29. Gregory's Poem on his own Life contains some beautiful
lines (tom. ii. p. 8 [ed. Paris, 1609]), which burst from
the heart, and speak the pangs of injured and lost
friendship: -
...... *****
In the Midsummer Night's Dream, Helena addresses the same
pathetic complaint to her friend Hermia:-
Is all the counsel that we two have shared,
The sisters' vows, etc.
Shakspeare had never read the poems of Gregory Nazianzen; he
was ignorant of the Greek language- but his mother-tongue,
the language of Nature, is the same in Cappadocia and in
Britain.