greater or more glorious than that? The retirement of Shakspeare, must have been like the fabled retirement of Apollo, among the groves of the Graces and the Muses, for he was ever surrounded by them. His mind was an eternal and exhaustless spring. At the touch of his magic wand, life presented itself before him in all its countless and endless varieties. His temper was of so sweet, placid and harmonious a turn, that, during the whole progress of his life, he appears never to have made an enemy, or lost a friend. His wit, and diversity of fancy, as exhibited in his conversations, are said to have been unequalled. And at the famous retreat of the Mermaid, and the Boar's head, where Jonson, and Donne, and Selden, and Beaumont, and Fletcher assembled, although there were men among them more famous for their book learning, he stood unrivalled, for his knowledge and exposition of the springs of human nature; and made them, without effort, all tributary to himself.

In person, he is described as a handsome well shaped man, although intellectual effort is said to have performed the work of time upon him, and "delved the parallels" in his expansive brow; if the busts which have been handed down to us, bear true denotement of the original, the casket was

not unworthy of the jewel it contained. It is impossible to contemplate the spirit, the play and sympathy of feature; the lofty and broad forehead; the beautifully chiselled mouth; the general intellectual manifestations, without entertaining the desire that the portrait should resemble the prototype. Milton is said to have been eminently handsome in his youth. But certainly there is no comparison between the alleged resemblances of Milton, and those of our immortal Bard.

With all his immense genius, added to all his harmonious structure of temper, it must nevertheless be apparent to every one who is familiar with the general current of his life, that in his conjugal relation, at least, he was far, very far, from enjoy ing that felicity which would seem to have been the just reward of a character so truly estimable and glorious. This may not have been ascribable entirely to his wife; for it is a little surprising that the greatest Poets, that English history embraces, have been comparatively wretched in their matrimonial alliances. This is a matter of notoriety in regard to Milton. But still it is not so remarkable in relation to him, he being a man of rigid and austere habits, as in respect to Shakspeare, who seems to have been beloved wherever he was

known. No one of the productions of Shakspeare appears to have been written at Stratford, although that rural and delightful retreat might seem to have been more favorable to the influence of the Muses. They are sometimes, however, jealous mistresses; and although there may have been little of the character in the wife of the poet to excite their ire, it does not follow that the converse of the proposition would be equally true.

In the general, poets, who deal with the ideal world, are perhaps not the best adapted to the enjoyment of domestic happiness, or the every day scenes of ordinary life. They can command at will all that is beautiful-all that is sublime-all that is attractive-by the exercise of the potent spell of the imagination; and, by the same spell, they can exclude from their companionship, and from their society, every thing that may be calculated to disturb or annoy them. In this habitual ideal indulgence, the sensibilities and the desires of life become refined, and at length they are rendered totally incompetent for the enjoyment of the grosser scenes, by which they are surrounded. I would not have it understood, however, that such was the character of Shakspeare. His great worth seemed to depend upon an extensive and almost in

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tuitive knowledge of human nature. There's nothing in his productions either over done or come tardy of. His domestic dessension, therefore, may perhaps rather be ascribed to the influence of earlp misfortunes, upon his subsequent career in life.— Driven from his home, into such a metropolis as London, but a few years after his marriage; compelled to remain abroad, by the hard hand of a vexatious need; permitted to revisit those scenes whence all the virtues of social life seemed to spring

-at the most, but once in a year; continuing in hist absence for nearly twenty years; and forming, no doubt, associations rather through constraint, than inclination, which were inimical to domestic peace; it can hardly be supposed, although he manifested strongly the desire, to seclude himself within the bosom of his family, where, to use his own language, "Either he must live, or have no life," that hẹ bore with him such associations, and such reflections, as were calculated to render that desire available.

But three years after his return, on the very day on which he attained his fifty second year, and on the same day on which died the great Cervantes, so far as regarded the body, the worldly career of Shakspeare was terminated. His will, which was written

in perfect health, and in the full possession of those faculties, which have enriched the world, was executed about a month before his decease. He passed from the stage of life, for aught that we can learn from history, unwept, unhonored, and unmourned. To strike his works from the literature of nations, for they are now the property of all nations, would create a gap in the intellectual enjoyments of life, which perhaps nothing could supply. And yet all that belonged to Shakspeare, at that time, seemed to be deposited in the narrow house which is appointed for all living, and covered by that plain marble slab, which gave but little other denotement of its immortal tenant, than his name.

I have thus, in a very hasty, and I fear unsatisfactory manner, traced the immortal Bard from his cradle to his grave. It is manifest that, so far as the details of his life are dependent upon facts, either derived from his biographers, or tradition, the materials supplied are exceedingly limited and imperfect. Indeed even if the opportunities of information were greater, it is much to be doubted whether they would be more fruitful. His life at last, so far as regards moral or intellectual indications, (and they may be said to constitute the valuable portions of the life of every man), could, in