rs, inspired by his works, have graced them with admirable
music. One of the most attractive features in his lyrics is their
spontaneous ease of expression. They seem to lilt into music of their
own accord, as naturally as birds sing. The best of these are found in
the comedies of the Second Period and in the romantic plays of the
Fourth. "Sigh no more, ladies, sigh no more" in _Much Ado About
Nothing_; "Blow, blow, thou winter wind" in _As You Like it_; "Hark,
hark, the lark at heaven's gate sings" in _Cymbeline_; and "Full fathom
five thy father lies" in _The Tempest_,--these and others like them
show that the author, though primarily a dramatist, could be among the
greatest of song writers when he tried.

The following lines taken from the little-read play, _The Two Gentlemen
of Verona_, may serve to illustrate the perfection of the Shakespearean
lyric.

SONG

Who is Sylvia? what is she,
That all our swains commend her?
Holy, fair, and wise is she;
The heaven such grace did lend her,
That she might admired be.

{72}

Is she kind as she is fair?
For beauty lives with kindness:
Love doth to her eyes repair
To help him of his blindness,
And being helped, inhabits there.

Then to Sylvia let us sing,
That Sylvia is excelling;
She excels each mortal thing
Upon the dull earth dwelling;
To her let us garlands bring.

Such are Shakespeare's nondramatic writings. Two narrative poems with
the faults of youth but with many redeeming virtues; one hundred and
fifty-four sonnets, very unequal in merit but touching at their best
the high-water mark of English verse; a few stray fragments of disputed
authorship and doubtful value; and finally a handful of scattered
songs, short, but almost perfect of their kind,--this is what we have
outside of the plays. Neither in quantity nor quality can this work
compare with the poetic value of the great dramas; but had it been
written by any other man, we should have thought it wonderful enough.

On the sonnets, the appendix to Mr. Sidney Lee's book, _A Life of
William Shakespeare_, 1909, is particularly valuable.

[1] Shakespeare in his dedication calls it "the first heir of my
invention"; but opinions differ as to what he meant by this.

[2] Ovid's _Metamorphoses_, Book X.

[3] That is, the common, or standard, line has ten syllables with an
accent on every even syllable, as in the following line:--

1 +2+