438
NOTES AND QUERIES. [io* B. in. JUNE 3, 1905.
in this direction we have passed frequent, if inade-
quate, comment. With her devoted labours for the
amelioration of the lot of women it is forbidden us
to deal, while to describe her social influence over
whatever is best in the worlds of literature and art
space is entirely wanting. Among those whose
names most frequently occur, and who seem to
have been most closely associated with LadyDilke's
intellectual growth and development, are Ruskin
(whose influence, though she often dissents from
him, is traceable), Browning, George Eliot,
Mark Pattison, Renan, G. F. Watts, Randolph
Caldecott, and Eugene Miintz, the head of the
Ecole des Beaux-Arts. Apart from the charac-
teristic work now first printed, some occasional
memoranda, quoted by Sir Charles from her note-
books, illustrate the essential nobility of her cha-
racter. While in Oxford she wrote: "The worst
to me of this life here is the sense of personal degra-
dationwhich accompanies theexercise of whatpeople
call ' tact." 1 feel more ashamed at small scheming
than I should (I think) at a crime. There is some-
thing morally lowering about ' management.' Once
out of it, however, it shakes off like dust." Another
phrase from a letter is, "To seek is nearly as good
as to find, for in seeking one finds also things one
did not seek." That Lady Dilke's eminently
poetical stories were written to "lay ghosts" we
now learn from her husband. In ' The Book of
the Spiritual Life' we find an observation as
hrewa as that of Montaigne, with a spiritual
insight which Maeterlinck might envy, the
whole illustrated by an erudition of a kind
elsewhere unusual, and illuminated by the
noblest and most widespread sympathies. Such
things vindicate their reproduction, for they are,
indeed, too good to be lost. We know not where,
also, among English writers we can find familiarity
with the 'Divine Comedy ' accompanied by know-
ledge of the 'Songe de Poliphile' and the fabliaux
of Rutebeuf. The case is worthy of the jewel, the
book being a bibliographical treasure. It contains
some very interesting and striking designs by Lady
Dilke, whose command of the pencil was not less
than that of the pen her thumbnail sketches and
lighter products are delightful (see that of the
Boggart opposite p. 64) and has three charming
portraits, showing her at various ages. One por-
trait, the last ever taken, presents her as her
friends will remember her, with a face indicative
of past suffering, but sanguine, hopeful, and, in a
sense, radiant.
A Xcu; Variorum Edition of Shakespeare. Edited by Horace Howard Furness. Vol. XtV. Love's Labour's Lost. (Philadelphia, J. B. Lippincott Company.)
CONTINUING zealously his self-imposed and worthily discharged task, Dr. Horace Howard Furness has brought within reach of the student in the Ame- rican Variorum Edition the principal tragedies of Shakespeare, and is now proceeding seriatim through the comedies. Resisting the temptation to deal primarily with the plays which are most frequently acted, and seem therefore to put forth the most pressing claims, he is giving in their turn works which, like the present, are all but unknown to the modern stage. ' Love's Labour 's Lost ' enjoys the distinction (almost, if not quite unique) of having remained unacted in post-Restoration time until the days of Plielps at Sadler's Wells, involving a presumable absence from the stage of
two hundred and fifty odd years 1604 to 1857. AID
anonymous adaptation for the stage was prepared
in 1762. This, however, seems to have remained
unperformed. In the large, if inchoate, index to
Genest the only mention of 'Love's Labour's Lost'
stands opposite a reference to this work which few
of the most ardent students of Shakespeare can
have seen and to which few are likely to turn.
By consent, virtually general, 'Love's Labour's
Lost' is held the earliest in date of the Shake-
spearian plays. It is usually regarded as the-
weakest also. Dr. Johnson almost alone seems
disposed to cast doubts upon its authorship, and
Hazlitt says, though he subsequently goes far
towards retracting his utterance, that " if we were
to part with any of the author's comedies it would
be this." On the other hand, Mr. Swinburne, in
the course of a divinely inspired comment, says-
that in the language of 'Love's Labour's Lost' we
find "a very riot of rhymes, wild and wanton in
their half-grown grace as a troop of 'young satyrs,
tender hoofed and ruddy horned' ; during certain-
scenes we seem almost to stand again by the cradle-
of new-born comedy, and hear the first lisping and
laughing accents run over from her baby lips in*
bubbling rhyme ; but when the note changes we-
recognixe the speech of gods." Dr. Furness's effort
in this, as in preceding volumes, is to supply the
text of the first edition, with all the variants
noted at the foot of the text, and with the prin-
cipal verbal comments below. Once more the task
of reducing to the test of reason the wild conjec-
tures of critics is carried out, and the influence
of the editor is ever on the side of common sense.
Close and continuous study of the text seems, how-
ever, to exercise a bewildering influence, and the
editor, though one of the sanest of his class, and by
far the most sound in view as to the limits of emen-
dation, is disposed at times to be, we hold, over
tolerant. There are five passages in 'Love's-
Labour's Lost' which are held to defy all attempt
at explanation. These have to be passed over,
since illumination is now scarcely like to reach
us. There are many others in which conjecture
needlessly darkens counsel. In respect of the in-
tention of the work to make sport of euphuism, a
subject on which much is said. Dr. Furness has
many wise words. The view also that Biron and
Rosaline are studies for Benedick and Beatrice is-
far from finding plenary acceptance. Nothing in
the editorial matter is of more account than the
comparison between the two pairs of lovers. In
Act II. sc. i. 1. 87, it is asked if the use of the
word/dire by Boyet, addressing the Princess, in
Navar had notice of your faire approach,
is not "somewhat suspicious." We think not so in the least; nor do we hold that any difficulty such as is suggested is found, 1. 97, in the King's reference to the Court of Navar. In this, as in other cases, as we have before said, a sort of obtuse- ness seems the result of close investigation. In the last sentences of his preface Dr. Furness takes the right view: "Be then and there the drowsy hum of commentators uncared for and unheard." In language we frequently employ, we say that read- ing ' Love's Labour 's Lost ' is like repose on summer grass, and him who regards such indulgence as waste time we leave to himself. The selection of comments at the close is edifying and valuable, and the book is a thrice-welcome addition to the treasure-house the editor is providing.
