The truly great in him too was the unconscious: that he
was a wild Arab lion of the desert, and did speak-out with that great
thunder-voice of his, not by words which he _thought_ to be great, but
by actions, by feelings, by a history which _were_ great! His Koran has
become a stupid piece of prolix absurdity; we do not believe, like him
that God wrote that! The Great Man here too, as always' is a Force of
Nature: whatsoever is truly great in him springs-up from the
_in_articulate deeps.
Well: this is our poor Warwickshire Peasant, who rose to be Manager of a
Playhouse, so that he could live without begging; whom the Earl of
Southampton cast some kind glances on; whom Sir Thomas Lucy, many thanks
to him, was for sending to the Treadmill! We did not account him a god,
like Odin, while he dwelt with us;--on which point there were much to be
said. But I will say rather, or repeat: In spite of the sad state
Hero-worship now lies in, consider what this Shakespeare has actually
become among us. Which Englishman we ever made, in this land of ours,
which million of Englishmen, would we not give-up rather than the
Stratford Peasant? There is no regiment of highest Dignitaries that we
would sell him for.
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