Page:Shakespeare of Stratford (1926) Yale.djvu/107

This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
Shakespeare of Stratford
91

could be lost. Read him, therefore, and again and again; and if then you do not like him, surely you are in some manifest danger not to understand him, and so we leave you to other of his friends whom if you need can be your guides. If you need them not, you can lead yourselves and others, and such readers we wish him.

John Heminge.
Henry Condell.


(C) Ben Jonson’s Eulogy.

To the memory of my beloved, the Author, Mr. William Shakespeare, and what he hath left us.

To draw no envy, Shakespeare, on thy name,Am I thus ample to thy book and fame,While I confess thy writings to be suchAs neither man nor muse can praise too much.’Tis true, and all men’s suffrage. But these waysWere not the paths I meant unto thy praise:For silliest ignorance on these may light,Which, when it sounds at best, but echoes right;Or blind affection, which doth ne’er advanceThe truth, but gropes, and urgeth all by chance;Or crafty malice might pretend this praise,And think to ruin where it seem’d to raise.These are as some infamous bawd or whoreShould praise a matron: what could hurt her more?But thou art proof against them, and indeedAbove th’ ill fortune of them, or the need.
I therefore will begin:—Soul of the age!The applause, delight, the wonder of our stage!My Shakespeare, rise! I will not lodge thee byChaucer or Spenser, or bid Beaumont lie
This article is issued from Wikisource. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.