Fourteen
was the number of different plays by Shakespeare which Pepys saw
during these forty-one visits. Very few caused him genuine pleasure.
At least three he condemns, without any qualification, as "tedious,"
or "silly." In the case of others, while he ignored the literary
merit, he enjoyed the scenery and music with which, in accordance with
current fashion, the dramatic poetry was overlaid. In only two cases,
in the case of two tragedies--_Othello_ and _Hamlet_--does he show at
any time a true appreciation of the dramatic quality, and in the case
of _Othello_ he came in course of years to abandon his good opinion.
Pepys's moderate praise and immoderate blame of Shakespeare are only
superficially puzzling. The ultimate solution is not difficult.
Despite his love of music and his zeal as a collector, Pepys was the
most matter-of-fact of men; he was essentially a man of business. Not
that he had any distaste for timely recreation; he was, indeed,
readily susceptible to every manner of commonplace pleasures--to all
the delights of both mind and sense which appeal to the practical and
hard-headed type of Englishman. Things of the imagination, on the
other hand, stood with him on a different footing.
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