He
gave heaped measure, running over. This was his greatest fault. He
was only in danger 'of losing distinction in his thoughts' (to
borrow his own expression)
As doth a battle when they charge on heaps
The enemy flying.
There is another passage, the speech of Ulysses to Achilles, showing
him the thankless nature of popularity, which has a still greater
depth of moral observation and richness of
illustration than the former. It is long, but worth the quoting. The
sometimes giving an entire extract from the unacted plays of our
author may with one class of readers have almost the use of
restoring a lost passage; and may serve to convince another class of
critics, that the poet's genius was not confined to the production
of stage effect by preternatural means.--
Ulysses. Time hath, my lord, a wallet at his back,
Wherein he puts alms for Oblivion;
A great-siz'd monster of ingratitudes:
Those scraps are good deeds past,
Which are devour'd as fast as they are made,
Forgot as soon as done: Persev'rance, dear my lord,
Keeps Honour bright: to have done, is to hang
Quite out of fashion, like a rusty mail
In monumental mockery. Take the instant way;
For Honour travels in a strait so narrow,
Where one but goes abreast; keep then the path,
For Emulation hath a thousand sons,
That one by one pursue; if you give way,
Or hedge aside from the direct forth-right,
Like to an entered tide, they all rush by,
And leave you hindmost;--
Or, like a gallant horse fall'n in first rank,
O'er-run and trampled on: then what they do in present,
Tho' less than yours in past, must o'ertop yours:
For Time is like a fashionable host,
That slightly shakes his parting guest by th' hand,
And with his arms out-stretch'd, as he would fly,
Grasps in the comer: the Welcome ever smiles,
And Farewell goes out sighing.
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