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SHAKESPEARE'S MAIDENS AND WOMEN.

lips, and calls the dead who rest in the vaults below, they rise with rusted armour and antiquated court dresses—the knights of the white and red rose; even the ladies come forth sighing from their resting-place, and a clatter of swords, laughter and curses, rings around, just as at Drury Lane, where I so often saw Shakespeare's historical dramas p'ayed, and where Kean moved my soul so mightily when he rushed desperately across the stage crying

"A horse, a horse, my kingdom for a horse!"

But I must copy the Guide-book of London if I would mention every place where Shakespeare was brought to my mind. This happened most significantly in Parliament; not so much because its place is the Westminster Hall, so often spoken of in the Shakesperian dramas, but because while I there listened to the debates, Shakespeare was alluded to several times, and his verses were quoted, not with reference to their poetical, but to their historical importance. To my amazement, I remarked that Shakespeare is not only celebrated in England as a poet, but recognised as a writer of history by the highest state or parliament officials.

This leads me to the remark that it is unjust, when reading the historical dramas of Shakespeare, to require what only a poet can give, or