from the pen of a foreign critic, ought to be impartial at least: "The distinguishing property," says Schlegel, "of the dramatic poet is the capability of transporting himself so completely into every situation, even the most unusual, that he is enabled, as plenipotentiary of the whole human race, without particular instructions for each separate case, to act and speak in the name of every individual. It is the power of endowing the creatures of his imagination with such self-existent energy, that they afterwards act in each conjuncture according to general laws of nature: the poet institutes, as it were, experiments, which are received with as much authority as if they had been made on real objects. Never, perhaps, was there so comprehensive a talent for the delineation of character as Shakspeare's. It not only grasps the diversities of rank, sex, and age, down to the dawnings of infancy; not only do the king and the beggar, the hero and the pickpocket, the sage and the idiot, speak and act with equal truth; not only does he transport himself to distant ages and foreign nations, and portray in the most accurate manner, with only a few apparent violations of costume, the spirit of the ancient Romans, of the French in their wars with the English, of the English themselves during a great part of their history, of the Southern Europeans (in the serious part of many comedies), the cultivated society of that time, and the former rude and barbarous state of the North; his human characters have not only such depth and precision that they cannot be arranged under classes, and are inexhaustible, even in conception :-no-this Prometheus not merely forms men, he opens the gates of the magical world of spirits; calls up the midnight ghost; exhibits before us his witches amidst their unhallowed mysteries; peoples the air with sportive fairies and sylphs:-and, these beings existing only in imagination, possess such truth and consistency, that, even when deformed monsters like Caliban, he extorts the conviction, that if there should be such beings, they would so conduct themselves. In a word, as he carried with him the most fruitful and daring fancy into the kingdom of nature, on the other hand, he carries nature into the regions of fancy, lying beyond the confines of reality. We are lost in astonishment at seeing the extraordinary, the wonderful, and the unheard of, in such intimate nearness. "If Shakspeare deserves our admiration for his characters, he is equally deserving it for his exhibition of passion, taking this word in its widest signification, as including every mental condition, every tone from indifference or familiar mirth to the wildest rage and despair. He gives us the history of minds; he lays open to us, in a single word, a whole series of preceding conditions. His passions do not at first stand displayed to us in all their height, as is the case with so many tragic poets, who, in the language of Lessing, are thorough masters of the legal style of love. He paints in a most inimitable manner, the gradual progress from the first origin. He gives,' as Lessing says, 'a living picture of all the most minute and secret artifices by which a feeling steals into our souls; of all the imperceptible advantages which it there gains; of all the stratagems by which every other passion is made subservient to it, till it becomes the sole tyrant of our desires and our aversions.' Of all poets, perhaps, he alone has portrayed the mental diseases, melancholy, delirium, lunacy, with such inexpressible, and, in every respect, definite truth, that the physician may enrich his observations from them in the same manner as from real cases. "And yet Johnson has objected to Shakspeare, that his pathos is not always natural and free from affectation. There are, it is true, passages, though, comparatively speaking, very few, where his poetry exceeds the bounds of true dialogue, where a too soaring imagination, a too luxuriant wit, rendered the complete dramatic forgetfulness of himself impossible. With this exception, the censure originates only in a fanciless way of thinking, to which every thing appears unnatural that does not suit its own tame insipidity. Hence, an idea has been formed of simple and natural pathos, which consists in exclamations destitute of imagery, and nowise elevated above every-day life. But energetica! passions electrify the whole of the mental powers, and will, consequently, in highly favoured natures, express themselves in an ingenious and figurative manner. It has been often remarked, that indignation gives wit; and, as despair occasionally breaks out into laughter, it may sometimes also give vent to itself in antithetical comparisons. "Besides, the rights of the poetical form have not been duly weighed. Shakspeare, who was always sure of his object, to move in a sufficiently powerful manner when he wished to do so, has occasionally, by indulg. ing in a freer play, purposely moderated the impressions when too painful, and immediately introduced a musical alleviation of our sympathy. He had not those rude ideas of his art which many moderns seem to have, as if the poet, like the clown in the proverb, must strike twice on the same place. An ancient rhetorician delivered a caution against dwelling too long on the excitation of pity; for nothing, he said, dries so soon as tears; and Shakspeare acted conformably to this ingenious maxim, without knowing it. "The objection, that Shakspeare wounds our feelings by the open display of the most disgusting moral odiousness, harrows up the mind unmercifully, and tortures even our minds by the exhibition of the most insupportable and hateful spectacles, is one of much greater importance He has never, in fact, varnished over wild and blood-thirsty passions with a pleasing exterior,-never clothed crime and want of principle with a false show of greatness of soul; and in that respect he is every way deserving of praise. Twice he has portrayed downright villains; and the masterly way in which he has contrived to elude impressions of toe painful a nature, may be seen in Iago and Richard the Third. The constant reference to a petty and puny race must cripple the boldness of the poet. Fortunately for his art, Shakspeare lived in an age extremely susceptible of noble and tender impressions, but which had still enough of the firmness inherited from a vigorous olden time, not to shrink back with dismay from every strong and violent picture. We have lived to see tragedies of which the catastrophe consists in the swoon of an enamoured princess. If Shakspeare falls occasionally into the opposite extreme, it is a noble error, originating in the fulness of a gigantic strength: and yet this tragical Titan, who storms the heavens, and threatens to tear the world from off its hinges; who, more fruitful than Eschylus, makes our hair stand on end, and congeals our blood with horror, possessed, at the same time, the insinuating loveliness of the sweetest poetry. He plays with love like a child; and his songs are breathed out like melting sighs. He unites in his genius the utmost elevation and the utmost depth; and the most foreign, and even apparently irreconcileable properties, subsist in him peaceably together. The world of spirits and nature have laid all their treasures at his feet. In strength a demi-god, in profundity of view a prophet, in all-seeing wisdom a protecting spirit of a higher order, he lowers himself to mortals, as if unconscious of his superiority; and is as open and unassuming as a child.” John Bull. BORN CIRC. A. D. 1563.-DIED A. D. 1622. THIS celebrated composer of music was born in Somersetshire, about the year 1563. Hawkins affirms that he was allied to the noble family of Somerset. He was educated under Blytheman, an organist highly celebrated in his day, but of whose compositions none are known to be now extant. In 1591, on the death of Blytheman, Bull was appointed organist and composer to the Queen's chapel; and, in 1592, he was created Doctor of Music by the university of Cambridge. On the foundation of the Gresham professorship of music, Dr Bull was first appointed to that chair, at the request of his royal mistress; but it appears that his scholarship, at least, was inadequate to the duties of this office, and that he required a special dispensation in his favour from the fundamental law of the institution, which directed the lectures to be read in Latin as well as in English. In the year 1601, Dr Bull went abroad for the benefit of his health, and travelled for some time incognito through France and Germany. On this occasion he is said to have astonished certain foreign musicians by his skill and facility in musical composition; and to have received various flattering invitations from foreign princes to fix himself at their courts. On Queen Elizabeth's death, he was appointed first organist to James I.; and, on the 16th of July, 1607, he had the honour to entertain his majesty and Prince Henry, who that day dined with the company at Merchant Tailors' Hall, "with excellent melodie upon a small payre of organs placed there for that purpose onlie." It would appear, from the investigations of Mr Clarke, that it was on this occasion that our national anthem of 'God save the King'—now ascertained to be the undoubted composition of Bull-was first performed in public, in celebration of the king's happy escape from the machinations of Guy Fawkes and his band of conspirators. In 1613, Dr Bull threw up all his situations in his native country, and went to reside in the Netherlands, where he was admitted into the service of the Archduke. He is supposed to have died abroad, about the year 1622; Wood says that he died at Hamburg, but some of his contemporaries have mentioned Lubeck as the place of his death.-Of Dr Bull's compositions, a long list is given by Ward in his lives of the Gresham professors. The only works of his in print, are lessons for the organ and virginals, in the collection called Parthenia,'-the anthem above-mentioned,--and one entitled 'Deliver me, O God!' in Barnard's collection of church-music. Dr Pepusch placed his lessons in a very high rank, not only for the harmony and contrivance, but for the air and modulation; from some of them we are led to form a high idea of the composer's powers of execution. 6 Lectures on the Drama, vol. II. : William Camden. BORN A. D. 1551.—died a. D. 1623. THIS eminent historian and antiquary, who has been styled by foreigners the British Pausanias,' was the son of Sampson Camden of Litchfield, who afterwards settled in London as a house-painter, where William was born on the 2d of May 1551. He received the rudiments of education in Christ's hospital, whence he was removed to St Paul's school. In his 15th year he was sent to Oxford, and admitted a servitor in Magdalen college, but being disappointed of a demy's place in this college, he removed to Broadgate hall, now Pembroke college. Here he attracted the attention of Dr Thornton, afterwards canon of Christ church; but although he continued to gain numerous friends within the university, he failed as a candidate for a fellowship in All Souls college, and in 1570 was refused the degree of A.B. for reasons which have not been assigned. It was about this period that he formed an acquaintanceship with Richard and George Carew, two gentlemen of family in Devonshire, whose example first incited him to antiquarian pursuits. In 1571, he appears to have removed to London, where he remained for some time; but, in 1573, we find him again at Oxford, and finally successful in his application for the degree of A.B. In 1575 he was appointed second master of Westminster school, through the interest of his friend Dr Goodman, dean of Westminster. In this situation he gave much satisfaction as a teacher of youth, and enlarged and strengthened his connections in life. His leisure hours he devoted to his favourite study of native antiquities, and to amassing materials for his great work the 'Britannia,' the scheme of which he had already sketched out in his mind. His daily increasing reputation as an antiquary procured him the friendship and correspondence of many eminent men of letters both at home and abroad. Among the latter were Justus Lipsius of Brussels, Jacobus Dousa of the Hague, and Gruter of Antwerp, and Ortelius the geographer, and Brisson of Paris. Among the most accomplished and munificent of his English friends was Sir Philip Sydney, who furnished him with some valuable materials for his projected work, besides making him many considerable presents. In 1582, he undertook a tour throughout a considerable portion of England for the purpose of collecting materials for the illustrations of its antiquities upon the spot; he likewise purchased several valuable MSS., and made most laborious researches in the various offices of record. At length, after ten years of indefatigable industry, the first edition of the Britannia' was published in 1586, in one volume 8vo. This elaborate work was written in Latin, and dedicated to Lord-treasurer Burleigh. Its title in English was, tain, or a chorographical description of the flourishing kingdoms of England, Scotland, and Ireland, with the adjacent islands, from the most remote antiquity." In 1594, a fourth edition of the Britannia, with numerous enlargements, the fruit of fresh researches and personal inquiries, was published in one volume 4to. In 1589, he was presented to a prebend in the cathedral of Salisbury, which he enjoyed during his life "Bri without residence, or entrance into orders, and in 1592, on the death of Dr Grant, succeeded to the head-mastership of Westminster school. Camden's next performance was a Greek grammar for the use of his scholars, which was very favourably received, and maintained its reputation as a school-book for upwards of a century after his death. The interest of Sir Fulke Greville obtained for him the office of Clarencieux, second king-at-arms, in 1597, and thus enabled him more fully to devote himself to his favourite studies than was compatible with the arduous and fatiguing duties of the mastership of Westminster. In 1600, Camden accomplished a personal tour in the north of England, in company with Sir Robert Cotton, the founder of the Cottonian library. The same year he published a description of the monuments in Westminster abbey. It had long been Camden's intention to write a civil history of England, but he appears to have relinquished this design soon after the death of Queen Elizabeth. The collection, however, of ancient British historians which he had made with a view to this work were printed in a uniform edition at Frankfort, under his superintendance. In 1605, he published "Remains of a greater work concerning Britain," &c. being a collection of fragments illustrative of the habits, manners, and customs of the ancient Britons and Saxons. In 1606, Camden drew up in Latin, by the desire of James I., an account of the Gunpowder plot; and in the same year the 6th and last edition of his "Britannia," in folio, passed through the press. It was from this edition that Philemen Holland prepared his English translation. In 1612, Camden, having gone to Oxford to attend the funeral of his friend Sir Thomas Bodley, was offered the degree of A.M. which he declined, as he also did the honour of knighthood proffered him by the king, In 1615, he published "Annals of the reign of Queen Elizabeth to the year 1589." It was written in Latin, and had been begun in 1597 at the desire of Lord Burleigh, who contributed some materials for it. His continuation of the Annals in which he brought them down to the death of Elizabeth, was first published at Leyden, in 1625, in 8vo.; and the first edition of the Annals, complete, at London, in 1627, in folio. Another edition of the Annals was published by Hearne at Oxford, in 1717, in 3 vols. 8vo. Both Moulin and Maitland assert that King James made Camden alter various passages, and insert others, relating to the queen, his mother, in the Annals; but this is stoutly denied by Dr Smith. In 1622, Camden founded a professorship of history at Oxford, with a salary of £140 per annum. He died at his house at Chislehurst in Kent, on the 9th of November 1623, and was buried with great pomp in Westminster abbey. Besides the works already mentioned, a collection of his Latin letters with some small tracts was published by Dr Smith, in 1691. Another translation of the Britannia was published in folio, in 1695, by Edmund Gibson, afterwards bishop of London, which was reprinted with additions, in 2 vols. folio, in 1722 and 1773. But the best edition is that edited by Gough, and published in 1789, in 3 vols. folio.-Several portraits of Camden exist. The best is that by Basire in Gough's edition of the Britannia. There is an original portrait of him in Painters' Hall.' III. Bog. Brit.-Life by Gibson.-Vita Camdeni aut. T. Smetho. —Bayle. 2 F |
