Thou art a monument without a tomb,
And art alive still, while thy book doth live
And we have wits to read and praise to give.
Milton wrote a few years later, in 1630, how Shakespeare, "sepulchred"
in "the monument" of his writings,
in such pomp doth lie,
That kings for such a tomb would wish to die.
Never was a glorious immortality foretold for any man with more solemn
confidence than it was foretold for Shakespeare at his death by his
circle of adorers. When Time, one elegist said, should dissolve his
"Stratford monument," the laurel about Shakespeare's brow would wear
its greenest hue. Shakespeare's critical friend, Ben Jonson, was but
one of a numerous band who imagined the "sweet swan of Avon," "the
star of poets," shining for ever as a constellation in the firmament.
Such was the invariable temper in which literary men gave vent to
their grief on learning the death of the "beloved author," "the famous
scenicke poet," "the admirable dramaticke poet," "that famous writer
and actor," "worthy master William Shakespeare" of Stratford-on-Avon.
II
Unqualified and sincere was the eulogy awarded to Shakespeare, alike
in his lifetime and immediately after his death.
Pages:
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86