Page:The Psychology of Shakespeare.pdf/12

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The shoemaker, who criticised the work of the great painter of antiquity, was listened to with respect, so long as he confined his observations within the limits of his own practical knowledge. If in the following Essays the author has ventured to submit the works of another great master of art to the test of comparison with the special knowledge of a workman, he trusts that his opinions may receive that consideration to which a long and extensive experience of the irregular phenomena of mind may appear fairly to entitle them. As the shoemaker doubtless found it a more easy and agreeable occupation to criticise painted sandals than to make leather ones, so the author of these Essays has found the study of his own science, as it is represented in the works of the immortal dramatist, a delightful recreation from the labours of his practice. If he could by any charm transfer to his readers but a small portion of the pleasure which he has enjoyed in writing the following pages, he would need to make no apology for their publication, nor entertain any fear of their favourable reception. To have the mind diverted from the routine of professional work, or of study, is both wholesome and enjoyable, not for the reason that Lord Bacon gives for physicians so frequently becoming antiquaries, poets, humourists, &c., namely, because "They find that mediocrity and excellence in their own art maketh no difference in profit or reputation;" but because change in the habitual subject and mode of thought is a source of mental recreation and delight. These pages have, indeed, been written in the leisure hours of a busy life, and although the constant care of six hundred insane persons has afforded ample