...Chandos portrait of Shakespeare, the poet acknowledged the gift thus : TO SIR GODFREY KNELLER. Shakspear, thy Gift, I place before my sight; With awe, I ask...his Blessing ere I write; With Reverence look on his Majestick Face; Proud to be less, but of his Godlike Race. His Soul Inspires me, while thy Praise I...

...that circle none durst walk but he. And in 1696, with a bust of Shakespeare before him, he wrote — With awe I ask his blessing ere I write, With reverence...majestic face, Proud to be less, but of his Godlike race. In 1694 Charles Gildon, addressing Dryden, recalled a circumstance which he had originally heard of...

...before my sight; picture, drawn With awe, I ask his bless- ^nelleftnd"* ing ere I write; given to the bsence to betray, Press first their nauseous false respects to pay; Him still th' officious hypo His soul inspires me, while thy praise I write, And I, like Tcucer, under Ajax fight: Bids thee, thro'...

...Kneller," (who had given him in 1693, a copy of the Chandos portrait of Shakspere) : — Shakspere, thy Gift, I place before my sight; With awe, I ask...majestic Face; Proud to be less, but of his Godlike Race. His soul inspires me, while thy Praise I write, And I like Teucer, under Ajax fight. In our own day...

...told Sir Godfrey Kneller at least, thanking him for a copy of the Chandos portrait: " Shakespeare, thy Gift, I place before my sight; With awe, I ask...Blessing ere I write ; With Reverence look on his Majestick Face: Proud to be less, but of his Godlike Race." I do not know, moreover, if any of the...

...portrait of Shakespeare, the poet acknowledged the gift thus : TO SIR GODFREY KNELLER Shakes pear, thy Gift, I place before my sight; With awe, I ask his Blessing ere I %yrite ; With Reverence look on his Majestick Face ; Proud to be less, but of his Godlike Race. His...

...Godfrey Kneller, who had made him a present of a portrait of Shakespeare, Dryden writes: Shakespeare, thy gift, I place before my sight ; With awe I ask...face ; Proud to be less, but of his godlike race. His soul inspires me while thy praise I write, And I like Tencer under Ajax fight.* The whole body...

...it for Dryden, thereby inspiring that Epistle to the Painter whose most famous lines, Shakespeare, thy gift, I place before my sight; With awe I ask his blessing ere I write can hardly have failed to occur both to Reynolds and to Garrick. з But Reynolds's copy, instead of...

...wrought; Thy pictures think, and we divine their thought. Shakespeare, thy gift, I place before my sight;0 With awe I ask his blessing ere I write; With reverence...majestic face; Proud to be less, but of his godlike race. His soul inspires me, while thy praise I write, And I, like Teucer, under Ajax fight;0 Bids thee, through...

...acknowledgment of a portrait of Shakespeare given to the poet by the painter; cf. 11. 73 — 76: "Shakespeare, thy gift, I place before my sight; With awe I ask...Proud to be less, but of his godlike race." Here, as in the ode on the Progress of Poesy, Gray notes a diminishing scale of inspiration from Shakespeare...