That the goddess whom Bertram worships does not whisper in his ear the unfathomable baseness of this “lump of counterfeit ore,” is a piece of dramatic retribution at once natural and just.  Far as the joke is pushed upon Parolles, we never feel like crying out, Hold, enough! for, “that he should know what he is, and be that he is,” seems an offence for which infinite shames were hardly a sufficient indemnification.  And we know right well that such a hollow, flaunting, strutting roll of effrontery and poltroonery cannot possibly have soul enough to be inwardly hurt by the utmost pressure of disgrace and scorn.  And yet, strange as it may seem, Parolles represents a class of actual men; how truly, is well shown in that the delineation, in its main features, but especially as of “one that lies three thirds, and uses a known truth to pass a thousand nothings with,” might almost be mistaken for a portrait of a very noted character of our time,—­a man too—­which is strangest of all—­whose success with the voters has even beaten that of his dramatic prototype with Bertram.

* * * * *

Verplanck thinks, as he well may, that the Poet’s special purpose in this play was to set forth the precedence of innate over circumstantial distinctions.  Gervinus also takes the same view:  “The idea that merit goes before rank is the soul of this piece and of the relation between Bertram and Helena.”  And this high moral centre is not only pronounced strongly in verbal discourse, but, which is still better, is silently placed in the characters themselves and in the facts of the play.  Yet observe with what a catholic spirit the Poet teaches this great lesson; frankly recognizing the noble man in the nobleman, and telling us, in effect, that none know so well how to prize the nobilities of nature as those who, like the King and the Countess of this play, have experienced the nothingness of all other claims.  To be sure, their generous superiority to adventitious distinctions is partly because of a certain regenerative efficacy flowing from the heroine:  pride of birth is sweetly rebuked in her presence; a subtile inspiration from her seems to steal away whatever prejudice of rank they may have, and to cheat them into full sympathy with truth and virtue; and, with the exception of Bertram and the bescarfed coxcomb that spaniels him, all from the King downwards are won to the free worship of untitled merit directly they begin to converse with this meek and modest incarnation of Nature’s eloquence.

MEASURE FOR MEASURE.

Measure for Measure, in its vein of thought and complexion of character, is the deepest of Shakespeare’s comedies,—­deeper even than some of his tragedies.  The foundation principles of ethics are here explored far as the plummet of thought can sound; the subtleties and intricacies of the human heart are searched with an insight which the sharpest and most inquisitive criticism may strive in vain to follow.  The mind almost loses itself in attempting to trace out through their course the various and complicated lines of reflection here suggested.