The daily Madisonian. [volume] (Washington City [i.e. Washington, D.C.]) 1841-1845, 1845-02-07
AN ELOQUENT PASSAGE ON sHAKs.
PfsARE.
BY Lord JEFFREY.

Haslitt has acquitted himeIf ercellenty, partly In
the development Of he principal characters with
which Shakespeare has peoped the fances Of all Eng
sh readers but prnci pally we think IN the delicate
sensiblty with which be has traced and the natural
eloquence with which he has pointed out that fond
familiarity with beau iful forms and images, that
eternal recurrence TO what is sweet or majestic in the
simple aspects of naure that indeytructble love OF
flowers and odors, q nd dews and waters and soft
airs and sounds, and bright skies and woodland soil
tudes, and moonlight bowers which are the material
elements of poetry; nd that fine sense of their unde-
naole relation to mental emotion which is It's
and vIvfying soul and which, in the midst Of Shaks-
Peares most busy and arrocious scenes, falls like
CLEANS OF sunshine roclls and ruins; contrasting
with all that Is rugged and rfpusive, and reminding
US OF the existence of purer and brighter elements
which he alone has poun out fom the richness Of
bis own mind, without eiiou or restraint, and con-
trived to nterminge witt the play Of all the pas
SONS, and the vulgar course of this worlds Affairs
without deserving Tor instant the proper business
OF the scene OF appearing to pause digress, from
love OF ornament or neel of repose He alone who,
when the object requn es il, is always keen, and
worldly, and practical, nd who yet, without chang
ing ms hand, or stopping his course, scaers around
him. as he goes, all nds and shapes of sweetness
and conjures up lands capes of immortal fragrance
and freshness and Poop them with spirits glorious
aspect and attractive grace and is thousand tim es
more full of fancy and imagery, and splendor, than
those who, in pursuit of such entertainments, have
shrunk back from the deneation of character or
passion, and declined the discussion of human duties
and cares. More full Of wisdom and ridcule and
.agacity than all the morasts and satriss that ever
existed-he is more wild, airy, and inventive, and
more pathetic and fantastic, than all the poets of all
regions and ages the world and has all those ee-
menls so happily mixed up in him, and bears his
high faculties so temporarily, that the most severe
reader cannot complain of him for want of strength
or OF reasonnor the most sensitive for defect of or
nament or ingenuity. Everything in him is in I'M
measured abundance, and unequalled perfection-but
everything So balanced and kept in subordnaton as
not to jose or disturb take the place of another
The most exquisite poetical conceptions images and
descriptions, are given with such brevity and intro
duced with such skill las merely TO adorn, without
loading the sense they accompany Although his sails
are purple and perfumed and his prov of beaten gold
they wait him on his voyage, not less but rapid
ly and directly than If they had been composed of
baser materials. All his cxcellencies like those of
Nature herself, are thrown out together and, in.
stead of interfering with, support and recommend
each other His flowers not tied up in garlands,
nor his fruit crushed into baskets-but spring living
from the soil in all the dew and freshness of youth
while the graceful foliage in which they lurk and the
ample branches, the rough and vigorous stem, and
de'spreading roots on which they depend, are pre-
sent along with them, and share in their places the
equal care of their Creator"