CONTENTS OF VOLUME I. PAGE LECTURES ON SHAKSPEARE. LECTURE I. ON SHAKSPEARE'S LIFE AND CHARACTER-HIS THEATRICAL LABOURS -HIS POEMS AND SONNETS. race. SHAKSPEARE, by general concession, is the greatest name in literature. Such various, and, at the same time, such exalted powers, probably never met together in the mind of any other human being. Whether we regard the kind or the degree of his faculties, he not only is, but is everywhere allowed to be, the prodigy of our Of the various excellencies of literary production, whether as a thinker or a speaker, in none has he a superior, in many he has no equal, in some he has scarcely even a competitor. He is emphatically the eye, tongue, heart of humanity, and has given voice and utterance to whatever we are and whatever we see. On all scores, indeed, he is the finest piece of work human nature has yet achieved; in the whole catalogue of uninspired men there is no other name that could not better be spared. It is of the works of this great master of human thought and speech that I am about attempting to disIt is due to myself, however, to say in the outset, that censure and gratuitous praise are alike foreign course. from my design: for an attempt at the former would but tend to sink me; an attempt at the latter would but tend to sink him; or rather, he is equally above them both; no eulogy can possibly elevate, no criticism can possibly depress him alone and unapproachable, on the summit of fame, he may justly scorn the former and defy the latter. The only bar to his universal and indisputable supremacy, is ignorance of his works, or insensibility to their manifold mighty attractions; for against stupidity, as hath often been said, the gods themselves are powerless. It is to encourage the study, and aid the understanding of his works, that these lectures are undertaken. That such, however, will be the result of their influence, if, indeed, they should have any influence, I have certainly much more reason to hope than to expect. Nevertheless, I know of no better service which I can render my noble countrymen and fair countrywomen, than by trying to interest them in the works of one who, I think, has given me more pleasure and more profit than all my other studies put together. But before I enter upon the subject, it seems necessary that I should say something of the man himself; of the life he led, the work he did, the feelings he had, and the character he bore as a friend, a citizen, and a man. WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE, as is generally known, was born at Stratford-upon-Avon, in 1564; under what particular star is not known; probably, however, under all of them. His parents properly belonged to the English gentry ; were of respectable name and competent fortune. Of his personal history, as was to have been expected, but little is known. His work, indeed, was of too high an order to make much noise in the world, and therefore |