Who knows whether Shakespeare might not have thought less, if he had read more? Who knows if he might not have laboured under the load of Jonson’s learning, as Enceladus under Ætna? His mighty genius, indeed, though the most mountainous oppression, would have breathed out some of his inextinguishable fire; yet possibly he might not have risen up into that giant, that much more than common man, at which we now gaze with amazement and delight. Perhaps he was as learned as his dramatic province required; for whatever other learning he wanted, he was master of two books unknown to many of the profoundly read, though books which the last conflagration alone can destroy: the book of Nature, and that of Man. _Conjectures on Original Composition._ 1759. MARK AKENSIDE, _c._ 1760 (1721-1770) “_An Inscription._” O youths and virgins: O declining eld: O pale misfortune’s slaves: O ye who dwell Unknown with humble quiet; ye who wait In courts, or fill the golden seat of kings: O sons of sport and pleasure: O thou wretch That weep’st for jealous love, or the sore wounds Of conscious guilt, or death’s rapacious hand Which left thee void of hope: O ye who roam In exile; ye who through th’ embattl’d field Seek bright renown; or who for nobler palms Contend, the leaders of a public cause; Approach: behold this marble. Know ye not The features? Hath not oft his faithful tongue Told you the fashion of your own estate, The secrets of your bosom? Here then round His monument with reverence while ye stand, Say to each other: “This was Shakespeare’s form; Who walk’d in every path of human life, Felt every passion; and to all mankind Doth now, will ever, that experience yield Which his own genius only could acquire.” _Poetical Works._ 1805, ii. pp. 136-7. ROBERT LLOYD, 1760 (1733-1764) When Shakespeare leads the mind a dance, From France to England, hence to France, Talk not to me of time and place; I own I’m happy in the chase. Whether the drama’s here or there, ’Tis nature, Shakespeare, everywhere. The poet’s fancy can create, Contract, enlarge, annihilate, Bring past and present close together, In spite of distance, seas, or weather; And shut up in a single action What cost whole years in its transaction. So, ladies at a play or rout, Can flirt the universe about, Whose geographical account Is drawn and pictured on the mount: Yet when they please, contract the plan, And shut the world up in a fan. _Shakespeare: An Epistle to Mr. Garrick._ 1760, ll. 37-54. See also Lloyd’s _Ode to Genius_, 1760, ll. 1-14. EDWARD CAPELL, 1760 (1713-1781)