Return, forgetful Muse, and straight redeem Son. 100. From the expressions " old rhyme," and " antique pen," in the extract which we are about to quote, it is highly probable that our bard alluded to Chaucer, certainly before his own appearance the greatest poet that England had produced. The chivalric picture in the first quatrain, is peculiarly interesting, and the cadence of the metre is harmony itself: "When, in the chronicle of wasted time, Son. 106. It is a striking proof of the poetical inferiority of the few sonnets which Shakspeare has addressed to his mistress, that we find it difficult to select more than one passage from them which does honour to his memory. Of this, however, it will be allowed, that the comparison is happy, the rhythm pleasing, and the expression clear: " And truly not the morning sun of heaven Son. 132. In order, however, to judge satisfactorily of the merit of these poems, it will, no doubt, be deemed necessary by the reader, that a few entire sonnets be presented to his notice; for, though the passages just quoted, as well as numerous others which might be given, have a decided claim upon our approbation, yet, the sonnet being a course, be required, that all its aiue. That this is not always the our author, will be inferred from the wested; but that it is so in very many mes, and will, indeed, be proved by the pedantry being the general characteristic wism must declare, that more frequent ad nervous diction are to be culled from datong the sonnets of any of his contemd, is given, not as a solitary proof, merous class of Shakspearean sonnets; a nether in this instance, nor in many others, won, language, or thought, the smallest ons or adectation or conceit : af styles and wenderness of sentiment, form the sole Natures of this sonnet but in the next, with an equal chastity of deelen are combined more energy and dignity, together with the PARA PRO sppropriate imagery. It must also be And structure of the verse are singularly Of a lighter though more glowing cast of poetry, both in expression and imagination, but with a slight blemish, arising from the pharmaceutical allusion in the last line, is the sonnet which we are about to quote. A trifling inaccuracy with respect to the colour of the cynorhodon, or canker-rose, afforded Mr. Steevens a pretext for the splenetic interrogation which has been recorded by us with due censure. It is somewhat strange that the beauties of the poem could not disarm the prejudices of the critic: "O How much more doth beauty beauteous seem, They live unwoo'd, and unrespected fade; Son. 54. In spirit, however, in elegance, in the skill and texture of its modulation, and beyond all, in the dignified and highly poetical Gose of the third quatrain. no one of our author's sonnets excels the twenty-ninth. The ascent of the tari, was a favourite subject o contemplation with the poeti WHEN in disgrace with fortune and meas ever. I al alone beweep my outcast state. It is, time, however, to terminate these transcriptions, which have been already sufficiently numerous to enable the reader to form an estimate of the poet's merit in the difficult task of sonnet-writing. That many more might be brought forward, of equal value with those which we have selected, will be allowed perhaps when we state, that in the specimens of Mr. Ellis, the Petrarca of Mr. Henderson, and the Laura of Mr. Lofft, eleven have been chosen, of which, we find upon reference, only one among the four just now adduced. The last production in the minor poems of Shakspeare, is A LOVER'S COMPLAINT, in which a forlorn damsel, seduced and deserted. relates the history of her sorrows to " A reverend man that graz'd his cattle nigh." It is written in stanzas of seven lines; the first and third, and the second, fourth, and fifth, rhiming to each other, while the sixth and seventh form a couplet; an arrangement exactly similar to the stanza of the Rape of Lucrece. Like many of our author's smaller pieces, it is too fill of imagery and allusion, but has several passages of great beauty and force. In the description which this forsaken fair one gives of the person and qualities of her lover, the following lines will be acknowledged to possess considerable excellence : " His browny locks did hang in crooked curls, His qualities were beauteous as his form, When winds breathe sweet, unruly though they be. His real habitude gave life and grace These, and every other portion of the poem, however, are eclipsed by a subsequent part of the same picture, in which, as Mr. Steevens well remarks, the poet "has accidentally delineated his own character as a dramatist." * So applicable, indeed, did the passage appear to us, as a forcible though rapid sketch of the more prominent features of the author's own genius, and of his universal influence over the human mind, that we have selected it as a motto for the second volume of this work: "On the tip of his subduing tongue That he did in the general bosom reign The address which the injured mistress puts into the mouth of her * Malone's Supplement, vol. i. p. 748. note. м 2 |