That Shakespeare, when the drama needed it, could fully and warmly enter into the devotion which one man may feel for another, as well as into the tragedy which such devotion may entail, is shown in his _Merchant of Venice_ by the figure of Antonio, over whom from the first line of the play (“In sooth I know not why I am so sad”) there hangs a shadow of destiny. The following lines are from Act iv. sc. 1:— _Antonio_: “Commend me to your honorable wife; Tell her the process of Antonio’s end; Say how I loved you, speak me fair in death; And when the tale is told, bid her be judge, Whether Bassanio had not once a love. Repent not you that you shall lose your friend, And he repents not that he pays your debt; For, if the Jew do cut but deep enough, I’ll pay it instantly with all my heart. _Bassanio_: Antonio, I am married to a wife, Who is as dear to me as life itself; But life itself, my wife, and all the world, Are not with me esteem’d above thy life: I would lose all, ay, sacrifice them all, Here to this devil, to deliver you.” [Sidenote: _Henry the Fifth_] We may also, in this connection, quote his _Henry the Fifth_ (act iv. scene 6) for the deaths of the Duke of York and the Earl of Suffolk at the battle of Agincourt. Exeter, addressing Henry, says:— “Suffolk first died; and York, all haggled over, Comes to him, where in gore he lay insteep’d, And takes him by the beard, kisses the gashes, That bloodily did yawn upon his face; He cries aloud,—‘Tarry, dear cousin Suffolk! My soul shall thine keep company to heaven: Tarry, sweet soul, for mine; then fly abreast, As in this glorious and well-foughten field We kept together in our chivalry!’ Upon these words I came and cheered him up: He smiled me in the face, raught me his hand, And, with a feeble gripe, says, ‘Dear my Lord, Commend my service to my sovereign.’ So did he turn, and over Suffolk’s neck He threw his wounded arm, and kissed his lips; And so, espoused to death, with blood he seal’d A testament of noble-ending love.” [Sidenote: _Sir Thomas Browne_] Shakespeare, with his generous many-sided nature was, as the Sonnets seem to show, and as we should expect, capable of friendship, passionate friendship, towards both men and women. Perhaps this marks the highest reach of temperament. That there are cases in which devotion to a man-friend altogether replaces the love of the opposite sex is curiously shown by the following extract from Sir Thomas Browne:—