Welsh Journals

one of the most lovable of Shakespeare's humor- ous characters. Again, because (to quote George Saintsburyf) of "the half-patronising, half-apol- ogetic tone adopted towards 'Merry Wives' as a farce" any character in the play is considered slight and not worth the consideration given to the people of the more generally lauded plays. In truth, in this play (to quote Saintsbury again) "Everybody is alive and everything is vividly ill- uminated-not with the extra-natural, if not non- natural Congreve rockets but with a lambent easy light of air. Sir Hugh Evans must have been meant as a brother in dramatic arms to Fluellen, and it is difficult to prefer Roland to Oliver, or vice versa." The condescending attitude to the play is quite indefensible and one can be grateful that Shakespeare bestowed on a Welshman per- haps the most delightful part in a delightful play. Sir Hugh is a country parson and has the easy, tolerant ways of the typical country parson of all ages. He is simple minded, but is nevertheless no simpleton, although his catechism of William Page leaves one in doubt as to who is the fool, the pupil or the teacher. Thus Eva: What is "lapis" William? Will: A stone. Eva And what is a "stone" William? Will: A pebble. Eva No, it is "lapis"; I pray you remember in your pain. The duel between Sir Hugh and Dr. Caius, the vociferous French physician, when seen on the stage is one of the most effective of Shakespeare's comic scenes. Sir Hugh is at once brave and afraid, "full of cholers and trembling of mind" as well as bloodthirsty threats. But he, like Fluellen in a similar situation is very soon recon- ciled. And so Sir Hugh goes his way through the play always kindly and amusing, the friend of goodly burgesses and of romantic couples, the leader of the "fairies" that so successfully gull t Cambridge History of English Literature. Vol. V, Chapter VIII. Falstaff. Shakespeare has given to Sir Hugh a warmth and humanity, which, allied to delightful idiosyncrasies of habit and of speech, render an impression of intimacy that is entirely pleasing. Such touches as "I pray you be gone," "I will make an end of my dinner," "there's pippins and cheese to come," are all his own, and make him a vivid and personal figure. In short, to quote Hazlitt, "The Welsh parson, Sir Hugh Evans is an excellent character in all respects." He is truly Welsh, not only in his speech but in his manner also. He has not the high eloquence of Glendower; his good-natured tolerance is more akin to the nature of Fluellen. These, then, are Shakespeare's Welsh charac- ters and, bearing in mind the limitations of any "national character," one may justifiably say that the treatment is convincing. No people is without blemish and Shakespeare has shown very clearly the dangers of hot-headed enthusiasm and an ex- cessively imaginative temperament as evidenced in Owen Glendower. But Shakespeare was too human in his sympathies ever to portray the monstrous characters some Welsh novelists would have us believe to be typically Welsh. If Glen- dower is rash and emotional, he has the compen- satory qualities of generosity and valour. So, too, the other characters. They are not all-good or all-evil-they are human. Generalisation, it has been said, is impossible, but one may crave the indulgence to conclude that the characters Shakespeare has depicted are, in the truest sense Welsh. Mr. Chesterton has written! that Chaucer's pilgrims could be trans- planted into modern England and yet seem fresh and real. The Knight would be a retired Indian colonel, the Poor Parson a slum priest and so on through the whole company. In the same way one feels that Glendower, Fluellen and Sir Hugh might be modern Welshmen, so truly are they drawn and so unchanging are the fundamentals of human character. t Chaucer by G. K. Chesterton, London, 1932. SUMMER IN golden heat still summer lies, The earth has long her cradle been The flowers look up with staring eyes The fruit hangs heavy on the trees And the hot grass is browny-green. The swallows turn in azure skies And sunlight where the brook has been Is glittering on naked stones: Clear and serene the blue hills rise, And man moves slowly in the fields, Preparing winter's heritage. September 1933. MARGARET Evans.