(Unwilling now to grow,) Looks like the plume a captain wears, Whofe rifled falls are fteept i'th' tears Which from his last rage III. flow. The piteous river wept itself away, If you a river there can spy: And, for a river, your mock'd eye Will find a fhallow brooke. W. DAVEN ÁN T, On the Effigies of SHAKESPEARE, prefixed to his printed Works. THIS figure, that thou here feeff It was for gentle Shakespeare cut; Wherein the graver had a strife His face; the print would then furpaffe Not on his picture, but his book. put, B. I. To the Memory of my Beloved, the Author, Mr. WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE T And what he hath left us.. O draw no envy (Shakespeare) on thy name "Tis true, and all mens fuffrage. But these ways Which, when it founds at beft, but echoes right; Pacuvius, Accius, him of Cordova dead, Of all, that infolent Greece, or haughty Rome When, like Apollo, he came forth to warm And fuch wert thou. Look how the father's face Of Shakespeare's mind and manners brightly fhines In each of which he seems to shake a lance, And make thofe flights upon the banks of Thamesy But ftay, I fee thee in the hemifphere Advanc'd, and made a conftellation there! Shine forth, thou ftarre of Poets! and with rage, night, And despairs day, but for thy volume's light.. THE PREF A CE. T HE attempt to write upon SHAKE SPEARE is like going into a large, a fpacious, and a fplendid dome, through the conveyance of a narrow and obfcure entry. A glare of light fuddenly breaks upon you beyond what the avenue at firft promised and a thousand beauties of genius and character, like fo many gaudy apartments pouring at once upon the eye, diffuse and throw themselves out to the mind. The prospect is too wide to come within the compass of a single view: 'tis a gay confusion of pleafing objects, too various to be enjoyed but in a general admiration; and they must be feparated, and eyed diftinctly, in order to give the proper entertainment. And as in great piles of building, fome parts are often finished up to hit the taste of the con noisseur; others more negligently put together, to ftrike the fancy of a common and unlearned be holder: Some parts are made ftupendously magnificent and grand, to furprize with the vaft defign. and execution of the architect; others are con tracted, to amuse you with his neatness and elegance in little. So, in Shakespeare, we may find Traits that will ftand the test of the feverest judgment; and strokes as carelessly hit off, to the level of the more ordinary capacities: Some descriptions raised to that pitch of grandeur, as to aftonish you with the compafs and elevation of his thought: and others copying nature within fo narrow, fo confined a circle, as if the author's talent lay only at drawing in miniature. In how many points of light muft we be ob liged to gaze at this great poet! In how many branches of excellence to confider, and admire him! Whether we view him on the fide of art or nature, he ought equally to engage our attention: Whether we refpect the force and greatnefs of his genius, the extent of his knowledge and reading, the power and addrefs with which he throws out and applies either nature, or learning, there is ample fcope both for our wonder and pleasure. If his diction, and the cloathing of his thoughts attract us, how much more must we be charmed with the richness, and variety of his images and ideas! If his images and ideas fteal into our Souls, and ftrike upon our fancy, how much are they improved in price, when we come to |