o 
 
 A 
 
 
 
 A 
 
 
 O 
 
 — ( 
 
 IE 
 
 n 
 
 
 A 
 
 
 U 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 m 
 
 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 
 
 6 
 
 
 
 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 
 9 
 
 
 > 
 
 8 
 
 O 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 7
 
 ^
 
 THE FIRST SITTING 
 
 OF THE 
 
 ^Tommittcc 
 
 ON THE 
 
 TO
 
 Bennett, Printer 
 Tewkesbury.
 
 THE 
 OF THE 
 
 COMMITTEE 
 
 ON THE 
 
 PROPOSED MONUMENT 
 
 TO 
 
 Carefully taken in Short-Hand 
 
 BY ZACHARY CRAFT, 
 
 •amanuensis to ifje CDijaitman. 
 
 " Come like Shadows — so dcpait." 
 
 MACBETH. 
 
 PRINTED FOR G. A. WILLIAMS, 
 
 l-'ibravtan ; 
 
 ASD SOLD BY WARD, STUATFORD-UPON-AVON ; KNIBB AND 
 
 lANGBRlDGE, WORCESTER; LONGMAN AND CO. AND 
 
 G. AND W. B. WHITTAKER, LONDON. 
 
 1823.
 
 LIBRARY 
 
 UMMilRSITY OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 SANTA BARBARA 
 
 Scene — The Green-Room. 
 Time — Midnight.
 
 The Committee take their seats at a 
 long table, in the centre of which is placed 
 a bust of Shakspeare: near it stands an 
 antique lamp.
 
 THE FIRST SITTING 
 
 OF THE 
 
 C^ommittce 
 
 ON THE 
 TO 
 
 THE CHAIRMAN. 
 
 ^■"^HE business of this evenino:. Gentlemen, 
 is of no common interest. We are here 
 assembled to take into consideration such plans, 
 as men of science or taste may propose, for 
 the monument of our Siiakspeare, the main 
 bulwark of the British stage, the touchstone 
 of the talents of our actors, the pride of our 
 isles. AVithout presuming to launch into pa- 
 negyrics on that poet, Avhose philosophy is in 
 
 B
 
 10 
 
 every Briton's heart, and whose lines are on 
 every tonp;ue, I propose, Avitliout further pro- 
 loj^ue, that we proceed to the dispatch of tlie 
 object of our meeting here. 
 
 A MEMBER OF THE COMMITTEE. 
 
 Mr. Chairman! Before we enter upon any 
 discussions, I beg that some means may be 
 taken to ventilate this crowded room ; for I 
 never before experienced such an op])ressive 
 heat, and difhculty of respiration. There's 
 thunder, I'm sure, in the air. 
 
 [The thunder rolls in loud peals, and a hall of 
 fire strikes and rends one of the sides of the 
 green-room; — through the fissure] 
 
 THE SHADE OF A11I8T0TLE glides and 
 appears. 
 
 In my saunterings through the asphodel 
 groves, (you may well stare at my appearance
 
 11 
 
 among you,) I have paid considerable atten- 
 tion to your great dramatic poet, O Brettani- 
 ans! and <>Teat he unquestionably is, in spite 
 of the ill-digested stuif which he often forces 
 us to swallow. Notwithstanding the decided 
 inferiority of your dialect to our's, Na Din! I 
 have found numerous passages, aye, whole 
 scenes in his dramas, wortiiy of the gold cas- 
 ket which my restive pupil consecrated to his 
 Homer. But I can hardly forgive your poet, 
 O Brettaniansi! for having transgressed my 
 rules. What a pity it is that, during his re- 
 treat, he did not meliorate the arrangement of 
 his productions, and exclude from them trash 
 which wusi always tend to diminish his glory 
 out of the island which gave him birth ! But, 
 (smiling satirically, and stuttering in a shrill 
 tone, as he teas ivont,) I am aware that you 
 BrettanianSy have stronger digestive orgfuis 
 than us Athenians. You can stomach food, 
 (hose epos eipein) which would give the Pen- 
 telicus goat-herds a vomit. Let your poet, 
 nevertheless, have a handsome monument. 
 
 ( Vanishes.)
 
 12 
 THE CPIAIRMAN, 
 
 Somewhat agitated at the unexpected apparilion. 
 
 I beg; the Committee to understand, that 
 the gentleman who has just delivered his 
 opinion, has g^iven it unasked. As it appears 
 he comes from the shades below, we may 
 presume that he is a member of the sub-com- 
 mittee. But as his name stands high, we are 
 bound to treat liim with respect, as well as 
 any strangers belonging- to his suite, who may 
 choose to address the Committee on this in- 
 teresting occasion. 
 
 SHADE OF LONGINUS appears. 
 
 Had your illustrious poet, O Brettanians! 
 whose works I have lately scanned in the Ely- 
 sian shades with the Stagirite, and Quintilian 
 the Iberian, preceded me upon earth, I could 
 better have illustrated my theories, by citing 
 numerous passages of his Macbeth and Othello 
 especially, as no])le specimens of the essence
 
 of tho .sul)lime. You have my vote i'or a 
 splendid nioiiument. ( Vanishes.) 
 
 SHADE OF iESCHYLUS appears. 
 
 When the tortoise fell on my pate in Sicily, 
 (you will not on this occasion, I trust, con- 
 sider my appearance obtrusive) my coimtry- 
 men, O Brettanians! never subscribed for a 
 monument worthy of my memory, notwith- 
 standing that I was the lirst to give the drama 
 form and consistency; notwithstanding too 
 that I fought honourably for my country at 
 Salamis and Plata^a, and flattered the institu- 
 tions of Athens in my Perste. But you, Bret- 
 taiiians, prove 5 ourselves more grateful to a 
 poet who rivals me in sublimity. In my ram- 
 bles through the Elysian fields, (and Hermes 
 hath removed all film from my eyes,) 1 have 
 lately compared several of his tragedies with 
 mine, and am of opinion, that, could the 
 Athenian ladies have witnessed some of his 
 scenes, they would have been seized by as
 
 14 
 
 violent hysterics as at my Euinenkles. I would 
 have you nevertheless understand, that I would 
 not exchange the second act of my Coephorce, 
 for any tw o acts that the Brcttanian can shew. 
 Entertaining-, nevertheless, a very high idea 
 of his powers, I give you my hearty vote for a 
 monument to his honour ; and I scarcely flat- 
 ter you by saying, that before your poet's 
 birth, Prometheus was chained; but when 
 Shakspeare appeared — he was delivered. I 
 could add much more on tlie merits and deme- 
 rits of your poet ; but what I have said must 
 suflice ; for my attention is wholly engrossed 
 by a loud hubbub near the ivory portals, con- 
 cerning the delivery of my country from the 
 yoke of barbarians. The iron decrees of Clo- 
 tho, Atropos, and Lachesis prohibit, alas! my 
 re-appearance on earth in material form, and 
 the re-assumption of my Salaminian sword on 
 the glorious occasion; but I must speed forth- 
 with to the adamantine gates, and try what 
 my presence can effect there. 
 Fkctere si nequeo Siiperos, Acheronfa momho. 
 ' . (Vanishes.)
 
 15 
 
 SHADE OF EURIPIDES appears. 
 
 Sophocles and myself, O Brettanians ! 
 (my intrusion here, I perceive, startles yon,) 
 stretched at length, as we often are, in the 
 asphodel meadows, have diligently compared 
 the dramatic works of your Shakspeare with 
 our own. Much we have found to applaud, 
 and much to reprehend. His various deline- 
 ation of character we have found to be admi- 
 rable; and he has sometimes reaches of 
 thought, which perhaps surpass our highest. 
 But I would not give my Medea for his Des- 
 poina Macbeth; neither would Sophocles 
 exchange his Antigone for the Cordelia of 
 the Brettanian. My Colonean friend said to 
 me lately, with his usual candour, as we were 
 seated by the crystalline lakes : — " I probably 
 " shall be found to be his inferior in the natu- 
 " ral and happy developenient of the aflbctions 
 " of the soul ; and his Lear is as tragically 
 " wrought as my G^dipus, or Ajax raving. 
 " The sentiments of his dramatic personages 
 " too, generally speaking, bear less the mark
 
 l(i 
 
 " of the laborious author than mine ; Ijut hv 
 " does not walk in the cothurnus, with such 
 " uniform dignity as I ; neither has he ajiy 
 " character that expresses physical dolour, 
 " equal to my Philocfetes." 
 
 I observe that, in one of his pieces, your 
 poet prates incoherently of Hecuba. What 
 can be his Hecuha to mine? Did he, in the 
 name of the Dioscuri ! ever express maternal 
 anguish like my HecMfert ? I find indeed one 
 Constance, a Celt, who faintly resemldes her; 
 but she is only sketched imperfectly. There 
 is also one Bolomnia a Ronuean ; but he has 
 stolen nearly all her sentiments from our Plu- 
 tarch of Cha^ronea. My Hecuba is fully de- 
 veloi)ed, and leaves, as my daemon whispers, 
 nothing to be desired. I am not clear that, for 
 general grandeur of efl'ect, he can shew any 
 tragedy equal to my Troades ; neither can I 
 discover that he has placed virginal innocence 
 in so trying and aftecting a dilemma, as I have, 
 in my Iphigenia in Aulis. On the other hand, 
 his Romeo and Juliet expresses more truly 
 and delicately disappointed love than any one
 
 17 
 
 ol' my tragedies. His Timon we have found 
 to be a grand effort of genius ; though I can- 
 not say much for his conception of our versa- 
 tile Alcibiades. The conduct of our dramas, 
 I can assert without arrogance, is better than 
 his; for your Shakspeare too frequently in- 
 dulges in subordinate plots, which must ne^ 
 cessarily harass the minds of the spectators, 
 and divert them from the principal action. 
 One piece however, called Othello, wherein he 
 is more regular than usual, w^ould rouse the 
 jealousy of Sophocles and myself, Were we 
 not now, Jove be thanked ! out of the influ- 
 ence of the malignant passions. 
 
 We laughed heartily at one of his com- 
 positions, the scene of ^^hich lies at our 
 Athens, exhibiting nevertheless several pas- 
 sages in which a superior genius is manifest. 
 One of the characters, 1 remember, he gives 
 us with an Ass's Head; another he styles 
 Araclines Web ; another. Blossom of the Pea; 
 another, Ratj of the Moon ; and another. Seed 
 of Sinapi ; with other preposterous conceits, 
 which he associates with our Theseus and a 
 c
 
 18 
 
 Queen of the Amazons. Na Dia ! a fresh 
 crew of monsters for our hero to combat, 
 rather than be classed with ! 1 say nothing of 
 his absurd anachronisms, of his dramas being 
 surcharged with characters, nor of his neglect 
 of the unities, for which we poor Greeks 
 (bowing ironically) always entertained, it 
 seems, a too scrupulous reverence. 
 
 But one of the grossest, and least excusa- 
 ble faults, which we have found, in examining 
 the productions of your Shakspeare, O Bret- 
 tanians! is his childish play upon words, 
 often indulged too in the most tragical crisises. 
 By the Charites ! had Sophocles and myself 
 treated an Athenian audience with such in- 
 fantine vagaries, we should have been pelted 
 with rotten figs and olives in the theatre of 
 Bacchus, As for his chomsses — Demeterf 
 a fig's end for 'em! With the exception 
 of a few fine passages occasionally sparkling 
 among many bad, we neither of us would ex- 
 change our second-rate efforts in that depart- 
 ment of the drama, for the whole of his clubbed 
 together. But his songs are often sweet, and
 
 19 
 
 as melodious as the harp of ^olus struck by 
 the airy fingers of the Zephyrs. I will hardly 
 acknowledge his superiority to me in the 
 masterdom of pathos, nor in the judicious in- 
 troduction of philosophical sentiments. Never- 
 theless, both Sophocles and myself cannot but 
 be sincere admirers of the profundity, and 
 exuberant variety of his genius. 
 
 Fortunate Shakspeare ! when the case of 
 my spirit was mangled by dogs, my country- 
 men thought they did a great thing in erecting 
 a mound of earth over my remains, in the road 
 to the Piraeus ; but thou art happy in having 
 thy merit signalized by a nobler monument! 
 Thou hast our hearty votes for its completion, 
 and were we upon earth, we would cheerfully 
 subscribe to it a talent each, as a proof of our 
 respect for thy talents; notwithstanding that 
 thou hast satirized Homer, the sacred fountain 
 of our inspirations, in an extravagant produc- 
 tion, which Thespis would almost have been 
 ashamed to own. 
 
 ( Vanishes.)
 
 '20 
 
 SHADE OF ARISTOPHANES 
 
 appears. 
 
 I have reason to fear, O Brettanians! that 
 your poet has contrived to suqjass me in pure 
 comedy drawn from nature; but in satiric 
 comedy, which identifies with itself known 
 characters, whether rational or brute, Bekeke- 
 kex, koaxy koaXy " I have him on the hip" to 
 use a phrase in his own works, which caught 
 my eye lately, as I was walking by the ciystal 
 fountains, arm in arm with Menander. One 
 of the advantages I have over him (and I 
 have frequently compared, in the Elysian ave- 
 nues, his comic productions with my own), 
 was the wider field aft'orded at Athens for 
 comedy, by the absurd passions attributed by 
 my countrymen to their deities; of which I 
 have not failed to profit in my Birds, my 
 Frogs, and my Plutus. We both agreed that 
 his powers must have been extraordinary, and 
 that had he flourished our cotemporary in 
 Hellas, we should have been cruelly jealous 
 of them. You have Menander's (he charged
 
 •21 
 
 me to tell you) and my votes for a monument 
 worthy of liis merits. (Vanishes.) 
 
 SHADE OF PLAUTt S appears. 
 
 Though your poet's comic powers may 
 equal mine, Britanni! I would have you bear 
 in mind, (neither will you be able to convict 
 me of errors in my assertion,) that he robbed 
 me of my Mencpchini. In spite of his thelt, 
 the ingenious rogue has my heart-felt vote for 
 a monument ; and were I upon earth, I w ould 
 count down three drachmas, as ray share in 
 the subscription — JEdepol! a round sum for 
 Accius Plautus, who was always poor. 
 
 ( Vanislies.) 
 
 SHADE OF TERENCE appears. 
 
 For some time past, O Britanni! the por- 
 tals of the ivory gates have resounded with 
 *' Shakspeare!" '' Shakspeare!" '' Shakspeare!"
 
 22 
 
 I was detennined in consequence, in my cool 
 asphodel retreat, to compare, sine ird et studio, 
 his comic powers with my own; in doing 
 which, I have had no small trouble, blending 
 as he often does promiscuously his comic and 
 tragic scenes. Had I done so in my pro- 
 ductions, I fear they would have come oft" but 
 very ill at the Megalensian games. Somehow 
 or other, he has contrived to beat me in lis 
 comica; and his characters, generally speak- 
 ing, are more strongly pourtrayed than mine. 
 But in chastened comedy, supported through- 
 out by elegant diction, I leave him far behind. 
 Neither will I allow, in reference to comedy 
 alone, that he was a greater man than myself; 
 for you should recollect, that though bom in 
 Africa, I contrived to produce plays which 
 were admired by the first wits of Rome, and 
 called forth, medius-Jidius ! the enthusiastic 
 approbation of Caesar. My shade even now 
 remembers with rapture, the complimentary 
 verses of such a man ! Your proposed build- 
 ing, Britanni! to the memory of Shakspeare, 
 flatters me with tlie belief that the nations of
 
 23 
 
 the earth still recompense nobly Avell-attcstcd 
 dramatic genius; and I have to thank you, 
 for having painted my statue on the prosceni- 
 um of your principal theatre. 
 
 ( Vanishes.) 
 
 SHADE OF LOPE DE VEGA DEL 
 CARPIO appears. 
 
 Know, Gentilhonihres Ingleses ! that friend- 
 ship for your Shakspeare alone has induced 
 me to present myself here. Our shades are 
 much together in the Elysian fields, whether 
 from an indefinable secret sympathy, or from 
 our having been cotemporaries upon earth, I 
 know not^ but it is even so. He often tells 
 me kindly, that he prefers my society to that 
 of the other dramatic poets. If ever he 
 chances to meet the shades of Racine and 
 Comeille in the great avenue of the poets, a 
 blank silence ensues on either side ; " nee 
 magis moventur, quam si dura silex, aid stet 
 Marpesia caufes ;" owing not to a contcmpti-
 
 24 
 
 ble jealousy on either side, but to a want of a 
 spontaneously-flowing sympathy. It was but 
 lately that my friend expressed to me a regret, 
 that, when on eartli, he did not blot more, and 
 thereby secure a less disputed title to fame. 
 " Fame!" I retorted, " hast thou not quaffed 
 " a good cnp-full already, Guillelmo ? Your 
 " countrymen are not more fastidious than 
 " mine. England and Spain must take the 
 " dross with the ore of our respective produc- 
 " tions. If you talk of blotting, Apollo and 
 f' the Muses know that I have even more need 
 ** of it than you. I'll cure your qualms," I 
 added, " by informing you, that your country- 
 ^^ men are preparing to raise a monument to 
 •* your memory — Continud auditcE voces res- 
 " pecting it, near the ivory portals ; and I have 
 " to request your leave to fly to earth, to give 
 " it my sanction." " 'Twill be Love's Labour 
 " Lost ! my dear Lope," he replied with some 
 warmth, " for they've bruited me enough, and 
 " I've had more of the bubble reputation than 
 " 1 ever bargained for. Leave 'em to make 
 " as Much Ado About Nothing as they list.
 
 25 
 
 " But you leer eagerness with your eyes— As 
 " Vou Like It, then. — ^Will charters this 
 " earnest of your good-\\ill with What You 
 " Will." 
 
 ^^'e then conversed on other subjects, and 
 strolled to the great asphodel bank, close to 
 the diamond grottoes. He there lay down, 
 and tell asleep. Eltsoons came his own fairy 
 sprites, ianning his temples with their trans- 
 parent pinions; and I left Titania busied in 
 heaping a pillow of musk-roses for his head, 
 ever and anon whispering in his ears, " 3/?/ 
 gentle joy /" Then stole I softly away, steered 
 my flight to the triple gates, which turned 
 spontaneously on their hinges at my approach, 
 and behold — here I am ! The shade of Lope 
 de Vega demands a monument on earth to 
 his Elysian friend and companion, the genius 
 of your isle! Y^ asi deciendo, vivan iistedes 
 mil unos! 
 
 ( Vanishes.)
 
 •20 
 
 SHADF. OF MOLIERE appears. 
 
 Boileaii et moi-m6me. Messieurs, (je vois 
 que ma presence vous frappe ; toutefois, V om- 
 bre de Poqueliii n' a rien de trajjiquc,) ayans 
 beaucoup entendu parler de votre Shakspeare 
 tant vante, dans la grande allee des poetes aux 
 Champs Elysces, nous avons compar6 ensemble 
 ses ouvrages comiques avec les miens ; et nous 
 sommes presque d'accord, que peut-etre je n'ai 
 pas developpe un seul caract^re si heureuse- 
 ment congu, et si eminemment comique, que 
 son Falstaff, surtout tel qu'il le fait par6itr6 
 dans les Commeres de Windsor. L'intrigue de 
 raes pieces pourtant, est mieux soutenue que 
 chez lui ; et vous pouvez vous assurer, que 
 malgre la force du g^nie de votre poete, je ne 
 voudrois pas donner nion Avare, mes Four- 
 beries de Scapin, mon Tartuffe, et mes Femmes 
 S^avantes, pour tout ce qu'il a ^crit dans le 
 genre comique. Nous ne contemplons pas 
 sans int^ret cependant, le monument que vous 
 projctez a sa gloire ; et je conseillerais a mes 
 compatriotes de faire la meme chose pour
 
 •27 
 
 C'ovneilJe et Racine duns les lieiix de leur nais- 
 sance ; puisque la guerre^ leur metier favori, 
 leur manque dans ce moment-^i. Vous pouvez 
 vous ctonner a la verite, que nous noUs inter- 
 essons a la <>loire de votre Sliakspeare; mais 
 il est certain, que malgre quelques grossidre- 
 tes, Tapanage de son sit?cle, il avoit un 
 genie supcrieur; d'ailleurs, nous autres poetes, 
 (Dieumerci!) nous ne sommes plus tourmentes 
 de rivalites odieuses. 
 
 ( Vanishes.) 
 
 SHADE OF MILTOX appears, blind. 
 
 What needs my Shakspeare for his honour'd 
 
 bones, 
 The labour of an age in piled stones? 
 Or that his hallow'd reliques should be hid 
 Under a star y-pointing pyramid ? 
 Dear son of memory^ ! great heir of fame ! 
 What need'st thou such weak witness of thy 
 
 name!
 
 28 
 
 Thou, in our wonder and astonishment, 
 Hast built thyself a live-long monument. 
 For whilst to the shame of slow-endeavouring 
 
 art. 
 Thy easy numbers flow ; and that each heart 
 Hath from the leaves of thy unvalued book, 
 Those Delphic lines with deep impression took ; 
 Then thou our fancy of itself bereaving. 
 Dost make us marble with too much con- 
 ceiving ; 
 And so sepulchred in such pomp dost lie. 
 That kings for such a tomb would wish to die. 
 
 ( Vanishes.) 
 
 SHADE OF DRYDEN appears. 
 
 Let the monument be towering and spa- 
 cious ; for, of all poets, the bard of Avon was 
 gifted with the most aspiring and compre- 
 hensive mind. ( Vanishes.)
 
 29 
 
 SHADE OF POPE appears. 
 
 Take, without more ado, the poetic w ing 
 of my Temple of Fame. ( Vanishes.) 
 
 SHADE OF THOMSON appears. 
 
 I rush from the Elysian groves, (and trust 
 you will not deem my presence unseasonable,) 
 to encourage you with my vote, and suggest 
 an idea on this occasion, which must touch 
 every British poet's heart. I propose that you 
 plan a building in the Grecian style, and erect 
 it on " thy hill, delightful Sheen /" exhibiting 
 a statue of Britannia in the midst, pointing 
 with her right hand to a bust of Shakspeare, 
 and holding in her left a scroll, inscribed — 
 
 " Is not wild Shakspeare mine and Nature's boast V 
 
 I think this a fit spot for the monument ; first, 
 because it is beautiful ; secondly, it is at once 
 suburban and subrural; characteristic as it 
 were of the geniu§ of the poet of the Avon,
 
 ;30 
 
 which riots in cities, as well as among the 
 wildest scenes of nature. Poets have claimed, 
 time out of mind, and obtained too, a sort ol" 
 vanity-license from the high Court of Apollo ; 
 I shall therefore offer no Apolocjtj eitlier in 
 verse or prose, for suggesting a plan, in which 
 my muse is somewhat concerned ; and whicli 
 struck me as I was lately strolling in the same 
 iralk as Delille,* in a sequestered part of the 
 Elysian fields. (Vanishes.) 
 
 SHADE OF VOLTAIRE appears. 
 
 Qu'on le represeute done comme son proprc 
 Caliban, tenant dans la main droite son Ham- 
 ht, dans I'autre, une carte de son ile de BoMme. 
 Qu'on mette a ses pieds une statue d' Aristote, 
 preuve de son respect pour lui. Puisqu'il est 
 hors de toute r^gle lui-meme, il faut que son 
 monument le soit aussi. Mettez done les 
 
 * Thomson and Delille were men of the same walk 
 iu poetry.
 
 31 
 
 bases des colonnes en haut, et les chapitaux 
 en bas. Que le sculpteur n'oublie pas non 
 plus, de mettre a ses pieds, nos pauvres Cor- 
 neilles, Racine, et Moli^re, apprenans de lui 
 de nouvelles methodes pour la conduite de 
 leurs drames. (Vanishes.) 
 
 SHADE OF DIDEROT appears. 
 
 Tiens, tiens, Voltaire! reprime ta satire 
 mordante. Qu'on nous le donne plutot comrae 
 le grand Saint Christophe de N6tre-Dame, aux 
 jambes colossales, et s' avan^ant a pas de 
 ocant sur la terre. (Vanishes.) 
 
 SHADE OF D' ALEMBERT appears. 
 
 Je me souviens que quand jetois sur la 
 terre, j'ai lu dans la narration de (juelque 
 voyageur en Sicile, qu'il y avoit un prince de 
 ce pays-la, done d'un genie actif, mais bizarre; 
 qui a bati uu palais non loin de Palerrae,
 
 .32 
 
 rcmpli de statues grotes([ucs, et iiml-propor- 
 tioniiees. Prenez sonpalais pour le monument 
 de votre pciete. (Vanishes.) 
 
 SHADE OF LA IIARPR apixars. 
 
 Malgre quelques scenes lieureuses, quclqucs 
 6('lairs de genie, je ne sgaurois jamais mettre 
 en parall61e le m6iite de votre Shakspearc, 
 avec celui dcs grands drainatistes Francois. 
 Votre obstination a son egard, m' a toujours 
 para singuli^rc. Comment preierer son mon- 
 stre de Hamlet, son fou de Lear, et son Jules 
 Cesar, qui, chez lui, n'est qu'un capitan de 
 bandits, au Caton d' Addison, et a la Venise 
 Sauvee d' Otway! J' ai reconnu pourtant, 
 dans raon Coiirs de Litterature, quelques 
 perles jet^es ca et la dans son enorme fumier; 
 et il faut avouer que son genie, tout bizarre 
 qu'il est, merite un monument, puisqu'il a 
 obtenu tant d' autorite chez voiis. 
 
 ( Vanishes.)
 
 .33 
 
 SHADE OF GRxVY appears, 
 
 T have to apologize for .suggesting to the 
 Committee a hint afforded by my Progress of 
 Poesy. Would the sculptor of the monument 
 do amiss (I speak with diffidence) in repre- 
 senting gieat Nature giving the keys of the 
 human heart to the immortal boy ? 
 
 ( VanisJies.) 
 
 SHADE OF GARRICK appears, with 
 sparkling eyes. 
 
 What ! my sweet Willy-o in at last for a 
 monument worthy of his greatness ! This is 
 as it should be. But I charge the Committee, 
 \^ hatever plan they may adopt, to remember 
 that Stratford is his birth-place, and to bear 
 in mind the injunction that he left you, not to 
 disturb his bones. 
 
 (Vanishes.)
 
 34 
 
 SHADE OF MADEMOISELLE 
 CLAIRON appears. 
 
 Je n'ai jamais pu approcier an juste, Ic 
 gi'nic du poetc Anglois. Tout ce que j'cn 
 s^ais est, que quand mon cher Garrick et moi, 
 nous jouames nos roles respectifs dans mes 
 appartemens a Paris, tantot il m'a attend ri 
 jusqu'aux lannes, tantot il nj'a fait frissonner 
 d'horreur. Je conclus done, avec beaucoup 
 de vraisemblance, que votre Shakspeare, nial- 
 gre quelques bizarreries, est un diamant de la 
 premiere eau. II merite sans doute, un beuu 
 monument. ( Vanishes.) 
 
 SHADE OF WARBURTON appears. 
 
 Let the monument be Greek, and let it be 
 illustrated with inscriptions in the same dialect. 
 Every honorary building, without them, espe- 
 cially if Grecian, must be nonsense, a mon- 
 strous architectural abortion, tickling solely 
 the senses, not addressing the mind. If I
 
 .35 
 
 found it expedient to strike the mental eye of 
 the reader of the poet's text, with Greek cita- 
 tions, it is not easy to imagine that what meets 
 the somatic vision merely, can hit the mind 
 without inscriptions at least in that noble 
 language. Let the architect take a circular 
 temple with thirty-eight columns ; let each 
 be inscribed with one of the poet's dramas 
 in Greek, after this manner: Hee Tragodia 
 lorkana, Metron anti Metrou, Hosper Thelete, 
 Doihkatee Niiix. and so forth. Let his statue 
 (something in the style of Michael Angelo's 
 Moses y) be inscribed — 
 
 Saxperib Hiupsisto Meyistb. 
 Every thing then is intelligible at a glance. 
 
 ( Vanishes.) 
 
 SHADE OF JOHNSON appears. 
 
 I see no reason for any inscriptions, much 
 less Greek. Our Shakspeare w as an aborigi- 
 nal Briton. Such is the ubiquity of his genius,
 
 36 
 
 so active 4s the propagation of his dramatic 
 efforts through the medium of our typical 
 foundries, that a monument without any in- 
 scription, will prove a sort of relief to tlie 
 public mind, so overwhelmed as it is by the 
 poefs works. There is a highly expressive 
 silence. (Vanishes, groicUiKj.) 
 
 SHADE OF MALONE appears. 
 
 The sculptor perhaps will do Avell to take 
 his likeness from the bust in Stratford church, 
 the effect of which I heightened, by giving it a 
 coat of white paint. ( Vanishes.) 
 
 SHADE OF STEEVENS appears. 
 
 The gentleman is equally unfortunate, 
 whether in painting the bust of the poet, or in 
 commenting his works. (Vanishes.)
 
 :17 
 
 SHADE OF SUSANNA SHAKSPi: ARi:. 
 
 favourite daughter of the poet , appears. 
 
 Why trouble yourselves, ffood <jentlcinen. 
 about my dear father, more than yon already 
 have done ? Is not 5 our admiration of his 
 works his noblest mausoleum ? Sutler his 
 own Susanna to remind you that he has al- 
 ready two monuments to his memory. Had 
 he none, he died in the religion of his countrj^ 
 and is amply satisfied with having instructed 
 and delighted it with his writings. Aour own 
 hearts will explain my appearance among you 
 on this occasion. And could I absent myselt" 
 — I, his favourite Susanna, whom, when on 
 earth, he loved so tenderly 1 
 
 ( Vanishes, weeping.) 
 
 SHADE OF JOHN-A-COMBE appears. 
 
 Be sure you represent him in a marble- 
 relief standing behind an oak, and taking
 
 38 
 
 his aim at a buck in Sir Thomas Lucy's park. 
 When on earth, I knew the rogue well ; and 
 he was as clever a deer-stealer as any in the 
 county of AVarwick. I owe him this hit for 
 the epitaph, in which he sent me to the devil. 
 But cloven-footed Satan concerns now neither 
 deer-stealincf Will, nor the plain yeoman of 
 Stratford — John-a-Combe. ( VwiiaJies.) 
 
 SHADE OF VITTORIO ALFIERI 
 
 appears. 
 
 Le due volte ch'io sono stato in Inghilter- 
 ra, ho riconosciuto che il merto del vostro 
 Shakspeare era ben fondato. Non abbiamo 
 che'l nostro Alighier, chi si pu6 paragonar 
 con ello, e per la profondita de' pensieri, e 
 per r altezza del stile. Date un monuraento 
 sejnplice e sublime, a quel gran maestro del 
 cuor umano, quel Ercole della tragedia, chi 
 m' ha vinto nel genio si, ma non nel giudizio, 
 n6 nella scienza di buon ordine teatrale ; chi
 
 39 
 
 ha incatenato nelle sue opere, Ic due ibie 
 donne, ahi lasso! le raie due furie spaven- 
 tevole — Ira, e Malinconia. 
 
 (Svanisce fremebondo.) 
 
 SHADE OF R. B. SHERIDAN appears. 
 
 Ben Jonson, Colley Cibber, and myself, 
 have just finished a bowl of nectar in the 
 poets' walk of the Elysian fields. Quoth Ben, 
 " Let us drink success to the monument, w hich 
 " is about to be erected to the applause, de- 
 " light, and wonder of the stao:e ;" in which 
 Cibber and myself heartily joined. You are 
 aware that when I was among you, I yielded 
 to no one in admiration of Shakspeare ; but I 
 will not trouble the Committee with any hints 
 respecting the proposed monument, whether 
 or no it should be simple, or splendid, whether 
 or no it should be embossed with the poet's 
 armorial bearings ; for I was w ell enough sa- 
 tisfied with his monument at Old Drury ; when
 
 40 
 
 the Shakspcare crest and arms were s«» uppro- 
 jjriritely supi)ortetl by John Kenil)l<> aiul his 
 sister. ( Vanitiiies.) 
 
 THE CHAIRMAN, 
 
 After a pause office minutes. 
 
 'V\\e members of the sub-committee, "whose 
 bones are marrovvless, whose blood is cold," 
 appear now to give us some respite. If your 
 patience be not exhausted, I crave your at- 
 tention to extracts from three letters lately 
 Gome to hand. 
 
 Extract of a Letter from 
 
 VlNCENZO M 1. 
 
 Omero, il nostro Dante, ed il vostro Shak- 
 spcare, soiio i soli poeti dotati dal vero estro 
 divino. Tre sono i poeti del mondo; tre 
 dunque siano i monument! della Santa Trinita 
 del Parnasso.
 
 41 
 
 Kxtract of a Letter from 
 T A. 
 
 Prenez im beau bloc de marbre Grec. 
 
 Faites-le s'asseoir parmi les grands poetes 
 dramatiques, tant anciens, que modemes, jou- 
 issans, chacun, de la gloire qui leur est due, 
 et se reposans amicalement dans un s^jour 
 delicieux des Champs Elysees. 
 
 Kxfract of a Letter from 
 
 WlLHELJf S L. 
 
 Of three volumes, which I have dedicated 
 to an analysis of ancient and modern dramatic 
 literature, your Shakspeare nearly engrosses 
 one ; a sufficient proof of the esteem in w hich 
 I hold his talents. I would erect at Stratford, 
 a small amphitheatre, and place in the centre 
 a statue of the poet ; and let his canopy ba 
 the skies. Represent himself standing in a 
 biga draun by two Pegasi, Melpomene guiding 
 
 F
 
 42 
 
 one, andTlialia the other, with this inscription 
 in gold letters on the biga — 
 
 CiKNIO 
 
 Insularlm Britannicarum. 
 
 SHADE OF MADAxME BE S 
 
 appears. 
 
 L' idee de mon ami est sublime a la v^rite; 
 mais je prendrois plutdt un batiment gothique, 
 aiissi imposant que vous voulez, mais d' un 
 plan irr6gulier ; dans lequel, cinq ou six 
 grandes fenetres peintes de mille couleurs, re- 
 pandent une clart6 mer^eiUeuse, et font un 
 eftet prodigieux ; tandis que la lumi^re ne 
 p<inetre qu'a peine par les autres, serrecs de 
 grilles, et de grandeur inegale ; pour exprimer 
 k la fois, la sublimit^ austere, la variete 
 6tonnante, et la conduite defectueuse des 
 pidces de votre Shakspeare. 
 
 ( Vanishes.)
 
 43 
 
 SHADE OF PORSOX appears. 
 
 I jyst left the Sealiirers, Bentley, and Ca- 
 sanbon, in hioh dispute about Shakspeare, in 
 the critics' walk of tlie Elysian Jields, My 
 appearance on this occasion cannot surprize 
 you, since most here present are aware that, 
 when on earth, I had Shakspeire as much as 
 my o\Mi dear Euripides at heart, and by heart. 
 This is not the place for me to insist on the 
 " nt^ns divinior" or on the " chm flueret lutu- 
 Icntus, erat quod tollere velles." Let it suffice 
 to know, that the shade of Richard Porson 
 Totes for a Greek monuments 
 
 (Vanishes.) 
 
 THE CHAIRMAN. 
 
 What ! will the line of the Shades stretch 
 out to the crack of doom ? Start eyes ! how 
 many more ?
 
 44 
 
 A MEMBER OF THE COMMITTEE, 
 
 and Actor of the first Witch at 
 Covent-Garden. 
 
 Allow me, Mr. Chairman, to propose an 
 antidote for the ghosts, — an efficacious one, I 
 ween, in the shape of a Tureen of Negus. The 
 vapours of this cauldron, more genial than the 
 witches', shall no doubt dispel them. 
 
 Yes — our cauldron shall bum clearer — 
 
 Waiter ! twelve bottles of Madeira ! 
 
 Squeeze Seville oranges a score ; 
 
 Add lemon-chips ; grate nutmegs four. 
 
 Of sugar-candy put one pound ; 
 
 So shall our charm be firm and sound. 
 
 To settle all superfluous scum. 
 
 By spoonfuls burn one pint of rum. 
 
 Pour, the ghosts away to drive. 
 
 Of boiling water gallons five. 
 
 The pow'r of steam on earth we know ; 
 
 Let's try it on the shades below. 
 
 Add cloves a few ; and (damn the trouble !) 
 
 A genial beverage boil and bubble.
 
 45 
 
 A MEMBER OF THE COMMITTEE, 
 
 and Actor of the second Witch at 
 Drury-Lane. 
 
 While you about the Xegus go. 
 My office too I'll deftly shew. — 
 Take pounds twice five of wheaten flour. 
 And on the mass thrice sifted pour 
 Of Devon's clouted cream one pint; 
 With half as much orgeat anoint. 
 Slic'd in square lumps, five quinces add. 
 And rose-conserve, to make us glad. 
 Let proper interval be given. 
 To candied citrons hash'd eleven. 
 Put in thrice twelve pistachio kernels, 
 (Peel 'em, the rind our lips will burn else.) 
 In lieu of currants, (vulgar fare !) 
 Dried cherries scatter here and there. 
 Let yolks of twice six eggs new laid 
 With golden slime the dough pervade. 
 A spirit-zest t'impart, in eke throw 
 One pint of cream from Martinico.
 
 46 
 
 In mystic oven clap and bake -\ 
 
 Th' ingredients of the Shakspeare Cake — > 
 Old Twelfth 'twill surely jealous make. * 
 
 [The table sinks, and presently re-appears, 
 with the Bowl of Negus and Shakspeare 
 Cake, nhich are handed round to the Com- 
 mittee.] 
 
 MARMADUKE STURTON, owner of 
 the site of the Globe Theatre. 
 
 When I rose this mor 
 
 THE CHAIRMAN, interrupting him. 
 
 Our dispelling charms, I see, are firm and 
 good ; and I congratulate the Committee in at 
 last being able to collect opinions more mate- 
 rial to our purpose, and less immaterial, than 
 those with which we have been hitherto fa- 
 voured. Mr. SturtoD, when you please, Sir.
 
 47 
 
 MARMADUKE STLRTON. 
 
 Gentlemen, when I rose this mornine:, no- 
 thing was further from my thoughts, than the 
 idea of troubling you with any suggestions on 
 my part, relative to the proposed monument 
 to Shakspeare ; but lo ! as the breakfast-urn 
 was hissing on the table, my daughter Wilhel- 
 mina, a bit of a harebrain to be sure, came 
 running into the room, and saying — " Well, 
 " papa, have you not read tlie advertisement 
 " about Shakspeare's monument?" "No," I 
 replied. " Well but, papa, it particularly con- 
 " cerns us," she added, ** since I have always 
 " heard that the Globe Theatre, where our 
 " poet himself performed, and as some say, 
 " held the spectators' horses, stood in our 
 " premises." She produced, at the same time, 
 a drawing of her own, pressing me so inces- 
 santly to present it to the Committee, that I 
 could not quiet her, but by promising that I 
 would do as she requested ; cautioning her at 
 the same time, not to feed her vanity with the 
 hope of its being adopted. You see, Mr.
 
 48 
 
 Chairman (handing the drawing), the dosijrn 
 exhibits a plain Doric column supporting- a 
 Globe, surmounted with a statue of our poet, 
 which my daughter advises you to place in my 
 premises. She says, the plan she proposes, 
 may be considered equally allegorical of the 
 Globe Theatre, and of the theatrical Globe or 
 World, of which Shakspeare is, in England at 
 least, the avowed sovereign. The idea appears 
 to me fair enough for a girl of sixteen ; and 
 whether acceptable or no, your goodness, I am 
 sure, will pardon a father's indulgence to a 
 daughter an such an occasion. 
 
 FRANK CRIB, mvner of the Butcher's 
 Shop at Stratfordr-upon-Avon. 
 
 Plase your honors, I ba but a plain Eng- 
 lishman — 'scuse the liberty I take in coming 
 np to Lunmni to trouble you. Though I ba 
 not much customed to these matters — but, 
 (scratching his head) why I thinks, that as I
 
 49 
 
 owns the house in wliich Shakspeare was born, 
 it ba but rio^ht that you make a purchase of it 
 and the jc^ound, for the moniment to stand; 
 the sitivation being as good as any in all 
 Stratford. If you ax the price, your honors 
 — to spake conshentious now — why 1 thinks 
 two thousand pounds will ba but fair in these 
 haird tax-times, your honors; and if you plase 
 to give to honest Frank the kape of the moni- 
 ment — why now, to ax as low a price as I can, 
 two and sixpence a head to see it, will be only 
 a trifle for o;emmen, your honors. Sister's 
 suds, to kajie the pillows nate, will come to 
 nain or ten shillings a week in these 'spensive 
 times — now, I ingage, if you plase to trust me 
 the kay, to kape the moniment so clane, that 
 the smock of the hansomst and richest bride 
 in all Stratford, in her way to church, shall be 
 sut to it, your honors ; beside, my house is 
 almost ruinated, and the walls so writ over 
 with names, that gemmen have no more room 
 to write theirs', your honors. 'Sense me for 
 loving the character of our dair Will, better 
 than my own int'rcst, and my fam'ly int'rest, 
 
 G
 
 50 
 
 and the int'rcst of all tlir county of Warwick, 
 and the int're.st of all England put to that — 
 but as how, if you don't plase to have my arty 
 hoffer, all I have to say is, that our p^ood Will 
 shall have my best will, your honors. 
 
 DANIEL WOOLRICH TUPPER YEO, 
 
 a South-Down Grazier. 
 
 Thoufrh I can read in your eyes, Gentle- 
 men, before I begin to address you, that a 
 grazier must be a sort of fish out of water in a 
 Committee of this description, your goodness, 
 I am sure, will pardon me, for having come 
 post-haste from my farm at Harting, to sug- 
 gest a plan for the monument of our great 
 Shakspeare. You must know that, when a 
 young man, I had no relish ibr the profession 
 of a grazier ; but happening to turn one day 
 over the pages of our poet, I dipped on his 
 charming description of a shepherd's life, 
 which so tickled my fancy, that, from that
 
 moiiient, I became a shepherd in my heart ; 
 while before I was oue but in name. Neither 
 would I barter my condition now, for any tliat 
 the world can offer. People who are as much 
 struck with Shakspeare as myself, will no 
 doubt be surprized that my plan aspires to 
 nothing so grand as marble, stone, or the more 
 homely brick. To be brief, I hold, Gentlemen, 
 that Will Shakspeare could have been nothing- 
 more or less than a shepherd ; tliat is to say, 
 he must have been a shepherd in his soul, or 
 he could not have painted rustic life so clever- 
 ly and neatly as he has done. Therefore, I 
 hope you will not think my plan absurd, if I 
 propose that his monument should be placed 
 at Harting, in the heart of the South-Downs, 
 and consist of one hundred unbarked trunks 
 of beech-trees, with a plain but stoutly thatch- 
 ed roof, having two weathercocks at top, 
 moving on the same iron rod, one as usual, 
 the other with the letters, W. S. P. X. that 
 is, William Shakspeare, Poet of Nature; and 
 so contrived, that letter S. may face letter N.; 
 both weathercocks indicating to the beholder
 
 the direction of the wind, and that Shakspearc 
 is as true to nature as the wind is to the 
 quarter from which it blows. 1 would place 
 his statue, carved in oak, in the centre, repre- 
 sented as a shepherd. The door-way should 
 be " o'ercanopied w ith luscious woodbine," to 
 use his own words, and a small avenue of 
 sweet-william should mark tlie approach to 
 the porch, other garden flowers smiling around 
 in profusion — poppy, valerian, and wormwood 
 excepted. Forgive a plain grazier, Gentlemen, 
 for presuming to lay before you his ideas on 
 this occasion. 
 
 PETER OGEE, an Architect of York, 
 
 If ever a favourable opportunity presented 
 itself, Gentlemen, for whetting the geniuses of 
 British arcliitects and sculptors, that surely is 
 the present one. If you will please to honour 
 me with the erection of the proposed building, 
 1 hope to be able to gratify the public taste.
 
 53 
 
 by inventing an order which sliall not bear the 
 remotest affinity to the Antediluvian, E«rypti- 
 an, Persian, Siculo-Etruscan, Tuscan, Greek, 
 Roman, Saxon, pointed Tudor, unpointed 
 Plantagenet, Elizabethan, or any, in short, 
 hitherto known. The French, you probably. 
 Gentlemen, are aware, thought in the reijrn of 
 Louis XIV. to eclipse the solar blaze of Gre- 
 cian taste, by imajrining a new architectural 
 order. What did they do ? ^^'hy , they clap- 
 ped a cock with extended wings between the 
 Corinthian volutes, perched him on the acan- 
 thus-leaves, and denominated this eft'ort of 
 genius the French order. I hope to be able 
 to prove that my intended Shaksperkin order 
 shall be more original, and display unliatched 
 and unfledged capitals, worthy of our cock- 
 poet's crested and capital genius. I propose, 
 in the entablature, to omit the cima reversa ; 
 for I hold that nothing topsy-turvy should 
 appear in a monument to Shakspeare. But I 
 will not broach any more of my ideas at pre- 
 sent ; for they will be made more intelligible 
 by drawings. As for the situation of the
 
 54 
 
 monument, I do not think you can do better. 
 Gentlemen, than commission me to place it 
 on the summit of Wharnside, the highest 
 mountain in Yorkshire, and, as some say, in 
 all England. It is generally ackno^vledged 
 that our poet's genius was heavenly; now 
 he cannot stand much nearer heaven in our 
 island, than on the spot just mentioned. The 
 building too, sometimes seen shining in the 
 clear blue expanse, sometimes lost in dark 
 clouds, wUl convey to thinking spectators a 
 true type of his genius, which, as the critics 
 tell us, is one moment bright and gay, another, 
 stem and obscure. 
 
 NATHANIEL ARDEN, a Master-Builder 
 oj Fever sham. 
 
 I am not much customed to speaking in 
 public. Gentlemen, but as I hold that I am 
 descended in a right line from the Arden, who 
 figures in one of our poet's early perform-
 
 55 
 
 ances, I offer that as my apology for sugoesting 
 that Feversham puts in full as good a claim to 
 the honour of building a monument to Shak- 
 speare, as any other town in the British domi- 
 nions. If you ask the proofs of my descent 
 from the interesting Arden, all I have to say 
 is, that my father told mc so ; my grandfather, 
 him ; my great-grandfather, him ; and my 
 great-great-grandfather, him ; proofs as good, 
 to my mind, as any parchment roll that can 
 be produced. Besides, I am of opinion, that 
 as our poet is a marked man, it is fit that his 
 monument should be remarkable in every way. 
 NoWy by placing it near Feversham, you will 
 make it at once both a land-mark, and sea- 
 mark; a land-mark for the wits that travel 
 post, and a sea-mark for those who enter the 
 Medway, either on commercial business, or 
 with the view of being poetically sentimental 
 in a steam-boat. I propose that a colossal 
 statue of the poet be erected on a tower, like 
 that at the North Foreland, holding a large 
 patent reverberating sinumbra lamp, (such as I 
 purchased in the Strand the otlier day for my
 
 56 
 
 wife,) a pleasing and shadouless eniblcin ol' 
 the drama, which, as every body knows, rever- 
 berates lil'e and manners, ft" you please to 
 commit the execution of the monument to me, 
 I will at least answer to carve tm the key- 
 stone of the door-way a colossal head of my 
 interesting ancestor Arderi, and give him to 
 boot a countenance at once ardent and ex- 
 pressive. 
 
 CHRISTIAN GUILDESTERN, a Danish 
 Merchant, long resident in London. 
 
 The bales, Gentlemen, that I am constantly 
 shipping for the Scaggerac and Cattegat, leave 
 me but little leisure for the cultivation of the 
 fine arts. Allow me however to suggest, that 
 if you purpose to adopt a statue to commemo- 
 rate your immortal poet, few artists will be 
 better capable of doing it justice than my 
 distinguished countryman, justly surnaraed, at 
 Copenhagen, the Phidias of the North. The
 
 •37 
 
 scene of one of the most striking of Sliak- 
 speare's dramas lies, you are aware, in Den- 
 mark ; and is not a full quarter of the British 
 blood, Danish ? As for the other candidate 
 sculptors, whosoever they may ])c, what can 
 they do in comparison ? " Can they have the 
 motive and tlie cue for passion," that a genu- 
 ine Dane can have? " Lord Hamlet is a 
 prince out of their sphere," l)ut he happens to 
 be in a Dane's. I conjure the Committee not 
 to disdain a Dane. 
 
 FRANCESCO-ASSISI CARTUZZO, 
 
 a Venetian Gentleman on a visit 
 in London. 
 
 Ah! il cigno divino dell' Avona! Cosa 
 strepitosa assai pel scarpello del nostro Cano- 
 va, se la morte non I'avrebbe tolto ! II prin- 
 cipe de' poeti Inglesi indubitamente avrebbe 
 ottenuto una nuova immortalita dal principe 
 de' scultori del nostro secolo ! Ha lasciato 
 Ji
 
 5B 
 
 per6 in Roma alcuni discepoli degni forse di 
 lavorare il moiuimento proposito. lo, Signori 
 uiiei, sono Veneziano, e quasi compatriota 
 del Otello, del Romeo, del Scilocco, del laclii- 
 mo, e di molt' altri eroi del vostro Shakspearc. 
 Posso dire in verita clie il poeta immortale fu 
 pill di mezzo-Ttaliano — tanto bene ha descritto 
 i nostri costuini! 
 
 MARIE-ANNE XAVIER HIPPOLYTE 
 TRANCHANT, Sculptor, 
 
 On a visit in London, hut residing at Paris, 
 
 No. 9999, Rue Neuve des bons Enfans, 
 
 an premier. 
 
 Messieurs ! excusez mes transports. Une 
 sainte ardeur s'empare de mon ame, en pro- 
 uongant le nom ni^me de votre adorable poete. 
 Depuis ma plus tendre enfance, ses ouvrages 
 ont fait mon bonheur. Mes talents pour la
 
 o9 
 
 sculpture ne peuvent pas vous ^tre inconnus. 
 En solicitant done yos suffrages pour I'lionneur 
 d' immortaliser moi meme votre divin Saksper 
 
 quedis-je? votre Saksper, Je dirai 
 
 plut6t notre Saksper, oui Messieurs, le notre. 
 N'est ce pas qu'une forte moitie de ses scenes 
 est posee en France 1 Par consequent, il est 
 a nous comme a yous. Bans quels vers sub- 
 limes, grand dieu! n'a t-il pas c61ebr6 notre 
 belle Catherine, femnie de votre Henri V. ! 
 De plus, il r a fait parler Francois; oui. Mes- 
 sieurs ! et notre pucelle d' Orleans, et la 
 gTande Marguerite d' Anjou, et Constance, 
 dpouse de votre Jean-sans-tcrre, et la belle et 
 bonne Blanche, m^re de Saint Louis, et tant 
 d' autres de nos rois, reines, et g^n^raux ! 
 N' ayez pas peur. Messieurs, liez-vous a moi ; 
 je connois mes forces, vous serez contens de 
 mes travaux; je reponds pour les vrais con- 
 noisseurs, et pour toute la compagnie du jardin 
 du Couvent, Messieurs ! c' est Saksper seul 
 qui a fertilise le sol de mon esprit. (Rappituj 
 snvjf-box thrice.)
 
 00 
 
 SHADE OF 3IRS. MONTAGUE 
 
 appears. 
 
 II a fertilis6 done uu sol bien ius^rat. 
 
 ( Vanishes. J 
 
 THE CHAIRMAN. 
 
 I must resign the chair. Gentlemen, if mea- 
 sures more effectual than the negus-cauldron, 
 or Shakspeare cake, be not taken to put a stop 
 to this intrusion of the shades into the com- 
 mittee-room. God knows we have had a good 
 dose of them ; and your patience, as well as 
 mine, must be on the wane. I see the crack 
 to the left, eflected by the lightning, under the 
 cornice of the ceiling, just over Monsieur 
 Tranchaiit's head, through which it is evident 
 they make their entrances and exits. I pro- 
 pose that this hole be instantly stopped with 
 putty.
 
 in 
 
 SEVERAL VOICES. 
 
 Let it be stopped— let it be stopped. The 
 glazier, ho ! 
 
 [A glazier is sent for ^ and the chink is stopped 
 with putty. ^ 
 
 THE CHAIRMAN. 
 
 Now, Gentlemen, I hope our business will 
 proceed without any more interrui)tions from 
 the El ysian fields, the diamond grottoes, or the 
 crystal fountains. And I have wondered this 
 half hour, that you have been able to keep the 
 rose-lipped cherub Patience smiling quietly 
 on your knees, while mine has been fidgeted 
 with the rickets. Mr. Flagel, my eye catches 
 your's, Sir.
 
 02 
 
 OBADIAH FLAGEL, a Schoolmaster of 
 Newcasfle-npoii- Tijne. 
 
 Gentlemen, the intervals of leisure af- 
 forded me by my school-vacations have partly 
 been devoted to the cultivation of the literee 
 elegant iores. Enthusiastic from my boyhood, 
 in my admiration of the Avonian bard, 1 
 hailed with inexpressible satisfaction, the 
 projected monument to his glory. But we are 
 here assembled, not to pronounce paneg-yrics 
 on our favourite poet, which have engrossed 
 so many pens and tongues, but to receive and 
 consider plans for the monument in question. 
 Our theatrical managers, tired, it would ap- 
 pear, of marshalling horses on the stage, have 
 determined, by the late adoption of glass- 
 curtains, to follow our poet's injunction in 
 good earnest, in holding mirrors, not perhaps 
 so much up to nature as heretofore, but up 
 to us spectators. 
 
 We have always heard, Gentlemen, that 
 actors on the stage were veiuti in speculo; but 
 it would appear that veiuti may henceforth be
 
 • 03 
 
 dropped from the drop-scene, since they arc 
 literally now in specido seipso. We have no 
 need then to regret (and I conn^ratulate the 
 actors that their profession is made so com- 
 pendious,) the Garricks, Gibbers, Pritchards, 
 Hendersons, Bellamys, Abingtons, or Kera- 
 bles ; since it follows, as a corollary, that our 
 perfonners, having no awkward velnfi in their 
 way, must be better now than any that ever 
 appeared, inasmuch as reality surpasses si- 
 militude. But to the point in question ; for 
 these glass-curtains have aiforded me an useful 
 hint. I was thinking, that if a monument 
 be raised to our poet, placing his statue in 
 the centre, and all round it mirrors so dis- 
 posed, as to reflect his tigure ten thousand 
 times, the effect of this Myriadiconoptron 
 Shaksperiense would be equally elegant and 
 appropriate, reflecting as it would the " myriad 
 mind" mind, I do not say the " myriad- 
 minded man" like the news-paper advertise- 
 ment for the subscription; for then, divine 
 Berkeley ! I should fall out with thee. And 
 how can I consistently do that, convinced as I
 
 04 
 
 am with thee, that matter is a more inudilica- 
 tion of mind ? Gentlemen, whether luy pl^m 
 appear feasible or no, you will at least allow 
 it not to harmonize ill with the chara(;ter of 
 that great genius whose works, like one vast 
 mirror; reflect all the passions and conditions 
 of mankind. 
 
 MELCHISEDECH LEVI, residing 
 iVo.239, Old Jewry. 
 
 I shee no reashon at all, Shentlemen, why 
 you shood trooble the pooblic to shubscribe 
 on sooch an occashon. What have the dead 
 to do weeth the pooblic poorsh ? Speshally 
 in sooch times, when the takshes presh so hard 
 on the poor, and when the three per shents are 
 so heigh, that monish-people can feend no 
 nook to creep in ; and the Alley is fool of lame 
 dukes. But shupposing oor poorshes were 
 well feeled, wash, I ashk, thish poeet Shak- 
 speare, a shinchere freend to the housh of
 
 (J5 
 
 David? I guesh not; and theenk that if hish 
 mush had iiishpired heem propheticaUy, to 
 wreet a play on Sholomon in all hish gloree, 
 he wood have painted heem noothing more or 
 lesh than King- Sheelock — yesh, Shentlemen, 
 you may laugh, — King Sheelock. For thish 
 reashon, I weel slmbscribe noothing ; no, not 
 oon groat ; no, not oon penny ; no, not oon 
 hapenny ; no, not oon ferthing. Perhaps you 
 may shucceed better weeth my keenshwomen 
 in Old Shewry ; for I know he hash geeven 
 oor leetel Shessica preetily enoof. Ash for 
 rayshelf, the firsht day I deen on a shpare-reeb 
 of pork, I promish to pay feefty poond, ash my 
 share in the shubscripshon. 
 
 GIOVANNI. 
 
 Take a temple surrounded by red tin-foil 
 columns, emblematic of the fire of his genius, 
 and entwined with laurels of the same ma- 
 terial. Place round it metallic trees with 
 I
 
 (Hi 
 
 fieiy fruit, which a g^reen and yellow dragon, 
 that is, the daemon of jealousy, in vain endea- 
 vours to pluck. 
 
 MADExMOISELLE N , 
 
 Danseuse tie /' Opera a Paris, on a visit 
 in London. 
 
 Faites batir done, Messieurs, un joli tem- 
 ple, tout-a-fait joli, du plus beau marbre blanc, 
 tel qu'on voit au petit Trianon. Entourez-le 
 de fontaines charmantes, comrae celles de 
 Saint-Cloud, et de jolis bosquets, conune a 
 Fontenay-aux-roses. Placez le buste de 
 
 votre poete au milieu du temple, et au-dessus 
 de lui, la statue d' une belle nymphe, dont la 
 robe est de la plus l^gere soierie de Lyon, aux 
 garnitures de myrte et de roses, qui en pirou- 
 ettant, le couronne de lauriers. Mettez a ses 
 c6t6s deux petits Cupidons, 1' un qui pleure, 
 1' autre qui rit, pour exprimer les eftets de 
 cette belle passion, qii'il a si bien decrite, a
 
 (>7 
 
 ce qu'on dit. J' ai d^ja soiilag^ les Irlandais, 
 Messieurs; il ne me faut qu'un autre benefice, 
 pour prouver mon amour pour votre poete 
 cheri. 
 
 PELAGIO DIMITRI, a Greek Merchant of 
 Patras. 
 
 I understencl In^lish little. Gentlemen ; 
 have been in ]jondon only months four, to 
 make pity for countrymen mine murdered at 
 Scio. If you will help Athenians and Alba- 
 nians in heart good, to drive barbarous and 
 infidel Tourkoi to Asia-side of Arciiipela^o, 
 I will answer on head mine, that New-Greece 
 government will grant bit of ground on Par- 
 nassus mountain. I will motion it in our 
 Areopagus-council, when it named be. I ad- 
 vise that the chosen place for your Sophocles 
 Inglish monument be over Delphi ancient, 
 bet^veen the points of the mountain, that bein^- 
 place high for genius high.
 
 m 
 
 SAMUEL GRIM, 
 
 Plug-turner of the Pipes which supply the 
 Theatre with Gas. 
 
 Forgive me. Gentlemen, for troubling yon 
 with my opinion ; but an idea struck me, as I 
 Was shoveling coal yesterday into the gas-fur- 
 nash, which may perhaps be of some use. I 
 was thinking, if the building l)e of cast-inm, 
 shut up during the day, and well lit with gas 
 after sunset, shewing in the inside the names 
 of Shakspeare's plays in gas, and his om n in 
 large letters hung from the roof in tlie middle, 
 in gas like\\ ise, the efl'ect might be grand and 
 striking; particular, if we take to mind that 
 his genus shines more by night than by day. 
 If the building should conmiunicate to our 
 furnash, you may rely on my word, I'll take 
 care to draw oft' the clearest gas, and keep the 
 lights so clear, that people's eyes shall water 
 as they look at them ; that the inside, in short, 
 shall be as bright as JShakspeare's genus 
 itself.
 
 69 
 
 PATRICK O'SULIVAX, 
 
 Sometime Student at the College of 
 Mayuooth. 
 
 Professing:, as I do, Gentlemen, to be an 
 ardent admirer of the system propa<:fated by 
 tlie immortal Gall and Spurzlieim, I cannot 
 refrain from troubling you with an idea, which 
 struck me, as I was seated by my ancestor's 
 cascade, a few weeks a<;o, on the lower lake 
 of Killarney. My collection of skulls is, I 
 flatter myself, as complete as any in Ireland ; 
 and I have lately enriched my cabinet with 
 the crania of several of the Kerry and Lime- 
 rick rebels, in which I found the organ of 
 destructiveness sufficiently prominent, and as 
 hard as a Rock. I have also, on a particular 
 shelf, several of my lair countrywomen's skulls, 
 all, when living, as loving as they were lovely, 
 and all with the amatory and philoprogenitive 
 bumps projecting like Swiss goitres from be- 
 hind. Your proposal for a monument to 
 Shakspearc, meets with as much enthusiasm
 
 70 
 
 ill Ireland as in the sister-country; and it 
 struck me, that if you were to erect a small 
 rotunda, placinfj; upon n pedestal an ideally 
 perfect skull in marble, with all the bumps 
 in perfect harmony of protuberance, and pass 
 it of!" for Shakspeare's, the hit would be hapjjy, 
 at once complimentary to the poet, and servinsj^ 
 students for a craniological archetype. Mucli, 
 Gentlemen, is to be envied the Stratford sex- 
 ton, who, digging a vault a few years since, 
 caught a glimpse of the Shakspeariim skull! 
 What a noble opportunity was then afforded 
 for paraphrasing the grave-digger's soliloquy ! 
 Without pretending to be able to undertake 
 such a task, allow me to illustrate a theory 
 or two of my own, (I will detain you but 
 shortly,) on this noble science, as yet but in 
 ovo, by a reference to the bust before us on 
 the table. Here, Gentlemen, is the ama- 
 tory bump ; here, the imaginative. When our 
 poet's brain was busy with the Juliets, the 
 Violas, the Rosalinds, and the Perditas, I 
 apprehend that his train of mind shot with a 
 reciprocal action from one to the, other, like
 
 71 
 
 a shuttlecock driven by two battledores ; but 
 when he whispered soft things to the Oxford 
 landlady, the amatory bump was at that mo- 
 ment only in action, thousjh I have no doubt 
 that the imas^inative was even then on the 
 alert to play its part. Here is the organ of 
 destructiveness, the fatal bellman, which tolled 
 death to Sir Thomas Lucy's deer. A minute 
 examination of Irish crania flatters me with 
 having discovered a small bump, which, from 
 its proximity to the cerebellum, may account 
 for those notable Imlbi for which my countrj - 
 men are so celebrated. If longer experience 
 can esrtablish my theory, I propose to call it 
 the hull-hump. It is this, I more than surmise, 
 which twists an idea wrong in its passage to 
 the brain, much as an image, when impressed 
 on the retina of the eye, is twisted right by 
 the action of the intellect. But much remains 
 to be done in craniology : I will only trans- 
 gress further on your patience, by suggesting 
 Cranmni adniirahile Sliaksperiense as a fit in- 
 scription for the monument, which I propose 
 to the memory of our poet.
 
 72 
 
 EZECHIEL HANKEY, Help to Geoffnj 
 Crayon. 
 
 Perhaps it may startle you, (ientlonien, 
 that I who am a native of Cincinnati on the 
 Ohio, a river, to be sure, not very near the 
 Tiianies or Avon, should rise to address you 
 on this occasion. But 1 am encouraged by 
 the consideration, that the tuneful swan of 
 Avon has begun to swim on the Ohio, and 
 bids fair to sound his sweet notes, and spread 
 his rich plumage even on the \\ aters of the 
 Missisippi and Missouri. I guess that he 
 may be even found to nestle by-and-bye at 
 Harmony on the AV^abash ; fascinate with his 
 song the rattle, dog-ribbed, and copper-bellied 
 snakes, and put to a non-plus the pert perro- 
 quets, shrill mocking-birds, chattering jack- 
 daws, and screeching cockatoos of our exten- 
 sive prairies. The Atlantic indeed separates 
 the nest in which this rare and variegated 
 swan was hatched, pretty remotely from us ; 
 but the admiration of his genuine and awful 
 notes, is much at par on each side of the
 
 7.3 
 
 } east} dee]), which, though it may " confound 
 ;iu(l swallow navi;;ation up," cannot clieck his 
 iliiiJit to the American shores. — For, is he tired 
 with being too long at a time on the wing at 
 home ? lie perches on the Hecate of Liver- 
 l)ool ; Ivean, master ; and like a sly bird, gets 
 a lilt lor nothing. — Is his plumage somewhat 
 ruffled with the adverse trade-winds? ^V hy, 
 he has been known to squat comfortably on 
 the mainmast of the Simtissinto lego of Ve- 
 nice; Cook, master; who, so far from saluting 
 him with a rifle-ball, has been seen to stroke 
 him kindly on the head, feather for him a snug 
 nest in the forecastle, or charter his flight 
 gratis through the libertine air. 
 
 Uesirous of visiting England, the cradle of 
 my ancestors, I accompanied Geoflrey Crayon, 
 (as his help, as w e„.say ; as his valet, as you,) 
 in his classical excursion, which he has given 
 with such success, to the public. And I need 
 not add, that I visited Stratford, and the 
 Boar's-head in East-cheap, like hiui, with 
 genuine delight. Vour advertisement, Cen- 
 tlemen, I read the other day in the Columbia 
 
 K
 
 74 
 
 coflee-house ; and immediately my brain be- 
 gan to work out inventions for the monument ; 
 one of which (vanity apart) I hope may prove 
 not unworthy of our mutual theatrical chief- 
 tain. I have read, as probably you have done, 
 that Shakspeare's genius leant rather on the 
 comic than tragic side; to speak elegantly, he 
 squeezed and bussed Thalia's hand with rather 
 more ardour than Melpomene's : though, on 
 this head, there may be ample room for doubt. 
 Be it as it may, I was always more partial to 
 laughter, than tears; and cannot help fancying, 
 that that same Boar's-head Tavern will afford 
 an useful hint for his monument. Suppose it 
 were restored, as near as the genius of a 
 knowing builder can go, much as it may be 
 imagined to have been in the reign of your 
 Henry the Fourth. This obtained, the Com- 
 mittee might authorize Mrs. Salmon to set her 
 wits to work, and give us a figure of Shak- 
 speare in wax, in the same attitude as he is 
 painted in the town-hall at Stratford. Why 
 should there not be a poet of wax as well as a 
 cock-of-wax? A small apartment, with an
 
 /o 
 
 Elizabeth sky-lark {light, I mean) window, 
 might be allotted solely to the poet. The 
 principal room ii^vstairs might exhibit the 
 merry knight, the prince, and tlieir crew, 
 regaling themselves at a table with canary- 
 sack, in tlieir appropriate dresses. A neigh- 
 bouring room might shew Mrs. Ford and Mrs. 
 Page antlering tlieir fat dear; and a fourth 
 might be devoted to some other of his fa- 
 vourite comic characters. The only objection, 
 Gentlemen, that can be made to this wax-plan 
 is, that, in the dog-days, the fat knight's greasy 
 flesh might melt a little, though whether on 
 paper, on the stage, or in wax, he will never 
 be found, I guess, to inspire his visitors with 
 the "melting mood." 
 
 You have, Gentlemen, a plan, neat as 
 imported from the Ohio: the adoption or. 
 rejection, rests with you..
 
 -n 
 
 LANCELOT BLOOH, Shuhitf ht Amtfonn/ 
 <(t Eilinb)'o\ 
 
 ISTo doubt, Gentlemen, you are aAvave, as 
 veil as myself, that poets "ol" imagination all 
 compact," as Shakspeare has it, l»ave either 
 adopted themselves, or had adopted for thein, 
 certain fantastical i)araphernalia, which suit 
 men of their sejisitive fibres, but would he 
 ridiculous, if adopted by plain, downright, 
 matter-of-fact minds, M'hen the profound 
 author of the Night Thoughts wrote tragedy, 
 it is related of him, that he used a human skull 
 mounted in silver for his lamp, presented to 
 him by a nobleman for that purpose. So we 
 have heard, that a distinguished poet of our 
 days quafl'ed in his youth, an inspiring beve- 
 rage (in which we may guess that coloquin- 
 tida, mercury, and aqua fortis entered) out 
 of a cup formed of a human skull, which 
 probably contributed to impregnate his mind 
 Avith that saturnine imagery and caustic ener- 
 gy, which pervade the veins and arteries of his 
 creations. Whatever may have been the iu-
 
 <iTotlient.s oi" his cii}), it is crrtain that y,\\('n 
 ApoHo trepanned him, his Muse did not leap 
 from his brain (luh-looted. Siie owns no 
 Vulcan for her sire. 
 
 Xovv, Gentlemen, 1 umpre])arinii ;i treatise 
 for the press on transfusion of blood ; but am 
 certain thiit all lulinliro' would scout nie, if I, 
 ^vll0 am no poet, ^vere to (juaif a \ ulture's or 
 wolverene's blood out of a skull, ibr the sake 
 of g:ainino; induction by experiment for my 
 theory of transfusion. Such aoblets suit not 
 us sur<;ical and prosaic men. These and si- 
 milar ideas struck nu^, as I was attending a 
 lecture on the anatomy of tlie heart, a few 
 days since in l']dinbro'; when I occasionally 
 relieved my attention with the newspaper of 
 the day, in which your advertisement for a. 
 monument to Shakspeare caught my eye. As 
 a human heart was handed round to us in 
 slices, it occurred to me, that since W. Shak- 
 speare equalled at least the Hunters and Cor- 
 visarts in cardiac science, he might be aptly 
 represented in marble, holding in his right 
 hand a human heart turned inside out, and
 
 78 
 
 pointinj^ with his left, to all its naked defonnity 
 and wretchedness. Excuse me for troublinsjj 
 you CMi a subject, Gentlemen, prosaically 
 speaking:, irrelevant to surjj^erj^; but I c^ould 
 not resist from hintins^ a plan which exhales 
 something of the poetic odour of the skull- 
 lamp and skull-goblet. 
 
 JEDEDIAH SCRUPLER, one of the Order 
 of the Methodists. 
 
 You prol)ably. Gentlemen, will naturally 
 say, on finding that I rise to give my decided 
 negative to any call on the public purse in 
 honour of Shakspeare, " what lousiness then 
 have you here ?" My business here, I will 
 immediately reply, is of higher importance 
 than yours. For I hold that England nevet 
 produced an individual more hostile to the in- 
 terests of true religion and morality, than thi» 
 same Shakspeare. That he was^ a great vM:,
 
 70 
 
 and great poet, I am ready to acknowledj^e ; 
 but if you ask my real opinion of his character, 
 I have no hesitation in affirming, that he was 
 nothing more or less than a rascal — a thorough- 
 paced rascal. To conjure up infernal spirits, 
 to lay open all the avenues of vile and corrupt 
 hearts, prove that he himself must have been 
 very conversant \\ ith ill. He must have rum- 
 bled his belly-full with the apples of the old 
 serpent. What a blessed country would this 
 have proved, had he never existed ! To my 
 knowledge, thousands that waste their evenings 
 in the purlieus of Drury and Coven t-Garden, 
 were it not for this gaunt harpy-siren, would 
 turn out profitable labourers in thy vineyards, 
 divine Calvin and Wesley ! What hundreds of 
 virgins have been weaned from their religion, 
 and families, and exposed to the temptations 
 of the stage, through this poet's intolerable 
 and over-weening influence ! Heaven, Gen- 
 tlemen, has blessed me w ith a daughter ; but, 
 I protest, that I had rather see her busied with 
 the dish-clout in the scullery, than impassioned 
 w ith Shakspeare. No, G entlemen, never think
 
 80 
 
 that an in<:eni()u.s r()!::iie can so <(et tlio better 
 of my discernment, as to make me unaware of 
 the disorders occasioned by his licentious 
 genius. And if you respect reliijion, you will 
 prove on this occasion, your regard for your 
 country, by collectin": a subscri})tion for a 
 jjeneral bonfire, to consume his pestilential 
 works. 
 
 JAMES ALWORTHY, First Midshipman 
 of his Majesty s ship the Ariel, 
 
 I am but a plain sailor. Gentlemen of the 
 Committee, but cannot on tliis occasion refrain 
 from offering my sentiments. Allow me to 
 reconunend, without further prologue, tiiat the 
 statue of our noble poet should be of the best 
 heart of British oak, and be placed in the 
 centre of the town of Stratford. If its recep- 
 tacle were built, as far as propriety will admit, 
 in the shape of a first-rate hidk reversed, tlie
 
 81 
 
 cUcct, I think, would not be amiss. It might 
 he easily lighted by thirty-eight windows in 
 tlie shape of port-holes; the same number, 
 you see, as the poet's plays. The anniversary 
 of his birth might be celebrated by the dis- 
 charge of a thirty-eight pounder placed at the 
 stem, and fired thirty-eight times ; hinting, 
 that if any other dramatic men of war were to 
 tvime within its range, they would be raked as 
 eflectually as the Bucentaur w as l)y Nelson at 
 Trafalgar. Let us hear of no frothy whipt- 
 syllabubs from Greece, Italy, or France, to 
 commemorate our poet. The noble-minded 
 fellow! to whom England perhaps owes half 
 her greatness! How often, in heaving to, 
 opposite Dover, have I dwelt on the descrip- 
 tion of its cliflF! How often, as our vessel has 
 scudded seven knots, with her sky-scrapers 
 hoisted, have I remembered the lines of the 
 pretty spirit,- whose name she bears! If my 
 plan be adopted, (and your smiles encourage 
 me,) forget not to hoist the British standard 
 from the middle of the hulk. So shall the 
 poet, who has taught me best, after my Bible, 
 
 L
 
 82 
 
 to stand up and fight hard for my God, (laying 
 his hand on his lieart) my King, and my 
 Country, bid defiance from his birth-place to 
 the world ! 
 
 EUGENE GOODENOUGH, a travelled 
 
 Warwickshire Squire, and Member of 
 
 the Athenian Club. 
 
 It is gratifying, Gentlemen, to observe that, 
 in an age like the present, so distinguished for 
 philanthropy and charital)le subscriptions, we 
 do nyt overlook the illustrious dead, who have 
 been the ornaments of our isle. In the first 
 rank of these stands without dispute our im- 
 mortal Shakspeare. Bom in the same county 
 as himself, (and I own it with pride,) I have 
 nourished, and, as I hope, improved my mind 
 with frequent study of his deathless works ; 
 and local partiality, a feeling natural to most 
 of us, impels me to recommend that Stratford 
 should be the &ite of the proposed building
 
 83 
 
 to his memory. History, Gentlemen, both 
 ancient and modern, teems with anecdotes of 
 the pleasure afforded to illustrious as well as 
 common men, by treadinji^ a spot, consecrated 
 as it were, by having given birth to true genius ; 
 and examples must be familiar to you aU, 
 from the hero of Macedon by the tumulus of 
 Achilles, to the elegaht author of the Pleasures 
 of Memory. 
 
 Nescio qua natale solum dulcedine cunctos 
 Diicit, ef immemores nou sinit esse sui, 
 
 to strengthen my assertion with the authority 
 of the poet of Sulmo. This gratification must 
 necessarily be much enhanced, when something 
 meets the eye, which may at once remind one 
 of the distinguished individual,^ and of the im- 
 pression wliich his writings or acts have left 
 on the minds of his fellow-countj*} men. More 
 than half the pleasure, which has been tlie 
 fruit of my five years' travels in various parts 
 of Europe, has resulted from this refiection; 
 and I know not which circumstance afl'orded 
 me most delight in the Levant, the examina*
 
 84 
 
 tion of the field of Troy, the scene of Horner's 
 inventions, or the recollection, wlien I was at 
 Smyrna, of being at his probable birth-place, 
 I say probable ; for you all are aware that seven 
 cities contended for the honour of his having 
 been respectively their child ; and to this hour, 
 the dispute remains undecided, though general 
 opinion seems to incline on the side of Smyrna. 
 Be it as it may, our Stratford is more fortunate 
 than the city of Asia Minor, for no one has 
 ever questioned its claim to the honour of 
 having given birth to Shakspeare; whose 
 genius was probably not less original than 
 Homer's; whose knowledge of the human 
 heart was yet more subtle and profound ; from 
 whose works may be gleaned a noble system 
 of philosophy, not only moral, but metaphysi- 
 cal; and who, though he may be found to 
 doze pretty often, like Melesigenes himself, 
 was certainly not less susceptible of high 
 inspirations, nor less gifted with the ore magna 
 sonaturo. 
 
 The evidence then of many anecdotes, in- 
 terspersed in history, naturally assigns to
 
 85 
 
 Stratford the site of the monument in question. 
 And if, Gentlemen, not tliere, where, I ask, do 
 you propose to place it ? At Bath ? At the 
 Land's-End ? At the Orcades ? On the top 
 of Wharnside, as sui^gested by Mr. Ogee ? On 
 Parnassus itself, if set free by the Greeks, as 
 poetically, if not conveniently hinted by Signor 
 Dimitri? In, or near th(^ Metropolis, in fine? 
 With much less reason, I think, there, than 
 elsewhere; for experience proves that the 
 facades of buildino-s in or about London, 
 speedily become as beoxiraed as the Venetian 
 Moor's face itself. Add too that, the clatter of 
 drays, the gee-os of coachmen, and the click - 
 clack of dandies, harmonize but ill w ith that 
 contemplative state of mind, to which the 
 memory of Shakspeare ought naturally to give 
 rise. The muses always loved retirement. 
 
 With regard to the style of the building, I 
 trust that preference w ill be given to the Greek, 
 though I am not sufficiently versed in architec- 
 ture to suggest any satisfactory plan. But I 
 trust the good sense of the Committee will 
 keep equally clear of the preposterous and
 
 mean; and would reject with the same ridi- 
 cule, a design that mij^ht exhibit a Pantheon 
 of Rome, or a Stratford church-yard toml)- 
 stone. Our school of statuary is of late so 
 much improved, that, in spite of the ric-a-ric 
 chisels of the Canovas and Thorvaldsens, I 
 hope the execution of the sculpture will be 
 committed to our own artists. It is to be re- 
 gretted that no well-authenticated portrait of 
 the poet is known to exist. The resemblance 
 of his statues, placed in the corridors of our 
 tlieatres, I hold to be imaginary, or copied 
 from erroneously received engravings. The 
 most creditable of these is perhaps that in the 
 rotunda of Drury-Lane; though I should be 
 unwilling to propose its imitation, thinking it 
 t>est to leave open an untrodden field for the 
 inventive faculties of the artist, on whom the 
 carving may devolve. It has often occurred to 
 me, that the bust in the chancel at Stratford, 
 fs more valuable than generally supposed; for 
 it must have been cut and erected shortly after 
 the death of Shakspeare ; and we have abun- 
 dant proofs that there existed artists at that
 
 87 
 
 period in England, capal)le of transmitting 
 correct likenesses, whether in wood, stone, or 
 marble. 
 
 It must be confessed, that the moment 
 chosen •• for announcinoj tlie plan in agitation 
 is not very propitious, Distress stalkinjj as 
 she is, in rags and tatters, through Ireland, 
 and howling for relief. For if we imagine 
 Famine clinging to one end of the public 
 purse, and Shakspeare to the other, it is to 
 be feared we shall find, in spite of his merits, 
 that Famine will out-cling him. But in all 
 these cases, hurry is to be avoided ; and with 
 regard to submitted plans, I conjure you, 
 again and again, Gentlemen, not to sufter 
 yourselves to be dazzled by a pretty drawing, 
 or by the noisy reputation of a Crescent, 
 Quadrant, or Parade architect ; but rather to 
 digest maturely the bearings and spirit of the 
 proposed plans, and select deliberately that, 
 which may at once be worthy of Shakspeare, 
 and of the talents of our native artists.
 
 88 
 
 THE CHAIRMAN. 
 
 The opinions which avc have heard tJiis 
 night. Gentlemen, from both below and above 
 wround, (though we did not bargain for the 
 former,) deserve perhaps ulterior considera- 
 tion. But the night is far advanced, and, to 
 use our favourite poets diction, " the fiery- 
 footed steeds of Aurora are galloping fast 
 towards Phcebus' mansion." Your yawning 
 convinces me, Gentlemen, that you will not 
 refuse assent to what I am about to propose, 
 which is, that this Committee do forthwith 
 adjourn. 
 
 ( The Committee adjourns sine die.) 
 
 FINIS, 
 
 James Bennett, Printer, 
 Tewkesbury.
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Page. 
 
 The Cliaiiman ^^ ** **■ ** 9 
 
 A Mciabc r of the Committee ** ** ** 10 
 
 The Shade of Aristotle ^ ^ -.^10 
 
 The Chairman ** ^ ^ ^12 
 
 Shade of Loiigiiuis .»s» ^*. ..^ *^ 12 
 
 Shade of -Eschyliis -^/^ ^ *^ ■►^ 13 
 
 Shade of Euripides .»^ .^ *^ *^ 1.3 
 
 Shade of Arist04)hanes -^ -^ ^* -^ HQ 
 
 Shade of Plautus w ** *^ ^ 21 
 
 Shade of Terence -^-r *^ -sr .»^..- 21 
 
 Shade of Lope de Vega Del Carpio -f-r .^^ 23 
 
 Shade of Moliere *<■ .»s»- *>• <w 26 
 
 Shade of Milton ^ -^ -~- ^* sr 
 
 Shade of Urydea *~/- ,»* ** ** 28 
 
 Shade of Pope .^ .^ ^^ ^, 29 
 
 Shade of Thomson -^ -^ -^ .^29 
 
 Shade of Voltaire -^ -^ ** -^30 
 
 Shade of Diderot .^ -s/> -^ -^ S\. 
 
 Shade of D' Alcmbert ** *■- -«• ^ 3\ 
 
 Shade of La Harpe -^ -^ .^ ■'^ 32 
 
 Shade of Gray ** *^ -^ ** 33 
 
 Siiade of Garrick *^ ** *- *^ 33 
 
 Shade of Mademoiselle Clairon ■r4> <^ :ii4' 
 M
 
 INDEX. 
 
 rage. 
 Shade of Warburton -^ *^ *^ ^34 
 
 Shade of Jolinsoii -^ *^ ^ *<• 35 
 
 Shade of jMalone •»* -^ ** ^36 
 
 Shade of Steevoiis •" ■»■* *# .,s#- 36 
 
 Shade of Siisaiiiia Shakspcarc v, *^ v^ 37 
 
 Shade of Johii-a-Conihe .^ ** .^37 
 
 Shade of Vittorio Alfieri ** ^ -^r 38 
 
 Shade of R. B. Sheridan *^ ** -* 39 
 
 The Chairman ** ** ^ ^40 
 
 Extract of a Letter from Vincenzo M i ^^ 40 
 
 Extract of a Letter from T a -^ -^ 11 
 
 Extract of a Letter from Wiihehn S 1 " 41 
 
 Shade of Madame de S 1 **■ ^^ **■ 42 
 
 Shade of Porson ^-^ ** *^ -^43 
 
 The Chairman *^ *^ ** ** 43 
 
 A 3Iember of the Committee, and Actor of the first 
 
 Witch at Covent-Garden ** ** ** 44 
 
 A Member of the Committee, and Actor of the second 
 
 Witch in Drury Lane ** ■»* ** 45 
 
 Marmaduke Stnrton, owner of the site of the Globe 
 
 Tiieatre ** ^ ** -^46 
 
 Frank Crib, owner of the Butcher's Shop at 
 
 Stratford-upon-Avon ** ■—■ ** 48 
 
 Daniel Woohich Tiipper Yeo, a South-Down Grazier 50 
 Peter Ogee, an Architect of York ** *' 52 
 
 Nathaniel Arden, a Master-Builder of Feversham ** 54 
 Christian Guildestern, a Danish Merchant, long resi- 
 dent in London -^ ** ** 56 
 Francesco-Assisi Cartiizzo, a Venetian Gentlemen on 
 
 a visit in London •>* ** ** 57
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Page. 
 
 Jlaric-Aunc Xavicr Hippolytc Tranchaiit, Sculptor 58 
 
 Shade of Mrs. Montiigiu- *■»■ ^^ *<■ 60 
 
 The Chairman ^* *^ .»* *^ 60 
 
 Several Voices *•»■ *^ ** -^ 61 
 
 The Chainnan -■' *•■ -^^ ** 61 
 
 Obailiah Flagel, a Schoohiiastcr of Newcastle-upon- 
 
 Tyiic ^ ^ ^- ^ ^62 
 
 IMelchisedfch Levi *^ .^ *^ .«■ 6-1 
 
 Giovanni ** ** ,, ** •^ 6b 
 
 Mademoiselle N , Danseuse de 1' Opera a Paris, 
 
 on a visit in Loiidon ■>-* -^ *^ 66 
 
 Pt-Iajio Dimitri. a Greek Merchant of Patras *^ 67 
 SnMiael Grim, Plug-turner of the Pipes which supply 
 
 the Theatre v?itli Gas ** *^ ■»* 68 
 
 Patrick O'Sulivan, sometime Student at the College 
 
 ofMaynooth ^ -^ ^ *^ 69 
 
 Ezcchiel Hankey, Help to G<'offry Crayon ** 72 
 
 Lancelot Blood, Student in Anatomy at Edinbro' 76 
 
 Jedediah Scrupler, oneof the Order of the Methodists 78 
 James Alworthy, First Midshipman of his Majesty's 
 
 ship the Ariel ** -^ ** .»* 80 
 
 Eugene Goodenough, a travelled Warwickshire 
 
 Squire, and Member of the Athenian Club ** 8,? 
 
 Tht Chainnan ** ** *- *♦ 88
 
 THE FOLLOWING 
 
 ARE 
 
 PUBLISHED AND SOLD 
 
 BY 
 
 GEO. A. WILLIAMS, 
 
 lEngltsi^ anU JForcign l^ibrarw, 
 
 EASTERN 
 
 CORNER OF THE ASSEMBLY-ROOMS, 
 
 NEW CHELTENHAM GUIDE, with a Map of the 
 
 Environs, 3s. 
 Six Lithographic Views of Cheltenham, 4s. each, or 
 
 21s. the set. 
 Lithographic Map of Cheltenham, 7s.6d. 
 Lithographic Sketches from Nature near Cheltenham, 
 
 by Mr. Dinsdale, 8s. 
 A Collection of all the Papers relative to the alleged 
 
 Adulteration of the Cheltcuhara Waters, 2s, 6d.
 
 Books sold hy G. A. Williams, 
 
 Obsfrvatioiis on the Clicltenhani Waters, and the 
 Diseases in which they are recommended, by James 
 M'Cabe, M. D.; to which is added, an Analysis 
 of the Salts and Waters, by several eminent 
 Chemists, 8vo. 5s. 
 Abernethy's Surg;ical Observations on theConstitntional 
 
 Origin and Treatment of Local Diseases^ 8vo. 8«. 
 Sure ISIetiiods of attaining a long and liealfhfiil Lif»% 
 with tlte Means of correcting a bad Constitution, 
 by Lewis Cornaro, fortieth edition!!! 2s. 6(/. 
 " It would be well that the pnblic would follow the 
 advice of Mr. Addison, given in the Spectator, of 
 reading the Writings of Comaro." — Abernethy. 
 
 Faithorn on Liver and Bilious Complaints, a new 
 edition, 8vo. 9s. 
 
 Bath Guide, with Maps, 3s. 
 
 Oxford ditto, 4s. 
 
 Gloucester ditto, 2s. 6d. 
 
 Fosbrooke's Tour down the River Wye, 12mo. 3s. 6</. 
 
 Dr. Jameson on the Changes of the Human Body, Bvo. 
 9s. 6d. 
 
 Advice to the Young Whist Player, by the late J. 
 Matthews, Esq. 2s. 6</. 
 
 Hoyle Abridged, or Short Rules for Short Memories at 
 tlie Game of Whist, by Bob Short, 6d, 
 
 The Cheltenham Mail Bag, or Letters from Gloucester- 
 shire, by Peter Quince the younger, post 8vo. 
 5s. 6d. 
 
 Dr. Herschell's celebrated Luuar Table, 6d.
 
 Library, Cheltenham. 
 
 Domestic Cookery, by a Lady, 12mo. 7s. 6d. 
 Family Receipt Book, 12nio. 7s.6d. 
 Gloucestershire Kepository, 8vo. 12s. 
 The Maniac, or the Fall of Reason, a Poem, by the 
 
 Rev. F. Welles, l8mo. 3s. 6d. 
 Nature and Art, by Mrs. Inchbald, 12mo. 5s. 
 Simple Story, by ditto, 12nio. 6s. 
 Branibleton Hall, being the Sequel to Humphry Clinker, 
 
 12mo. os. 6d. 
 A coloured Plan of the Roman Pavement discovered in 
 
 the Park of Sir Wm. Hicks, Bart, at Whitcombe, 
 
 7s. 
 Historical Account of KeniUvorth Castle, in the County 
 
 of Warwick, by J. Nightingale, Is. 6d.
 
 HE LIBRARY
 
 ^^il/ 
 
 S.H 
 
 3 1205 03058 9897 
 
 UC SOUTHERN REGIONAL LIBRARY FACILITY 
 
 A A 001 426 598 7