Shakespeare. The battles of the Lord of hosts he fought. Lets fall this sword before your highness' feet, 1 HENRY VI. iii. 4. O' God's name, see the lists and all things fit; 2 HENRY VI. ii. 3. The head of Cade?-Great God, how just art Thou !— O, let me view his visage, being dead, That living wrought me such exceeding trouble. 2 HENRY VI. v. 1. To whom God will, there be the victory! 3 HENRY VI. ii. 5. Who's this?-O God! it is my father's face, Pardon me, God, I knew not what I did! 3 HENRY VI. ii. 5. You fight in justice; then, in God's name, lords, Be valiant, and give signal to the fight. 3 HENRY VI. v. 4. Shakespeare. In God's name, cheerly on, courageous friends, RICHARD III. v. 2. O Thou! whose captain I account myself, RICHARD III. v. 3. Cheer thy heart, and be thou not dismay'd; RICHARD III. v. 3. If you fight against God's enemy, God will, in justice, ward you as His soldiers. RICHARD III. v. 3. God, and our good cause, fight upon our side: The prayers of holy saints, and wronged souls, Like high-rear'd bulwarks, stand before our faces. RICHARD III. v. 3. Shakespeare. In the name of God, and all these rights, Advance your standards, draw your willing swords; Sound drums and trumpets, boldly and cheerfully: God, and Saint George! Richmond, and victory! RICHARD III. v. 3. God, and your arms be prais'd! victorious friends. Great God of Heaven, say amen to all! * * And then, as we have ta'en the sacrament, We will unite the white rose with the red :-- And let their heirs, God (if Thy will be so), That she may long live here, God say—amen! All was lost, But that the Heavens fought. RICHARD III. v. 4. CYMBELINE, v. 3. Then he is dead!-God's soldier be he: His knell is knoll'd,- -so God be with him. MACBETH, V. 7. Having now completed our Moral and Religious Extracts from the Works of Shakespeare, we submit to the consideration of our readers, whether we have not fully established the point we aimed at, viz.—of proving that Shakespeare was not a Papist, but a worthy member of the Church of England; and we entertain the cherished idea that the foregoing extracts exemplify these facts, and grace his character as a moral and religious man. We illustrate our persuasion in this respect by recapitulating passages from his works exhorting to piety and devotion; such as, "Let never day nor night unhallowed pass, But still remember what the Lord hath done." 2 HENRY VI. ii. 1. Here is the substance of a sermon in a single distich. What themes for devout meditation does he present in the following: "Lord, we know what we are, but know not what we may be." HAMLET, iv. 5. "O Lord, that lends me life, Lend me a heart replete with thankfulness!" 2 HENRY VI. i. 1. "I have hope to live, and am prepared to die." MEASURE FOR MEASURE, iii. 1. "To Thee do I commend my watchful soul, RICHARD III. v. 3. "Now God be praised, that to believing souls 2 HENRY VI. ii. 1. Many, very many such passages appear in his works: whereupon we ask this simple question:-Can there be named any other general dramatist that ever lived, who has combined so many religious and moral sentences in his works as Shakespeare has? We feel convinced that none other such can be named; and that the world, who know him by his works, will admit that his character may be most justly summed up in the ever-memorable words of Hamlet, that— "He was a man, take him for all in all, HAMLET, i. 2. |