have in each scene. Cymbeline: i. 1(20); ii. 3(15); iii. 1(30), 5(29); iv. 3(21); v. 5(176). Whole no. 291. Cloten: i. 2(10); ii. 1(31), 3(72); iii. 1(24), 5(88); iv. 1(27), 2(23). Whole no. 275. Posthumus: i. 1(29), 4(57); ii. 4(96), 5(35); v. 1(33), 3(85), 4(69), 5(44). Whole no. 448. We 1 "Act III. sc. vii. Rome. Enter two Senators and Tribunes. learn that Lucius is appointed general of the army to be employed in the war in Britain. This army is to consist of the forces 'remaining now in Gallia,' supplemented with a levy of the gentry of Rome. This scene is evidently out of place. In any time-scheme it must come much earlier in the drama. . . . It may be supposed to occupy part of the interval I have marked as Time for Posthumus's letters from Rome to arrive in Britain.'” Belarius: iii. 3(90), 6(30); iv. 2(109), 4(26); v. 2(3), 5(78). Whole no. 336. Guiderius: iii. 3(11), 6(10); iv. 2(113), 4(19); v. 2(1), 5(15). Whole no. 169. Arviragus: iii. 3(11), 6(13); iv. 2(90), 4(19); v. 2(1), 5(9). Whole no. 143. Philario: i. 4(20); ii. 4(24). Whole no. 44. Iachimo: i. 4(83), 6(154); ii. 2(41), 4(73); v. 2(11), 5(74). Whole no. 436. Lucius: iii. 1(19), 5(10); iv. 2(43); v. 2(5), 5(27). Whole no. 104. Whole no. 217. Pisanio: i. 1(10), 3(13), 5(3), 6(4); ii. 3(1); iii. 2(27), 4(86), 5(28); iv. 3(16); v. 5(29). Cornelius: i. 5(25); v. 5(48). Captain: iv. 2(11); v. 3(4). 2d Captain: v. 3(6). Whole no. 6. Whole no. 14. 1st Lord: i. 2(15); ii. 1(7), 3(7); iii. 1(1); iv. 3(15); v. 3(7). Whole no. 52. 2d Lord: i. 2(18); ii. 1(32), 3(1); iii. 1(1). Whole no. 52. Frenchman: i. 4(25). Whole no. 25. v. 4(2). Whole no. 4. Messenger: ii. 3(2); Jupiter: v. 4(21). Whole no. 21. Queen: i. 1(33), 5(67); ii. 3(10); iii. 1(22), 5(34). Whole no. 166. Imogen: i. 1(45), 3(33), 6(83); ii. 2(10), 3(54); iii. 2(59), 4(134), 6(57); iv. 2(85); v. 5(36). Whole no. 596. Lady: i. 3(2), 5(1); ii. 2(2), 3(9); v. 5(1). Whole no. 15. Mother: v. 4(12). Whole no. 12. “All”: v. 4(1). Whole no. I. In the above enumeration, parts of lines are counted as whole lines, making the total in the play greater than it is. The actual number of lines in each scene is as follows: i. 1(78), 2(43), 3(40), 4(185), 5(87), 6(210); ii. 1(70), 2(51), 3(160), 4(152), 5(35) ; iii. 1(87), 2(84), 3(107), 4(196), 5(168), 6(96), 7(16); iv. 1(27), 2(403), 3(46), 4(54); v. 1(33), 2(18), 3(94), 4(215), 5(485). Whole no. in the play, 3340. Imogen speaks more lines than any other female character in Shakespeare except Rosalind, who has 749 lines, and Cleopatra, who has 670. The only other women with more than 500 lines are Portia (M. of V.), who has 589, and Juliet, who has 541. |