PR3on p • D71 ^ THE JNG DESIDERATED KNOWLEDGE OF THE LIFE & PERSONALITY OF SHAKSPEARE. By CLE LI a, AUTHOR OF **GOD IN SHAKSPEARE," AND GREAT PAN LIVES." *' Les faits primitifs et elementaires semblent nous avoir ete caches par la nature avec autant de soin que les causes ; et quand on parvient a les voir, c'est un spectacle tout nouveau et entierement imprevu." — Fontenelle. LONDON : LUZAC AND CO. (OPPOSITE THE BRITISH MUSEUB UNIVERSITY OF N.C. AT CHAPEL HILL 00021546365 I This book is due at the LOUIS R. WILSON LIBRARY on the last date stamped under "Date Due." If not on hold it may be renewed by bringing it to the library. DATE OPT- DUE DATE DUE llH- m — GOD IN SHAKSPEARE: EVOLUTION OF THE IDEAL IN THE POETS WORKS. By CLELIA. 6s. GREAT PAN LIVES: A SPECIAL STUDY OF THE EVOLUTION OF THE IDEAL IN THE SONNETS. By CLELIA. 3s. 6d. NOTES OF THE CLELIAN CRITICISM. *'A knowledge of Shakspeare unrivalled except by Mr. Swinburne." — Glasgow Herald. *'A thorough textual knowledge of Shakspeare." — Art and Literature. " Painstaking labour and elaborate research." — Publisher's Circular. " Intelligent and scholarly, acute and careful." — Daily Chronicle, Keen and clever ^Xi7\\:^%\s.'''' —Scotsman. Really profound insight." — Scotsman. "Great literary insight." — Western Morning News. " Rare energy." — Glasgow Herald. " Still rarer subtlety." — Glasgow Herald. "Argument cleverly sustained." — Art and Literature. " Most suggestive." — Scots?nan. " Original." — Graphic. " The astonished reader may be led with fearful pleasure." — Graphic. PUBLISHERS : LUZAC & CO. (Opposite the British Museum), LONDON. THE LONG DESIDERATED KNOWLEDGE OF THE LIFE & PERSONALITY OF SHAKSPEARE. By CLE LI a, AUTHOR OF *^GOD IN SHAKSPEARE," AND GREAT PAN LIVES." Les faits primitifs et elementaires semblent nous avoir ete caches par la nature avec autant de soin que les causes ; et quand on parvient a les voir, c'est un spectacle tout nouveau et entierement imprevu." — Fontenelle. LONDON : LUZAC AND CO. (opposite the BRITISH MUSEUM). PRINTED BY THE BLACK AND WHITE PUBLISHING COMPANY, LIMITE©, BOUVERIE STREET, LONDON, E.G. TABLE OF CONTENTS. PAGE Preface vii Mental Optics 9 The Long Desiderated Knowledge 21 The Types in "The Tempest," "Winter's Tale," and " Cymbeline " 22 Comparative Table of the Evolution of the Ideal in Shakspeare 27 Shakspeare's Life Conversion of the World to the Spirit in " The Tempest " Conversion of the Spirit to the World in " Winter's Tale " Reconciliation of the World and the Spirit in " Cymbeline " The Koh-i-nor of the Comparative Method 29 Shakspeare's Self-identification v^^ith Beauty in the Sonnets 30 Conclusion: Great Pan Lives ... 33 Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2014 https://archive.org/details/longdesideratedkOOdown PREFACE. In "God in Shakspeare" and its appendix "Great Pan Lives," I have given the world the long desiderated knowledge of the life and personality of Shakspeare — knowledge based upon five corroborate strata of textual evidence, and the result of scientific method (analysis, comparison, synthesis, deduction, verification) working both in literal and literary perception. ^ This result I propose in the present pamphlet to sketch in general outline, apart, as far as possible, from evidence and argument ; in order that, unmingled with its demonstration in detail, it may be grasped more readily by my Readers, and that others, who may have been repelled from my works by their inevitable complexity, may obtain a general notion of the Truth which they are asked to examine and verify for themselves. viii PREFACE Upon the threshold, however, there is needed a dissertation upon Mental Optics or the Science of Types, a science known to Shakspeare and magnificently applied by him, but forgotten apparently by this specially scientific age. MENTAL OPTICS. Mental Optics or the Science of Types has a threefold interest, first, in its bearing on a controversy which has occupied philosophy for 2000 years upon the nature of abstract ideas, secondly, in its bearing on the present day topic of the reconciliation of Religion and Science, thirdly, in its bearing on what has been called the enigma of the life and personality of Shakspeare. In my works " God in Shakspeare and " Great Pan Lives," it seems to me, I have solved this enigma so completely, that the man Shakspeare may now be known more intimately, more essentially and to the very heart, than any man that ever lived. To this end I have had to turn out the full ideal content of the poet's types. Now there are those who affirm that only over-subtlety can credit Shakspeare with the use of types. Here, therefore, I shall show that this use is universal to humanity; from which it will follow that only the extreme of over-subtlety can suppose the use absent from Shakspeare. I shall begin by showing that we invariably think an abstract idea by a type, then illustrate applications of this law in Language, Art, and Religion, pointing out that it constitutes an important scientific justification of religion. This will clear the way and dispose to intelligent consideration of Shakspeare's application of the law in his writings, and bring us to the main purpose of the present pamphlet. In this order we shall pro- ceed from the simple to the complex. Language will throw light on Art, both on Religion, and all three on Shakspeare. The following statement appears not to be in disagreement with the opinion of any school of philosophy about abstract ideas : — We think an abstract idea not only by a name^ which serves lO MENTAL OPTICS. as general name for a class^ but also by an image which serves as representative image for the class. Now a type is an object or its image representative of an abstract idea and a class; for example, we say, Wolsey is a type of ambition and ambitious men. (It must be noted that as a type is of a class, so it may be referred to any particular of a class. We say, the eagle is type of Milton, because the eagle is type of the class sublime, and Milton is subHme. Thus the type of a particular is the type of the class, and the definition above given is true in all cases). From this defini- tion it might seem to follow at once that the image, represen- tative of a class, by which we think an abstract idea, is a type. At present, however, I have used the word representative without reference to mode of representation. A M.P. repre- sents his constituents, yet may not be a type of his constituents; so the image by which we think an abstract idea would not be a type unless it be similarly representative of a class. But upon analysis it appears there are ten kinds of this image, which correspond respectively to ten kinds of the type; from which we may conclude that this image is always a type, or that we always think an abstract idea by a type. In enumerating and discussing these varieties it will be needless to attend to a distinction between the type as seen, the object, and the type as thought, its image ; and we must take it as axiomatic that whatever would commonly be called a type is a type, the commonness of application determining the rightness of application of the word. VARIETIES OF THE TYPE. I. Accidental. — For example-. To prove a proposition true of all triangles, I begin by thinking the abstract idea, triangle, by a particular triangle (accidentally of this or the other form) which I immediately draw. The triangle thus drawn anyone would be apt to call a type of all MENTAL OPTICS. II triangles in respect of the proposition. The mental image then of which it is a copy is also a type; so that I have thought the abstract idea triangle by a type. 2. Frequent. — For example-. A considerable number of costermongers affect a peculiar dress; in consequence, I think the abstract idea, the costermonger, by thinking of a man in this peculiar dress. Going to the theatre, I see my idea embodied on the stage, and everybody calls the copy a type. I have thought, therefore, the abstract idea the costermonger by a type. 3. Recurrent. — For example : In thinking of English weather I think of a rainy day, because rainy days recur in England again and again ; for the same reason every- body calls a rainy day typical English weather. I have thought, therefore, the abstract idea English weather by a type. 4. Vivid. — For example'. I think the abstract idea explosive by thinking of dynamite, because of its sensational effects; for the same reason, any one wanting to characterise dynamite briefly would be apt to call it a typical explosive. I have thought, therefore, the abstract idea explosive by a type. 5. Perfect. — For example: I think the abstract idea rose by thinking of an exquisite rose which I saw the other day. Now, anyone seeing this rose might have exclaimed as I did, " What a perfect type I have thought, therefore, the abstract idea rose by a type. A Special Case. — A painter who broods upon the idea of the "human face divine" may have at last an almost hallucinative image satisfying the idea. This image transferred to canvas would be called a type. The painter, therefore, will have thought the abstract idea " human face divine " by a type. 12 MENTAL OPTICS. 6. Generic. — For example\ If a statistician knows the average stature of humanity, he would be hkely to think the abstract idea human stature by thinking of a man of the average stature. Now, meeting a man of the average stature, he would unhesitatingly think him a type. Therefore also in thinking the abstract idea human stature by thinking of a man of the average stature, he would think it by a type. A Special Case. — Just as there may be an image of the perfect formed in the mind by an unconscious process, so there may be an image of the generic similarly formed. Upon this point I may quote Professor Huxley (" Life of Hume"): "An anatomist who occupies himself intently with the examination of several specimens of some new kind of animal, in course of time acquires so vivid a con- ception of its form and structure that the idea may take visible shape and become a sort of waking dream. But the figure which thus presents itself is generic and not specific. It is no copy of one specimen but more or less a mean of the series.*' Such an image transferred to canvas would be called a type. The anatomist, therefore, will have thought of the new animal by a type. 7. Sub-generic. — As there is an unconscious travail of the mind which at times may form perfect or generic images, so this unconscious travail is ever forming sub-generic images or generic images of our experience. In these allowance must be made for repetition and vividness of impressions. If my experience of a class of three parti- culars a^ this allowance being made, may be repre- ■ sented thus, 998 a ■\- b -V then may the generic image of my experience of this class be represented thus, 998 a -\- b -\- c 2 a - b - c j/^u 1^ . — or <^ - ; and (the subtra- 1000 1000 hend being very small) would be indistinguishable from MENTAL OPTICS. 13 an image of a particular of the class. The sub-generic image then is a variant between the generic and the particular, and is more or less generic according as our experience is less or more unequally distributed to the particulars of a class. If, in default of any other kind of image, I should think the abstract idea man, by a sub- generic image or generic image of my experience, it would be one in which the white man would predominate over the yellow man and the black man, the Englishman over the foreign white, my own relatives, friends, and acquaintances over other Englishmen, and possibly a near relative or friend over all. (The reader may know that there is a certain school of philosophers, called Nominal- ists, who assert that we think an abstract idea always by an image of the particular; and another school, called Conceptualists, who assert that we may think an abstract idea by a generic image. From the considerations above it would appear that occasionally, at any rate, the image may be at once both generic and particular.) If the sub- generic image be indistinguishable from the particular, it will be a type under other heads; but if it be distin- guishable, then transferred to canvas it would be called a type. In thinking, therefore, the abstract idea by a sub- generic image, we think it by a type. 8. Associated. — For example: In thinking the abstract idea baronet I think of a Red Hand, the heraldic sign of the order. Now, any one seeing a Red Hand upon a coach would be apt to say : That typifies a baronet within. I have thought, therefore, the abstract idea baronet by a type. 9. Objective. — By this I mean an objective type of the sub- jective. The objective and subjective may be felt to possess a common nameless quality. Light and know- ledge, for example, have something nameless in common. 14 MENTAL OPTICS. But, in words of Sir W. Hamilton : " Language usually confounds the objective and the subjective under a common term.''^ Hardness, for example, is a common term for rock and for resolution. In thinking of resolu- tion, through the common term hardness, I think of a rock; and rock will be recognised as a common type of resolution. I have thought, therefore, the abstract idea moral hardness by a type. lo. Subjective.— By this I mean a subjective type of the objective. For exa7nple\ Lear cries, "Blow winds and crack your cheeks," thinking the objective blowing of the wind by the subjective image of a face with mouth and distended cheeks blowing, because he himself would have blown in this manner. This subjective image reproduced by art would be called a type. Lear, therefore, thought the abstract idea blowing by a type. These ten varieties of the type are not presented as mutually exclusive. It is probable that in the majority of cases, a type could be classified under more than one head ; but this is not practically an objection to the classification. Aristotle's ten categories of the abstract idea reduce to one, yet they have been found convenient. Having now shown that we always think an abstract idea by a type, I proceed next to give examples of the use of the type, instead of or in combination with the abstract term or general name, in Language, Art, and Religion. Each example will be referred by number to one of the ten varieties of the type. LANGUAGE. Argot. — " Bank notes are invented ; the thieves call them fafiots garates^ from the name of Garat, the cashier who signs them. Fafiot ! Do you not hear the rustling of the silken paper? . . . In this idiom . . . what poetry!" (Balzac : Splendeurs et Miseres des Courtisanes.) MENTAL OPTICS. IS Thus the French thieves invented a name to suggest a type of the French bank note, a subjective image composed of two prominent and constant features of the note, and in their famihar talk substituted this name, fafiot garate^ for billet de hanque (7). Slang. — In betting parlance a small stake is called a pony, because naturally to horsey men the type of smallness would be a small horse (2). (It must not be supposed that I wish to explain all slang, any more than all Language, Art, Religion, and Shakspeare, by a single principle.) Another example, jaw for talk, is apparently an associated type (8). Americanisms. — When Abraham Lincoln was asked to change his generals in full campaign he did not answer in abstract terms as Mr. Gladstone might have done, that this would be to show a rash mutability of confidence in time of danger. He used a type. He said it would be swapping horses in crossing a stream (4). Political Terms. — At the English Revolution the most terrible members of the Stuart faction were the Irish rapparees or Tories. A Tory therefore became a vivid type (4) of the faction. Then the name Tory was applied to the faction and to each member of it. The most persistent members of the revolutionary faction were the Whigs or Scotch Covenanters. A Whig therefore became the recurrent type (3) of the faction. Then the name Whig was applied to the faction and to each member of it. New Terms. — In our time the abstract term exclusive dealing suggests the type Captain Boycott, and the word boycotting has entered the language to signify exclusive dealing. As the Captain did not deal exclusively himself but suffered from the exclusive dealing of others he would seem to be an example of the objective type (9). Ordinary Language. — A snowy character for a pure i6 MENTAL OPTICS. character. Here snow, a type of purity, is substituted for purity (9). Poetical Language. Pity, like a naked new born babe Striding the blast, or heaven's cherubin, horsed Upon the sightless couriers of the air, Shall blow the horrid deed in every eye That tears shall drown the wind. " Naked new-born babe," type of pity, because the most pitiful of objects. As the thing pitied is here type of pity, it is an objective type of the subjective (9). " Heaven's cherubin," type of the sweet heavenly quality of pity (9 and 7). " Blast, air, wind " type of wide dispersion (2) in this case of the news of the crime through the pity it would excite. Couriers" type of swiftness (4). " Tears," type of compassion (8). " Drown the wind," type of overflowing everywhere (2). General Terms themselves, often obviously, are derived from types, as government, ultimately, from gubernare, to steer (4). ART. The type that flashes in Language is fixed in Art. A sculptor represents Justice by a female figure with a sword in one hand and a pair of scales in the other. The female figure is an associated type (8) ; for as we see all virtues in woman, so we are apt to see woman in all virtues. The sword is an associated type (8) of the execution of justice ; and the scales, the objective type (9) of weighing evidence and argu- ment. A painter, commissioned to paint a picture to be called Labour," would paint some form of Labour, as, for example, a man reaping. This is a vivid type (4), such as would occur not only to the artist's mind but also to the mind of everyone MENTAL OPTICS. at the mention of the word Labour, Hence, as a representa- tion of Labour, it would give universal satisfaction, being so completely agreeable to the nature of the human mind. If a painter had received, during the Crimean War, a commission to paint a picture to be called "Valour," the moment he heard this title, inevitably he would think of the Balaclava charge and of Lord Cardigan, the leader of it. If then, over the title " Valour," he had represented Lord Cardigan riding through the smoke up to the mouths of the Russian guns, sabreing the gunners, he would have given general satisfaction, for everyone else at that time, at the mention of the word Valour, would think of Lord Cardigan under the circumstances represented. That the horseman would be a portrait would not take in the slightest degree from the typical character of the picture. Thus to the mind a living man may represent an abstract idea (4) In literature the typical instance of the use of the type is Bunyan's " Pilgrim's Progress," for in that work it is professed simple and obvious. Bunyan thought of Hope by a type, the hopeful man, and this type he uses to represent a sentiment in Christian's mind that buoys him over the river of Death, and a class of men, whom one happily meets on one's earthly pilgrimage, who are naturally hopeful. We think an abstract idea by a type of a class; and Bunyan applies this law in his allegory, not only in giving us '*one Hopeful," but also "one Faithful," "one Shame," "one Sloth," " one Ignorance," &c., characters whom we may judge as a rule to be sub-generic types (7). It would be singular, indeed, if a principle common to the minds of all men had been illustrated in Literature only by Bunyan. The fact is, throughout Literature from Homer to Zola are to be found types representing abstract ideas. Generally, however, it is felt to be an artistic defect vvhen such characters are called by abstract names. When i^schylus represents Prometheus bound to the rock by Strength and Force, he offends by a transparent sham. From him we B i8 MENTAL OPTICS. want personal names for his characters. Why we are content and even pleased with Bunyan's abstract names for his characters I leave to be determined by analysis, for there seem to be more reaso-ns than would justify a digression in this place. RELIGION. The idea of Power in Nature we are apt to think by the subjective type (lo) of a man exercising power, and the power exercised by the vivid type (4) of the lightning. Thus was ^ born the type, Jupiter hurling the lightning. After this fashion I might review all Olympus, Valhalla, &c., recognising, how- ever, that these imaginary regions are subject to other laws of the human mind besides the one of which I have made Jupiter an example. But it will be sufficient if in Religion I confine myself to Christianity, which has a direct bearing on Shakspeare. The Hebrews appear to have conceived Power in Nature in a special way, as making for righteousness, as laying down the moral law, as lawgiver, and so by a subjective type (10), as a magnified Moses. In rationalising the moral law into a law of Love, Christ changed the character of the lawgiver, and thought of and represented him, no longe-r as a jealous tyrant, but as a rational and loving Father (10). As Christ was firmly convinced that he was in full possession of moral Truth, so he never thought of Truth without thinking of himself as its immediate type. For just as Bunyan thought Hope by the type a Hopeful man, so Christ thought Truth by the type a Truthful man, the perfect type, himself (5). This < led him to say, " I am the Truth." A type to himself, he fixed himself by Art, as type for all men. He was his own material, and carved himself into a flesh-statue, to be lifted up and draw all men unto him. This is the most memorable example of that fixing of religious types by Art, which has MENTAL OPTICS. 19 been, and should be again, its chief function, one vivifying in itself to Art and beneficent to mankind. It is said that God is Truth. This, no doubt, is an instance of what Hamilton remarks, " Language usually confounds the objective and the subjective under a common term." Locke, at any rate, denies that God, or in his language, " facts as they are," can be called Truth. Christ, however, like all the world except the Lockes and the Hamiltons, thought " God is Truth," and as he thought also, " I am Truth," he finally concluded I am God," and became a subjective type of the objective (10). As Truth is victorious in the end, and Christ thought himself Truth, so he imagined himself victorious in the end. At that time the Jews were expecting their Messiah, who should conquer the world and change the seat of empire from Rome to Zion. So Christ thought of and represented himself as victor by this image of Messiah, an objective type of the subjective (9), for the expected Messiah's victory was to be by physical force, while Christ's was to be by spiritual attractiveness. In our days the word Messiah has come to be used as a general name for those who identify themselves with Truth, and imagine themselves victorious with it in the end. In this use the original Messiah serves as vivid type (4) of a peculiar class of men. As Truth broods in the mind, and inspires right thoughts and actions, it is called the Holy Spirit; and as Christ's Truth, Holy Spirit or Comforter inspires mildness of character it is thought by a Dove, a type of brooding mildness (4). The reward of Virtue is exalted serenity, which we thinly by a type, the blue heaven, an objective type of the subjective (9). Hence it is the religious convention to say, the reward of Virtue is Heaven. The reward of Vice is degraded mi'Sery, which we think by the type, a man lying in a Hell or hollow place, where the worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched 20 MENTAL OPTICS. (9). Hence it is the religious convention to say that the reward of Vice is Hell. Spiritual degradation is typified also by Death, or the festering corruption of the grave (9), and the spiritually degraded are typified by the dead (9), As offences against the moral law are sure to be followed by a natural judgment upon the offenders, this Truth is expressed typically by saying that Christ (5) will surely come to judge (10) the world. On that day it is said the dead will rise from their graves. This means that when the spiritually degraded, or dead in trespasses and sins, find by experience that the way of transgressors is hard, then will they repent and recover from their apparently lost condition. In that day also they will learn to subdue the evil in their members, or typically on that day Satan will be bound down. As to Satan or the Devil, it is a sign how much better men are becoming that they are ceasing to think of evil by this subjective type (10). From this discussion of Christianity it will appear that the speculative difference between Science and Religion is due to Science forgetting that we think an abstract idea by a type. This brought to mind, it must also be remembered that Science is pure and applied, and as a physical law has its applications, so a mental law has its applications. Steam-locomotion is a scientific application of physical law, and type-attraction in religion is a scientific application of mental law. So far Religion is Applied Science. Out of Mental Optics then comes an important scientific justification of Religion. This scientific justification is also artistic, for Mental Optics is applied in Art, and is a part of Art. Religion and Art together rise, flourish and fade with the science of Mental Optics. THE LONG DESIDERATED KNOWLEDGE. Having now shown that universally men think an abstract idea by a type, and that commonly they use the type for the abstract term in Language, Art, and Religion, we are ready to consider Shakspeare's types, unprejudiced by the blind assump- that it is over-subtle to suppose that he uses them; on the contrary, with the conviction that naturally he uses them, and that if he did not he would not be the first-born son of Nature that he is. The types of "The Tempest," "Winter's Tale," and "Cym- beline," for the most part, resemble Bunyan's types, except that they bear personal names. It will be remembered (see Mental Optics, under Art) that by an artistic application of the law that we think an abstract idea by a type of a class, Bunyan's Hopeful represents at once Hope in Christian's mind, and a class of men in the world. Shakspeare's types, with exceptions, are similarly doubly representative, and the mazy involution of these " demi-puppets " represents at once the moral evolution of Shakspeare and the world, an artistic feat rendered possible by the fact that both these evolutions are evolutions of the Ideal, or that the conflict of ideas, passions, principles in the mind, and the conflict of classes in the world is the same conflict under two aspects, subjective and objective, and tends generally to one end, the realisation of the Ideal. First I shall take the types seriatim and assign to each its meaning, together with a number to suggest inerely what kind of type it is (see Mental Optics, Varieties of the Type). By a table I shall then enable the reader to compare the evolution of the Ideal in the Hfe of Shakspeare, as induced from the Sonnets 22 THE LONG DESIDERATED KNOWLEDGE. and Plays in order to " The Tempest," with the corresponding evolutions of the ideal in the individual and the world, as they maybe turned out mechanically from "The Tempest," "Winter's Tale," and " Cymbeline," when once the ideal contents of the types are determined. For exposition in detail of the several evolutions I refer the reader to " God in Shakspeare." Here I am confined to giving in condensed form the general results of my criticism. After the table I shall draw a conclusion, which, as it has been impeached, loudly but unreasonably, by preju- diced hurry, I call emphatically the Koh-i-nor of the Compara- tive Method. There will then only remain to expound briefly the poet's self-identification with Beauty in the Sonnets. THE TYPES OF "THE TEMPEST." Alonzo, King of Naples (4). — Man individually and man collectively, humanity and the world. He is, however, specially representative of the human mind, of intelligent man and the intelligent class. Naples is merely a word used instead of the word world. Sebastian, his brother (7). — Inertia of the mind, sloth, laissez-faire^ the lazy class. Inertia is a natural companion to the mind, typically brother (3) to it. Prospero, the rightful Duke of Milan (5, 10). — Prospero is Shakspeare, Truth (the moral law) and Nature in one, or Shakspeare at one with Truth and Nature. He represents also the Spirit of Wisdom in the world, and the whole class of truly wise, spiritually minded men, both con- temporary and successive. He is a perfect type (5), and in respect of Nature a subjective type of the objective (10). Milan is simply a name for the sphere of human conduct which should be governed by moral law (Prospero). Antonio, his brother, the usurping Duke of Milan (7). — Self-interest, greed, ambition ; self-interested, greedy, THE LONG DESIDERATED KNOWLEDGE. 23 ambitious men. Self-interest is typically brother (3) to the moral law, for that also is self-interest, though not commonly so called. Ferdinand, son to the King of Naples (4). — Man's lost youthful virtue, which he may find again, his better part and new Adam ; the lost primitive virtue of the world, the better part of mankind — Prince Posterity. GONZALO, an honest OLD COUNSELLOR (7). Good will, ^ good hope ; men of good will and good hope. Caliban, a savage and deformed Slave (5). — Rude will, the body, men of rude will, barbarism, the mob. (To Caliban's fins I will refer presently.) Trinculo, a Jester (4). — Folly, foolish men. Stephano, a drunken Butler (7). — Sensuality, sensual men. Miranda, daughter to Prospero (5). — The Ideal, the ideal woman. Ariel, an airy Spirit. — Thought in all modes of mani- festation ; Shakspeare's thought and everybody's thought. The air throughout the play is also representative of thought. Ariel is a subjective type (10) of the objective air, which itself is objective type (9) of the subjective thought. Iris. — Associated type of Peace (8). Juno. — Associated type of Heaven (8), itself type (9) of the Ideal. Ceres. — Associated type of Earth (8), itself associated type ♦ (8) of humanity. Nymphs. — Perfect types (5) of women. Reapers. — Vivid types (4) of men. Sycorax. — (Sow-raven) Error, above all moral Error or Vice. As witch, Sycorax is a vivid type (4). 24 THE LONG DESIDERATED KNOWLEDGE, Setebos (io). — Destiny as conceived by Error. Claribel (9). — Fair-seeming, expediency. / King of Tunis (4). — Wickedness. The Sea (9). — Human life as will. The type of Rude Will, Caliban has fins (9) given him to relate him to this type. The Island (9). — Both a place of contemplation and contemplation itself, the individual mind as contemplative, and the body as the seat of the mind, the human mind as contemplative and the earth as the abode of the human mind. All comprehensively it is the Kingdom of Heaven (whether by right only or by possession) flowed round by the sea of human life ; or the realm of the Spirit; The Ship (9). — The person of man. Master of a Ship, Boatswain, Mariners (9). — Reason, will of the reason, and corporal agents. The sea, the island, the ship, the crew, Caliban's fins are a series of related types. The Sun (9). — Knowledge. The Moon (9). — The dim light of ignorance. THE TYPES OF "WINTER'S TALE." Leontes, King of Sicilia. — Shakspeare, the Spirit, the Idealistic class. A generic type (6) of the class in respect of its faults. Sicilia Hke the island in "The Tempest " is the realm of the Spirit. Mamillius his Son (4). — The better self, the boy prince Posterity. The young hope of the future dies (Act III. Scene 2) when Idealism against all reason determines to live in seclusion from the world. Camillo (6). — Reason, reasonable men. Antigonus (9). — Moral doubt and fear, doubters. THE LONG DESIDERATED KNOWLEDGE. 2 5 PoLixENES, King of Bohemia (4). — The world at its best, as opposed to Idealism at its worst, the best man and men of the world, the State. Bohemia is a name used by the poet for the world, just as he calls the world Naples in "The Tempest." Florizel, his Son (4). — The world's better part, Prince Posterity. Florizel was born in the same year with Mamillius. An Old Shepherd jTypes of the honesty and simplicity Clown, his Son.\ of the country (4). AUTOLYCUS (5). — Amusing roguery and rogues, the only kind left in a well-governed world. He serves also as type (9) of savoir vivre. Time as Chorus. — Associated type (8) of Truth and Shakspeare, the same through all time. Hermione, Queen of Leontes (5). — The Ideal Perdita, daughter of Leontes and Hermione (5). — The Ideal. Hermione is the Ideal lost by the spirit in seclusion. Perdita, the Ideal, growing up again in the country under the protection of the world's justice. Paulina. — Conscience, at first the shrew wife (9) of Anti- gonus. Doubt, is afterwards married to Camillo, reason. The Sea (9). — Human Hfe. The Ship (9). — The person of Leontes. The Bear (4). — Anger. The bear devours AntigonuSj that is, anger extinguishes doubt. THE TYPES OF " CYMBELINE.'^ Cymbeline, King of Britain (6).— Shakspeare, the Spirit, the idealistic class. Britain, " a world by itself," is like Siciha in "Winter's Tale," like the island in The Tempest," the realm of the spirit. Queen, wife to Cymbeline (9). — Other-worldliness. 26 THE LONG DESIDERATED KNOWLEDGE, Cloten, son to the Queen by a former husband (7), — Cantankerousness, the cantankerous class. The former husband of other- worldhness is VN'orldliness, and cantankerous- ness is a pledge left by this defunct, exhibiting as it does pride, anger, and other vices of this world. Imogen, daughter of Cymbeline by a former Queen (5). — Imogen is Perdita over again, and her mother is Hermione over again. The Ideal lost (Perdita) is bom again to the spirit out of lowest depths (Imo-gen). Leonatus Posthumus, a gentleman, husband to Imogen (5). — The good, the Truth of \'irtue, and men of true virtue, now with the world and now with the spirit. He is a posthumous son of Leonatus Siciliiis ; this signifies that when the spirit (Leontes Sicilius) buried itself in seclusion, the Truth of Virtue was left to hover between the world and the spirit, as represented by the typical career of Posthumus. Belarius, a banlshed lord (7). — Justice, just men. This type resides between the opposing forces of the world and the spirit, and is the means of their reconciliation. Justice is married to broad love (Euriphile). Guiderius ) — Lost sons of C\Tiibeline (7). Valour and Aryiragus / honour, brave and honourable men. Iachimo (7). — Pyrrhonism and -ists, Machiavellism and -ists. Sensualism and -ists. Caius Lucius, General of the Roman forces (5). — The world at its best, the best man and men of the world, the State. Rome is the world as opposed to Britain, the realm of the spirit. Pisanio, seryant to Posthumus (9). — Conscience. Cornelius, a physician (9). — Reason. Evolution of the Ideal in the Evolution of the Ideal in the Three Centuries. H hislpirit. ThiB danger ending ilii lie is in >heSel s^ate! ulble ^o rcl"'"- sion. But whilo the III. m Ideal, ,1 . 1. 1- "'^'',;;,::.V";:i"lr^ht !■ ^toThe'minaSc'.eclJs'ion' ilfiil THE LONG DESIDERATED KNOWLEDGE. 29 THE KOH-I-NOR OF THE COMPARATIVE METHOD. Since Prospero represents the moral law of nature judging the world at the Reformation for the sin of self-interest, and the moral law typically is Christ (5) (see Mental Optics under Religion), i*t follows that Prospero represents Christ come to judge the world at the Reformation. Hence the imagery at the end of "The Tempest," the meeting of Heaven and Earth, the immersion of the " beast " Caliban and his confederates in the *'foul lake," Prospero's recording "book," the noontide sun bedimmed, graves waking their sleepers, and the famous lines about the final dissolution of the globe. In all this Shakspeare, wath the masterly skill of a great poet, is fulfilling Christian prophecy, just as Christ, with the masterly skill of a great poet, fulfilled Hebrew prophecy. ■ It will always be considered one of the most remarkable examples of negative hallucination, that Prospero, century after century, should look men in the face seeming with quiet insistency to say, "Don't you really see whom I represent?" yet not till the end of the present century has the answer become apparent ; and even now, in spite of the march of ideas and the general illumination of the human mind by the great critical work of the last two centuries, from the intuitions of Spinoza's "Tractate," that silently were Shakspeare's before, down to Matthew Arnold's " Literature and Dogma," — even now the answer has difficulty in piercing the ears of certain antiquarians, hypnotised against all external impressions that conflict with their own indefinite and chimerical notions, turning their backs on Shakspeare, groping for him in the sixteenth century instead of beholding him manifest in the light of the twentieth. For Prospero, in addition to representing Christ come to judge the world at the Reformation, represents also Shakspeare himself judging the world in his plays at the same period, Shakspeare and Christ, therefore, in one, judging the world. 30 THE LONG DESIDERATED KNOWLEDGE. It follows that Prospero represents Shakspeare as Christ come to judge the world. In Mental Optics, under Religion, a Messiah was defined as a man who identifies himself with Truth, and imagines himself victorious with it in the end. In The Tempest,'' in Prospero, Shakspeare identifies himself with Truth, and imagines himself victorious with it in the end. Therefore, by definition, Shakspeare is Messiah (4 and 9). Observe, however, the Messiah-ship of Shakspeare is retro- spective. He imagines that he is victorious with Truth in the end. Moreover, it is not antagonistic to, but identified with the Messiah-ship of Christ. Our poet's conception is that he is Christ leading Christianity to its eternal victory and end. SHAKSPEARE'S SELF-IDENTIFICATION WITH BEAUTY IN THE SONNETS As in Macbeth the poet calls Pity " Heaven's cherubin " (see Mental Optics, under Language) so, in the Sonnets, he calls Beauty " lovely boy." This type, however, he fixes in the Sonnets, as Bunyan fixes a type of Hope, one Hopeful, in the Pilgrimage, or as a painter fixes a type of Labour, a man reaping, upon canvas. Further as Shakspeare's lovely boy was a living boy, William Herbert by name, the poet's pro- ceeding becomes comparable to that of the painter, who over the title " Valour," might paint a portrait of Lord Cardigan charging the Russian guns. (See Mental Optics under Art.) Let us approach Mr. W. H. through some other types of Beauty. At this moment in thinking the abstract idea Beauty, I find myself thinking of a Sunrise at sea (4). This image is my momentary type of Beauty and of all that is beautiful. You, Reader, if you are a painter, at the word Beauty, may think of a Madonna (2) ; if you are a sculptor, of the Venus of Milo (4) ; if you are a philosopher and cultivate your garden, THE LONG DESIDERATED KNOWLEDGE. 3 1 of a rose (4). If you are a lover you certainly will have thought of your mistress as type of Beauty and of all that is beautiful (4). You find also I suspect that this type remains in your mind with a certain fixity ; and now while I have you thinking of your mistress as type of Beauty you will be able to follow Shakspeare's meaning when he addresses the "lovely boy," his friend and fixed type of Beauty, in these words : — 53. What is your substance, whereof are you made That millions of strange shadows on you tend? Since every one hath, every one, one's shade, And you but one can every shadow lend. You will perceive that he means : — What mind can conceive Beauty's essence Shadowed as it is in infinite effluence ? One thing of Beauty presents one shade of Beauty, It is one Beauty lends every shade. But not in every case can it be perceived with like facility that Sonnets i — 126 are addressed to Beauty. For while the type remains the same, the Beauty addressed in the type is of many forms ; and the reader is not prepared to follow the poet's rapid changes from form to form of Beauty. In the first place the poet thinks that Beauty = Truth = Love, and he addresses the three together or severally. In the second place, he regards Beauty as either objective or subjective, that is, either as perceived or as the perception itself inspiring him. Hence Beauty subjective he addresses as his Muse, inspiration, genius, better part, soul, highest and true self 62. 'Tis thee (myself) that for myself I praise. 39. Oh, how thy worth with manners may I sing, When thou art all the better part of me ! What can mine own praise to mine own self bring? And what is't but mine own when I praise thee ? Again All Nature sums up to Beauty, and this All of Beauty Shakspeare regards as the final and supreme reason of human 32 THE LONG DESIDERATED KNOWLEDGE. conduct, which should be guided, not by narrow considerations, but by considerations related to the sum of things. Beauty All being then to his mind the supreme reason of human conduct, he addresses Reason, Conscience, and even Will, as among the forms in which Beauty manifests itself. Finally, as Beauty is not only subjective in the poet's mind, but also in the world's mind, sometimes he addresses Beauty as in the world's mind — that is to say, the world's love of Beauty, or public taste. I append here a list of the forms, all addressed in the one type, Mr. W. H. :— Beauty All ^^^^ ^^^^S^^ Beauty. The Ideal Genius. Beauty, Truth, Love Genius realistic. Beauty Genius idealistic or fancy. Truth The Soul. Love Reason. Virtue Conscience. Grace Will {of the Reason). The Muse Will Shakspeare. The world's love and thought of Beauty General Culture Perfect Man (Will Herbert) As spiritual love is expressed in the Sonnets to Mr. W. H. the type of Beauty, so sensual love is expressed in Sonnets 127 — 154 to the Dark Lady, a vivid type (4) of Desire. At first the poet wishes to be wholly free from the sensual love ; but finally he accepts the conjunction of Mr. W. H. and the Dark Lady, that is, of the spiritual and the sensual in sexual love. In Great Pan Lives I have paraphrased almost lineally sonnets 20 — 126 as addressed to Beauty in various forms, justifying my determination of the forms by the evidence of comparison between the Sonnets. CONCLUSION. Orthodox Englisn opinion of Shakspeare, I am aware, is as follows : — Shakspeare, a worldling, without ideals of Art or Conduct, chiefly solicitous to make money by pandering to the popular taste, quite unconscious of exceptional poetic gifts, yet the greatest of poets, a human miracle, for ever inexplicable ! The heterodox Truth, however, is as follows : — Shakspeare, retrospectively Messiah, prospectively Pan, self-identified with Christ come to judge the world, self-identified with Beauty (All Nature, Supreme Reason), perfect type of All, perfect spirit of our era, alighted upon its threshold, looking before and after, reconciling the World and the Spirit, the Ideal and the Practical, Hellenism and Hebraism, Religion and Science, and combining Art, Science, and Virtue, in perfect Religion the full synthesis of life! At the time of Christ's death, by certain mariners sailing by the coast of Asia Minor, there were. As they say, Lamentings heard i' the air, strange screams of death," and a voice crying" " Great Pan is dead ! " For fifteen hundred years Europe remained in the shadow of that great sorrow, till with the Reformation and Renaissance Shakspeare is born, and GREAT PAN LIVES.