03.07.2013 Views

Antiquaries in the Age of Romanticism: 1789-1851 - Queen Mary ...

Antiquaries in the Age of Romanticism: 1789-1851 - Queen Mary ...

Antiquaries in the Age of Romanticism: 1789-1851 - Queen Mary ...

SHOW MORE
SHOW LESS

Create successful ePaper yourself

Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.

matter <strong>of</strong> taste and he would avail himself <strong>of</strong> any relevant source however vulgar, for ‘even <strong>the</strong><br />

meanest productions <strong>of</strong> human <strong>in</strong>tellect’ might be useful, if ‘like medic<strong>in</strong>al poisons, <strong>the</strong>y be<br />

adm<strong>in</strong>istered with skill’. 22 Douce, <strong>the</strong> artful apo<strong>the</strong>cary, ridd<strong>in</strong>g his subject matter <strong>of</strong> disorders<br />

contracted over time, was also obliged to see <strong>of</strong>f <strong>the</strong> quacks. ‘Sometimes <strong>the</strong>re has been a<br />

necessity for stepp<strong>in</strong>g <strong>in</strong> between two contend<strong>in</strong>g critics; and for show<strong>in</strong>g, as <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> case <strong>of</strong> many<br />

o<strong>the</strong>r disputes, that both parties are <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> wrong.’ 23 In fact Douce found himself <strong>in</strong> debate, and<br />

<strong>in</strong> dispute, with many parties, <strong>in</strong>clud<strong>in</strong>g, sometimes, Shakespeare himself. His approach, it will<br />

be seen, demonstrated a peculiarly antiquarian variant on that reciprocity between text and<br />

reader, actor and audience that was <strong>the</strong> essence <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> romantic critique.<br />

From <strong>the</strong> beg<strong>in</strong>n<strong>in</strong>g Douce was <strong>in</strong>tent upon gett<strong>in</strong>g as much out <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> plays as he brought<br />

to <strong>the</strong>m. In his life-long attempt to ‘augment <strong>the</strong> knowledge <strong>of</strong> our popular customs and<br />

antiquities’, he found that ‘<strong>the</strong> writ<strong>in</strong>gs <strong>of</strong> Shakespeare’ <strong>of</strong>fered ‘better h<strong>in</strong>ts, and … ampler<br />

materials than those <strong>of</strong> anyone’. 24 He <strong>the</strong>refore expanded his notes with ‘digressions’. 25 These<br />

excursions <strong>in</strong>to adjacent areas <strong>of</strong> folklore and history fur<strong>the</strong>r wove <strong>the</strong> plays <strong>in</strong>to <strong>the</strong>ir<br />

contemporary context and served, he hoped, to ‘operate <strong>in</strong> dim<strong>in</strong>ish<strong>in</strong>g that tedium which usually<br />

results from an attention to matters purely critical’. 26 They did, although <strong>the</strong>y also naturally<br />

opened him up to charges <strong>of</strong> irrelevance and wool-ga<strong>the</strong>r<strong>in</strong>g. The range <strong>of</strong> material that he<br />

<strong>in</strong>voked for The Tempest, <strong>the</strong> first text he discusses, and its deployment, is typical <strong>of</strong> his method<br />

<strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> first part <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> book, as he works his way through <strong>the</strong> plays.<br />

Douce makes no general summaris<strong>in</strong>g comments; each po<strong>in</strong>t relates to a l<strong>in</strong>e or a speech<br />

and is <strong>in</strong>cluded <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> order <strong>in</strong> which it occurs. Thus his most far-reach<strong>in</strong>g suggestion, a proposed<br />

re-dat<strong>in</strong>g <strong>of</strong> The Tempest, occurs <strong>in</strong> relation to Act I sc ii and Ariel’s reference to ‘<strong>the</strong> still-vext<br />

Bermoo<strong>the</strong>s’. 27 By 1807 The Voyage <strong>of</strong> Sir George Sommers <strong>of</strong> 1609 had already been suggested<br />

as a term<strong>in</strong>us post quem for <strong>the</strong> play and, accord<strong>in</strong>g to Malone, <strong>the</strong> ‘great tempest’ <strong>of</strong> 1612 was<br />

<strong>the</strong> likely <strong>in</strong>spiration for <strong>the</strong> title. Douce agreed with <strong>the</strong> first po<strong>in</strong>t but suggested that <strong>the</strong> play<br />

22<br />

Douce, Illustrations <strong>of</strong> Shakspeare, 1, p. x.<br />

23<br />

Douce, Illustrations <strong>of</strong> Shakspeare, 1, p. ix.<br />

24<br />

Douce, Illustrations <strong>of</strong> Shakspeare, 1, p. ix.<br />

25<br />

Douce, Illustrations <strong>of</strong> Shakspeare, 1, p. ix.<br />

26<br />

Douce, Illustrations <strong>of</strong> Shakspeare, 1, p. ix.<br />

27<br />

Douce, Illustrations <strong>of</strong> Shakspeare, I, p. 5 and Tempest I ii l 239.<br />

236

Hooray! Your file is uploaded and ready to be published.

Saved successfully!

Ooh no, something went wrong!