Thou ever young, fresh, lov'd, and delicate wooer,
Whofe blufh doth thaw the confecrated fnow
That lies on Dian's lap! thou visible god,
That folder'ft clofe impoffibilities,

And mak't them kifs; that speak'st with every tongue,
To every purpofe! oh thou touch of hearts,
Think, thy flave man rebels; and by thy virtue
Set them into confounding odds, that beafts
May have the world in empire !-&c. &c.

Timon of Athens.

I cannot difmifs thefe remarks respecting the beauty of his ftyle, without noticing the aftonishing variety and richness of his imagery. He is the most figurative writer, Offian perhaps excepted, in our language; yet his fimilies and metaphors are chofen with fuch exquifite propriety, and fo happily adapted to the difpofition, fituation, and circumftances, of the different fpeakers, that his style very rarely appears stiff, or laboured, or affected; and if he is ever justly chargeable with those faults, they much oftener arise from violent ellipfes and inversions of language, from licentious modes of expreffion, and words used in anomalous fenfes, than from the improper or injudicious ufe of metaphorical ornament. I do not mean however to affert, that throughout the entire extent of his voluminous productions, are not to be found a very confiderable number of indefenfible images, and even of ridiculous conceits; but I affirm, that they bear a very fmall proportion to thofe paffages in which the happiest use is made of this liberty; and "the

poet's eye, in a fine frenzy rolling," feems to

glance

glance from heaven to earth in fearch of objects, from whence to borrow apt and suitable allufions to grace and dignify his page. His images are indeed taken from a moft comprehenfive furvey of the works of nature and of art, and the knowledge he displays is fo various and extensive, that it cannot but raise astonishment, how in the course of a life, the early part of which appears to have been wafted in idleness and diffipation, and the reft devoted to the duties of his profeffion as an actor, manager, and author, he could find op, portunities to amafs fuch inexhauftible stores of mental treasure. The first act of Hamlet alone will furnish a fufficient number of examples, to fhow the exquifite judgment and taste which Shakespeare exhibits in the choice and application of his metaphors,

-Look, the morn, in ruffet mantle clad, Walks o'er the dew of yon high eastward hill. Laer. For Hamlet, and the trifling of his favour, Hold it a fashion, and a toy in blood;

A violet in the youth of primy nature,

Forward, not permanent; tho' fweet, not lafting,
The charieft maid is prodigal enough,

If the unmask her beauty to the moon :
Virtue itself fcapes not calumnious strokes :
The canker galls the infants of the spring,
Too oft before their bloffoms are difclos'd,
And in the morn and liquid dew of youth
Contagious blaftments are most imminent.

Oph. I fhall th' effects of this good leffon keep,
As watchmen to my heart: but, good my brother,
Do not, as fome ungracious paftors do,

Shew

Shew me the steep and thorny way to heaven;
Whilft, like a puft and careless libertine,
Himself the primrose path of dalliance treads`
And recks not his own read.

-My fate cries out,

And makes each petty artery in this body
As hardy as the Nemean lion's nerve.

-I find thee apt;

And duller fhould'st thou be than the fat weed
That roots itself at ease on Lethe's wharf,
Would't thou not stir in this.-&c. &c.

The laft particular which I fhall infift upon, as one of the principal characteristics of this great poet, is the unrivalled skill or rather felicity of his verfification; for, though nothing can appear lefs the effect of care and study, never did any author fo happily exprefs, and in fuch a variety of inftances, that curious correfpondence between fense and found in which its grand excellence confifts; his cadences are fometimes fo melodious and grateful to the ear, that they may be compared to the foft and mellifluous breathings of a flute; and at other times fo full and powerful, as to resemble the animating founds of the trumpet: every paffion and affection of the mind affumes that precife tone which is peculiarly fuitable to it; and the accents of grief, rage, love, pity, indignation, and despair, are fcarcely to be diftinguished with lefs eafe and certainty by the various flow of the numbers, than the precise sense of the paffages from the words. If this has the air of hyperbole and extravagance, I can only say, that though the admirers of this

poet

poet have perhaps been too forward to defend or extenuate his faults: in speaking of his characteristic excellencies and beauties, I really think it is almoft impoffible to be guilty of excefs in our applaufe: there appears even fomething almost fupernatural in the genius of this man; fomething to which the rest of mankind bear neither relation nor resemblance. But it may be proper to fubjoin a few fpecimens of the curious felicity in his verfification, which I have been remarking upon, and which may serve at once as illuftrations and proofs of what I have advanced. How flow and mournful the movement of the following lines!

Conft. What doft thou mean by shaking of thy head?
Why dost thou look fo fadly on my fon?

What means that hand upon that breast of thine?
Why holds thine eye that lamentable rheum ?
Be these fad fighs confirmers of thy words? &c.

King John.

How ftriking the tranfition to the language of fury and revenge!

Arm, arm, ye heavens! against these perjur'd kings!
-Hear me, oh, hear me !

Oh, that my tongue were in the thunder's mouth!
Then with my paffion would I shake the world, &c.

Ibid.

One would imagine Shakespeare was defcribing, in thefe charming lines, the very effect which they are made to produce.

That ftrain again; it had a dying fall :
Oh, it came o'er my ear like the sweet south,

That

That breathes upon a bank of violets,

Stealing, and giving odour.

Twelfth Night.

But in what bold and founding language are the grand and magnificent ideas expreffed, which are conveyed in the following lines:

Ye elves of hills, &c.by whose aid
(Weak masters though ye be) I have bedimn.
The noon-tide fun, call'd forth the mutinous winds,.
And 'twixt the green fea and the azur'd vault
Set roaring war: to the dread rattling thunder
Have I given fire, and rifted Jove's ftout oak
With his own bolt: the ftrong bas'd promontory
Have I made shake; and by the spurs pluck'd up
The pine and cedar.
The Tempest.

It seems to me fcarcely poffible to pronounce the following line and a half in a tone of voice much above a whisper:

Pray you, tread foftly, that the blind mole may not Hear a foot fall.

Ibid.

How gay and pleafing the turn of the verse when Romeo's dreams "prefage fome joyful news at hand:"

My bofom's lord fits lightly on his throne;

And, all this day, an unaccustomed fpirit

Lifts me above the ground with cheerful thoughts.

How foft and tender the accents of love in this and a thousand other paffages:

-Oh hear me breath my love

Before this ancient Sir, who, it should feem,
Hath fometime lov'd. I take thy hand, this hand
As foft as dove's down, and as white as it,

Or