. William Shakespere : a biography. tical adventurers of that day : As Aulus PersiusFlaccus is reported among all writers to be of an honest and upright conversa-tion, so Michael Drayton (quem toties honoris et amoris causa nomino), amongscholars, soldiers, poets, and all sorts of people, is held for a man of virtuousdisposition, honest conversation, and well-governed carriage, which is almostmiraculous among good wits in these declining and corrupt times, when thereis nothing but roguery in villainous man, and when cheating and craftiness iscounted the cleanest wit, and soundest, wisdoni. Tli
. William Shakespere : a biography. tical adventurers of that day : As Aulus PersiusFlaccus is reported among all writers to be of an honest and upright conversa-tion, so Michael Drayton (quem toties honoris et amoris causa nomino), amongscholars, soldiers, poets, and all sorts of people, is held for a man of virtuousdisposition, honest conversation, and well-governed carriage, which is almostmiraculous among good wits in these declining and corrupt times, when thereis nothing but roguery in villainous man, and when cheating and craftiness iscounted the cleanest wit, and soundest, wisdoni. Tlie good wits, according toMeres, are only parcel of the corrupt and declining times. Yet, after all, hisdispraise of the times is scarcely original : You rogue, heres lime in thissack too. There is nothing but roguery to be found in villainous man. *Jonson was an exception to the best of liis contemporaries when he said ofDrayton that he c-t;emed nf)t of him. That Shakspere loved him we may • Ifenry IV., Part I., Act, ir., Sc. .Drayton J readily believe. Tliey were nearly of an ai^e, Drayton being one h\\ elder. They were born in the same county—they had each the same love of natural scenery, and the same attachment to their native soil. Drayton ex-claims — My native country tlieu, which so brave spirits hath bred,If there be virtues yet remaining in thy earth,Or any good of thine thou bredst into my birth,Accept it as thine own, whilst now I sing of thee ;Of all thy later brood th unworthieat though I be. It is his own Warwickshire which he invokes. They had eacii the san>e fami-Uar acquaintance with the old legends and chronicles of English history; thesame desire to present them to the people in forms which sliould associate thepoetical spirit with a just patriotism. It was fortunate that they walked bvdifferent paths to the same object. However Drayton might have been asso-ciated for a few years with the minor dramatists of Shaksperes dav, it may be
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookpublisherlondon, booksubjectshakespearewill
