COMU S,*

A MASK.

The First Scene discovers a Wild Wood.

The Attendant Spirit descends or enters.

BEFORE the starry threshold of Jove's court My mansion is, where those immortal shapes

*Before the entering upon another subject, it may be of some use to offer a few remarks supplementary to the notes and comments contained in the preceding volumes. The reader has seen therein that the ancient poets, in the formation of their characters, did not confine themselves to the outlines of the shadows and lights of the moon, but adopted those of the different districts

Of bright aërial spirits live insphered
In regions mild of calm and serene air,

of the globe likewise it is obvious, therefore, to observe that though their compositions gained much thereby in variety, yet the difficulty in unravelling them is increased in a proportionate degree, since much time and attention are requisite, to determine which class of prototypes, on a given occasion, they may have had in view; a difficulty which is not diminished by the circumstance that the same author, as Shakspeare for instance, resorts occasionally to both classes in different compositions, and sometimes indeed, introduces both classes in the same compositions. This statement, the result of some experience, will not be without its value with the reader; and the following example will illustrate it. There needs only a very few words to shew that the characters employed in Shakpeare's play of "As You like it," to describe the seven ages of man, have their prototypes in the moon.

.

Above the smoke and stir of this dim spot, 5 Which men call earth, and with low-thoughted care

ACT II-SCENE VII.

Duke Senior. This wide and universal theatre Presents more woful pageants than the scene Wherein we play in.

Jaques. All the world's a stage,

And all the men and women, merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances,
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages. At first the infant
Mewling, and puking in the nurse's arms.

And then, the whining school boy, with his satchel
And shining morning face, creeping like snail
Unwillingly to school. Next comes the lover,
Sighing like furnace, with a woful ballad
Made to his mistress' eye-brow--Then the soldier,
Full of strange oaths, and bearded like the pard,
Jealous in honour, sudden, and quick in quarrel,
Seeking the bubble reputation,

Even in the cannon's mouth. And then the justice

Confin'd, and pester'd in this pinfold here,
Strive to keep up a frail and feverish being,

In fair round belly, with good capon lined,
With eyes severe, and beard of formal cut,
Full of wise saws, and modern instances,
And so he plays his part. The sixth age shifts
Into the lean and slipper'd pantaloon,
With spectacles on nose, and pouch on side;
His youthful hose well say'd, a world too wide
For his shrunk shanks, and his big manly voice,
Turning again toward childish treble pipes,
And whistles in his sound. Last scene of all,
That ends this strange eventful history,

Is second childishness, and mere oblivion,
Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans every thing.

As almost every word of this passage has an obvious application to the moon, it has not been necessary to put any parts of it in italics, to draw the reader's attention to such parts in particular. There can be no difficulty in tracing the original of the infant, as above described, in the child in

Unmindful of the crown that Virtue gives
After this mortal change to her true servants 10

Glycerium's arms, as drawn ante, in fig. 122. The school-boy derives his origin from the same prototype as Fortinbras in Hamlet; his face shining with the streaks of light thereon, and the satchel being composed of the left wing of the sphinx, (drawn in fig. 126). A representation is given of Fortinbras in fig. 52, but only of the upper part of his person; whereas, in respect of the school-boy, we should conceive the resemblance to a stout leg and foot (formed out of the face and neck of Hudibras's Trulla, fig. 20,) to belong to him. As to the lover, or third character, for reasons not proper to be dwelt upon, I think he ought to be ascribed either to the prototype of Rosencrantz, or of Guildenstern in Hamlet, (fig. 67, 68,) and of the two I should prefer the latter, because the resemblance of a hand (as belonging to him,) which hand is so often alluded to in the former volumes, would come