122. It is impossible here to do more than indicate some of the
evidence that this supposition is correct, for to attempt to investigate
the question exhaustively would involve the minute consideration of a
majority of the plays. The period of Shakspere's customary or
conventional belief is illustrated in "A Midsummer Night's Dream," and
to a certain extent also in the "Comedy of Errors." In the former play
we find him loyally accepting certain phases of the hereditary Stratford
belief in supernaturalism, throwing them into poetical form, and making
them beautiful. It has often before been observed, and it is well worthy
of observation, that of the three groups of characters in the play, the
country folk--a class whose manner and appearance had most vividly
reflected themselves upon the camera of Shakspere's mind--are by far the
most lifelike and distinct; the fairies, who had been the companions of
his childhood and youth in countless talks in the ingle and ballads in
the lanes, come second in prominence and finish; whilst the ostensible
heroes and heroines of the piece, the aristocrats of Athens, are
colourless and uninteresting as a dumb-show--the real shadows of the
play. This is exactly the ratio of impressionability that the three
classes would have for the mind of the youthful dramatist. The first is
a creation from life, the second from traditionary belief, the third
from hearsay.
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