Virginia free press. (Charlestown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1832-1916, 1895-04-03

forms of love and awe.
fle lived by the mysterious Nile, amid
the vast and monsirous. He knew the
very thought that wrought the form and
features of the Sphynx. He heard great
Memnon's morning song when marble lips
were smiiten by the sun, and laid him
down with the embalmed aud waiting dead,
and felt within their dust the expectation
Of another life, mingled with cold and
suffering doubts-the children born of
long delay.
He walked the ways of mighty Rome
and saw great Cesar with bis legions in
the field. He stood with vast and motley
throngs and watched the tr'umphs given
to victorious men, followed by uncrowned
kings, the captured hosts and all the spoils
of ruthless war. He heard the shout that
shook the Coiseum's roofess walls, when
from the reeling gladiator's hand the
short sword fell, while from his bosom
gushed the stream Of life.
He lived the life Of savage men he
trod the forests silent depths, and in the
desperate game of life or death he match
his thought against the instinct of the
beast.
He knew all crimes and all regrets, all
virtues and their rewards He was victim
and victor pursuer and pursued, outcast
and king. He heard the applause and
curses of the world, and on his heart had
fallen all the nights and moons of failure
and success.
He knew the unspoken thoughts, the
dumb desires. the wants and ways OF
beasts he felt the crouching tigers thrill,
the terror of the ambushed prey, and with
the eagles he had shared the ecstacy of
flight and poise and swoop, and he had
lain with sluggish serpents on the barren
rocks uncoiling slowly in the heart of noon.
He sat beneath the bo-tree' contempla-
tive shade, wrapped in lIuddhas mighty
thought, and dreamed all dreams that
light, the alchemist, has wrought from
dust and dew, and stored within the slum
brous poppy's subtle blood.
He knelt with awe and dread at every
shrine-he offered every sacrifice and ev-
cry prayer-fet the consolation and the
shuddering fear-mocked and worsbiped
all the gods-enjoyed all heavens, and felt
the pangs of every hell.
He lived all lives, and through his blood
and brain there crept the shadow and the
chill of every death, and his soul, like
Mazeppa, was lashed naked to the wild
horse of every fear and love and hate.
The Imagination had stage in Shakes
peare's brain, whereon sat all scenes that
lie between the morn of laughter and the
night of tears, and where his players bod
led forth the false and true, the Joys and
griefs, the careless shadows and the tragic
deeps of universal life.
From Shakespeare's brain there poured
Niagara of gems spanned by fancy's
seven. hued arch. He was as many-sided
{ as clouds are many formed. To him Civ
ing was boarding, sowing was harvest, and
waste itself the source of wealth. Within
J his marvellous mind were the fruits Of all
: thought passed, the seeds of all to be-
As drop of dew contains the image Of
: the earth and sky so all there Is of life
: was mirrored forth in Shakespeare
r brain.
Shakespeare was an intellectual ocean
E whose waves touched all the shores o
+ thought; within which were all the tide
, and waves of destiny and will owe
7 which swept all the storms of fate, ambi
5 ton and revenge upon which fell tn
, gloom and darkness of despair and death
D and all the sunlight Of content and love
r and within was the inverted sky, lit will
e the eternal stars. Shakespeare was al
intellectual ocean, toward which all river
ran. and from which now the isles an
continents of thought receive their de'
r and rain.
2 Confidential Adrice