As the soul of Euphorbus was thought to live in Pythagoras, so the sweet witty soul of Ovid lives in mellifluous and honey-tongued Shakespeare, witness his “Venus and Adonis,” his “Lucrece,” his sugared sonnets among his private friends, etc. As Plautus and Seneca are accounted the best for Comedy and Tragedy among the Latins, so Shakespeare among the English is the most excellent in both kinds for the stage; for Comedy, witness his “Gentlemen of Verona,” his “Errors,” his “Love’s Labour’s Lost,” his “Love’s Labour’s Wonne,” his “Midsummer Night’s Dream,” and his “Merchant of Venice”; for Tragedy, his “Richard the 2,” “Richard the 3,” “Henry the 4,” “King John,” “Titus Andronicus,” and his “Romeo and Juliet.” As Epius Stolo said that the Muses would speak with Plautus’ tongue, if they would speak Latin; so I say that the Muses would speak with Shakespeare’s fine filed phrase, if they would speak English. _Palladis Tamia. Wits Treasury, Being the Second Part of Wits Commonwealth._ 1598. RICHARD BARNFIELD, 1598 (1574-1627) “_A Remembrance of some English Poets._” And Shakespeare thou, whose honey-flowing Vein (Pleasing the World), thy Praises doth obtain. Whose _Venus_, and whose _Lucrece_ (sweet, and chaste) Thy Name in Fame’s immortal Book have placed. Live ever you, at least in Fame live ever: Well may the Body die, but Fame dies never. _Poems in Divers humors._ 1598. Sig. E2, back. JOHN WEEVER, 1599 (1576-1632) “_Ad Gulielmum Shakespeare._” Honey-tongued Shakespeare, when I saw thine issue, I swore Apollo got them and none other; Their rosy-tinted features clothed in tissue, Some heaven-born goddess said to be their mother: Rose-cheeked _Adonis_, with his amber tresses, Fair fire-hot _Venus_, charming him to love her, Chaste _Lucretia_, virgin-like her dresses, Proud lust-stung _Tarquin_, seeking still to prove her: Romeo, Richard; more whose names I know not, Their sugared tongues, and power attractive beauty Say they are saints, although that saints they show not, For thousands vow to them subjective duty: They burn in love, thy children, Shakespeare het them, [heated Go, woo thy Muse, more Nymphish brood beget them. _Epigrammes in the oldest Cut, and newest Fashion._ John Weever. 1599. Epig. 22. Some bibliographers have assigned the first edition of Weever’s _Epigrammes_ to the year 1595, but no copy bearing that date is known. JOHN DAVIES, 1610 (1565?-1618) “_To our English Terence, Mr. Will. Shakespeare._”