of characters by SHAKSPEARE, Dr. Drake observes :

" Whether he delineate the possessor of a throne, or the tenant of a cottage, the warrior in battle, or the statesman in debate; youth in its fervour, or old age in its repose; guilt in agony, or innocence in peace; the votaries of pleasure, or the victims of despair; we behold each character developing itself, not through the medium of selfdescription, but as in actual experience, through the influence and progression of events, and through the re-action of surrounding agents. . Thus, from the mutual working of conflicting interests and emotions, from their various powers of coalescence and repulsion, the characters of SHAKSPEARE are, like those in real life, evolved with an energy and strength, with a freedom and boldness of outline, which will probably forever stamp them with the seal of unapproachable excellence !"

Dr. Drake thus designates SHAKSPEARE's writings in general:

"By embracing in one view the whole of the chequered scene of human existence, , its joys and sorrows, its perpetually shifting circumstances and relations, and by blending these into one harmoe. nious picture, SHAKSPEARE has achieved a work to which the ancient world had nothing similar; and which, of all the efforts of human genius, demands perhaps the widest and profoundest of intellect! It demands a knowledge of Man, both

as a genus and a species of Man as acting from himself, and of Man in society under all aspects and revolutions; it demands a knowledge of what has influenced and modified his character from the earliest dawn of record; and above all, it demands a conversancy of the most intimate kind with his constitution, moral, intellectual, and religious ; so, that in detaching a portion of history for the purpose of dramatic composition, The PhilosoPHER shall be as discernible in the execution, as The Poet. Were we to lengthen this summary by any dissertation on the morality of our Author's dramait might justly be considered as a work of supererogation. So completely indeed does this, the most valuable result of composition, pervade every portion of his dramatic writings, that we can scarcely open a page of his best plays, without being forcibly struck by its lessons of virtue and utility; such as are applicable not only to extraordinary occasions, but to the common business and routine of LIFE; and such as, while they must make EVERY INDIVIDUAL better acquainted with his own nature and conditional destiny, are calculated beyond any other productions of unrevealed wisdom, to improve that nature, and to render that destiny more happy and exalted."

And as to the faults imputed to the writings of SHAKSPEARE, Dr. Drake remarks :

“Still less is it necessary to comment on the faults of SHAKSPEARE, for they lie immediately

on the surface. When we add that some coa rseness and indelicacies, which, however, as they excite no passion, and flatter no vice, are, in a moral light, not injurious; some instances of an injudicious play on words, and a few violations not of essential, but merely of technical costume, form their chief amount: no little surprise it is possible may be excited, but let us recollect that many of the defects which prejudice has attributed to SHAKSPEARE have, on being duly weighed and investigated, assumed the character of positive excellencies. Among these, for example, it will be sufficient to mention the composite, or mixed nature of his drama, and his general neglect of the unities of time and place; features in the conduct of his plays which, though they have for a long periodi heaped upon his head a torrent of contemptuous abuse, are at length acknowledged to have laid the: foundation, and to have furnished the noblest model of a dramatic literature, in its principles and spirit infinitely more profound and comprehensive, than that which has descended to us from the shores of Greece !"

After perusing such a character of SHAKSPEARE and his Writings, it is difficult to add any thing more impressive. Well may we exclaim with a youthful post

O, mighty Bard! thy magic lyre,

Bears the listening soul away;
Thy potent, spell-like verse of fire ;

With love can melt, with fear dismay..

"Tis thine, with pencil just and warm,
With Nature's glowing tints to charm,
Richly to paint the feeling heart,
And Passion's shade and light impart.
While, as we view thy varied scene,
With kindred forms our fancies teem;
Till all without begins to fade,
Like summer clouds in ev'ning shade;
And bright before our wond'ring eyes,

We mark THE VIVID PICTURE rise !* The following familiar enumeration of the serious and grotesque characters oocurring in the plays of SHAKSPEARE, is curious, and may be-new to the generality of my readers. I met with it many years ago at Edinburgh, in a periodical publication published there by Dr. Anderson, under the title of the Bee. The work has become very scarce; and! I procured a copy of it with difficulty. The lines, though anonymous, are evidently penned by a true lover of SHAKSPEARE, and an adept in his writings. To the young reader the delineation' will possess the recommendation of novelty

Whoe'er attempts like SHAKSPEARE to compose,
Shall certainly his time and labour lose; .
Like those unwary fops, who once we know?
Essay'd to bend their absent monarch's bow..
This mighty Poet every key can hit,
Rise in the hero, rally in the wit ;
Each various particle of Man has read,
From the proud palace to the peaceful shed:

* See The Recluse of the Pyrenees, in Two Cantos; a pleasing poem, inscribed to his Royal Highness PRINCE LEOPOLD : and bearing some allusions to a late melancholy event.

And still the passing scene supports so well,
You think 'tis there his talent must excel!
When the wrong'd Moor invokes his murder'd wife,
When doughty Falstaff runs to save his life;
When honest Brutus pleads the cause of Rome,
And midnight hags foretell Macbeth his doom;
When lively Benedict at marriage sneers,
And poor Ophelia fills your eyes with tears;
When simple Timon finds himself too fond,
And Shylock claims the forfeit of his bond;
When moralizing JAQUES sends forth a sigh,
And gay Mercutio lets his sallies fly;
Desdemona recites her virgin vows,

And arch Petruchio'tames his rampant spouse;
When bloody Richard trembles at his dreams,
And Wolsey reads the wreck of all his schemes;
When John would hint what Hubert should perform,
And houseless Lear raves amidst the storm;
In what a blaze of eloquence he shines!
How Reason opens, how the heart refines!
When Antony, with more than magic skill,
Compels the mob to weep o'er CESAR's will;
When the proud Welshman by his ally crost,
Of spells and prodigies pretends to boast;
The sword of Douglas vindicates his name,
And dying Warwick points the path to fame!
In every page we never fail to find

Inimitable pictures of mankind

When Quickly's rambling tongue attempts to say
How false Sir John had fix'd their wedding day:
When the Old Ruffian in a strumpet's arms
On vice and folly squanders all his charms;
When Poins, and Harry, are compell'd to hear
What puppies in his judgment they appear;
When Hal's attack the bold dissembler turns,
And virtuous Tearsheet her plump pigeon spurns ;
Parolles braves the lash of public scorn,

And frantic Ford holds up the fancied horn ;