HYMN TO IGNORANCE.

I.

Spirit of Peace! Whose ebon sceptre sways

Thought's shadowy realms and visionary maze,

Be mine, though shamed on earth, to hymn thy slighted praise.

II.

Thou hast endured through Time's extended span;
E're states or empires were thy power began,
So dim-remote thy birth, coeval e'en with man.

III.

Akin to shade thou shunn'st the garish light, Mak'st Darkness thy companion and delight, Dozing in fitful dreams beneath the wings of Night.

IV.

The World records thee midst her deadliest foes;
Man reddens at thy name, and feebly knows
How passing fair thy gifts, what bliss to thee he owes!

V.

Had our first sires, at young Creation's dawn, Worshipp'd, as Heaven had will'd, thy mystic horn, Woe had been but a name, and rebel Sin unborn.

VI.

And Woe's best solace still art thou on earth;
To thee Indifference owes her envied birth,
And merriest Laughter loud, and unreflecting Mirth.

VII.

The Vain, the Dull, thy favouring shelter claim,
The emptiest Fool by thee affects a name,
And self-admir'd prates on, unconscious of his shame.

VIII.

Thou know'st nor doubt, nor soul-corroding care;
Assurance bold is thine, the will to dare,

And where thou art Content and bright-eyed Hope appear.

IX.

Youth, led by thee, contemns Sin's fell array,
Gathers each flower on life's beleaguer'd way,

Nor heeds the hideous Fiends that mark him for their prey.

X.

As bends the Mother o'er her infant Boy,

Thy gentle power destroys Truth's dread alloy, Gilds the sad dream of life, and prompts her tears of joy.

XI.

Thou giv'st to Love the triumphs of his day;
Without thee e'en his spells would pass away,
Fond admiration cease, and confidence decay.

XII.

Bland varnisher of earth's philosophy!

From thy dominion Sage nor Saint are free,
And intellectual pride begins and ends in thee.

XIII.

By thee Religion's altars kindled were,

Faith's ecstacy of soul, th' entrancing fear,
Thine too, o'er half the world, Devotion's warmest prayer.

XIV.

Yet not unbounded is thy vast domain,

E'en with Creation's self thy power shall wane,

And the GREAT TEACHER, DEATH, conclude thy leaden reign.

C.

SHAKSPERE COMPARED WITH GREEK AND LATIN WRITERS.

THE following passages from Shakspere are some in which he would appear to have imitated the ancient Greek and Latin writers. Although many of these coincidences have been already noticed, others, I believe, have not been, and at all events the text of Shakspere is a never-failing subject of interest and instruction. With the exception of some few of these passages, where the similarity, both of the idea and the language, is too close to admit of any doubt that they were imitations (from whatever source derived), they furnish no proof that Shakspere was conversant with classic authors, nor affect the disputed question of his learning; because great original writers, of all countries, men who copy nature alone, will necessarily fall into similar thoughts and adopt similar illustrations, when describing human character and human passions:—

Unerring Nature, still divinely bright,
One clear, unchanged, and universal light,
Life, force, and beauty, must to all impart,
At once the source, and end, and test of art.

They certainly may abate something of our confidence in the assertion of DIGGES (that "wit of the town before Shakspere left the stage"), who tells us— Nature only helpt him, for looke thorow

This whole booke, thou shalt find he doth not borrow
One phrase from Greekes, nor Latines imitate,

Nor once from vulgar languages translate.

THE MERCHANT OF VENICE.

1.

I like not fair terms and a villain's mind.-Act i. Sc. iii.

μισῶ πονηρὸν, χρηστὸν ὅταν εἴπῃ λόγον.-Menander, p. 202.
I hate a villain when he affects fair language.

2.

Mislike me not for my complexion,

The shadow'd livery of the burnish'd sun,

To which I am a neighbour and near bred.-Act ii. Sc. i.

τὼς καὶ ἐγὼ φιλοδύρτος Ιαονιοίσι νάμοισι

δάπτω τὰν ἁπαλὰν νειλοθερῆ παρειὰν,

ἀπειρόδακρυν τε καρδίαν.—sch. Suppl. L. 66.

And rend these cheeks that, ripening, drew

On Nile's warm bank their vermil heu.-Potter.

3.

You may as well go stand upon the beach,

And bid the main flood bate his usual height.-Act iv. Sc. i.

ὡς δὲ πέτρος ἢ θαλάσσιος

κλύδων ἀκούει νουθετουμένη φίλων.-Eurip. Medea, Ε. 23.

She listens to the advice of her friends, as would a rock,

or ocean wave.

4.

The man that hath no music in himself,

Nor is not mov'd with concord of sweet sounds,

Is fit for treasons, stratagems, and spoils;

The motions of his spirits are dull as night,

And his affections dark as Erebus.-Act v. Sc. i.

ὅσσα δὲ μὴ πεφίληκε

Ζεὺς, ἀτύζονται βοὰν

Πιερίδων άΐοντα,

Γᾶν τε καὶ πόντον κατ' ἀμειμάκετον.—Pindar, Pyth. i. L. 23.

The wretch, the impious wretch, whom Jove

Marks as an outcast from his love,

Whether on earth or on the main,

Feels not the Muse's sacred strain.

MACBETH.

1.

Thrice to thine, and thrice to mine,

And thrice again to make up nine;

Peace!-the charm's wound up.-Act i. Sc. iii.

ἐς τρὶς ἀσπένδω, καὶ τρις τάδε πότνια φωνῶ.-Theocr. Id. iv. 43. Thrice, thrice I pour libations, and thrice repeat the charms.

Lamentings heard i' the air; strange screams of death.-Act ii. Sc. iii.

So the omens on the death of Dido,—

Hic exaudivi voces, et verba vocantis.-Æn. iv. 460.

6.

The obscure bird

Clamour'd the live-long night.—Act iv. Sc. iii.

Solaque culminibus ferali carmine bubo

Sæpe queri.-Æn. iv. 462.

7.

A falcon, towering in her pride of place,

Was by a mousing owl hawk'd at, and kill'd.-Act ii. Sc. iv.

It will have blood; they say blood will have blood.-Act. iii. Sc. iv. aina yàg natágorov.-Esch. Seven Chiefs, 677.

12.

>

What, man! ne'er pull your hat upon your brows;
Give sorrow words:

ξύγγονε, τί κλάεις, ὄμμα θεῖσ ̓ εἴσω πέπλων.—Eurip. Orest. 275.
My sister! why weepest thou, veiling thus your head?

And again in the "Suppliants,"—

λέγ', ἐκκάλυψαι κρᾶτα, καὶ πάρες γόον.-L. 122. Speak out, thy head unveil, forbear thy sighs.

13.

Not all the perfumes of Arabia will sweeten this little hand.

Act v. Sc. i.

What can expiate their crimes, what can purify them?

And in the "Furies,"

βρίζει γὰρ αἷμα καὶ μαραίνεται χερός

μητροκτόνον μίασμα δ ̓ ἔκπλυτον πέλει.—L. 270.

The spots upon my hand fade, and become of fainter dye, stains of my mother's blood.

14.

There is no art

To find the mind's construction in the face.-Act i. Sc. iv.

οὐδεὶς χαρακτὴρ ἐμπέφυκε σώματι.—Eurip. Medea, 519.

By heaven, methinks it were an easy leap

To pluck bright honour from the pale-fac'd moon;

Or dive into the bottom of the deep,

Where fathom-line could never touch the ground,

And pluck up drownéd honour by the locks.-Act i. Sc. iii.

ἄστρων ἄν ἔλοιμ ̓ αἰθέρος πρὸς ἀντολὰς,

καὶ γῆς ἔνερθε, δυνατὸς δρᾶσαι τάδε

τὴν θεῶν μεγίστην ὥστ ̓ ἔχειν τυραννίδα.—Eurip. Phoenissæ, 514.

I would ascend

The starry paths where burst the orient sun,

And plunge beneath the central earth, to win

Empire, the greatest of the immortal powers.-Wodhull.

2.

Mark now, how a plain tale shall put him down.-Act ii. Sc. iv.

ὡς καὶ σὺ μὴ νῦν εἰς ἔμ' ευσχήμων γένη,

λέγειν τε δεινός· ἐν γὰρ ἐκτενεῖ σ ̓ ἔπος.—Eurip. Medea, 584.

Assume not thus to me this specious seeming,

This confidence of tongue, who by one word
Shall put thee down.

3.

I would your grace would take me with you; whom means your grace?

Act ii. Sc. iv.

τὰ δ ̓ ἄλλα ἀκούσας, ἐκ δρόμου πεσὼν τρέχω.Æsch. Agamem. 1216.
I hear amiss, and from the course you take
Am fallen off.