Montaigne and Shakspere Part 8

[19] "O heaven! a beast that wants discourse of reason" (Act I, Scene 2.)

[20] Act II, Sc. 2.

[21] Act IV, Scene 2.

[22] Act IV, Scene 4.

[23] See Furniss's Variorum edition of _Hamlet, in loc._

[24] B. I, Chap. 19; Edit. Firmin-Didot, vol. i, p. 68.

[25] B. II, Chap. 4; Ed. cited, p. 382.

[26] B. II, Chap. 12; _Ibid_, p. 459.

[27] B. II, Chap. 33.

[28] _Shakespere and Montaigne_, 1884, p. 88.

[29] B. III, Chap. 12.

[30] Act III, Scene 3.

[31] B. I, ch. 22.

[32] Act II, Scene 2.

[33] _Oth.e.l.lo_, Act II, Scene 3.

[34] B. I, ch. 40, "That the taste of goods or evils doth greatly depend on the opinion we have of them."

[35] B. I, ch. 50.

[36] B. I, ch. 22.

[37] B. III, ch. 10.

[38] Act V, Scene 4.

[39] On reverting to Mr. Feis's book I find that in 1884 he had noted this and others of the above parallels, which I had not observed when writing on the subject in 1883. In view of some other parallels and clues drawn by him, our agreements leave me a little uneasy. He decides, for instance (p. 93) that Hamlet's phrase "foul as Vulcan's st.i.thy" is a "sly thrust at Florio" who in his preface calls himself "Montaigne's Vulcan"; that the Queen's phrase "thunders in the index" is a reference to "the Index of the Holy See and its thunders"; and that Hamlet's lines "Why let the stricken deer go weep" are clearly a satire against Montaigne, "who fights shy of action." Mr. Feis's book contains so many propositions of this order that it is difficult to feel sure that he is ever judicious. Still, I find myself in agreement with him on some four or five points of textual coincidence in the two authors.

[40] Act I, Scene 4.

[41] B. II, Chap. 33.

[42] It is further relevant to note that in the essay _Of Drunkenness_ (ii. 2) Montaigne observes that "drunkenness amongst others appeareth to me a gross and brutish vice,"

that "the worst estate of man is where he loseth the knowledge and government of himself," and that "the grossest and rudest nation that liveth amongst us at this day, is only that which keepeth it in credit." The reference is to Germany: but Shakspere in _Oth.e.l.lo_ (Act II, Sc. 3) makes Iago p.r.o.nounce the English harder drinkers than either the Danes or the Hollanders; and the lines:

"This heavy-headed revel, east and west, Makes us traduced and taxed of other nations; They clepe us drunkards, and with swinish phrase, Soil our addition."

might also be reminiscent of Montaigne, though of course there is nothing peculiar in such a coincidence.

[43] B. III, Chap. 7.

[44] B. III, Chap. 4.

[45] B. III, Chap. 10.

[46] B. III, Chap. 2.

[47] B. III, Chap. 13.

[48] B. I, Chap. 38.

[49] B. III, Chap. 4.

[50] B. I, Chap. 40.

[51] B. II, Chap. 8.

[52] B. II, Chap. 18.

[53] _De Officus_ i, 4: _cf._ 30.

[54] 1534, 1558, 1583, 1600. See also the compilation ent.i.tled _A Treatise of Morall Philosophie_ by W. Baudwin, 4th enlargement by T. Paulfreyman. 1600, pp. 44-46, where there is a closely parallel pa.s.sage from Zeno as well as that of Cicero.

[55] Mr. Feis makes this attribution.

[56] B. II, Chap. 1.

[57] This may fairly be argued, perhaps, even of the somewhat close parallel, noted by Mr. Feis, between Laertes'

lines (I, 3):

"For nature, crescent, does not grow alone In thews and bulk, but as this temple waxes The inward service of the mind and soul Grows wide withal,"

and Florio's rendering of an extract from Lucretius in the _Apology_

"The mind is with the body bred, we do behold.

It jointly grows with it, it waxeth old."

Only the slight coincidence of the use of the (then familiar) verb "wax" in both pa.s.sages could suggest imitation in the case of such a well-worn commonplace.

[58] See some cited at the close of this essay in another connection.

[59] B. II, Chap. 12.

[60] Act IV, Scene 3.

[61] "_Le monde est un branloire perenne_" (Book III, Essay 2). Florio translates that particular sentence: "The world runs all on wheels" a bad rendering.