so beautiful, that it is difficult to select for quotation. For
instance, in Macbeth:--

"Canst thou not minister to a mind diseased,
Pluck from the memory a rooted sorrow,
Raze out the written troubles of the brain,
And, with some sweet oblivious antidote,
Cleanse the foul bosom of that perilous stuff,
Which weighs upon the heart?"

Here a simple idea, by a process which belongs to the orator rather than
to the poet, but still comes from the native vigour of genius, is expanded
into a many-membered period.

The following from Hamlet is of the same kind:--

"'Tis not alone my inky cloak, good mother,
Nor customary suits of solemn black,
Nor windy suspiration of forced breath,
No, nor the fruitful river in the eye,
Nor the dejected haviour of the visage,
Together with all forms, modes, shows of grief,
That can denote me truly."

Now, if such declamation, for declamation it is, however noble, be
allowable in a poet, whose genius is so far removed from pompousness or
pretence, much more is it allowable in an orator, whose very province it
is to put forth words to the best advantage he can. Cicero has nothing
more redundant in any part of his writings than these passages from
Shakespeare. No lover then at least of Shakespeare may fairly accuse
Cicero of gorgeousness of phraseology or diffuseness of style. Nor will
any sound critic be tempted to do so. As a certain unaffected neatness and
propriety and grace of diction may be required of any author who lays
claim to be a classic, for the same reason that a certain attention to
dress is expected of every gentleman, so to Cicero may be allowed the
privilege of the "os magna sonaturum," of which the ancient critic speaks.
His copious, majestic, musical flow of language, even if sometimes beyond
what the subject-matter demands, is never out of keeping with the occasion
or with the speaker. It is the expression of lofty sentiments in lofty
sentences, the "mens magna in corpore magno." It is the development of the
inner man. Cicero vividly realised the _status_ of a Roman senator and
statesman, and the "pride of place" of Rome, in all the grace and grandeur
which attached to her; and he imbibed, and became, what he admired. As the
exploits of Scipio or Pompey are the expression of this greatness in deed,
so the language of Cicero is the expression of it in word. And, as the
acts of the Roman ruler or soldier represent to us, in a manner special to
themselves, the charact