Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1864-04-23
THE CITY.
sHAKsPEARE.
The Three Hundrcdth An1kivcrsnry
of the Birth Of the Greatcst Poet
or the ---Terccntenary
~. Celebration.


Three hundred years ago to-day, In the
quaint little English town of Stratford-
upon-Avon, was born the greatest poet of
all time-WMLIAM SHAKESPEARE. Three
centuries have but added to his fame and
illuminated his genius. One hundred
years after his birth his name was still
but little known; at the end Of the second
century his fame had not reached its cul-
mination; now, at the end of the third CEN
tury, his genius is acknowledged wherever
letters are known, and Its emanations are
the household words of the civilized world.
In the centuries gone by learning was con-
fined to a comparatively small circle; the
critics were an exclusive class, and gave
preference to more classic, more frigid, and
more artificial verse than that of Shaks-
peare; but as education spread to all classes
and reading became a universal, instead Of
an aristocratic amusement, the genius Of
the bard of nature began to shine with a
brilliancy which rendered that of all other
authors obscure and pale. "One touch OF
nature makes the whole world kim" Shaks-
peare was the poet of nature, and mankind
fraternized in their admiration of him.
His genius touched and sparkled over
everything in nature and in art. No sub
ject was novel to him, no theme above his
talent. He put more eloquence into Ceasar's
or Mark Anthony's mouth than the heroes
were capable of in life; more wisdom in
the tongues of statesmen than they dream
ed of more wit on the lips of fool than the
wittiest man ever conceived, and he origi-
mated better fancies than all the writers
since his time have been able to work out.
There have been less than half dozen clear
cases of genius in the history Of the world
Shakespeare Is one of them, and the clear
est. What adds to the interest Of the man
is the obscurity that surrounds his life.-
Though gifted with genius which was
divine, he appears to have been utterly un-
conscious of the fact, and certainly never
dreamed of the immortality that awaited
him. In all his writings there is not the re-
motest allusion to Understanding in
striking contrast with those who followed
him, for since his time but few authors have
finished one production without exposing
their egotlsm.
This day is the first centenary anniversa-
ry in which the whole world seems to have
united in admiration and love for its great
est bard, and no scholar can contemplate 1t
without rejecting that 1t Is an occasion of
beautiful and significant interest. Nor has
the significance Of the day been unheeded,
for in all lands, and in almost every city,
preparations have been made to celebrate
the anniversary In becoming manner. In
England the celebration will be universal
and in many places magnificent, notwith-
standing the small literdti of the day there
have seized the opportunity to indulge in
an unbecoming quarrel on the subject
In France, and in Germany, the day will
also be celebrated. In the great cities of
America preparations have been made to
signalize to posterity this great event and
in New York they propose to inaugurate
on the occasion some artistic and enduring
memorial of the poet "who was not for a
day but for all time" Here in Columbus,
the opportunity has been allowed to 60 by
neutrality-suspicious., butnot without notice,
for we call upon all the lovers of the dear
old bard to turn over few Of his inspired
pages, and reflect that this day is the three
hundredth anniversary of the writer and
that what they read is immortal.