of the dramas, are as
inimitable as they; and it is not a merit of lines, but a total merit
of the piece; like the tone of voice of some incomparable person, so
is this a speech of poetic beings, and any clause as unproducible now
as a whole poem.

Though the speeches in the plays, and single lines, have a beauty
which tempts the ear to pause on them for their euphuism, yet the
sentence is so loaded with meaning, and so linked with its foregoers
and followers, that the logician is satisfied. His means are as
admirable as his ends; every subordinate invention, by which he helps
himself to connect some irreconcilable opposites, is a poem too. He is
not reduced to dismount and walk, because his horses are running off
with him in some distant direction: he always rides.

The finest poetry was first experience: but the thought has suffered a
transformation since it was an experience. Cultivated men often attain
a good degree of skill in writing verses; but it is easy to read,
through their poems, their personal history: any one acquainted with
parties can name every figure: this is Andrew, and that is Rachel. The
sense thus remains prosaic. It is a caterpillar with wings, and not
yet a butterfly. In the poet's mind, the fact has gone quite over into
the new element of thought, and has lost all that is exuvial. This
generosity abides with Shakespeare. We say, from the truth and
closeness of his pictures, that he knows the lesson by heart. Yet
there is not a trace of egotism.

One more royal trait properly belongs to the poet. I mean his
cheerfulness, without which no man can be a poet,--for beauty is his
aim. He loves virtue, not for its obligation, but for its grace: he
delights in the world, in man, in woman, for the lovely light that
sparkles from them. Beauty, the spirit of joy and hilarity, he sheds
over the universe. Epicurus relates that poetry hath such charms that
a lover might forsake his mistress to partake of them. And the true
bards have been noted for their firm and cheerful temper. Homer lies
in sunshine; Chaucer is glad and erect; and Saadi says, 'It was
rumoured abroad that I was penitent; but what had I to do with
repentance?' Not less sovereign and cheerful,--much more sovereign and
cheerful, is the tone of Shakespeare. His name suggests joy and
emancipation to the heart of men. If he should appear in any company
of human souls, who would not march in his troop? He touches nothing
that does not borrow h