er is. The truly great in him too was the unconscious: that he
was a wild Arab lion of the desert, and did speak-out with that great
thunder-voice of his, not by words which he _thought_ to be great, but
by actions, by feelings, by a history which _were_ great! His Koran has
become a stupid piece of prolix absurdity; we do not believe, like him
that God wrote that! The Great Man here too, as always' is a Force of
Nature: whatsoever is truly great in him springs-up from the
_in_articulate deeps.

Well: this is our poor Warwickshire Peasant, who rose to be Manager of a
Playhouse, so that he could live without begging; whom the Earl of
Southampton cast some kind glances on; whom Sir Thomas Lucy, many thanks
to him, was for sending to the Treadmill! We did not account him a god,
like Odin, while he dwelt with us;--on which point there were much to be
said. But I will say rather, or repeat: In spite of the sad state
Hero-worship now lies in, consider what this Shakespeare has actually
become among us. Which Englishman we ever made, in this land of ours,
which million of Englishmen, would we not give-up rather than the
Stratford Peasant? There is no regiment of highest Dignitaries that we
would sell him for. He is the grandest thing we have yet done. For our
honour among foreign nations, as an ornament to our English Household,
what item is there that we would not surrender rather than him? Consider
now, if they asked us, Will you give-up your Indian Empire or your
Shakespeare, you English; never have had any Indian Empire, or never
have had any Shakespeare? Really it were a grave question. Official
persons would answer doubtless in official language; but we, for our
part too, should not we be forced to answer: Indian Empire, or no Indian
Empire; we cannot do without Shakespeare! Indian Empire will go, at any
rate, some day; but this Shakespeare does not go, he lasts forever with
us; we cannot give-up our Shakespeare!

Nay, apart from spiritualities; and considering him merely as a real,
marketable, tangibly-useful possession. England, before long, this
Island of ours, will hold but a small fraction of the English: in
America, in New Holland,[85] east and west to the very Antipodes, there
will be a Saxondom covering great spaces of the Globe. And now, what is
it that can keep all these together into virtually one Nation, so that
they do not fall-out and fight, but live at peace, in brotherlike
intercourse, helping one anothe