This thought suddenly arose in my mind, and instantly made my blood rise to my head. An involuntary cry escaped me; I tottered; my heavy legs ceased moving; I fell to the floor. Darkness spread over my soul.
(To be continued)
Translated from the Bohemian by Josef Jiři Král.
SHAKESPEARE’S COMPLIMENT TO BRANTÔME.
In that solemn vision of Shakespearian grandeur, ‘The Tempest,’ we meet a passage taken substantively, in part, verbally, through the medium of Florio’s translation of 1603, from that Prince of Causeurs, Le sieur de Montaigne. And commentators, mid due flourish and wealth of foot-notes, have acknowledged Montaigne’s passage to be the prototype of the passage in ‘The Tempest.’ Capell first pointed out the likeness of the two passages. Rolfe, in his introduction to ‘The Tempest,’ says: “We must therefore believe that the play was written after that time [1603], unless we adopt the hypothesis that Shakespeare had seen Florio’s work in manuscript.” White observes: “The passage is plainly taken from Montaigne’s essays. Shakespeare might have read the essay (Montaigne’s) in the original; but the identity of phrase in the play and the translation (Florio’s) indicate the latter as the source of Gonzalo’s policy.” Hudson observes, in his introduction to ‘The Tempest,’ that the resemblance between the passages in point is too close to have been accidental. It is clear as mid-noon that Gonzalo and Montaigne must have been together and fed on one thought.”
In future, commentators must assert as much of Gloucester’s bastard son and Brantôme. Shakespeare’s use of an English translation of Montaigne has led some to suppose that the great poet could not have known French, could not have been au courant with the French literature of his period. And solemn polyglots, mindless of Shakespeare’s
