262 shakspeare's writings. 



This should have been a noble creature : he 



Hath all the energy which should have made 



A goodly frame of glorious elements 



Had they been wisely mingled ; as it is, 



It is an awful chaos — light and darkness — 



And mind and dust — and passions and pure thoughts, 



Mix'd and contending without end or order, 



All dormant or destructive : he will perish, 



And yet he must not : I will try once more, 



For such are worth redemption : — " 



Manfred, Act 3. 51. 

 We have never yet sufficiently considered what 

 opposite qualities may exist in the same constitution. 

 We have discovered that the poppy yields both a 

 poison and a panacea — we have discovered that the 

 electiic fluid, though in some cases destructive, is in 

 others revivifying — we have progressed in the science 

 of chemical affinity ; but we are sadly backward in 

 the analysis of mind. 



It is only under the idea, that a study of Shaks- 



Ceare will enable us the more readily to detect 

 ypocrisy and discover latent virtue — to abhor lust, 

 and to throw away ambition — that I continue, and, 

 with permission will continue to claim for it more 

 particular attention. As the cause of the fine 

 arts has been advocated, with relation to qualities 

 far more important than those of mere beauty, 

 so, with relation to an end far more important 

 than one of mere amusement, should we recom- 

 mend the study of man in all his varieties of element 

 and combination — in all his moods — and under all 

 circumstances — active — passive — self impelled — or 

 influenced by others — the study of man, as he 

 so truly and palpably appears in the drama of Shaks- 

 peare. The perceptive system (however essential 

 and effective as far as regards our duty towards God) 

 is of secondarif importance when used to enforce our 

 duties to one another. When there shall be among 

 men an equally pervading knowledge of man, it is 

 most likely, a state of moral optimism will be attain- 

 ed. In proportion to the increase ofsagacitj/ will be 

 the decrease of cunning : hypocrisy must sink in its 



