The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1916-04-16
The All Embracing Shake
Speare
D. WILLIAM HAZLITT.
TIE striking popularity OF Shake
speare's mind was its generic quail
u ity. its power of communication will,

ity, its power of communication with
all other minds so that II contained
. universe Of thought and feeling within
atseu. and had no one peculiar bias. or ex-
elusive excellence more than another. III
was Just like any other man, but that he
wa like all other men.
He was the least If an erotis, thu, :, ua,
possible 10 De- He was nothing in himself.
but ne was all that others were mr. ,b,,
tney could become. He not only had in
himself the germs Of every faculty and
FEELING. but he could follow them by an
ucfpation, intuitiveS. into All their con.
ceivable qualifications, through every
change OF fortune or conflict of passion. or
turn of thought. He had a mind reflect
ms ages past and present-all the people
that ever lived are there.
There was no respect Of persons wi.h
him. His genius shone equally ON the OWL
ana on the good, on the wise and on Tic
too'ish' the monarch and the beggar: "Ali
corners Of the earth. kings, queens And
states. mai 5, ndtr rs. nay, me secrets {
tn grave are hardly hid from his search
Ing glance. He was like the gcnius If
humanity. changing places with all Of us
at pleasure and playing with our purposes
az WIN ms own He turned the globe round
Tor his amusement. ANA surveyed the gem
erations az men. and the individuals us
they passed. with their different, concerns
passions, follies. vices, virtues. actions and
motiVes-as well those that they knew, AS
those which they did not know or acknowl-
edge to themselves.
The dreams of childhood. the ravings OF
despair were the toys of his fancy. Airy
beings waited at his call and cume at his
bidding. Harmless fairies nodded to h.ir
ana did him Courtesies." and the night lag
bestrode the blast at the command of his
% potent art" The world OF spirits lay
open to him, like The world of real men
ana women; and there is the same truth
IN his delineations Of the one as Of ,'.e
other: for II the preternatural chsracte's
no describes could be supposed To eXis.
they would speak and feel and act as he
makes them.
He had only to think OF anything in
ordeF to become that thing, with all the
circumstance belonging to ii. When he
conceived OF a character, whether real or
imaginary. he not only entered into all its
thoughts and feelings but seemed instantly.
and a. II by touching a secret spring, to
Do surrounded with all the same objects,
subject to the same skyey Influences" the
same local. utward and unforeseen acci-
dents which would occur in reality. Thus
the character of Caliban not only stands
before US with q language and manners Of
it, own, but the scenery and situation OF
the enchanted island he inhabits, the tradi-
00D OF the place, its strange noises, it's
hidden r~ecesses. his frequent haunts and
ancient neighbOrhood," are given with a
miraculous truth of nature, and with all
the familiarity Of an old recollection. The
whole "cOheres semblably together" in
time, place. and circumstances
In reading this author you do not merely
learn what his characters say-you see
their persons. By something expressed or
understood, you are at no loss to decipher
their peculiar physiognomy, the meaning of
. look, the grouping, the by-play. as We
might see 1t on the stage. A word, an cpl
thet paints a whole scene, or throws us
back whole years in the history of the per-
son represented. So Gas 1t has been in
g%eniously remarked) when Prospero de-
scribes himself as left alone in the boat
with his daughter, the epithet which he
applies to her, Me and thy crying self"
filings the imagination instantly back from
the grown woman to the helpless condition
OF infancy, and places the first and most
trying scene OF his misfortunes before us,
with all that he must have suffered in
the interval.
How well the silent anguish of Macdufr
In conveyed to the reader, by the friendly
expostulation of Malcolm-"What, man,
ne'er pull your hat upon your brows."
Again, Hamlet, in the scene with Rosen-
crantz and Guildenstern, somewhat abrupt
ly concludes his fine soliloquy on life by
saying, Man delights not me, nor woman
neither though ~ your smiles you seem
to say So" Which is explained by their
ansver-"My lord, we had no such STUFF
in our thoughts. But we smiled to think,
II you delight not In man, what lenten en-
tertainment the player shall receive from
you whom we met on the way"-as If while
HAmlet was making this speech, his two
old schooifellows from Wittenbcrg had been
really staAding by. and he had seen them
smiling by stealth, at the idea OF the
players crossing their minds.
1t In not "a combination and a form of
words. q set speech or two. a preconcerted
theory Of . character. that will do this:
but I'll the persons concerned must have
NesA present In the poets Imagination, az