THE favour with which the attempt to illustrate the Elegy of Gray was received led to the following series of illustra tions. The notes in explanation of this celebrated passage in the works of Shakspeare are so copious that the editor would have been contented with reference to them, hopeless of being able to add anything to what is there collected; but the kindness of Lady Callcott has furnished him with the following interesting illustration of the subject, which cannot fail to be perused with the pleasure and satisfaction always derived from whatever proceeds from her pen : SIR, ON reading over the names of the commentators on Shakspeare, particularly of those who have turned their attention to the often-quoted passage in "As You Like it,” comparing the world with a stage, and the Seven Ages of Man to its exits and its entrances," it would be natural to conclude that all that learning and sagacity could do to illustrate the passage had been already accomplished. It appears, however, that there are still some passages, even among the classical writers, which those commentators have not pointed out, bearing closely on the subject. To go no further than Horace's Art of Poetry, can anything be |