john dryden, 1668: "to begin then with shakespeare; he was the man who of all modern, and perhaps ancient poets, had the largest and most comprehensive soul. all the images of nature were still present to him, and he drew them not laboriously, but luckily: when he describes any thing, you more than see it, you feel it too. those who accuse him to have wanted learning, give him the greater commendation: he was naturally learn'd; he needed not the spectacles of books to read nature; he look'd inwards, and found her there." "essay of dramatic poesy"