— When lightning fires The arch of heaven, and thunders rock the ground: The nations tremble, Shakspeare looks abroad AKENSIDE. Were understanding, acuteness, and profoundness of thought, (in so far as these are necessary for the characterizing of human life,) to be considered as the first qualities of a poet, there is none worthy to be compared with Shakspeare. Other poets have endeavoured to transport us, at least for a few moments, into another and an ideal condition of mankind; but Shakspeare is the master of reality. SCHLEGEL. |