manner.

Shakspeare reflected, and deeply reflected, on character and passion, on the progress of events and human destinies, on the human constitution, on all the things and relations of this world; so that it was only respecting the structure of his own pieces that he had no thought to spare. Shakspeare's knowledge of mankind has become proverbial: in this his superiority is so great, that he has justly been called the master of the human heart. His characters appear neither to do nor say any thing on account of the spectator; and yet the poet, by means of the exhibition itself, without any subsidiary explanation, enables us to look into the inmost recesses of their minds. How each man is constituted, Shakspeare reveals to us in the most immediate He demands and obtains our belief, even for what is singular, and deviates from the ordinary course of nature. Never, perhaps, was so comprehensive a talent for characterization possessed by any other man. It not only grasps the diversities of rank, sex, and age, down to the dawnings of infancy; not only do his kings and beggars, heroes and pickpockets, sages and fools, speak and act with equal truth; not only have his human characters such depth and comprehension, that they cannot be ranged under classes, and are inexhaustible, even in conception; but he opens the gates of the magic world of spirits, calls up the midnight ghost, exhibits witches amidst their unhallowed mysteries, peoples the air with sportive fairies and sylphs; and these beings, existing only in imagination, possess such truth and consistency, that, even in the case of deformed monsters, like Caliban, he extorts the conviction, that if there should be such beings, they would so conduct themselves."

The article on Shakspeare in "The Encyclopedia Britannica," to which we have referred in our analysis of his life, contains some admirable remarks on his peculiar merit in having been the first of our great poets who has done full justice to the excellence of the female character. This has been exemplified in the exquisite and faithful portraits he has drawn of Juliet, Miranda, Desdemona, Portia, Ophelia, Beatrice, Isabella

and Rosalind. Hazlitt has adverted to this subject in his comments upon the play of Cymbeline. "It is the peculiar characteristic of Shakspeare's heroines," he remarks, "that they seem to exist only in their attachment to others. They are pure abstractions of the affections. We think as little of their persons as they do themselves, because we are let into the secrets of their breasts, which are more important. No one can hit the true perfection of the female character, the sense of weakness leaning on the strength of its affections for support, so well as Shakspeare-no one ever so well painted natural tenderness free from affectation or disguise."

Mrs. Jameson, a modern writer of refined taste and sound judgment, has shown more successfully than any other of Shakspeare's admirers how much the female sex are indebted to him for the natural delineations he has given of the intellectual and moral characteristics by which they are distinguished. The subjoined quotations from her charming work, entitled "Charac teristics of Women," will form an appropriate conclusion to the critical notices of our immortal poet which we have transcribed from other sources:- "Portia is endued with her own share of those delightful qualities, which Shakspeare has lavished on many of his female characters; but, besides the dignity, the sweetness, and tenderness which should distinguish her sex generally, she is individualized by qualities peculiar to herself: by her high mental powers, her enthusiasm of temperament, her decision of purpose, and her buoyancy of spirit. These are innate: she has other distinguishing qualities more external, and which are the result of the circumstances in which she is placed. Thus she is the heiress of a princely name, and countless wealth; a train of obedient pleasures have ever waited round her; and from infancy she has breathed an atmosphere redolent of perfume and blandishment.

"Every thing about Rosalind breathes of youth's sweet prime. She is fresh as the morning, sweet as the dew-awakened blossoms, and light as the breeze that plays among them. She is as witty, as voluble, as

sprightly as Beatrice; but in a style altogether distinct. In both the wit is equally unconscious; but in Beatrice it plays about us like the lightning, dazzling, but also alarming while the wit of Rosalind bubbles up and sparkles like the living fountain, refreshing all around. Her volubility is like the bird's song; it is the outpouring of a heart filled to overflowing with life, love, and joy, and all sweet and affectionate impulses. She has as much tenderness as mirth, and in her most petulant raillery there is a touch of softness-By this hand, it will not hurt a fly.""

We have given a description of the burial-place of Shakspeare from the pen of Washington Irving; and it now remains to explain the circumstances which have recently led to the purchase of the poet's house by the public. It appears that the family who have for some time held possession of the humble tenement, supposed to have been the birth-place of the poet, were no longer in a position to retain it. Under these circumstances, they thought the most prudent course to adopt was, to advertise it for sale by public auction. The 16th September, 1847, was the period selected for the disposal of the inestimable relic. The sum expected to be realized was estimated at between two and three thousand pounds. The advertisement of the intended sale no sooner appeared, than the leading London and provincial journals made a powerful appeal to the feelings of the nation, to prevent the property from falling into the hands of private individuals, whether Englishmen or foreigners; and who might probably have made use of it for sordid purposes. A writer in "The Morning Herald" newspaper justly remarked, that " an American may carry it off bodily, set it on wheels, as a perambulating rareeshow, and take the tour of the United States. A Frenchman may purchase the abode of the 'immortal William,' pull it down, and make it into snuff-boxes. A Dutchman may cut it into pipes; a China-man into card-cases."

The Athenæum," a periodical journal of high literary and scientific reputation, called the attention of its readers, in several successive publications, to the importance of raising funds for the purchase of the premises.

In one of its articles are the following observations:"That it should be possible for the house in which it is even rumoured plausibly that Shakspeare was bornthe house in which he certainly spent some portion of his life a site which is haunted and glorified by the mere tradition beyond almost any other site upon earth, -that it should be possible, we say, for these to find their way at all into an auction-room is a fact which the foreigner who hears our constant boast of Shakspeareand freely accepts it-must find it difficult to understand. But that the English public should, there, suffer some foreign curiosity-dealer to remove, for a few thousand pounds, from amid the very fairies that guard it, a relic which, where it stands, money is too poor to pay, neither the foreigner nor we will believe till the national shame shall have been incurred. There is scarcely a country in Europe which would not make a shrine of such a possession. In ancient Greece it would have been a temple; and have matched with Delphi, in virtue of such oracles as Apollo never rendered; and which, by the fiction-if it be a fiction-of the thing, may be supposed to have been here conceived. To suffer this house to pass away is, as it were, a national denying of Shakspeare-and that is not possible in England. But the time has come for action. What is wanted now is, that some individual, or body, of weight and influence should put him or themselves forward in this matter, and give a point to the public subscription. There are various bodies, literary or archæological, in the metropolis, to whom the initiative in such a matter would seem especially appropriate. Any one of them, there can scarcely be a doubt, might appeal to the public with success :an active combination of more might almost carry out the object by themselves and their friends."

Appeals like this could scarcely be resisted. Various societies and individuals, interested in the proposal, adopted measures to accomplish the undertaking. The formation of a Grand Metropolitan Committee was projected for the purpose of assisting the efforts of the Stratford Shakspeare Club; and the members of the Shakspeare Society voluntarily came forward to offer

66

their services to the committee, and to co-operate in raising a separate fund. Besides these associations, the Archæological Institute, the Museum Club, and other public bodies commenced active proceedings to further the design. A Metropolitan Committee was formed out of those elements, of which Lord Morpeth, now the Earl of Carlisle, (the patron of every thing noble and good,) and Lord Ellesmere, consented to become the president and vice-president. The committee comprised amongst its members several individuals, occupying the highest rank in the country. His Royal Highness Prince Albert patronized the national object by a donation of two hundred and fifty pounds. The Earl of Carlisle promised that should the design of the committee be effected, the department over which he presided, "would willingly take charge of Shakspeare's house as a just object of national care." Lectures were delivered in some of the provincial towns, with the view of raising contributions to the Shakspeare Fund," and means were obtained, through various other channels, to enable the committee to carry out their intentions. The sale took place on the day announced, and excited considerable interest. At a meeting of the joint London and Stratford committees, the evening previous, it was unanimously determined to offer a bidding of £3,000. This liberal resolution was communicated in the following terms :"We, the undersigned, deputed by the united committees of Stratford and London for raising subscriptions for the purchase of Shakspeare's house, hereby offer a bidding of £3,000. The committees having purchased another property, which really constitutes an integral portion of Shakspeare's house, have expended a considerable part of the amount already raised by public contribution; but looking at the duty imposed upon them in undertaking to represent the feeling of the nation, they have come to the resolution of making this large and liberal offer for the property now on sale, without regard to the funds which they at present command, in the confidence that the justice of the public will eventually discharge the committees