Shakespeare's England . ess of the English people. The stateof the country, like its social constitution, flowsfrom principles within, which are constantly suggested, and it steadily comforts and nour-ishes the mind with a sense oi kindly feeling,moral rectitude, solidity, and in the peculiar beauty o\^ England theideal is made the actual, is expressed in thingsmore than in words, and in things by whichwords are transcended. Miltons LAllegro,tine as it is, is not as tine as the scenery—thecrystallized, embodied poetry—out of which itarose. All the delicious rural verse that has
Shakespeare's England . ess of the English people. The stateof the country, like its social constitution, flowsfrom principles within, which are constantly suggested, and it steadily comforts and nour-ishes the mind with a sense oi kindly feeling,moral rectitude, solidity, and in the peculiar beauty o\^ England theideal is made the actual, is expressed in thingsmore than in words, and in things by whichwords are transcended. Miltons LAllegro,tine as it is, is not as tine as the scenery—thecrystallized, embodied poetry—out of which itarose. All the delicious rural verse that hasbeen written in England is only the exeess orsnperthix oi her poetic opulence: it has rippledfrom the hearts of her poets, even as the fra-grance iloats away from her hawthorn every step of his progress the pilgrimthrough English scenes is impressed by thissovereign excellence of the accomplished fact,as contrasted with any words that can he said inits celebration. Among representative scenes that are elo-. h * »fe A GLIMPSE OF WINDSOR 93 qucnt with this instructive meaning—sceneseasily and pleasurably accessible to the trav-eller— is the region of Windsor. The charmthat it exercises can only be suggested. To seeWindsor, moreover, is to comprehend, as at aglance, the old feudal system, and to feel, in aprofound and special way, the pomp of Englishcharacter and history. More than this: it is torise to the ennobling serenity that accompaniesbroad, retrospective contemplation of the cur-rent of human affairs. In this quaint, decoroustown, nestled at the base of that mighty andmagnificent castle which has been the home ofprinces for more than five hundred years, theimaginative mind wanders over vast tracts ofthe past and beholds, as in a mirror, thepageants of chivalry, the coronations of kings,the strife of sects, the battles of armies, theschemes of statesmen, the decay of transientsystems, the growth of a rational civilization,and the everlasting march of thou
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, booksubjectshakespearewilliam15
