To the Memory of Master W. SHAKESPEARE. WE Wonder'd, Shakespeare, that thou went'st so soon This a re-entrance to a plaudite. J. M.* Upon the Lines and Life of the Famous Scenic Poet, Master THOSE hands which you so clapp'd, go now and wring, All those he made would scarce make one to this; For, though his line of life went soon about, HUGH HOLLAND.† * Mr. Bolton Corney, in Notes and Queries, leaves hardly any doubt that these are the initials of James Mabbe, who is described by Wood as “a learned man, good orator, and a facetious conceited wit." He became prebendary of Wells, and died about the year 1642. + Hugh Holland was a Welshman, who became fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge; travelled to Jerusalem, "to do his devotions to the holy sepulchre"; afterwards spent some years at Oxford "for the sake of the public library" there, and "died within the city of Westminster in 1633."— DYCE. COMMENDATORY VERSES PREFIXED TO THE FOLIO OF 1632.* Upon the Effigies of my worthy Friend, the Author, Master WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE, and his Works. SPECTATOR, this life's shadow is to see Turn reader. But observe his comic vein, An Epitaph on the Admirable Dramatic Poet, W. SHAKESPEARE. WHAT needs my Shakespeare for his honour'd bones Or that his hallow'd relics should be hid Under a star-ypointing pyramid? Dear son of memory, great heir of fame, What need'st thou such weak witness of thy name? Hast built thyself a live-long monument: For whilst, to th' shame of slow-endeavouring art, Those Delphic lines with deep impression took; * The second folio prints the following pieces in addition to those that precede. Then thou, our fancy of itself bereaving, That kings for such a tomb would wish to die.* On worthy Master SHAKESPEARE and his Poems. A MIND reflecting ages past, whose clear In that deep dusky dungeon to discern A royal ghost from churls; by art to learn Them sudden birth, wondering how oft they live; At second hand, and picture without brain, As Plato's year, and new scene of the world, * The authorship of these lines was ascertained by their appearing in an edition of Milton's Poems published in 1645. To be abused; affected with that truth This, and much more which cannot be express'd And she whose praise the heavenly body chants; Not out of common tiffany or lawn, But fine materials, which the Muses know, In mortal garments pent, "Death may destroy," They say, "his body; but his verse shall live, And more than Nature takes our hands shall give: Shakespeare shall breathe and speak; with laurel crown'd In a well-linèd vesture, rich and neat." So with this robe they clothe him, bid him wear it ; The friendly admirer of his endowments, J. M. S.* * The authorship of this most intelligent and appreciative strain of commendation has not been fully settled, and probably never will be. Malone conjectured the initials to stand for "Jasper Mayne, Student"; and Mr. Bolton Corney pointed out to Dyce some dozen pieces of occasional verse written by Mayne, which, though greatly inferior to this on Shakespeare, yet bear, he thinks, a sufficient resemblance to it in style to warrant a belief in Malone's conjecture. None of the signatures, however, to those pieces give any fair colour to the inference of the letter S being put for Student; nor do the pieces themselves show any indications of the power displayed in this instance. Singer notes upon the subject as follows: "Conjecture had been vainly employed upon the initials J. M. S., until Mr. Hunter, having occasion to refer to the Iter Lancastrense, a poem by Richard James, an eminent scholar and antiquary, the friend of Selden and Sir Robert Cotton, was struck with the similarity of style, the same unexpected and abrupt breaks in the middle of the lines, and the same disposition to view every thing under its antiquarian aspect, which we find in these verses; and therefore suggested the great probability that by J. M. S. we must understand JaMeS. Without being at all aware of Mr. Hunter's suggestion, my excellent friend Mr. Lloyd had come to the same conclusion, from having seen some lines by James, printed in Mr. Halliwell's Essay on the Character of Falstaff. The coincident opinion of two independent and able authorities would be in itself conclusive; and, for my own part, I have no doubt that it is to Richard James these highly poetical lines to the memory of the Poet must be attributed." |