On the Portrait of Shakespeare

This figure, 1 that thou here seest put, It was for gentle Shakespeare cut; Wherein the Graver had a strife With Nature to outdo the life: O, could he but have drawn his wit As well in brass, as he hath hit His face; the Print would then surpass All that was ever writ in brass. But since he cannot, Reader, look Not at his picture, but his book. Note 1. The engraving by Martin Droeshout. [back]