The Sun.
London, England, 1864-04-25 00:00:00

of the immense power of Shakspere may be conceived
from the observation of Goethe, the great German poet,
who said that he thought that the reading of Shakspere
was most depressing to any one having a productive genius,
because he must despair of doing anything himself. (Hear,
hear.) Goethe meant thereby to say that this mighty
Shakspere, this wonderful and immeasurable genius, had
given to English poetry a variety such as no other litera-
ture had attained. One thing which Shakspere had ims
parted to the poetry of England was its entire reality,
enabling it to be free from that mere factitious character
such as was seen in the literature of foreign countries. The
poetry of England of each generation reflected the march of
that generation, and was the history of truth and of man-
kind. (Cheers.) This was the greatness of William Shak-
spere, that he was, above all, a really simple man, and the
only true record they had of him was in the great Spenser
"And he, the man whom" Nature's self had made,
To mock herself, and truth to imitate,
Our pleasant Will, ah I is dead of late."
That was the character he lest behind him, and Ben Jon•
son said,—
" I loved the man and do honour his memory, on this side
idolatry, as much as any ; he was indeed honest and of an
open and free nature."
_ _

This character and the intense reality of his productions
rendered his works as true to-day as they were 300 years
ago, and as they will be 300 years hence. (Cheers.) The
gentle loves of Romeo and and Juliet, and the passions dis-
played in the great tragedy of Lear were as true now as
yesterday, and politicians might learn in the tragedies of
Coriolanus and Julius Csesar, as in the Parliament of the
present day, true wisdom and politics. (Cheers.)
The toasts of the Poets of Ireland, Scotland, America,
and all nations were respectively given by Lord Wrottes-
ky, Sir E. Wilmot, Mr. Adderley, and Professor Leitner.

The next toast was " The Mayor and Corporation of
Stratford," in reply to which,
The Mayor of STRiTFORD (Mr. Flower), said that they
had done all they could to give England the opportunity of
paying homage to the memory of its greatest poet. (Cheers.)
They had had a most successful meeting that day for which
he thought that thanks were greatly due to their noble
eLlirman, and he trusted England would now do its duty
and asst tat the festival next week. (Loud cheers.)
..
The aseem,',ly then broke up at half-past 7 o'clock, the
Earl of Carlisle htling cordially cheered on the termination
of the proceedings.

At 9 o'clock there was a brilliant display of fireworks by
Mr. Darby in an open place adjoining tn.: town.
,Afternoon.
Sunday

In the Tercentenary Festival the Church tak,2B acon-
spicuous part. Two sermons to be preached, one b: the
Archbishop of Dublin, the other by the Bishop of St. Au--
daew's, were set down in the official programme among the
items of the week's occupation. The archbishop delivered
his discourse this morning before a congregation that filled
to overflowing the church of the Holy Trinity. His text
was taken from the Epistle of St. James, chap. i. v. 17—
"Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above,"
and his sermon was not only virtually but ostensibly an
elaborate eulogy of Shakspere, that lasted for nearly an
hour. The numerous attendance at the church was a satis-
factory proof that the Shaksperians had not forgotten the
Creator in the creature; and he proceeded to show how the
great creature of the festival had been a good gift, a real
blessing to Englishmen. There is no doubt that the sermon
when printed will be found fully worthy of a careful ana-
lysis. The Cathedral service was performed at Strai ford
Church, and the congregation did not leave till nearly two
o'clock. The Mayor and the other heads of the corpora-
tion as they left the sacred edifice were preceded by a mili-
tary band. A collection was made after the sermon, with
the offertory service, for raising contributions towards the
repair of the chancel.