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 Isabella kneels, pert Lucio lies, And sad Constantia for her Arthur cries ; When Bottom spouts, and Buckingham displays Th’ Usuper's birthright in a peal of praise ; The blunt abruptness of the hardy Greek, The shrewd 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 rollid, What crowds of Rjwes, and Congreves, Fate unfold, A SECOND SHAKSPEARE ere 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 reard 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 confessed,
And unresisted Passion storm'd the breast !

The inventive faculty of the Poet is here masterly portrayed. 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, wbich 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 dissclve,
And, like the baseless fabric of a vision,

Leave not a wreck bebind ! 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 SAAKSPEARE was born was covered over with a curious emblematical 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. Garrick's ODE on Shakspeare was that part of the general exhibition which most excited the regard, and gain. ed the candid and judicious part of the company. The Bard is described in these energetic lines :

O! from his muse of fire

Could but one spark be caught,
Then might these humble strains aspire

To tell the wonders he has wrought!
To tell how, sitting on his throne,

Unaided and alone,
In dreadful state,

The subject Passions round him wait!
Who, though unchain'd, and raging there,

He checks, inflames, or turns their mad career,
With that superior skill
Which winds the fiery steed at will ;

He gives the awful word,
And they, all foaming, trembling, own him for their LORD !*

Mr. Garrick brought Shakspeare's Jubilee from Stratford to Drury Lane. The public were so charmed with it, that it was repeated one hundred times. On April 23, 1816, being the SECOND CENTENARY

* See Davies' Life of Garrick.

of Shakspeare, it was revived at Covent Garden for a few evenings. And measures are now devising for paying some additional honours to the illustrious Bard's memory.

I will here take the liberty of introducing an anecdote not generally known, and yet illustrative of the temper and disposition of SHAKSPEARE. It occurs in Sir William Forbes's Life of Dr. James Beattie ; one of the most pleasing works in the English language.

DR. BEATTIE of Aberdeen, in a letter to Mrs. Montague, dated 17th of August, 1775, says: "You certainly know that GARRICK erected a statue of Shakspeare in a niche in the wall of the town house facing the street. As my friend (a gentleman of this country, who lately went to STRATFORD-UPON-Avon to pay his duty at the shrine of the Man of Warwickshire) was contemplating this statue, he saw perched on one of the hands a dove, which at first he took for an emblem, as the creature was quite motionless; but which, in a little time began to move and scramble upwards, till it reached the bosom of the statue, in which, as in its home, it nestled with great appearance of satisfaction! Charles Boyd, Lord Errol's. brother, has, I hear, composed a little poem on the subject; of which I shall send you a copy as soon as I have seen the author. If Mr. GARRICK comes in your way before you leave England, I am sure he will be pleased with this little narrative."