Shakspeare and His Times [Vol. 1 of 2] / Including the Biography of the Poet; criticisms on his genius and writings; a new chronology of his plays; a disquisition on the on the object of his sonnets; and a history of the manners, customs, and amusements, superstitions, poetry, and elegant literature of his age

by Nathan Drake

And radiancy ejecteth,

That in the very darkest night

The eye to it directeth."[397:F]

A modern poet, remarkable for his powers of imagination, has beautifully, and very happily availed himself of these marvellous attributes, in describing the magnificent palace of Shedad, a passage which we shall transcribe, as it leads to an illustrative extract from a writer of Shakspeare's age:

"Here self-suspended hangs in air,

As its pure substance loathed material touch,

The living carbuncle;

Sun of the lofty dome,

Darkness has no dominion o'er its beams;

Intense it glows, an ever-flowing tide