... Such were the sentiments of the Grand
Duke of Reisenberg on this subject, a subject interesting to
Englishmen; and I confess I think they are worthy of attention. In
accordance with his opinion, the actor who performed Othello appeared
in the full dress of a Venetian magnifico of the Middle Ages: a fit
companion for Cornaro, or Grimani, or Barberigo, or Foscari."
CHAPTER XXXIV.
HARLEQUIN AND CO.
What is called the "legitimate drama" has always found in pantomime
just such a rival and a relative as Gloucester's lawfully-begotten son
Edgar was troubled with in the person of his base-born brother Edmund.
The authentic professor of histrionic art may even have been addressed
occasionally by his illicit opponent in something like Edmund's very
words:
Why bastard? wherefore base?
When my dimensions are as well compact,
My mind as generous and my shape as true,
As honest madam's issue? Why brand they us
With base? with baseness? with bastardy? base, base?
Legitimate Edgar, I must have your land;
Our father's love is to the bastard Edmund
As to the legitimate: fine word "legitimate.
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