"But he that filches from me my good name,
Robs me of that which not enriches him,
And makes me poor indeed."
"Not enriches!" No grammar or rhetoric, but his own genius taught him that fine "variation" in the strain of his English. Look next at the boldness and reach of his fancy, and how pithily it expresses itself inthe aptest and most musical words: as, for instance, inthe sprite's boast that he can
"—Put a girdle ronud about the earth
In forty minutes;"
or, in Ariel's song:—
"Full fathom five thy father lies;
Of his bones are coral made;
Those are pearls, that were his eyes;
Nothing of him, that doth fade,
But doth suffer a sea-change
Into something rich and strange.
Sea-nymphs hourly ring his knell," &c.
So, the monster Caliban,—what a purely original creation! Yet, even he is obliged to speak poetically, for the author's mind is so full of rich fancies that they will come out: thus, Caliban says:—
"Pray you, tread soft, that the blind mole may not
Hear a foot fall."
Note, next, his power of imagination, enabling him to behold a scene, just as it must have been, and also to bring it before the reader. For instance, the picture of Macbeth, coming fresh from the murder of Duncan:—
"Macb. I've done the deed! Didst thou not hear a noise?
Lady M. I heard the owl scream, and the crickets cry;—
Did not you speak?
Macb.When?
Lady M.Now!
Macb.As I descended?
