Write like Shakespeare, and laugh at the critics. DANIEL WEBB (1719?-1798). _Literary Amusements_, 1787, p. 22. * * * * * Shakespeare, . . . Lord of the mighty spell: around him press Spirits and fairy forms. He, ruling wide His visionary world, bids terror fill The shivering breast, or softer pity thrill E’en to the inmost heart. W. L. BOWLES (1762-1850). “Monody on the Death of Dr. Warton,” 1801. _Poems_, 1803, vol. ii. pp. 141-2. * * * * * Is there no bard of heavenly power possess’d, To thrill, to rouse, to animate the breast? Like Shakespeare o’er the sacred mind to sway, And call each wayward passion to obey? F. D. HEMANS (1793-1835). “England and Spain,” 1807. * * * * * Our love of Shakespeare, therefore, is not a _monomania_ or solitary and unaccountable infatuation; but is merely the natural love which all men bear to those forms of excellence that are accommodated to their peculiar character, temperament, and situation; and which will always return, and assert its power over their affections, long after authority has lost its reverence, fashions been antiquated, and artificial tastes passed away. FRANCIS LORD JEFFREY (1773-1850). _Edinburgh Review_, Aug. 1811, vol. xviii. p. 285. * * * * * Shakespeare had the inward clothing of a fine mind; the outward covering of solid reading, of critical observation, and the richest eloquence; and compared with these, what are the trappings of the schools? GEORGE DYER (1755-1841). “The Relation of Poetry to the Arts and Sciences,” in _The Reflector_, 1811. Reprinted in _Poetics_, 1812, ii. p. 19. * * * * * Shakespeare has been accused of profaneness. I for my part have acquired from perusal of him, a habit of looking into my own heart, and am confident that Shakespeare is an author of all others the most calculated to make his readers better as well as wiser. S. T. COLERIDGE (1772-1834). “Outline of an introductory Lecture on Shakespeare,” 1812. * * * * * Let no man blame his son for learning history from Shakespeare. _Id._ _Seven Lectures on Shakespeare and Milton._ Ed. J. P. Collier, p. 19. * * * * * The greatest genius that, perhaps, human nature has yet produced, our _myriad-minded_[232:1] Shakespeare. _Id._ _Biographia Literaria_, 1817, chap. xv. FOOTNOTES: