Worcester daily spy. [volume] (Worcester [Mass.]) 1850-1888, 1872-05-25
MR.. BRYANr's GRAFTON.

len bryant delivered the following address:
We have come together, my friends, for the
| purpose of celebrating the erection of a statue
10 one of the most wonderful men that ever
| lived; genius great, far beyond all ordinary
greatness, and destined to hold the admiration
| of mankind, through century after century. in
| the ages vet 10 come.
| In part of this republic which within few
| years past, has been added to our Union, living
between the Rocky Mountains and the western
sea, are vet standing 4 few groves of peculiar
| kind OF tree, prodgious in height and bulk, and
| seemingly produced by nature 10 show mankind
| TO what size tree can attain in a favorable soil
| and con9enial climate, with no enemy 10 lay
| the axe at its root. The earth, in its most fer
| tile spots, in its oldest forests, and under its
| mdeSt skies has nothing like them-no stems
| of such vast dimensions, no suBmits towering
| so high and casting their shadows so far, put
| ting forth their new leaves and ripening their
| seed vessels in the region OF the clouds. The
| traveller who enters these mighty groves almost
| expects to see some huge son of Anak stalking
| in the broad alleys between their gigantic
trunks, or some mammoth or mastodOn brows-
ing on the lower branches.
So is it with those great minds which the
| Maker of all sometimes sends upon the earth
| and among mankind, as ii to show US of what
| vast enlargement the faculties of the human in
| telect are capable, if but rarely in this stage of
our being, yet at least in that which follows the
| present life, when the imperlections and infrm-
| tiles of the material frame, which is now the
| dwelling of the spirit, shall neither clog its mo-
lions nor keep back its growth. Such a great
| mind was that of Shakespeare. An imagination
| so creative, a reason so vigorous, a wisdom so
| clear and comprehensive, taking views of life
| and character and duty so broad and lust aud
| true, a spirit so fiery and at the same time so
| gentle, such acuteness of observation and such
| power of presenting to other minds what is OBJ
| serA ed-such 4 combination of Qualities seems
| to afford us as we contemplate it, glimpse of
| what, in certain respects, the immortal part of
| man shall be- when every cause that dims its
vision or weakens its energy or letters its activ-
ity or checks its expansion shall he wholly done
| away, and that subtler essence shall be left to
| the full and free exercise of the powers with
| which God endowed it.
| 1t has occurred to me, in thinking what |
shall say at this time, that the writings of Shake
| speare contain proofs that if he had but given
| his attention TO the work of preparing for use.
| fulncss and distinction in other pursuits than
| that in which he acquired his fame, he miaht
have achieved in some of them reno n almost
equal to that which attends his dramatic
writings. The dramatic poet who puts into the
mouths of perSonages whom he would represent
as great beyond the common stature of great
ness words and sentiments corresponding to
their exalted character, must, in order 10 do
this, possess an intellectual character some
what like theirs, must in some sort partake of
their greatness | wonder not, therefore that
some who have insisted that Shakespeare dld
not write the plays attributed to him should,
in searching for the true author, have fixed up-
may be plauslbly referred to the father OF mod
ern philosophy and the most profound lurist of
his age. | do not accept their theory, but saw
10 myself when | read what they have quoted
from his writings in support OF it, what a
giant AMONG philosophers was lost in This dra-
matte poet; what an able jurist and legislator
allowed the faculties which would have made
him such TO Sum0er while he employed himself
10 wilmington the Stage!
So, when | read the passages gathered from
his PLAYS 10 show that Shakespeare anticipated
Harvey IN his knowledge of the circulation of
the blood in its channels through the animal |
frame, my reflection is that here was an en-
bryo physiologISt endowed beyond his fellow
men with an instructive perception of the ins |
terror mechanism of the human body, and the |
power of detecting its subtle workings hidden |
from man for century after century from the
birth of our species Not the less nay, perhaps
still more remarkable, was the Insight OF
Shakespeare into the different, even the most
subtle, forms of mental distemperature-an in
sight shown in his p0rtraiture of the madness |
Of Hamlet, that OF Ophea and that of King |
Lear, all how distinctly drawn, yet each |
how diverse from the OiheTSI What d |
physician might he not have made to an iu- |
sane asvluml How tenderly and how wisely |
might he not have minStered to the mind dis |
eased-he who so shrewdy traced its wander |
ings and was so touched with feeling of its |
intirmitiesl How gently might he not have |
led it away from its illusions and guided it back
TO sanity!
Moreover, if ShakespeareIhad worn the clerical
gown, what Il preacher of Righteousness he |
would have become, and how admirably and
impreSsively he would have enforced the lessons |
of human life-he who put into the mouth of
Cardinal Wolsey the pathetic words:
''Had but served my God with half the zeal
served my king, he would not in mine age
Have left me naked to mine enemies"
| am sure that if those who deny to Shakes |
peare the credit OF writing his own dramas had |
thought of ascribing them to the udicons |
Hooker or the piOus Bishop Andrews instead of
Lord Bacon, they might have made specious
show of proof by carefully culled extracts from
his writings. Nay il Jeremy Taylor whose prose |
is so full of poetry, had not been born genera
ton too late would engage, in the same way,
TO put plausible face on the theory that the
plays OF Shakespeare, except, perhaps, some pas
| sages wickcdly interpoated, were composed by
| the eloquent and deVout author of "lIoly Living
| and Dying"
The fame Of our great dramatist fills the ciyi.
| lized world. Among the poets he is what the
cataract OF Niagara is among waterfalls As
those who cannot take the journey to Niagara
that they may behold its vast breadth of green
waters plunging from the lofty precipice into
the abyss below, content themselves with such
an idea of its majesty and beauty as they can
obtain from picture or an engraving, so those
who cannot enjoy the writings of Shakespeare
in the original English read him in translations
which have the effect of looking at a magnif- |
| cent landscape through morning mist. All
| languages have their versions OF Shakespeare
| The most eminent men of genius in Germany
| have been his translators or commentators In
| France they began by sneering at him with Vol
| taire, and they end by regarding him in d trans
| port of wonder with rane. He stands before
them like mighty mountain, filing with its
| vasmess half the heavens, its head in an eter-
| ually serene atmosphere, while ON its sides bur-
row the fox and the marmot, and tangled
thickets obstruct the steps of the climber The
french critic, while amazed at the grandeur and
i ria pI tic lns, l.rl,
attention to wander to the ant-heaps and mole.
hills scattered on its broad TANKS
10 the great chorus of admiration which rises
IRON all civilized nations, we this day add our
voices as we erect to the memory Of Shakes
peare, in land distant from that OF his birth
= yet echoing through its vast extent with the ae
| cents OF his mothertOngue, the eff ~ OF his
T., bodily form and features. Those who profess
, | 10 read in the aspcct of the individual the aual-
| tiles of his intellectual and moral character
have always delighted 10 trace in the face of
which we this day unve an image to the pub.
lie gaze, the manifest signs of his greatness.
Read what Layater wrote a hundred years since
and you shall see thai he discovers in this noble
5 | countenance promise of ali that the critic finds
: in his writings. Come down to the phrenologists
t of the present day, and they tell you of the
| visible indications of his hOundess invention
his universal sympathy, his lofty idealism his
| wit, his humor, his Imagination, and every
other faculty that conspired to produce his
matches works.
This counterfeit presentmeOt of the outward
form OF Shakespeare we Offer 10 day to the pub.
lie of New York as an ornament of the beautiful
pleasure ground in which they take so lust a
pride 1t has been cast in bronze, a material
| indestrnctibie by time, in the hope that per
| chance 1t may last as long as his writings, Iii
no6y executed by the artist and with a deep
=. feeling OF the greatness of his subject One
: profound regret sadleus tins eerenony-tbat
4 our friend Eackett, who was foremost in pro-
, curing this expression of our homage TO the
r memory OF Shakespeare, is not with us, but
e sleeps with the great author whose writings he
e loved aud studied and interpreted both to the
. ear and the eye,
/, The spot in which this statue Is placed viii
+ hencelorth be associated with numberless IDEAS
e and images called up to the mind of the visitor
| | by the name Of Shakespeare. TO all whose i'm
aginaton is easily kindled into activity it will
seem forever haunted by the persopages whom
he created and who live IN his dramas the grave
magician Frospero, and his smpe-hcaried
: daughter Miranda, and bis dainty spirit Ariel
the white-haired Lear and tho loving forlelia,
p the jealous Moor and the gentle nesdemona