SHAKESPEARE AND THE BIBLE. 
 
SHAKESPEARE 
 
 AND 
 
 THE BIBLE: 
 
 SHOWING HOW MUCH THE GKEAT DRAMATIST WAS 
 
 INDEBTED TO HOLY WRIT FOR HIS PROFOUND 
 
 KNOWLEDGE OF HUMAN NATURE. 
 
 BY 
 
 EEV. T. E. EATON, M.A., 
 
 OF CORPUS CHRISTI COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE, 
 (WHO DEDICATES THIS WORK, WITH FILIAL BEGARD, TO HIS FATHER.) 
 
 "- v 
 
 $fcir& Sfexrasanfc. 
 
 , 
 
 LONDON : 
 JAMES BLACKWOOD, PATERNOSTER ROW. 
 
 [The right of translation is reserved.'} 
 
I8(,0 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 Page 
 
 INTRODUCTORY REMARKS 9 
 
 A Quotation from Richard IH 13 
 
 Henry VIII 14 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 Parallels from Macbeth and King John '16 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 Play King John .18 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 Play Macbeth 22 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Play Hamlet 26 
 
 A passage from Henry V 30 
 
 Two from Richard III 31 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 Play Richard III 34 
 
vi CONTENTS. 
 
 Tap* 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 Play Henry VIII. 40 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 PlayHenry V 49 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 Play Henry VI. (Parts I., II., III.) 56 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 As You Like It 74 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 Richard II. 75 
 
 Example from Henry V 78 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 PlayHenry IV. (Parts L, II.) 91 
 
 An Example from the Two Gentlemen of Verona . 101 
 
 As You Like It 102 
 
 Play Merry Wives of Windsor 110 
 
 An Example from Henry IV 115 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 Play Troilus and Cressida 117 
 
 * 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 Play Anthony and Cleopatra 120 
 
 An Example from Merry Wives of Windsor . . . 122 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 Play Timon of Athens 123 
 
CONTENTS. Vll 
 
 i'age 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 Coriolanus 125 
 
 Cymbeline 126 
 
 Play Julius Cossar 127 
 
 ,, Othello 127 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 PlayTempest 131 
 
 An Example from Midsummer Night's Dream an 
 
 Example from Macbeth 135 
 
 Play Midsummer Night's Dream 136 
 
 ,, King Lear 137 
 
 Borneo and Juliet . 138 
 
 Twelfth Night ; or, What you Will .... 141 
 
 Example from Coriolanus 143 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 An Example from As You Like It 144 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 An Example from The Comedy of Errors .... 145 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 Twelfth Night ; or, What You Will 148 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 Play Two Gentlemen of Verona 148 
 
 The Merchant of Venice 150 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 Play The Winter's Tale 170 
 
Vlll CONTENTS. 
 
 Page 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 Play All's Well that Ends Well 173 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 Play Love's Labour Lost . . . - 180 
 
 Much Ado About Nothing 196 
 
 As You Like It 200 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 Play Taming of the Shrew 203 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 Measure for Measure 205 
 
 Example from Midsummer Night's Dream .... 209 
 
 CHAPTER XXVII. 
 
 Play Comedy of Errors 210 
 
 Concluding Remarks of a General Nature . . . . 214 
 
SHAKESPEARE AND THE BIBLE, 
 
 LESS is said to be known of Shakespeare than of 
 any other writer who attained equal celebrity 
 during his lifetime. This may be partly owing to 
 the absence of that periodical literature which is 
 now the rapid vehicle of information, and partly 
 to his calling and the nature of his great works, 
 which, however well adapted for the closet, were 
 originally designed for the stage. We need not, 
 therefore, be much surprised that the cravings of 
 curiosity should have been satisfied with gossip 
 and scandal, since there was nothing better to be 
 had. It is now generally admitted that his parents 
 held a respectable position in life, and that he 
 must have had the advantage of a good grammar- 
 school education. The stories of his stealing deer 
 from Sir Thomas Lucy's grounds at Charlecote, 
 and of his holding horses at the door of one of 
 the London theatres, have deservedly fallen into 
 discredit ; but it is reasonable to believe that he 
 
10 SHAKESPEARE AND THE BIBLE. 
 
 was indebted to his mother for early lessons of 
 piety, and that he was conversant with the Holy 
 Scriptures from a child. The Eeformation could 
 not fail, from the very nature of it, to tinge the 
 literature of the Elizabethan aera. It gave a logi- 
 cal and disputatious character to the age, and pro- 
 duced men mighty in the scriptures. The butcher, 
 the barber, and the baker, were in the habit of 
 chopping logic, each in his own sphere. 
 
 Hence we need not wonder that the humour of 
 Shakespeare's clowns is always, more or less, argu- 
 mentative. 
 
 The argals of the gravedigger in Hamlet are 
 probably no fictitious corruption of the ergos which 
 were then in every body's mouth. This particular 
 consequence of the Eeformation served to cramp 
 the genius of Shakespeare, at least to the extent of 
 giving a rough date to the period of his writings ; 
 the second effect, his profound acquaintance with 
 Holy Writ, on the other hand, assisted to raise them 
 above the trammels of place and time. Before 
 proceeding to the immediate matter in hand, which 
 is to show, by new evidence, the vastness of 
 Shakespeare's Bible lore, it may be well to point 
 out the kind of benefit which he may be fairly sup- 
 posed to have thence derived. 
 
 The Bible professes to make men " wise unto 
 salvation/' Such being its end and aim, it is for 
 this purpose a sufficient and infallible rule both of 
 faith and conduct. But since the wisdom here 
 
INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 11 
 
 indicated is really a concrete, it follows that the 
 man thus instructed is taught many things. He 
 learns, for instance, the Divine will so far as regards 
 mankind ; he acquires such an insight as is abso* 
 lutely necessary into the mystery of the re- 
 demption by the blood of the Saviour; he has a 
 just apprehension of the scope and obligation of 
 moral duty ; and he has knowledge to some extent 
 of the change wrought in human nature by original 
 sin. God and man being described as contracting 
 parties in a covenant, it was necessary that their 
 characters should be mutually known. God, there- 
 fore, has been mercifully pleased to reveal himself 
 as fully as the best and wisest of men can be 
 rendered capable of apprehending him in this state 
 of being, and he has unfolded all the windings of 
 the heart. This last He has done in various ways. 
 Sometimes by direct announcement : sometimes by 
 short and pithy maxims, as in the Book of Proverbs : 
 and generally by dramatic representations of the 
 actions of men of every variety of disposition, and 
 of every grade of life, from the king upon his throne 
 to the shepherd in the field and the captive in the 
 dungeon, who have lived in different ages of the 
 world. This mode of teaching must have had an 
 irresistible charm to one of Shakespeare's peculiar 
 bent. We are all affected in a less lively manner, 
 by being told that " the heart is deceitful above all 
 things," than when the same truth is brought home 
 to us by such exclamations as Nathan's " Thou 
 
12 SHAKESPEARE AND THE BIBLE. 
 
 art the man ;" or by such a fall as Peter's in the 
 denial of his Master, after the strong protestation 
 even, that he would " sooner die/' Neither would 
 any homily upon the heroism of self-denial make 
 so lasting an impression upon us, or fire us with so 
 noble an emulation, as the example of David, when 
 he put the water from his parched lips with " Be 
 it far from me, O Lord, that I should do this : is 
 not this the blood of the men that went in jeopardy 
 of their lives?" (2 Sam. xxiii.) It is pleasant to 
 \ fancy the delight with which young Shakespeare 
 | must have feasted upon these and like divine lessons, 
 I unconscious, the while, that he was strengthening 
 ; his pinions for loftier flights than had ever been 
 attained by uninspired man. It is the prerogative 
 of genius to seem to create what it only receives 
 and reproduces, as the die converts bullion into 
 current coin, or the " bag o' the bee " distils honey 
 from collected sweets. Wisdom in selection and 
 power in_ reproduction determine the quality of 
 genius. In storing his mind, Shakespeare went 
 first to the word and then to the works of God. 
 In shaping the truths derived from these sources, 
 he obeyed the instinct implanted by Him who had 
 formed him Shakespeare. Hence his power of in- 
 spiring us with sublime affection for that which is 
 properly good, and of chilling us with horror by his 
 fearful delineations of evil. Shakespeare perpetually 
 reminds us of the Bible ; not by direct quotation, 
 indirect allusion, borrowed idioms, or palpable imi- 
 
INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. 13 
 
 tation of phrase and style, but by an elevation of V 
 thought and simplicity of diction which are not to be 
 found elsewhere?) A passage, for instance, rises in 
 our thoughts, unaccompanied by a clear recollection 
 of its origin. Our first impression is, that it must 
 belong either to the Bible or to Shakespeare. No 
 other author excites the same feeling in an equal 
 degree. \Jn Shakespeare's plays religion is a vital || 
 and active principle, sustaining the good, torment-^ 
 ing the wicked, and influencing the hearts and 
 lives of all. What uninspired writer ever made 
 us feel the value of prayer, as a privilege, sou 
 affectingly as Shakespeare has done in three words ? 
 It flashes across the brain of Othello the Moor 
 the rough soldier that possibly his friend may be 
 practising upon him a conditional curse there- 
 fore burst from his lips ; " If thou dost slander 
 her and torture me, ' Never PRAY more ! ' : 
 
 The mysterious power of religion over bad men 
 is thus displayed in Kichard III. :- 
 
 " Thus, thus, quoth Forrest, girdling one another 
 
 Within their alabaster innocent arms : 
 
 Their lips were four red roses on a stalk, 
 
 Which, in their summer beauty, kiss'd each other. 
 
 A book of prayers on their pillow lay ; 
 
 Which once, quoth Forrest, almost changed my mind." 
 
 The book of prayers the calm deep sleep give 
 such mute evidence of innocence and trust in God, 
 as to suspend for an instant the designs of heartless 
 
14 SHAKESPEARE AND THE BIBLE. 
 
 villany. Another instance of the influence of 
 religion on a proud man is found in Cardinal 
 Wolsey, who knows the practical precepts of the 
 gospel, and their value. 
 
 THE PLAY OF HENBY VIII. 
 
 [" So God created man in his own image, in the 
 image of God created he him.' 1 Gen. i.] 
 
 " Mark but my fall, and that that ruin'd me. 
 Cromwell, I charge thee, fling away ambition ; 
 By that sin fell the angels, how can man then, 
 Tlw image of his Maker y hope to win by't ? 
 Love thyself last : cherish those hearts that hate thee; 
 
 [" Do good to them that hate you." Matt. v. 44.] 
 ["In lowliness of mind let each esteem other better 
 than themselves" Philippians ii. 3.] 
 
 Corruption wins not more than honesty 
 Still in thy right hand carry gentle peace, 
 To silence envious tongues. Be just and fear not s 
 Let all the ends thou aim'st at be thy country's, 
 Thy God's, and truth's ; then if thou fall'st, O Crom- 
 well, 
 
 Thou fall'st a blessed martyr. Serve the king ; 
 And pr'ythee lead me in : 
 There take an inventory of all I have, 
 To the last penny ; 'tis the king's : 
 My robe, 
 And my integrity to heaven, is all 
 
HENRY VIi, 15 
 
 I dare now call mine own. O Cromwell, Cromwell ! 
 * Had I but served my God with half the zeal 
 I served my king, he would not in mine age 
 Have left me naked to mine enemies." 
 
 Such language from the Cardinal is rendered 
 natural by the time chosen for its utterance. A 
 man of his powerful and cultivated intellect might 
 unbosom himself to a faithful and devoted servant, 
 and denounce the worthlessness of worldly ambi- 
 tion, while smarting under the rod of despotic 
 wrathj and stung by the taunts of merited reproach. 
 We come now to the consideration of parallel 
 passages. 
 
 * [ " Had I but served my God," &c,] This sentence was really 
 uttered by Wolsey. JOHNSON. 
 
SHAKESPEARE AND THE BIBLE, 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE PLAY OF MACBETH. 
 
 ACT IV. SCENE III. 
 
 "Macduf. My wife killed too 1 
 Bosse. I've said. 
 Malcolm. Be comforted : 
 Let's make us med'cines of our great revenge, to cure 
 
 this deadly grief. 
 Macduff. He has no children I " 
 
 So Constance speaks to Pandolph in King 
 John 
 
 " Constance. He talks to me that never had a son" 
 
 And again 
 
 " Had you such a loss as I, I could give better comfort 
 than you do." 
 
MACBETH. I? 
 
 So Job 
 
 I also could speak as ye do : if your soul were in 
 my sonl'sHrtead, I could heap up words against you, 
 and shake mine head at you. But I would strengthen 
 you with, my mouth, and the moving of my lips should 
 assuage your grief." Job xvi. 4, 5. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE PLAY OF KING JOHN. 
 
 ACT III. SCENE I. 
 
 " Constance. A. wicked day, and not a holy day ! 
 What hath this day deserved, what hath it done ; 
 That it in golden letters should be set 
 Among the high-tides in the kalendar ? 
 Nay, rather turn this day out of the week ; 
 This day of shame, oppression, perjury : 
 Or, if it must stand still, let wives with child 
 Pray that their burdens may not fall this day" &c. 
 
 Misery wrings from Job a similar malediction ; 
 how strictly therefore, in such cases, does Shake- 
 speare keep within the bounds of probability 
 
 " Let the day perish wherein I was born, and the 
 night in which it was said, There is a man-child con- 
 ceived. As for that night, let darkness seize upon it ; 
 let it not be joined unto the days of the year, let it not 
 come into the number of the months. " Job iii. 3, 6. 
 
KING JOHN. 19 
 
 The play of King John is indebted to Scrip- 
 ture in several more instances; we will notice 
 these, therefore, before proceeding to other plays. 
 
 ACT III. SCENE IV. 
 
 " Constance. For since the "birth of Cain, the first 
 
 male child, 
 
 To him that did but yesterday suspire, 
 There was not such a gracious creature born." 
 
 ["Birth of Cain, the first male child."] - " And 
 Adam knew his wife ; and she conceived and bare Cain, 
 and said, I have gotten a man from the Lord." Gen. 
 iv. 1. 
 
 Could Constance better express, than by such 
 allusion to Eve's first-born, how much her hopes 
 had anchored upon her child, and how utterly 
 these hopes were shipwrecked? 
 
 ACT IV. SCENE III. 
 
 HUBERT and FAULCONBRIDGE, the Bastard of KICHARD I. 
 
 " Hubert. Do but hear me, sir. 
 
 The Bastard. Ha ! I'll tell thee what ; 
 Thou art damn'd so black nay, nothing is so black ; 
 Thou art more deep damn'd than Prince Lucifer : 
 There is not yet so ugly a fiend of hell 
 As thou shalt be, if thou didst kill this child." 
 
 [" More deep damn'd than Prince Lucifer."] " How 
 art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the 
 
20 SHAKESPEARE AND THE BIBLE. 
 
 morning ! how art thou cut down to the ground, 
 which didst weaken the nations ! Thou shalt be brought 
 down to hell, to the sides of the pit" Isa. xiv. 12 15. 
 
 END OF ACT IV. SCENE III. 
 
 In the speech of Faulconbridge to Hubert over 
 the remains of Arthur, the king's nephew, there 
 is a passage parallel to a verse in Proverbs : there 
 is also an idea obviously derived from a fact record- 
 ed in the 18th chapter of 1 Book of Kings. 
 
 " Faulconbridge. Go, hear him in thine arms. 
 / am amazedy methinks ; and lose my way 
 Among the thorns and dangers of this world" 
 
 PAKALLEL FROM SCRIPTURE. 
 
 " Thorns and snares are in the way of the froward : 
 he that doth keep his soul shall he far from them." 
 Prov. xxii. 5. 
 
 It is not strange that Faulconbridge should be 
 sometimes lost among the thorns and dangers of this 
 world, when we refer to the character of him in 
 
 ACT III. SCENE IV, 
 
 " Pandulph. The bastard Faulconbridge 
 Is now in England, ransacking the churchy 
 Offending charity ! 
 
 Faulconbridge. How easy dost thou take all England 
 
 up ! 
 From forth this morsel of dead royalty, 
 
KING JOHN. 21 
 
 The life, the right, and truth of all this realm 
 Is fled to heaven ; and England now is left 
 To tug, and scramble, and to part by the teeth 
 The unowed interest of proud swelling state. 
 Now for the bare-picked bone of majesty, 
 Doth dogged war bristle his angry crest, 
 And snarleth in the gentle eyes of peace : 
 Now powers from home, and discontents at home, 
 Meet in one line ; and vast confusion waits 
 [As doth a raven on a sick, fallen beast] 
 The imminent decay of wrested pomp. 
 Now happy he, whose cloak and cincture can 
 Hold out this tempest" 
 
 " Now happy he," that is, whose mind is fully pre- 
 pared to surmount these difficulties. 
 
 [" Cloak and cincture can hold out this tempest."] 
 " And it came to pass in the meanwhile, that the heaven 
 ivas black with clouds and wind, and there was a great 
 rain. And Ahab rode, and went to Jezreel. 
 
 " And the hand of the Lord was on Elijah ; and he 
 girded up his loins, and ran before Ahab to the entrance 
 of Jezreel" 1 Kings xviii. 45, 46. 
 
 The Oriental custom of girding the loins, as 
 Elijah does in the instance before us, is used meta- 
 phorically here, as it is in 1 Peter i. 13 
 
 " Wherefore gird up the loins of your mind." 
 
 The play of Macbeth may be reproduced, and 
 the play of Hamlet examined, before plays com- 
 posed of English history are again referred to. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 THE PLAY OF MACBETH, 
 
 ACT I. SCENE II. 
 
 "King Duncan. Dismay'd not this our captains, Mac- 
 beth and Banquo 1 
 
 Soldier. Yes ; 
 
 As sparrows, eagles ; or the hare, the lion. 
 If I say sooth, I must report they were 
 As cannons overcharg'd with double cracks ; 
 So they 
 
 Doubly redoubled strokes upon the foe : 
 Except they meant to bathe in reeking wounds, 
 
 Or memorize another Golgotha, 
 
 I cannot tell." * * * * 
 
 [" Golgotha,"] " And they bring him unto the place 
 called Golgotha, which is, being interpreted, the place 
 of a skull." Mark xv, 22, 
 
MACBETH. 23 
 
 ACT II. SCENE III. 
 
 Enter a PORTER. 
 
 " Porter. Here's a knocking, indeed ! If a man were v 
 porter of hell-gate, he should have old turning the key. 
 Knock, knock, knock ! Who's there, i' the name of 
 Belzebub ? " 
 
 [" Belzebub."] Shakespeare is indebted for this 
 word to the New Testament : in the present 
 instance, perhaps, without being aware of it, or at 
 least without a thought of detection, from llth 
 chapter of St. Luke : 
 
 "Knock, and it shall be opened unto you. 
 
 To him that knocketh, it shall be opened.'' 
 " He casteth out devils through Beelzebub.' 9 
 
 v. 9, 10, 15. 
 
 That the words Knock and Beelzebub should be 
 found in the llth chapter of Luke, thus near each 
 other, and should be thus connected by Shake- 
 speare, is too strange to escape notice. 
 
 X 
 
 ACT II. SCENE III. 
 
 When the Murder o/KiNG DUNCAN is first discovered. 
 
 "Macduff. horror! horror! horror! Tongue, nor 
 
 heart, 
 Cannot conceive nor name thee ! 
 
 Macbeth and Lennox. What's the matter ? 
 
24 SHAKESPEARE AND THE BIBLE. 
 
 Macd. Confusion now hath made his masterpiece ! 
 Most sacrilegious murder hath broke ope 
 The Lord's anointed temple, and stole thence 
 The life o' the building." 
 
 Several extracts from the Bible that denounce 
 regicide shall be produced, in which King Saul 
 is called " The Lord's anointed" 
 
 ["The Lord's anointed."] " And David said to 
 Abishai, Destroy him not : for who can stretch forth his 
 hand against the Lord's anointed, and be guiltless?" 
 1 Sam, xxvi. 9. 
 
 " The Lord forbid that I should stretch forth mine 
 hand against the Lord's anointed' 1 1 Sam. xxvi. 11. 
 
 " This thing is not good that thou hast done. As the 
 Lord liveth, ye are worthy to die, because ye have not 
 kept your master, the Lord's anointed." 1 Sara. xxvi. 16. 
 
 [" Lord's anointed temple"] The additional 
 word temple may have been supplied by expres- 
 sions which were used by Him whom the Jews 
 crucified 
 
 " Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise 
 it up." John ii. 19. 
 
 " When he spake of the temple of his body." John 
 ii. 21. 
 
 Again, 
 
MACBETH. 25 
 
 ACT II. SCENE III. 
 
 " Banquo* Fears and scruples shake us : 
 In the great hand of God I stand ; and thence 
 Against the undivulg'd pretence I fight 
 Of treasonous malice." 
 
 [" Hand of God."]" Thou hasb also given me the 
 shield of thy salvation : and thy right hand hath holden 
 me up" Psalm xviii. 35. 
 
 Banquo confesses that he is innocent of Duncan's 
 murder; but he hints that he strongly suspects the 
 one who puts him to death. 
 
 ACTV. SCENEV. 
 
 " Macbeth. And all our yesterdays have lighted fools 
 
 the way to dusty death." 
 
 
 
 " The dust of death " is to be met with in the 
 22nd Psalm. Dusty death alludes to the sentence 
 pronounced against Adam 
 
 " Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return." 
 
 The sentence that almost directly follows the 
 one just noticed, 
 
 " Life's but a walking shadow" 
 is very similar to an expression in Psalm xxxix. 6, 
 
 " Man walketh in a vain shadow." 
 
 c 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE PLAY OF HAMLET, PBINCE OE DENMAEK. 
 
 ACT I. SCENE I. 
 
 " Horatio. A mote it is to trouble the mind's eye." 
 
 THIS idea is evidently taken from these words, 
 "Why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy 
 brother's eye ? " They are to be found in the 7th 
 chapter of St. Matthew. 
 
 ACT II. SCENE II. 
 
 "Hamlet. Jephthah* judge of Israel what a 
 treasure hadst thou ! 
 
 Polonius. What a treasure had he, my lord ? 
 
 Hamlet. Why one fair daughter, and no more, the 
 which he loved passing well. 
 
 * A ballad, " Jeffa, Judge of Israel," is said to be here quoted by 
 Hamlet : the remark may be correct yet a writer unversed in Holy 
 Writ would never thus recur to such a subject in a ballad. 
 
HAMLET. 27 
 
 Polonius. Still on my daughter. 
 Hamlet. Am I not i' the right, old Jephthah ? 
 Polonius. If you call me Jephthah, my lord, I have 
 a daughter that I love passing well." 
 
 ["0 Jephthah, judg e of Israel "~\ It is stated that 
 Jephthah judged Israel six years. Judges xii. 7. 
 
 [" One fair daughter."] "And Jephthah vowed a vow 
 unto the Lord, and said, If thou shalt without fail 
 deliver the children of Ammon into mine hands, then 
 it shall be, that whatsoever cometh forth of the doors 
 of my house to meet me, when I return in peace from 
 the children of Ammon, shall surely be the Lord's, and 
 I will offer it up for a burnt-offering. 
 
 " So Jephthah passed over unto the children of Am- 
 mon to fight against them ; and the Lord delivered 
 them into his hands. 
 
 " And Jephthah came to Mizpeh unto his house, and, 
 behold, his daughter came out to meet him with tim- 
 brels and with dances : and she was his only child ; 
 beside her he had neither son nor daughter. And it came 
 to pass, when he saw her, that he rent his clothes, and 
 said, Alas, my daughter ! thou hast brought me very 
 low, and thou art one of them that trouble me : for 
 I have opened my mouth unto the Lord, and I cannot 
 go back. 
 
 " And he sent her away for two months. 
 
 " And it came to pass, at the end of two months, 
 that she returned unto her father, who did with her 
 according to the vow that he had vowed." Judges 
 xi. 30, to end of 39. 
 
28 SHAKESPEARE AND THE BIBLE. 
 
 Hamlet detects the object Polonius has in view; 
 and seems to hint that Polonius will as thoroughly 
 ruin the prospects of Ophelia by his present folly, 
 as Jephthah did those of his daughter by a rash 
 vow. 
 
 ACT III. SCENE IV. 
 
 The next extract is from the conference which 
 Hamlet has with his mother relative to her mar- 
 riage with his uncle the murderer of the late 
 king. 
 
 " Hamlet. Look you now, what follows : 
 
 Here is your husband ; like a mildewed ear, 
 Blasting his wholesome brother" 
 
 This alludes, says Steevens, to Pharaoh's dream 
 in Gen. xli. 
 
 " And I have dreamed a dream, and there is none 
 that can interpret it : and I have heard say of thee, 
 that thou canst understand a dream to interpret it. 
 
 * * " I saw in my dream, and behold, seven ears came 
 up in one stalk, full and good : 
 
 " And behold, seven ears, withered, thin, and blasted 
 with the east wind, sprung up after them : 
 
 " And the thin ears devoured the seven good ears." 
 Gen. xli. 15, 22- 24. 
 
HAMLET. 29 
 
 ACT V. SCENE !, 
 
 A Churchyard. THE CLOWNS are digging OPHELIA'S Grave. 
 
 " 1st Clown. There is no ancient gentlemen but 
 gardeners, ditchers, and grave-makers ; they hold up 
 Adam's profession. 
 
 2nd Clown. "Was he a gentleman ? 
 
 1st Clown. He was the first that ever bore arms. 
 2nd Clown. Why, he had none. 
 
 1st Clown. "What, art a heathen ? How dost thou 
 understand the Scripture ? The Scripture says, Adam 
 digged ; could he dig without arms ? " 
 
 ["Adam digged,"] "The Lord God sent him 
 (Adam) forth from the garden of Eden, to till the 
 ground from whence he was taken." Gen. iii, 23. 
 
 The CLOWN throws up a Skull, 
 
 "Hamlet. That skull had a tongue in it, and could 
 sing once : How the knave jowls it to the ground, as if 
 it were Cain s jawbone, that did the first murder ! " 
 
 [" Cain's jawbone."] " And Cain talked with Abel 
 his brother : and it came to pass, when they were in the 
 field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and 
 slew him." Gen. iv. 8. 
 
 A bitter comment this on the effect of habit ! 
 Hamlet observes, with disgust, that even so sad 
 an office as gravedigging begets in time a shock- 
 
30 SHAKESPEARE AND THE BIBLE. 
 
 ing disregard for the remains of the dead. In the 
 3rd act and 3rd scene, allusion is made to the 
 death of Abel, when the king's conscience wrests 
 from him this secret confession of his guilt : 
 
 " King. O, my offence is rank, it smells to heaven ; 
 It hath the primal eldest curse upon't : 
 A brother's murder ! " 
 
 Shakespeare's knowledge of mankind proved, 
 both directly and indirectly, from Scripture. What 
 light the poet throws upon the dark stratagems 
 of kings to retain and increase power, in the 
 speeches about to be quoted ! By these he shows 
 that princes who are ambitious, bold, and wise, 
 are wont to profess an anxiety to maintain in all 
 their actions, especially those of moment, godly 
 honour and Christian benevolence before those 
 who are to be sacrificed, when necessary > for their 
 aggrandizement. Thus Henry Y. appears to be 
 influenced by holy counsel from the Archbishop of 
 Canterbury, concerning hostility with France, 
 when, at the same time, he is inwardly resolved to 
 wage war against her 
 
 "King Henry. We charge you in the name of God, 
 
 take heed : 
 
 For never two such kingdoms did contend 
 Without much fall of blood ; whose guiltless drops 
 Are every one a woe a sore complaint, 
 'Gainst him whose wrong gives edge unto the swords 
 That makes such waste in brief mortality. 
 
HAMLET. 31 
 
 Under this conjuration speak, my Lord : 
 For we will hear, note, and believe in heart, 
 That what you speak is in your conscience wash'd 
 As pure as sin with baptism" 
 
 ["Conscience wash'd."] " Be baptized, and wash away 
 thy sins." Acts xxii. 16. 
 
 A Soliloquy of the notorious DUKE OF GLOSTER, 
 afterwards EICHARD III. 
 
 " Gloster. I do the wrong, and first begin to brawl. 
 The secret mischiefs that I set abroach, 
 I lay unto the grievous charge of others. 
 Clarence, whom I indeed have laid in darkness, 
 I do beweep to many simple gulls, 
 Namely, to Stanley, Hastings, Buckingham ; 
 And tell them, 'tis the queen and her allies 
 That stir the king against the duke my 'brother : 
 Now they believe it ; and withal whet me 
 To be revenged on Rivers, Dorset* Gray. 
 But then I sigh, and with a piece of Scripture 
 Tell them, that God lids us do good for evil: 
 And thus I clothe my naked villainy 
 With old odd ends, stolen forth of holy writ ; 
 And seem a saint when most I play the devil." 
 
 ["Do good for evil." " Odd ends, stolen forth of 
 Holy Writ."] "Love your enemies, bless them that 
 curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for 
 them which despitefully use you, and persecute you." 
 Matt. v. 44. 
 
 * Some editions of Shakespeare insert Vaughan instead of Dorset. 
 
32 SHAKESPEARE AND THE BIBLE. 
 
 Shortly before Gloster's speech in the 1st Act 
 and 3rd Scene of Kichard III., Rivers says 
 
 " A virtuous and a christian-like conclusion, 
 To pray for them that have done scathe to us" 
 
 " Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with 
 good" Rom. xii. 21. 
 
 How much the words spoken by Gloster, and 
 those by Henry V. to the Archbishop, remind 
 us of the pithy sentence in the 25th chapter of 
 Proverbs 
 
 " The heaven for height, and the earth for depth, 
 and the heart of kings is unsearchable." 
 
 And as Shakespeare has, in many instances, 
 used the Proverbs of Holy Writ, he might, and 
 probably did, derive from these Proverbs no slight 
 knowledge of men as they appear in their several 
 stations, and play their parts in the great and 
 complicated drama of the world. Now genius, 
 thus developed, could draw real characters appa- 
 rently true to life, yet after its own fancy. And 
 this it does in some instances to the flagrant 
 violation thereby of historical statements. Whether, 
 however, the liberties taken with history, by making 
 men better or worse than they are said to have 
 been when alive, proceeded from a love of exercising 
 such power, or from motives as base, we need not 
 here determine. Quotations from Proverbs we 
 shall soon have occasion to notice particularly. 
 
HAMLET. 33 
 
 The soliloquy of the Duke of Gloster admits at 
 least of this additional remark; it well answers the 
 description given in Prov. xxvi., of one whose 
 hatred is cloaked by policy : 
 
 " He that hateth dissembleth with his lips, and layetli 
 up deceit within him ; when he speaketh fair, believe 
 him not, for there are seven abominations in his heart*" 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE PLAY OF EICHAED III. 
 
 ACT II. SCENE III. 
 
 A Street near the Court. 
 
 " 3 Citizen. Neighbours, God speed ! 
 
 1 Citizen. Give you good-morrow, sir. 
 
 3 Citizen. Doth, the news hold of good King 
 Edward's death? 
 
 2 Citizen. Ay, sir, it is too true ; God help the 
 
 while ! 
 
 3 Citizen. Then, masters, look to see a troublous 
 
 world. 
 1 Citizen. No, no ; by God's good grace his son 
 
 shall reign. 
 3 Citizen. Woe to that land that's governed by 
 
 child r 
 
 " Woe to thee, O land ! when thy king is a child." 
 Eccles. x. 16 (Steevens). 
 
RICHARD III. 35 
 
 ACT IV. SCENE IV. 
 
 The widow of Edward IV. is unable to promote 
 the match desired by Richard III. between himself 
 and his niece Elizabeth : this princess, after her 
 uncle's death, becomes the Queen of Henry VII. 
 By this alliance the houses of York and Lancaster 
 are united, and the Wars of the Eoses are hence- 
 forth for ever at an jend. 
 
 " Queen to Richard. Under what title shall I woo 
 
 for thee, 
 
 That God, the law, my honour, and her love, 
 Can make seem pleasing to her tender years 1 
 
 Richard. Infer fair England's peace by this alliance. 
 Queen. Which she shall purchase with still lasting 
 
 war. 
 Richard. Tell her, the king, that may command, 
 
 entreats. 
 
 Queen. That at her hands which the king's King 
 forbids." 
 
 ["King's King forbids."] "None of you shall 
 approach [i. e., marry] any that is near of kin to him." 
 Lev. xviii. 6. 
 
 And amongst the prohibitions stated, we find 
 one equal, in consanguinity, to that of uncle and 
 niece, mentioned in verse 14 of this chapter. The 
 present authorized version of the Bible is the one 
 referred to and quoted, although it was not the 
 
36 SHAKESPEARE AND THE BIBLE. 
 
 version used by Shakespeare. This licence is 
 considered allowable, because passages from our 
 own version are sufficiently like the same passages 
 in all other versions, to show that no mistake can 
 well arise concerning their identity. 
 
 ACT I. SCENE IV. 
 
 The Murder of the DUKE OF CLARENCE. 
 
 " Clarence. Are you call'd forth from out a world of 
 
 men, 
 
 To slay the innocent ? * 
 
 # * * * # * * 
 
 The deed you undertake is damnable." 
 
 " Cursed be he that taketh reward to slay an innocent 
 person." Deut. xxvii. 25. 
 
 " 1 Villain. "What we will do, we do upon command. 
 2 Villain. And he, that hath commanded, is our 
 
 king. 
 
 Clarence. Erroneous vassal ! the great King of kings 
 Hath in the table of his law commanded, 
 That thou shalt do no murder." Exodus xx. 13. 
 
 [" King of kings."] This form of expression is to 
 be found in several parts of the Bible, and of 
 Shakespeare. We shall direct the reader's atten- 
 tion, for it, to a passage in the 6th chapter of 
 the first Epistle to Timothy : 
 
RICHARD III. 37 
 
 -"keep this commandment without spot, 
 
 unrebukeable, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus 
 
 Christ : " " who is the blessed and only Potentate, 
 
 the King ofkings" 1 Tim. vi. 14, 15. 
 
 Again 
 
 ACT I. SCENE IV. 
 
 " Clarence. Tell him (Gloster), when that our 
 
 princely father York 
 
 Blest his three sons with his victorious arm, 
 And charg'd us from his soul to love each other, 
 He little thought of this divided friendship : 
 Bid Gloster think on this, and he will weep. 
 
 1 Villain. Ay, millstones ; as he lesson' d us to weep. 
 
 Clarence. O do not slander him, for he is hind ! 
 
 1 Villain. As snow in harvest. You deceive yourself ; 
 'Tis he that sends us to destroy you here." 
 
 [" As snow in harvest."] " As the cold of snow in 
 the time of harvest, so is a faithful messenger to them 
 that send him : for he refresheth the soul of his mas- 
 ters." Prov. xxv. 13. 
 
 But before more quotations containing Proverbs 
 are introduced from Shakespeare, observe the clever 
 way in which we are ushered, as it were, into the 
 very apartment in the Tower where the unhappy 
 Clarence is imprisoned ; so that we see and hear 
 all that transpires relating to him till the assassins 
 take their departure. Clarence, when first seen, 
 
38 SHAKESPEARE AND THE BIBLE. 
 
 is relating to Brakenbury, lieutenant of the Tower, 
 a dream that has been distressing him. 
 
 Now what makes the mention of a dream 
 worthy of notice here, is the speech which falls 
 from the lips of the second villain, as soon as the 
 Duke has been murdered by the first. 
 
 "2 Villain. A bloody deed, and desperately despatch'd! 
 How fain, like Pilate, would I wash my hands 
 Of this most grievous guilty murder done !" 
 
 There is but one chapter in the New Testament 
 (the 27th of St. Matthew) where we read that 
 
 " Pilate took water, and washed his hands before the 
 multitude, saying, I am innocent of the blood of this 
 just person." 
 
 And there only is it stated, that 
 
 "Pilate's wife suffered many things in a dream, 
 because of him." 
 
 The words, therefore, which the second villain 
 utters relative to Pilate, seem to conduct us to the 
 source whence the idea of a troubled dream entered 
 Shakespeare's mind, as a prelude to the horrid 
 event that consigns Clarence to the tomb. 
 
 More Proverb-quotations may now be produced, 
 in defence of the conjectures that have been made 
 relating to them. 
 
 The following words burst from the lips of the 
 devoted Hastings, a short time before he lays his 
 head upon the block : 
 
RICHARD III. 39 
 
 "Hastings. O momentary grace of mortal men, 
 Which we more hunt for than the grace of God ! 
 Who builds his hope in air of your fair looks, 
 Lives like a (drunken) sailor on a mast ; 
 Heady with every nod to tumble down 
 Into the fatal bowels of the deep." 
 
 ["Sailor on the mast."] "Yea, thou shalt be as he 
 that lieth down in the midst of the sea, or as he that lieth 
 upon the top of a mast." Prov. xxiii. 34. 
 
 The word drunken, proves that Shakespeare 
 derived the idea, " lives like a drunken sailor on a 
 mast/' from Proverbs, as above indicated. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE PLAT OF HENEY VIII. 
 
 ACT V. SCENE II. 
 
 Enter the Guard. 
 
 " Oranmer. For me ? 
 Must I go like a traitor thitlier ? 
 
 Gardner. Receive him, 
 And see him safe i' the Tower. 
 
 Cranmer. Stay, good my lords, 
 I have a little yet to say. Look there, my lords; 
 By virtue of that ring, I take my cause 
 Out of the gripes of cruel men, and give it 
 To a most noble judge, the king my master. 
 
 Chamberlain. This is the king's ring. 
 
 Surrey. 'Tis no counterfeit. 
 
 Suffolk. 'Tis the right ring, by Heaven : I told ye all, 
 When we first put this dangerous stone a rolling, 
 ">T would fall upon ourselves'' 
 
 ["Stone a rolling."] "He that rolleth a stone, it 
 will return upon him." Prov. xxvi. 27. 
 
HENRY VIII. 41 
 
 As Proverb-quotations cannot again appear thus 
 collectively, passages in the play of Henry VIII., 
 connected with our subject, which have not yet 
 been noticed, may follow in their natural course. 
 
 ACT I. SCENE I. 
 
 London. 
 
 NORFOLK'S advice to BUCKINGHAM, who plans destruction to 
 CARDINAL WOLSEY. 
 
 "Norfolk. Be advised; 
 Heat not a furnace for your foe so hot 
 That it do singe yourself." 
 
 [" Furnace for your foe so hot."] " Then was Nebu- 
 chadnezzar full of fury, and the form of his visage was 
 changed against Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego : 
 therefore he spake, and commanded that they should 
 heat the furnace one seven times more than it was wont 
 to be heated. 
 
 " Therefore, because the king's command was urgent, 
 and the furnace exceeding hot, the flame of the fire slew 
 those men that took up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed- 
 nego." Dan. iii. 19, 22. 
 
 ACT II. SCENE II. 
 
 An Antechamber in the Palace. 
 
 From a Dialogue between the LORD CHAMBERLAIN and the 
 
 DUKES OF NORFOLK and SUFFOLK, relative to 
 
 CARDINAL WOLSEY. 
 
 " Chamberlain. Heaven will one day open 
 The king's eyes, that so long have slept upon 
 This bold, bad man. 
 
 D 
 
42 SHAKESPEARE AND THE BIBLE. 
 
 Suffolk. And free us from his slavery. 
 
 Norfolk. We had need pray, 
 And heartily, for our deliverance; 
 Or this imperious man will work us all 
 From princes into pages : all men's honours 
 Lie like one lump before him, to be fashion* d 
 Into what pitch he please" 
 
 ["Into what pitch."] This allusion seems to 
 be to the 21st verse of the 9th chapter of the 
 Epistle of St. Paul to the Romans 
 
 " Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same 
 lump to make one vessel unto honour , and another unto 
 dishonour ? " Collins. 
 
 We may now add the latter part of Wolsey's 
 speech, which commences with the words "So 
 farewell to the little good you bear me/' in 
 
 ACT III. SCENE II. 
 
 " Wolsey. Yain pomp and glory of the world, I hate ye ; 
 I feel my heart new open'd : how wretched 
 Is that poor man that hangs on princes' favours ! 
 There is, betwixt that smile we would aspire to, 
 That sweet aspect of princes and our ruin, 
 More pangs and fears than wars or women have ; 
 And when he falls, he falls like Lucifer, 
 Never to hope again" 
 
 [" Falls like Lucifer."]" How art thou fallen from 
 heaven, Lucifer, son of the morning ! How art thou 
 
HENRY VIII. 43 
 
 cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the 
 nations ! For thou hast said in thine heart, I will 
 ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the 
 stars of God : I will sit also upon the mount of the 
 cougregation, in the sides of the north : 
 
 " I will ascend above the heights of the clouds : I 
 will be like the Most High. 
 
 " Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the 
 sides of the pit." Isa. xiv. 12, 13, 14, 15. 
 
 ACTV. SCENE I. 
 
 " Cranmer. I humbly thank your highness ; 
 And am right glad to catch this good occasion 
 Most thorougJdy to be winnow* d, where my chaff 
 And corn shall fly asunder: for, I know, 
 There's none stands under more calumnious tongues 
 Than I myself, poor man !" 
 
 [ u Most thoroughly to be winuow'd."] A turn 
 of expression, not unlike this, occurs in the 9th 
 chapter of the prophet Amos : 
 
 " For lo, I will command, and / will sift t/ie house of 
 Jsrael among all nations, like as corn is sifted in a 
 sieve, yet shall not the least grain fall upon the earth." 
 Amos ix. 9. 
 
44 . SHAKESPEARE AND THE BIBLE. 
 
 ACT V. SCENE III. 
 
 The Palace Yard. Noise and tumult within. 
 Enter PORTER and his Man. 
 
 " Porter. How got they in, and be hanged 1 
 
 Man. Alas ! I know not ; how gets the tide in ? 
 As much as one sound cudgel of four foot 
 [You see the poor remainder] could distribute, 
 1 made no spare, sir, 
 
 Porter. You did nothing, sir. 
 
 Man. I am not Samson, * 
 
 % # * * * * t mow ij iem d own before me." 
 
 [" Samson to mow them down."] " Then the Philis- 
 tines said, Who hath done this ? (when Samson had, 
 with foxes and firebrands, burnt up their shocks, their 
 standing corn, vineyards, and oliveyards.) And they 
 answered, Samson, the son-in-law of the Timnite, 
 because he had taken his wife, and given her to his 
 companion. 
 
 " And the Philistines came up, and burnt her and 
 her father with fire. 
 
 " And Samson said unto them, Though ye have done 
 this, yet will I be avenged of you, and after that I will 
 cease. 
 
 " And he smote them hip and thigh with a great 
 slaughter." Judges xv. 6 8. 
 
 Though this example is given, Shakespeare 
 seems to refer to no particular act of valour per- 
 
HENRY VIII. 45 
 
 formed by Samson ; but rather to allude to that 
 quality strength which rendered him so very 
 remarkable. 
 
 The Palace. 
 
 The Blessing pronounced by CRANMER, at the Baptism 
 
 of the infant Daughter of ANN BULLEN, aftenvards 
 
 QUEEN ELIZABETH. 
 
 " Cranmer. Let me speak, sir, 
 For Heaven now bids me ; and the words I utter 
 Let none think flattery, for they'll find them truth. 
 This royal infant, (Heaven still move about her !) 
 Though in her cradle, yet now promises 
 Upon this land a thousand thousand blessings, 
 "Which time shall bring to ripeness : She shall be 
 (But few now living can behold that goodness) 
 A pattern to all princes living with her, 
 And all that shall succeed : Sheba was never 
 More covetous of wisdom and fair virtue, 
 Than this pure soul shall be: all princely graces, 
 That mould up such a mighty piece as this is, 
 With all the virtues that attend the good, 
 Shall still be doubled on her : truth sliall nurse her, 
 Holy and heavenly thoughts still counsel lier : 
 She shall be lov'd and fear'd : Her own shall bless her: 
 Her foes shake like afield of beaten corn, 
 And hang their heads with sorrow : Good grows with 
 her." 
 
 As the words they shall sit every man under his 
 vine, &c., are to be found in chap. iv. of Micah, 
 the ideas in italics, heavenly thoughts, &c., foes shake 
 
46 SHAKESPEARE AND THE BIBLE. 
 
 like a field of beaten corn, &c., may be derived 
 from verses 11, 12, and 13 of this chapter. 
 
 In her days, every man shall eat in safety 
 Under his own vine, what he plants ; and sing 
 The merry songs of peace to all his neighbours ; 
 God shall be truly known ; and those about her 
 From her shall read the perfect ways of honour, 
 And by those claim their greatness, not by blood. 
 Nor shall this peace sleep with her : but as when 
 The bird of wonder dies, the maiden phoenix, 
 Her ashes new create another heir, 
 As great in admiration as herself; 
 So shall she leave her blessedness to one 
 (When Heaven shall call her from this cloud of dark- 
 ness) 
 
 Who, from the sacred ashes of her honour, 
 Shall star-like rise, as great in fame as she was, 
 And so stand fix'd : Peace, plenty, love, truth, terror, 
 That were the servants to this chosen infant, 
 Shall then be his, and like a vine grow to him ; 
 Wherever the bright sun of heaven shall shine, 
 His honour, and the greatness of his name 
 Shall be, and make new nations ; he shall flourish, 
 And, like a mountain cedar, reach his branches 
 To all the plains about him : Our children's children 
 Shall see this, and bless heaven." 
 
 " Now also many nations are gathered against thee, 
 
 that say, Let her be defiled, and let our eye look upon 
 
 Zion. But they know not the thoughts of the Lord, 
 
 * * * * for he shall gather them as the sheaves 
 
 into the floor. 
 
HENRY VIII. 47 
 
 " Arise and thresh, daughter of Zion : * * * 
 * * * thou shalt beat in pieces many people." 
 Micahiv. 11, 12, 13. 
 
 ["Sheba was never more covetous of wisdom."] "And 
 when the queen of Sheba heard -of the fame of Solo- 
 mon concerning the name of the Lord, she came to 
 prove him with hard questions. 
 
 "And she came to Jerusalem with a very great 
 train, with camels that bare spices, and very much 
 gold and precious stones : and when she was come to 
 Solomon, she communed with him of all that was in 
 her heart. And Solomon told her all her questions : 
 there was not anything hid from the king which he 
 told her not." 1 Kings x. 1 3. 
 
 [ u ln her days shall every man eat in safety 
 lender his own vine, and sing the merry songs of 
 peace:'] Shakespeare might take these ideas 
 from the 1 Book of Kings, iv., or from 1 Book of 
 Maccabees, xiv., as well as, if proof already given 
 be correct, from the prophet Micah. 
 
 " Judah and Israel were many, as the sand which is 
 by the sea in multitude, eating and drinking, and 
 making merry. 
 
 " And Judah and Israel dwelt safely-, every man under 
 his vine, and under his fig-tree." 1 Kings iv., 20, 25. 
 
 "He made peace in the land, and Israel rejoiced 
 with great joy : for every man sat under his vine and 
 hisfy-tree^ and there was none to fray them: 
 
48 SHAKESPEARE AND THE BIBLE. 
 
 " Moreover, he strengthened all those of his people 
 that were brought low : the law he searched out ; and 
 every condemner of the law and wicked person he took 
 away." 1 Mac. xiv. 11, 12, 14. 
 
 v [" And make new nations."] " And Solomon reigned 
 over all kingdoms, from the river unto the land of the 
 Philistines, and unto the border of Egypt : they brought 
 presents, and served Solomon all the days of his life" 
 1 Kings iv. 21. 
 
CHAPTEE V1I1. 
 
 PERTINENT EXTRACTS FROM 
 
 THE PLAY OF HENKY V. 
 
 ACT I. SCENE I. 
 
 THE Archbishop of Canterbury and Bishop of 
 Ely are remarking the great change already visible 
 in the young king since the death of his father. 
 
 " Canterbury. The king is full of grace and fair re- 
 gard. 
 
 Ely. And a true lover of the holy church. 
 
 Canterbury. The courses of his youth promised it not. 
 The breath no sooner left his father's body, 
 But that his wildness, mortified in him, 
 Seem'd to die too : yea, at that very moment, 
 Consideration like an angel came, 
 And whipped the offending Adam out of him ; 
 Leaving his body as a paradise. 
 To envelop and contain celestial spirits." 
 
50 SHAKESPEARE AND THE BIBLE. 
 
 [" Like an angel came, and whipped the offend- 
 ing Adam out of him."] For this figurative 
 mode of expressing a change from sin to godliness, 
 effected by the chastening hand of the Almighty, 
 Shakespeare is indebted to the following extract 
 
 " And the Lord God said, Behold the man is become 
 as one of us, to know good and evil : and now, lest he 
 put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, 
 and eat and live for ever : Therefore the Lord God sent 
 him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground 
 from whence he was taken. So he drove out the man ; 
 and he placed at the east end of the garden of Eden 
 cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every 
 way, to keep the way of the tree of life." Gen. iii. 
 2224. 
 
 ACT I. SCENE II. 
 
 A conference between King Henry and the 
 Archbishop relative to the validity of the Salique 
 law, which is said to be this 
 
 " No woman shall succeed in Salique land : 
 Which Salique land the French unjustly gloze," 
 
 Says the Archbishop 
 
 " To be the realm of France, and Pharamond 
 The founder of this law and female bar." 
 
 The archbishop then tells the king, that the 
 Salique land is really between the floods of Sala 
 
HENRY V. 51 
 
 and Elbe, in Germany ; that certain French, who 
 settled there, established a law that no female 
 should be an inheritrix in Salique land ; and that! 
 these French possessed this Salique land 42 1 years 
 after the death of King Pharamond, who is said 
 to have been the founder of the Salique law. 
 
 ^ King Henry. May I, with right and conscience, 
 make this claim ? 
 
 Canterbury* The sin upon my head, dread sovereign ! 
 For in the book of Numbers is it writ, 
 When the son dies, let the inheritance 
 Descend unto the daughter." 
 
 [" Book of Numbers it is writ."] " And the Lord 
 spake unto Moses, saying, The daughters of Zelophehad 
 speak right : thou shalt surely give them a possession of 
 an inheritance among their father's brethren ; and thou 
 shalt cause the inheritance of their father to pass to them. 
 And thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel, 
 saying, If a man die and have no son, then ye shall 
 cause his inheritance to pass unto his daughter" Num. 
 xxvii. 6 8. 
 
 ACT II. SCENE IV. 
 
 A turn of expression, remarkably scriptural, 
 occurs in the fourth scene of the second act of 
 Henry V. ? where Exeter demands, in Henry's 
 name, the crown of France. 
 
52 SHAKESPEARE AND THE BIBLE. 
 
 Exeter to French king : 
 
 " He bids you, in the bowels of the Lord, 
 Deliver up the crown." 
 
 St. Paul says, too, to Philemon : 
 
 " Let me have joy of thee in the Lord : refresh my 
 bowels in the Lord." Epist, to Philemon v. 20. 
 
 ACT III. SCENE III. 
 
 Harfleur. 
 
 The Governor and some Citizens on the Walls : the English 
 Forces below. Enter KING HENRY V. and his Train. 
 
 The king, in his address to the governor and 
 citizens of Harfleur which commences with the 
 words, 
 
 " How yet resolves the governor of the town 1 " 
 
 paints, in moving words, the misery which the 
 French must see and suffer, if they again provoke 
 him to attack the town : for then adds the king 
 
 " What rein can hold licentious wickedness, 
 When down the hill he holds his fierce career ? 
 We may as bootless spend our vain command 
 Upon the enraged soldiers in their spoil, 
 As send precepts to the Leviathan 
 To come ashore. Therefore, you men of Harfleur, 
 Take pity of your town and of your people, 
 Whiles yet my soldiers are in my command ; 
 
HENRY V. 53 
 
 Whiles yet the cool and temperate wind of grace 
 
 O'erblows the filthy and contagious clouds 
 
 Of heady murder, spoil, and villainy. 
 
 If not, why, in a moment, look to see 
 
 The blind and bloody soldier with foul hand, 
 
 Defile the locks of your shrill-shrieking daughters ; 
 
 Your fathers taken by the silver beards, 
 
 And their most reverend heads dash'd to the walls ; 
 
 Your naked infants spitted upon pikes ; 
 
 Whiles the mad mothers with their howls confused 
 
 Do break the clouds, as did the wives of Jewry 
 
 At Herod's bloody-hunting slaughtermen" 
 
 [" As send precepts to the Leviathan to come 
 ashore."] This seems derived from the 41st 
 chapter of the Book of Job : 
 
 " Canst thou draw out leviathan with an hook ? or 
 his tongue with a cord which thou lettest down ? Will 
 he make many supplications unto thee 1 Will he speak 
 soft words unto thee 1 Wul lie make a covenant with 
 thee 1 wilt thou take him for a servant for ever 1 None 
 is so fierce that dare stir him up : who then is able to 
 stand before me ? " Job xli. 1,3, 10. 
 
 [" As did the wives of Jewry at Herod's bloody- 
 hunting slaughtermen."] These words surely 
 refer to the atrocities committed by Herod the 
 Great when his search for the infant Jesus proved 
 fruitless. Of this slaughter of infants, the follow- 
 ing account is given in the 2nd chapter of St. 
 Matthew 
 
54 SHAKESPEAKE AND THE BIBLE. 
 
 " Then Herod, when he saw that he was mocked of 
 the wise men, was exceeding wroth, and sent forth, 
 and slew all the children that were in Bethlehem, and in 
 all the coasts thereof, from two years old and under, 
 according to the time which he had diligently inquired 
 of the wise men. Then was fulfilled that which was 
 spoken by Jeremy the prophet, saying, In Rama was 
 there a voice heard, lamentation, and weeping, and 
 great mourning Rachel weeping for her children, and 
 would not be comforted, because they are not." Matt. 
 ii. 16, 17, 18. 
 
 ACT IV. SCENE VII. 
 
 " King Henry. What think you, Captain Fluellen \ 
 is it fit this soldier keep his oath 1 
 
 Fluellen. He is a craven and a villain else, an't please 
 your majesty, in my conscience. 
 
 King Henry. It may be, his enemy is a gentleman of 
 great sort, quite from the answer of his degree. 
 
 Fluellen. Though he be as goot a gentleman as the 
 tevil is, as Lucifer and Belzebub himself, it is necessary, 
 look your grace, that he keep his vow and his oath." 
 
 [" Lucifer and Belzebub "1 are taken, as we 
 have already shown, from Holy Writ: they are, 
 in the present case, merely the rough expressions 
 of a soldier. 
 
 The king's joke is this: he exchanged gloves 
 with Michael Williams, a common soldier, who 
 supposed that the king was a soldier like himself. 
 
HENRY V. 55 
 
 They each agree to wear the glove, which each has 
 received from the other, in the bonnet. The sol- 
 dier then tells the disguised and unknown king, 
 " That if, after to-morrow, he comes to him and 
 says, This is my glove, he will take him a box on 
 the ear/' The king now traps Fluellen, and sends 
 him with the soldier's glove. The soldier sees his 
 glove in Fluellen's cap, and challenges it with a 
 blow. The king takes care to be present to explain 
 matters, and prevent bloodshed. 
 
 ACT IV. SCENE VIII. 
 
 " King Henry. O God ! thy arm was here, 
 And not to us, but to Thy arm alone, 
 Ascribe we all." 
 
 PARALLEL m PSALM XLIV. 
 
 " They got not the land in possession by their own 
 sword, neither did their own arm save them : but Thy 
 right hand and thine arm." Psalm xliv. 3. 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 THE PLAY OF HENEY VI. 
 
 THE play of Henry VI., next to the last in 
 historic order, affords several instances of Shake- 
 speare's versatility in the use of Scripture. 
 
 PART I. ACT I. SCENE II. 
 
 " Alenqon. Froissart, a countryman of ours, records, 
 England all Olivers and Rowlands bred, 
 During the time Edward the Third did reign. 
 More truly now may this be verified ; 
 For none but Samsons and Goliasses, 
 It sendeth forth to skirmish. One to ten ! 
 Lean raw-boned rascals ! who would e'er suppose 
 They had such courage and audacity ? " 
 
 ["For none but Samsons."] "Samson slew thirty 
 of the Philistines at Ashkelon." Judg. xiv. 19. 
 
HENRY VI. 57 
 
 Upon another occasion, 
 
 " Smote the Philistines hip and thigh with a great 
 slaughter." Judg. xv. 8. 
 
 And upon another, 
 
 " Slew a thousand men with the jawbone of an ass." 
 Judg. xv. 15. 
 
 "He judged Israel in the days of the Philistines 
 twenty years. Judg, xv. 20. 
 
 [" And Goliasses it sendeth forth to skirmish."] 
 " There went out a champion out of the eainp of the 
 Philistines, named Goliath, of Gath, whose height was 
 six cubits and a span. 
 
 " And the Philistine said, I defy the armies of 
 Israel this day ; give me a man, that we may fight 
 together. 
 
 " When Saul and all Israel heard those words of the 
 Philistine, they were dismayed, and greatly afraid." 
 1 Sam. xvii, 4, 10, 11. 
 
 ["For none but Samsons and Goliasses.'*] 
 None but men whose exploits astonish and amaze 
 all who know of them ; though accounts of them 
 be not exaggerated, like those of the deeds of 
 Oliver and Rowland, Charlemagne's peers, but as 
 veritable as the histories of Samson and Goliath. 
 
 ACT I. SCENE IL 
 
 " Charles, Dauphin of France. Then come o' God's 
 name, I fear no woman. 
 
 E 
 
58 SHAKESPEARE AND THE BIBLE. 
 
 Joan la Pucelle. And, while I live, I'll ne'er fly from 
 a man. (They fight.) 
 
 Charles. Stay, stay thy hands thou art an Amazon, 
 And fight est with the sword of Deborah" 
 
 [ Sword of Deborah/'] This is the celebrat- 
 ed Joan d'Arc, who was burned to death for 
 heresy and magic in the market-place of Rouen. 
 She was servant at a small inn in the village of Dom- 
 remi, near Vaucouleurs, on the borders of Lorraine, 
 and had been accustomed till she fancied that she 
 was destined by Heaven to re-establish the throne 
 of France, and thus drew upon her the attention 
 of the French court to tend the horses of travel- 
 lers, and to perform other offices commonly allotted 
 to men. 
 
 Shakespeare leads us by the word Deborah to 
 conceive most exalted ideas of the prowess of this 
 remarkable girl ; for facts, related in the subjoined 
 extracts from the book of Judges, directly recur 
 to our memories. 
 
 " And Deborah, a prophetess, the wife of Lapidoth, 
 she judged Israel at that time. And she sent and 
 called Barak the son of Ahinoam out of Kedesh-naph- 
 tali, and said unto him, Hath not the Lord God of 
 Israel commanded, saying, Go and draw toward mount 
 Tabor, and take with thee ten thousand men of the 
 children of Naphtali and of the children of Zebulun? 
 And I will draw unto thee, to the river Kishon, Sisera, 
 the captain of Jabin's army, with his chariots and his 
 multitude ; and / will deliver him into thine hand. 
 
HENRY VI. 59 
 
 " And Barak called Zebulimand Naphtali to Kedesh ; 
 and he went up with ten thousand men at his feet : 
 and Deborah went up with him." Judg. iv. 4, 6, 7, 10. 
 
 ACT I. SCENE III. 
 
 London. The Hill before the Tower. 
 Enter to Tower Gates, WINCHESTER, attended. 
 
 CARDINAL BEAUFORT, Bishop of Winchester, thus addresses 
 the DUKE OF GLOSTER, uncle to the King and Protector. 
 
 " Winchester (great-uncle to the King.) Nay, stand 
 
 thou back, I will not budge a foot ; 
 This be Damascus, be thou cursed Cain, 
 To slay thy brother Abel if thou wilt." 
 
 An irritating mode this of claiming consangui- 
 nity, and at the same time moral superiority, 
 Gloster afterwards acknowledges their relationship, 
 when they renew their quarrel in the first scene 
 of the third act, by the bitter retort 
 
 " Thou bastard of my grandfather ! " 
 
 [" Cursed Cain."] " And now art thou (Cain) cursed 
 from the earth, which hath opened her mouth to re- 
 ceive thy brother's blood from thy hand." Gen. iv. 11. 
 
 The versatility of Shakespeare is seen in his 
 method of treating the same facts from Scripture 
 in various parts of his works; for by them he 
 contrives most vigorously to express either devo- 
 tion, pride, hatred, levity, authority, or despair. 
 
60 SHAKESPEARE AND THE BIBLE. 
 
 In the present instance, tlie mention of Cain's 
 crime is made the most vengeful taunt that a 
 haughty mind can conceive. 
 
 ACT II. SCENE I. 
 
 Enter TALBOT, BEDFORD, and BURGUNDY, with scaling 
 ladders, <&c. 
 
 " Talbot. Well, let them practise and converse with 
 
 spirits : 
 God is our fortress" 
 
 The Psalmist's words are, 
 
 "The Lord is my rock and my fortress" Psalm 
 xviii. 2. 
 
 "Thou art my rock and my fortress.'" Psalm 
 xxxi. 3. 
 
 ACT V. SCENE IV. 
 
 Alarum Excursions. Enter JOAN LA PUCELLE. 
 " Pucelle. The regent conquers, and the Frenchmen 
 
 % 
 
 Now help, ye charming spells, and periapts ; 
 
 And ye choice spirits that admonish me, 
 
 And give me signs of future accidents ! (Thunder.) 
 
 You speedy helpers, that are substitutes 
 
 Under the lordly monarch of the north, 
 
 Appear, and aid me in this enterprise ! " 
 
 ["Ye charming spells and periapts."] "Charms 
 sow'd up. 'Woe to them that sow pillows to all arm- 
 holes, to hunt souls.'" Ezek. xiii. 18. 
 
HENRY VJ. 61 
 
 ["Under the lordly monarch of the north."] The 
 boast of Lucifer in the 1 4th chapter of Isaiah is said to 
 be, that he "will sit upon the mount of the congrega- 
 tion, in the sides of the north." Steevens. 
 
 ACT V. SCENE V. 
 
 " York. Use no entreaty, for it is in vain. 
 
 Joan of Arc. Then lead me hence ; with whom I 
 
 leave my curse ; 
 
 May never glorious sun reflex his beams 
 Upon the country where you make abode ! 
 But darkness, and the gloomy shade of death 
 Environ you." 
 
 [" Darkness and the gloomy shade of death."] 
 This expression, says Malone, is scriptural 
 
 " Whereby the day-spring from on high hath visited 
 us, to give light to them that sit in darkness and in the 
 shadow of death" Luke i. 78, 79. 
 
 THE PLAY OF HENEY VI. 
 
 PART II. ACT I. SCENE III. 
 
 QUEEN MARGARET drops her fan. 
 
 "Queen Margaret to the Duchess of Gloster. Give 
 me my fan : What, minion ! can you not ? I cry you 
 mercy, madam ! Was it you ? 
 
 (Gives the Duchess a box on the ear.) 
 
62 SHAKESPEARE AND THE BIBLE. 
 
 Duchess of Gloster. Was't I ? yea, I it was, proud 
 
 Frenchwoman : 
 
 Could I come near your beauty with my nails, 
 I'd set my ten commandments in your face." 
 
 [" Ten commandments."] The words of the covenant 
 made by the Most High with Moses and with Israel, 
 which are recorded in the 20th Chapter of Exodus, are 
 spoken of in the Old Testament as the ten command- 
 ments. Thus "And he (Moses) wrote upon the 
 tables the words of the covenant, the ten command- 
 ments." Exod. xxxiv. 28. 
 
 We see the use which the angry duchess makes 
 of the words ten commandments. 
 
 ACT II. SCENE I 
 
 Saint Albarfs. 
 
 " Gloster. "Why, Suffolk, England knows thine inso- 
 lence. 
 
 Q. Margaret. And thy ambition, Gloster. 
 
 King Henry. I pr'ythee peace, 
 Good Queen, and whet not on these furious peers, 
 For blessed are the peacemakers on earth." 
 
 [" Blessed are the peacemakers."] Matt. v. 9. 
 
HENRY VI. 63 
 
 ACT II. SCENE I. 
 
 Enter an inhabitant of St. Albarfs, crying "A miracle." 
 
 " Infiabitant. A miracle ! a miracle ! 
 
 Suffolk. Come to the king, and tell him what miracle. 
 
 Inhabitant. Forsooth, a blind man at St. Alban's 
 
 shrine, 
 
 Within this half hour hath received his sight ; 
 A man that ne'er saw in his life before. 
 
 King Henry. Now, God be praised ! that to believing 
 
 souls 
 Gives light in darkness, comfort in despair ! 
 
 (Enter the Mayor of St. Albaris, attended.) 
 Cardinal. Here come the townsmen on procession, 
 To present your highness with the man. 
 
 King Henry. Great is his comfort in this earthly 
 
 vale, 
 Although by his sight his sin be multiplied. 
 
 Gloster. Stand by, my masters, bring him near the 
 
 king, 
 His highness' pleasure is to talk with him. 
 
 King Henry. Good fellow, tell us here the circum- 
 stance, 
 
 That we for thee may glorify the Lord, 
 What, hast thou been long blind, and now restored ? 
 Simpcox. Born blind, an't please your grace. 
 Simpcoxs wife. Ay, indeed, was he. 
 Suffolk. What woman is this f 
 Wife. His wife, an't like your worship. 
 Gloster. Had'st thou been his mother, thou could'st 
 have better told. 
 
64 SHAKESPEARE AND THE BIBLE. 
 
 King Henry. Where wert thou born ? 
 
 Simpcox. At Berwick in the north, an't like your 
 
 grace. 
 King Henry. Poor soul ! God's goodness hath been 
 
 great to thee : 
 
 Let never day nor night unhallowed pass, 
 But still remember what the Lord hath done." 
 
 The account here giyen of this miracle, an im- 
 position recorded in English history, is thus far so 
 scriptural in sentiment, and even diction, that 
 Shakespeare seems as much indebted to Holy 
 Writ as to English history. 
 
 " God be praised ! that to believing souls 
 Gives light in darkness, comfort in despair ! " 
 
 The prophet Micah says, too 
 
 " When If ally I shall arise ; when I sit in darkness, 
 the Lord shall be a light unto me." Micah vii. 8. 
 
 King Henry says to the man 
 
 " Great is his comfort, although by his sight his sin 
 be multiplied." 
 
 Some of the Pharisees said, in the 9th chapter 
 of St. John 
 
 " Are we blind also 1 " 
 
 And they were thus answered 
 
 " If ye were blind, ye should have no sin : but now 
 ye say, We see ; therefore your sin remaineth" John ix. 
 40, 41. 
 
HENRY VI. 65 
 
 In this chapter of St. John a man born blind is 
 restored to sight. After this restoration to sight, 
 the parents of the person made whole have the 
 following question put to them 
 
 " Is this your son, who ye say was born blind ? " 
 They answer 
 
 " We know that this is our son, and that he was born 
 blind" 
 
 Now Gloster says to the impostor's wife, when 
 she seconds the answer made by him, that he was 
 born blind 
 
 " Had'st thou been his mother, thou could'st have 
 better told." 
 
 " King Henry (to Simpcox). God's goodness hath 
 been great to thee." 
 
 Nahum the prophet says, too 
 
 " The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble." 
 Nahum i. 7. 
 
 Again 
 
 ACT II. SCENE I. 
 
 " King Henry. O God, what mischiefs work the 
 
 wicked ones ; 
 Heaping confusion on their own heads thereby!" 
 
 The idea in italics is thus expressed in the 7th 
 Psalm 
 
 "His mischief shall return upon his own head." 
 Psalm vii. 16. 
 
66 SHAKESPEARE AND THE BIBLE. 
 
 ACT II. SCENE III. 
 
 A Hall of Justice. 
 
 [Flourish.] Enter King HENRY, Queen MARGARET, GLOSTER, 
 &c. &c., the DUCHESS, MOTHER JOURDAIN, &c. 
 
 " King Henry. Stand forth, dame Eleanor Cobham, 
 Gloster's wife : 
 
 In sight of God and us your guilt is great ; 
 Receive the sentence of the law, for sins 
 Such as by God's book are adjudged to death. 11 
 
 Gloster's wife is impeached for dealing with 
 witches and with conjurors, in order to destroy 
 King Henry, and certain members of his privy 
 council. Such sins are thus (C adjudg'd to death " 
 by Scripture 
 
 " Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live." Exod. xxii. 
 18. 
 
 " A man also or woman that hath a familiar spirit, 
 or that is a wizard, shall surely be put to death : they 
 shall stone them with stones : their blood shall be 
 upon them." Levit. xx. 27. 
 
 ACT II. SCENE III. 
 
 London. A Nail of Justice. 
 
 " King Henry. Stay, Humphrey Duke of Gloster : ere 
 
 thou go, 
 Give up thy staff; Henry will to himself 
 
HENRY VI. 67 
 
 Protector be : and God shall be my hope, 
 My stay, my guide, and lantern to my feet" 
 
 Here Shakespeare breathes forth, in the person 
 of King Henry, the spirit and devotion of the 
 Psalms 
 
 " Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto 
 my path. 91 
 
 " Thou art my hiding-place and my shield : I hope 
 in thy word." Psalm cxix. 105, 114. 
 
 ACT III. SCENE I. 
 
 In the speech beginning thus 
 
 " Now, York, or never, steel thy fearful thoughts," 
 
 which York utters in this act, at the end of the 
 first scene, we meet with the following words 
 
 " My brain, more busy than the labouring spider, 
 Weaves tedious snares to trap mine enemies." 
 
 [" Weaves tedious snares/'] Such words, at this 
 time, are suitable from the mouth of York. They 
 are undoubtedly taken from Scripture. 
 
 The Book of Job contains a passage which 
 shows, in like manner, the instability of the most 
 keen and complex mundane policy 
 
 " The hypocrite's hope shall perish : whose hope 
 shall be cut off, and whose trust shall be a spider's web'' 
 Job viii. 13, 14. 
 
68 SHAKESPEAEE AND THE BIBLE. 
 
 In the 59th chapter of Isaiah, hypocrites are 
 said 
 
 " To weave the spider's ^veb" 
 
 " Their webs" saith the prophet, " shall not become 
 garments, neither shall they cover themselves with 
 their works : their works," he adds also, " are works 
 of iniquity, and the act of violence is in their hands." 
 
 ACT III. SCENE II. 
 
 In Queen Margaret's appeal to Henry VI., 
 Shakespeare may be almost said to quote a pas- 
 sage from the 58th Psalm 
 
 " Queen. Be woe for me more wretched than he is. 
 What, dost thou turn away, and hide thy face 1 
 I am no loathsome leper, look on me. 
 What, art thou like the adder waxen deaf? 
 Be poisonous too, and kill thy forlorn queen." 
 
 [" Adder waxen deaf."] " They are as venomous as 
 the poison of a serpent : even like the deaf adder" 
 Psalm Iviii. 4. 
 
 Having done with Parts I. and II. of the play 
 of Henry VI., we pass on to the 2nd Act and 5th 
 Scene of the Third Part of it. 
 
 The king's soliloquy, which commences with 
 the line 
 
 " This battle fares like to the morning's war, 
 
HENRY VI. 69 
 
 Contains the sentence 
 
 "To whom God will, there be the victory!" 
 
 Sentiments of this kind might be suggested by 
 such a passage recurring to memory as the watch- 
 word of Judas " to those about him/' in 2 Maccab. 
 xiii. 15 : 
 
 " Victory is of God." 
 
 ACT IV. SCENE I. 
 
 The Palace in England.- 
 
 GLOSTER and CLARENCE present. 
 
 [Flourish]. Enter KING EDWARD, LADY GREY, as Queen, 
 PEMBROKE, STAFFORD, HASTINGS : 
 
 Edward addresses Clarence touching the mar- 
 riage of the former. The king, by his union with 
 the Lady Grey, has seriously offended his family, 
 Warwick, and Lewis King of France, to whose 
 sister, the Lady Bona, Edward had been affianced 
 by Warwick. 
 
 " K. Edivard. Suppose they take offence without a 
 
 cause, 
 
 They are but Lewis and Warwick ; I am Edward, 
 Your king and Warwick's, and must have rny will. 
 
70 SHAKESPEARE AND THE BIBLE. 
 
 Gloster. And you shall have your will, because our 
 
 king: 
 Yet hasty marriage seldom proveth well. 
 
 K. Edward. Yea, brother Richard, are you offended 
 
 too? 
 
 Gloster. Not I : 
 
 No, God forbid, that / should wish them severed 
 Whom God hath join' d together" 
 
 " What therefore God hath joined together, let not 
 man put asunder." Matthew xix. 6., & Mark x. 9. 
 
 ACT V. SCENE I. 
 
 Coventry. 
 Enter CLARENCE with Drums and Colours. 
 
 Clarence deserts his father-in-law, and the Red 
 Eose party to which he belongs ; and thus 
 addresses Warwick 
 
 " Clarence. Father of Warwick, know you what this 
 means ? (Taking the red rose out of his cap.) 
 Look here, 1 throw my infamy at thee : 
 I will not ruinate my father's house, 
 Who gave his blood to lime the stones together, 
 And set up Lancaster. Why trow'st thou, Warwick, 
 That Clarence is so harsh, so blunt, unnatural, 
 To bend the fatal instruments of war 
 Against his brother and his lawful king ? 
 Perhaps thou wilt object my holy oath : 
 To keep that oath, were more impiety 
 Than JephthaKs, when he sacrificed his daughter." 
 
HENRY VI. 71 
 
 [ u More impiety than Jephthah's."] " And Jephtliah 
 vowed a vow unto the Lord, and said, If thou shalt 
 without fail deliver the children of Ammon into mine 
 hands, 
 
 " Then it shall be, that whatsoever cometh forth 
 of the doors of my house to meet me, when I return in 
 peace from the children of Ammon, shall surely be 
 the Lord's, and I will offer it up for a burnt-offering. 
 So Jephthah passed over unto the children of Ammon 
 to fight against them ; and the Lord delivered tJiem into 
 his hands. ***** 
 
 " And Jephthah came to Mizpeh unto his house, and, 
 behold, his daughter came out to meet him with tim- 
 brels and with dances : and she was his only child ; 
 beside her he had neither son nor daughter. 
 
 " And it came to pass, when he saw her, that he rent 
 his clothes, and said, Alas, my daughter ! thou hast 
 brought me very low, and thou art one of them that 
 trouble me : for I have opened my mouth unto the Lord, 
 and I cannot go back. 
 
 " And he sent her away for two months : And it 
 came to pass, at the end of two months, that she 
 returned unto her father, who did with her according to 
 his vow which he had vowed." Judges xi. 30 35, 39. 
 
 ACT V. SCENE II. 
 
 A Field of Battle near BARNET. 
 
 " Warwick Ah, who is nigh? come to me friend or foe, 
 And tell me who is victor, York or Warwick ? 
 Why ask I that 1 my mangled body shows, 
 My blood, my want of strength, my sick heart shows, 
 
72 SHAKESPEARE AND THE BIBLE. 
 
 That I must yield my body to the earth, 
 And, by my fall, the conquest to my foe. 
 Thus yields the cedar to the axe's edge, 
 Whose arms gave shelter to the princely eagle, 
 Under whose shade the ramping lion slept." 
 
 Steevens seems to consider, not unreasonably, 
 that the 31st chapter of the prophet Ezekiel sug- 
 gested these images to Shakespeare. 
 
 [" Thus yields the cedar."] " Behold the Assyrian 
 was a cedar in Lebanon with fair branches, and with a 
 shadowing shroud, and of an high stature; and his top 
 was among the thick boughs. * 
 
 "All the fowls of heaven made their nests in his 
 boughs, and under his branches did all the beasts of the 
 field bring forth their young ^ and under his shadow 
 dwelt all great nations. 
 
 " Thus was he fair in his greatness, in the length of 
 his branches : for his root was by great waters. * * 
 
 " Therefore thus saith the Lord God, Because thou 
 hast lifted up thyself in height, and he hath shot up 
 his top among the thick boughs, and his heart is lifted 
 up in his height ; I have therefore delivered him into 
 the hand of the mighty one of the heathen ; he shall 
 surely deal with him : I have driven him out for his 
 wickedness. 
 
 "And strangers, the terrible of the nations, have cut 
 him o^ and have left him : upon the mountains and in 
 all the valleys his branches are fallen, and his boughs 
 are broken by all the rivers of the laud ; and all the 
 people of the earth are gone down from his shadow, and 
 have left him." Ezek. xxxi. 3 7, 10 12. 
 
HENRY VI. 73 
 
 ACT V. SCENE VII. 
 
 "King Edward IV. Clarence and Gloster, love my 
 
 lovely queen ; 
 And kiss your princely nephew, brothers both. 
 
 Clarence. The duty that I owe unto your majesty, 
 I seal upon the lips of this sweet babe. 
 
 King Edward. Thanks, noble Clarence ; worthy 
 
 brother, thanks. 
 Gloster. And, that I love the tree from whence thou 
 
 sprang'st, 
 
 Witness the loving kiss I give the fruit : 
 To say the truth, so Judas kissed his Master ; 
 And cried. All hail ! when as he meant all harm" 
 
 (Aside.) 
 
 The perfidy of Judas will be met with in several 
 more instances : we will here introduce an instance 
 from 6i As You Like It," to show what a different 
 shade of meaning is there attached to it to what is 
 here observable. 
 
CHAPTER X. 
 
 AS YOU LIKE IT.-^ Comedy. 
 
 ACT III. SCENE IV. 
 
 A Cottage in the Forest. Enter ROSALIND and CELIA. 
 ROSALIND in Boy's Clothes for GANIMED. 
 
 " Rosalind. Never talk to me, I will weep. 
 
 Celia. Do, I pr'ythee ; but yet have the grace to con- 
 sider, that tears do not become a man. 
 
 Rosalind. But have I not cause to weep 1 
 
 Celia. As good cause as one would desire ; therefore 
 weep. 
 
 Rosalind. His very hair is of the dissembling colour. 
 
 Celia. Something browner than Judas' : marry, his 
 kisses are Judas' own children" 
 
 ["So Judas kissed his Master."] "And forthwith 
 he (Judas) came to Jesus, and said. Hail, Master; and 
 kissed him." Matt. xxvi. 49. 
 
CHAPTER XI. 
 THE PLAY OF EICHAED THE SECOND. 
 
 ACT I. SCENE I. 
 
 The ominous charge made against Mowbray, 
 Duke of Norfolk, by Bolingbroke, in the king's 
 presence, is rendered most effective by the way in 
 which Shakespeare has woven into it a passage of 
 Holy Writ relative to Abel's murder. 
 
 " Bolingbroke. Further I say and further will 
 
 maintain 
 
 Upon his bad life, to make all this good 
 That he did plot the Duke of Gloster's death ; 
 Suggest his soon-believing adversaries ; 
 And consequently, like a traitor coward, 
 Sluic'd out his innocent soul through streams of blood : 
 Which blood, like sacrificing Abel's, cries 
 Even from the tongueless caverns of the earth, 
 To me, for justice and rough chastisement." 
 
 ["Which blood, like sacrificing Abel's, cries."] 
 
76 SHAKESPEARE AND THE BIBLE. 
 
 "What hast thou done? the voice of thy brother's 
 blood crieth unto me from the ground. 
 
 " And now art thou cursed from the earth, which 
 hath opened her mouth to receive thy brother's blood 
 from thy hand." Gen. iv. 10, 11. 
 
 ACT I. SCENE I. 
 
 " King Richard. Hage must be withstood : 
 Give me his gage : lions make leopards tame. 
 Norfolk. Yea, bmt not change their spots" 
 
 " Can the Ethiopian change his skin, or the leopard 
 his spots ? " saith the prophet Jeremiah, from whom 
 Shakespeare took this idea of the leopard, " Then may 
 ye also do good, that are accustomed to do evil." Jer. 
 xiii. 23. 
 
 In the 2nd Scene of this Act, there is a striking 
 passage in the Duchess of Gloster's first speech to 
 John o' Gaunt ? which may have been furnished 
 by Rev. xvii. 
 
 The DUKE OF LANO ASTER'S Palace. 
 Enter GAUNT and the DUCHESS OF GLOSTER. 
 
 " Gaunt. Alas ! the part I had in Gloster's blood 
 Doth more solicit me, than your exclaims, 
 To stir against the butchers of his life. 
 But, since correction lieth in those hands, 
 Which made the fault that we cannot correct, 
 Put we our quarrel to the will of heaven ; 
 Who when he sees the hours ripe on earth, 
 Will rain hot vengeance on offenders' heads. 
 
RICHARD II. 77 
 
 Duchess. Finds brotherhood in thee no sharper spur % 
 Hath love in thy old blood no living fire ? 
 Edward's seven sons, whereof thyself art one, 
 Were as seven phials of his sacred blood" 
 
 [" Seven Phials."] " And there came one of the 
 seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with 
 me, saying unto me, Come hither." Rev. xvii. L 
 
 Shakespeare in the 3rd Scene, again, seems to 
 have borrowed an expression from the same 
 chapter of Revelation, when Norfolk solemnly 
 attests his innocence to Bolingbroke. 
 
 " Norfolk. No, Bolingbroke ; if ever I were traitor, 
 my name be blotted from the book of life" 
 
 [" Book of life."] " Whose names were not written 
 in the book of life." Rev. xvii. 8. 
 
 ACT III. SCENE II. 
 
 Scripture and Shakespeare are somewhat alike, 
 if comparison be made between the sentiments in 
 these two passages 
 
 " Scroop. Men judge by the complexion of the sky 
 
 The state and inclination of the day ; 
 So may you by my dull and heavy eye, 
 
 My tongue hath but a heavier tale to say." 
 " Ye can discern the face of the sky ; but can ye not 
 discern the signs of the times?" Matt. xvi. 3. 
 
 The speech of Richard's unhappy queen, when 
 
78 SHAKESPEARE AND THE BIBLE. 
 
 she hears " black tidings " relative to the king, 
 indebted for much pathos to Scripture, finely por- 
 trays that violent grief which is the prelude to 
 despair. 
 
 ACT III. SCENE IV. 
 
 Langley. The Duke of York's Garden. 
 
 " Queen. I am pressed to death, 
 Through want of speaking /" 
 
 (Coming from her concealment.} 
 
 So Job 
 
 " Now, if I hold my tongue, I shall give up the 
 ghost." Job xiii. 19. 
 
 " (To Gardener.) Thou, old A dam's likeness, 
 Set to dress this garden, how dares 
 Thy harsh-rude tongue sound this unpleasing news 1 
 What Eve, what serpent hath suggested thee 
 To make a second fall of cursed man ? " 
 
 Henry V. says also of Scroop, in Act 2 Scene 
 2:~ 
 
 " I will weep for thee ; 
 For this revolt of thine, methinks, is like 
 Another fall of man" 
 
 [ a Adam's likeness, set to dress this garden."} " And 
 the Lord God took the man, and put him into the garden 
 of Eden to dress it, and to keep it." Gen. ii. 15. 
 
 [ u What Eve, what serpent hath suggested thee."] 
 
RICHARD II. 79 
 
 " And the man said, The woman, whom thou gavest to 
 be with rne, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat. 
 
 " And the Lord God said unto the woman, What is 
 this that thou hast done ? and the woman said, The ser- 
 pent beguiled me and I did eat. * 
 
 " Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy 
 wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded 
 thee saying, Thou shalt not eat of it : cursed is the 
 ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all 
 the days of thy life." Gen. iii. 12, 13, 17. 
 
 ACT IV. SCENE I. 
 BOLINGBROKE to BlSHOP of CARLISLE. 
 
 " Bolingbrohe. "Why, bishop, is Norfolk dead ? 
 
 Carlisle. As sure as I live, my lord. 
 
 Bolingbroke. Sweet peace conduct his sweet soul to 
 
 the bosom 
 Of good Old Abraham!"* 
 
 [" Bosom of good old Abraham."] " And it came 
 to pass that the beggar died, and was carried by angels 
 into Abraham's bosom" Luke xvi. 22. 
 
 It is singular that Shakespeare should have put 
 these words, which are applied to Lazarus in the 
 parable of Dives aud Lazarus, into Bolingbroke's 
 
 *FROM RICHABD III. 
 
 "Richard III. The sons of Edward sleep in Abraham's bosom." 
 Here the words "Abraham's bosom" are used (as in the parable 
 and the case above) to denote release from an abject state of exis- 
 tence. 
 
80 SHAKESPEARE AND THE BIBLE. 
 
 mouth ; they were, however, as applicable to Nor- 
 folk as to Lazarus, if a good man ; for he had 
 been banished by the king for life, and was con- 
 sequently stripped of all his possessions. 
 
 ACT IV. SCENE I. 
 
 These words of Bolingbroke, 
 
 u In God's name I'll ascend the regal throne," 
 
 elicit from the Bishop of Carlisle the following able 
 and indignant speech : 
 
 " Carlisle. Marry, God forbid ! 
 Worst in this royal presence may I speak, 
 Yet best beseeming me to speak the truth. 
 Would God, that any in this noble presence 
 Were enough noble to be upright judge 
 Of noble Richard; then true nobless would 
 Learn him forbearance from so foul a wrong. 
 What subject can give sentence on his king ? 
 And who sits here, that is not Richard's subject? 
 Thieves are not judg'd, but they are by to hear, 
 Although apparent guilt be seen in them : 
 * And shall the FIGURE of God's majesty, 
 His captain, steward, deputy elect, 
 Anointed, crowned, planted many years, 
 Be judg'd by subject and inferior breath, 
 And he himself not present 1 forbid it, God, 
 
 * In the image of God made he man." Gen. ix. 6. 
 
RICHAKD II. 81 
 
 That in a Christian clime, souls refin'd 
 Should show so heinous, black, obscene a deed ! 
 I speak to subjects, and a subject speaks, 
 Stirr'd up by Heaven thus boldly for his king. 
 My lord of Hereford here, whom you call king, 
 Is a foul traitor to proud Hereford's king : 
 And if you crown him, let me prophesy 
 The blood of English shall manure the ground, 
 And future ages groan for this foul act ; 
 Peace shall go sleep with Turks and Infidels, 
 And, in this seat of peace, tumultuous wars 
 Shall kin with kin, and kind with kind confound ; 
 Disorder, horror, fear, and mutiny, 
 Shall here inhabit, and this land be call'd 
 The field of Golgotha, and dead men's skulls" 
 
 [" Golgotha, and dead men's skulls."] " And when 
 they were come unto a place called Golgotha, that is to 
 say, a place of a skull" Matt, xxvii. 33. 
 
 And Mark thus 
 
 " And they bring him unto the place Golgotha, 
 which is, being interpreted, the place of a skull." Mark 
 xv. 22. 
 
 In Job xxxiv. 18, it is said 
 
 " Is it fit to say to a king, Thou art wicked? and to 
 princes, Ye are ungodly ? " 
 
 " Oh ! if you rear this house against this house, 
 It will the woefullest division prove" 
 
 " If a house be divided against itself, that house 
 cannot stand." Mark iii. 25 
 
82 SHAKESPEARE AND THE BIBLE. 
 
 " That ever fell upon this cursed earth : 
 
 Prevent, resist it, let it not be so, 
 
 Lest child, child's children, cry against you woe ! " 
 
 Thus does the dignified prelate, regardless of 
 his own safety, address the proud usurper of 
 Richard's throne, with ( all the simplicity, yet 
 blighting energy, of eloquence demanding justice, 
 and execrating oppression. 
 
 ACT IV. SCENE I. 
 
 London* Westminster Hall. 
 
 The passages about to follow, are uttered by 
 Richard the Second when he is deprived of his 
 power, and they attest, like the words of his queen, 
 this melancholy truth that lofty minds, when 
 harassed by the prospect of annihilation, protracted 
 by torture, are wont to vent their agony in Scripture 
 language ; sentences being passionately spoken 
 which almost startle us by their abrupt reference 
 to the obliquity and depravity of human nature. 
 
 Re-enter YORK with KING EICHARD, and Officers bearing 
 the Crown. 
 
 11 King Richard. Alack ! why am I sent for to a king, 
 Before I have shook off the regal thoughts 
 Wherewith I reign'd ? I hardly yet have learn'd 
 To insinuate, natter, bow, and bend my knee : 
 Give sorrow leave awhile to tutor me 
 To this submission. Yet I well remember 
 The favours of these men : Were they not mine ? 
 
RICHAKD II. 83 
 
 Did they not sometime cry, All hail! to me? 
 So Judas did to Christ : but he, in twelve, 
 Found truth in all, but one; I, in twelve thousand, 
 none." 
 
 ACT III. SCENE II. 
 
 When the king asks for tidings relative to 
 Wiltshire, Bagot, Bushy, Green, and in his agi- 
 tation imagines that they have deserted him and 
 made peace with Bolingbroke; and Scroop re- 
 turns this vague answer, 
 
 " Scroop. Peace have they made with him, indeed, my 
 lord," 
 
 the king, amongst other stern invectives of 
 fiery wrath, thunders forth this notable and bitter 
 sentence 
 
 " Three Judases, each one thrice worse than Judas ! " 
 
 [" Judas"] " And while he yet spake, lo, Judas, one 
 of the twelve, came, and with him a great multitude 
 with swords and staves, from the chief priests and 
 elders of the people. 
 
 "Now he that betrayed him gave them a sign, 
 saying, Whomsoever I shall kiss, that same is he : hold 
 him fast. 
 
 "And forthwith he came to Jesus, and said, Hail 
 Master, and kissed him." Matt. xxvi. 47, 48, 49. 
 
 ["He, in twelve, found truth in all, but one."] 
 
84 SHAKESPEARE AND THE BIBLE. 
 
 " Now, when the even was come, he sat down with the 
 twelve. 
 
 " And as they did eat, he said, Verily I say unto you, 
 that one of you shall betray me." Matt. xxvi. 20, 21. 
 
 Again, 
 
 ACT IV. SCENE I. 
 
 " King Richard. What more remains ? 
 
 Northumberland. No more, but that you read 
 
 (Offering a paper) 
 
 These accusations, and these grievous crimes, 
 Committed by your person and your followers, 
 Against the state and profit of this land ; 
 That, by confessing them, the souls of men 
 May deem that you are worthily depos'd. 
 
 King Richard. Must I do so ? and must I ravel out 
 My weav'd up follies ? Gentle Northumberland, 
 If thy offences were upon record, 
 Would it not shame thee in so fair a troop, 
 To read a lecture of them ? If thou would'st, 
 There should' st thou find one heinous article, 
 Containing the deposing of a king, 
 And cracking the strong warrant of an oath, 
 Hark'd with a blot, damn'd in the book of heaven." 
 
 [" Cracking the strong warrant of an oath."] " As 
 I live, saith the Lord God, surely in the place where 
 the king dwelleth that made him king, whose oath he 
 despised^ and whose covenant he brake, even with him 
 in the midst of .Babylon he shall die. 
 
 " Neither shall Pharaoh, with his mighty army and 
 
RICHARD II. 85 
 
 great company, make for him in the war, by casting up 
 mounts, and building forts, to cut off many persons. 
 
 " Seeing he despised the oath by breaking the covenant, 
 when lo, he had given his hand, and hath done all 
 these things, he shall not escape. 
 
 "Therefore thus saith the Lord God, As I live, 
 surely mine oath that he hath despised, and my covenant 
 that he hath broken, even it will I recompense upon 
 his own head." Ezek. xvii. 16, 17, 18, 19. 
 
 " King Richard. Nay, all of you, that stand and look 
 
 upon me, 
 
 Whilst that my wickedness doth bait myself, 
 Though some of you, with Pilate, wash your hands, 
 Showing an outward pity ; yet you Pilates 
 Have here deliver'd me to my sour cross, 
 And water cannot wash away your sin." 
 
 [" With Pilate wash your hands,"] " When Pilate 
 saw that he could prevail nothing, but that rather a 
 tumult was made, he took water, and washed his hands 
 before the multitude, saying, I am innocent of the 
 blood of this just person : see ye to it, 
 
 "Then answered all the people, and said, His blood 
 be on us, and on our children. 
 
 " Then released he Barabbas unto them : and when 
 he had scourged Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified." 
 Matt, xxvii. 2426. 
 
 Though some of you, says the king, seem to 
 feel compassion for me, and would fain be rid of 
 the odium attached to these proceedings ; you are 
 
86 SHAKESPEARE AND THE BIBLE. 
 
 notwithstanding, like Pilate, who washed his 
 hands before the multitude, but delivered up our 
 Lord to be scourged and crucified. 
 
 ACT V. SCENE V. 
 
 Pomfret. 
 The Dungeon of the Castle. 
 
 " King Richard. I have been studying how to 
 
 compare 
 
 This prison where I live, unto the world : 
 And, for because the world is populous, 
 And here is nob a creature but myself, 
 I cannot do it ; Yet I'll hammer it out. 
 My brain I'll prove the female to my soul ; 
 My soul, the father : and these two beget 
 A generation of still breeding thoughts, 
 And these same thoughts people this little world ; 
 In humours like the people of this world, 
 For no thought is contented. The better sort 
 As thoughts of things divine are intermixed 
 With scruples, and do set the word itself 
 Against the word : 
 
 As thus Come little ones ; and then again 
 It is as hard to come, as for a camel 
 To thread tJie postern of a needle's eye." 
 
 Shakespeare is indebted no little to Holy Writ 
 for a soliloquy pregnant with philosophy of so 
 peculiar yet devout a cast. 
 
HICHARD II. 87 
 
 The passage 
 
 ' ' It is as hard to come, as for a camel 
 To thread the postern of a needle's eye," 
 
 may be derived either from Matt. xix. 24, 
 
 " And again I say unto you, It is easier for a camel 
 to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man 
 to enter into the kingdom of God." 
 
 Or from Mark x. 24, 25 
 
 " But Jesus answereth again, and saith unto them, 
 Children, how hard is it for them that trust in riches 
 to enter into the kingdom of God ! 
 
 " It is easier, &c." 
 
 The same may be said of Come, little ones. It 
 may either be derived from Matt. xix. 13, 14 
 
 " Then were there brought unto him little children, 
 that he should put his hands on them, and pray : and 
 the disciples rebuked them. But Jesus said, Suffer 
 little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me; 
 for of SUCH is the kingdom of heaven" 
 
 Or Mark x. 13, 14 
 
 " And they brought young children to him, that he 
 should touch them : and his disciples rebuked those 
 that brought them. But when Jesus saw it, he was 
 much displeased, and said unto them, Suffer the little 
 children to come unto me, and forbid them not ; for of 
 SUCH is the kingdom of God" 
 
 The idea 
 
 " My brain I'll prove the female to my soul ; my 
 soul the father," 
 
88 SHAKESPEARE AND THE BIBLE. 
 
 might be suggested to the poet's fertile mind by 
 what is said of marriage in either of the chapters 
 mentioned, conjoined with the recent remark which 
 fell from the king's lips when about to bid a final 
 adieu to his queen : 
 
 "Richard. Doubly divorced bad men, ye violate 
 A twofold marriage ; 'twixt my crown and me; 
 And then betwixt me and my married wife." 
 
 Thus, Matt. xix. 3, 4, 5 
 
 " The Pharisees also came unto him, tempting him, 
 and saying unto him, Is it lawful for a man to put 
 away his wife for every cause 1 And he answered and 
 said unto them, Have ye not read, that he which made 
 them at the beginning, made them male and female, 
 and said, For this cause shall a man leave father and 
 mother, and shall cleave to his wife; and they twain 
 shall be one flesh ? " 
 
 Or Mark x. 2 to 8 
 
 " And the Pharisees came to him, and asked him, Is 
 it lawful for a man to put away his wife? tempting him. 
 
 " Arid he answered and said unto them, What did 
 Moses command you ? 
 
 " And they said, Moses suffered to write a bill of 
 divorcement, and to put her away. 
 
 " And Jesus answered and said unto them, For the 
 hardness of your heart he wrote you this precept. 
 
 " But from the beginning of the creation God made 
 them male and female. 
 
RICHARD II. 89 
 
 "For this cause shall a man leave his father and 
 mother, and cleave to his wife ; 
 
 " And the twain shall be one flesh : so then they 
 are no more twain, but one flesh." 
 
 ACT V. SCENE VI. 
 
 The following passage occurs in the speech 
 delivered to Ext on, Richard's murderer, by Boling- 
 broke, now King Henry IV. : 
 
 " Bolingbroke. The guilt of conscience take thou for 
 
 thy labour, 
 
 But neither my good word nor princely favour : 
 With Cain, go wander through the shade of night, 
 And never show thy head by day nor light." 
 
 | "With Cain go wander."] Words of similar 
 import are observable in the judgment pronounced 
 upon Cain after the murder of Abel : 
 
 " When thou tillest the ground, it shall not hence- 
 forth yield unto thee her strength ; a fugitive and a 
 vagabond shalt thou be in the earth." Gen. iv. 12. 
 
 The expressions of Richard, shortly before and 
 after his resignation, incontestably prove how well 
 Shakespeare knew the effects of mental torture, 
 and how truly he could fathom the depths of 
 despair. In the play of Henry IV., Sir John 
 Falstaff is as facetiously true to nature as Richard 
 II. is mournfully so. Falstaff is a wag, a liar, and 
 an epicure ; but he interests us with his wit, his 
 
 G 
 
90 SHAKESPEARE AND THE BIBLE. 
 
 artifice, and his impudence ; for we hear undis- 
 turbed his racy jokes when he amuses the prince 
 and his associates with mock pathos and bombast 
 sentiments. Falstaff is one of the loose persons 
 which the profligate Prince of Wales entertains 
 to aid and abet him in all his mad pranks and 
 wanton follies. Having thus introduced Falstaff, 
 we proceed to the last point to be considered 
 before we investigate the play ; viz., why we find 
 the words of wisdom in his mouth. Falstaff is the 
 reverse of Richard : what then ? extremes naturally 
 produce similar results : Shakespeare knew it, and 
 has in this respect drawn the characters truthfully. 
 That which causes Eichard to quote Scripture is 
 abject misery : that which causes Falstaff to do it 
 is thoughtless levity. Falstaff is dead to all 
 religion ; he acts up to the false and, as it proves 
 to him, ruinous maxim, " Let us eat and drink, 
 for to-morrow we die/' He " glories in his shame/' 
 revelling in jokes relating to it, in the very words 
 of Scripture ; for he delights to stray upon holy 
 ground, and seems never more animated than when 
 indulging in such impiety himself, and encouraging 
 it in the prince, his master. 
 
CHAPTER XII. 
 
 THE PLiY OF HEKRY IV. 
 
 ACT I. SCENE II. 
 
 London. Another Room in the Palace. 
 
 " Falstaff. .... But, Hal, I pr'y thee, trouble 
 me no more with vanity. I would to God thou and I 
 knew where a commodity of good names were to be 
 bought : An old lord of the council rated me the other 
 day in the street about you, sir ; but I marked him 
 not : and yet he talked very wisely ; but I regarded him 
 not : and yet he talked wisely ', and in the street, too. 
 
 Prince Henry. Thou did'st well ; for wisdom cries 
 out in the streets, and no man regards it." 
 
 [" Wisdom cries out in the streets, and no man re- 
 gards it."] " Wisdom crieth without; she uttereth her 
 voice in the streets: she crieth in the chief place of 
 concourse, in the openings of the gates : in the city 
 she uttereth her words, saying 
 
 " How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity ? 
 
92 SHAKESPEARE AND THE BIBLE. 
 
 And the scorners delight in their scorning, and fools 
 hate knowledge ? 
 
 " Turn you at my reproof : behold, I will pour out 
 my spirit unto you I will make known my words 
 unto you. 
 
 " Because I have called, and ye refused ; I have 
 stretched out my hand, and no man regarded : but ye 
 have set at naught all my counsel, and would none of 
 my reproof: I also will laugh at your calamity; I will 
 mock when your fear -corneth : When your fear cometh 
 as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirl- 
 wind ; when distress and anguish cometh upon you." 
 Prov. i. 2027. 
 
 The above example from Henry IV. is part of 
 the first dialogue between Falstaff and Prince 
 Henry : they playfully refer in it to the disgrace- 
 ful pastimes and outrages which they are in the 
 habit of perpetrating by night, and make the ruin 
 to which such conduct leads men, matter for wit 
 and repartee. 
 
 ACT II. SCENE IV. 
 
 EastcJieap. A Room in the Boar's Head Tavern* 
 
 FalstafF again notes Scripture when, personating 
 the King, he describes himself (FalstafF) as a 
 suitable companion for the young prince. 
 
 ******** 
 " Falsta/. There is a thing, Harry, which thou hast 
 
HENRY IV. 93 
 
 often heard of, and is known to many in our land by 
 the name of pitch: this pitch, as ancient writers do 
 report, doth defile ; so doth the company thou keepest : 
 for, Harry, now I do not speak to thee in drink, but 
 in tears ; not in pleasure, but in passion ; not in words 
 only, but in woes also : And yet there is a virtuous 
 man whom I have often noted in thy company, but I 
 know not his name." 
 
 Ecclus. xiii. 1, is in part quoted in the third act 
 and third scene of Much ado about Nothing : 
 
 " 2nd Watch. If we know him to be a thief, shall we 
 not lay hands on him 1 
 
 Dogberry. Truly, by your office you may ; but, I 
 think, they that touch pitch will be defiVd" 
 
 In Second Part of Henry VI., act ii. scene i., we 
 also find this example : 
 
 " Glos. Noble she is ; but, if she have forgot 
 Honour, and virtue, and conversed with such 
 As, like to pitch, defile nobility" 
 
 ["Pitch doth defile."] "He that toucheth pitch shall 
 be defiled therewith; and he that hath fellowship with 
 a proud man, shall be like unto him." Ecclus. xiii. 1. 
 
 "Prince Henry. What manner of man, an it like 
 your Majesty? 
 
 Falstaff. A good portly man, i' faith, and a corpulent ; 
 of a cheerful look, a pleasing eye, and a most noble car- 
 riage ; and, as I think, his age some fifty, or, by V lady, 
 inclining to threescore ; and, now I remember me, his 
 
94 SHAKESPEARE AND THE BIBLE. 
 
 name is Falstaff : If that man should be lewdly given, 
 he deceiveth me; for, Harry, I see virtue in his looks. 
 If then, the tree may be known by the fruit, as the fruit 
 by the tree, then, peremptorily I speak it, there is virtue 
 in that Falstaff: him keep with, the rest banish." 
 
 ["As the tree by the fruit."] "Either make the 
 tree good and his fruit good; or else make the tree 
 corrupt and his fruit corrupt : for the tree is known 
 by his fruit." Matt. xii. 33. 
 
 After this Prince Henry says to Falstaff 
 
 "Dost thou speak like a king? Do thou stand for 
 me, and I'll play my father. 
 
 Falstaff. Depose me? if thou dost it [i.e., act the part 
 of your father] half so gravely, so majestically both in 
 word and matter, hang me up by the heels for a rabbet- 
 sucker, or a poult er's hare. 
 
 Prince Henry. Well, here I am set. 
 
 Falstaff. And here I stand: judge, my masters. 
 
 Prince Henry. Now, Harry 3 whence come you? 
 
 Fahtaff. My noble lord, from Eastcheap. 
 
 Prince Henry. The complaints I hear of thee are 
 grievous. 
 
 Falstaff. 'Sblood, my lord, they are false ! . . . ' 
 
 Prince Henry. Swearest thou, ungracious boy? 
 henceforth ne'er look on me. Thou art violently 
 carried away from grace : there is a devil haunts thee 
 in the likeness of a fat old man; a tun of man is thy 
 companion. Why dost thou converse with * 
 * * that roasted Manningtree ox, 
 
 that grey iniquity, that father ruffian, that vanity in. 
 years? Wherein is he good, but to taste sack and drink 
 
HENRY IV. 95 
 
 it? wherein neat and cleanly, but to carve a capon and 
 eat it? wherein cunning, but in craft? wherein crafty, 
 but in villainy ? wherein villainous, but in all things ? 
 wherein worthy, but in nothing? 
 
 F alstaff. I would your grace would take me with 
 
 you; 
 Whom means your grace? 
 
 Prince Henry. That villainous, abominable mis- 
 leader of youth, 
 Falstaff, that old white-bearded Satan. 
 
 Falstaff. My lord, the man I know. 
 
 Prince Henry. I know thou dost. 
 
 Falstaff. But to say I know more harm in him than 
 in myself, were to say more than I know. That he 
 
 is old (the more the pity), his white hairs do witness 
 ilj. * * * * * * 
 
 If to be old and merry be a sin, then many an old host 
 that I know is damn'd: if to be fat be to be hated, then 
 Pharaotis lean kine are to be loved. No, my good lord ; 
 banish Peto, banish Bardolph, banish Poins: but for 
 sweet Jack Falstaff, kind Jack Falstaff, true Jack 
 Falstaff, valiant Jack Falstaff, and therefore more 
 valiant, being, as he is, old Jack Falstaff, banish not 
 him thy Harry's company banish not him thy Harry's 
 company; banish plump Jack, and banish all the world. 
 Prince Henry. I do, I will." 
 
 | " Pharaoh's lean kine are to be loved."] This 
 thought may be supposed to spring from the com- 
 parison made when the Prince, speaking of Falstaff, 
 says that roasted Manningtree ox. "If/' says Falstaff, 
 " to be fat be to be hated, then Pharaohs lean kine, 
 
96 SHAKESPEARE AND THE BIBLE. 
 
 which devoured the fat kine, are to be loved.'' The 
 retort seems to be to this effect : " The wicked 
 devour eth the man that is more righteous than he/' 
 Habak. i. 13. 
 
 [" Pharaoh's lean kine."] u And Pharaoh said unto 
 Joseph, In my dream, behold, I stood upon the bank 
 of the river : and, behold, there came up out of the 
 river seven kine, fat-fleshed and well-favoured ; and 
 they fed in a meadow : 
 
 " And, behold, seven other kine came up after them, 
 poor and very ill-favoured, and lean-fleshed, such as I 
 never saw in all the land of Egypt for badness : and 
 the lean and the ill-favoured kine did eat up the first 
 seven fat kine : and when they had eaten them up> it 
 could not be known that they had eaten them ; but they 
 were still ill-favoured, as at the beginning." Gen. xli. 
 1721. 
 
 ACT III. SCENE 1 1 
 
 In the speech which opens thus, " God pardon 
 thee/' are the words 
 
 " They surfeited with honey ; and began 
 To loathe the taste of sweetness." 
 
 So Proverbs 
 
 " The full soul loatheth an honeycomb ; but to the 
 hungry soul every bitter thing is sweet." Proverbs 
 xxvii. 7. 
 
HENEY IV. 97 
 
 The King here cautions the Prince of Wales 
 against the habit of making himself 
 
 " So stale and cheap to vulgar company." 
 
 An error which the late king committed, and 
 thereby lost the respect of his subjects. 
 
 ACT III. SCENE III. 
 
 Eastcheap. A Room in the Boar's Head Tavern. 
 FALSTAFF to BARDOLPH. 
 
 " Falstaff. Do thou amend thy face, and I'll amend 
 my life : Thou art our admiral, thou bearest the lan- 
 tern in the poop but 'tis in the nose ofthee; thou art 
 the knight of the burning lamp. 
 
 Bardolph. Why, Sir John, my face does you no 
 harm. 
 
 Falstaff. No, I'll be sworn ; I make as good use of 
 it as many a man doth of a death's head, or a memento 
 mori : I never see thy face but I think upon hell-fire, 
 and Dives that lived in purple ; for there he is in his 
 robes, burning, burning." 
 
 [" And Dives that lived in purple."] There was a 
 certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine 
 linen, and fared sumptuously every day : 
 
 " And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, 
 ivhich was laid at his gate, full of sores, 
 
 " And desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell 
 from the rich man's table : moreover, the dogs came and 
 licked his sores. 
 
 " And it came to pass that the beggar died, and was 
 
98 SHAKESPEARE AND THE BIBLE. 
 
 carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom : the rich 
 man also died, and was buried ; 
 
 " And in hell he lifted up his eyes, being in torments, 
 and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. 
 
 " And he cried, and said, Father Abraham, have 
 mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the 
 tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue ; for I 
 am tormented in this flame " Luke xvi. 19 24. 
 
 Falstaff says to Bardolph, who, by the way, 
 brings these remarks upon himself, "I make as 
 good use of it [thy face, which reminds me of thy 
 vices] as many a man doth of a death's head, or a 
 memento mori: I never see thy face but I think 
 upon hell-fire," &c. 
 
 A death's head, or a memento mori, makes, doubt- 
 less, many a man think upon hell-fire ; but if men 
 derive no solid benefit, if they amend not their lives, 
 what doth it profit them ? Falstaff renders him- 
 self, as many profligate wits do, amenable to this 
 censure, " As a thorn goeth up into the hand of a 
 drunkard, so is a parable in the mouth of fools/ 7 
 Prov. xxvi. 9. 
 
 ACT III. SCENE III. 
 
 Reference is now made, by the hostess of the 
 Boar's Head Tavern, to a conversation that has 
 passed between Falstaff and herself respecting the 
 knight's ring. 
 
HENRY IV. 99 
 
 The subject of the ring was started by the 
 knight in the following manner : 
 
 " Shall I not take mine ease in mine inn, but I 
 shall have my pocket pick'd ? I have lost a seal-ring 
 of my grandfather's, worth forty marks. 
 
 Hostess. Nay, my lord [to Prince Henry,] he called 
 
 you Jack, and said he would cudgel yon. 
 Falstaf. Did I, Bardolph ? 
 Bardolph. Indeed, Sir John, you said so. 
 Falstaff. Yea ; if he said my ring was copper. 
 P. Henry. I say, 'tis copper : Dar'st thou be as good 
 
 as thy word now ? 
 Falstaff. Why, Hal, thou know'st, as thou art but 
 
 man, I dare : but, as thou art prince, I fear 
 
 thee, as I fear the roaring of the lion's whelp. 
 P. Henry. And why not, as the lion ? 
 Falstaff'. The king himself is to be feared as the lion." 
 
 The ideas, as / fear the roaring of the lion's 
 whelp, and why not as the lion? the king himself is 
 to be feared as the lion, evidently take their origin 
 from the second verse of the twentieth chapter of 
 Proverbs "The fear of a king is as the roaring 
 of a lion." We can best defend this statement by 
 supplying the ellipsis to the words and why not 
 as the lion? and why not (i.e.) /ear me as the roar 
 ing of the lion ? 
 
100 SHAKESPEARE AND THE BIBLE. 
 
 Again, 
 
 ACT III. SCENE III. 
 
 " Falstaft* Dost thou hear, Hal ? Thou knowest, in 
 the state of innocency, Adam fell ; and what should 
 poor Jack Falstaff do, in the days of villainy ? Thou 
 seest I have more flesh than another man; and there- 
 fore more frailty." 
 
 [ u State of innocency, Adam fell."] It is surely 
 allowable in this case to refer the reader to the 
 play of Richard II. Falstaff 's wit needs no com- 
 ment. 
 
 PART I. ACT IV, SCENE II. 
 
 "Falstaff. I pressed me none but such toasts^ and 
 butter, with hearts in their bellies no bigger than pins' 
 heads, and they have bought out their services ; and 
 now my whole charge consists of ancients, corporals, 
 lieutenants, gentlemen of companies, slaves as ragged 
 as Lazarus in the painted cloth, where the gluttons dogs 
 licked his sores ; and such as, indeed, were never sol- 
 diers ; but discarded unjxist serving-men, younger sons 
 to younger brothers, revolted tapsters, and ostlers trade- 
 fallen ; the cankers of a calm world, and a long peace ; 
 ten times more dishonourably ragged than an old-faced 
 ancient ; and such have I to fill up the rooms of them 
 that have bought out their services, that you would 
 think that / had a hundred and fifty tattered prodigals, 
 lately come from swine-keeping, from eating draff and 
 husks" 
 
HE>s 7 RY IV. 101 
 
 i 
 
 [ a Prodigals, lately come from swine- keeping."] fc A 
 certain man had two sons : and the younger of them 
 said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods 
 thatfalleth to me. And he divided unto them his living. 
 And not many days after, the younger son gathered all 
 together, and took his journey into a far country, and 
 there wasted his substance with riotous living. Ajid 
 when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in 
 that land ; and he began to be in want. And he went 
 and joined himself to a citizen of that country ; and he 
 sent him into his fields to feed swine. And he would fain 
 have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat ; 
 and no man gave unto him." Luke xv. 11 15. 
 
 The graphic descriptions given, by Shakespeare's 
 allusions to the parables of Dives and Lazarus, and 
 the prodigal son, have the intended effect upon 
 us ; they render the mean appearance of these 
 wretches as despicable as poverty can make it, 
 because it is said to spring from a course of 
 deliberate iniquity. Such creatures were, in one 
 sense, suitable soldiers for Falstaff; they were not 
 likely to blush for their leader's professional defects. 
 
 The parable of the prodigal son is mentioned 
 in the Two Gentlemen of Verona. 
 
 ACT II. SCENE 111 
 
 A Street. Launce, a clownish servant. 
 
 " Launce. Kay, 'twill be this hour ere I have done 
 weeping ; all the kind of the Launces have this very 
 
102 SHAKESPEARE AND THE BIBLE. 
 
 fault : I have received my proportion, like the prodigious 
 son, and am going with Sir Protheus to the imperial's 
 court." 
 
 The parable of the prodigal son is alluded to 
 again in As You Like It ; severe reproof is, how- 
 ever, given by it in this instance ; petty tyranny 
 could hardly be put in a more contemptible light. 
 Thus, 
 
 ACT I. SCENE I. 
 
 OLIVER and ORLANDO, sons of SIR EOWLAND DE Bois. 
 
 " Oliver. Now, sir ! what make yon here ? 
 Orlando. Nothing : I am not taught to make any 
 
 thing. 
 
 Oliver. What mar you then, sir ? 
 Orlando. Marry, sir, I am helping you to mar that 
 which God made, a poor unworthy brother of yours, 
 with idleness. 
 
 Oliver. Marry, sir, be better employed, and be 
 
 naught awhile. 
 Orlando. Shall I keep your hogs, and eat husks with 
 
 them ? 
 
 What prodigal portion have I spent, that I should come 
 to such penury ? " 
 
 We now turn our attention to the Second Part 
 of the play of Henry IV. 
 
HENRY IV. 103 
 
 ACT I. SCENE I. 
 
 In Traverses answer to the Earl of Northum- 
 berland's question 
 
 " Now, Travers, what good tidings come with you ? " 
 is this passage 
 
 " With that, he gave his able horse the head, 
 And, bending forwards, struck his armed heels 
 Against the panting sides of his poor jade 
 Up to the rowel-head ; and starting so, 
 He seeirid in running to devour the way? 
 
 [ u He seemed in running."] It is said of the 
 war-horse, in 39th chapter of the book of Job 
 
 " He swalloweth the ground in fierceness and rage" 
 
 Steevens. 
 
 ACT I. SCENE I. 
 
 The words of Northumberland, introduced be- 
 low, reveal his agony of heart when he hears 
 that his rebel army is cowed; and that his son. 
 Henry Percy, is slain by the Prince of Wales. 
 Thoroughly roused from his apathy, both by grief 
 and desperation, he now resolves to hazard what 
 remains to welcome ruin. 
 
104 SHAKESPEARE AND THE BIBLE. 
 
 " Northumberland. For this I shall have time enough 
 
 to mourD. 
 
 In poison there is physic ; and these news, 
 Having been well, that would have made me sick, 
 Being sick, have in some measure made me well : 
 And as the wretch whose fever- weaken'd joints, 
 Like strengthless hinges, buckle under life, 
 Impatient of his fit, breaks like a fire 
 Out of his keeper's arms ; even so my limbs, 
 Weaken'd with grief, being now enrag'd with grief, 
 Are thrice themselves : hence, therefore, thou nice 
 
 crutch ; 
 
 A scaly gauntlet now, with joints of steel, 
 Must glove this hand ; and hence, thou sickly quqif, 
 Thou art a guard too wanton for the head 
 Which princes, flesh'd with conquest, aim to hit. 
 Now bind my brows with iron ; and approach 
 The rugged' st hour that time and spite dare bring, 
 To frown upon the enrag'd Northumberland ! 
 Let heaven kiss earth ! Now let not nature's hand 
 Keep the wild flood confin'd ! let order die ! 
 And let this world no longer be a stage, 
 To feed contention in a lingering act ; 
 But let one spirit of the first-born Cain 
 Reign in all bosoms" 
 
 Mark the vent that this fell swoop of morbid 
 vengeance must needs seek out, or lose the form 
 of utterance " But let one spirit of the first-born 
 Cain reign in all bosoms." That is. May wrath as 
 fierce as Cain's when he slew his brother, pre- 
 vail amongst mankind, arid cause such sudden 
 
HENRY IV. 105 
 
 and universal carnage, that there be no man 
 to bury the slain ! With what tremendous effect 
 does Shakespeare introduce Cain's wrath, and its 
 consequences : " Let the spirit of the first-born 
 Cain reign in all bosoms ! " The whole force of the 
 speech seems centred in these few words 
 
 ["Spirit of the first-born Cain."] The Lord had 
 respect unto Abel and his offering : but unto Cain and 
 his offering he had not respect. 
 
 " And Cain was very wroth, and Ms countenance fell. 
 
 " And Cain talked with Abel his brother : and it 
 came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain 
 rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him." Gen. iv. 
 4, 5, 6, 8. 
 
 ACT I. SCENE II. 
 
 London. A Street. 
 
 Enter SIR JOHN FALSTAFF, with his Page bearing his Sword 
 and Buckler. 
 
 " Falstaff. What said Master Dombledon about the 
 satin for my short cloak and slops 1 
 
 Page. He said, sir, you should procure him better 
 assura-nce than Bardolph : he would not take his bond 
 and yours ; he liked not the security. 
 
 F alstaff. Let him be damrfd like the glutton ! may his 
 tongue be hotter ! a whoreson Achitophel ! " 
 
 [" Tongue be hotter."] An allusion to the 
 request made by Dives to the patriarch 
 
 "And lie cried, and said, Father Abraham, have 
 mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the 
 
 H 
 
106 SHAKESPEARE AND THE BIBLE. 
 
 tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue ; for I 
 am tormented in this flame." Luke xvi. 24. 
 
 The character of a scoffer, libertine, and brilliant 
 wit, in this short dialogue, is thrown out by the 
 poet in bold relief; yet the bounds of nature are 
 by no means overstepped. TFalstafF, by his use of 
 " Achitophel," states, in a characteristic way, that 
 the tailor is more politic than honest. But this 
 is not all. The very word " Achitophel " is armed 
 with a sting ; for it signifies " Brother of ruin"\ 
 
 [Achitophel or Ahithophel.] " And one told David, 
 saying, Ahithophel is among the conspirators with Ab- 
 salom. And David said, O Lord, I pray thee turn the 
 counsel of Ahithophel into foolishness." 2 Sam. xv. 31. 
 
 " And Absalom and all the men of Israel said, The 
 counsel of Hushai the Archite is better than the coun- 
 sel of Ahithophel : for the Lord had appointed to 
 defeat the good counsel of Ahithophel, to the intent 
 that the Lord might bring evil upon Absalom." 2 Sam. 
 xvii. 14. 
 
 "And when Ahithophel saw that his counsel was 
 not followed, he saddled his ass, and arose, and gat him 
 home to his house, to his city, and put his household 
 in order, and hanged himself, and died, and was buried 
 in the sepulchre of his father." 2 Sam. xvii. 23. 
 
 Men too often derive wit from Scripture ; men 
 who are good as well as brilliant are thus prone to 
 fall into error. Falstaff, however, is not a good 
 man, and we see the result ; his wit is, in several 
 instances, utterly .indefensible. 
 
HENRY IV. 107 
 
 ACT I. SCENE III. 
 
 SHAKESPEARE and SCRIPTURE compared. 
 
 " Bwrdolph. When we mean to build, 
 We first survey the plot, then draw the model ; 
 And when we see the figure of the house, 
 Then must we rate the cost of the erection " 
 
 " For which of you, intending to build a tower, sit- 
 teth not down first, and counteth the cost, whether he 
 have sufficient to finish it ? " Luke xiv. 28. 
 
 ACT I. SCENE III. 
 
 SHAKESPEARE and SCRIPTURE again compared. 
 
 " Archbishop of York. Let us on ; 
 And publish the occasion of our arms. 
 The commonwealth is sick of their own choice, 
 Their over-greedy love hath surfeited : 
 A habitation giddy and unsure 
 Hath he, that buildeth on the vulgar heart. 
 O thoti fond many 7 with what loud applause 
 Did'st thou beat Heaven with blessing Bolingbroke, 
 Before he was what thou would' st have him be 1 
 And being now trimm'd in thine own desires, 
 Thou, beastly feeder, art so full of him, 
 That thou provottst thyself to cast him up. 
 So, so, thou common dog, didst thou disgorge 
 Thy glutton bosom of the royal Richard ; 
 
108 SHAKESPEARE AND THE BIBLE. 
 
 And now thou wouldst eat thy dead vomit up, 
 And howl'st to find it." 
 
 [<<Eat thy dead vomit up."] The above meta- 
 phorical idea probably owes its origin to this pas- 
 sage of Scripture : 
 
 " But it happeneth unfco them according to the true 
 proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again." 
 2 Peter ii. 22. 
 
 In the 3rd Act, 7th scene of Henry V., the 
 passage, 2 Peter ii. 22, is introduced in the fol- 
 lowing way 
 
 " Dauphin. I tell thee, constable, my mistress wears 
 
 her own hair. 
 Constable. I could make as true a boast as that, if I 
 
 had a sow to my mistress. 
 
 Dauphin. Le chien est retourn6 a son propre vomis- 
 sement, et la truie lavee au bourbier." 
 
 ACT II. SCENE II. 
 
 " Poins [reads], John Falstaff, knight. Every man 
 must know that, as offc as he has occasion to name 
 himself. Even like those that are kin to the king ; 
 for they never prick their finger, but they say, There 
 is some of the king's blood spilt ! How comes that ? 
 says Le that takes upon him not to conceive : the an- 
 swer is as ready as a borrower's cap / am the Idngx 
 poor cousin, sir. 
 
 Prince Henry. Nay, they will be kin to us, or they 
 will fetch it from Japhet" 
 
HENRY IV. 109 
 
 ["Nay, they will be kin to us."] No matter, 
 says the prince, how distant their relationship to 
 us is, they will contrive to speak of it whenever 
 they can find occasion for so doing. 
 
 [" Japhefc."] " Now these are the generations of the 
 sons of Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth : and unto 
 them were sons born after the flood. 
 
 "The sons of Japheth; Gomer, and Magog, and 
 Madai, and Javan, and Tubal, and Meschech, and 
 Tiras. 
 
 " And the sons of Gomer ; Ashkenaz, and Biphath, 
 and Togarmah. 
 
 " And the sons of Javan ; Elishah, and Tarahish, 
 Kittim, and Dodanim, 
 
 "By these were the isles of the Gentiles divided in 
 their lands ; every one after his tongue, after their 
 families, in their nations." Gen. x. 1 5, 
 
 ACT III. SCENE II. 
 
 Court before JUSTICE SHALLOW'S House in Gloucestershire. 
 
 " Justice Shallow. O the mad days that I have spent ! 
 and to see how many of my old companions are dead ! 
 
 Justice Silence. We shall all follow, cousin. 
 
 Justice Shallow. Certain, 'tis certain; very sure, 
 very sure : death, as the Psalmist saith, is certain to all ; 
 all shall die." 
 
 [" As the Psalmist saith."] " The days of our age 
 are threescore years and ten ; and though men be so 
 strong that come to fourscore years : yet is their 
 
110 SHAKESPEARE AND THE BIBLE. 
 
 strength then but labour and sorrow ; so soon passeth 
 it away, and we are gone." Psalm xc. 10. 
 
 As the Merry Wives of Windsor is said to have 
 been written for the purpose of bringing the cha- 
 racter of Falstaff again before the public, we have 
 placed this play next to Henry IV., where the 
 character is drawn with masterly effect. 
 
 ACT i. SCENE in. 
 
 A Room in the Garter Inn. Enter FALSTAFF, HOST, 
 BARDOLPH, NYM, PISTOL, and EOBIN. 
 
 Falstaff, in the course of conversation, artfully 
 contrives to make Ford's wife the subject of it 
 
 " Falstaff: Now, the report goes, she has all the rule 
 of her husband's purse ; she hath legions of angels. 
 
 Pistol* As many devils entertain ; and, To her, boy, 
 say I." 
 
 " They have in England," says Shakespeare, in 
 "The Merchant of Venice " 
 
 "A coin that bears the figure of an angel 
 Stamped in gold ; " 
 
 an angel, when current, was worth ten shillings, 
 
 Pistol's reply, as many devils entertain, makes 
 the play upon the words legions of angels most 
 obvious. 
 
THE MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR. Ill 
 
 [" Legions of angels."] " Thinkest thou that I can- 
 not now pray to my Father, and he shall presently 
 give ine more than twelve legions of angels ? " Matt, 
 xxvi. 53. 
 
 ACT II. SCENE I. 
 
 Enter FORD, PISTOL, PAGE, and NYM. 
 
 " Ford. Well, I hope it be not so. 
 
 Pistol. Hope is a curtail dog in some affairs : Sir 
 John affects thy wife. 
 
 Ford. Why, sir, my wife is not young. 
 
 Pistol. He woos both high and low, both rich and 
 poor, both young and old, one with another'' 
 
 The words in italics seem to have been by 
 memory transferred from Psalm xlix. ; in this 
 Psalm there is a similar mode of expression 
 
 " High and low, rich and poor, one with another." 
 Psalm xlix, 2. 
 
 ACT IV. SCENE V. 
 
 A Room in the Garter Inn. Enter HOST and SIMPLE. 
 
 " Host. What wouldst thou have, boor ? what, thick- 
 skin *? speak, breathe, discuss j brief, short, quick, snap. 
 
 Simple. Marry, sir, I come to speak with Sir John 
 Falstaff, from Master Slender. 
 
 Host. There's his chamber, his house, his castle, his 
 standing-bed, and truckle-bed ; 'tis painted about with 
 the story of the prodigal, fresh and new" 
 
 [" Story of the prodigal."] " Not many days after, * 
 the younger son gathered all together, and took his 
 
112 SHAKESPEARE AND THE BIBLE. 
 
 journey into a far country, and there wasted his sub- 
 stance with riotous living. 
 
 " And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty 
 famine in that land ; and he began to be in want. 
 
 " And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that 
 country ; and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. 
 
 "And he would fain have filled his belly with the 
 husks that the swine did eat : and no man gave unto 
 him. And when he came to himself, he said, How 
 many hired servants of my father's have bread enough, 
 and to spare, and I perish with hunger ! I will arise, 
 and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I 
 have sinned against heaven, and before thee, and am no 
 more worthy to be called thy son : make me as one of 
 thy hired servants. 
 
 " And he arose, and came to his father. But when 
 he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had 
 compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck and kissed 
 him." Luke xv. 13 to end of 20. 
 
 [" Painted about with the story of the prodigal."] 
 The story may be supposed to be delineated 
 from the departure of the young man, including 
 his excesses and want, to the period of his return, 
 in abject misery, to implore a father's forgiveness. 
 
 Falstaffis addicted to riotous living, and is by 
 no means ignorant of Scripture : the story of the 
 prodigal is painted about his bed, so FRESH and 
 NEW that it must arrest attention, and well does 
 he understand its meaning. Yet such a subject 
 such a lesson before his eyes when he is alone, and 
 should come to himself, has no salutary effect 
 
THE MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR. 113 
 
 upon him. " He that is froward, remains froward 
 still." 
 
 Falstaff is a character from which we should 
 derive more than mere amusement. A warning, 
 indeed, it should be to those whose desires are 
 well-nigh limited to gross pleasures and debasing 
 objects. 
 
 ACT V. SCENE I. 
 
 A Room in the Garter Inn. 
 
 Dialogue between FORD, who assumes the name of BROOK, 
 and SIR JOHN FALSTAFF. 
 
 " Ford. Went you not to her yesterday, sir, as you 
 told me you had appointed ? 
 
 Falstaff. I went to her, Master Brook, as you see, 
 like a poor old man ; but I came from her, Master 
 Brook, like a poor old woman. That same knave, 
 Ford her husband, hath the finest mad devil of jea- 
 lousy in him, Master Brook, that ever governed frenzy. 
 I will tell you. He beat me grievously in the shape 
 of a woman - } for in the shape of a man, Master Brook, 
 I fear not Goliath with a weaver's beam; because I If now 
 also, life is a shuttle." 
 
 In the present instance, a passage taken from 
 historic narrative is blended with one taken from 
 a moral reflection on the brevity and vanity of 
 life : A smart bit of humour is the result. 
 
 [" Goliath with a weaver's beam."] " And there 
 went out a champion out of the camp of the Philistines, 
 
114 SHAKESPEARE AND THE BIBLE. 
 
 named Goliath of Grath, whose height was six cubits 
 and a span. 
 
 " And he had an helmet of brass upon his head, and 
 he was armed with a coat of mail ; and the weight of 
 the coat was five thousand shekels of brass. 
 
 " And he had greaves of brass upon his legs, and a 
 target of brass between his shoulders. 
 
 " A nd the staff of his spear was like a weaver's beam ; 
 and his spear's head weighed six hundred skekels of 
 iron : and one bearing a shield went before him." \ 
 Sam. xvii. 4 7. 
 
 ["Life is a shuttle."] "My days are swifter than a 
 weaver's shuttle, and are spent without hope/' Job vii. 6. 
 
 ACT V. SCENE V. 
 
 Another part of Windsor Park* 
 
 Enter PAGE, FORD, MRS. PAGE, MRS. FORD. 
 
 They lay hold on Falstaff. 
 
 " Mrs. Page. Why, Sir John, do you think, though 
 we would thrust virtue out of our hearts by the head 
 and shoulders, and have given ourselves without scruple 
 to hell, that ever the devil could have made you our 
 delight ? 
 
 Ford What, a hodge-pudding 1 a bag of flax ? 
 
 Mrs. Page. A puffd man ? 
 
 Page. Old, cold, wither'd, and of intolerable entrails? 
 
 Ford. And one that is as slanderous as Satan ? 
 
 Page. And as poor as Job ? 
 
 Ford. And as wicked as his wife. 91 
 
THE MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR. 115 
 
 In the first act and second scene of Henry IV., 
 attention is arrested by the following example : 
 
 Enter the LORD CHIEF JUSTICE and FALSTAFF. 
 
 " Chief Justice. To punish you by the heels, would 
 amend the attention of your ears ; and I care not if I 
 do become your physician. 
 
 Falstaff. I am as poor as Job, my Lord ; but not so 
 patient." 
 
 ["As slanderous as Satan, as poor as Job, as 
 wicked as his wife."] The extract from the second 
 chapter of elob, which embraces these particulars, 
 is somewhat long, though the substance of it is 
 brought to our remembrance in so few icords by 
 means of dialogue : 
 
 " And the Lord said unto Satan, Hast thou consi- 
 dered my servant Job, that there is none like him in 
 the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that 
 feareth God, and escheweth evil 1 and still he holdeth 
 fast his integrity, although thou movedst me against 
 him, to destroy him without cause. And Satan an- 
 swered the Lord, and said, Skin for skin, yea, all that 
 a man hath will he give for his life. 
 
 " But put forth thine hand now, and touch his bone 
 and his flesh, and he will curse thee to thy face. 
 
 " And the Lord said unto Satan, Behold, he is in 
 thine hand; but save his life. So went Satan forth 
 from the presence of the Lord, and smote Job with 
 sore boils from the sole of his foot unto his crown. 
 
116 SHAKESPEARE AND THE BIBLE. 
 
 "And he took him a potsherd to scrape himself 
 withal ; and he sat down among the ashes. 
 
 " Then said his wife unto him, Dost thou still retain 
 thine integrity 1 Curse God, and die. But he said unto 
 her, Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speak- 
 eth. What ! shall we receive good at the hand of 
 God, and shall we not receive evil 1 In all this did 
 not Job sin with his lips." Job ii. 3 10. 
 
 In Troilus and Cressida, Anthony and Cleo- 
 patra, and Timon of Athens, Shakespeare's know- 
 ledge of the Bible is indicated ; although these 
 plays relate to historical matter concerning heathen 
 nations. 
 
CHAPTEE Xin. 
 
 THE PLAY OF TROILUS AND CRESSIDA. 
 
 ACT I. SCENE III. 
 
 The Grecian Camp. 
 
 This passage, from a speech of Ulysses, is in a 
 measure parallel with a passage which shall be pro- 
 duced from the 21st chapter of St. Luke's gospel. 
 
 " Ulysses. But when the planets, 
 In evil mixture, to disorder wander. 
 What plagues and what portents? what mutiny? 
 What raging of the sea ? shaking of earth ? 
 Commotions in the winds? frights, changes, horrors, 
 Divert and crack, rend and deracinate 
 The unity and married calm of states 
 Quite from their fixture ? " 
 
 Quotation from St. Luke = 
 
 "And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the 
 moon, and in the stars ; and upon the earth distress 
 of nations, with perplexity; the sea and the waves 
 
118 SHAKESPEARE AND THE BIBLE. 
 
 roaring; men's hearts failing them for fear, and for 
 looking after those things which are coming on the 
 earth : for the powers of heaven shall be shaken." 
 Luke xxi. 25. 
 
 ACT I. SCENE III. 
 
 " JEneas. But peace, 
 Peace, Trojan ; lay thy finger on thy lips ! 
 The worthiness of praise distains his worthy 
 If that the prais'd himself bring the praise forth." 
 
 In the 27th chapter of Proverbs we meet with 
 the same sentiment : 
 
 " Let another man praise thee, and not thine own 
 mouth ; a stranger, and not thine own lips." Prov. 
 xvii. 2. 
 
 ACT U. SCENE II. 
 
 From Hector y s answer to Paris and Troilus 3 
 who are both disposed to retain Helen : 
 
 " Hector. Paris and Troilus, you have both said well : 
 And on the cause and question now on hand 
 Have gloz'd but superficially; not much 
 Unlike young men, whom Aristotle thought 
 Unfit to bear moral philosophy: 
 The reasons you allege, do more conduce 
 To the hot passion of distemper'd blood, 
 Than to make up a free determination 
 'Twixt right and wrong ; For pleasure and revenge 
 
TROILUS AND CRESSIDA. 119 
 
 Have ears more deaf than adders to the voice 
 Of any true decision." 
 
 ["Ears more deaf than adders"] For this, 
 Shakespeare seems indebted to the 4th and 5th 
 verses of the 58th Psalm 
 
 " Their poison is like the poison of a serpent : they 
 are like the deaf adder that stoppeth her ear; 
 
 " Which will not hearJcen to the voice of charmers, 
 charming never so wisely." Psalm Iviii. 4, 5. 
 
 ACT III. SCENE I. 
 
 Troy. 
 
 11 Pandarus. Is this the generation of love 1 hot blood, 
 hot thoughts, and hot deeds ? Why, ili&y are vipers : 
 Is love a generation of vipers ? " 
 
 [" Generation of vipers."] There is the same 
 form of expression in the 3rd chapter of St. 
 Matthew 
 
 "But when he saw many of the Pharisees and 
 Sadducees come to his baptism, he said unto them, 
 generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee 
 from the wrath to come ? " Matt. iii. 7. 
 
 The use of Amen by Pandarus, Troilus, and 
 Cressida, is singular. Amen is, however, found in 
 several plays which seem least to favour its ad- 
 mission in Timon of Athens, for instance : it is 
 found, too, in Cymbeline and Coriolanus. 
 
CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 THE PLAY OF ANTHONY AND CLEOPATKA. 
 
 In this play, Herod of Jewry is several times 
 to be met with. Herod is first mentioned in the 
 dialogue between the Soothsayer and Charmian, 
 one of Cleopatra's attendants. 
 
 ACT I. SCENE II. 
 
 " Charmian. Good now, some excellent fortune ! Let 
 me be married to three kings in a forenoon, and widow 
 them all : let me have a child at fifty, to whom Herod 
 of Jewry may do homage." 
 
 Herod of Jewry was an Idumean by birth, but 
 professed the Jewish religion. He was declared 
 King of the Jews about thirty-eight years before 
 our Lord was born at Bethlehem. He was after- 
 wards called Herod the Great, The words of 
 
ANTHONY AND CLEOPATRA. 1 21 
 
 Charmian, " Let me have a child, to whom Herod of 
 Jewry may do homage" seem in substance abstracted 
 from a circumstance relative to Herod, that hap- 
 pened soon after the birth of Christ. 
 
 "Then Herod, when he had privily called the wise 
 men, inquired of them diligently what time the star 
 appeared. 
 
 " And he sent them to Bethlehem, and said, Go and 
 search diligently for the young child; and when ye have 
 found him, bring me word again, that I may come and 
 worship him also." Matt. ii. 7, 8. 
 
 The flight of Joseph with the Virgin Mary and 
 the child Jesus into Egypt, that the child might 
 not be destroyed by Herod; and "that it might be 
 fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the pro- 
 phet, saying. Out of Egypt have I called my son" 
 might lead Shakespeare to put such words, con- 
 nected with Herod's search for our Lord, into the 
 mouth of Charmian, an Egyptian, with the sense 
 which Steevens has given them : " Charmian 
 wishes for a son, who may arrive to such power 
 and dominion that the proudest and fiercest 
 monarchs of the earth may be brought under his 
 yoke." 
 
 The addition of the word fifty a Let me have a 
 child at fifty, to whom Herod of Jewry may do 
 homage," and the context, cover Shakespeare's 
 retreat; but after research, cause the evidence, in 
 favour of the source whence Shakespeare culled 
 the notion, to be very presumptive. 
 
122 SHAKESPEARE AND THE BIBLE* 
 
 Herod of Jewry is mentioned by Mistress Page 
 in The Merry Wives of Windsor, in Act II., 
 Scene I. 
 
 Before Pagers House. 
 Enter MISTRESS PAGE with Falstafs Love-letter. 
 
 " Mistress Page. What a Herod of Jewry is this ! 0, 
 wicked, wicked world ! " 
 
 She implies, doubtless, that Falstaff, like Herod, 
 hesitates not to violate the most sacred bonds of 
 love and friendship, in order to gain his own sel- 
 fish ends. 
 
 But to return again to the play of Anthony and 
 Cleopatra : 
 
 ACT III. SCENE XI. 
 
 " Cleopatra. Wherefore is this ? 
 
 Anthony. To let a fellow that will take rewards, 
 And say, God quit you ! be familiar with 
 My playfellow, your hand ; this kingly seal, 
 And plighter of high hearts ! that I were 
 Upon the hill of Hasan, to outroar the horned herd!" 
 
 ["Hill of Basan, to outroar the horned herd."] 
 " Many bulls have compassed me : strong bulls of 
 Bashan have beset me round. They gaped upon me 
 with their mouths, as a ravening and a roaring lion." 
 Psalm xxii. 12, 13. 
 
CHAPTER XV. 
 
 THE PLAY OF TIMON OF ATHENS, 
 
 The pertinent extracts about to be introduced, 
 relate to Timon when reduced by his extreme 
 liberality to penury : the first one refers to the in- 
 gratitude manifested by Lord Lucius when called 
 on to assist his benefactor, now in the greatest 
 distress. 
 
 ACT III. SCENE II. 
 
 " 1st Stranger. Do you observe this Hostilius 1 
 
 2nd Stranger. Ay, too well. 
 
 1st Stranger. Why, this is the world's sport ; 
 And just of the same piece is every flatterer's soul. 
 Who can call him his friend 
 That dips in the same dish ? " 
 
124 SHAKESPEARE AND THE BIBLE. 
 
 ["Who can call him friend that dips in the 
 same dish?"] Thoughts evidently borrowed from 
 23rd verse of 26th chapter of Matthew, where the 
 Eastern mode of eating is mentioned. 
 
 " And he answered and said, He that dippeth his hand 
 with me in the dish, the same shall betray me." Matt, 
 xxvi. 23. 
 
 ACT V. SCENE II. 
 
 The Woods. Timorts Cave. 
 
 " The Poet. Then this breaking of his has been but 
 a try for his friends? 
 
 The Painter. Nothing else : you shall see him a 
 palm in Athens again, and flourish with the highest." 
 
 [ A palm and flourish." The same sentiment 
 is to be found in the 92nd Psalm : 
 
 " The righteous shall flourish like a palm-tree : he 
 shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon." Psalm xcii. 12. 
 
CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 THE PLAY OE COEIOLANUS, 
 
 ACT II. SCENE I. 
 
 Rome. 
 Enter MENENIUS with the Tribunes, SICINIUS and BRUTUS, 
 
 " Menenius. The augurer tells ine, we shall have 
 news to-night. 
 
 Brutus. Good, or bad ? 
 
 Menenius. Not according to the prayer of the peo- 
 ple, for they love not Marcius. 
 
 Sicinius. Nature teaches beasts to know their friends. 
 
 Menenius. Pray you, who does the wolf love? 
 
 Sicinius. The lamb 
 
 Menenius. Ay, to devour him." 
 
 The ideas in italics seem borrowed from the 
 13th chapter of Ecclesiasticus. 
 
 " Every beast loveth his like, and every man loveth 
 his neighbour. 
 
126 SHAKESPEARE AND THE BIBLE. 
 
 "All flesh consorteth according to kind, and a man 
 will cleave to his like. 
 
 " What fellowship hath the wolf with the lamb?" 
 Ecchis. xiii, 15, 16, 17. 
 
 ACT II. SCENE I. 
 
 From the conference which the tribunes, Sici- 
 nius and Brutus, hold relative to Coriolanus : 
 
 " Brutus. For an end, 
 
 We must suggest the people in what hatred 
 He still hath held them. .... 
 
 Sicinius. This, as you say, suggested 
 At some time when his soaring insolence 
 Shall reach the people (which time shall not want, 
 If he be put upon't; and that's as easy 
 As to set dogs on sheep), will be the fire 
 To kindle their dry stubble; and their blaze 
 Shall darken him for ever" 
 
 ["Will be the fire to hindle their dry stubble; and 
 their blaze shall darken him" &c.] A passage very 
 parallel in metaphor to this, is to be found in the 
 18th verse of the book of the prophet Obadiah : 
 
 "The house of Jacob shall be a fire, and the house 
 of Joseph aflame, and the house of Esau for stubble, and 
 they shall kindle in them, and devour them." 
 
 No instance important enough to warrant notice 
 is to be found in Cymbeline; perhaps for this 
 
& 
 
 CORIOLANUS. 127 
 
 reason, because Shakespeare adheres literally to 
 the details from which the subject was composed. 
 In the play of Julius Caesar, the great master 
 gives us very clear and correct notions of Roman 
 manners ; but, by confining himself strictly to the 
 story, furnishes us with little connected with the 
 object of our research. 
 
 ACT I. SCENE II. 
 
 " Cassius. Therefore, good Brutus, be prepared to 
 
 hear : 
 
 And, since you cannot see yourself 
 So well as by reflection, I, your glass, 
 Will modestly discover to yourself. 
 That of yourself which you yet know not of." 
 
 To the above there is a parallel in Proverbs : 
 
 " As in water, face answereth to face, so the heart 
 of man to man." Prov. xxvii. 19. 
 
 In the play of Othello, Shakespeare trammels 
 his genius less than in the plays just noticed ; if 
 several pertinent examples may be considered suf- 
 ficient evidence for such conclusion. 
 
 ACT IV. SCENE II. 
 
 Another Apartment in the Castle. 
 
 " JZmilia. I durst, my lord, ,to wager she is honest, 
 Lay down my soul at stake : if you think other, 
 Remove your thought ; it doth abuse your bosom. 
 
128 SHAKESPEARE AND THE BIBLE. 
 
 If any wretch hath put this in your head, 
 Let heaven requite it with the serpent's curse!" 
 
 -ZEmilia, the wife of lago, endeavours thus to 
 persuade Othello that Desdemona is indeed as 
 virtuous as he would fain believe her to be. 
 
 [" Let heaven requite it with the serpent's curse." 
 "Let him suffer at once the curse which the serpent 
 brought upon man viz., death : may he be visited with 
 instant death, whoever invented so wicked a lie ! "] 
 
 ["Serpent's curse."] "And the woman said unto 
 the serpent, we may eat of the fruit of the trees of the 
 garden : 
 
 " But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst 
 of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, 
 neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die. 
 
 " And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not 
 surely die : for God doth know that in the day ye eat 
 thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be 
 us gods, knowing good and evil." Gen. iii. 2 5. 
 
 JEniilia fails, however, to eradicate the fatal 
 jealousy which poisons the Moor's mind, and 
 drinks up his spirit ; for, says Othello 
 
 " Had it pleased Heaven 
 To try me with affliction ; had it rain'd 
 All kinds of sores, and shames, on my bare head; 
 Steep' d me in poverty to the very lips; 
 Given to captivity ine and my utmost hopes ; 
 I should have found in some place of my soul 
 A drop of patience." 
 
OTHELLO. 129 
 
 For the substance of these lines, Shakespeare 
 appears to be indebted to the 1st and 2nd chapters 
 of Job. Thus : 
 
 ["All kinds of sores and shames on my bare head."] 
 " And the Lord said unto Satan, Behold, he is in thine 
 hand ; but save his life. 
 
 " So went Satan forth from the presence of the Lord, 
 and smote Job with sore boils from the sole of his foot 
 unto his crown. 91 Job ii. 6, 7. 
 
 Thus, again : 
 
 [" Steep'd me in poverty to the very lips ; given to 
 captivity me and my utmost hopes."] " And the Lord 
 said unto Satan, Behold, all that he Lath is in thy 
 power j 
 
 " And there came a messenger unto Job, and said, 
 The oxen were ploughing, and the asses feeding beside 
 them : 
 
 " And the Sabeans fell upon them, and took them 
 away ; yea, they have slain the servants with the edge of 
 the sword ; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee. 
 
 " While he was yet speaking, there came also another, 
 and said, The fire of God is fallen from heaven, and hath 
 burned up the sheep, and the servants, and consumed 
 them ; and I only am escaped alone to tell thee. 
 
 " While he was yet speaking, there came also another, 
 and said, The Chaldeans made out three bands, and fell 
 upon the camels, and have carried them away, yea, and 
 slain the servants ivith the edge of the sword ; and I only 
 am escaped alone to tell thee." Job i. 12 17. 
 
 Othello. The same speech continued 
 
130 SHAKESPEARE AND THE BIBLE. 
 
 " But there, where I have garner'd up my heart ; 
 Where either I must live, or bear no life ; 
 Th e fountain from which my current runs, 
 Or else dries up, to be discarded thence ; 
 Or keep it as a cistern for foul toads," &c. 
 
 In the lines just quoted, Othello speaks of his 
 wife as a fountain a cistern : expressions which we 
 shall again have occasion to notice hereafter. The 
 expressions & fountain a cistern may be taken in 
 the present instance from Prov. v. 15, 18. 
 
 " Drink waters out of thine own cistern, and running 
 waters out of thine own well. 
 
 " Let thy fountains be dispersed abroad, and rivers of 
 waters in the streets. 
 
 " Let them be only thine own, and not strangers with 
 thee. 
 
 "Let thy fountain be blessed : and rejoice with the 
 wife of thy youth." Prov. v. 15 18. 
 
CHAPTEK XVII. 
 
 THE PLAY OF THE TEMPEST. 
 
 ACT I. SCENE II. 
 
 The Characters. Prospero, an inhabitant of the 
 enchanted island, but the rightful Duke of Milan, 
 and the monster Caliban. 
 
 " Caliban. I must eafc my dinner. 
 This island's mine, by Sycorax my mother, 
 Which thou tak'st from me. When thou cam'st first, 
 Thou stroak'st me, and mad'st much of me \ would' st 
 
 give me 
 
 Water with berries in't ; and teach me how 
 To name the bigger light, and how the less, 
 That burn by day and night ; and then I lov'd thee, 
 And show'd thee all the qualities o' the isle, 
 The fresh springs, brine-pits, barren place, and fertile ; 
 Curs'd be I that I did so ! All the charms 
 Of Sycorax, toads, beetles, bats, light on you, 
 
132 SHAKESPEARE AND THE BIBLE. 
 
 For I am all the subjects that you have, 
 Who first was mine own king : and here you sty me 
 In this hard rock, whiles you do keep from me 
 The rest of the island." 
 
 [" To name the bigger light."] This is evidently 
 taken from Gen. i, 16. 
 
 " And God made two great lights ; the greater light to 
 rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night : he 
 made the stars also" Gen. i. 16. 
 
 " Prospero. Thou most lying slave,. 
 Whom stripes ma}' move, not kindness : I have used thee, 
 Filth as thou art, with human care ; and lodg'd thee 
 In mine own cell, till thou did'st seek to violate 
 The honour of my child." 
 
 We here quote thus fully that the character of 
 Caliban may be known, and the reader be thus 
 prepared for the example in the third act, which 
 owes much of its point to this uncouth monster. 
 
 ACT III. SCENE II. 
 
 Caliban plots against Prosperous life. 
 
 l - Caliban. I say by sorcery he got this isle ; 
 From me he got it. If thy greatness will 
 Revenge it on him [for I know thou dar'st, 
 But this thing dare not " ] 
 
 These words are addressed to Stephano, a 
 drunken butler, who has made Caliban drunk. 
 
THE TEMPEST. 133 
 
 " Stephano. That's most certain. 
 
 Caliban. Thou shalt be lord of it, and I'll serve thee. 
 
 Stephano. How now shall this be compass' d 1 Canst 
 
 thou bring me to the party 1 
 
 Caliban. Yea, yea, my lord ; Til yield him thee asleep, 
 Where thou mayst knock a nail into his head" 
 
 ["I'll yield him thee asleep, where thou may'st 
 knock a nail into his head."] In Judges iv., we 
 find that Sisera, captain of the host of Jabin, king 
 of Canaan, when discomfited by Israel, fled away 
 on his feet to a tent for safety, but was there put 
 to death in the manner devised by Caliban. 
 
 [Death of Sisera, captain of Jabin's host.] " Then 
 Jael, Heber's wife, took a nail of the tent, and took a 
 hammer in her hand, and went softly unto him, and 
 smote the nail into his temples, and fastened it into the 
 ground : for he was fast asleep and weary. So he died. 
 
 "And behold, as Barak pursued Sisera, Jael came 
 out to meet him, and said unto him, Come, I will show 
 you the man whom thou seekest. 
 
 " And when he came into her tent, behold Sisera lay 
 dead, and the nail ivas in his temples" Judges iv. 
 21, 22. 
 
 ACT V. SCENE I. 
 
 [ u Thy dukedom I resign."] The duchy of Milan 
 being, through the treachery of Anthonio ( Prosperous 
 brother), made feudatory to the crown of Naples, 
 Alonso promises to resign his claim of sovereignty for 
 the future. Steevens. 
 
134 SHAKESPEARE AND THE BIBLE. 
 
 " Alonso. Thy dukedom I resign, and do entreat 
 Thou pardon me my wrongs ; but how should Prospero 
 Be living, and be here ? 
 
 Prospero. First, noble friend, 
 Let me embrace thine age ; whose honour cannot 
 Be measur'd or confin'd. 
 
 Gonzalo. Whether this be, 
 Or be not, I'll not swear. 
 
 Prospero. You do yet taste 
 Some subtilties o' the isle, that will not let you 
 Believe things certain : Welcome, my friends all ; 
 But you, my brace of lords, were I so minded, 
 
 (Aside to Sebastian and Anthonio) 
 I here could pluck his highness' frown upon you, 
 And justify you traitors ; at this time 
 I'll tell no tales." 
 
 [Sebastian. " The devil speaks in him."] Shake- 
 speare might abstract this notion, which in few 
 words expresses so much, from such a passage of 
 Scripture as this 
 
 "And he healed many that were sick of divers 
 diseases, and cast out many devils, and suffered not the 
 devils to speak, because they knew him/' Mark i. 34. 
 
 Amen occurs twice in the fifth act of the Tem- 
 pest ; it is put in the mouth of the drunken 
 Stephano Thus, in act 2nd, scene 2nd 
 
 " Stephano. If all the wine in my bottle will recover 
 him, I will help his ague : come, Amen I " 
 
 In the Midsummer Night's Dream, Amen is 
 
THE TEMPEST. 135 
 
 introduced in such a way as to indicate the exclusive 
 use to which it should be applied. 
 
 ACT II. SCENE III. 
 
 " Ly sunder. Amen, Amen, to thaty^Y prayer, say I." 
 So also in Macbeth is the same thing noticeable. 
 
 " One cried, God bless us ! and Amen the other ; I 
 could not say Amen, when they did say God bless us ! 
 
 * * I had most need of blessing, and Amen stuck 
 in my throat." 
 
CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 MIDSUMMEB NIGHT'S DEEAM. 
 
 ACT III. SCENE II. 
 
 u Hermia. An adder did it ; for with doubler tongue 
 Than thine, thou serpent, never adder stung." 
 
 ["An adder did it,"] The play of King Lear 
 furnishes us with a similar form of expression. 
 
 " Lear. Struck me with her tongue, most serpent-like, 
 upon the very heart" 
 
 Both plays derive the idea from the same source, 
 it appears viz,, 140th Psalm. 
 
 " They have sharpened their tongues like a serpent ; 
 adders poison is under their lips." Psalm cxl. 3. 
 
 Another sentence in Lear, parallel with a verse 
 in this Psalm, confirms this opinion. 
 
 "Lear. All the stored vengeances of heaven fall on 
 her ingrateful top." 
 
KING LEAK. 137 
 
 The 140th Psalm- 
 
 " As for the head of those that compass me about, 
 let the mischief of their own lips cover them.'* Psalm 
 cxl. 9. 
 
 The play of King Lear contains one more ex- 
 ample; where the King is deserted, because he 
 is in adversity, by many of those who were his 
 attendants* 
 
 ACT II. SCENE IV. 
 
 " Kent. How chance the king comes with so small a 
 
 train ? 
 Fool. An thou hadst been set f the stocks for that 
 
 question, thou hadst well deserv'd it. 
 Kent. Why, fool? 
 
 Fool. We'll set thee to school to an ant, to teach thee 
 there s no labouring in the winter." 
 
 [" Set thee to school to an ant," &c.] Either from 
 Proverbs vi. 6, 7, 8 
 
 " Go to the ant, thou sluggard ; consider her ways, 
 and be wise : 
 
 " Which having no guide, overseer, or ruler, provid- 
 eth her meat in the summer, and gathereth her food in 
 the harvest." 
 
 Or, Proverbs xxx. 25 
 
 " The ants are a people not strong, yet they prepare 
 their meat in the summer." 
 
138 SHAKESPEARE AND THE BIBLE. 
 
 The evidence from the play of Borneo and 
 Juliet, in which the Montagues and Capulets, two 
 hostile families, are brought together by a common 
 calamity, is not unimportant, though it may have 
 been hitherto unnoticed. 
 
 ACT I. SCENE 111. 
 
 A Room in Capulefs House. Enter LADY CAPULET 
 
 and NURSE. 
 
 " Lady Gap. Nurse, where' s my daughter ? call her 
 
 forth to me. 
 Nurse. Now, by my maidenhead at twelve year 
 
 old, 
 
 I bade her come. What, lamb ! what, lady bird ! 
 God forbid ! where' s this girl ? what, Juliet ! " 
 
 It may be presumed that Shakespeare, when he 
 uses the expression God forbid, adopts St. Paul's 
 strong form of deprecation. When Measure for 
 Measure is introduced, God forbid will be found in 
 the passage from the 9th chapter of St. Paul's 
 Epistle to the Romans, which we shall then have 
 occasion to quote. 
 
 FROM ACT II. SCENE II. 
 
 " Juliet. Romeo, doff thy name ; 
 
 And for that name, which is no part of thee, 
 Take all myself. 
 
KOMEO AND JULIET. 139 
 
 Romeo. I take thee at thy word : 
 Call me but love, and Til be new baptized." 
 
 ["Be new baptized/'] With such knowledge of 
 Holy Writ as Shakespeare had, it is not surprising 
 that thoughts derived from certain passages therein 
 should involuntarily arise in his mind. 
 
 Shakespeare was for instance well versed in all 
 such passages as these : 
 
 " / indeed baptize you with water unto repentance : 
 
 but he that cometh after me he 
 
 shall baptize you," &c. Matt. iii. 1 1 . 
 
 " For John truly baptized with water j but ye shall 
 be baptized, &c. . . not many days hence." Acts i. 5. 
 
 Again, also, from 
 
 ACT II. SCENE II. 
 
 " Romeo. What shall I swear by ? 
 
 Juliet. Do not swear at all ; 
 Or, if thou wilt, swear by thy gracious self, 
 Which is the god of my idolatry, 
 And I'll believe thee." 
 
 Shakespeare seems indebted for this striking 
 form of expression 
 
 " Swear by thy gracious self, which is the god" &c. 
 
 to the 6th chapter of Hebrews, 13th verse ; it is 
 there stated 
 
 " When God made promise to Abraham, because lie 
 could sivear by no greater, lie sware by himself. 11 
 
140 SHAKESPEARE AND THE BIBLE. 
 
 But he has contrived, notwithstanding this sus- 
 picious circumstance, to keep the proper train of 
 thought in the reader's mind " Swear by thy 
 gracious self;" i. e.. Promise me, beloved one, that 
 you will indeed be true to me. The passage may 
 be said to glow with the youthful fervour of pure 
 affection. 
 
 ACT II. SCENE VI. 
 
 Friar Lawrence's Cell. The FRIAR and EOMEO. 
 
 "Romeo. Do thou but close our hands with holy 
 
 words, 
 
 Then love-devouring death do what he dare, 
 It is enough I may but call her mine. 
 
 Friar. These violent delights have violent ends, 
 And in their triumph die ; like fire and powder, 
 Which, as they kiss, consume : The sweetest honey 
 Is loathsome in his own deliciousness, 
 And in the taste confounds the appetite : 
 Therefore, love moderately; long love doth so ; 
 Too swift arrives as tardy as too slow." 
 
 ["The sweetest honey is loathsome/' &c.] 
 In the Proverbs there is a passage to the same 
 effect 
 
 " Hast tliou found honey? eat so much as is sufficient 
 for thee, lest thou be filled therewith, and vomit it." 
 Prov. xxv. 16. 
 
TWELFTH NIGHT; OB, WHAT YOU WILL, 
 
 The rich and beautiful Olivia, beloved by the 
 Duke Orsino, takes a fancy to Viola, a lady who 
 loves the Duke, but is ostensibly his page. Finally, 
 mistakes are rectified ; Sebastian, Viola's long- 
 lost brother, marries Olivia ; and Viola becomes 
 the wife of Orsino. 
 
 Our examples from this play do not belong to 
 any of these leading characters ; but are no mean 
 additions to the evidence already collected. 
 
 ACT I. SCENE V. 
 
 Enter MARIA and CLOWN. 
 
 " Maria. You are resolute, then 1 
 
 Clown. Not so neither ; but I am resolv'd on two 
 points. 
 
 Maria. That if one break, the other will hold ; or, 
 if both break, your gaskins fall. 
 
 Clown. Apt in good faith ; very apt ! "Well, go thy 
 way ; if Sir Toby would leave drinking, thou wert as 
 witty a piece of Eve^s flesh as any in Illyria." 
 
 [ U A piece of Eve's flesh/'] A humorous de- 
 duction from the 20th verse of the 3rd chapter of 
 Genesis 
 
 " And Adam called his wife's name Eve ; because 
 she was the mother of all living" 
 
142 SHAKESPEARE AND THE BIBLE. 
 
 ACT II. SCENE V. 
 
 Malyolio, a fantastical steward to Olivia, is 
 induced to believe that this lady loves him, by a 
 letter which Maria, her woman, throws in his 
 way. 
 
 " Malvolio. There is example for't ; the lady of the 
 strachy married the yeoman of the wardrobe. 
 
 Sir Andrew (who in ambush hears this soliloquy). 
 Fie on him, Jezebel ! " 
 
 [" Jezebel"] Sir Andrew, who says this, is of 
 weak intellect. We shall hereafter have occasion 
 to speak particularly of Jezebel and Ahab : the 1st 
 Book of Kings furnishes us with their history. 
 Again 
 
 ACT II. SCENE V. 
 
 Enter MARIA, who has been gulling MALVOLIO. 
 
 "Sir Toby. I could marry the wench for this device. 
 Sir Andrew. So could I, too. 
 
 Sir Toby. And ask no other dowry with her but 
 such another jest. 
 
 Sir Andrew. Nor I neither. 
 Fabian. Here comes my noble gull -catcher. 
 Sir Toby. Wilt thou set thy foot o 9 my neck ? 
 Sir Andrew. Or 0' mine either ? " 
 
 This seems traceable to a passage in the 10th 
 chapter of Joshua 
 
TWELFTH NIGHT. 145 
 
 " And it came to pass, when they brought out those 
 kings unto Joshua, that Joshua callecf for all the men 
 of Israel, and said unto the captains of the men of war 
 which went with him, Come near, put your feet upon 
 the necks of these kings. And they came near, and put 
 their feet upon the necks of them" Josh. x. 24. 
 
 Words to this effect are put into the mouth of 
 Volumnia, in the third scene and first act of the 
 play, entitled ^ Coriolanus :" 
 
 " Volum. He'll beat Aufidius' head below his knee, 
 And tread upon his neck" 
 
 ACT III. SCENE II. 
 
 " Fabian. I will prove it legitimate, sir, by the oaths 
 of judgment and reason. 
 
 Sir Toby. And they have been grand-jurymen since 
 before Noah was a sailor' 9 
 
 [" Before Noah was a sailor."] Shakespeare 
 may derive this allusion to the deluge, either from 
 the 7th chapter of Genesis the 3rd chapter of 
 the 1st Epistle of St. Peter or the 2nd chapter 
 of the 2nd Epistle of this writer. There are two 
 more extracts from plays which contain allusions 
 to the deluge ; one in As You Like It, and 
 another in the Comedy of Errors. These cases 
 shall be here brought together, followed by a per- 
 tinent passage from the Book of Genesis. 
 
CHAPTER XVIII. 
 AS YOU LIKE IT, 
 
 ACT V. SCENE IV. 
 
 Enter TOUCHSTONE and AUDREY. 
 
 " Jacques. There is, sure, another flood toward, and 
 these couples are coming to the ark ! Here comes a pair 
 of very strange beasts, which in all tongues are called 
 fools." 
 
CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 THE COMEDY OF EBBOBS, 
 
 ACT III. SCENE II. 
 
 " Antip. of Syracuse. What complexion is she of] 
 
 Dromio of Syracuse. Swart, like my shoe, but her 
 face nothing like so clean kept ; for why ? she sweats, 
 a man may go over his shoes in the grime of it. 
 
 Antip. of Syracuse. That's a fault that water will 
 inend. 
 
 Dromio of Syracuse. No, sir, 'tis in grain j Noah's 
 flood could not do it." 
 
 [" Noah's flood," &c/j " And the rain was upon the 
 earth forty days and forty nights. In the selfsame day 
 entered Noah, and Shem, and Ham, and Japheth, the 
 sons of Noah, and Noah's wife, and the three wives of 
 his sons with them, into the ark ; 
 
 " They, and every beast . after his kind, and all the 
 cattle after their kind, and every creeping thing that 
 creepeth upon the earth after his kind, and every fowl 
 after his kind, every bird of every sort. And they 
 went in unto Noah into the ark, two and two of all flesh, 
 wherein is the breath of life. 
 
 " And the flood was forty days upon the earth ; and 
 the waters increased, and bare up the ark, and it was 
 lift up above the earth." Gen. vii. 1215, 17. 
 
CHAPTEE XX. 
 
 TWELFTH NIGHT. 
 
 ACT II!. SCENE IV. 
 
 " Sir Toby. Which way is he, in the name of sanctity ? 
 If all the devils of hell be drawn in little, 
 And Legion himself possess* d him, yet I'll speak to him." 
 
 [ u The devils be drawn in little, and Legion 
 himself possess'd him/'] For this strong language, 
 applied to Malvolio, because he had been making 
 himself ridiculous before Olivia, see the 30th verse 
 of 8th chapter of St. Luke : 
 
 <c . What is thy name 1 and he said, Legion : because 
 many devils were entered into him." 
 
 The 9th verse of the 5th chapter of St. Mark is 
 very similar to the one here put down. 
 
TWELFTH NIGHT. 147 
 
 ACT V. SCENE I. 
 
 The CLOWN derides MALVOLIO'S passion for OLIVIA. 
 
 " Clown. Truly, madam, lie holds Bdzebub at the 
 stave's end, as well as any man in his case may do : 
 h'as here writ a letter to you, I should have given't you 
 to-day morning ; but, as a madman s epistles are no 
 gospels, so it skills not much when they are delivered. 
 
 Olivia. Open't, and read it." 
 
 St. Paul, from whose writings our poet selects 
 passages, is declared by Festus to be mad : 
 
 "Paul, thou art beside thyself; much learning doth 
 make thee mad. 
 
 " But he said, I am not mad, most noble Festus, 
 but speak forth the words of truth and soberness." 
 Acts xxvi. 24, 25. 
 
 This false charge against St. Paul, and the 
 peculiar circumstances which call forth Malvolio's 
 epistle, might give rise to the humorous remark 
 A madman s epistles are no gospels. 
 
CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 THE TWO GENTLEMEN OF VEEONA. 
 
 Launce and Speed, the awkward servants of 
 the two gentlemen, Proteus and Valentine, furnish 
 minor additions to the matter now before us. 
 
 ACT II. SCENE V. 
 
 " Speed. But tell me true, will't be a match ? 
 
 Launce. Ask my dog : if he say Ay, it will j if he 
 say No, it will ; if he shake his tail and say nothing, it 
 will. 
 
 Speed. The conclusion is, then, that it will. 
 
 Launce. Thou shalt never get such a secret from 
 me, but by a parable" 
 
 [" But by a parable."] " Without a parable spake 
 he not unto them." Matt. xiii. 34. 
 
 " I will open my mouth in a parable." Psalm 
 Ixxviii. 2. 
 
THE TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA. 149 
 
 ACT II. SCENE V. 
 
 " Speed. I tell thee my master is become a hot lover. 
 
 Launce. Why, I tell thee, I care not though he burn 
 himself in love. If thou wilt go with me to the ale- 
 house, so ; if not, thou art an Hebrew, a Jew, not worth 
 the name of a Christian, 
 
 Speed. "Why ] 
 
 Launce. Because thou hast not so much charity in 
 thee as to go to the ale-house with a Christian" 
 
 [" If not, thou art an Hebrew, a Jew."] A 
 playful allusion, perhaps, to the prejudices of the 
 first Jewish Christians, of which we subjoin an 
 instance : 
 
 " And when Peter was come up to Jerusalem, they 
 that were of the circumcision contended with him, 
 saying, 
 
 " Thou wentest in to men uncircumcised, and didst 
 eat with them." Acts xi. 2, 3. 
 
 ACT III. SCENE I, 
 
 "Speed. Item. She is proud. 
 Launce. Out with that too ; it was Eve's legacy, 
 and cannot be taken from her." 
 
 ["Pride, Eve's legacy."] From this passage 
 
 " When the woman saw that the tree was good for 
 food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree 
 
150 SHAKESPEARE AND THE BIBLE. 
 
 to be desired to 'make one wise, she took of the fruit 
 thereof." Gen. iii. 6. 
 
 We now pass on to The Merchant of Venice ; 
 from this play we aggregate impressive evidence 
 of Shakespeare's biblical lore : 
 
 ACT i. SCENE in. 
 
 " Shylock. But ships are but boards, sailors but 
 men : there be land rats and water rats, water thieves 
 and land thieves I mean pirates ; and then there is 
 the peril of waters, winds, and rocks. The man (An- 
 thonio) is notwithstanding sufficient : three thousand 
 ducats ; I think I may take his bond. 
 
 Bassanio. Be assur'd you may. 
 
 Shylock. I will be assur'd I may ; and, that I may 
 be assur'd, I will bethink me. May I speak with 
 Anthonio *? 
 
 Bassanio. If it please you to dine with us. 
 
 Shylock. Yes, to smell pork ; to eat of the habitation 
 which your prophet the Nazarite conjured the devil into : 
 I will buy with you, sell with you, talk with you, 
 walk with you, and so following ; but I will not eat 
 with you, drink with you, nor pray with you." 
 
 [" To eat of that which your prophet the Naza- 
 rite."] The word Nazarite, in this instance, merely 
 means Nazarene, or inhabitant of Nazareth, a town 
 of Galilee. Our Saviour was despised and rejected 
 by the Jews, because he was conceived and 
 
THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. 151 
 
 brought up at Nazareth. The ill name which 
 Nazareth had amongst the Jews, is clear from! the 
 following extract 
 
 " Philip findeth Nathaniel, and saith unto him, We 
 have found him of whom Moses in the law, and the 
 prophets, did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of 
 Joseph. And Nathaniel said unto him, Can any good 
 thing come out of Nazareth 1 Philip saith unto him, 
 Come and see." John i. 45, 46. 
 
 Samson and Samuel were Nazarites in a different 
 sense. The word Nazarite, applied to these cha- 
 racters, denotes a particular sort of separation and 
 devotedness to God. The Nazarite was u to drink 
 no wine nor strong drink, and to let no razor 
 touch his head/' in token of this separation. Of 
 these Nazarites there were two kinds : those who 
 were devoted to God for life ; and those who were 
 Nazarites only for a limited time. Samson and 
 Samuel belonged to the former kind, which was, 
 in some respects, lest strict than the latter. 
 
 [" Your prophet the Nazarite conjured the devil 
 into."] This miracle is recorded in the 8th chapter 
 of St. Luke 
 
 " And they arrived at the country of the Gadarenes, 
 which is over against Galilee. And when he went 
 forth to land, there met him out of the city a certain 
 man which had devils long time, and ware no clothes, 
 neither abode in any house, but in the tombs. 
 
 " When he saw Jesus, he cried out, and fell down 
 
152 SHAKESPEARE AND THE BIBLE. 
 
 before him, and with a loud voice said, What have I to 
 do with thee, Jesus, thou son of God Most High ? I 
 beseech thee, torment me not. (For he had command- 
 ed the unclean spirit to come out of the man.) And 
 Jesus asked him, saying, What is thy name ? And he 
 said, Legion : because many devils were entered into 
 him. 
 
 " And they besought him that he would not command 
 them to go out into the deep. 
 
 u And there was there an herd of many swine feeding 
 on the mountain : and they besought him that he would 
 suffer them to enter into them. And he suffered them. 
 
 " Then went the devils out of the man, and entered into 
 the swine : and the herd ran violently down a steep 
 place into the lake, and were choked." Luke viii. 
 2633. 
 
 As Shylock says, however, in reference to this 
 miracle, " conjured the devil into," not devils ; the 
 thought might arise from the account given in the 
 5th chapter of St. Mark : the parable there ends 
 thus 
 
 " And they come to Jesus, and see him which was 
 possessed with the devil, and had the legion, sitting, and 
 clothed, and in his right mind : and they were afraid. 
 
 " And they that saw it told them how it befell to him 
 that was possessed with the devil, and also concerning 
 the swine. And they began to pray him to depart out 
 of their coasts. 
 
 "And when he was come into the ship, he that had 
 been possessed with the devil prayed him that he might 
 be with him." Mark v. 15 -18. 
 
THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. 153 
 
 ACT I. SCENE III. 
 
 " Shylock. What news on the Rialto ? Who is he 
 comes here ? 
 
 Enter ANTHONIO. 
 
 Bassanio. This is signior Anthonio. 
 
 Shylock (aside). How like a fawning publican he 
 
 looks ! 
 I hate him for he is a Christian" 
 
 [" Afawning publican he looks."] Such a temper 
 is shown in three extracts which we will produce, 
 e.g. 
 
 t( Why eateth your master with publicans and sin- 
 ners ?" Mat. ix. 11. 
 
 Why do ye eat and drink with publicans and sin- 
 ners?" Luke v. 30. 
 
 And again, in the Pharisee's prayer to the Most 
 High- 
 
 " I thank thee, that I am not as other men are, 
 extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican >." 
 Luke xviii. 11. 
 
 But we cannot determine from what source the 
 notion, "How like a fawning publican he looks/' 
 without doubt, comes. 
 
 [ u I hate him for he is a Christian."] On the 
 supposition that the notion "fawning publican" 
 was taken from any or all of the passages above 
 
 
154 SHAKESPEARE AND THE BIBLE. 
 
 quoted, the term Christian would still be correct 
 in Shylock' s mouth ; for Shylock may be said to 
 live now. The word Christian was not known 
 till after our Lord's departure from the world : our 
 proof of this is negative in the Gospels, but positive 
 in the Acts of the Apostles : " The disciples were 
 called Christians first at Antiocb." Acts xi. 26. 
 
 ACT I. SCENE III. 
 
 " Shylock. "When Jacob grazed his uncle Laban's 
 
 sheep, 
 
 This Jacob from our holy Abraham was 
 (As his wise mother wrought in his behalf) 
 The third possessor ; ay, he was the third" 
 
 [" As his wise mother wrought in his behalf the 
 third possessor."] Jacob, instigated by his mother, 
 Eebekah, obtains from Isaac, his father, the bless- 
 ing designed for the first-born Esau. He obtains 
 from Esau his birthright ; and consequently gains 
 both the birthright and the blessing. He was, as 
 Shylock states, inheritor of the promise which had 
 been made by the Most High to Abraham and to 
 his son Isaac. 
 
 " And Hebekah spake unto Jacob her son, saying, 
 Behold, I heard thy father speak unto Esau thy brother, 
 saying, 
 
 " Bring me venison and make me savoury meat, that I 
 may eat, and bless thee before the Lord before my death. 
 
THE MERCHANT OP VENICE. 155 
 
 " Now therefore, my son, obey my voice according to 
 that which I command thee. Go now to the flock, and 
 fetch me from, thence two good kids of the goats ; and 
 I will make them savoury meat for thy father, such as 
 he loveth : and thou shalt bring it to thy father, that 
 he may eat, and that he may bless thee before his death. 
 And Jacob said unto E/ebekah his mother. Behold, Esau 
 my brother is a hairy man, and I am a smooth man. 
 
 " My father perad venture will feel me, and I shall 
 seem to him as a deceiver ; and I shall bring a curse 
 upon me, and not a blessing. 
 
 "And his mother said unto him, Upon me be thy 
 curse, my son : only obey my voice, and go fetch me 
 t/iem" Gen. xxvii. 6 12. 
 
 We know, too, what follows Rebekahput goodly 
 raiment of her son Esau upon Jacob, and put the 
 skins of the goats upon his hands and upon the 
 smooth of his neck, and dressed for him savoury 
 meat such as Isaac loved. The device was suc- 
 cessful: yet the blind and infirm Isaac was not 
 easily deceived; for after examination he says to 
 Jacob 
 
 " The voice is Jacob's voice, but the hands are the 
 hands of Esau." 
 
 He also adds even then 
 
 Art thou my very son Esau 1 and he said, I arn," 
 
 Isaac then partakes of the savoury meat brought 
 by Jacob, and blesses him in these words 
 
156 SHAKESPEARE AND THE BIBLE. 
 
 " God give thee of the dew of heaven, and the fatness 
 of the earth, and plenty of corn and wine. 
 
 " Let people serve thee, and nations bow down to 
 thee : be lord over thy brethren, and let thy mother's 
 sons bow down to thee : cursed be every one that 
 curseth thee, and blessed be he that blesseth thee." 
 Gen. xxvii. 28, 29. 
 
 "Antonio. And what of him; did he [i. e., Jacob] 
 take interest ? 
 
 Shylock. No, not take interest ; not, as yon would say, 
 Directly interest : mark what Jacob did. 
 When Laban and himself 'were compromised, 
 That all the eanlings which were streatid and pied 
 Should fall, as Jacob's hire ; the ewes, being rank 
 In the end of autumn, turned to the rams : 
 And when the work of generation was 
 Between these woolly breeders in the act, 
 The skilful shepherd peel'd me certain wands, 
 And in the doing of the deed of kind, 
 He stuck them up before the fulsome ewes ; 
 Who, then conceiving, did in eaning time 
 Fall party-coloured lambs, and those were Jacob's. 
 This was a way to thrive, and he was blest ; 
 And thrift is blessing, if men steal it not" 
 
 [" The skilful shepherd peel'd me certain wands."] 
 " And Laban said unto him, I pray thee, if I have 
 found favour in thine eyes, tarry : 
 
 "And he said, Appoint me thy wages, and I will 
 give it. 
 
 " And he said, What shall I give thee ? and Jacob 
 said, Thou shalt not give me any thing : if thou wilt 
 
THE MERCHANT OF VENICE, 157 
 
 do tliis thing for me, I will again feed and keep thy 
 flock. 
 
 " I will pass through all thy flock to-day, removing 
 from thence all the speckled and spotted cattle, and all 
 the brown cattle amongst the sheep, and the spotted 
 and speckled among the goats : and of such shall be 
 my hire. 
 
 " So shall my righteousness answer for me in time to 
 come, when it shall come for my hire before thy face : 
 every one that is not speckled and spotted among the 
 goats, and brown among the sheep, that shall be counted 
 stolen with me. 
 
 "Arid Laban said, Behold, I would it might be 
 according to thy word. 
 
 " And he removed that day the lie- goats that were 
 ring-stroked and spotted, and all the she-goats that were 
 speckled and spotted, and every one that had some white 
 in it, and all the brown among the sheep, and gave them 
 into the hand of his sons. 
 
 "And he set three days' journey betwixt himself 
 and Jacob : and Jacob fed the rest of Laban's flocks. 
 
 " And Jacob took him rods of green poplar, and of 
 the hazel and chestnut tree ; and pilled white strokes in 
 them, and made the white appear which was in the rods, 
 
 " And he set the rods which he had pilled before the 
 Jlocks in the gutters, in the watering- troughs when the 
 flocks came to drink, that they should conceive when 
 they came to drink. 
 
 a And the Jlocks conceived before the rods, and brough 
 forth cattle ring-straked, speckled, and spotted. 
 
 "And Jacob did separate the lambs, and set the faces 
 of the Jlocks toward the ring-straked, and all the brown. 
 
Io8 SHAKESPEARE AND THE BIBLE. 
 
 in the flock of Laban ; and he put his own flocks by 
 themselves, and put them not unto Laban's cattle. 
 
 " And it came to pass, whenever the stronger cattle 
 did conceive) that Jacob laid the rods before the eyes of 
 the cattle in the gutters, that they might conceive among 
 the rods. 
 
 " But when the cattle were feeble, he put them not 
 in : so the feebler were Laban's and the stronger 
 Jacob's." Gen. xxx. 27-42. 
 
 Anthonio then adds in answer to Shylock 
 
 " Anthonio. This was a venture, sir, that Jacob 
 
 served for ; 
 
 A thing not in his power to bring to pass, 
 But sway'd, and fashion'd, by the hand of Heaven. 
 Was this inserted to make interest good ? 
 Or is your gold and silver, ewes and rams ? 
 
 Shylock. I cannot tell ; I make it breed as fast : 
 But note me, signior. 
 
 Anthonio. Mark you this, Bassanio, 
 The devil can cite scripture for his purpose." 
 
 Satan cites scripture for his purpose in 4th 
 chapter of Matthew, when he says to Christ " If 
 thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down [from 
 this pinnacle of the temple] ; for it is written, 
 " He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: 
 and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at 
 any time thou dash thy foot against a stone." 
 See llth and 12th verses of 91st Psalm. 
 
 [" A thing not in his power to bring to pass, but 
 
THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. 159 
 
 sway'd, and fashion'd, by the hand of Heaven."] " And 
 Jacob beheld the countenance of Laban, and, behold, ifc 
 was not towards him as before. 
 
 " And the Lord said unto Jacob, Return unto the 
 land of thy fathers, and to thy kindred ; and I will be 
 with thee. 
 
 " And Jacob sent and called Each el and Leah to the 
 field unto his flock. 
 
 "And said unto them, I see your father's coun- 
 tenance, that it is not toward me as before ; but the 
 God of my father hath been with me. 
 
 " And ye know, that with all my power I have served 
 your father. 
 
 " And your father hath deceived me, and changed 
 my wages ten times ; but God suffered him not to hurt 
 me. 
 
 " If he said thus, The speckled shall be thy wages ; 
 then all the cattle bare speckled: and if he said thus, 
 The ring-straked shall be thy hire ; then bare all the 
 cattle ring-straked. 
 
 " Thus God hath taken away the cattle of your father, 
 and given them to me." Gen. xxxi. 2 9. 
 
 ACT II. SCENE V. 
 
 Shyloctts House. Enter SHYLOCK and LAUNCELOT, and 
 then JESSICA. 
 
 " Shyloch What ! are there masques ? . Hear you 
 
 me, Jessica : 
 
 Lock up my doors ; and when you hear the drum, 
 And the vile squeaking of the wry-neck'd fife, 
 
160 SHAKESPEARE AND THE BIBLE. 
 
 Clamber not you up to the casements then, 
 Nor thrust your head into the public street, 
 To gaze on Christian fools with varnish'd faces : 
 But stop my house's ears, I mean my casements; 
 Let not the sound of shallow foppery enter 
 My sober house. By Jacob's staff, I swear, 
 I have no mind of feasting forth to-night : 
 But I will go. Go you before me, sirrah ; 
 Say I will come. 
 
 Launcelot. I will go before, sir. 
 Mistress, look out at window, for all this ; 
 There will come a Christian by, 
 Will be worth a Jewess' eye. 
 ShylocL What says that fool of Hagar's offspring, 
 
 ha? 
 
 Jessica. His words were, Farewell, mistress ; nothing 
 else." 
 
 ["By Jacob's staff, I swear."] By a word some- 
 times, Shakespeare shows how thoroughly he must 
 have read the Bible. Jacob mentions his staff in 
 the 10th verse of the 32nd chapter of Genesis. 
 
 "And Jacob said, O God of my father Abraham, 
 -and God of my father Isaac, the Lord which saidst 
 unto me, Return unto thy country, and to thy kindred, 
 and I will deal well with thee : 
 
 " I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies, and 
 of all the truth, which thou hast shewed unto thy 
 servant ; for with my staff I passed over this Jordan ; 
 and now I am become two bands." Gen. xxxii. 9, 10. 
 
 ["That fool of Hagar's offspring."] " And Sarah 
 
THE MERCHANT OP VENICE. 161 
 
 saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, which she had 
 born unto Abraham, mocking. 
 
 " Wherefore she said unto Abraham, Cast out this 
 bondwoman and her son : Arid God said unto Abra- 
 ham, let it not be grievous in thy sight because of, the 
 lad, and because of thy bondwoman; in all that Sarah 
 hath said unto thee, hearken unto her voice ; for in 
 Isaac shall thy seed be called. 
 
 " And also of the son of the bondwoman will I make 
 a nation, because he is thy seed." Gen. xxi. 9, 10 
 12, 13. 
 
 ACT 111. SCENE I. 
 
 A Street in Venice. 
 
 " TubaL There came divers of Anthonio's creditors 
 in my company to Venice, that swear he cannot chuse 
 but break. 
 
 Shylock. I am glad of it. ; I'll plague him ; I'll tor- 
 ture him j I am glad of it. 
 
 TubaL One of them showed me a ring, that he had 
 of your daughter for a monkey. 
 
 Shylock. Out upon her! Thou torturest me, Tubal: 
 it was my torquoise ; I had it of Leah, when I was 
 a bachelor :: I would not have given it for a wilderness 
 of monkeys*" 
 
 Leah and Tubal are both names found in scrip- 
 ture ; we have already quoted passages which con- 
 tain them. Leah is. found in a passage quoted in 
 this play, and Tubal in one quoted in the play of 
 Henry IV. 
 
162 SHAKESPEARE AND THE BIBLE. 
 
 ["Tubal."] "The sons of Japheth ; Gomer, and 
 Magog, and Madai, and Javan, and Tubal. Gen. x. 2. 
 
 ACT III. SCENE V. 
 
 Enter LAUNCELOT and JESSICA. 
 
 " Launcelot. Yes, truly; for, look you, the sins of 
 the father are to be laid upon the children; therefore, 
 I promise you, I fear you." 
 
 [" Sins of the father to be laid upon the children."] 
 " Visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children 
 unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate 
 me." Exodus xx. 5. 
 
 ACT IV. SCENE I. 
 
 " Shylock. These be the Christian husbands : I have 
 
 a daughter 
 
 'Would any of the stock of Barrabas 
 Had been her husband, rather than a Christian ! " 
 
 (Aside.) 
 
 Shylock thus mutters to himself, when Bassanio 
 and Gratiano protest that they would sacrifice 
 their wives, dear as they are to them, to deliver 
 Anthonio from his implacable enemy. These words 
 of Shylock are, of necessity, introduced before 
 matter which, in the play, will be found to precede 
 them. 
 
 [" The stock of Barrabas or Barabbas." "They had 
 then a notable prisoner, called Barabbas. 
 
THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. 163 
 
 " The chief priests and elders persuaded the multi- 
 tude that they should ask Par abbas, and destroy Jesus . 
 
 " The governor answered and said unto them, 
 Whether of the twain will ye that I release unto you ? 
 They said, Barabbas" Matt, xxvii. 16, 20, 21. 
 
 " They cried out all at once, saying, Away with this 
 man, and release unto us Barabbas : 
 
 (" Who for a certain sedition made in the city, and 
 for murder , was cast into prison." Luke xxiii. 18, 19. 
 
 " Then cried they all again, saying, [release] Not this 
 man, but Barabbas. Now Barabbas was a robber." 
 John xviii. 40. 
 
 ACT IV. SCENE I. 
 
 " Portia. Do you confess the bond ? 
 
 Anthonio.'Ido. 
 
 Portia. Then must the Jew be merciful. 
 
 ShylocJc. On what compulsion must I ? tell me that. 
 
 Portia. The quality of mercy is not strained ; 
 It droppeth, as the gentle rain from heaven 
 Upon the place beneath : it is twice bless' d; 
 It blesseth him that gives, and him that takes : 
 9 Tis mightiest in the mightiest ; it becomes 
 The throned monarch better than his crown : 
 His sceptre shews the force of temporal power, 
 The attribute to awe and majesty, 
 Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings ; 
 But mercy is above this sceptr'd sway, 
 It is enthroned in the hearts of kings, 
 It is an attribute to God himself; 
 
164 SHAKESPEARE AND THE BIBLE. 
 
 Arid earthly power doth then shew likest God's, 
 When mercy seasons justice : Therefore, Jew, 
 Though justice be thy plea, consider this, 
 That in the course of justice, none of us 
 Should see salvation : we do pray for mercy ; 
 And that same prayer doth teach us all to render 
 The deeds of mercy? 
 
 [" It droppeth, as the gentle rain from heaven."] 
 
 This splendid idea might have been derived from 
 the 32nd chapter of Deuteronomy, or from the 
 29th chapter of Job, or from a vague recollection 
 of both passages, where a similar sentiment is to 
 be found. 
 
 "my doctrine shall drop as the rain, my 
 
 speech shall distil as the dew, as the small rain upon the 
 tender herb, and as showers upon the grass." Deut. 
 xxxiL chap,, 2 v. 
 
 [ It is twice bless'd."] 
 
 " Blessed are the merciful : for they shall obtain 
 mercy." Matthew v. chap., 7 verse. 
 
 [" It blesseth him that gives, and him that takes."] 
 
 " The merciful man doeth good to his own soul." 
 Prov. xi. chap., 17 verse. 
 
 As well as ' blesseth him ' upon whom he exercises 
 benignity. 
 
 [" 'Tis mightiest in the mightiest."] 
 
 " As his [the Lord's] majesty is, so is his mercy'' 
 Ecclesiasticus ii. chap., 18 verse. 
 
THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. 165 
 
 [ " it becomes 
 
 The throned monarch better than his crown."] 
 
 " Mercy and truth preserve the king : and his throne 
 is npholden by mercy." Proverbs xx. chap., 28 verse. 
 
 Job says, too 
 
 " The blessing of him that was ready to perish came 
 upon me : 
 
 " I put on righteousness, and it clothed me : my 
 judgment was as a robe and a diadem" 
 
 [" Mercy droppeth as the gentle rain."] 
 
 " Unto me men gave ear." 
 
 ft my speech dropped upon them, 
 
 and they waited for me as for the rain, &c. 
 
 " I chose out their way, and sat chief, and dwelt as 
 a, king in the army, as one that comforteth the mourners" 
 Job xxix. chap,, 13, 14, 21, 22, 23, and 25 verses. 
 
 [" It is an attribute to God himself."] 
 
 " Blessed be God .... the Father of mer- 
 cies, and God of all comfort" 2 Cor. 1 chap., 3 verse. 
 " His mercy endureth for ever." cxxxvi. Psalm. 
 
 [" Earthly power doth then shew likest God's, 
 When mercy seasons justice"] 
 
 "What doth the Lord require of thee, but to do 
 justly and to love mercy" Micah vi. chap., 8 verse. 
 
 [" In the course of justice, none of us should see 
 salvation"] 
 
 " Not by works of righteousness which we have done, 
 
166 SHAKESPEARE AND THE BIBLE. 
 
 but according to his mercy lie, saved us." Epistle to 
 Titus, iii. chap. 
 
 [" We do pray for mercy ; 
 
 And that same prayer doth teach us all to render the 
 deeds of 
 
 An allusion, surely, to that passage in the Lord's 
 prayer " Forgive us our sins ; for we also forgive 
 every one that is indebted to us." Luke xi. chap., 
 4 verse. 
 
 ACT IV. SCENE I. 
 
 " JBassanio. Wresb once the law to your authority : 
 To do a great right, do a little wrong ; 
 Arid curb this cruel devil of his will. 
 > Portia (in the character of a Doctor of laws.) It must 
 
 not be ; there is no power in Venice 
 Can alter a decree established : 
 'Twill be recorded for a precedent ; 
 And many an error by the same example, 
 Will rush into the state : it cannot be. 
 
 Shylock. A Daniel come to judgment ! yea, a Daniel ! 
 O wise young judge, how do I honour thee ! " 
 
 Gratiano says too, when he hears that the Jew 
 must not shed a drop of blood, or take more than 
 a just pound of flesh, otherwise by law he dies, 
 and his goods are confiscate 
 
 61 A second Daniel, a Daniel, Jew ! 
 Now, infidel, I have thee on the hip." 
 
THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. 167 
 
 Also again 
 
 " A Daniel, still say I ; a second Daniel ! 
 I thank thee, Jew, for teaching me that word." 
 
 When Portia says 
 
 " He hath refused it (his principal) in the open court ; 
 He shall have merely justice, and his bond." 
 
 [" A Daniel come to judgment ! wise young 
 judge a second Daniel, a Daniel, Jew." These 
 expressions in praise of Portia, Bassanio's wife, in 
 the habit of a doctor of laws, evidently arose from 
 a knowledge of the history of Susanna. For a 
 young man named Daniel takes as prominent a 
 part there in delivering Susanna from the doom of 
 incontinence a crime with which, though inno- 
 cent, she is charged by two elders, as Portia does 
 in protecting Anthonio, her husband's friend, from 
 the malice of Shylock. We will now give ex- 
 tracts of this history from the Apocrypha 
 
 "Therefore when she (Susanna) was led to be put to 
 death, the Lord raised up the holy spirit of a yoimg youth, 
 whose name was Daniel" Hist. Susanna, 45th verse. 
 
 " So he, standing in the midst of them (the people), 
 said, Are ye such fools, ye sons of Israel, that, without 
 examination or knowledge of the truth, ye have con- 
 demned a daughter of Israel 1 " 48th verse. 
 
 " Return again to the place of judgment, for they (the 
 two elders) have borne false witness against her." 49th 
 verse. 
 
1G8 SHAKESPEARE AND THE BIBLE. 
 
 Success was soon the result 
 
 " And Daniel convicted them of false witness by their 
 own mouth." 61st verse. 
 
 " Thus the innocent blood was saved the same day." 
 Part of the 62nd verse. 
 
 " And from that day forth was Daniel had in great 
 reputation in the sight of the people." Hist, Susanna, 
 64th verse. 
 
 ACT V. SCENE I. 
 
 " Nerissa. There do I give to you, and Jessica, 
 From the rich Jew, a special deed of gift, 
 After his death, of all he dies possess'd of. 
 
 Lorenso. Fair ladies, you drop manna in the way of 
 starved people" 
 
 [" Drop manna in the way of starved people."] 
 This idea is clearly to be traced to the book of 
 Exodus, from which we abstract our proof: 
 
 "And the whole congregation of the children of 
 Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron in the wil- 
 derness : 
 
 "And the children of Israel said unto them * 
 Ye have brought us forth into this wilder- 
 ness, to kill this whole assembly with hunger. 
 
 " Then said the Lord unto Moses, Behold, I will rain 
 bread from heaven for you ; and the people shall go out 
 and gather a certain rate every day, that I may prove 
 them, whether they will walk in my law, or no. 
 
THE MERCHANT OF VENICE. 169 
 
 " And it shall come to pass, that on the sixth day 
 they shall prepare that which they bring in j and it 
 shall be twice as much as they gather daily. * * * 
 
 " And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, 
 
 "I have heard the murmurings of the children of 
 Israel : speak unto them, saying, At even ye shall eat 
 flesh, and in the morning ye shall be filled with bread. 
 
 " And it came to pass, that at even the quails came up, 
 and covered the camp ; and in the morning the dew lay 
 round about the host. 
 
 " And when the dew that lay was gone up, behold, 
 upon the face of the wilderness there lay a small round 
 thing, as small as the hoar frost, on the ground. 
 
 "And when the children of Israel saw it, they said 
 one to another, It is manna" Exod. xvi. 2 15. 
 
 M 
 
CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 THE WINTEE'S TALE. 
 
 ACT I, SCENE II. 
 
 Leontes, King of Sicilia, unjustly suspects that 
 his Queen, Hermione, has been dishonoured by 
 Polixenes, King of Bohemia. 
 
 " Camilla. I am appointed him to murder you. 
 
 Polixenes. By whom, Camillo ? 
 
 Camilla. By the king. 
 
 Polixenes. For what ? 
 
 Camillo. He thinks, nay, with all confidence he 
 
 swears, 
 
 As he had seen't, or been an instrument 
 To vice you to't that you have touch'd his queen 
 forbiddenly. 
 
 Polixenes. Oh ! then my best blood turn 
 To an infected jelly ; and my name 
 Be yottd with his, that did betray the best I " 
 
 ["Be yok'd with his, that did betray the 
 
THE WINTER'S TALE. 171 
 
 best !"] What a strong repudiation of guilt have 
 we, in this allusion to the betrayal of our Lord by 
 Judas Iscariot ! 
 
 ACT 111. SCENE II. 
 
 From the defence which Hermione makes in a 
 court of justice, when arraigned there by the 
 jealous Leontes : 
 
 "Hermione. You, my lord, best know 
 (Who leasb will seem to do so) my past life 
 Hath been as continent, as chaste, as true, 
 As I am now unhappy ; which is more 
 Than history can pattern, though devis'd, 
 And play'd, to take spectators : For behold me, 
 A fellow of the royal bed, which owe 
 A moiety of the throne, a great king's daughter, 
 The mother to a hopeful prince, here standing, 
 To prate and talk for life, and honour, 'fore 
 Who please to come and hear. For life, I prize it 
 As I weigh grief, which I would spare : for honour, 
 'Tis a derivative from me to mine, 
 And only that I stand for" 
 
 ["For honour, 'tis a derivative from me to 
 mine/'] This sentiment, which is probably bor- 
 rowed from Ecclus. iii. 11, cannot be too often im- 
 pressed upon the female mind : 
 
 "The glory of a man is from the honour of his 
 father ; and a mother in dishonour is a reproach to the 
 children. ' ' S tee vens. 
 
172 SHAKESPEARE AND THE BIBLE. 
 
 ACT III. SCENE 111. 
 
 The clown says to the shepherd, who has just 
 found the infant Perdita 
 
 " You're a made old man ; if the sins of your youth 
 are forgiven you, you're well to live. Gold ! all gold ! " 
 
 ["If the sins of your youth are forgiven you."] 
 In the Psalms, from whence this thought comes, 
 the words are 
 
 "Remember not the sins of my youth" Psalm 
 xxv. 7. 
 
 ACT V. SCENE III. 
 
 Paulina to Hermione, when she presents to her 
 Perdita, the daughter of Leontes, who was taken 
 from her mother w^hen an infant, exposed in the 
 woods, and brought up by a shepherd : 
 
 " Turn, good lady ; 
 Our Perdita is found. (Perdita kneels to Hermione ) 
 
 Hermione. You gods, look down, 
 And from your sacred vials pour your graces 
 Upon my daughters head ! " 
 
 In the 5th. chapter of Revelation and the 8th 
 verse, the prayers of saints are said to be the con- 
 tents of golden vials : 
 
 " Having every one of them harps, and golden vials 
 full of odours, ichich are the prayers of saints." 
 
CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 ALL'S WELL THAT ENDS WELL, 
 
 Helena, the daughter of Gerard de Narbon, a 
 famous physician, some time since dead, that she 
 may claim Bertram, Count of Rousillon, for a hus- 
 band, undertakes to cure the King of France of a 
 fistula, by means of a particular recipe, given her 
 by her father on his deathbed. 
 
 " King. "We thank you, maiden ; 
 But must not be so credulous of cure, 
 When our most learned doctors leave us j and 
 The congrega-ted college have concluded, 
 That labouring art can never answer nature 
 From her inaidable estate >I say we must not 
 So stain our judgment, or corrupt our hope, 
 To prostitute our past-cure malady 
 To empericks ; or to dissever so 
 Our great self and our credit, to esteem 
 A senseless help, when help past sense we deem. 
 
174 SHAEESPEAEE AND THE BIBLE. 
 
 Helena. My duty then shall pay me for my pains : 
 I will no more enforce mine office on you ; 
 Humbly entreating from your royal thoughts 
 A modest one, to bear me back again. 
 
 King. I cannot give thee less, to be call'd grateful : 
 Thou thought'st to help me ; and such thanks I give, 
 As one near death to those that wish him live : 
 But, what at full I know, thou know'st no part ; 
 I knowing all my peril, thou no art. 
 
 Helena. What I can do, can do no hurt to try, 
 Since you set up your rest 'gainst remedy : 
 He that of greatest works is finisher, 
 Oft does them by the weakest minister : 
 So holy writ in babes hath judgment shown, 
 When judges have been babes. Great floods have flown 
 From simple sources; and great seas have dry'd, 
 When miracles have by the greatest been denyd. 
 Oft expectation fails, and most oft there 
 Where most it promises ; and oft it hits, 
 Where hope is coldest, and despair most sits." 
 
 ["He that of greatest works is finisher, oft does 
 them by the weakest minister."] "But God hath 
 chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the 
 wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the 
 world to confound the things which are mighty." 
 1 Cor. i. 27. 
 
 [" So holy writ in babes hath judgment shown, when 
 judges have been babes."] "And when the chief 
 priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that he 
 did, and the children crying in the temple, and saying, 
 Hosanna to the Son of David ; they were sore dis- 
 pleased, 
 
ALL'S WELL THAT ENDS WELL. 1 75 
 
 " And said unto him, Hearest thou what these say 1 
 And Jesus saith unto them, Yea ; have ye never read, 
 Out of the mouth of babes and sucklings thou hast 
 perfected praise?"' Matt. xxi. 15, 16. 
 
 [" Great floods have flown from SIMPLE SOURCES; and 
 great seas have dry'd."J " Oh that men would praise 
 the Lord for his goodness, and for his wonderful works 
 to the children of men ! 
 
 " He turneth rivers into a wilderness, and the water- 
 springs into a dry ground. * * * 
 
 " He turneth the wilderness into a standing water , and 
 DRY GROUND into water springs." Psalm cvii. 31, 33, 35. 
 
 Again, in Psalm cxiv.: 
 
 [" Great seas have dryd, when miracles have by the 
 greatest been denied."] "When Israel went out of 
 Egypt, the house of Jacob from a people of strange 
 language ; 
 
 " Judah was his sanctuary, and Israel his dominion. 
 
 " The sea saw it, and fled: Jordan was driven back. 
 
 " Tremble thou earth, at the presence of the Lord, at 
 the presence of the God of Jacob." 
 
 [" Great floods have flown from simple sources."] 
 "Which turned the rock into a standing water, THE 
 FLINT into a fountain of waters" Psalm cxiv. 1, 2, 3, 
 
 7,8. 
 
 ACT IV. SCENE V. 
 
 Lafeu, an old lord, thus speaks of Helena, \vho 
 has been deserted by Bertram, Count of Rousillon : 
 
176 SHAKESPEAKE AND THE BIBLE. 
 
 " Lafeu. 'Twas a good lady, 'twas a good lady : we 
 may pick a thousand salads, ere we light on. such 
 another herb. 
 
 Clown. Indeed, sir, she was the sweet-marjoram of 
 the salad, or, rather, the herb of grace. 
 
 Lafeu. They are not salad-herbs, you knave, they 
 are nose-herbs. 
 
 Clown. I am no great Nebuchadnezzar, sir, I have 
 not much skill in grass" 
 
 ["No great Nebuchadnezzar; I have not much 
 skill in grass."] An allusion to the punishment 
 inflicted by the Almighty upon this haughty king 
 for his pride : 
 
 " The king spake, and said, Is not this great Baby- 
 lon, that I have built for the house of the kingdom, by 
 the might of my power, and for the honour of my 
 majesty 2 
 
 " While the word was in the king's mouth, there full 
 a voice from heaven, saying, king Nebuchadnezzar, to 
 thee it is spoken; The kingdom is departed from thee. 
 
 "And they shall drive thee from men, and thy 
 dwelling shall be with the beasts of the field: they 
 shall make thee to eat grass as oxen, and seven times 
 shall pass over thee, until thou know that the Most 
 High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to 
 whomsoever he will. 
 
 " The same hour was the thing fulfilled upon Nebu- 
 chadnezzar : and he was driven from men, and did eat 
 grass as oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of 
 heaven, till his hairs were grown like eagles' feathers, 
 and his nails like birds' claws." Dan. iv. 30-33. 
 
ALL'S WELL THAT ENDS WELL. 177 
 
 Again 
 
 ACT IV. SCENE V. 
 
 CLOWN to LAFEU, an old Lord. 
 
 " Clown. Why, sir, if I cannot serve you, I can serve 
 as great a prince as you are. 
 
 Lafeu. Who's that ? a Frenchman ? 
 
 Clown. Faith, sir, he has an English name ; but his 
 phisnomy is more hotter in France, than there. 
 
 Lafeu. What prince is that % 
 
 Clown. The black prince, sir ; alias the prince of 
 darkness ; alias the devil. 
 
 Lafeu. Hold thee, there's my purse : I give thee not 
 this to suggest thee from thy master thou talk'st of; 
 serve him still. 
 
 Clown. I am a woodland fellow, sir, that always 
 loved a great fire; and the master I speak of, ever 
 keeps a good fire. But, sure, he is the prince of the 
 world, let his nobility remain in his court. / am for 
 the house with the narrow gate, which I take to be too 
 little for pomp to enter : some that humble themselves 
 may; but the many will be too chill and tender ; and 
 they'll be for the flowery way y that leads to the broad 
 gate, and the great fire." 
 
 These words of the servant are very tart show 
 the wide gap that may exist between men of high 
 and low degree, and the feelings that are awakened 
 in the bosom of the latter class, if they think that 
 they are held in contempt by those that sit in 
 high places. 
 
178 SHAKESPEARE AND THE BIBLE. 
 
 [" But, sure, he is the prince of the world"] From 
 the 14th chapter of St. John. "Peace I leave with 
 you, my peace I give unto you : not as the world 
 giveth, give I unto you. 
 
 " Hereafter I will not talk much with you : for the 
 prince of this world cometh, and hath nothiDg in me." 
 John xiv. 27, 30. 
 
 [" I am for the house with the narrow gate ; but the 
 many, theijll be for the flowery way, that leads to the 
 broad gate } and the great fire."] " Enter ye in at the 
 strait gate : for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, 
 that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go 
 in thereat : 
 
 " Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, 
 which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it." 
 Matt. vii. 13, 14. 
 
 [" The many will be too chill and tender; and they'll 
 be for the flowery way"] These thoughts seem to have 
 sprung from some recollection of passages in the 
 2nd chapter of the Wisdom of Solomon : the words of 
 the ungodly are there said to be " Let us enjoy the 
 good things that are present : and let us speedily use 
 the creatures like as in youth. 
 
 * ( Let us fill ourselves with costly wine and oint- 
 ments : and let no flower of the spring pass by us" 
 ii. 6, 7. 
 
 As it is not our intention to investigate any of 
 the plays of Shakespeare which have been pro- 
 nounced doubtful, six more of them, viz., Love's 
 Labour lost; Much Ado About Nothing; As 
 
ALL'S WELL THAT ENDS WELL. 179 
 
 You Like It ; Taming of the Shrew ; Measure for 
 Measure ; and Comedy of Errors will complete 
 the list of those which are universally allowed to 
 be emanations of his genius. 
 
CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 THE PLAY OE LOVE'S LABOUE LOST. 
 
 The King of Navarre, and the Lords Biron, 
 Dumain, and Longaville, make a vow that no 
 woman shall approach them at the court of 
 Navarre till they have passed three years in deep 
 and painful study. They are soon, however, all 
 forsworn ; for the King makes love to the Princess 
 of France, a short time after he and his lords sub- 
 scribed their names to the schedule touching their 
 oath, and the three lords become suitors to the 
 ladies who attend the princess. Thus Biron sues 
 Rosaline ; LongaviUe, Maria; and Dumain, Katha- 
 rine. Yet in this play Shakespeare intersperses, 
 besides other biblical examples, several characters 
 that are connected with sacred history. The 
 characters are these Adam, Eve, Cain, Judas 
 Iscariot, Holofernes, Nathaniel, Judas Maccabeus, 
 Samson, and Solomon. 
 
LOVE'S LABOUR LOST. 181 
 
 ACT I. SCENE II. 
 
 DON ADRIANO DE ARMADO, a fantastical Spaniard, and 
 MOTH, his Page. 
 
 " Armado. "What great men have been in love ? 
 
 Moth. Hercules, master. 
 
 Armado. Most sweet Hercules ! More authority, 
 dear boy, name more; and, sweet my child, let them be 
 men of good repute and carriage. 
 
 Moth. Samson, master : he was a man of good car- 
 riage, great carriage ; for he carried the town gates on 
 his bac^ like a porter: and he was in love. 
 
 Armado. O well-knit Samson ! strong-jointed Sam- 
 son ! I do excel thee in my rapier, as much as thou 
 didst me in carrying gates. I am in love too Who 
 was Samson's love, iny dear Moth ? 
 
 Moth. A woman, master. 
 
 Armado. Of what complexion ? " 
 
 [" As thou didst me in carrying gates. I am in love 
 too Who was Samson's love ? "] " Then went Sam- 
 son to Gaza, and saw there an harlot, and went in unto 
 her. 
 
 " And it was told the Gazites, saying, Samson is 
 come hither. Ajid they compassed him in, and laid 
 wait for him all night in the gate of the city, and were 
 quiet all the night, saying, In the morning, when it is 
 day, we shall kill him. 
 
 "And Samson lay till midnight, and arose at mid- 
 night, and took the doors of the gate of the city, and tlw 
 
182 SHAKESPEARE AND THE BIBLE. 
 
 two posts, and went away with them, bar and all, and 
 put them upon his shoulders, and carried them up to the 
 top of an hill, that is before Hebron." Jud. xvi. 1 3. 
 
 ACT I. CLOSE OF SCENE II. 
 
 " Armado. Love is a familiar ; love is a devil : there 
 is no evil angel but love. Yet Samson was so tempted ; 
 and he had excellent strength : yet was Solomon so 
 seduced; and he had a very good wit." 
 
 [" Yet was Solomon so seduced ; and he had a very 
 good wit."] " So king Solomon exceeded all the kings 
 of the earth for riches and for wisdom. 
 
 " And all the earth sought to Solomon, to hear his 
 wisdom, which God had put in his heart." 1 Kings 
 x. 23, 24. 
 
 "But King Solomon loved many strange women, 
 (together with the daughter of Pharaoh,) women of 
 the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Zidonians, and 
 Hittites ; 
 
 " Of the nations concerning which the Lord said unto 
 the children of Israel, Ye shall not go in to them, 
 neither shall they come in unto you : for surely they 
 will turn away your heart after their gods : Solomon 
 clave unto these, in love. 
 
 " And he had seven hundred wives, princesses, and 
 three hundred concubines : and his wives turned away 
 his heart. 
 
 " For it came to pass, when Solomon was old, that 
 his wives turned away his heart after other gods : and 
 
LOVE'S LABOUR LOST. 183 
 
 his heart was not perfect with the Lord his God, as 
 was the heart of David his father." 1 Kings xi. 1 4. 
 
 ACT III. SCENE I. 
 
 " Biron. O ! and I, forsooth, in love ! 
 I, that have been love's whip ; 
 A very beadle to a humorous sigh ; 
 A critic ; nay, a night-watch constable ; 
 A domineering pedant o'er the boy, 
 Than whom no mortal so magnificent ! 
 This wimpled, whining, purblind, wayward boy." 
 
 [" This wimpled. 9 '] The wimple was a hood or 
 veil which fell over the face. 
 
 In Isaiah iii. 22, we find, " The mantles, and the 
 wimples, and the crisping-pins." Steevens. 
 
 ACT IV. SCENE II. 
 
 DULL, a Constable, SIR NATHANIEL, a Curate, and 
 HOLOFERNES, a Schoolmaster. 
 
 " Dull. You two are book-men ; Can you tell by 
 
 your wit, 
 
 What was a month old at Cain's birth, that's not five 
 weeks old as yet ? " 
 
 Shakespeare makes a shrewd hit here. For to 
 this day, how delighted are the iinlearned if they 
 can pose their parson or parish schoolmaster (both, 
 
184 SHAKESPEARE AND THE BIBLE. 
 
 perhaps, thought to be powerful in the Scriptures) 
 with some such humorous device as the one just 
 mentioned. 
 
 The glory of conquest is great if such a riddle 
 should be unsolved ; because either parson or 
 schoolmaster is then beaten on his own ground. 
 Dull, an unlettered man, puts this puzzle relative 
 to Cain's birth to Sir Nathaniel, a curate, and 
 Holofernes, a schoolmaster ; and with playful 
 malice hopes to baffle them, in spite of their 
 acknowledged superiority as book-men to himself. 
 The replies made to Dull are very characteristic 
 of the persons who make them ; each is pedantic 
 in his own way. 
 
 "Dull. You two are book-men; Can you tell by 
 
 your wit, 
 What was a month old at Cam's birth, that's not five 
 
 weeks old as yet ? 
 Holof ernes. Dictynna, good man Dull ; Dictynna, 
 
 good man Dull. 
 Dull What is Dictynna ? 
 Sir Nathaniel. A title to Phoebe, to Luna, to the 
 
 moon. 
 Holof ernes. The moon was a month old, when Adam 
 
 was no more ; 
 
 And raught not five weeks, when he came to fivescore. 
 The allusion holds in the exchange." 
 
 Thus is Master Dull driven, contrary to his 
 expectation, from his position; and thus is he 
 worsted by these "book-men/' as he calls them. 
 
LOVE'S LABOUR LOST. 185 
 
 The schoolmaster, not content with giving the 
 poor constable a perplexing answer, next substi- 
 tutes, in a triumphant couplet, the word Adam for 
 Cain ; and then sums up the case by stating, with 
 the calm dignity of intellectual superiority, that 
 the " allusion " (which Dull calls " collusion " and 
 "pollusion" in assenting to the remark) " holds 
 in the exchange/' 
 
 The name Nathaniel seems to be taken from the 
 8 th chapte^ and the name Holof ernes from the 
 llth chapter of the Book of Judith. Nathaniel, 
 there written Nathanael, was a forefather of the 
 pious and beautiful Hebrew widow, Judith, who 
 smote Holofernes at his servant's feast, when she 
 was left alone with him in his tent. 
 
 [" Nathaniel."] "Now at that time Judith heard 
 thereof, which, was the daughter of Merari, the son of 
 Ox, the son of Joseph, the son of Oziel, the son of 
 Elcia, the son of Ananias, the son of Gedeon, the son. 
 of Raphaim, the son of Acitho, the son of Elm, the son 
 of Eliab, the son of Nathanael, the son of Samael, the 
 son of Salasadai, the son of Israel." Judith viii. 1. 
 
 Holofernes, the chief captain of Nabuchodonosor, 
 king of the Assyrians, intended to enslave the Jews, 
 and to put an end to their religion. He was on 
 this account deceived by Judith, and slain by her, 
 when, " lying along filled w r ith wine," under the 
 canopy of his bed, and then by her decapitated. 
 
 [Holofernes/'] In the llth chapter, Judith 
 
 V 
 
186 SHAKESPEARE AND THE BIBLE. 
 
 flatters Holofernes, and thus paves the way to his 
 ruin. We will introduce a passage from this 
 chapter, which, with the story to which it belongs, 
 might induce Shakespeare to call the pedant in 
 Love's Labour Lost, Holofernes. 
 Judith says to Holofernes 
 
 " We have heard of thy wisdom and thy policies, and 
 it is reported in all the earth, that thou only art excel- 
 lent in all the kingdom, and mighty in knowledge, and 
 wonderful in feats of war." Judith xi. 8 
 
 ACT IV. SCENE III. 
 
 " Longaville. Dumain, thy love is far from charity, 
 That in love's grief desir'st society : (Coming forward.) 
 You may look pale, but I should blush, I know, 
 To be o'erheard, and taken napping so. 
 
 King. Come, sir, you blush j as his, your case is 
 such; (Coming forward.} 
 
 You chide at him, offending twice as much : 
 You do not love Maria ; Longaville 
 Did never sonnet for her sake compile ; 
 Nor never lay'd his wreathed arms athwart 
 His loving bosom, to keep down his heart ; 
 I have been closely shrouded in this bush, 
 And mark'd you both, and for you both did blush." 
 
 The King adds a little further on 
 
 " What will Biron say, when that he shall hear 
 A faith infringed, with such zeal did swear ? 
 
LOVE'S LABOUR LOST. 187 
 
 How will he scorn ? how will he spend his wit 1 
 How will he triumph, leap, and laugh at it? 
 For all the wealth that ever I did see, 
 I would not have him know so much by me. 
 
 Biron. Now step I forth to whip hypocrisy 
 Ah ! good my liege, I pray thee pardon me : 
 
 ( Coming forward.. ) 
 
 Good heart, what grace hast thou, thus to reprove 
 These worms for loving, that art most in love ? " 
 
 The Psalmist says, too 
 
 " I am a worm and no man" Psalm xxii. 6. 
 
 See also Job xxv. 6. 
 
 " Tour eyes do make no coaches ; 
 
 [Here BIRON alludes to a passage in the 
 KING'S sonnet to the PRINCESS.] 
 
 in your tears, 
 
 There is no certain princess that appears ? 
 You'll not be perjur'd, 'tis a hateful thing ; 
 Tush, none but minstrels like of sonneting. 
 But are you not asharn'd 1 nay, are you not, 
 All three of you, to be thus much o'ershot 1 
 You found his mote ; the king your mote did see; 
 But la beam do find in each of three. 
 Oh ! what a scene of foolery I have seen, 
 Of sighs, of groans, of sorrow, and of teen ! 
 O me, with what strict patience have I sat, 
 To see a king transformed to a gnat ! 
 To see great Hercules whipping a gigg, 
 And profound Solomon tuning ajigg." 
 
 [" You found his mote; the king your mote did see ; 
 
188 SHAKESPEARE AND THE BIBLE. 
 
 But I a learn do find in each of three."] " Judge not, 
 that ye be not judged. 
 
 "For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be 
 judged : and with what measure ye mete, it shall be 
 measured to you again. 
 
 "And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy 
 brother's eye, but considerest not the beam tJiat is in 
 thine own eye ? 
 
 " Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull 
 out the mote out of thine eye ; and, behold, a beam is in 
 thine own eye ? 
 
 " Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine 
 own eye ; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out 
 the mote out of thy brother's eye." Matt. vii. 1 5. 
 
 ["And profound Solomon tuning a jigg*"] This 
 thought may have been taken from a passage in 
 the 3rd chapter of Ecclesiastes 
 
 " There is a time to weep, and a time to laugh ; a 
 time to mourn, and a time to dance" Eccles. iii. 4. 
 
 Or perhaps from a passage in Ecclesiastes, 2nd 
 chapter 
 
 " I gat me men singers and women singers, and the 
 delights of the sons of men, as musical instruments, 
 and that of all sorts' 1 Eccles. ii. 8. 
 
LOVE'S LABOUR LOST. 189 
 
 ACT IV. SCENE III. 
 
 In Biron's speech, which begins thus 
 
 " OK ! 'tis more than need ! 
 Have at you then, affection's men at arms : 
 Consider what yon first did swear unto 
 To fast to study and to see no woman ; 
 Flat treason 'gainst the kingly state of youth." 
 
 We find, with one slight omission, the following 
 termination 
 
 " From women's eyes this doctrine I derive : 
 They sparkle still the right Promethean fire ; 
 They are the hooks, the arts, the academes, 
 That show, contain, and nourish all the world ; 
 Else none at all in aught proves excellent: 
 Then fools you were, these women to forswear; 
 Or, keeping what is sworn, you will prove fools. 
 ***** 
 
 Let us once lose our oaths to find ourselves, 
 
 Or, else we lose ourselves to keep our oaths : 
 
 It is religion, to be thus forsworn : 
 
 For charity itself fulfils the law ; 
 
 And who can sever love from charity ? " 
 
 [" Charity itself fulfils the law."] Love is the ful- 
 filling of the law." Rom. xiii. 10. 
 
 This scene terminates with remarks which may 
 have been suggested by certain parts of the 31st 
 chapter of Job 
 
190 SHAKESPEAKE AND THE BIBLE. 
 
 " Sir on. Aliens ! Aliens ! sow'd cockle reaped no 
 
 corn ; 
 
 And justice always whirls in equal measure : 
 Light wenches may prove plagues to men forsworn ; 
 If so, our copper buys no better treasure." 
 
 " Sow'd cockle reap'd no corn ; justice always whirls 
 in equal measure"] " If I have walked with vanity, 
 or if my foot hath hasted to deceit ; 
 
 " Let me be weighed in an even balance, that God 
 may know mine integrity. 
 
 " If my step hath turned out of the way, and mine 
 heart walked after mine eyes, and if any blot hath 
 cleaved to mine hands; 
 
 " Then let me sow, and let another eat ; yea, let my 
 offspring be rooted out " Job xxxi. 5 8. 
 
 " If my land cry against me, or that the furrows 
 likewise thereof complain ; 
 
 " If I have eaten the fruits thereof without money, or 
 have caused the owners thereof to lose their life : 
 
 " Let thistles grow instead of wheat, and cockle in- 
 stead of barley " Job xxxi. 38 40. 
 
 ACT V. SCENE I. 
 
 DON ADRIANO DE ARMADO, and HOLOFERNES, a School- 
 master^ also NATHANIEL, the Curate. 
 
 " Armado. The very all of all is but, sweetheart, 
 I do implore secresy that the king would have me 
 present the princess, sweet chuck, with some delightful 
 ostentation, or show, or pageant, or antic, or fire- work. 
 Now, understanding that the curate, and your sweet 
 
LOVERS LABOUR LOST. 191 
 
 self, are good at such, eruptions, and sudden breakings 
 out of mirth, as it were, I have acquainted you withal, 
 to the end to crave your assistance. 
 
 Holof ernes. Sir, you shall present before her the nine 
 worthies. Sir Nathaniel, as concerning some entertain- 
 ment of time, some show in the posterior of this day, 
 to be rendered by our assistance at the king's com- 
 mand ; and this most gallant, illustrate, and learned 
 gentleman before the princess j I say, none so fit as 
 to present the nine worthies. 
 
 Nathaniel. Where will you find men worthy enough 
 to present them ? 
 
 Holofernes. Joshua, yourself ; myself, or this gallant 
 gentleman, Judas Maccabceus" 
 
 [" Joshua, yourself; myself, Judas Maccabceus."] 
 For these names see 1st Book of Maccabees, 2nd 
 chapter. 
 
 " Jesus [i. e., Joshua] for fulfilling the word, was 
 made a judge in Israel." 1 Mac. ii. 55. 
 
 " As for Judas Maccabeus, he hath been mighty and 
 strong, even from his youth up : let him be your 
 captain, and fight the battle of the people." 1 Mac* 
 ii. 66. 
 
 This Judas, surnamed Maccabaeus, one of the 
 Asmoneans. by bravery and skill vanquished the 
 Syrians, cleared the temple of heathen profanation, 
 and restored to the Jews their ancient religion. 
 
192 SHAKESPEARE AND THE BIBLE. 
 
 ACT V. SCENE II. 
 
 " King. Farewell, mad wenches ; you have simple 
 
 wits. 
 
 Exeunt KING and his Lords, BIRON, LONGAVILLE, and 
 DUMAIN, disguised like Muscovites. 
 
 " Princess. Twenty adieus, my frozen Muscovites. 
 Are these the breed of wits so wonder' d at ? 
 
 Boyet. Tapers they are, with your sweet breaths 
 
 puffd out. 
 
 Rosaline. Well-liking wits they have ; gross, gross ; 
 fat, fat." 
 
 [" Well-liking wits."] Well-liking is the same 
 as embonpoint. So in Job xxxix. 4. 
 
 " Their young ones are in good liking" Steevens. 
 
 ACT V. SCENE II. 
 
 Where the KING, BIRON, LONGAVILLE, and DUMAIN, enter 
 in their own habits. 
 
 " King. Fair sir Where is the princess ? 
 
 Boyet. Gone to her tent : Please it your majesty, 
 Command me any service to her ? 
 
 King. That she vouchsafe me audience for one word. 
 Boyet. I will ; and so will she, I know, my lord." 
 
 (Exit.) 
 
 Biron says of Boyet, amongst other remarks 
 which he now makes upon him 
 
LOVE'S LABOUR LOST. 193 
 
 " This gallant pins the wenches on his sleeve ; 
 Had he been Adam, he had tempted Eve :" 
 
 in his speech which terminates with the couplet 
 
 " And consciences, that will not die in debt, 
 Pay him the due of honey-tongued Boyet." 
 
 [" Had he been Adam he had tempted Eve/'] 
 A sly bit of humour, and fantastic transposition 
 of the historical fact, alluded to by Adam in the 
 12th verse of the 3rd chapter of Genesis 
 
 " And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest 
 to be with me, she gave Hie of the tree, and I did eat." 
 
 Again 
 
 ACT V. SCENE II. 
 
 " King. Here is like to be a good presence of worthies : 
 He presents Hector of Troy j the swain, Pompey the 
 Great ; the parish curate, Alexander ; Armado's page, 
 Hercules ; the pedant, Judas Maccabceus. 
 
 Enter HOLOFERNES for JUDAS. 
 
 Holofernes. Judas I am - 
 Dumain. A Judas ! 
 Holofornes. Not Iscariot, sir. 
 Judas I am, ycleped Maccabceus. 
 
 Dumain. Judas Maccabseus dipt, is plain Judas. 
 Biron* A kissing traitor : How art thou prov'd 
 
 Judas ? 
 Holofernes. Judas I am - 
 
 oar 
 
 , .. . - ',." 
 
194 SHAKESPEAKE AND THE BIBLE. 
 
 Dumain. The more shame for you, Judas. 
 
 Holofernes. What mean you, sir ? 
 
 Boyet, To make Judas hang himself. 
 
 Holofernes. Begin, sir ; you are my elder. 
 
 Biron. Well follow' d : Judas was hang'd on an elder." 
 
 [" Dumain. A Judas ! Holofernes. Not Iscariot, 
 sir."] Shakespeare evidently remembers the words 
 relative to Judas, the brother of James, in the 
 22nd verse of the 14th chap, of St. John 
 
 " Judas saith unto him, not Iscariot." 
 
 [" Judas I am, ycleped Maccabaeus. Judas 
 Maccabeus dipt, is plain Judas."] Judas, for 
 Judas Maccabceus, occurs several times in the 1st 
 Book of Maccabees, chapter iii. 
 
 " Then his (Mattathias) son Judas, called Maccabeus, 
 rose up in his stead." 1 Mac. iii. 1. 
 
 " Apollonius gathered the Gentiles together, and a 
 great host out of Samaria, to fight against Israel. 
 
 " Which thing, when Judas perceived, he went forth 
 to meet him, and so he smote him, and slew him : many 
 also fell down slain, but the rest fled. 
 
 " Wherefore Judas took their spoils, and Apollonius' 
 sword also, and therewith he fought all his life long." 
 1 Mac. iii. 1012. 
 
 " Then began the fear of Judas and his brethren, 
 and -an exceeding great dread, to fall upon the nations 
 round about them : Insomuch as his fame came unto 
 the king, and all nations talked of the battles of Judas.' 1 
 1 Mac. iii. 25, 26. 
 
LOVE'S LABOUR LOST. 195 
 
 "And Judas said, Arm yourselves, and be valiant 
 men, and see that ye be in readiness against the morn- 
 ing, that ye may fight with these nations that are 
 assembled together against us, to destroy us and our 
 sanctuary." 1 Mac. iii. 58. 
 
 [ u A kissing traitor : How art thou prov'd Judas ? 
 Judas 1 am. The more shame for you, Judas"] 
 " Then one of the twelve, called Judas Iscariot, went 
 unto the chief priests, 
 
 " And said unto them, What will ye give me, and I 
 will deliver him unto you 1 And they covenanted with 
 him for thirty pieces of silver." Matt. xxvi. 14, 15. 
 
 " Now he that betrayed him gave them a sign, saying. 
 Whomsoever I shall kiss y that same is he : hold him fast." 
 Matt. xxvi. 48. 
 
 [" A kissing traitor."] Judas is called traitor 
 in Luke vi. 16 
 
 " And Judas Iscariot, which also was the traitor" 
 
 [" What mean you, sir ? To make Judas hang him- 
 self"] " Then Judas, which had betrayed him, when 
 he saw that he was condemned, repented himself, and 
 brought again the thirty pieces of silver to the chief 
 priests and elders, 
 
 " Saying, I have sinned, in that I have betrayed the 
 innocent blood. And they said, What is that to us 1 
 See thou to that. 
 
 " And he cast down the pieces of silver in the temple, 
 and departed, and went and hanged himself" Matt. 
 xxvii. 3 5. 
 
CHAPTER XXIV. 
 MUCH ADO ABOUT. NOTHING. 
 
 LEONATO, Governor of Messina, and BEATRICE his Niece, 
 
 " Leonato. Well, niece, I hope to see you one day 
 fitted with a husband. 
 
 Beatrice. Not till God make men of some other 
 metal than earth. Would it not grieve a woman to be 
 over-master d with a piece of valiant dust ? to make an 
 account of her life to a clod of wayward marl ? No, 
 uncle ; I'll none : Adams sons are my brethren, and 
 truly, I hold it a sin to match in my kindred" 
 
 It is evident to what parts of Holy Writ this 
 humorous speech has reference. 
 
 [" To be over-master'd with a piece of valiant dust. v ] 
 " In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till 
 thou return unto the ground ; for out of it wast thou 
 taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou 
 return." 
 
MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING. 197 
 
 [" Adam's sons are my brethren."] " And Adam 
 called his wife's name Eve; because she was the mother 
 of all living" Gen. iii. 19, 20. 
 
 [" A sin to match in my kindred."]-" None of yon 
 shall approach to any that is near of kin to him." Lev. 
 xviii. 6, 
 
 ACT II. SCENE I. 
 
 " Don Pedro. Now, signior, where's the count 1 Did 
 you see him ? 
 
 Benedick. Troth, my lord, I have played the part of 
 lady Fame. I found him here as melancholy as a lodge 
 in a warren" 
 
 ["Lodge in a warren/'] A parallel thought 
 occurs in the first chapter of Isaiah, where the pro- 
 phet, describing the desolation of Judah, says 
 
 " The daughter of Zion is left as a cottage in a vine- 
 yard, as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers" Steevens. 
 
 ACT I. SCENE II. 
 
 DON PEDHO and BEKEDICK. 
 
 " Don Pedro. The lady Beatrice hath a quarrel to 
 you ; the gentleman that danced with her, told her, 
 that she is much wronged by you. 
 
 Benedick. Oh ! she misused me past the endurance 
 of a block ; an oak, but with one green leaf on it, would 
 have answered her ; my very visor began to assume 
 
198 SHAKESPEARE AND THE BIBLE. 
 
 life, and scold with her : she told me, not thinking I 
 had been myself, that I was the prince's jester; that I 
 was duller than a great thaw; huddling jest upon jest, 
 with such impossible conveyance, upon me, that I stood 
 like a man at a mark, with a whole army shooting at 
 me : she speaks poniards, and every word stabs : if her 
 breath were as terrible as her terminations, there were 
 no living near her, she would infect to the north star. 
 / would not marry her, though she were endowed with all 
 that Adam had left him before he transgressed" 
 
 [ * * * that Adam had left him before he 
 transgress'd."] This assertion owes its pungency 
 to the effect it has upon our imagination ; for it 
 really means, no wealth that she might possess 
 would induce me to marry her. 
 
 " O Lord, who bearest rule, thou spakest at the be- 
 ginning, when thou didst plant the earth, and that 
 thyself alone. * * * 
 
 " And gavest a body unto Adam without soul, which 
 was the workmanship of thine hands, and didst breathe 
 into him the breath of life, and he was made living 
 before thee. 
 
 " And thou leddest him into paradise, which thy right 
 hand had planted, before ever the earth came forward. 
 
 " And unto him thou gavest commandment to love 
 thy way : which he transgressed." * 
 2 Esdras iii. 47. 
 
MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING. 199 
 
 ACT III. SCENE III. 
 
 " Borachio. Thou knowest, that the fashion of 
 
 a doublet, or a hat, or a cloak, is nothing to a man, 
 
 Conrade. Yes, it is apparel. 
 
 BoracMo. I mean, the fashion. 
 
 Conrade. Yes, the fashion is the fashion. 
 
 Borachio. Tush ! I may as well say, the fool's the 
 fool. But see'st thou not, what a deformed thief this 
 fashion is ? 
 
 Watch. I know that Deformed ; he has been a vile 
 thief these seven years ; he goes up and down like a 
 gentleman : I remember his name. 
 
 Borachio. Didst thou not hear somebody ? 
 
 Conrade. No ; 'twas the vane on the house. 
 
 Borachio. See'st thou not, I say, what a deformed 
 thief this fashion is ? how giddily he turns about all 
 the hot bloods, between fourteen and five-and-thirty 1 
 sometime fashioning them like PharaoJis soldiers in 
 the reechy painting ; sometime, like god Bel's priests in 
 the old church window" 
 
 Borachio thus ridicules the fashions of his day. 
 The fear lest he should be overheard when speak- 
 ing of such matters to his friend, is laughably true 
 to nature. His sarcasm is also very natural. A 
 man in his vein might advert to the primitive 
 garbs in the painting, and the odd vestments on 
 the church window ; for such subjects as Pharaoh's 
 soldiers, and god Bel's priests, would probably be 
 felt, being sacred, to give zest to the raillery. 
 
200 SHAKESPEAEE AND THE BIBLE. 
 
 The 14th chapter of Exodus might be supposed 
 to supply the subject of the picture. 
 
 " And the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh king 
 of Egypt, and he pursued after the children of Israel : 
 and the children of Israel went out with an high hand, 
 
 "But the Egyptians pursued after them, (all the horses 
 and chariots of Pharaoh, and his horsemen, and his 
 army.") Exod. xiv. 8, 9. 
 
 [" God Bel's priests."] Might be representa- 
 tions taken from the story of Bel and the Dragon. 
 
 We produce from As You Like It the following 
 apposite evidence 
 
 ACT II. SCENE I. 
 
 The Forest of Arden. 
 Enter the DUKE senior, and several LORDS. 
 
 " Duke senior. Now, my co-mates, and brothers in 
 
 exile, 
 
 Hath not old custom made this life more sweet 
 Than that of painted pomp ? Are not these woods 
 More free from peril than the envious court ? 
 Here feel we but the penalty of Adam, + 
 The season's difference." 
 
 [" Here feel we but the penalty of Adam, the 
 season's difference."] In these woods, where we 
 escape the envy of mankind, our ills are limited to 
 unpleasing effects of weather, the penalty of Adarn^ 
 
AS YOU LIKE IT. 201 
 
 when the fall brought a curse upon the earth, and 
 rendered him amenable to the sentence 
 
 " Thou shalt surely die." Gen. ii. 17. 
 
 ACT Ii. SCENE III. 
 
 ADAM and ORLANDO. 
 
 What Christian magnanimity adorns the charac- 
 ter of Adam ! To give the speech of old Adam 
 its due weight, the words of Orlando, his young 
 master, are here inserted 
 
 " Orlando. What, wouldst thou have me go and beg 
 
 my food ? 
 
 Or, with a base and boisterous sword, enforce 
 A thievish, living on the common road 1 
 This I must do, or know not what to do : 
 Yet this I will not do, do how I can ; 
 I rather will subject me to the malice 
 Of a diverted blood, and bloody brother. 
 
 Adam. But do not so : I have five hundred crowns, 
 The thrifty hire I sav'd under your father, 
 Which I did store to be my foster-nurse, 
 When service should in my old limbs lie lame, 
 And unregarded age in corners thrown ; 
 Take that : and He that doth the ravens feed, 
 Yea, providently caters for the sparrow, 
 Be comfort to my age ! " 
 
 [" He that doth the ravens feed."] " Consider the 
 ravens : for they neither sow nor reap ; which neither 
 have storehouse nor barn ; and God feedeth them : 
 
 o 
 
202 SHAKESPEARE AND THE BIBLE. 
 
 How much more are ye better than the fowls ? " Luke 
 xii. 24. 
 
 [" Yea providently caters for the sparrow."] " Are 
 not five sparrows sold for two farthings, and not one of 
 them is forgotten before God ? But even "the very 
 hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not, there- 
 fore : ye are of more value than many sparrows." 
 Luke xii. 6, 7. 
 
CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 THE TAMING OF THE SHREW. 
 
 ACT V. SCENE IJ. 
 
 44 Kate, the Shrew. A woman mov'd is like a fountain 
 
 troubled, 
 
 Muddy, ill-seeming, thick, bereft of beauty ] 
 And, while it is so, none so dry or thirsty 
 Will deign to sip, or touch one drop of it." 
 
 In this extract from the lecture of the shrew, on 
 the duties of wives towards their husbands, and in 
 the 5th chapter of Proverbs, the word fountain 
 denotes a wife 
 
 E. 6r., " Let thy fountain be blessed : and rejoice 
 with the wife of thy youth." Prov. v. 18. 
 
 But nowhere in the Proverbs does " a fountain 
 troubled " denote a shrew. Shakespeare, it seems, 
 met with the words a troubled fountain in the 25th 
 chapter of Proverbs 
 
204 SHAKESPEARE AND THE BIBLE. 
 
 E. G.) "A righteous man falling down before the 
 wicked is as a troubled fountain, and a corrupt spring " 
 
 transferred them from thence into the play, and 
 affixed to them their present meaning. 
 
 A like metaphorical way of speaking to this, 
 " None so dry or thirsty, will deign to sip or touch 
 one drop of it," is to be found in the 5th chapter of 
 Proverbs 
 
 JE. 6r., " Drink waters out of thine own cistern." 
 Prov. v. 15. 
 
 We may now place before the reader the results 
 obtained from an investigation of 
 
CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 MEASUEE FOE MEASUBE. 
 
 ACT I. SCENE II. 
 
 The Street. 
 Enter Lucio and two Gentlemen. 
 
 " Lucio. If the duke, with the other dukes, come 
 not to composition with the king of Hungary, why, 
 then all the dukes fall upon the king. 
 
 1 Gent. Heaven grant us its peace, but not the king 
 of Hungary's ! 
 
 2 Gent. Amen. 
 
 Lucio. Thou concludest like the sanctimonious pirate, 
 that went to sea with the ten commandments, but 
 scraped one out of the table. 
 
 2 Gent. Thou shalt not steal? (See Exod. xx. 15.) 
 
 Lucio. Ay, that he raz'd." 
 
206 SHAKESPEARE AND THE BIBLE. 
 
 ACT I. SCENE II!. 
 
 Enter PROVOST, CLAUDIO. 
 
 " Claudia. Fellow, why dost thou shew me thus to 
 
 the world ? 
 Bear me to prison, where I am committed. 
 
 Provost. I do it not in evil disposition, 
 But from Lord Angelo by special charge. 
 
 Claudio. Thus can the demigod, authority, 
 Make us pay down for our offence by weight. 
 The words of heaven ; on wJwm it will, it will ; 
 On whom it will not, so ; yet still 'tis just" 
 
 [" On whom it will, it will ; on whom it will not, 
 so; yet still 'tis just."] Shakespeare evidently 
 derives this passage from the 9th chapter of St. 
 Paul's epistle to the Eomans 
 
 " What shall we say then ? Is there unrighteousness 
 with God ? God forbid. 
 
 " For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom 
 I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom 
 I will have compassion. 
 
 " So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him 
 that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. 
 
 " For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for 
 this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might 
 show my power in thee, and that my name might be 
 declared throughout all the earth. 
 
 " Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have 
 
MEASURE FOR MEASURE, 207 
 
 mercy ) and whom he will he hardeneth." Rom. ix. 
 1418. 
 
 ACT II. SCENE II. 
 
 ANGELO, Lord Deputy in the absence of YINCENTIO, Duke of 
 Vienna; ISABELLA, Sister to CLATTDIO ; and Luoio. 
 
 ANGELLO'S house. 
 
 " Angela. Pray you, begone. 
 
 Isabella. I would to Heaven I had your potency, 
 And you were Isabel ! should it then be thus ? 
 No ; I would tell what 'twere to be a judge, 
 And what a prisoner. 
 
 Lucio. Ay, touch him : there's the vein, (Aside.) 
 
 Angela. Your brother is a forfeit of the law, 
 And you but waste your words. 
 
 Isabella. Alas ! alas ! 
 
 Why, all the souls that were, were forfeit once ; 
 And He that might the vantage best have took, 
 Found out the remedy : How would you be, 
 If He, which is the top of judgment, should 
 But judge you, as you are 1 Oh ! think on that, 
 And mercy then will breathe within your lips, 
 Like man new made." 
 
 The substance of this passage 
 
 " Why, all the souls that were, were forfeit once ; 
 And He that might the vantage best have took, 
 Found out the remedy " 
 
 is contained in the 9th chapter of St. Paul's epistle 
 to the Hebrews, the 27th and 28th verses. 
 
208 SHAKESPEARE AND THE BIBLE. 
 
 " As it is appointed unto men once to die, but after 
 this the j udgment : 
 
 " So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many ; 
 and unto them that look for him shall he appear the 
 second time without sin unto salvation.'* 
 
 And of this 
 
 " How would you be, 
 
 If He, which is the top of judgment, should 
 
 But judge you as you are ? " 
 
 in the 3rd and 4th verses of the 130th Psalm 
 
 " If thou, Lord, shoulds't mark iniquities, Lord,, 
 who shall stand ? 
 
 " But there is forgiveness with thee, that thou 
 mayest be feared." 
 
 " Oh ! think on that, 
 
 And mercy then will breathe within your lips, 
 Like man new made." 
 
 " Put on the new man, which after God is created in 
 righteousness and true holiness. 
 
 " And be ye kind one to another, tender-hearted, for- 
 giving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath 
 forgiven you." Eph. iv. 24, 32. 
 
 ACT II. SCENE IV. 
 
 " Angela. Redeem thy brother 
 
 By yielding up thy body to my will ; 
 Or else he must not only die the death." 
 
MEASURE FOR MEASURE. 209 
 
 We find this expression in Act I. of Midsummer 
 Night's Dream 
 
 " Theseus. Either to die the death, or to abjure 
 For ever the society of men." 
 
 [" Die the death."]" It is," says Steevens, " a 
 phrase taken from Scripture." We here quote 
 passages in which it is found 
 
 " Whoso curseth father or mother, let him die the 
 death." Mark vii. 10. 
 
 Also 
 
 " All flesh waxeth old as a garment : for the covenant 
 from the beginning is, Thou shalt die the death." 
 Ecclus. xiv. 17. 
 
 END OF ACT III. SCENE II. 
 
 To this short metre couplet 
 
 " He, who the sword of Heav'ii will bear, 
 Should be as holy as severe " 
 
 there is a parallel in the 2nd Book of Samuel, 
 xxiii. 3 
 
 " The God of Israel said, the Rock of Israel spake 
 to me, He that ruleth over men must be just, ruling in 
 the fear of God." 
 
CHAPTER XXVII. 
 
 THE COMEDY OF EBBOBS 
 
 supplies us with more evidence than might, perhaps, 
 be expected from the nature of the subject. 
 
 ACT II. SCENE II. 
 
 ANTIPHOLIS of Syracuse, and DROMIO of Syracuse. 
 
 " Antipholis. Well, sir, learn to jest in good time ; 
 There's a time for all things? 
 
 Parallel thoughts are expressed in the 3rd 
 chapter of Ecclesiastes 
 
 " To every thing there is a season, and a time to every 
 purpose under the heaven.'* Eccles. iii. 1. 
 
 " A time to weep, and a time to laugh." Eccles. iii. 4> 
 (part of it.) 
 
THE COMEDY OF ERRORS. 211 
 
 ACT IV. SCENE III. 
 
 DROMIO of Syracuse mistakes the twin ANTIPHOLIS for 
 ANTIPHOLIS of Ephesus, who was arrested* 
 
 11 Dromio of Syracuse. Master, here's the gold you 
 sent me for : What, have you got the picture of old 
 Adam new appareWd ? 
 
 Antip. of Syracuse. What gold is this ? What Adam 
 dost thou mean ? 
 
 Dromio of Syracuse. Not that Adam, that kept the 
 paradise, but that Adam, that keeps the prison : he 
 that goes in the calfs-skin that was JciWd for the 
 prodigal ; he that came behind you, sir, like an evil 
 angel, and bid you forsake your liberty. 
 
 Antip. of Syracuse. I understand thee not." 
 
 [" The picture of old Adam new apparell'd."] 
 The allusion, says Theobald, is to Adam in his 
 state of innocence going naked ; and immediately 
 after the fall, being clothed in a frock of skins. 
 Thus he was new apparell'd 
 
 [" Not that Adam that kept the paradise."] It is 
 stated in the loth verse of the 2nd chapter of Genesis, 
 that Adam was placed in " the garden of Eden to dress 
 it and to keep it." 
 
 The word paradise is several times to be found 
 in the Apocrypha, e. g., the 2nd Book of Esdras, 
 but not in the Old Testament. 
 
 In the 3rd chapter and 6th verse of 2nd Book 
 of Esdras 
 
212 SHAKESPEARE AND THE BIBLE. 
 
 u Thou leddest him into paradise, which thy right 
 hand had planted.' 1 
 
 Again, in the 6th chapter and 2nd verse of 2nd 
 Book of Esdras 
 
 " Before it thundered and lightened, or ever the foun- 
 dations of paradise were laid" 
 
 Also, in the 7th chapter and 53rd verse of 2nd 
 Book of Esdras 
 
 " And that there should be shewed a paradise, 
 whose fruit endurethfor ever." 
 
 [" He that goes in the calf s-skin that was 
 kilPd for the prodigal."] In the parable of the 
 Prodigal Son, it is stated that the father of the 
 prodigal said to his servants 
 
 " Bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it ; and let us 
 eat, and be merry: For this my son was dead, aod is 
 alive again; he was lost, and is found." Luke xv. 23, 24. 
 
 ACT IV. SCENE III. 
 
 Enter a COURTESAN. 
 
 " Dromio of Syracuse. Master, is this mistress Satan ? 
 Antip. of Syracuse. It is the devil." 
 
 Dromio of Syracuse, amongst other remarks, 
 says of such characters " It is written, They appear 
 to men like angels of light." 
 
THE COMEDY OF ERRORS. 213 
 
 [" Like angels of light."] There is a sentence 
 very similar to this in the 2nd epistle to the 
 Corinthians, the llth chapter and 14th verse 
 
 " Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light." 
 
 ACT IV. SCENE IV. 
 
 PINCH, a Conjurer, and ANTIPHOLIS, of Ephesus. 
 
 "Pinch. Give me your hand, and let me feel your 
 
 pulse. 
 
 Antip. There is my hand, and let it feel your ear. 
 Pinch. I charge thee, Satan, hous'd within this man, 
 To yield possession to my holy prayers." 
 
 [" Satan, housed within this man."] " / will return 
 into my house, from whence I came out," says the unclean 
 spirit in Matt. xii. 44, when he seeketh rest in dry 
 places, after his departure out of a man, *' but findeth 
 none." 
 
 ACT IV. SCENE IV. 
 
 " Pinch. Mistress, both man and master is possessed ; 
 I know it by their pale and deadly looks : 
 They must be bound, and laid in some dark room." 
 
 Again 
 
 " Pinch. More company ; the fiend is strong within 
 him." 
 
214 SHAKESPEARE AND THE BIBLE. 
 
 It seems likely that the miracle wrought, when 
 the devil was ejected from a man and sent into a 
 herd of swine, recurred to the mind of Shakespeare 
 at the time he wrote these lines. The sufferer is 
 said, in the 5th chapter of Mark, to be possessed (the 
 word used in the play) with the devil; he is said to 
 inhabit the tombs, and to be so fierce " that no man 
 could bind him." 
 
 Having done with strictly parallel passages, it 
 remains to notice resemblances of a general cha- 
 racter. The stories of Jacob and Esau of Joseph 
 and his brethren many passages in the life of 
 David and the parable of the Prodigal Son 
 portray those passions and affections, emphatically 
 styled in Scripture " yearnings of the bowels," 
 much after the manner in which Shakespeare is 
 found to exhibit them. They belong alike to 
 every age and every nation. The very images of 
 Scripture are sometimes the images of Shakespeare. 
 Nothing is more common in the former than the 
 comparison of good to light, and evil to darkness. 
 Bad men hate the light lest their evil deeds should be 
 reproved. How tremendously is this feeling dis- 
 played by Lady Macbeth ! 
 
 " Come, thick night, 
 
 And pall thee in the dunnesfc smoke of hell ! 
 That my keen knife see not the wound it makes ; 
 Nor Heart n peep through the blanket oftfa dark, 
 To cry, Hold, hold ! " 
 
GENERAL REMARKS. 215 
 
 Light to Shakespeare suggests the idea of good- 
 ness 
 
 " How far that little candle throws his beams ! 
 So shines a good deed in a naughty world." 
 
 This is the scriptural, not the common com- 
 parison ; the latter likens darkness to sorrow, and 
 light to joy. 
 
 Mr. Euskin notices, in the 4th volume of his 
 
 " Modern Painters/' page 382, that " Shakespeare 
 
 almost always implies a total difference in nature 
 
 between one human being and another ; one being 
 
 from the birth pure and affectionate, another base 
 
 and cruel ; and he displays each in its sphere as 
 
 having the nature of the dove, wolf, or lion, never 
 
 much implying the government or change of nature 
 
 by any external principle/' It is very remarkable 
 
 that scripture, which teaches us more by things 
 
 than by words, though it recognizes a change of 
 
 disposition through force of an external principle^ 
 
 does yet not only paint men as of different natures, 
 
 but describes those natures under the forms of 
 
 different kinds of animals. Thus the good and the 
 
 bad are generally typified by the figure of " sheep '' 
 
 and of " goats." Our Saviour calls the Pharisees 
 
 a "generation of vipers." He himself is described 
 
 as the "LAMB of God/' The natures of the 
 
 heathen about to be converted to the gospel, are 
 
 described by the prophet as those of wild beasts. 
 
 "The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the 
 
 leopard shall lie down with the kid, and the 
 
216 SHAKESPEARE AND THE BIBLE. 
 
 the young lion, and the failing together/' &c. &c. 
 The kindly affections and inherent purity of Shake- 
 speare's best women, have their type in the character 
 of Ruth. The difference between Ruth and Orpah 
 was simply a difference in degree of dutiful affec- 
 tion. 
 
 " Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth 
 clave unto her," passionately beseeching leave to 
 follow her fortunes, in the sweetest words which 
 the power of language could supply. But there 
 are parallels of individual character. JL&dyJVfac-^ 
 beth, for instance, the most terrible of Shake- 
 speare's heroines, has her perfect counterpart in 
 Jezebel, j The very mind and being of the latter 
 seem to be infused into, and to animate, the former. 
 Holinshed's details of Scottish history connected 
 with this play, do not render these ideas untenable. 
 The same may be said with respect to^Vhab and 
 Macbeth till the death of Duncan : the latter then 
 resembles Saul, delivered up to the 
 
 Ahab had his "compunctious visitings," and 
 short-lived repentance ; Macbeth his " milk of 
 human kindness/' and his religious awe ; so that 
 " what he would highly, that would he holily." 
 Ahab, whom his wife stirred up, and Macbeth, seem 
 both, while desiring the fruits, similarly to shrink 
 from the perpetration, of cold-blooded murder. 
 Hence the former was content to be used as a 
 the murder of Naboth, and the latter 
 
GENERAL REMARKS. 217 
 
 became little more than an instrument in that of 
 the King. 
 
 It was Jezebel who bestowed upon Ahab the 
 vineyard, as it was Lady Macbeth who gave her 
 husband the kingdom. Both these women began 
 by taunting their husbands into acquiescence with 
 their measures, but both resolve to act for them- 
 selves. 
 
 Hear Jezebel c 'Dost thou now govern the 
 kingdom of Israel ? Arise and eat bread, and let 
 thy heart be merry ; / will give thee the vineyard 
 of Naboth, the Jezreelite." Lady Macbeth, when 
 informed by letter of the predestined throne, is 
 at first ready to put an end to Duncan herself, a 
 purpose from which she was diverted by his 
 resemblance to her " father > as he slept." 
 
 " Lady Macbeth. He that's coming 
 
 Must be provided for, and you shall put 
 This night's great business into my despatch. 
 
 [Here Macbeth betrays irresolution. 
 
 Macbeth. We will speak further. 
 
 Lady M. Only look up clear ; 
 To alter favour, ever, is to fear 
 Leave all the rest to me." 
 
 Thus Jezebel and Lady Macbeth went on spur- 
 ring their husbands in their guilty career, till the 
 two latter expiated their crimes upon the field of 
 battle ; whilst they themselves came to an equally 
 untimely end. But Macbeth resembles Saul when 
 reprobate, after the murder of the ill-starred Dun- 
 
218 SHAKESPEARE AND THE BIBLE. 
 
 can. Thus Macbeth lam^g^j^a^JJieJsMie'-of the 
 slaughtered Banquo must ascend his throne ; Saul, 
 that "the kingdom has been rent out of his hand/' 
 and given to David (whom he has repeatedly en- 
 deavoured to slay) and his descendants. When 
 the witch of Endor had called up Samuel, she ex- 
 claimed " / saw gods ascending out of the earth I " 
 Samuel was, however, the only ghost. Now it 13 
 evident that the spirits of Banquo' s line, fyc., could 
 not have been ghosts in the common acceptation 
 of the term, but mere typical shadows ; there is, 
 in fact, no ghost but Banquo's throughout the 
 play: a circumstance which did not escape the 
 penetration of Mrs, Montague.* Saul saw, it 
 seems, only Samuel; but he heard the witch's 
 remark, " I saw gods ascending out of the earth " 
 and Samuel's rebuke, " Why hast thou disquieted 
 me, to bring me up ? " he heard, too, the very 
 words again which Samuel, when a prophet of the 
 Lord, had addressed to him and, though he was 
 " sore afraid because of these words" yet so hardened 
 had he become, that he could even be induced to 
 partake of food which the witch of Endor had pre- 
 pared for him. This demonstration of depravity 
 satisfies us that Macbeth's character, when at its 
 worst stage, is not untrue to nature. Hence the 
 effect, both physically and mentally, of witchcraft 
 upon Macbeth, constrains our very feelings to a 
 tacit acknowledgment of its truthfulness. More- 
 
 * Vide Essay on Genius of Shakespeare. 
 
GENERAL REMARKS. 219 
 
 over, the apparitions that were seen, and the words 
 that were heard by Macbeth (the prediction rela- 
 tive to Banquo's issue twice) were not more ter- 
 rific or overwhelming than the things which were 
 revealed to the eyes and ears of Saul. 
 
 Let us now direct our attention to Hamlet's con- 
 duct after he had received instructions from the 
 ghost of his father : a quotation from scripture shall 
 be produced to account for it. The deaths of 
 Polonius and the King may be said to be acci- 
 dental effects ; Hamlet having been roused to the 
 committal of them, by circumstances which hurried 
 him from the motive that should have led to the 
 King's death. Hamlet speaks of being <c prompted 
 to his revenge by heaven and hell : " by heaven, 
 which considered life forfeited by him who had 
 committed murder, and had merely fixed on Ham- 
 let as the person who should execute this righteous 
 doom : by hell, inasmuch as Hamlet's worst feelings 
 urged him to commit the act. The futility of a les- 
 son from the tomb is here shown ; as if the words - 
 " If th' ey hear not Moses and the prophets, nei- 
 ther will they be persuaded though one rose from 
 the dead/' were the source from whence Shake- 
 speare derived hints in this case : for Hamlet's con- 
 duct after the interview with his father was such 
 as might be expected, especially of one who could 
 say " We defy augury ; there is a special provi- 
 dence in the fall of a sparrow," (see Act V.) he 
 endeavours to find out what this vision might 
 
220 SHAKESPEARE AND THE BIBLE. 
 
 mean. Perplexed at first by doubts and scruples 
 as to what he ought to believe or to do, because " the 
 spirit which he had seen might be the devil/' who 
 had perhaps assumed a pleasing shape, taking ad- 
 vantage of Hamlet's weakness and his melancholy 
 (for Hamlet was not before, nor had he become, 
 since the interview with the ghost, a religious man), 
 in order to damn him. He, therefore, determines 
 to have " some players play something like the 
 murder of his father," before the King " his uncle," 
 that he may prove the veracity of the story alleged 
 by the ghost. The plot succeeds, and Hamlet has 
 only to strike the blow of vengeance as Samuel 
 did when he slew Agag in obedience to the will 
 of Heaven. He seems, however, by this time, 
 from the effects of grief, doubt, and contemplation, 
 incapable of taking the vengeance required, though 
 clearly prompted to do so by one " who rose from 
 the dead/' The course taken by Hamlet to satis- 
 fy himself concerning the ghost, is probably quite 
 original. Thus he first establishes the credibility 
 of the ghost with regard to real existence, by the 
 information which he gains from others respecting 
 it : he then establishes the credibility of the ghost 
 with regard to words, by means of scenic represen- 
 tations. And so anxious is he then to arrive at right 
 conclusions respecting his uncle, that he particu- 
 larly requests Horatio, the man on whose integrity 
 and judgment he can best rely, to watch the king 
 narrowly when that scene of the play, which comes 
 
GENERAL REMARKS. 221 
 
 near the circumstance of his father's death, is 
 brought before them : 
 
 " I pr'ythee, when thou see'st that act a-foot, 
 Even with the very comment of thy soul 
 Observe my uncle : if his occulted guilt 
 Do not itself unkennel in one speech, 
 It is a damned ghost that we have seen ; 
 And my imaginations are as foul 
 As Vulcan's stithy ; Give him heedful note : 
 For I mine eyes will rivet to his face ; 
 And after, we will both our judgments join 
 In censure of his seeming." 
 
 What should have been the result, when both 
 their judgments did join in censure of his seeming? 
 Why, Hamlet should have killed the king, because 
 that king was a usurper and a murderer, in obe- 
 dience to the ghost's commands. Had the ghost's 
 account of the torments which he suffered, in con- 
 sequence of having been u cut off in the blossoms 
 of his sin, and sent to his account with all his im- 
 perfections on his head/' really brought conviction 
 home to Hamlet, and led him to eschew wicked- 
 ness, since any man may be so cut off and sent to his 
 account, he would have inflicted punishment upon 
 his uncle in a right spirit, have satisfied the world 
 of his uncle's guilt, and have made a pious and 
 good king. 
 
 But men are not to be persuaded by those who 
 rise from the dead. Hamlet, therefore, must not 
 be persuaded by such supernatural agency. 
 
222 SHAKESPEARE AND THE BIBLE. 
 
 Now, it is clear that the parable of Dives and 
 Lazarus had made particular impression on Shake- 
 speare's mind, for it is mentioned several times in 
 the play of Henry IV. by the same character; and, 
 as hints are sufficient for genius of a high order, 
 it is probable that the parable above noticed aided 
 him in this case. 
 
 But it may be said, such genius as Shakespeare's 
 would want no aid to enable it either to place the 
 characters of Hamlet and Macbeth in the circum- 
 stances which have been already scanned, or to 
 make their subsequent conduct spring so naturally 
 from them. Yet the circumstances in which these 
 men are placed, and the conduct which so naturally 
 results from them (if the sources from whence his 
 ideas are said to flow be not correct), seem as 
 likely to be fictions of unaided genius as a statue, 
 perfectly correct in its detail, and gracefully natural 
 in its attitude, could be thought to be produced 
 by one who was both ignorant of anatomy and 
 the rules of correct taste. 
 
 "Shakespeare/' says Mr. Ruskin, at the place 
 before quoted u Shakespeare always leans on the 
 force of fate, as it urges the final evil ; and dwells 
 with infinite bitterness on the power of the wicked, 
 and the infinitude of results dependent seemingly 
 on little things. A fool brings the last piece of 
 news from Verona, and the dearest lives of its 
 noble houses are lost; they might have been 
 saved if the sacristan had not stumbled as he 
 
GENERAL REMARKS. 226 
 
 walked. Othello mislays his handkerchief, and 
 there remains nothing for him but death. Hamlet 
 gets hold of the wrong foil, and the rest is silence. 
 Edmund's runner is a moment too late at the 
 prison, and the feather will not move at Cordelia's 
 lips. Salisbury a moment too late at the Tower, 
 and Arthur lies on the stones dead. Goneril and 
 lago have on the whole, in this world, Shakespeare 
 sees, much of their own way, though they come to 
 a bad end. It is a pin that Death pierces the 
 king's fortress wall with; and carelessness and 
 folly sit, sceptred and dreadful, side by side, with 
 the pin-armed skeleton." 
 
 If it be thus in Shakespeare, and in the world, 
 it is assuredly the same in the Bible. Jezebel and 
 Judas have it all their own way, though they come 
 to a bad end. In that sacred book, from beginning 
 to end, good men lament that the wicked " flou- 
 rish " here, " like a green bay-tree/' That " they 
 come not into peril like other folk, neither are in 
 trouble like other men." To witness this was the 
 sorest trial of <; the man after God's own heart; ' 
 and has been one of the severest trials of the faith- 
 ful in all ages of the Church. David could not 
 understand this till he " went into the house of 
 God," and understood " the END of these men." 
 Granting a superintending providence, which 
 Shakespeare ever recognizes, things come to pass in 
 the Bible, and in the world, as by chance. " The 
 
224 SHAKESPEARE AND THE BIBLE. 
 
 lot is cast into the lap, but the disposal is with 
 the Lord/' 
 
 The most solemn predictions in Scripture, be it 
 remembered, are fulfilled seemingly by accident. 
 In the Bible, if any where, we might be led to 
 expect the gradual development of a plot or prin- 
 ciple ; whereas we meet with the very reverse of 
 this. It was foretold that Ahab should not return 
 in peace. He accordingly perishes in battle. But 
 how does he perish? The command of the king 
 of Syria to the captains of his chariots, to "fight 
 neither with small nor great, but only with the 
 king of Israel," seems at first sight ordained by 
 God himself for the fulfilment of prophecy. We 
 should therefore expect that Jehoshaphat, to 
 secure his own safety, would have somehow be- 
 trayed the disguise of Ahab, that the death of the 
 latter might appear to proceed from design. Such, 
 however, was not the case. "A certain man 
 draws a bow at a venture, and pierces the king be- 
 tween the joints of his harness." It was also pre- 
 dicted that " dogs should lick his blood/' How 
 is this prophecy fulfilled ? Is the body exposed to 
 purposed indignity I No, it was buried, we have 
 reason to believe, with respect. But " one washed 
 the chariot in the pool of Samaria ; " and then 
 the " dogs came and licked up the blood," in the 
 usual course of events. 
 
 Jehu, indeed, affected to fulfil the prediction 
 concerning Joram, by casting his body into the 
 
GENERAL REMARKS. 225 
 
 plot of Naboth, the Jezreelite. But Jehu forgot, 
 and would have left unfulfilled, what had been 
 foretold in the case of Jezebel. He gave orders 
 to bury this " cursed woman," because " she was a 
 king's daughter." But he first went in to eat and 
 drink. Before he had finished Ms meal, the dogs 
 had had theirs ; and then he remembered the word 
 which the Lord had spoken by the mouth of 
 Elijah the Tishbite. 
 
 Since, then, what we call accident seems to be 
 the ruling power, where divine interposition is 
 clearly exerted (if we allow it ever to be exerted 
 at all), it follows that Shakespeare, in representing 
 the lives of the greatest and best of human beings 
 as the sport of chance, does literally follow the 
 order of God and nature. He is bitter, and we are 
 bitter at this state of things, because we find it 
 hard to realize the truth, that it is neither a man's 
 worldly fortunes, nor the adherence of his friends, 
 nor the fidelity of his wife, nor the time, nor the 
 manner of his death, but the tenor of his life, 
 which determines whether he be properly an object 
 of envy or of pity. Humanly speaking, what is 
 there more horrible, or more unjust in Shakespeare, 
 than that a good man, after a life of mortification 
 and obedience to his Maker's will, should be secretly 
 murdered in a dungeon at the pleasure of a light 
 dancer? The wicked "have done to him what they 
 listed ! " Had this been narrated merely in a novel 
 or a play, the author's morality had doubtless been 
 
226 SHAKESPEARE AND THE BIBLE. 
 
 questioned, and he had been accused of setting an 
 injurious example. All other means failing, better 
 have introduced an angel to burst the prison door, 
 than that this should have been. But God teaches 
 otherwise. He leaves his faithful servant to perish, 
 if this be to perish. And because it is God who 
 thus acts and teaches, mankind, whether good or 
 bad, are not hereby offended* With the former 
 it is, " Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him." 
 With the latter, "Let me die the death of the 
 righteous, and let my last end be like his/' So 
 long as any hope remains, this will ever be the wish 
 of the human heart. 
 
 Mr. Kuskin thinks that it was necessary for 
 Shakespeare's special work " that he should be put, 
 as it were, on a level with his race, on those plains 
 of Stratford." True ; and it was equally necessary 
 that he should be so placed at that particular time, 
 when the Reformation had excited in men's minds 
 great curiosity concerning the Scriptures, which 
 had been a sealed book to them. We have given 
 much evidence that Shakespeare must have shared 
 and gratified this curiosity for hence his genius 
 imbibed and assimilated that wisdom whereat the 
 world marvels. 
 
 THE END. 
 
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