Yet there is no indication that Webster ever made a study of the ancient models or tried to form himself upon them.
The cause of the classic self-restraint in Webster was partly due to the artistic sense which made him so devoted to simplicity of diction, and partly to the cast of his mind.

He had a powerful historic imagination, but not in the least the imagination of the poet, which "Bodies forth the forms of things unknown." He could describe with great vividness, brevity, and force what had happened in the past, what actually existed, or what the future promised.
But his fancy never ran away with him or carried him captive into the regions of poetry.

Imagination of this sort is readily curbed and controlled, and, if less brilliant, is safer than that defined by Shakespeare.

For this reason, Mr.Webster rarely indulged in long, descriptive passages, and, while he showed the highest power in treating anything with a touch of humanity about it, he was sparing of images drawn wholly from nature, and was not peculiarly successful in depicting in words natural scenery or phenomena.

The result is, that in his highest flights, while he is often grand and affecting, full of life and power, he never shows the creative imagination.