8 THE POETRY OF NATURE, 



poetry : a fact, when " married to immortal verse," 

 would be "one entire and perfect chrysolite," and 

 remain for ever in the mind, " unmixed with baser 

 matter. "And what would poetry not gain, if access 

 were afforded to this new and almost unopened 

 mine ? The riches of the garden of Aladdin would fade 

 before the splendour of her new dominions; Besides, 

 you must recollect, that poetry is so pleasing a vehicle 

 for the expression of thought; so fascinating a medium 

 for the inculcation of a particular feehng or idea, 

 that it becomes a most powerful agent either in dis- 

 seminating truth, or in perpetuating falsehood. How 

 verj' desirable would it be if every poet were at the 

 same time a naturahst. Many depict, and depict 

 most truly, some of the attractive objects which Na- 

 ture, as if to win us to herself, has placed on our 

 right hand and on our left ; but seldom have they 

 done so without an intermixture of error, and too 

 often do we find that fancy takes the place of observa- 

 tion. It would become, therefore, a curious and 

 pleasing subject of inquiry to ascertain to what ex- 

 tent one of our most admired poets had faithfully 

 arrayed in the rich garniture of his verse, the pheno- 

 mena which he himself had seen, or how far he had 

 preserved there the errors of preceding writers. 



This inquiry prompted me to read again the 

 plays of Shakspeare. I read them, however, not to 



