Chapter II: Section IX: Characteristics of Shakespeare's Genius

INDEX

This picture shows the eminent French critic as he appeared thirty years ago. At that period his fame as a literary savant was spreading to the four quarters of the world, and he was lecturing daily to the crowds of students who had flocked to Paris to study literature under his guidance. In personal appearance he was unlike the traditional scholar, but resembled, in his quick, nervous energy and plain business-like ways, a keen-witted man of affairs. He was simple in dress, as the picture shows, and it is a noteworthy fact that the honors he received never caused him to lose his self-poise, or to cease his severe studies, which he carried on with diligence to the very day of his death. His face denotes the cool, critical, and well-balanced scholar, with the initiative to enter new fields of thought, and the will-power to impress his opinions upon others.]

ILLUSTRATIONS

SHAKESPEARE BEFORE SIR THOMAS LUCY Photogravure from the original painting

ADOLPHE HIPPOLYTE TAINE Photogravure from an engraving

GEOFFREY CHAUCER Photogravure from an old engraving

THE NEW PSALTER OF THE VIRGIN MARY Fac-simile example of Printing and Engraving in the Fifteenth Century

TITLE-PAGE OF THE HYPNEROTOMACHIA Fac-simile example of Printing and Engraving in the Sixteenth Century

HISTORY OF ENGLISH LITERATURE