Diary of the Rev John Ward A M Author:John Ward Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: SHAKSPEARE IN HIS YOUTH. Many books have been written to prove that Shakspeare held horses and stole deer; and books as numerous have been penned to testify t... more »hat Shakspeare did not steal deer, and could not have held horses, either in his own person or by proxy. Writers have been grandiloquent on the subject of the poet's imprudence and necessities; and others have industriously spun out verbosity to the minuteness of a spider's filament in pathetically and eloquently expatiating on the very dangerous irregularities of genius, joined with the lamentably careless thoughtlessness of youth, till, in the fervency of their zeal, they have evidently shown that follyand decrepitude are the only virtues extant. Of Shakspeare himself it seems almost like irreverence to speak, language falls so infinitely short in the adequate expression of his high attributes. Even thought fails to pay the just tribute of praise and admiration to his resplendent genius, which, in truth, resembles in its might and power the Divinity from whence it emanated. Of the portraits we possess, Jansen's is undoubtedly the best. The spirituality, loveliness, and exquisite delicacy of Shakspeare's elegantly moulded form and perfectly beautiful features mark him as one of those splendid creations, who, endowed with the quick perceptions and acute sensitiveness peculiar to the finest feminine organizations, nevertheless possess in a supereminent degree, all the energies, virtues, and mental strength, generally, though falsely, considered the sole attributes of manhood. It is no idle trick of the imagination, no vainly cherished remnant of superstitiousfeeling, but the melancholy result of sorrowful observation, founded on fatal facts, that too often enables us to foretell premature decay and early death to many a ...« less