Excerpt from Shakespeare: His Music and Song

N the long course of the world's history a few men have been born who seemed to assimi late and represent everything that was best in the particular age to which they belonged, and in the race among whom they lived. Each generation has its sons who o'ertop their fellows. It need not occasion us surprise that it should be so, though it is most difficult, if not impossible, to account for the genius or gifts of such men. Bright, eager, expectant Spirits they are, un common to a degree, and alive in every fibre of their being. Then, on rare occasions, one is born who belongs not to a district but to the nation, and Still more rarely, one who belongs to mankind - a Universal. As Browning aptly puts it: 'a thousand poets pried at life.

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