siiakspeare's writings. 217 



two playmates, or read of such an affair in their story 

 book, they quietly pocket the instruction, and, in all 

 probability, practice amendment. There is little ser- 

 vice in the words " Cromwell I charge thee throw 

 away ambition ;'' nor was there any necessity for 

 the overthrown Wolsey to say 



" Mark but my fall and that that ruined me : — " 

 the moral is to be found in his general conduct and 

 fate, not in any particular words that he utters. 



I say then, what a glorious thing would it be if all 

 nations possessed such a revelation of the human 

 heart as we possess in the works of Shakspeare ! 

 What other nations do possess, I know not : if any 

 or all of them can boast such a treasure, it is to be 

 hoped that none of them study it so little as our- 

 selves. The moral effects of Shakspeare are, in their 

 extent, yet to be seen, for Shakspeare is yet to be 

 read. He is yet to be appreciated, not as a mere 

 ministerto the enjoyment of any leisure moments we 

 may happen to have, but, as one whom it is a duty 

 to study, less on account of that poetic power which 

 renders him resplendent in the universe of the ima- 

 gination, less on account of that mental strength 

 which admits him into the presence chamber of au- 

 gust philosophy, less on account of any thing which 

 has hitherto recommended his name, than of a great 

 MORAL INFLUENCE, wliich, wc may fairly presume, 

 would accompany the knowledge of man, a know- 

 ledge which it would seem, was entirely concentrated 

 in the comprehensive soul of Shakspeare. Let us 

 hear no depreciatory allusions to occasional frivolity 

 and obscenity, as affecting the moral tendency of a 

 work in the mass. The ignorant who can understand 

 nothing but the lighter parts of an author, and the 

 vicious who can enjoy nothing but the loose, will be 

 scarcely benefitted by the perusal of any work. Such 

 people should listen only to the expounder. 



Perhaps the time will arrive, when all that we 

 now admire in Shakspeare, will be regarded as the 

 mere sweetmeat in which a great moral tonic has 



VOL. IV. — 1834. DD 



