Shakespeare was thinking of himself, the dramatist-poet, who
was indeed a chronicle of the time; but the courtier Lord Polonius would
not care a dam for a rhymester's praise or blame. Posthumus, too, will
write against the wantons he dislikes. Shakespeare's weapon of offence
was his pen; but though he threatened, he seldom used it maliciously; he
was indeed a "harmless opposite," too full of the milk of human kindness
to do injury to any man. But these instances of misapprehension in the
simple things of life, show us that gentle Shakespeare is no trustworthy
guide through this rough all-hating world. The time has now come for me
to consider how Shakespeare was treated by the men of his own time, and
how this treatment affected his character. The commentators, of course,
all present him as walking through life as a sort of uncrowned king,
feted and reverenced on all sides during his residence in London, and in
the fullness of years and honours retiring to Stratford to live out the
remainder of his days in the bosom of his family as "a prosperous
country gentleman," to use Dowden's unhappy phrase.
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