Page:The Plays of William Shakspeare (1778).djvu/8

TO THE READER.

This figure, that thou here seest put,
It was for gentle Shakspeare cut,
Wherein the graver had a strife
With nature, to out-doo the life:
O, could he have but drawn his wit.

As well in braſse, as he hath hit
His face; the print would then surpaſse
All that was ever writ in braſse
But since he cannot, reader looke
Not on his picture, but his booke.

Ben Johnſon.