CALDEIION. SHAKSPEARE. 61 



mountains, of wooded valleys, and of gardens ; but these 

 pictures are always introduced in allegorical applications, 

 and are characterised by a species of artificial brilliancy. In 

 reading them we feel that we have before us ingeniou* 

 descriptions, recurring with only slight variations, and 

 clothed in well-sounding and harmonious verse ; but we do 

 not feel that we breathe the free air of nature ; the reality 

 of the mountain scene, and the shady valley, are not made 

 present to our imagination. In Calderon's play of " Life is 

 a Dream," (la vida es sueno), he makes Prince Sigismund 

 lament his captivity in a series of gracefully drawn contrasts 

 with the freedom of all living nature. He paints the birds, 

 " which fly across the wide sky with rapid wing," the fish, 

 which, but just escaped from the sand and shallows where 

 they were brought to life, seek the wide sea, whose 

 boundless expanse seems still too small for their bold range. 

 Even the stream meandering among flowers, finds a free 

 path through the meadow : " and I," exclaims Sigismund 

 despairingly, "who have more life than they, and a spirit 

 more free, must endure an existence in which I enjoy less 

 freedom." In a similar manner, too often disfigured by 

 antitheses, witty comparisons, and artificial turns from the 

 school of Gongora, Don Fernando speaks to the king of Fez 

 in the " Steadfast Prince" (^). 



I have referred to particular instances, because they show 

 how in dramatic poetry, which is chiefly concerned with 

 action, passion, and character, "descriptions of natural 

 objects become as it were only mirrors in which the mental 

 emotions of the actors in the scene are reflected. Shak- 

 speare, who amidst the pressure of his animated action has 

 scarcely ever time and opportunity to introduce deliberate 



