Notes and Queries, Number 187, May 28, 1853: A Medium of Inter-communication for Literary Men, Artists, Antiquaries, Genealogists, etc.Various
History
Notes and Queries, Number 187, May 28, 1853: A Medium of Inter-communication for Literary Men, Artists, Antiquaries, Genealogists, etc.
Various
Questions and answers -- Periodicals
In reply to J. M. G. of Worcester, who inquires for a MS. volume of English
poetry containing some lines attributed to Shakspeare, and which is
described in Thorpe's _Catalog_ of MSS. for 1831, I can supply some
particulars which may assist him in the research. The MS., which at one
period had belonged to Joseph Hazlewood, was purchased from Thorpe by the
late Lord Viscount Kingsborough; after whose decease it was sold, in
November, 1842, at Charles Sharpe's literary sale room, Anglesea Street,
Dublin. It is No. 574. in the auction catalogue of that part of his
lordship's library which was then brought to auction.
The volume has been noticed by Patrick Fraser Tytler, in his _Life of Sir
Walter Raleigh_, Edinburgh, 1833 (in Appendix B, p. 436., of 2nd edit.),
where, citing the passage from Collier, which is referred to by J. M. G.,
he asserts that the lines are not Shakspeare's, but Jonson's. But he does
not appear to me to have established his case beyond doubt; as the lines,
though found among Jonson's works, may, notwithstanding, be the production
of some other writer: and why not of Shakspeare, to whom they are ascribed
in the MS.? Some verses by Sir J. C. Hobhouse originally appeared as Lord
Byron's: and there are {524} numerous instances, both ancient and modern,
of a similar attribution of works to other than their actual authors.
ARTERUS.
Dublin.
_The Island of Prospero._--We cannot assert that Shakspeare, in the
_Tempest_, had any particular island in view as the scene of his immortal
drama, though by some this has been stoutly maintained. Chalmers prefers
one of the Bermudas. The Rev. J. Hunter, in his _Disquisition on the Scene,
&c. of the Tempest_, endeavours to confer the honour on the Island of
Lampedosa. In reference to this question, a statement of the
pseudo-Aristotle is remarkable. In his work "[Greek: peri thaumasion
akousmaton]," he mentions Lipara, one of the AEolian Islands, lying to the
north of Sicily, and nearly in the course of Shakspeare's Neapolitan fleet
from Tunis to Naples. Among the [Greek: polla teratode] found there, he
tells us:
"[Greek: Exakouesthai gar tumpanon kai kumbalon echon gelota te meta
thorubou kai krotalon enargos. legousi de ti teratodesteron gegonenai
peri to spelaion.]"
If we compare this with the aerial music heard by Ferdinand (_Tempest_, I.
2.), especially as the orchestra is represented by the genial burin of M.
Retsch in the fifth plate of his well-known sketches (_Umrisze_), it will
appear probable that Shakspeare was acquainted with the Greek writer either
in the original or through a translation. As far as I am aware, this has
not been observed by any of the commentators.--From _The Navorscher_.
J. M.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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