the actors come up to the ideas we form of the characters by having studied them in our closets." "Now look ye, friend," said the Nymph briskly, "does not that proceed from a preconceived, or preadopted, opinion of some superior excellence in his delineation of character? and yet, find me two critics who are agreed whether Hamlet is to be considered as serious, or half-mad, or pretending to be so? Look how lame and impotent the conclusion of the plot is, compared to what was to be expected from the introduction of a prelude so solemn as the appearance of a ghost! But I will not make a stand merely on the mechanical part of his dramas—the construction of the fable;-some of his noblest passages are not superior to similar passages in the plays of his contemporaries. Take down his works, and give me those of Beaumont and Fletcher, and I will match you." Benedict, as all obedient husbands should do, when so required, to keep peace in the house, acquiesced; and when the books were arranged before them, he opened Cymbeline, and said,—“ Here is a description of the military enthusiasm of a boy,-match it if you The king his father call'd Guiderius) Jove! "Good," said Egeria, "very good,” turning over the leaves of the Maid's Tragedy; but here is Melantius' account of the heroic aspirations of Amintor while a boy, and it is better:" When he was a boy, As oft as I returned (as, without beast, I brought home conquest), be would gaze upon me, "But," exclaimed the Bachelor, opening As You like It," find me any thing half so touching and romantic as the moralizing of Jaques ?" To-day my lord of Amiens and myself Duke. But what said Jaques ? 1 Lord. Oh, yes, into a thousand similes : And never stays to greet him: Ay, quoth Jaques, 'Tis just the fashion," &c. "I am quite as sensible as you can be," said Egeria, "to all the beauty of that passage; but it is not so romantic as this in Philaster,-nor so poetical, nor withal more pathetic:" "I have a boy Sent by the gods I hope to this intent, Not yet seen in the court. Hunting the buck Of which he borrowed some to quench his thirst, Which gave him roots, and of the crystal springs That could be wish'd, so that methought I could "There is, however, nothing in all Beaumont and Fletcher," said Benedict, "half so tender, innocent, and delicate as the answer of Julia, when disguised as a boy, on being asked how tall Julia was :" "About my stature; for at Pentecost, When all our pageants of delight were play'd, weep a-good, "In the Maid's Tragedy," replied Egeria, "I have an allusion to the same story of Ariadne. Aspatia, forsaken by her lover, finds her maid Antiphila working a picture of Ariadne, and says,”— "But where's the lady? Ant. There, madam. Asp. Fy, you have miss'd it here, Antiphila, As this sad lady's was; do it by me; And you shall find all true,-Put me on th' wild island. I stand upon the sea-beach now, and think Mine arms thus, and mine hair blown by the wind, Wild as that desert, and let all about me Be teachers of my story: do my face (If thou hadst ever feeling of a sorrow), Thus, thus, Antiphila; strive to make me look 66 But," resumed Egeria, "if we go on at this rate, the night will not suffice for our comparison; I shall therefore give you a few hints of which hereafter you may chew the cud. Compare the frenzy and the whole gentle character of the Jailer's Daughter in the Two Noble Kinsmen to Ophelia in Hamlet, say which is the best. Look also at the deaths of Pontius and Aëcius in Valentinian: I uphold them against the deaths of Cassius, Brutus, and their friends, in Julius Cæsar. Is the character and passions of Cleopatra in the False One inferior to Shakspeare's serpent of old Nile? Not a jot. Is the pious and grief-mingled rage of Edith, in the Bloody Brother, less skilfully conceived, or less powerfully executed, than the passion of Macduff on hearing of the massacre of his wife and children? Is there any personage in all Shakspeare to compare with |