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- APPENDIX
Comments on Some of the Characters
Charles Cowden-Clarke (whose Shakespeare Characters, pub-
lished in 1863, is out of print and not to be found in many of the
libraries), after referring (see p. 19 above) to the " purely English "
character of the play, remarks : —
"The dramatis persona, too, perfectly harmonize, and are in
strict keeping with the scene. They are redolent of health and
good-humour — that moral and physical sunshine.
" There are the two * Merry Wives ' themselves. "What a picture
we have of buxom, laughing, ripe beauty ! ready for any frolic
'that may not sully the chariness of their honesty.' . . . Then,
there is Page, the very personification of hearty English hospitality.
You feel the tight grasp of his hand, and see the honest sparkle of
his eye, as he leads in the wranglers with, * Come, gentlemen, I
hope we shall drink down all unkindness.* If I were required to
point to the portrait of a genuine, indigenous Englishman, through-
out the whole of the works of Shakespeare, Page would be the
man. Every thought of his heart, every motion of his body, appears
to be the result of pure instinct ; he has nothing exotic or artificial
about him. He possesses strong yeoman sense, an unmistakable
speech, a trusting nature, and a fearless deportment ; and these are
the characteristics of a true Englishman. He is to be gulled — no
man more so ; and he is gulled every day in the year — no proof,
you will say, of his * strong yeoman sense ; ' but an Englishman is
quite as frequently gulled with his eyes open as when they are hood-
winked. He has a conceit in being indifferent to chicanery. He
confides in his own strength when it behooves hira to exert it ; and
then he abates the nuisance. . . .
MERRY WIVES — I4 2O9
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