pole-star of the moral world; and he may have fallen prostrate (who will say he did not?) before that august and adorable One, "whose blessed feet were nailed for our advantage on the bitter cross." There is one side of his character over which we love to linger,—the longer we linger, the deeper we love,— which is partly revealed by his works, but is conclusively established by his contemporaries. And that is his genial, generous, gentle nature;-no proud, pedantic fool was he-standing apart with dignified air and look of vain superiority, but mingling amongst his fellows as a man amongst men, unconscious of his greatness. We think that gentle Shakspere was of disposition too mild and generous, too full of the milk of human kindness, and too unconscious of his transcendent powers. He had, apparently, suffered grievous wrongs from the woman who was his wedded wife, through a friend whom he loved and trusted. And yet he seemed to have forgiven both, although the facts of his preferring the company of his daughter Susannah to that of his wife, and leaving to the latter his second best bed, show that she never regained his esteem and love. And although he had written "Dramas," which he could not but know were unmatched in the English language, we never hear a boasting word, and he left them in MS. in the hands of actors. Look well upon that countenance which all of you must have seen, and I think you must all admit that the opinion given by the most eminent sculptors and painters is just and true. The face of Shakspere, they say, indicates cheerfulness, good humour, suavity, benignity, and intelligence, Do not those fine lower features reveal warm and benevolent feelings, as distinctly as that magnificent forehead manifests high intellect. There are many authors whom we admire for their intellectual power, and reverence for their moral worth; but there are few whom we come to love with strong and enduring affection. We question if there is one along the wide range of authorship who has awakened such deep feelings of reverence and love as have been evoked by William Shakspere. When Shakspere was becoming known as an author, a person of the name of Green maliciously penned the following lines, evidently alluding to our poet:-"There is an upstart crow beautified with our feathers, that with his tigre's heart. wrapped in a player's hide, suppose that he is as well able to bombast out a blanke verse as the best of you; and being an absolute Johannes Factotum, is in his own conceit the only Shakescene in a country." We are told that Shakspere felt keenly the spiteful insinuation, and expressed somehow or another his displeasure. After the death of Green, a person of the name of Henry Chettle edited Green's works, and apologised for the insult given to Shakspere in words, which, when carefully considered along with Shakspere's recorded words, prove two things, viz., that Shakspere was very sensitive of praise or of blame; and secondly, that when known, he was much respected and beloved. [We are reluctantly under the necessity of deferring the publication of the remainder of this admirable essay on Shakspere till next month.] ALPENSTOCK; OR, A SWISS, ETC., RIDE AND RAMBLE OF A THOUSAND LEAGUES. Author of BY MR. WILLIAM HASWELL HILL, "A Nine Days' Ramble in the Lake District of England." [The substance of a double lecture recently delivered in Manchester. The travelling facilities, afforded by rail and wave, may induce some of our readers to follow the example of the intelligent narrator of these mountain rambles.] THE lecturer commenced by a confession that, for five years it had been an idiosyncrasy of his to visit the land of William Tell, to wander through its fair and fertile valleys, to scale its rugged heights, to penetrate its rocky fastnesses, to plunge into its gloomy and sombre forests, There, amid solitude and shade, to wander Through the green aisles; and, stretched upon the sod, The ways of God." Whilst patriotic to a degree, and giving its full meed of admiration to our own beautiful and diversified little island, he had nevertheless felt a languishment "For skies Italian, and an inward groan To sit upon an Alp as on a throne." The plan he laid down for two months' journeyings comprised fully 3,300 miles, of which nearly one-half 1 had to be performed on foot, amongst "hugest bears and monsters of mountains," and amidst people speaking strange languages. And he determined to go alone! He knew that his physical powers were equal to the undertaking, for he had previously perambulated over well-nigh the entire hill district within twenty miles of Manchester:-Blackstone Edge, Rivington Pike, the Two Lads, and Combes Rocks, were all familiar to him ; he had "tackled" some 350 miles of the Grampians in Caledonia; and had climbed Helvellyn, Skiddaw, Scawfell, Hard Knot, and their compeers in " 'rocky Cumberland." This premised, he thought he might, with greater confidence, detail his "preliminaries" or outfit, as a gentleman tourist, prepared to "rough it": Knapsack, small satchel, and stout staff; pair of slippershoes for the cities, and ditto of short, strong, easy boots for the mountains; a slouch hat, Scottish plaid, and light alpaca overcoat; tinted spectacles, and a green gauze veil, to soften the dazzling effect of the snows; large clasp knife (with a view to defence and sandwiches) and a travelling chamber-lock; about a yard of sticking plaister, for wounds and bruises; some lip-salve, and a small bottle of oil-of-lavender wherewith to dismay and put to flight certain troublesome nocturnal insects; Bradshaw's Continental Guide, Murray's Swiss ditto (that Bible of British tourists,) and Keller's invaluable map; a small French Testament and a poetry book; a stout purse and a sponge; some matches and a towel; various brushes and a shut-up hat; every essential for a comfortable toilet (including that indispensable, soap, rarely provided in continental hotels); a flask and drinking-cup; a shoe-horn and some foreign letter-paper; a small telescope and a miscellaneous lot of straps; a pocket compass and a few "neat" cigars; pins, needles, and thread (with a view to the replacement of buttons); effervescing draughts and a whistle; a few sketching crayons and a couple of razors; and those multitudinous articles known under the generic name of "linen." A banker's letter, and three half-crowns, procured for him, "British subject travelling on the continent," the protection which a Foreign-office passport is supposed to give; unto which he obtained the vises of half-a-dozen consuls or ambassadors who honour our metropolis with their august presence— namely, those of Austria, France, Sardinia, Prussia, Belgium, and Savoy. As to money, he procured about £5 worth of French silver coin in London (current everywhere), and obtained several £10 "circular notes of credit," which could be changed at any place of importance on the Continent. He spent three days in busy London en route; and then, to test his knapsack and travelling gear, he manfully strode through its capacious thoroughfares, (betwixt 1.0 and 3.0 a.m.) about four miles, to the dock of St. Katherine, where the Ostend boat lay moored. Mr. Hill here described the dreary yet impressive aspect presented by the Thames at night, and the "towsy-mowsy" emotions he felt on quitting a crowded city of two-and-a-half millions of inhabitants, to wander up and down a wild country which altogether did not contain so huge a population.-He gave a graphic description of the stormy voyage he experienced, which compelled even the robust and athletic cherry-merchants of Belgium (who made the double voyage weekly during the summer) to succumb to the horrible influences of the mal de mer, An evil, we know, which makes the unfortunate sufferers Indifferent alike unto all things,-whether past, or present, or future; A feeling in which (as Charles Lamb says) if any one told us That the world we inhabit was on the verge of extinction, Our only feeble response would be, "No, you don't say so!" -a boisterous voyage, truly, rendering a poor fellow anything but fit to land for the first time on a foreign shore, with but an imperfect knowledge of the language; and subject himself to the insolence, the tricks and the dodges, of gangs of "touters" for the different hotels, who completely beset him the moment he touches |