we may be allowed to express a reasonable surprise that a minister of what professes to be a reformed section of a reformed church, should rest general arguments on insulated passages, a principle directly opposed to one of their distinguishing tenets -the totality of Divine law in its collected sense rejecting the application of separated texts. The charge of profaneness against Shakspeare we reject at once with indignation, and are prepared to refute it, "pugnis et calcibus, unguibus et rostro." There are few writers, divines included, whose works, in general literature, contain so many evidences of a mind deeply impressed with the beauty of true religion. I was preparing to cite passage on passage from his plays in proof of this, but I am forestalled by the recent publication of an excellent little book, entitled "The Wisdom and Genius of Shakspeare," (with scriptural and other references,) compiled by the Rev. Thomas Price. The compiler, in his preface, says, "There is one thing worthy of special observation in the morals of Shakspeare, which presents his character in a very interesting light; I refer to the strong tincture which they have of Divine truth, affording evidence of his mind having been deeply imbued with the pure morality of the Gospel. This highly Chaplain to her Majesty's Convict Establishment at Woolwich. interesting feature of his morals I have pointed out, in many instances, by references to particular passages of Scripture." Dispersed through the volume are considerably more than two hundred extracts, which may be called direct paraphrases of the holy word, and invariably used for the purpose of enforcing moral and religious truth. Here is a triumphant answer to the charge of Dr. Bennett, and enough, I hope, to set the question at rest for ever. Shakspeare, to use his own words, "with all his imperfections on his head," is the first and noblest of uninspired writers; and it is no exaggeration to say, that his works have delighted and benefited mankind, more perhaps, than the united labours of all the catalogue of forgotten authorities enumerated in the voluminous and un-readable work of William Prynne.* * Histriomastix, or the Player Whipt, 1633, a thick and closely printed 4to. volume of 1004 pages. For publishing this book, Prynne was tried in the Star Chamber, found guilty, and sentenced to be imprisoned for life, to pay a fine of £5000 to the king, to lose both his ears, and to stand twice in the pillory, at Cheapside and Charing Cross, which barbarous sentence was executed accordingly. If any advocates of the Stage imagine, that Prynne was thus punished for abusing plays or players, let them "lay that flattering unction to their souls" no longer. The Star Chamber, that most righteous court, (in fact, the Inquisition under another name,) cared little though every actor and dramatist in the annals of the world, past, present, and to come, had actually been in the place where Prynne wished to consign them. But he had introduced Queen Henri There is scarcely a human being, from the highest to the lowest rank, who cannot trace back to Shakspeare some valuable maxim of conduct or the recollection of some hour of delightful enjoyment. He has cheered the labourer in his task of toil, encouraged the sufferer in the season of adversity, and beguiled the patient in the moment of anguish. He has been appealed to by the divine in the pulpit,* by etta, the consort of Charles I., into bad company, and for the libel against her, the sentence was pronounced. He should have been tried in something more resembling a court of justice, and his sentence should have been less severe. But his book is much too violent to be received as an authority by reasonable minds. It goes beyond prejudice, and reaches fanaticism. We are struck, notwithstanding, with the prodigious learning and research he has brought to bear on his subject. The authorities and extracts he has appealed to, are almost innumerable. It might be supposed, that Prynne and Collier had exhausted all that could be scraped together on the topic; but a few years afterwards, Arthur Bedford put forth a book, called "The Evil and Danger of Stage Playes," in which most extraordinary production he cited 7000 fresh instances of lewd and criminal passages, taken out of plays of the current century alone; and a catalogue of 1400 texts from Scripture, ridiculed by the Stage. On this, D'Israeli shrewdly remarks, in his "Curiosities of Literature, "This religious anti-dramatist must have been more deeply read in the drama, than even its most fervent lovers. His piety pursued too deeply the study of such impious productions, and such labours were probably not without more amusement than he ought to have found in them." * See a striking instance of this in Bishop Horne's Sermon "On the Duty of taking up the Cross." Speaking of the chas the judge on the bench, the orator in the senate, the pleader at the bar, and the physician in the course of his practice.* To enter on the defence of Shakspeare is to go beyond even a work of supererogation. It is to advocate the cause of human nature, with the world for counsel, and an array of witnesses, which, like the army of Xerxes, must be numbered by tens of thousands. Let the enemies of the Stage declaim as they please against its abuses, and we go with them to the fullest extent; but when they deny that these have been amended, or are capable of amendment, we take our stand, and are prepared to combat all their arguments. The axe has been freely applied, and the tree is flourishing in wholesome verdure. tisements of God, he says, "so saith our heavenly Father of his children, "whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth!" and then in a note he adds, "how finely is this touched by the hand of our great poet : "Consideration like an angel came, And whipt the offending Adam out of him." King Henry V. ACT I. Sc. I. * See Sir H. Halford's Essays and Orations, cr. 8vo. 1831, where he relates an extraordinary case of insanity, which, when all other means failed, he proved by the test of Shakspeare. "Bring me to the test, And I the matter will reword, which madness Hamlet, ACT III. Sc. last. Exuberant branches still remain, which the gradual progress of refinement, in morals and manners, and the advance of general knowledge, will continue to trim by suitable degrees. The wisdom of the world has determined that gradual reform is a better practical system, and one more likely to be permanent than violent revolution. We are content to be reformed, which, no doubt, we have required; but there is no reason why we should be abolished. The Stage has been too long sanctioned by time and opinion; it has obtained too strong a hold over the feelings and prejudices of mankind, to be weakened by open hostility. This declaration of "war to the knife," on the part of its enemies, is detrimental to their cause, and serviceable to ours. Where one man is bullied out of an error, a hundred are won by mild persuasion. Goldsmith's clergyman converted the "fools who came to scoff" by "meek and unaffected grace." Let me again refer our opponents to one of their own high authorities, Dr. Watts, who says, most truly, "The softest and gentlest address to the erroneous, is the best way to convince them of their mistake. Sometimes it is necessary to represent to your opponent that he is not far from the truth, and that you would fain draw him a little nearer to it. Commend and establish whatever he says that is just and true, as our blessed Saviour treated the young Scribe, when he answered well concerning the two great command |