34 



SOME REMARKS ON THE PHILOSOPHY AND 

 OBSERVANCES OF SHAKSPEARE. 



As apology always implies imperfection, it is, therefore, a sus- 

 picious feature in literature ; for as " good wine needs no bush," 

 that which is bad is not improved by the confession. An apology 

 is a cowardly device to escape censure, and a mean excuse for im- 

 becility ; for an unworthy subject merits no attention, and a good 

 subject badly treated deserves no lenity. 



The first question, then, to be resolved is the dignity of the sub- 

 ject, and herein I require no appeal; my subject is one of the 

 noblest character, no less than the image of nature, visible and in- 

 visible. Is the subject old ? so is nature herself; of which Shak- 

 speare's works are the transcript and express image. The more 

 familiar we become with either, the more novel do they appear ; in 

 this mirror is cast the exact and everlasting presence of nature in 

 all her infinite variety, in which individuality is multiplied without 

 confusion. A " habitation" and a form are given to feeling ; what we 

 have felt from nature in her combinations, Shakspeare has thrown 

 back again and attached, by description, to particular objects : his 

 poetry is the translation of our sensations when nature is the book 

 we read in. 



As nature is coeval with time, Shakspeare will be coexistent 

 with nature ; and while the human heart is susceptible of the same 

 emotions and love for nature, Shakspeare will be felt as the in- 

 carnation of her spirit. But Shakspeare needs no eulogist ; his 

 prerogative is divine, rapt in the awful originality of his genius — 

 the predestinated priest of nature. 



The writings of our " philosophic poet" are not merely poetry, 

 they are full of the profoundest truths in philosophy and religion, 

 realized in our daily and hourly duties in private and public life. 

 But if I were to call Shakspeare a " man of science" it would 

 startle the "dull ear" of those monopolists of truth. Yet what is 

 observation ? The chemist pursues his discoveries within the walls of 

 his laboratory ; the astronomer wakes the sleeping night with the 

 mutter of his calculations ; the meteorologist, the botanist, the 

 physiologist, pursue their studies from atom to atom, until, struck 

 with a coincidence, they affirm a law. The laboratory of Shak- 

 speare was the whole world, the earth, the " wind-obeying deep," 

 the " brave o'erhanging firmament fretted with golden fire." He 

 read, with an eagle-sighted eye, the universe of works, penetrated 



