Shakspere! poet great, unique! Thou feaster and instructer of the mind! Immortal poet! Thine equal has ne'er been! 'Tis enough for a thousand years To produce thy compeer! Like an evergreen, The emanations of thy genius ever please, Inform, profit, amaze, and fascinate, As if they were new-born! And they will live And, like the baseless fabric of a vision, PART II. DRAMATIC READINGS. 27 THE USES OF ADVERSITY. FROM AS YOU LIKE IT.' Now, my co-mates, and brothers in exile, Which, like the toad, ugly and venomous, Wears yet a precious jewel in his head; And this our life, exempt from public haunt, The above address exhibits vigorous thought, and remarkable expression. It is highly characteristic of Shakspere, and is the commencement of a number of unrivalled quotations. It may be remarked that our poet teaches the same lesson elsewhere. Briefly, but not inelegantly, he says, "In struggling with misfortune lies the proof of virtue." We pity those who find no beauty in such extracts, and hope that the time will come when taste and education will become more refined, and produce a delicacy of feeling, which now is only experienced by the minority. ADVERSITY THE TRIAL OF MAN. FROM 6 TROILUS AND CRESSIDA.' Why then, you princes, Do you with cheeks abash'd behold our works, else But the protractive trials of great Jove To find persistive constancy in men: The fineness of which metal is not found In fortune's love; for then the bold and coward, The wise and fool, the artist and unread, The hard and soft, seem all affined and kin: |