's doll from the slime!'

"And so, amid the laughter gay,
Trotted my hero off,--old Tray,--
Till somebody, prerogatived
With reason, reasoned: 'Why he dived,
His brain would show us, I should say.

"'John, go and catch--or, if needs be,
Purchase--that animal for me!
By vivisection, at expense
Of half-an-hour and eighteenpence,
How brain secretes dog's soul, we'll see!'"

CHAPTER II

SHAKESPEARE'S PORTRAIT

Once and once only did Browning depart from his custom of choosing
people of minor note to figure in his dramatic monologues. In "At the
'Mermaid'" he ventures upon the consecrated ground of a heart-to-heart
talk between Shakespeare, Ben Jonson, and the wits who gathered at the
classic "Mermaid" Tavern in Cheapside, following this up with further
glimpses into the inner recesses of Shakespeare's mind in the monologues
"House" and "Shop." It is a particularly daring feat in the case of
Shakespeare, for as all the world knows any attempt at getting in touch
with the real man, Shakespeare, must, per force, be woven out of such
"stuff as dreams are made on."

In interpreting this portraiture of one great poet by another it will be
of interest to glance at the actual facts as far as they are known in
regard to the relations which existed between Shakespeare and Jonson.
Praise and blame both are recorded on Jonson's part when writing of
Shakespeare, yet the praise shows such undisguised admiration that the
blame sinks into insignificance. Jonson's "learned socks" to which
Milton refers probably tripped the critic up occasionally by reason of
their weight.

There is a charming story told of the friendship between the two men
recorded by Sir Nicholas L'Estrange, within a very few years of
Shakespeare's death, who attributed it to Dr. Donne. The story goes that
"Shakespeare was godfather to one of Ben Jonson's children, and after
the christening, being in a deep study, Jonson came to cheer him up and
asked him why he was so melancholy. 'No, faith, Ben,' says he, 'not I,
but I have been considering a great while what should be the fittest
gift for me to bestow upon my godchild, and I have resolved at last.' 'I
prythee what?' says he. 'I'faith, Ben, I'll e'en give him a dozen good
Lattin spoons, and thou shalt translate them.'" If this must be taken
with a grain of salt, there is another even more to the honor of
Shakespeare reported by Rowe and considered credible by s