Views from his lofty summit, clothed with light, The vale, where linger still the shades of night. His mighty genius, with the lightning's force, All opposition shivers in its course ; 'Mid Thunders doth its giant task perform, And beams most vivid in the blackest storm. On "evil days," though fallen, and sceptred foes, Still in itself its rich reward can find. Though friends prove false, he to himself is true, Prepared alike to suffer, as to do. Kings, in his presence, drop their haughty style, Return improved, who came but to revile; It has been recorded, and it is thought with truth, that James the second, when Duke of York, honoured Milton with a visit in his obscurity. It is admitted that Milton sacrificed his eyes, which were weak and inflamed, to his unremittiug exertions in preparing his answer to Salmasius. The contracted and illiberal spirit of James, induced him to glance at this circumstance, in his interview with Milton; he went so far as to construe his blindness into a judgment of Providence. To an insinuation so replete with bigotry, and meanness, we are informed that the Poet made a reply as dignified and spirited, as the remark which produced it was vile and contemptible; "Before your Royal Highness pursues such a principle too far, ! Thus clouds, that would obscure the Lord of Day, No trodden track the Bard's adventurous feet Directs, to scale proud Wisdom's highest seat! His iron pen graves in the Dome of Fame On rock unhewn of Adamant-a name; it were prudent to reflect where it will lead you; if I am to attribute the loss of mine eyes to any sins which I may have committed, of what crimes must he have been guilty who has lost his head? To the credit of James, it is said, that he was so struck with the magnanimity of the Poet, that he returned with a more enlightened spirit than he came. + Cui in memoria, totus Orbis ; in intellectu, Sapientia ; in voluntate, ardor gloriæ; in ore, eloquentia; harmonicos cœlestium sphærarum sonitus audienti; characteres mirabilium naturæ, Magistrâ Philosophiâ legenti; antiquitatum latebras, vetustatis excidia, eruditionis ambages, exquirenti, percurrenti; illi in cujus virtutibus evulgandis, nec ora famæ, nec hominum stupor iu laudandis, sufficiant." A single name-but in itself a Host! Great Shakespeare! the World's wonder, Albion's boast! I am aware that Shakespeare is not duly appreciated, on the continent. But I call him the wonder of the World, in the spirit of Prophecy! "Tu Marcellus eris." If we might be allowed to hope the realization of the splendid theory of Bishop Wilkins, concerning A Universal Language, there are cir cumstances on which to ground the presumption, that such a Language would be the English. The unquestioned preeminence of our writers, on every subject, a truth admitted by the best informed, even of the French, has already made the English tongue the language of the literary world. Our naval superiority, so decided and brilliant, hath made it the language of Commerce, and wafted, it as it were upon the wings of the wind, to every region under heaven. Peculiar dispensations of Providence, have fixed it on a rock, and conferred upon it a vigorous and youthful revivescence, by allotting it a rising and extensive Empire, in the most flourishing provinces of the Western Hemisphere. I anticipate the time when the genius of North America shall penetrate the Isthmus of Darien ; when by the powerful ascendancy of her arts and her arms, she shall subjugate unto herself the whole of the Southern Peninsula, and make the British language the vernacular tongue of the Transatlantic World. In short, if we reflect on the present situation of the habitable parts of the Globe, if we consider what nation it is that hath peopled New Holland; who it is that holds the keys of the Eastern and Western Indies; and hath swept the flag of France from the Ocean; we shall acquire fresh evidence for the probability of that glorious event, the universal extension of the English Tongue ! Mirror of Universal Nature !-She More lovely seems; reflected back by thee! Skies dear no more their Shakspeare was on Both claimed thy heart, their sole peculiar care, Ophelia's beauty, heightened by her tears! All that thou hast attempted, All approve! Delighted still, shouldst thou conduct, we rove Where clangs the trump of war, or breathes the lute of love! Hear frenzied Richard sleep invoke, in vain, It is well known that * In the Merry Wives of Windsor. this play was written at the request of Queen Elizabeth, who expressed an ardent desire to see Falstaff in love. Our immor tal Bard has contrived to gratify the wish of his Royal Mistress, without sacrificing the consistency of Falstaff's character. M m All own the wit that could their Prince enthral, And mixed emotions mark the curtain's fall. O wondrous grasp of mind, at once t' embrace With strength of Eschylus, Menander's grace; With Otway's tragic pathos, to combine All Congreve's wit, and Jonson's force divine! Till sink th' unconquered. Brave* and Britain weeps! Shakspeare knew, although Elizabeth did not, that love was a passion too refined for Falstaff to entertain. He therefore very properly exhibits the Knight, as the dupe of a mercenary and sensual appetite; such an appetite being the nearest approximation to love, compatible with so gross a mind. * I allude to the loss of the St. George, the Defence, and the Hero. It is some cousolation, to have it now ascertained, that this melancholy event must be attributed to causes, which no human foresight could prevent, and no human exertions overcome. |