lowing passage in his Lectures on Elocution, (Lecture IV. on Emphasis)

"By means of emphasis, what passes in the mind is often shewn in a few words, which otherwise would require great circumlocution. Of which take the following instance from the play of " All for Love:"

"The fault was mine

To place thee there, where only, thou, could'st fail."

This passage is in the "Revenge."

If such consummate masters, whom no one can suspect of an intention to mislead, are not exempt from errors, which, in themselves, it must be admitted are of no great consequence, should we not be upon our guard in more important matters and never trust implicitly to quotations. It may also afford a hint to our testy disputants, male and female, not rashly to form conclusions, or trip up their modester opponents with borrowed authorities.

DRAMATIC PORTRAITS.

No. I.

MISS WILSON.

"A sound of music touched mine ears, or rather Indeed entranc'd my soul; as I stole nearer, Invited by the melody, I saw

This maid-Nature's best skill'd musician."

To touch the heart by Music's spell,
To wake each chord in feeling's cell;
To soothe each passion of the soul,
And cheer the moments as they roll;
WILSON appears!-to whom belong
Each charm that fancy gives to song.
She comes with all the magic pow'r,
That adds a grace to ev'ry scene,

FORD.

Th' enchantress of the fairy hour,
The DRAMA'S lyric queen!

With timid step, with downcast eye,
And voice as soft as lover's sigh,
Whose ev'ry note is harmony;
With modest mien, and simple dress,
She stands in artless loveliness,
Nature's own sweet engaging child,
"Warbling her native wood-notes wild,"
Still spurning all the glare of art,
She speaks directly to the heart,
With graceful elegance and taste,
Ne'er overwrought-and ne'er misplac'd!
Oh! may she ne'er by critic rule,
And follies of the Italian school,
Render less sweet the strain;

Ne'er may she change that native ease,
Which, while it lasts, is sure to please,
To follow Fashion's train.

Still let her song be chaste as now,

And Fame's proud wreath must blossom round her brow!

May 12, 1821.

SHAKSPERIANA.

M.N....W.

No. II.

Being a Collection of Anecdotes, and Fragments—relating to Shakspeare-with critiques, and observations on his Dramatic powers and compositions, original and select.

BY G. CREED.

"Let PRINCES o'er their subjects, kingdoms, rule, "Tis SHAKSPEARE'S province to command the soul."

12.-SHAKSPEARES FAMILY.

The parentage of SHAKSPEARE was highly respectable; by the register and other public writings at Stratford, his

ancestors were described as of good figure and fashion," and styled “gentlemen." His father, JOHN SHAKSPEARE, was a considerable dealer in wool, and had been high bailiff, or mayor, of Stratford; he was also a justice of the peace, and at one time possessed of lands to the amount of £500. the reward of his grandfather's services to Henry VII. (most likely) in Bosworth Field; but in the latter part of his life he seems to have been greatly reduced, for it appears from the books of the corporation, that in 1597, he was excused the trifling weekly tax of four-pence, levied on all aldermen; and that, in 1586, another alderman was appointed in his room, in consequence of his not attending the duties of his office; and it would seem that he then for some time followed the occupation of a butcher to support his family.

I find that AUBREY in his gossipping "Lives of eminent Men," expressly says-" SHAKSPEARE'S father was a butcher; and I have been told heretofore," he adds, "that when he was a boy, he exercised his father's trade; but when he killed a calf, he would do it in a high style, and make a speech; there was at that time another butcher's son in this town, that was held not at all inferior to him in natural wit, his acquaintance and coetanian, but died young." But that SHAKSPEARE's father was originally a woolstapler is beyond a doubt, for the landlord of the Swan and Maidenhead, in relaying the floor of the parlour of his house, found the remnants of wool, and the refuse of wool-combing, under the old flooring, imbedded with the earth of the foundation.

By his mother, (the daughter and heiress of ROBERT ARDEN, of Wellingcote, in the county of Warwick, styled

a gentleman of worship") SHAKSPEARE was lineally descended from the Saxon Earls of Warwick. The last Saxon Earl of Warwick styled himself, in the reign of Rufus, TURCHILLUS DE EARDENE, from his residence in Arden, as it is now written, and by his first wife had issue SIWARD DE ARDEN, ancestor to the ARDENS of Warwick. shire; from whom descended SHAKSPEARE's immediate ancestors by the mother's side; ROBERT ARDEN, of Bromich, Esq. who was in the list of the gentry of WARWICK in the 12th of Henry VI.; and EDWARD ARDEN, Who

was sheriff of the country in 1568. (1) From TURCHIL, our poet will be distantly related to many of the most noble families in the country, and they may be assured, such a circumstance reflects more lustre on them than the brightest jewels in their coronets.

13.-CALIBAN.

"No man ever drew so many characters as SHAKSPEARE, or generally distinguished them better from one another. I will instance but one, to shew the copiousness of his invention; it is that of the monster in the "Tempest." He seems to have created a person which was not in nature, a boldness which at first sight would appear intolerable, for he makes him a species of himself, begotten by an incubus on a witch. Whether or no his generation can be defended, I leave to philosophy; but of this I am certain, that the poet has most judiciously furnished him with a person, a language, and a character, which will suit him both by his father's and his mother's side; he has all the discontent and malice of a witch, and of a devil; besides a convenient proportion of the deadly sins, gluttony, sloth, and lust, are likewise given him, and the ignorance of one bred up in a desolate island. His person is monstrous, and he is the product of unnatural lust, and his language is as hobgoblin as his person; in all things he is distinguished from other mortals."

DRYDEN.

14.-MACBETH.

"The incantations in Macbeth' have a solemnity admirably adapted to the occasion of that tragedy, and fill the

(1) The woodland part of Warwickshire was anciently called Ardern, afterwards softened to Arden, and hence the name. It is not improbable, but that to this relation ship and association, we are indebted for the exquisite scenes of the forest of Arden presented to us by SHAKSPEARE in his delightful operatic pastoral comedy “ As you like it."

mind with a suitable horror, besides that the witches are a part of the story itself, as we find it very particularly related in HECTOR BOETIUS, from whom he seems to have taken it. This, therefore, is a proper machine when the business is dark, horrid, and bloody. Subjects of this kind, which are in themselves disagreeable, can at no time become entertaining, but by passing through an imagination like SHAKSPEARE'S to form them."

HUGHES.

15.

"A poet may be original in his manner, and not at all so in his ideas; true genius will be original in both. Of this we have sufficient proofs in the use that SHAKSPEARE has made of the qualities and attributes of the heathen deities. I cannot but wonder that a poet whose classical images are composed of the finest parts, and breathe the very spirit of the ancient mythology should pass for being illiterate.

"See what a grace was seated on his brow!
Hyperion's curls, the front of Jove himself;
An eye like Mars; to threaten or command,
A station like the herald Mercury

New lighted on a heav'n-kissing hill."

HAMLET.

In this portrait the features are borrowed from the antique, but they are united into a character by a creative fancy."

16,-Copy of a Letter.

WEBB.

Said to have been written by SHAKSPEARE to ANNA HATHERREWAYE.

Deareste Anna.

As thou haste alwaye found mee toe my worde moste trewe, soe thou shalt see, I have strictlye kopt mye promise. I pray you perfume this mye poor lock with thy balmye kysses, for thenne indeed shall Kynges themselves bowe and paye homage to itte; I do assure thee no rude