The Dominion. MONDAY, AUGUST 25, 1913. SHAKESPEARE IN PARLIAMENT.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1837, 25 August 1913, Page 6

The Dominion. MONDAY, AUGUST 25, 1913. SHAKESPEARE IN PARLIAMENT.

The Shakesperean duel between the Prime Minister and Mr. G. W. Russell during the Budget debate in the House of Representatives affords an excellent illustration of the old saying that Shakespeare was "not of an age, but for all time." His writings have entered into ; the very texture of the English language,' and have moulded the thoughts of the English-speaking peoples as no other writings have, except the sacred Scriptures. So it happens that here in New Zealand, some'three hundred years after his death, our politicians, when they want to confound one another with a telling phraso or a striking characterisation, must go to Shakespeare for it. It would, probably grieve the soul of the poet if he knew of the base uses to which his words are .often put, but his wonderful insight into human nature and the mind of man keeps his works always up to date. Mr. Russell's "little_ list," ■ and Mr. Massey's broadside in reply, show that it would be possible to carry on quite an interesting controversy by means of Shakesperean quotations. The Prime Minister's selections were certainly very apropos, but he might have taken another course, and have turned the tables on his opponent by reminding the' House that

The devil can cite Scripture for his

purpose, An evil soul producing holy witness Is like a villain with a smiling cheek; A goodly apple rotten at the heart. ,

In the course of the debate some of Mr. Allen's friends admitted that he might have put a little more colour and ornamentation into his Budget, and thought he should have devoted a little more attention to political window-dressing; but the Minister might have replied to such comments that the Budgets of theold regime'have proved that Ornament; is but the guiled shore To a most dangerous sea, the beauteous scarf ; Veiling an Indian beauty; in a word The seeming truth which cunning times put on To entrap tho wisest. Therefore, thou gaudy gold, Hard food for Midas, I will none of . thee. One of the dangers of Ministers during debates in Parliament is that they may make themselves rather cheap by allowing themselves to bo too easily drawn by some loud-speak-ing critic; and yet there is the possibility that if such attacks are not answered some people may think that they are unanswerable. Only a very wise politician knows with certainty when to speak and when to hold his peace. Mr. Massey would often have ample justification, after some wild speech by one of his critics, for saying to himself: since he stands obdurate, And no lawful means can carry me Out of his envoy's reach, I do oppose My patience to his posy, and am armed To suffer with a quietness of spirit, The very tyranny and rage of his. Shakespeare also seems to have had tho measure of those politicians who shout loudest when their* case is weakest, who deal in innuendo and insinuation, and put on a great show of outward courage when they know that if they were' to come to grips defeat would overwhelm them. Here is bow he describes them: How many cowards, whoso hearts are all as falso As stairs of sand, wear yet upon their

chins The beards of' Hercules, and frowning

Mars, Who, inward searched, have livers whito ■as milk, And these assume but valours excrement To render them redoubted.

Then there is the member who, when he speaks in Parliament, always has ono eye on the galleries ancl the other on Hansard. This stamp of politician is depicted by Shakespeake as ono That thinks ho hath done well in people's eyes, Hearing applause and universal shout, Giddy jn spirit, still gar.ing, in a doubt Whether those peals of praise be his or no. One wonders whether there were stonewalls in Parliament in the days when Shakespeare wrote. _ Perhaps there were; but if politicians then were like some Parliamentarians of our own. times, they would find it hard to keep up the flow of eloquence without a Hansard staff and newspaper reporters to record their utterances. Still, the _ poet might have had a stonewaller in his mind when he wrote: I speak too long; but 'tis to peize tho time. To eke it, and to draw it out in length, To stay you from election. When it is stated that all of the above quotations are taken from one play, ■The Merchant of Venice, one can imagine what a mine of literary wealth tho works of Shakespeare contain. Almost every phase of the life of man' is touched upon by this master hand, and he provides tho most striking illustration of Shelley's remark that a poet "not only beholds intensely the present as it is, and discovers those laws according to which present things ought to be ordered; but he beholds tho future in the present, but his thoughts are the germs of the flower and fruit of latest time." Shakespeare was not a •party politician; he' dealt not with theories, but men; and human nature is much tho same in every place and time. Thus he is A priest to ns all Of the wonder and bloom of the world.