ed on the same words:--
"Doe women bring no helpe of soule to men?
Why, friend, they either are mens soules themselves
Or the most witty imitatrixes of them,
Or prettiest _sweet apes_ of humane soules."
From a reference to Queen Elizabeth in Act I., Scene I., it is clear
that _Sir Gyles Goosecappe_ was written not later than 1603. The lines I
have quoted may have been added later; or our author may have seen the
_Gentleman Usher_ in manuscript.
Chapman's influence is again (_me judice_) apparent in the eloquent but
somewhat strained language of such a passage as the following:--
"Alas, my noble Lord, he is not rich,
Nor titles hath, nor in his tender cheekes
The standing lake of _Impudence_ corrupts;
Hath nought in all the world, nor nought wood have
To grace him in the prostituted light.
But if a man wood consort with a soule
Where all mans sea of gall and bitternes
Is quite evaporate with her holy flames,
And in whose powers a Dove-like innocence
Fosters her own deserts, and life and death
Runnes hand in hand before them, all the skies
Cleare and transparent to her piercing eyes.
Then wood my friend be something, but till then
A _cipher_, nothing, or the worst of men."
_Sir Gyles Goosecappe_ is the work of one who had chosen the "fallentis
semita vitae"; who was more at home in Academic cloisters than in the
crowded highways of the world. None of the characters bears any
impression of having been drawn from actual life. The plot is of the
thinnest possible texture; but the fire of verbal quibbles is kept up
with lively ingenuity, and plenty of merriment may be drawn from the
humours of the affectate traveller and the foolish knight by all who are
not
"of such vinegar aspect
That they'll not show their teeth in way of smile,
Though Nestor swear the jest be laughable."
The romantic friendship between the noble Lord Monford and the
thoughtful Clarence is a pleasing study, planned and executed with a
grave, sweet sincerity. It is not improbable that Clarence was the
prototype of Charles in Fletcher's _Elder Brother_. The finest passage
in the present play, where Clarence's modesty and Monford's nobility are
portrayed in language of touching charm, was selected by Charles Lamb
(whose judgment was never at fault) for quotation in the "Extracts from
the Garrick Plays."
A second edition of _Si
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