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It would be hard to say which of the two garden scenes is the finest, that where he first converses with his love, or takes leave of her the morning after their marriage. Both are like a heaven upon earth: the blissful bowers of Paradise let down upon this lower world. We will give only one passage of these well-known scenes to show the perfect refinement and delicacy of Shakespeare's conception of the female character. It is wonderful how Collins, who was a critic and a poet of great sensibility, should have encouraged the common error on this subject by saying—'But stronger Shakespeare felt for man alone'.

The passage we mean is Juliet's apology for her maiden boldness.

Thou know'st the mask of night is on my face;

Else would a maiden blush bepaint my cheek

For that which thou hast heard me speak to-night.

Fain would I dwell on form, fain, fain deny

What I have spoke—but farewell compliment:

Dost thou love me? I know thou wilt say, aye,

And I will take thee at thy word—Yet if thou swear'st,

Thou may'st prove false; at lovers' perjuries

They say Jove laughs. Oh gentle Romeo,

If thou dost love, pronounce it faithfully;

Or if thou think I am too quickly won,

I'll frown and be perverse, and say thee nay,

So thou wilt woo: but else not for the world.

In truth, fair Montague, I am too fond;

And therefore thou may'st think my 'haviour light;

But trust me, gentleman, I'll prove more true

Than those that have more cunning to be strange.

I should have been more strange, I must confess,

But that thou over-heard'st, ere I was ware,

My true love's passion; therefore pardon me,

And not impute this yielding to light love,

Which the dark night hath so discovered.

In this and all the rest her heart, fluttering between pleasure, hope, and fear, seems to have dictated to her tongue, and 'calls true love spoken simple modesty'. Of the same sort, but bolder in virgin innocence, is her soliloquy after her marriage with Romeo.

Gallop apace, you fiery-footed steeds,

Towards Phoebus' mansion; such a wagoner

As Phaeton would whip you to the west,

And bring in cloudy night immediately.

Spread thy close curtain, love-performing night;

That run-aways' eyes may wink; and Romeo

Leap to these arms, untalked of, and unseen!—-

Lovers can see to do their amorous rites

By their own beauties: or if love be blind,

It best agrees with night.—Come, civil night,

Thou sober-suited matron, all in black,

And learn me how to lose a winning match,

Play'd for a pair of stainless maidenhoods:

Hood my unmann'd blood bating in my cheeks,

With thy black mantle; till strange love, grown bold,

Thinks true love acted, simple modesty.

Come night!—Come, Romeo! come, thou day in night;

For thou wilt lie upon the wings of night

Whiter than new snow on a raven's back.—-

Come, gentle night; come, loving, black-brow'd night,

Give me my Romeo; and when he shall die,

Take him and cut him out in little stars,

And he will make the face of heaven so fine,

That all the world shall be in love with night,

And pay no worship to the garish sun.—-

O, I have bought the mansion of a love,

But not possess'd it; and though I am sold,

Not yet enjoy'd: so tedious is this day,

As is the night before some festival

To an impatient child, that hath new robes,

And may not wear them.

We the rather insert this passage here, inasmuch as we have no doubt it has been expunged from the Family Shakespeare. Such critics do not perceive that the feelings of the heart sanctify, without disguising, the impulses of nature. Without refinement themselves, they confound modesty with hypocrisy. Not so the German critic, Schlegel. Speaking of Romeo and Juliet, he says, 'It was reserved for Shakespeare to unite purity of heart and the glow of imagination, sweetness and dignity of manners and passionate violence, in one ideal picture.' The character is indeed one of perfect truth and sweetness. It has nothing forward, nothing coy, nothing affected or coquettish about it;—it is a pure effusion of nature. It is as frank as it is modest,