Some critics
are never weary of exclaiming that Shakspere's genius was so vast and
uncontrollable that it must not be tested, or expected to be found
conformable to the rules of art that limit ordinary mortals; that there
are many discrepancies and errors in his plays that are to be condoned
upon that account; in fact, that he was a very careless and slovenly
workman. A favourite instance of this is taken from "Hamlet," where
Shakspere actually makes the chief character of the play talk of death
as "the bourne from whence no traveller returns" not long after he has
been engaged in a prolonged conversation with such a returned traveller.
Now, no artist, however distinguished or however transcendent his
genius, is to be pardoned for insincere workmanship, and the greater the
man, the less his excuse. Errors arising from want of information (and
Shakspere commits these often) may be pardoned if the means for
correcting them be unattainable; but errors arising from mere
carelessness are not to be pardoned. Further, in many of these cases of
supposed contradiction there is an element of carelessness indeed; but
it lies at the door of the critic, not of the author; and this appears
to be true in the present instance. The dilemma, as it presented itself
to the contemporary mind, must be carefully kept in view. Either the
spirits of the departed could revisit this world, or they could not.
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