"
Many of his sonnets breathe the spirit of despair and
hopelessness. (7) He laments his lameness; (8) apologizes for his
profession as an actor; (9) expresses his "fear of trust" in
himself, and his hopeless, perhaps misplaced, affection; (10)
anticipates a "coffin'd doom;" and utters his profoundly pathetic
cry "for restful death."
It might naturally be supposed that Shakspeare's profession of an
actor, and his repeated appearances in public, would speedily
overcome his shyness, did such exist. But inborn shyness, when
strong, is not so easily conquered. (11) Who could have believed
that the late Charles Mathews, who entertained crowded houses
night after night, was naturally one of the shyest of men? He
would even make long circuits (lame though he was) along the
byelanes of London to avoid recognition. His wife says of him,
that he looked "sheepish" and confused if recognised; and that his
eyes would fall, and his colour would mount, if he heard his name
even whispered in passing along the streets. (12)
Nor would it at first sight have been supposed that Lord Byron was
affected with shyness, and yet he was a victim to it; his
biographer relating that, while on a visit to Mrs. Pigot, at
Southwell, when he saw strangers approaching, he would instantly
jump out of the window, and escape on to the lawn to avoid them.
But a still more recent and striking instance is that of the late
Archbishop Whately, who, in the early part of his life, was
painfully oppressed by the sense of shyness.
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