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THE PHILOSOPHY

OF

SHAKSPERE.

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42.

14.

PRINTED BY W. DEARDEN, CARLTON-STREET, NOTTINGHAM.

PREFACE.

In an article which appeared not long ago in a Periodical, the following passage with reference to Shakspere caught my attention :-" That all our Poet's serious Plays abound in profound observations, and maxims of the soundest wisdom, is a fact that cannot escape any but the most careless readers,"-(and further on,)—" The Beauties of Shakspere have been collected; the Philosophy of Shakspere might make up a most interesting volume."

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That the writer's notions in this respect entirely coincided with my own," Ecce signum !”

The world is only now just beginning to appreciate Shakspere. His poetical beauties, indeed, have been widely and justly lauded by the literary, and certainly the people have (often without knowing it) been indebted to him for many "household words," "wise saws and modern instances:" but it is an undoubted truth, that, until very lately, until some splendid editions of his works have drawn a more than ordinary attention to them, his greater and more numerous merits have been almost a sealed book to the multitude-especially the female multitude.

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