with
diverse stolne and surreptitious copies, maimed and deformed by the
frauds and stealthes of injurious impostors that expos'd them; even
those are now offer'd to your view cur'd and perfect of their limbes,
and all the rest absolute in their numbers as he conceived them; who, as
he was a happie imitator of Nature, was a most gentle expresser of it.
His mind and hand went together; and what he thought, he uttered with
that easinesse that wee have scarse received from him a blot in his
papers. But it is not our province, who onely gather his works and give
them you, to praise him. It is yours that reade him. And there we hope,
to your divers capacities, you will finde enough both to draw and hold
you; for his wit can no more lie hid then it could be lost. Reade him,
therefore; and againe and againe; and if then you doe not like him,
surely you are in some manifest danger not to understand him. And so we
leave you to other of his friends, whom, if you need, can bee your
guides. If you neede them not, you can leade yourselves and others; and
such readers we wish him.--_Iohn Heminge._--_Henrie Condell._

[Page Heading: Ben Jonson's Eulogy]

TO THE MEMORY OF MY BELOUED,

THE AVTHOR

MR. WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE:
AND
what he hath left vs.

To draw no enuy (_Shakespeare_) on thy name,
Am I thus ample to thy Booke, and Fame:
While I confesse thy writings to be such,
As neither _Man_, nor _Muse_, can praise too much.
'Tis true, and all mens suffrage. But these wayes
Were not the paths I meant vnto thy praise:
For seeliest Ignorance on these may light,
Which, when it sounds at best, but eccho's right;
Or blinde Affection, which doth ne're aduance
The truth, but gropes, and vrgeth all by chance;
Or crafty Malice, might pretend this praise,
And thinke to ruine, where it seem'd to raise.
These are, as some infamous Baud, or Whore,
Should praise a Matron. What could hurt her more?
But thou art proofe against them, and indeed
Aboue th' ill fortune of them, or the need.
I, therefore will begin. Soule of the Age!
The applause! delight! the wonder of our Stage!
My _Shakespeare_, rise; I will not lodge thee by
_Chaucer_, or _Spenser_, or bid _Beaumont_ lye
A little further, to make thee a roome:
Thou art a Moniment, without