The Philosophy of the Plays of Shakspere Unfolded | Page 4

those thick-strewn scientific clues, those thick-crowding
enigmas, those perpetual beckonings from the "theatre" into the judicial
palace of the mind. It was reserved for the student who would recognise,
at last, the mind that was seeking so perseveringly to whisper its tale of
outrage, and "the secrets it was forbid." It waited for one who would
answer, at last, that philosophic challenge, and say, "Go on, I'll follow
thee!" It was reserved for one who would count years as days, for the
love of the truth it hid; who would never turn back on the long road of
initiation, though all "THE IDOLS" must be left behind in its stages;
who would never stop until it stopped in that new cave of Apollo,
where the handwriting on the wall spells anew the old Delphic motto,
and publishes the word that "unties the spell."
On this object, which she conceives so loftily, the author has bestowed
the solitary and self-sustained toil of many years. The volume now
before the reader, together with the historical demonstration which it
pre-supposes, is the product of a most faithful and conscientious labour,
and a truly heroic devotion of intellect and heart. No man or woman
has ever thought or written more sincerely than the author of this book.
She has given nothing less than her life to the work. And, as if for the
greater trial of her constancy, her theory was divulged, some time ago,
in so partial and unsatisfactory a manner--with so exceedingly
imperfect a statement of its claims--as to put her at great disadvantage
before the world. A single article from her pen, purporting to be the
first of a series, appeared in an American Magazine; but unexpected
obstacles prevented the further publication in that form, after enough
had been done to assail the prejudices of the public, but far too little to
gain its sympathy. Another evil followed. An English writer (in a
'Letter to the Earl of Ellesmere,' published within a few months past)
has thought it not inconsistent with the fair-play, on which his country
prides itself, to take to himself this lady's theory, and favour the public
with it as his own original conception, without allusion to the author's

prior claim. In reference to this pamphlet, she generously says:--
'This has not been a selfish enterprise. It is not a personal concern. It is
a discovery which belongs not to an individual, and not to a people. Its
fields are wide enough and rich enough for us all; and he that has no
work, and whoso will, let him come and labour in them. The field is the
world's; and the world's work henceforth is in it. So that it be known in
its real comprehension, in its true relations to the weal of the world,
what matters it? So that the truth, which is dearer than all the
rest--which abides with us when all others leave us, dearest then--so
that the truth, which is neither yours nor mine, but yours and mine, be
known, loved, honoured, emancipated, mitred, crowned, adored--who
loses anything, that does not find it.' 'And what matters it,' says the
philosophic wisdom, speaking in the abstract, 'what name it is
proclaimed in, and what letters of the alphabet we know it by?--what
matter is it, so that they spell the name that is good for ALL, and good
for each,'--for that is the REAL name here?
Speaking on the author's behalf, however, I am not entitled to imitate
her magnanimity; and, therefore, hope that the writer of the pamphlet
will disclaim any purpose of assuming to himself, on the ground of a
slight and superficial performance, the result which she has attained at
the cost of many toils and sacrifices.
And now, at length, after many delays and discouragements, the work
comes forth. It had been the author's original purpose to publish it in
America; for she wished her own country to have the glory of solving
the enigma of those mighty dramas, and thus adding a new and higher
value to the loftiest productions of the English mind. It seemed to her
most fit and desirable, that America--having received so much from
England, and returned so little--should do what remained to be done
towards rendering this great legacy available, as its authors meant it to
be, to all future time. This purpose was frustrated; and it will be seen in
what spirit she acquiesces.
'The author was forced to bring it back, and contribute it to the
literature of the country from which it was derived, and to which it
essentially and inseparably belongs. It was written, every word of it, on

English ground, in the midst of the old familiar scenes and household
names, that even in our nursery songs revive the dear ancestral