' Jonson may have
looked upon _Hamlet_ in this manner from his point of view.
It is for us to admire the prophetical spirit of Shakspere who
in Montaigne perceived the germ of the helplessly divided nature
of modern man.
25: 'Or his great oath, by _Quarter_.' No doubt, this is an
allusion of Jonson to Shakspere's 'quarter share,' the fourth
part of the receipts of his company. The Blackfriars Theatre had
sixteen shareholders. It is proved that Shakspere at that time,
when a valuation of the theatre was made, had a claim to four
parts, each of L233 6s. 8d. (Chr. Armitage Brown, _Shak.
Autobiographical Poems_, London, 1838, p. 101). In _The
Poetaster_ (act iii. sc. i), Tucca says to Crispinus the
Poetaster:--'Thou shall have a quarter share.' In Epistle xii.
(_Forest_), which Jonson addresses to Elizabeth, Countess
of Rutland, and which, in our opinion, also contains an allusion
to Shakspere, as well as to his protector, William Herbert, Ben
speaks of poets with 'their quarter face.'
26: Shakspere often introduced music in his dramas. Jonson ridicules
this; so did Marston, as we shall see. (_Twelfth Night_, for instance,
opens with music.)
27: 'His golden thigh.' The shape of the legs, the 'yellow cross-gartered
stockings' of poor Malvolio in _Twelfth Night_ are here ridiculed.
28: Malvolio says to his friends:--'I am not of your element.
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