79 



PLYMOUTH INSTITUTION. 



PROCEEDINGS IN THE ATHENiEUM. 



Mr. Wightwick's Lecture on Shakspeare. 



Concludeil from page 48. 



Johnson was of opinion that none of our author's plays would 

 be heard to the end by a modern audience. Was the doctor bi- 

 lious or oblivious, when he made this remark ? Surely he must 

 have been sadly in want of a magnesia lozenge, or else he was 

 most singularly unmindful of the numerous and varied opportu- 

 nities, afforded, for the very effective exertions of talented actors, 

 in the elegant Pastoral of As You Like It, the matchless comedy 

 of The Merry Wives of Windsor, and the plays of Twelfth Night 

 and Much Ado About Nothing. 



To make an end with critical carping, we proceed to speak of 

 our author, as it were, geologically. We will take his works en 

 masse as a mine of moral, poetical, and intellectual wealth. We 

 will descend the shaft, and inspect two or three of the lodes. 



And what a variety of strata do we observe in our descent ! 

 Every shade from tlie sublime to the beautiful, from the dark to 

 the delicate — every tone from fury to tenderness, from terror to 

 love ! And now, enwombed in the bowels of this " Wilderness" 

 of riches ; what brilliant masses of distinct quality do we behold. 

 Here one, from which the divine may gather precepts of the most 

 wholesome quality frauglit with such a benevolent humanity, 

 that, in their reception, we are medicined as with a sweet-meat. 



Here another, where the imaginative mind may labour with 

 ever increasing profit and delight — Another rich in all the essen- 

 tials of tragedy — another sparkling with wit, humour and satire. 



If the rigid moralist would object to much that he may disco- 

 ver in this immense cavern of variety, I do not think he can 

 designate any part of it as poisonous. Every evil has a tenfold 

 antidote; and however Delicacy may be frequently shocked, 

 ^Vujtue in the end will find herself greatly enriched ! It is how- 

 rev^ff^oo generally the custom to regard with suspicion all truths 

 that^re found in a profane quarter. There be those who, corro- 

 borating fthe fact advanced by lago, 



f* Will not serve heav'n, if the devil bid them" — 



To men so enslaved by custom I would recommend the fol- 

 lowing, among majiy other maxims equally palpable and metallic. 



