While, as we view thy varied scene, Like summer clouds in ev’ning shade; We mark THE VIVID PICTURE rise * ! The following familiar enumeration of the serious and grotesque characters occurring 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, You think 'tis there his talent must excel! * 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. When honest Brutus pleads the cause of Rome, And arch Petruchio tames his rampant spouse; Inimitable pictures of mankind When Quickly's rambling tongue attempts to say What varied features does his pencil yield! The shrew'd Poltroon, with blows compell'd to speak; The forward, gay, facetious, good Old Man; The modest, eloquent, unhappy Maid, The pleasing Coxcomb by his chat betray'd; The Blockhead's ignorance, the Mother's pangs, The Monk's chill comfort, the State-quack's harangues! Each chaste original arrests our eyes; A burst so splendid dazzles human thought, The literary colossus, Dr. Samuel Johnson, wrote a prologue on the revival of some of the plays of SHAKSPEARE, in which occur the subsequent lines; pregnant with the fire of genius, and vividly descriptive of his subject: When Learning's triumph o'er her barbarous foes Each change of many-coloured life he drew, The inventive faculty of the Poet is here masterly pourtrayed. It is this supereminent trait that pervades all his writings; striking the minds of his contemporaries, and kindling a spirit of admiration in the breasts of posterity. Nor must I forget to notice the monument of SHAKSPEARE, and the commemorative Jubilee held under the auspices of Garrick, at Stratford In the year 1740, a monument was erected to the memory of SHAKSPEARE, at the public expense in Westminster Abbey, ample contribution being made for this purpose upon the exhibition of Julius Cæsar, on the 28th of April, 1738, at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. The trustees for the public on this occasion were the Earl of Burlington, Dr. Richard Mead, Mr. Alexander Pope, and Mr. Charles Fleetwood. The monument was designed by Kent, and executed by Scheemakers.. SHAKSPEARE is represented in the dress of his time in white marble, at full length, leaning a little on his right arm, which is supported by a pedestal. At the bottom hangs a scroll inscribed with the following truly sublime lines from THE TEMPEST: The cloud-capp'd towers, the gorgeous palaces, Above his head behind there is a fixed plate of curious granite marble, on which is this inscription in raised letters of brass, richly gilt: Gulielmo Shakspeare anno post mortem CXXIV. Amor publicus posuit. To WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE the public love hath raised this monument, in the 124th year after his decease. A neat model of this monument is seen adorning our habitations. Mr. DAVID GARRICK, in September, 1769, instituted the Jubilee of SHAKSPEARE, at Stratford. An amphitheatre was erected upon the plan of Ranelagh, decorated with various devices. Transparencies were invented for the town house, through which the Poet's most striking characters were seen. The small old house where SHAKSPEARE was born was covered over with a curiousemblematical transparency; the subject was THE SUN struggling through clouds to enlighten the world, a figurative representation of the fate and fortunes of the much-beloved Bard! The JUBILEE lasted three days; during which time entertainments of oratorios, concerts, pageants, fireworks, &c. were presented to a brilliant and numerous company, assembled from all parts of the kingdom. Many persons of the highest quality, of both sexes, some of the most celebrated beauties of the age, and men distinguished for their genius and love of the elegant arts, thought themselves happy to fill the grand chorus of this high festival. No company so various in character, temper, and condition, ever formed, at least in appearance, such an agreeable group of happy and congenial souls. Mr. |