While, as we view thy varied scene,
With kindred forms our fancies teem;
Till all without begins to fade,

Like summer clouds in ev’ning shade;
And bright before our wond'ring eyes.

We mark THE VIVID PICTURE rise * !

The following familiar enumeration of the serious and grotesque characters occurring in the plays of SHAKSPEARE, is curious, and may be new to the generality of my readers. I met with it many years ago at Edinburgh, in a periodical publication published there by Dr. Anderson, under the title of the Bee. The work has become very scarce, and I procured a copy of it with difficulty. The lines, though anonymous, are evidently penned by a true lover of SHAKSPEARE, and an adept in his writings. To the young reader the delineation will possess the recommendation of novelty:

Whoe'er attempts like SHAKSPEARE to compose,
Shall certainly his time and labour lose;
Like those unwary fops, who once we know
Essay'd to bend their absent monarch's bow.
This MIGHTY POET every key can hit,
Rise in the hero, rally in the wit;
Each various particle of MAN has read,
From the proud palace to the peaceful shed:
And still the passing scene supports so well,

You think 'tis there his talent must excel!
When the wrong'd Moor invokes his murder'd wife,
When doughty Falstaff runs to save his life;

* See The Recluse of the Pyrenees, in Two Cantos; a pleasing poem, inscribed to his Royal Highness PRINCE LEOPOLD: and bearing some allusions to a late melancholy event.

When honest Brutus pleads the cause of Rome,
And midnight hags foretel Macbeth his doom;
When lively Benedict at marriage sneers,
And poor Ophelia fills your eye with tears;
When simple Timon finds himself too fond,
And Shylock claims the forfeit of his bond;
When moralizing JAQUES sends forth a sigh,
And gay Mercurio lets his sallies fly;
Desdemona recites her virgin vows,

And arch Petruchio tames his rampant spouse;
When bloody Richard trembles at his dreams,
And Wolsey reads the wreck of all his schemes;
When John would hint what Hubert should perform,
And houseless Lear raves amidst the storm;
In what a blaze of eloquence he shines!
How Reason opens, how the heart refines!
When Antony, with more than magic skill,
Compels the mob to weep o'er CÆSAR's will;
When the proud Welshman by his ally crost,
Of spells and prodigies pretends to boast;
The sword of Douglas vindicates his name,
And dying Warwick points the path to fame!
In every page we never fail to find

Inimitable pictures of mankind

When Quickly's rambling tongue attempts to say
How false Sir John had fix'd their wedding day;
When the Old Ruffian in a strumpet's arms
On vice and folly squanders all his charms;
When Poins, and Harry, are compell'd to hear
What puppies in his judgment they appear;
When Hal's attack the bold dissembler turns,
And virtuous Tearsheet her plump pigeon spurns;
Parolles braves the lash of public scorn,
And frantic Ford holds up the fancied horn;
From Hotspur, Troilus, Hamlet, Romeo, down
To the dull Justice, to the gibing Clown;
From the stern VICTOR at the Volscian gate,
To Grumio's antics, and Malvolio's prate;

What varied features does his pencil yield!
Puns in the bagnio, thunders o'er the field.
What brilliant tints of character combine!
How loudly NATURE speaks in every line!
When Ajax murmurs, Thersites reviles,
Grave Henry lectures, frank Menenius smiles;
When Isabel kneels, pert Lucio lies,
And sad Constantia for her Arthur cries;
When Bottom sponts, and Buckingham displays
Th' Usurper's birthright in a peal of praise;
The blunt abruptness of the hardy Greek,

The shrew'd Poltroon, with blows compell'd to speak;
The Monarch cheerful till his reign began,

The forward, gay, facetious, good Old Man;

The modest, eloquent, unhappy Maid,

The pleasing Coxcomb by his chat betray'd;

The Blockhead's ignorance, the Mother's pangs,

The Monk's chill comfort, the State-quack's harangues!
ALL in successive vision seem to rise,

Each chaste original arrests our eyes;

A burst so splendid dazzles human thought,
And in his phantoms, SHAKSPEARE is forgot!
Down Fancy's torrent vanquish'd Reason glides,
Grief melts our bosoms, Laughter aches our sides!
While Pathos, Truth, Propriety, and Art,
Strike blank amazement thro' the coldest heart!
What centuries of rhyming shall have roll'd,
What crowds of Rowes, and Congreves, Fate unfold,
A SECOND SHAKSPEARE e'er the world behold?

The literary colossus, Dr. Samuel Johnson, wrote a prologue on the revival of some of the plays of SHAKSPEARE, in which occur the subsequent lines; pregnant with the fire of genius, and vividly descriptive of his subject:

When Learning's triumph o'er her barbarous foes
First rear'd the Stage, IMMORTAL SHAKSPEARE rose;

Each change of many-coloured life he drew,
Exhausted worlds, and then imagin'd new!
Existence saw him spurn her bounded reign,
And PANTING TIME toil'd after him in vain!
His powerful strokes presiding Truth confess'd,
And unresisted Passion storm'd the breast!

The inventive faculty of the Poet is here masterly pourtrayed. It is this supereminent trait that pervades all his writings; striking the minds of his contemporaries, and kindling a spirit of admiration in the breasts of posterity.

Nor must I forget to notice the monument of SHAKSPEARE, and the commemorative Jubilee held under the auspices of Garrick, at Stratford

In the year 1740, a monument was erected to the memory of SHAKSPEARE, at the public expense in Westminster Abbey, ample contribution being made for this purpose upon the exhibition of Julius Cæsar, on the 28th of April, 1738, at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. The trustees for the public on this occasion were the Earl of Burlington, Dr. Richard Mead, Mr. Alexander Pope, and Mr. Charles Fleetwood. The monument was designed by Kent, and executed by Scheemakers.. SHAKSPEARE is represented in the dress of his time in white marble, at full length, leaning a little on his right arm, which is supported by a pedestal. At the bottom hangs a scroll inscribed with the following truly sublime lines from THE TEMPEST:

The cloud-capp'd towers, the gorgeous palaces,
The solemn temples, the great GLOBE itself,
Yea, all which it inhabit, shall dissolve,
And, like the baseless fabric of a vision,
Leave not a wreck behind!

Above his head behind there is a fixed plate of curious granite marble, on which is this inscription in raised letters of brass, richly gilt: Gulielmo Shakspeare anno post mortem CXXIV. Amor publicus posuit. To WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE the public love hath raised this monument, in the 124th year after his decease. A neat model of this monument is seen adorning our habitations.

Mr. DAVID GARRICK, in September, 1769, instituted the Jubilee of SHAKSPEARE, at Stratford. An amphitheatre was erected upon the plan of Ranelagh, decorated with various devices. Transparencies were invented for the town house, through which the Poet's most striking characters were seen. The small old house where SHAKSPEARE was born was covered over with a curiousemblematical transparency; the subject was THE SUN struggling through clouds to enlighten the world, a figurative representation of the fate and fortunes of the much-beloved Bard! The JUBILEE lasted three days; during which time entertainments of oratorios, concerts, pageants, fireworks, &c. were presented to a brilliant and numerous company, assembled from all parts of the kingdom. Many persons of the highest quality, of both sexes, some of the most celebrated beauties of the age, and men distinguished for their genius and love of the elegant arts, thought themselves happy to fill the grand chorus of this high festival. No company so various in character, temper, and condition, ever formed, at least in appearance, such an agreeable group of happy and congenial souls. Mr.