Chapter XII (3)

"To out-run hasty time, retrieve the fates,
Roll back the heavens, blow ope the iron gates
Of death and Lethe——by art to learn
The physiognomy of shades, and give
Them sudden birth—'and' from 'his' lofty throne,
Create and rule a world, and work upon
Mankind by secret engines,"

was deemed, even by his contemporaries, the peculiar destiny of our bard; a destination that has been still more thoroughly felt and acknowledged by succeeding ages, and by which, without sacrificing any of the more legitimate provinces of the drama, he has acquired for his poetry that stamp of glowing inspiration, which more than places it on a level with the daring flights of Homer, of Dante, or of Milton; while, at the same time, there exclusively belongs to him an insinuating loveliness of fancy that endears him to our feelings, and brings with it a recognition of that visionary happiness which charmed our earliest youth, when all around us breathed enchantment, and the heart alone responded to the fairy melodies of love and hope.

What contrast, for instance, of poetic power has ever exceeded that which we experience in passing from the mysterious horrors of _Hamlet_ and _Macbeth_, from the visitations of the midnight spectre, and the unhallowed rites of witchcraft, to the sportive revelry of the tripping elves, and the exquisite delights of Ariel; from the fiend-like character of Iago, from the soul-harrowing distraction of Lear, and the unearthly wildness of Edgar, to that music of paradise which falls melting from the tongue of Juliet or Miranda!

Were we to lengthen this summary by any dissertation on the _morality_ of our author's drama, it might justly be considered as a work of supererogation. So completely, indeed, does this, the most valuable result of composition, pervade every portion of his dramatic writings, that we can scarcely open a page of his best plays without being forcibly struck by its lessons of virtue and utility; such as are applicable, not only to extraordinary occasions, but to the common business and routine of life; and such as, while they must make every individual better acquainted with his own nature and conditional destiny, are calculated, beyond any other productions of unrevealed wisdom, to improve that nature, and to render that destiny more happy and exalted.

Still less is it necessary to comment on the _faults_ of Shakspeare, for they lie immediately on the surface. When we add, that some coarsenesses and indelicacies which, however, as they excite no passion and flatter no vice, are, in a moral light, not injurious; some instances of an injudicious play on words, and a few violations, not of essential, but merely of technical, costume, form their chief amount, no little surprise, it is possible, may be excited; but let us recollect, that many of the defects which prejudice and ignorance have attributed to Shakspeare, have, on being duly weighed and investigated, assumed the character of positive excellences. Among these, for example, it will be sufficient to mention the composite or mixed nature of his drama, and his general neglect of the unities of time and place, features in the conduct of his plays which, though they have for a long period heaped upon his head a torrent of contemptuous abuse, are, at length, acknowledged to have laid the foundation, and to have furnished the noblest model of a dramatic literature, in its principles and spirit infinitely more profound and comprehensive than that which has descended to us from the shores of Greece.

It was in reference to the narrow and mistaken views which were once entertained of the genius of Shakspeare; it was in refutation of the calumnies of Rymer, and the senseless invective of Voltaire, who had charged us with an extravagant admiration of this _barbarian_, that Mr. Morgan, forty years ago, stood forward the avowed champion, and, we may add, one of the most eloquent defenders which his country has yet produced, of _England's_ calumniated _Bard_.

Speaking of the magic influence which our poet almost invariably exerts over his auditors, he remarks, that "on such an occasion, a fellow, like _Rymer_, waking from his trance, shall lift up his Constable's staff, and charge this great Magician, this daring _practicer of arts inhibited_, in the name of _Aristotle_, to surrender; whilst _Aristotle_ himself, disowning his wretched officer, would fall prostrate at his feet and acknowledge his supremacy.—'O supreme of Dramatic excellence! (_might he say_) not to me be imputed the insolence of fools. The bards of _Greece_ were confined within the narrow circle of the Chorus, and hence they found themselves constrained to practice, for the most part, the precision, and copy the details of nature. I followed them, and knew not that a larger circle might be drawn, and the drama extended to the whole reach of human genius. Convinced, I see that a more compendious _nature_ may be obtained; a nature of _effects_ only, to which neither the relations of place, or continuity of time, are always essential. Nature, condescending to the faculties and apprehensions of man, has drawn through human life a regular chain of visible causes and effects: But Poetry delights in surprize, conceals her steps, seizes at once upon the heart, and obtains the sublime of things without betraying the rounds of her ascent: True Poesy is _magic_, not _nature_; an effect from causes hidden or unknown. To the Magician I prescribed no laws; his law and his power are one; his power is his law.—If his end is obtained, who shall question his course? Means, whether apparent or hidden, are justified in Poesy by success; but then most perfect and most admirable when most concealed.'—

"'Yes,' whatever may be the neglect of some, or the censure of others, there are those, who firmly believe that this wild, this uncultivated Barbarian has not yet obtained one half of his fame; and who trust that some new Stagyrite will arise, who, instead of pecking at the surface of things, will enter into the inward soul of his compositions, and expel, by the force of congenial feelings, those foreign impurities which have stained and disgraced his page. And as to those _spots_ which still remain, they may perhaps become invisible to those who shall seek them thro' the medium of his beauties, instead of looking for those beauties, as is too frequently done, thro' the smoke of some real or imputed obscurity. When the hand of time shall have brushed off his present Editors and Commentators, and when the very name of _Voltaire_, and even the memory of the language in which he has written, shall be no more, the _Apalachian_ mountains, the banks of the _Ohio_, and the plains of _Sciola_ shall resound with the accents of this Barbarian: In his native tongue he shall roll the genuine passions of nature; nor shall the griefs of _Lear_ be alleviated, or the charms and wit of _Rosalind_ be abated by time."[554:A]

Since this eloquently prophetic passage was written, how has the fame of Shakspeare increased! Not only in England has the growth of a more enlightened criticism operated in his favour, but on the continent an enthusiasm for his genius has been kindled, which, we may venture to say, will never be extinguished. In Germany, the efforts of Herder[554:B], of Goethe[554:C], of Tieck[554:D], and, above all, of Augustus William Schlegel, the "_new Stagyrite_," as he may justly be termed, the best critic on, and the best translator, of our author[554:E], have, as it were, naturalised the poet; and if in France the labours of Le Mercier and Ducis have failed to produce a similar effect, yet a taste for Shakspeare in the original has been very powerfully heightened by the nervous and elegant compositions of De Stael.

Nor has Europe alone borne testimony to the progress of his reputation; not twenty years had passed over the glowing predictions of Morgan, when the first transatlantic edition of Shakspeare appeared at Philadelphia[555:A]; nor is it too much to believe that, ere another century elapse, the plains of Northern America, and even the unexplored wilds of Australasia, shall be as familiar with the fictions of our poet, as are now the vallies of his native Avon, or the statelier banks of the Thames.

It is, indeed, a most delightful consideration for every lover and cultivator of our literature, and one which should excite, amongst our authors, an increased spirit of emulation, that the language in which they write, is destined to be that of so large a portion of the new world; a field of glory to which the genius of Shakspeare will assuredly give an imperishable permanency; for the diffusion and durability of his fame are likely to meet with no limit save that which circumscribes the globe, and closes the existence of time.

FOOTNOTES:

[492:A] Reed's Shakspeare, vol. xvi. p. 422.

[494:A] The representation of the character of Coriolanus by Mr. Kemble, which realises the very conception of the poet, and which in spirit, manner, and costume, can scarcely be deemed susceptible of improvement, has rendered this drama very popular in our own day.

[495:A] Winter's Tale, act i. sc. 2.

[495:B] Illustrations, vol. i. p. 347.

[495:C] Osborne's Works, 9th edit. 8vo. 1689, p. 477.

[496:A] History of Great Britain, folio, 1653, p. 12.

[496:B] "I am inclined to think," says Mr. Malone, "that he (Jonson) joined these plays in the same censure, in consequence of their having been produced at no great distance of time from each other."—Reed's Shakspeare, vol. ii. p. 326. note. That this passage was intended, however, as a censure on Shakspeare remains doubtful.

[496:C] Reed's Shakspeare, vol. ii. p. 326.

[497:A] It appears, from Mr. Malone, that the copy of The Winter's Tale, licensed by Sir George Buck, had been lost.—Vide Reed's Shakspeare, vol. ii. p. 326. note.

[498:A] Reed's Shakspeare, vol. ix. p. 209.

[498:B] Illustrations of Shakspeare, vol. i. p. 364.

[498:C] Lectures on Dramatic Literature, vol. ii. p. 181.—That Shakspeare considered the romantic incidents of this play as properly designated by the appellation of _an old tale_, is evident from his own application of the phrase to several parts of the plot. Thus, in the second scene of the fifth act, we find it used in the following passages:—

"How goes it now, sir? this news, which is called true, is so
like _an old tale_."

"_2d Gent._ What, pray you, became of Antigonus, that carried
hence the child?

_3d Gent._ Like _an old tale_ still."

And again, in the next scene:—

"_Paul._ That she is living,
Were it but told, you should be hooted at,
Like _an old tale_."

[499:A] Reed's Shakspeare, vol. ix. p. 362. Act iv. sc. 3.

[499:B] Ibid. vol. ix. p. 343. Act iv. sc. 3.

[500:A] Reed's Shakspeare, vol. ix. pp. 366, 367. Act iv. sc. 3.

[500:B] Winwood's Memoirs, vol. iii. p. 422.

[500:C] Supplemental Apology, pp. 438, 439.

[501:A] Reed's Shakspeare, vol. ii. p. 363.

[502:A] Wilson's Historie of Great Britain, pp. 64, 65.

[502:B] The idea of the witch, says Mr. Steevens, might have been caught from Dionyse Settle's _Reporte of the Last Voyage of Captaine Frobisher_, 12mo. bl. l. 1577. He is speaking of a woman found on one of the islands described:—"The old wretch, whome divers of our Saylers supposed to be a Divell, or a _Witche_, plucked off her buskins, to see if she were clouen footed, and for her ougly hewe and deformitie, we let her goe."—Reed's Shakspeare, vol. iv. p. 33. STEEVENS.

Eden tells us in his History of Travayle, 1577, that "the giantes, when they found themselves fettered, roared like bulls, and cried upon _Setebos_ to help them."—Ibid. vol. iv. p. 43. note by Farmer.

Mr. Douce thinks that the name of Caliban's mother, Sycorax, was probably taken by Shakspeare from the following passage in _Batman uppon Bartholome_, 1582:—"The raven is called _corvus_ of _Corax_ . . . . . . it is said that _ravens birdes_ be fed with _deaw_ of heaven all the time that they have no black _feathers_, by benefite of age." Lib. xii. c. 10.—Illustrations, vol. i. p. 8.

[503:A] Vide Chalmers's Apology, p. 578.

[503:B] Reed's Shakspeare, vol. iv. p. 3.

[504:A] As the passage which we have just quoted from Jourdan's pamphlet is, as Mr. Chalmers confesses, in the first edition of 1610, what necessity was there for referring us, for Shakspeare's obligation, to little more than a second edition of it, under the title of "A Plaine Description," &c.?—Vide Chalmers's Apology, p. 580.

[504:B] Illustrations of Shakspeare, vol. i. pp. 5-7.

[505:A]

"_Alon._ If thou beest Prospero,
Give us particulars of thy preservation:
How thou hast met us here, who _three hours since
Were wreck'd upon this shore_."
Act v. sc. 1. Reed's Shakspeare, vol. iv. pp. 160, 161.

"_Alon._ What is this maid, with whom thou wast at play?
Your eld'st acquaintance cannot be _three hours_."
Act v. p. 163.

[509:A] Discoverie of Witchcraft, edit. of 1584. pp. 467-469.

[509:B] Anatomy of Melancholy, p. 33.

[510:A] Worthies of England, Part II. p. 116.

[511:A] Dibdin's Bibliomania, pp. 313-346. Mr. Dibdin has given us the following account of _Dee's Library_, "as drawn up by our philosopher himself."

"_400 Volumes_—printed and unprinted—bound and unbound—valued at 2000 lib.

"1 Greek, 2 French, and 1 High Dutch, volumes of MSS., alone worth 533 lib. 40 years in getting these books together.

"Appertaining thereto.

"_Sundry rare and exquisitely made Mathematical Instruments._

"_A radius Astronomicus_, ten feet long.

"_A magnet stone, or Load stone_: of great virtue—which was sold out of the library but for v shill. and for it afterwards (yea piece-meal divided) was more than xx lib. given in money and value.

"_A great case or frame of boxes_, wherein some hundreds of very rare evidences of divers Irelandish territories, provinces, and lands, were laid up. Which territories, provinces, and lands, were therein notified to have been in the hands of some of the ancient Irish princes. Then, their submissions and tributes agreed upon, with seals appendant to the little writings thereof in parchment: and after by some of those evidences did it appear, how some of those lands came to the Lascies, the Mortuomars, the Burghs, the Clares, &c.

"_A Box of Evidences_ antient of some Welch princes and noblemen—the like of Norman donation—their peculiar titles noted on the forepart with chalk only, which on the poor boxes remaineth. This box, with another containing similar deedes, were embezzled.

"_One great bladder_ with about 4 pound weight, of a very sweetish thing, like a brownish gum in it, artificially prepared by thirty times purifying of it, hath more, than I could well afford him for 100 crownes; as may be proved by witnesses yet living.

"To these he adds his three _Laboratories_, 'serving for Pyrotechnia,' —which he got together after twenty years labor. 'All which furniture and provision, and many things already prepared, is unduly made away from me by sundry meanes, and a few spoiled or broken vessels remain, hardly worth 40 shillings.' But one feature more in poor Dee's character—and that is, his unparalleled serenity and good nature under the most griping misfortunes—remains to be described: and then we may take farewel of him with aching hearts.

"In the 10th chapter, speaking of the wretched poverty of himself and family ('having not one penny of certain fee, revenue, stipend, or pension, either left him or restored unto him')—Dee says that 'he has been constrained now and then to send parcels of his little furniture of plate to pawn upon usury; and that did he so oft till no more could be sent. After the same manner went his wive's jewels of gold, rings, bracelets, chains, and other their rarities, under the thraldom of the usurer's gripes: 'till _non plus_ was written upon the boxes at home.'

"In the 11th chapter, he anticipates the dreadful lot of being brought 'to the stepping out of doors (his house being sold). He, and his, with bottles and wallets furnished, to become wanderers as homish vagabonds; or, as banished men, to forsake the kingdom!' Againe: 'with bloody tears of heart, he, and his wife, their seven children, and their servants, (seventeen of them in all) did that day make their petition unto their honors,' &c. Can human misery be sharper than this—and to be the lot of a philosopher and bibliomaniac? But VENIET FELICIUS ÆVUM."—Bibliomania, pp. 347-349.

[512:A] "In his edition of _John Confrat. Monach. de. rebus. gestis Glaston._, vol. ii., where twelve chapters (from whence the above note is partly taken) are devoted to the subject of our philosopher's travels and hardships." Bibliomania, p. 343. note.

[513:A] Vide Theatrum Chemicum, p. 481.

[513:B] Worthies of England, Pt. III. pp. 172, 173.

[514:A] Vide Weaver's Funeral Monuments, p. 45., and Wood's Athenæ Oxon. vol. i. col. 279.

[514:B] In what estimation Kelly was held in 1662, is evident from the opinion of Fuller, who closes his account of this daring impostor with the following sentence:—"If his pride and prodigality were severed from him, he would remain a person, on other accounts, for his industry and experience in practical Philosophy, worthy recommendation to posterity." Worthies, p. 174.

That Shakspeare was exempt from the astrological mania of his age, we learn from his fourteenth sonnet, where he tells us,—

"Not from the stars do I my judgment pluck;
And yet methinks I have astronomy,
But not to tell of good, or evil luck,
Of plagues, of dearths, or season's quality:
Nor can I fortune to brief minutes tell,
Pointing to each his thunder, rain, and wind;
Or say with princes if it shall go well,
By oft predict that I in heaven find."

[515:A] Discoverie of Witchcraft, book xv. chap. 42. p. 466.

[516:A] Discoverie of Witchcraft, p. 415.

[516:B] Reed's Shakspeare, vol. iv. p. 53. Act i. sc. 2.

[516:C] Ibid. p. 152. Act v. sc. 1.

[517:A] Discoverie of Witchcraft, p. 451.

[517:B] Reed's Shakspeare, vol. iv. p. 100. Act iii. sc. 1.

[517:C] Ibid. p. 152.

[517:D] Ibid. vol. iv. p. 106. Act iii. sc. 2.

[517:E] Ibid. p. 134. Act iv. sc. 1.

[518:A] Reed's Shakspeare, vol. iv. p. 148. 167.

[520:A] Discoverie of Witchcraft, pp. 401, 402. 404-407.

[520:B] "Go," says Prospero, addressing Ariel,

———————————— "Go, bring the rabble,
_O'er whom I give thee power_, here, to this place."
Act iv. sc. 1.

[521:A] "Batman uppon Bartholome, His Booke, _De Proprietatibus Rerum_," &c. folio, 1582, p. 168. col. 4.—He tells us, however, in another place, that "in the region of the sunne, the spirits of the sunne are of more force than the rest. In the region of the moone, those spirites of the moone, and so of the residue." P. 170. col. 4.

[522:A] Batman uppon Bartholome, p. 84. col. 3, 4.

[522:B] Reed's Shakspeare, vol. iv. p. 28. Act i. sc. 2.

[523:A] Reed's Shakspeare, vol. iv. pp. 43-46. Act i. sc. 2.—This song has been admirably imitated by Kirke White in the opening of his fine fragment, entitled "The Dance of the Consumptives."—Vol. i. p. 295. 1st edit.

[524:A] Reed's Shakspeare, vol. iv. p. 81. Act ii. sc. 2.

[524:B] Ibid. p. 147. Act iv. sc. 1.

[524:C] Ibid. p. 134. Act iv. sc. 1.

[524:D] Ibid. p. 109. Act iii. sc. 2.

[525:A] Reed's Shakspeare, vol. iv. p. 154. Act v. sc. 1.

[525:B] Ibid. pp. 38, 39. Act i. sc. 2.

[525:C] Ibid. p. 151. Act v. sc. 1.

[525:D] Ibid. vol. xviii. pp. 24, 25. Act i. sc. 1.

[526:A] Reed's Shakspeare, vol. xvii. p. 471. Act iii. sc. 4.

[526:B] Ibid. vol. iv. pp. 151, 152. Act v. sc. 1.

[527:A] Discoverie of Witchcraft, p. 377.

[527:B] Vide Reed's Shakspeare, vol. xix. p. 414. and note.

[527:C] Reed's Shakspeare, vol. xix. p. 415. and vol. ii. p. 359.

[528:A] Illustrations of Shakspeare, vol. ii. p. 270.

[528:B] Supplemental Apology, p. 460.

[528:C] Reed's Shakspeare, vol. ii. p. 359.

[528:D] Supplemental Apology, p. 459.

[528:E] Ibid. p. 162.

[528:F] Ibid. p. 459.

[529:A] History of Fiction, 1st edit. vol. ii. p. 365.

[530:A] Reed's Shakspeare, vol. xix. pp. 528, 529.

[530:B] Reynolds's Works apud Malone, vol. i. p. 129., and vol. iii. p. 173., where this

"Unrivall'd sovereign of the realms of grace"

is characterized in a most masterly manner.

[531:A] Vide Reed's Shakspeare, vol. ii. p. 366.

[532:A] Reed's Shakspeare, vol. v. p. 373. Act iii. sc. 4.

[532:B] Ibid. vol. v. p. 374.

[532:C] Chalmers's Supplemental Apology, p. 442.

[532:D] Reed's Shakspeare, vol. v. p. 374. note.

[533:A] Howe's Chronicle, 1004, under the year 1613.

[533:B] It was printed by Barker, the King's Printer, the same year.

[533:C] Supplemental Apology, pp. 443, 444.

[533:D] Reed's Shakspeare, vol. v. p. 334. Act ii. sc. 5.

[533:E] Ibid. vol. v. p. 372. Act iii. sc. 4.

[533:F] Supplemental Apology, pp. 444, 445.

[534:A] Reed's Shakspeare, vol. v. p. 306. Act ii. sc. 4.

[535:A] Of these, _twenty_ were published in 4to., (including _Pericles_, and omitting _Titus Andronicus_,) and the rest in the first folio, 1623. On this, the earliest complete collection of our author's plays, Mr. Steevens has given us, with the wit and humour which so peculiarly distinguished him, the following interesting _jeu d'esprit_:—

"Of all volumes, those of popular entertainment are soonest injured. It would be difficult to name four folios that are oftener found in dirty and mutilated condition, than this first assemblage of Shakspeare's plays—God's Revenge against Murder—The Gentleman's Recreation—and Johnson's Lives of the Highwaymen.

"Though Shakspeare was not, like Fox the Martyrologist, deposited in churches, to be thumbed by the congregation, he generally took post on our hall tables; and that a multitude of his pages have 'their effect of gravy,' may be imputed to the various eatables set out every morning on the same boards. It should seem that most of his readers were so chary of their time, that (like Pistol, who gnaws his leek and swears all the while,) they fed and studied at the same instant. I have repeatedly met with thin flakes of pie-crust between the leaves of our author. These unctuous fragments, remaining long in close confinement, communicated their grease to several pages deep on each side of them.—It is easy enough to conceive how such accidents might happen;—how aunt Bridget's mastication might be disordered at the sudden entry of the Ghost into the Queen's closet, and how the half-chewed morsel dropped out of the gaping Squire's mouth, when the visionary Banquo seated himself in the chair of Macbeth. Still, it is no small eulogium on Shakspeare, that his claims were more forcible than those of hunger.—Most of the first folios now extant, are known to have belonged to ancient families resident in the country.

"Since our breakfasts have become less gross, our favourite authors have escaped with fewer injuries; not that (as a very nice friend of mine observes) those who read with a coffee-cup in their hands, are to be numbered among the contributors to bibliothecal purity.

"I claim the merit of being the first commentator on Shakspeare who strove, with becoming seriousness, to account for the frequent stains that disgrace the earliest folio edition of his plays, which is now become the most expensive single book in our language; for, what other English volume without plates, and printed since the year 1600, is known to have sold, more than once, for thirty-five pounds fourteen shillings?"—Reed's Shakspeare, vol. ii. pp. 146, 147.

Since this note was written, a copy of the first folio has produced the enormous price of ONE HUNDRED POUNDS. See Roxburghe Catalogue, p. 112. No. 3786.

[536:A] Vide Reed's Shakspeare, vol. xxi. pp. 4, 5, 6.

[536:B] Reed's Shakspeare, vol. iii. p. 390, 391.

[537:A] See Gentleman's Magazine, vol. lxxxv. p. 219., and Reed's Shakspeare, vol. ii. pp. 154, 155.

[537:B] Reed's Shakspeare, vol. ii. p. 154. note.

[537:C] Ibid. p. 129.

[537:D] Capell's School of Shakspeare, vol. iii. p. 479. See also Gifford's Ben Jonson, vol. i. p. lxx.

[537:E] Gentleman's Magazine, vol. lxxxv. p. 219.

[537:F] On the authority of the title of the first quarto, printed in 1634, eighteen years after the death of Shakspeare.

[538:A] For proof of this, see Gifford's Jonson, vol. i. p. lxx. note.

[538:B] See Gent. Magazine, vol. lxxxv. p. 219., and Biographia Dramatica, 1782, vol. i. p. 118. article _Davenport_.

[538:C] Colman's Beaumont and Fletcher, vol. i. p. 118., and Reed's Shakspeare, vol. xxi. p. 401. et seq.

[538:D] "_The Two Noble Kinsmen_," observes Steevens, "could not have been composed till after 1611, nor perhaps antecedent to the deaths of Beaumont and our author, when assistance and competition ceased, and the poet, who resembled the latter most, had the fairest prospect of success. During the life of Beaumont, which concluded in 1615, it cannot well be supposed that Fletcher would have deserted him, to write in concert with any other dramatist. Shakspeare survived Beaumont only by one year, and, during that time, is known to have lived in Warwickshire, beyond the reach of Fletcher, who continued to reside in London till he fell a sacrifice to the plague in 1625."—Reed's Shakspeare, vol. xxi. p. 407.

[540:A] Lectures on Dramatic Literature, vol. i. pp. 15, 16.

[542:A] Pye's Aristotle, 4to. 1792, p. 22.

[545:A] This expression, and the verses which open some of the leading subjects of this summary, are taken from a poem "On worthy Master Shakspeare," supposed to have been the composition of Jasper Mayne, but which Mr. Godwin, if we recollect aright, for the book is not before us, is desirous of attributing, on account of its singular excellence, to the pen of Milton.—See his Lives of E. and J. Philips, 4to.

[547:A] "The Influence of Literature upon Society," by Madame De Stael-Holstein, vol. i. p. 294. Translation, 2d. edit. 1812.

[548:A] "The Influence of Literature upon Society," by Madame De Stael-Holstein, vol. i. p. 305. Translation, 2d edit. 1812.

[548:B] Of the soothing and delightful effect of this _contrasted repose_, Homer, more than any other writer, affords us abundant examples; perpetually introducing, in the midst of slaughter and contention, similes fraught with pathetic incident or picturesque description. One of these, for the purpose of being followed by an imitation which, in my opinion, greatly transcends the original, I shall now transcribe. The Grecian bard, after mentioning the fall of Simoisius, slain by Ajax, in the bloom of youth and beauty, thus proceeds:—

"——————————— Him, what time she went
From Ida, with her parents to attend
Their flocks on Simois' side, his mother bore,
And thence they named him. But his days were few,
Too few to recompense the care that rear'd
His comely growth; for Ajax, mighty Chief,
Received him on his pointed spear, and, pierced
Through breast and shoulder, in the dust he fell.
So, nourish'd long in some well-water'd spot,
Crown'd with green boughs, the smooth-skinn'd poplar falls,
Doom'd by the builder to supply with wheels
Some splendid chariot, on the bank it lies,
A lifeless trunk, to parch in summer airs."
Cowper, Iliad IV.

Tender and beautiful as this must be deemed, greatly am I mistaken, if the following lines be not preferred. They are taken from an _unpublished_ poem, entitled _Alfred_, the composition of Mr. _John Fitchett_ of Warrington, whom I have the pleasure of personally knowing, and who, I trust, will pardon the liberty thus assumed, of endeavouring to accelerate the publication of his work, by the production of one of its numerous beauties. Alfred consists of twenty books, ten of which, in a printed form, lie now before me. In the eighth book, Berthun, a brave and youthful thane, is slain by the pagan Amund:—

"—————————— Down the hero fell,
Riv'n through the brain. Sleep overcast his eyes.
Full many a tear his early fate shall mourn
Where on the woody side of Axham's vale
His pleasant dwelling stands. In vain shall look
At dawn or eve his tender wife to hail
His glad return, but hopeless to her heart
Press his fair image in her smiling babe.
He fell, as by some murm'ring riv'let's side
The tow'ring poplar, whose broad branches shade
A rural cottage, guardian of its peace,
Sinks crashing, and uptears the flow'ry bank,
Whelm'd by the tempest; the defenceless cot
Howls to the moaning wind: the birds behold
Their nests, their young, in ruin lost: the brook
Rolls o'er the tree whose image long it loved."

[550:A] Douce's Illustrations of Shakspeare, vol. ii. p. 327.

[550:B] Of court-fools, it is observed by Mr. Douce, that "Muckle John, the fool of Charles the First, and the successor of Archee Armstrong, is perhaps the last regular personage of the kind."—Illustrations, vol. ii. p. 308.

We also find an epitaph by Dean Swift, on Dicky Pierce, the Earl of Suffolk's fool, who was buried in Berkeley church-yard, June 18. 1728, in the same ingenious essay. Vide Dissertation on the Clowns and Fools of Shakspeare,—Illustrations, vol. ii. p. 309.

[554:A] Essay on the Dramatic Character of Falstaff, pp. 69, 70, 71. and 64, 65.

[554:B] In his _Blättern von deutscher Art und Kunst_.

[554:C] In his _Wilhelm Meister_.

[554:D] _Poetisches Journal_, 1800.

[554:E] For just and discriminative characters of Schlegel and his writings, see the Germany of Madame De Stael, and the Monthly and Edinburgh Reviews.

[555:A] In the year 1795. Printed and sold by Bioren and Madan.—Vide Reed's Shakspeare, vol. ii. p. 149.