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diff --git a/old/16346-8.txt b/old/16346-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..63e19bc --- /dev/null +++ b/old/16346-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,2502 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Preface to the Works of Shakespeare (1734) +by Lewis Theobald + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Preface to the Works of Shakespeare (1734) + +Author: Lewis Theobald + +Commentator: Hugh G. Dick + +Release Date: July 22, 2005 [EBook #16346] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PREFACE WORKS OF SHAKESPEARE *** + + + + +Produced by David Starner, Louise Hope and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + +[Transcriber's Note: +This e-text contains a few brief passages of Greek. They have been +transliterated and placed between +marks+.] + + + The Augustan Reprint Society + + + LEWIS THEOBALD + _Preface to The Works of Shakespeare_ + (1734) + + With an Introduction by + Hugh G. Dick + + + Publication Number 20 + (Extra Series, No. 2) + + + + + Los Angeles + William Andrews Clark Memorial Library + University of California + 1949 + + + * * * * * + +_GENERAL EDITORS_ + +H. RICHARD ARCHER, _Clark Memorial Library_ +RICHARD C. BOYS, _University of Michigan_ +EDWARD NILES HOOKER, _University of California, Los Angeles_ +H.T. SWEDENBERG, JR., _University of California, Los Angeles_ + + +_ASSISTANT EDITORS_ + +W. EARL BRITTON, _University of Michigan_ +JOHN LOFTIS, _University of California, Los Angeles_ + + +_ADVISORY EDITORS_ + +EMMETT L. AVERY, _State College of Washington_ +BENJAMIN BOYCE, _University of Nebraska_ +LOUIS I. BREDVOLD, _University of Michigan_ +CLEANTH BROOKS, _Yale University_ +JAMES L. CLIFFORD, _Columbia University_ +ARTHUR FRIEDMAN, _University of Chicago_ +SAMUEL H. MONK, _University of Minnesota_ +ERNEST MOSSNER, _University of Texas_ +JAMES SUTHERLAND, _Queen Mary College, London_ + + * * * * * + + +INTRODUCTION + + +Lewis Theobald's edition of Shakespeare (1734) is one cornerstone +of modern Shakespearian scholarship and hence of English literary +scholarship in general. It is the first edition of an English writer in +which a man with a professional breadth and concentration of reading in +the writer's period tried to bring all relevant, ascertainable fact to +bear on the establishment of the author's text and the explication of +his obscurities. For Theobald was the first editor of Shakespeare who +displayed a well grounded knowledge of Shakespeare's language and +metrical practice and that of his contemporaries, the sources and +chronology of his plays, and the broad range of Elizabethan-Jacobean +drama as a means of illuminating the work of the master writer. Thus +both in the edition itself and in his Preface, which stands as the first +significant statement of a scholar's editorial duties and methods in +handling an English classic, Theobald takes his place as an important +progenitor of modern English studies. + +It is regrettable, though it was perhaps historically inevitable, that +this pioneer of English literary scholarship should have been tagged +"piddling Theobald" by Pope and crowned the first king of _The Dunciad_. +Pope's edition of Shakespeare was completed by 1725, and in the +following year Theobald made the poet his implacable enemy when he +issued his _Shakespeare Restored_, which demolished Pope's pretensions +as an editor by offering some two hundred corrections. But the conflict +was not merely strife between two writers: it was a clash between two +kinds of criticism in which the weight of tradition and polite taste +were all on the side of Pope. What Theobald had done, in modern +terms, was to open the rift between criticism and scholarship or, in +eighteenth-century terms, to proclaim himself a "literal critic" and to +insist upon the need for "literal criticism" in the understanding and +just appreciation of an older writer. The new concept, which Theobald +owed largely to Richard Bentley as primate of the classical scholars, +was of course the narrower one--implicit in it was the idea of +specialization--and Theobald's opponents among the literati were +quick to assail him as a mere "Word-catcher" (cf. R.F. Jones, _Lewis +Theobald_, 1919, p. 114). + +His own edition of Shakespeare, therefore, was the work of a man and a +method on trial. At first Theobald had proposed simply to write further +commentary on Shakespeare's plays, but by 1729 he determined to issue a +new edition and in October of that year signed a contract with Tonson. +From the first Theobald found warm support for his project among +booksellers, incipient patrons, and men of learning. His work went +forward steadily; subscribers, including members of the Royal Family, +were readily forthcoming; and by late 1731 Theobald felt that his labors +were virtually complete. But vexing delays occurred in the printing so +that the edition, though dated 1733, did not appear until early in 1734, +New Style. When it did appear, it was plain to all that Theobald's +vindication of himself and his method was complete. Judicious critics +like the anonymous author of _Some Remarks on the Tragedy of Hamlet_ +(1736) were quick to applaud Theobald's achievement, and even Pope +himself was silenced. + +Ultimately of course Theobald came under severe attack by succeeding +editors of Shakespeare, notably Warburton and Johnson, yet both men were +guilty of unwarranted abuse of their predecessor, whose edition was nine +times issued in the course of the century and was still in current use +by the time of Coleridge (cf. Wm. Jaggard, _Shakespeare Bibliography_, +1911, pp. 499-504). Warburton and Johnson's abuse, coupled with that of +Pope, obscured Theobald's real achievements for more than a century +until J.C. Collins did much to rehabilitate his reputation by an essay +celebrating him as "The Porson of Shakespearian Criticism" (_Essays and +Studies_, 1895, pp. 263-315). Collins's emotional defense was largely +substantiated by T.R. Lounsbury's meticulous _The Text of Shakespeare_ +(1906), R.F. Jones's _Lewis Theobald_ (1919), which brought much new +material to light, and most recently by R.B. McKerrow's dispassionate +appraisal, "The Treatment of Shakespeare's Text by his Earlier Editors, +1709-1768" (_Proceedings of the British Academy_, XIX, 1933, 23-27). As +a result, so complete has been Theobald's vindication that even in a +student's handbook he is hailed as "the great pioneer of serious +Shakespeare scholarship" and as "the first giant" in the field +(_A Companion to Shakespeare Studies_, 1934, ed. H. Granville Barker +and G.B. Harrison, pp. 306-07). + +Theobald's Preface occupied his attention for over a year and gave him +much trouble in the writing. Its originality was, and still is, a matter +of sharp dispute. The first we hear of it is in a letter of 12 November +1731 from Theobald to his coadjutor Warburton, who had expressed some +concern about what Theobald planned to prefix to his edition. Theobald +announced a major change in plan when he replied that "The affair of the +_Prolegomena_ I have determined to soften into a _Preface_." He then +proceeded to make a strange request: + + But, dear Sir, will you, at your leisure hours, think over for me + upon the contents, topics, orders, &c. of this branch of my labour? + You have a comprehensive memory, and a happiness of digesting the + matter joined to it, which my head is often too much embarrassed to + perform.... But how unreasonable is it to expect this labour, when + it is the only part in which I shall not be able to be just to my + friends: for, to confess assistance in a _Preface_ will, I am + afraid, make me appear too naked (John Nichols, _Illustrations + of the Literary History of the Eighteenth Century_, 1817, II, + 621-22). + +His next letter, which contains the list of acknowledgements +substantially as printed, thanks Warburton for consenting to give the +requested help, announces that he is himself busy about "the Contents... +wch. I am Endeavouring to modell in my Head, in Order to communicate +them to you, for your Directions & refinement," indicates that he has +"already rough-hewn the Exordium & Conclusion," and asserts that "What I +shall send you from Time to Time, I look upon only as Materials: wch I +hope may grow into a fine Building, under your judicious Management" +(Jones, _op. cit._, pp. 283-84). + +Warburton apparently misunderstood or overlooked Theobald's remarks +about materials, for in his next letter Theobald was obliged to return, +somewhat ambiguously, to the same point: + + I make no Question of my being wrong in the disjointed Parts + of my Preface, but my Intention was, (after I had given you the + Conclusion, & the Manner in wch. I meant to start) to give you a + List of all the other general Heads design'd to be handled, then to + transmit to you, at proper Leisure, my rough Working off of each + respective Head, that you might have the Trouble only of refining & + embellishing wth: additional Inrichments: of the general Arrangement, + wch. you should think best for the whole; & of making the proper + Transitions from Subject to Subject, wch. I account no inconsiderable + Beauty (_Ibid._, pp. 289-90). + +Finally on January 10, 1733, Theobald wrote Warburton: "I promise myself +now shortly to sit down upon ye fine Synopsis, wch. you so modestly call +the Skeleton of Preface" (_Ibid._, p. 310). + +It is clear from the foregoing that Theobald wrote most of the Preface +topic by topic, and probably followed the plan for the general structure +as submitted by Warburton. Yet it is equally clear that certain parts of +the Preface, such as the contrast between _Julius Caesar_ and Addison's +_Cato_, which Warburton later claimed as his and which Theobald omitted +from his second edition, were furnished Theobald as "additional +Inrichments" (D.N. Smith, _Eighteenth Century Essays on Shakespeare_, +1903, pp. xlviii-ix). When later a break did occur between the two men, +neither was free from blame. Theobald had asked and got so much help +with the Preface that he should have acknowledged the debt, no matter +how naked it might have made him seem. Warburton, on the other hand, had +had honest warning that acknowledgement would not be made for this part +of his help; and if his synopsis were followed, as seems likely, his +condemnation of the Preface as "Theobald's heap of disjointed stuff" was +disingenuous, to say the least. Far less defensible was his assertion in +the same letter to Thomas Birch that, apart from the section on Greek +texts, virtually the entire Preface was stitched together from notes +which he had supplied (Nichols, _Illustrations_, II, 81). + +Three further points concerning the Preface demand mention. First, the +section on Shakespeare's life is often dismissed as a simple recension +of Rowe's Life (1709). Actually, however, the expansion itself is a +characteristic example of Theobald's habit of exploring original +sources. To take only a single instance, Rowe says that Shakespeare's +"Family, as appears by the Register and Publick Writings relating to +that Town, were of good Figure and Fashion there, and are mention'd as +Gentlemen" (ed. S.H. Monk, Augustan Society Reprints, 1949, p. ii). +To this statement Theobald adds plentiful detail drawn from the same +Stratford records, from tombs in the Stratford Church, and from +documents in the Heralds' Office connected with the coat of arms +obtained for the playwright's father. Such typical expansions were +the result of conscientious research. + +Second, all critics have agreed to condemn the digression in which +Theobald advertised his ability to emend Greek texts. Theobald himself +was hesitant about including it lest he be indicted for pedantry, but +was encouraged to do so by Warburton, who later scoffed at what he had +originally admired. This much may be said in Theobald's behalf. Such a +digression would not have seemed irrelevant in an age which took its +classical scholarship seriously; and such digressions, arising naturally +out of context and strategically placed before the conclusion, were not +only allowed but actually encouraged by classical rhetoricians like +Cicero and Quintilian, whose teachings were still standard in the +English schools. + +Finally, the Preface exists in two forms. The later and shorter form +was that designed for Theobald's second edition (1740), which omits all +passages presumably contributed by Warburton and more besides, the +section on Greek texts, and the list of acknowledgements to contemporary +Shakespearian enthusiasts. This abridged form has been frequently +reprinted. From a copy in the University of Michigan Library the +original Preface is here reproduced for the first time. + + Hugh G. Dick + University of California, + Los Angeles + + * * * * * + * * * * + * * * * * + +[Transcriber's Note: +Most Sidenotes appear at the beginning of a paragraph. Where they +originally appeared at mid-paragraph, their approximate position is +shown with an asterisk*.] + + + The + WORKS + of + _SHAKESPEARE:_ + + in + Seven Volumes. + + +Collated with the Oldest Copies, and Corrected; + With NOTES, Explanatory, and Critical: + + By Mr. _THEOBALD_. + + +_I, Decus, i, nostrum: melioribus utere Fatis._ + Virg. + + + _LONDON:_ + Printed for A. Bettesworth and C. Hitch, + J. Tonson, F. Clay, W. Feales, + and R. Wellington. + + + MDCCXXXIII. + + * * * * * + + + THE + + PREFACE. + + +The Attempt to write upon SHAKESPEARE is like going into a large, a +spacious, and a splendid Dome thro' the Conveyance of a narrow and +obscure Entry. A Glare of Light suddenly breaks upon you, beyond +what the Avenue at first promis'd: and a thousand Beauties of Genius +and Character, like so many gaudy Apartments pouring at once upon +the Eye, diffuse and throw themselves out to the Mind. The Prospect +is too wide to come within the Compass of a single View: 'tis a gay +Confusion of pleasing Objects, too various to be enjoyed but in a +general Admiration; and they must be separated, and ey'd distinctly, +in order to give the proper Entertainment. + + [Sidenote*: A sketch of _Shakespeare's_ general Character.] + +And as in great Piles of Building, some Parts are often finish'd up +to hit the Taste of the _Connoisseur_; others more negligently put +together, to strike the Fancy of a common and unlearned Beholder: +Some Parts are made stupendiously magnificent and grand, to surprize +with the vast Design and Execution of the Architect; others are +contracted, to amuse you with his Neatness and Elegance in little. +*So, in _Shakespeare_, we may find _Traíts_ that will stand the Test +of the severest Judgment; and Strokes as carelessly hit off, to the +Level of the more ordinary Capacities: Some Descriptions rais'd to +that Pitch of Grandeur, as to astonish you with the Compass and +Elevation of his Thought: and others copying Nature within so +narrow, so confined a Circle, as if the Author's Talent lay only +at drawing in Miniature. + +In how many Points of Light must we be oblig'd to gaze at this great +Poet! In how many Branches of Excellence to consider, and admire +him! Whether we view him on the Side of Art or Nature, he ought +equally to engage our Attention: Whether we respect the Force and +Greatness of his Genius, the Extent of his Knowledge and Reading, +the Power and Address with which he throws out and applies either +Nature, or Learning, there is ample Scope both for our Wonder and +Pleasure. If his Diction, and the cloathing of his Thoughts attract +us, how much more must we be charm'd with the Richness, and Variety, +of his Images and Ideas! If his Images and Ideas steal into our +Souls, and strike upon our Fancy, how much are they improv'd in +Price, when we come to reflect with what Propriety and Justness they +are apply'd to Character! If we look into his Characters, and how +they are furnish'd and proportion'd to the Employment he cuts out +for them, how are we taken up with the Mastery of his Portraits! +What Draughts of Nature! What Variety of Originals, and how +differing each from the other! How are they dress'd from the Stores +of his own luxurious Imagination; without being the Apes of Mode, or +borrowing from any foreign Wardrobe! Each of Them are the Standards +of Fashion for themselves: like Gentlemen that are above the +Direction of their Tailors, and can adorn themselves without the Aid +of Imitation. If other Poets draw more than one Fool or Coxcomb, +there is the same Resemblance in them, as in that Painter's +Draughts, who was happy only at forming a Rose: you find them all +younger Brothers of the same Family, and all of them have a Pretence +to give the same Crest: But _Shakespeare_'s Clowns and Fops come all +of a different House: they are no farther allied to one another than +as Man to Man, Members of the same Species: but as different in +Features and Lineaments of Character, as we are from one another in +Face, or Complexion. But I am unawares launching into his Character +as a Writer, before I have said what I intended of him as a private +Member of the Republick. + + [Sidenote: Some Particulars of his private Life.] + +Mr. _Rowe_ has very justly observ'd, that People are fond of +discovering any little personal Story of the Great Men of Antiquity: +and that the common Accidents of their Lives naturally become the +Subject of our critical Enquiries: That however trifling such a +Curiosity at the first View may appear, yet, as for what relates to +Men of Letters, the Knowledge of an Author may, perhaps, sometimes +conduce to the better understanding his Works: And, indeed, this +Author's Works, from the bad Treatment he has met with from his +Editors, have so long wanted a Comment, that one would zealously +embrace every Method of Information, that could contribute to +recover them from the Injuries with which they have so long lain +o'erwhelm'd. + +'Tis certain, that if we have first admir'd the Man in his Writings, +his Case is so circumstanc'd, that we must naturally admire the +Writings in the Man: That if we go back to take a View of his +Education, and the Employment in Life which Fortune had cut out +for him, we shall retain the stronger Ideas of his extensive +Genius. + +His Father, we are told, was a considerable Dealer in Wool; but +having no fewer than ten Children, of whom our _Shakespeare_ was the +eldest, the best Education he could afford him was no better than to +qualify him for his own Business and Employment. I cannot affirm +with any Certainty how long his Father liv'd; but I take him to be +the same Mr. _John Shakespeare_ who was living in the Year 1599, +and who then, in Honour of his Son, took out an Extract of his +Family-Arms from the Herald's Office; by which it appears, that he +had been Officer and Bailiff of _Stratford_, and that he enjoy'd +some hereditary Lands and Tenements, the Reward of his Great +Grandfather's faithful and approved Service to King _Henry_ +VII. + +Be this as it will, our _Shakespeare_, it seems, was bred for some +Time at a Free-School; the very Free-School, I presume, founded at +_Stratford_: where, we are told, he acquired what _Latin_ he was +Master of: but, that his Father being oblig'd, thro' Narrowness +of Circumstance, to withdraw him too soon from thence, he was +so unhappily prevented from making any Proficiency in the Dead +Languages: A Point, that will deserve some little Discussion in +the Sequel of this Dissertation. + +How long he continued in his Father's Way of Business, either as an +Assistant to him, or on his own proper Account, no Notices are left +to inform us: nor have I been able to learn precisely at what +Period of Life he quitted his native _Stratford_, and began his +Acquaintance with _London_, and the _Stage_. + +In order to settle in the World after a Family-manner, he thought +fit, Mr. _Rowe_ acquaints us, to marry while he was yet very young. +It is certain, he did so: for by the Monument, in _Stratford_ +Church, erected to the Memory of his Daughter _Susanna_, the Wife of +_John Hall_, Gentleman, it appears, that she died on the 2d Day of +_July_ in the Year 1649, aged 66. So that She was born in 1583, when +her Father could not be full 19 Years old; who was himself born in +the Year 1564. Nor was She his eldest Child, for he had another +Daughter, _Judith_, who was born before her, and who was married to +one Mr. _Thomas Quiney_. So that _Shakespeare_ must have entred into +Wedlock, by that Time he was turn'd of seventeen Years. + +Whether the Force of Inclination merely, or some concurring +Circumstances of Convenience in the Match, prompted him to marry +so early, is not easy to be determin'd at this Distance: but 'tis +probable, a View of Interest might partly sway his Conduct in this +Point: for he married the Daughter of one _Hathaway_, a substantial +Yeoman in his Neighbourhood, and She had the Start of him in Age no +less than 8 Years. She surviv'd him, notwithstanding, seven Seasons, +and dy'd that very Year in which the _Players_ publish'd the first +Edition of his Works in _Folio_, Anno Dom. 1623, at the Age of 67 +Years, as we likewise learn from her Monument in _Stratford_-Church. + +How long he continued in this kind of Settlement, upon his own +Native Spot, is not more easily to be determin'd. But if the +Tradition be true, of that Extravagance which forc'd him both to +quit his Country and way of Living; to wit, his being engag'd, with +a Knot of young Deer-stealers, to rob the Park of Sir _Thomas Lucy_ +of _Cherlecot_ near _Stratford_: the Enterprize favours so much of +Youth and Levity, we may reasonably suppose it was before he could +write full Many. Besides, considering he has left us six and thirty +Plays, which are avow'd to be genuine; (to throw out of the Question +those Seven, in which his Title is disputed: tho' I can, beyond all +Controversy, prove some Touches in every one of them to come from +his Pen:) and considering too, that he had retir'd from the Stage, +to spend the latter Part of his Days at his own Native _Stratford_; +the Interval of Time, necessarily required for the finishing so many +Dramatic Pieces, obliges us to suppose he threw himself very early +upon the Play-house. And as he could, probably, contract no +Acquaintance with the Drama, while he was driving on the Affair of +Wool at home; some Time must be lost, even after he had commenc'd +Player, before he could attain Knowledge enough in the Science to +qualify himself for turning Author. + +It has been observ'd by Mr. _Rowe_, that, amongst other Extravagancies +which our Author has given to his Sir _John Falstaffe_, in the +_Merry Wives_ of _Windsor_, he has made him a Deer-stealer; and that +he might at the same time remember his _Warwickshire_ Prosecutor, +under the Name of Justice _Shallow_, he has given him very near the +same Coat of Arms, which _Dugdale_, in his Antiquities of that +County, describes for a Family there. There are two Coats, I +observe, in _Dugdale_, where three Silver Fishes are borne in the +Name of _Lucy_; and another Coat, to the Monument of _Thomas Lucy_, +Son of Sir _William Lucy_, in which are quarter'd in four several +Divisions, twelve little Fishes, three in each Division, probably +_Luces_. This very Coat, indeed, seems alluded to in _Shallow_'s +giving the _dozen_ White _Luces_, and in _Slender_ saying, _he may +quarter_. When I consider the exceeding Candour and Good-nature of +our Author, (which inclin'd all the gentler Part of the World to +love him; as the Power of his Wit obliged the Men of the most +delicate Knowledge and polite Learning to admire him;) and that he +should throw this humorous Piece of Satire at his Prosecutor, at +least twenty Years after the Provocation given; I am confidently +persuaded it must be owing to an unforgiving Rancour on the +Prosecutor's Side: and if This was the Case, it were Pity but the +Disgrace of such an Inveteracy should remain as a lasting Reproach, +and _Shallow_ stand as a Mark of Ridicule to stigmatize his +Malice. + +It is said, our Author spent some Years before his Death, in Ease, +Retirement, and the Conversation of his Friends, at his Native +_Stratford_. I could never pick up any certain Intelligence, when He +relinquish'd the Stage. I know, it has been mistakenly thought by +some, that _Spenser_'s _Thalia_, in his _Tears of his Muses_, where +she laments the Loss of her _Willy_ in the Comic Scene, has been +apply'd to our Author's quitting the Stage. But _Spenser_ himself, +'tis well known, quitted the Stage of Life in the Year 1598; and, +five Years after this, we find _Shakespeare_'s Name among the Actors +in _Ben Jonson_'s _Sejanus_, which first made its Appearance in the +Year 1603. Nor, surely, could he then have any Thoughts of retiring, +since, that very Year, a Licence under the Privy-Seal was granted +by K. _James_ I. to him and _Fletcher_, _Burbage_, _Phillippes_, +_Hemmings_, _Condel_, &c. authorizing them to exercise the Art of +playing Comedies, Tragedies, &c. as well at their usual House call'd +the _Globe_ on the other Side of the Water, as in any other Parts of +the Kingdom, during his Majesty's Pleasure: (A Copy of which Licence +is preserv'd in _Rymer_'s _Foedera_.) Again, 'tis certain, that +_Shakespeare_ did not exhibit his _Macbeth_, till after the _Union_ +was brought about, and till after K. _James_ I. had begun to touch +for the _Evil_: for 'tis plain, he has inserted Compliments, on both +those Accounts, upon his Royal Master in that Tragedy. + +Nor, indeed, could the Number of the Dramatic Pieces, he produced, +admit of his retiring near so early as that Period. So that what +_Spenser_ there says, if it relate at all to _Shakespeare_, must +hint at some occasional Recess he made for a time upon a Disgust +taken: or the _Willy_, there mention'd, must relate to some other +favourite Poet. I believe, we may safely determine that he had not +quitted in the Year 1610. For in his _Tempest_, our Author makes +mention of the _Bermuda_ Islands, which were unknown to the +_English_, till, in 1609, Sir _John Summers_ made a Voyage to +_North-America_, and discover'd them: and afterwards invited some +of his Countrymen to settle a Plantation there. That he became the +private Gentleman at least three Years before his Decease, is pretty +obvious from another Circumstance: I mean, from that remarkable and +well-known Story, which Mr. _Rowe_ has given us of our Author's +Intimacy with Mr. _John Combe_, an old Gentleman noted thereabouts +for his Wealth and Usury: and upon whom _Shakespeare_ made the +following facetious Epitaph. + + Ten in the hundred lies here in-grav'd, + 'Tis a hundred to ten his Soul is not sav'd; + If any Man ask who lies in this Tomb, + Oh! oh! quoth the Devil, 'tis my _John-a-Combe_. + +This sarcastical Piece of Wit was, at the Gentleman's own Request, +thrown out extemporally in his Company. And this Mr. _John Combe_ +I take to be the same, who, by _Dugdale_ in his Antiquities of +_Warwickshire_, is said to have dy'd in the Year 1614, and for whom +at the upper End of the Quire, of the Guild of the Holy Cross at +_Stratford_, a fair Monument is erected, having a Statue thereon cut +in Alabaster, and in a Gown with this Epitaph. "Here lyeth enterr'd +the Body of _John Combe_ Esq; who dy'd the 10th of _July_, 1614, who +bequeathed several Annual Charities to the Parish of _Stratford_, +and 100_l._ to be lent to fifteen poor Tradesmen from three years to +three years, changing the Parties every third Year, at the Rate of +fifty Shillings _per Annum_, the Increase to be distributed to the +Almes-poor there."--The Donation has all the Air of a rich and +sagacious Usurer. + +_Shakespeare_ himself did not survive Mr. _Combe_ long, for he dy'd +in the Year 1616, the 53d of his Age. He lies buried on the North +Side of the Chancel in the great Church at _Stratford_; where a +Monument, decent enough for the Time, is erected to him, and plac'd +against the Wall. He is represented under an Arch in a sitting +Posture, a Cushion spread before him, with a Pen in his Right Hand, +and his Left rested on a Scrowl of Paper. The _Latin_ Distich, which +is placed under the Cushion, has been given us by Mr. _Pope_, or his +Graver, in this Manner. + + INGENIO _Pylium_, Genio _Socratem_, Arte _Maronem_, + Terra tegit, Populus mæret, Olympus habet. + +I confess, I don't conceive the Difference betwixt _Ingeniô_ and +_Geniô_ in the first Verse. They seem to me intirely synonomous +Terms; nor was the _Pylian_ Sage _Nestor_ celebrated for his +Ingenuity, but for an Experience and Judgment owing to his long Age. +_Dugdale_, in his Antiquities of _Warwickshire_, has copied this +Distich with a Distinction which Mr. _Rowe_ has follow'd, and which +certainly restores us the true meaning of the Epitaph. + + _JUDICIO Pylium_, Genio _Socratem_, &c. + +In 1614, the greater part of the Town of _Stratford_ was consumed by +Fire; but our _Shakespeare_'s House, among some others, escap'd the +Flames. This House was first built by Sir _Hugh Clopton_, a younger +Brother of an ancient Family in that Neighbourhood, who took their +Name from the Manor of _Clopton_. Sir _Hugh_ was Sheriff of _London_ +in the Reign of _Richard_ III, and Lord Mayor in the Reign of King +_Henry_ VII. To this Gentleman the Town of _Stratford_ is indebted +for the fine Stone-bridge, consisting of fourteen Arches, which at +an extraordinary Expence he built over the _Avon_, together with a +Cause-way running at the West-end thereof; as also for rebuilding +the Chapel adjoining to his House, and the Cross-Isle in the Church +there. It is remarkable of him, that, tho' he liv'd and dy'd a +Batchelor, among the other extensive Charities which he left both +to the City of _London_ and Town of _Stratford_, he bequeath'd +considerable Legacies for the Marriage of poor Maidens of good Name +and Fame both in _London_ and at _Stratford_. Notwithstanding which +large Donations in his Life, and Bequests at his Death, as he had +purchased the Manor of _Clopton_, and all the Estate of the Family, +so he left the same again to his Elder Brother's Son with a very +great Addition: (a Proof, how well Beneficence and Oeconomy may walk +hand in hand in wise Families:) Good part of which Estate is yet in +the Possession of _Edward Clopton_, Esq; and Sir _Hugh Clopton_, +Knt. lineally descended from the Elder Brother of the first Sir +_Hugh_: Who particularly bequeathed to his Nephew, by his Will, his +House, by the Name of his _Great-house_ in _Stratford_. + +The Estate had now been sold out of the _Clopton_ Family for above a +Century, at the Time when _Shakespeare_ became the Purchaser: who, +having repair'd and modell'd it to his own Mind, chang'd the Name to +_New-place_; which the Mansion-house, since erected upon the same +Spot, at this day retains. The House and Lands, which attended it, +continued in _Shakespeare_'s Descendants to the Time of the +_Restoration_: when they were repurchased by the _Clopton_ Family, +and the Mansion now belongs to Sir _Hugh Clopton_, Knt. To the +Favour of this worthy Gentleman I owe the Knowledge of one +Particular, in Honour of our Poet's once Dwelling-house, of which, +I presume, Mr. ROWE never was appriz'd. When the Civil War raged in +_England_, and K. _Charles_ the _First's_ Queen was driven by the +Necessity of Affairs to make a Recess in _Warwickshire_, She kept +her Court for three Weeks in _New-place_. We may reasonably suppose +it then the best private House in the Town; and her Majesty +preferr'd it to the _College_, which was in the Possession of +the _Combe_-Family, who did not so strongly favour the King's Party. + +How much our Author employ'd himself in Poetry, after his Retirement +from the Stage, does not so evidently appear: Very few posthumous +Sketches of his Pen have been recover'd to ascertain that Point. We +have been told, indeed, in Print, but not till very lately, That two +large Chests full of this Great Man's loose Papers and Manuscripts, +in the Hands of an ignorant Baker of _Warwick_, (who married one of +the Descendants from our _Shakespeare_) were carelesly scatter'd +and thrown about, as Garret-Lumber, and Litter, to the particular +Knowledge of the late Sir _William Bishop_, till they were all +consumed in the general Fire and Destruction, of that Town. I cannot +help being a little apt to distrust the Authority of this Tradition; +because as his Wife surviv'd him seven Years, and as his Favourite +Daughter _Susanna_ surviv'd her twenty six Years, 'tis very +improbable, they should suffer such a Treasure to be remov'd, and +translated into a remoter Branch of the Family, without a Scrutiny +first made into the Value of it. This, I say, inclines me to +distrust the Authority of the Relation: but, notwithstanding such +an apparent Improbability, if we really lost such a Treasure, by +whatever Fatality or Caprice of Fortune they came into such ignorant +and neglectful Hands, I agree with the _Relater_, the Misfortune is +wholly irreparable. + + [Sidenote*: His Character as a _Writer_.] + +To these Particulars, which regard his Person and private Life, some +few more are to be glean'd from Mr. ROWE's Account of his _Life_ +and _Writings_: *Let us now take a short View of him in his publick +Capacity, as a _Writer_: and, from thence, the Transition will be +easy to the _State_ in which his _Writings_ have been handed down +to us. + +No Age, perhaps, can produce an Author more various from himself, +than _Shakespeare_ has been universally acknowledg'd to be. The +Diversity in Stile, and other Parts of Composition, so obvious in +him, is as variously to be accounted for. His Education, we find, +was at best but begun: and he started early into a Science from the +Force of Genius, unequally assisted by acquir'd Improvements. His +Fire, Spirit, and Exuberance of Imagination gave an Impetuosity +to his Pen: His Ideas flow'd from him in a Stream rapid, but not +turbulent; copious, but not ever overbearing its Shores. The Ease +and Sweetness of his Temper might not a little contribute to his +Facility in Writing; as his Employment, as a _Player_, gave him an +Advantage and Habit of fancying himself the very Character he meant +to delineate. He used the Helps of his Function in forming himself +to create and express that _Sublime_, which other Actors can only +copy, and throw out, in Action and graceful Attitude. But _Nullum +fine Veniâ placuit Ingenium_, says _Seneca_. The Genius, that +gives us the greatest Pleasure, sometimes stands in Need of our +Indulgence. Whenever this happens with regard to _Shakespeare_, +I would willingly impute it to a Vice of _his Times_. We see +Complaisance enough, in our own Days, paid to a _bad Taste_. His +_Clinches_, _false Wit_, and descending beneath himself, seem to +be a Deference paid to _reigning Barbarism_. He was a _Sampson_ in +Strength, but he suffer'd some such _Dalilah_ to give him up to the +_Philistines_. + +As I have mention'd the Sweetness of his Disposition, I am tempted +to make a Reflexion or two on a Sentiment of his, which, I am +persuaded, came from the Heart. + + The Man, that hath no Musick in himself, + Nor is not mov'd with Concord of sweet Sounds, + Is fit for Treasons, Stratagems, and Spoils: + The Motions of his Spirit are dull as Night, + And his Affections dark as _Erebus_: + Let no such Man be trusted.---- + + [Sidenote: A Lover of _Musick_.] + +_Shakespeare_ was all Openness, Candour, and Complacence; and had +such a Share of Harmony in his Frame and Temperature, that we have +no Reason to doubt, from a Number of fine Passages, Allusions, +Similies, &_c._ fetch'd from _Musick_, but that He was a passionate +Lover of it. And to this, perhaps, we may owe that great Number of +_Sonnets_, which are sprinkled thro' his _Plays_. I have found, +that the Stanza's sung by the Gravedigger in _Hamlet_, are not of +_Shakespeare_'s own Composition, but owe their Original to the old +Earl of _Surrey_'s Poems. Many other of his Occasional little Songs, +I doubt not, but he purposely copied from his Contemporary Writers; +sometimes, out of Banter; sometimes, to do them Honour. The Manner +of their Introduction, and the Uses to which he has assigned them, +will easily determine for which of the Reasons they are respectively +employ'd. In _As you like it_, there are several little Copies of +Verses on _Rosalind_, which are said to be the right _Butter-woman's +Rank to Market_, and the very _false Gallop of Verses_. Dr. _Thomas +Lodge_, a Physician who flourish'd early in Queen _Elizabeth_'s +Reign, and was a great Writer of the Pastoral Songs and Madrigals, +which were so much the Strain of those Times, composed a whole +Volume of Poems in Praise of his Mistress, whom he calls +_Rosalinde_. I never yet could meet with this Collection; but +whenever I do, I am persuaded, I shall find many of our Author's +Canzonets on this Subject to be Scraps of the Doctor's amorous Muse: +as, perhaps, those by _Biron_ too, and the other Lovers in _Love's +Labour's lost_, may prove to be. + +It has been remark'd in the Course of my Notes, that Musick in our +Author's time had a very different Use from what it has now. At this +Time, it is only employ'd to raise and inflame the Passions; it, +then, was apply'd to calm and allay all kinds of Perturbations. And, +agreeable to this Observation, throughout all _Shakespeare_'s Plays, +where Musick is either actually used, or its Powers describ'd, it is +chiefly said to be for these Ends. His _Twelfth-Night_, particularly, +begins with a fine Reflexion that admirably marks its soothing +Properties. + + That Strain again;--It had a dying Fall. + Oh, it came o'er my Ear like the sweet South, + That breathes upon a Bank of Violets, + Stealing and giving Odour! + + [Sidenote*: _Milton_ an Imitator of him.] + +This _Similitude_ is remarkable not only for the Beauty of the +Image that it presents, but likewise for the Exactness to the Thing +compared. This is a way of Teaching peculiar to the Poets; that, +when they would describe the Nature of any thing, they do it not by +a direct Enumeration of its Attributes or Qualities, but by bringing +something into Comparison, and describing those Qualities of it that +are of the Kind with those in the Thing compared. So, here for +instance, the Poet willing to instruct in the Properties of Musick, +in which the same Strains have a Power to excite Pleasure, or Pain, +according to that State of Mind the Hearer is then in, does it +by presenting the Image of a sweet South Wind blowing o'er a +Violet-bank; which wafts away the Odour of the Violets, and at the +same time communicates to it its own Sweetness: by This insinuating, +that affecting Musick, tho' it takes away the natural sweet +Tranquillity of the Mind, yet, at the same time, communicates a +Pleasure the Mind felt not before. This Knowledge, of the same +Objects being capable of raising two contrary Affections, is a Proof +of no ordinary Progress in the Study of human Nature. *The general +Beauties of those two Poems of MILTON, intitled, _L'Allegro_ and +_Il Pensoroso_, are obvious to all Readers, because the Descriptions +are the most poetical in the World; yet there is a peculiar Beauty +in those two excellent Pieces, that will much enhance the Value of +them to the more capable Readers; which has never, I think, been +observ'd. The Images, in each Poem, which he raises to excite Mirth +and Melancholy, are exactly the same, only shewn in different +Attitudes. Had a Writer, less acquainted with Nature, given us two +Poems on these Subjects, he would have been sure to have sought out +the most contrary Images to raise these contrary Passions. And, +particularly, as _Shakespeare_, in the Passage I am now commenting, +speaks of these different Effects in Musick; so _Milton_ has brought +it into each Poem as the Exciter of each Affection: and lest we +should mistake him, as meaning that different Airs had this +different Power, (which every Fidler is proud to have you +understand,) He gives the Image of those self-same Strains that +_Orpheus_ used to regain _Eurydice_, as proper both to excite Mirth +and Melancholy. But _Milton_ most industriously copied the Conduct +of our _Shakespeare_, in Passages that shew'd an intimate +Acquaintance with Nature and Science. + + [Sidenote: Shakespeare's _Knowledge of Nature_.] + +I have not thought it out of my Province, whenever Occasion offer'd, +to take notice of some of our Poet's grand Touches of Nature: Some, +that do not appear superficially such; but in which he seems the +most deeply instructed; and to which, no doubt, he has so much ow'd +that happy Preservation of his _Characters_, for which he is justly +celebrated. If he was not acquainted with the Rule as deliver'd by +_Horace_, his own admirable Genius pierc'd into the Necessity of +such a Rule. + + ----Servetur ad imum + Qualis ab incoepto processerit, & sibi constet. + +For what can be more ridiculous, than, in our modern Writers, to +make a debauch'd young Man, immers'd in all the Vices of his Age and +Time, in a few hours take up, confine himself in the way of Honour +to one Woman, and moralize in good earnest on the Follies of his +past Behaviour? Nor can, that great Examplar of _Comic_ Writing, +_Terence_ be altogether excused in this Regard; who, in his +_Adelphi_, has left _Demea_ in the last Scenes so unlike himself: +whom, as _Shakespeare_ expresses it, _he has turn'd with the seamy +Side of his Wit outward_. This Conduct, as Errors are more readily +imitated than Perfections, _Beaumont_ and _Fletcher_ seem to +have follow'd in a Character in their _Scornful Lady_. It may be +objected, perhaps, by some who do not go to the Bottom of our Poet's +Conduct, that he has likewise transgress'd against the Rule himself, +by making Prince _Harry_ at once, upon coming to the Crown, throw +off his former Dissoluteness, and take up the Practice of a sober +Morality and all the kingly Virtues. But this would be a mistaken +Objection. The Prince's Reformation is not so sudden, as not to be +prepar'd and expected by the Audience. He gives, indeed, a Loose to +Vanity, and a light unweigh'd Behaviour, when he is trifling among +his dissolute Companions; but the Sparks of innate Honour and true +Nobleness break from him upon every proper Occasion, where we would +hope to see him awake to Sentiments suiting his Birth and Dignity. +And our Poet has so well, and artfully, guarded his Character from +the Suspicions of habitual and unreformable Profligateness; that +even from the first shewing him upon the Stage, in the first Part of +_Henry_ IV, when he made him consent to join with _Falstaffe_ in a +Robbery on the Highway, he has taken care not to carry him off the +Scene, without an Intimation that he knows them all, and their +unyok'd Humour; and that, like the Sun, he will permit them only for +a while to obscure and cloud his Brightness; then break thro' the +Mist, when he pleases to be himself again; that his Lustre, when +wanted, may be the more wonder'd at. + +Another of _Shakespeare_'s grand Touches of Nature, and which lies +still deeper from the Ken of common Observation, has been taken +notice of in a Note upon _The Tempest_; where _Prospero_ at once +interrupts the Masque of _Spirits_, and starts into a sudden Passion +and Disorder of Mind. As the latent Cause of his Emotion is there +fully inquir'd into, I shall no farther dwell upon it here. + +Such a Conduct in a Poet (as _Shakespeare_ has manifested on many +like Occasions;) where the Turn of _Action_ arises from Reflexions +of his _Characters_, where the Reason of it is not express'd in +Words, but drawn from the inmost Resources of Nature, shews him +truly capable of that Art, which is more in Rule than Practice: +_Ars est celare Artem_. 'Tis the Foible of your worser Poets to make +a Parade and Ostentation of that little Science they have; and to +throw it out in the most ambitious Colours. And whenever a Writer of +this Class shall attempt to copy these artful Concealments of our +Author, and shall either think them easy, or practised by a Writer +for his Ease, he will soon be convinced of his Mistake by the +Difficulty of reaching the Imitation of them. + + Speret idem, sudet multùm, frustráq; laboret, + Ausus idem:---- + +Another grand Touch of Nature in our Author, (not less difficult to +imitate, tho' more obvious to the Remark of a common Reader) is, +when he brings down at once any _Character_ from the Ferment +and Height of Passion, makes him correct himself for the unruly +Disposition, and fall into Reflexions of a sober and moral Tenour. +An exquisite fine Instance of this Kind occurs in _Lear_, where that +old King, hasty and intemperate in his Passions, coming to his Son +and Daughter _Cornwall_, is told by the Earl of _Gloucester_ that +they are not to be spoken with: and thereupon throws himself into a +Rage, supposing the Excuse of Sickness and Weariness in them to be a +purpos'd Contempt: _Gloucester_ begs him to think of the fiery and +unremoveable Quality of the Duke: and This, which was design'd to +qualify his Passion, serves to exaggerate the Transports of it. + +As the Conduct of Prince _Henry_ in the first Instance, the secret +and mental Reflexions in the Case of _Prospero_, and the instant +Detour of _Lear_ from the Violence of Rage to a Temper of Reasoning, +do so much Honour to that surprizing Knowledge of human Nature, +which is certainly our Author's Masterpiece, I thought, they could +not be set in too good a Light. Indeed, to point out, and exclaim +upon, all the Beauties of _Shakespeare_, as they come singly in +Review, would be as insipid, as endless; as tedious, as unnecessary: +But the Explanation of those Beauties, that are less obvious to +common Readers, and whose Illustration depends on the Rules of just +Criticism, and an exact Knowledge of human Life, should deservedly +have a Share in a general Critic upon the Author. + + [Sidenote*: Mr. _Addison_ and _He_ compared, on a similar Topick.] + +I shall dismiss the Examination into these his latent Beauties, when +I have made a short Comment upon a remarkable Passage from _Julius +Cæsar_, which is inexpressibly fine in its self, *and greatly +discovers our Author's Knowledge and Researches into Nature. + + Between the acting of a dreadful Thing, + And the first Motion, all the _Interim_ is + Like a Phantasma, or a hideous Dream: + The Genius, and the mortal Instruments + Are then in Council; and the State of Man, + Like to a little Kingdom, suffers then + The Nature of an Insurrection. + +That nice Critick _Dionysius_ of _Halicarnassus_ confesses, that he +could not find those great Strokes, which he calls the _terrible +Graces_, in any of the Historians, which he frequently met with in +_Homer_. I believe, the Success would be the same likewise, if we +sought for them in any other of _our_ Authors besides our _British_ +HOMER, _Shakespeare_. This Description of the Condition of +Conspirators has a Pomp and Terror in it, that perfectly astonishes. +Our excellent Mr. _Addison_, whose Modesty made him sometimes +diffident in his own Genius, but whose exquisite Judgment always led +him to the safest Guides, as we may see by those many fine Strokes +in his _Cato_ borrow'd from the _Philippics_ of _Cicero_, has +paraphrased this fine Description; but we are no longer to expect +those _terrible Graces_, which he could not hinder from evaporating +in the Transfusion. + + O think, what anxious Moments pass between + The Birth of Plots, and their last fatal Periods. + Oh, 'tis a dreadful Interval of Time, + Fill'd up with Horror all, and big with Death. + +I shall observe two Things on this fine Imitation: first, that the +Subjects of these two Conspiracies being so very different, (the +Fortunes of _Cæsar_ and the _Roman_ Empire being concern'd in the +First; and That of only a few Auxiliary Troops, in the other;) +Mr. _Addison_ could not with Propriety bring in that magnificent +Circumstance, which gives the terrible Grace to _Shakespeare_'s +Description. + + The Genius and the mortal Instruments + Are then in Council.---- + +For Kingdoms, in the poetical Theology, besides their good, have +their evil _Genius_'s likewise: represented here with the most +daring Stretch of Fancy, as fitting in Council with the Conspirators, +whom he calls the _mortal Instruments_. But this Would have been +too great an Apparatus to the Rape, and Desertion, of _Syphax_, and +_Sempronius_. Secondly, The other Thing very observable is, that Mr. +_Addison_ was so warm'd and affected with the Fire of _Shakespeare_'s +Description; that, instead of copying his Author's Sentiments, he +has, before he was aware, given us only the Image of his own +Impressions on the reading his great Original. For, + + Oh, 'tis a dreadful Interval of Time, + Fill'd up with Horror all, and big with Death; + +are but the Affections raised by such forcible Images as these; + + ----All the _Int'rim_ is + Like a Phantasma, or a hideous Dream. + ----the State of Man, + Like to a little Kingdom, suffers then + The Nature of an Insurrection. + +Comparing the Mind of a Conspirator to an Anarchy, is just and +beautiful; but the _Interim_ to a _hideous Dream_ has something in +it so wonderfully natural, and lays the human Soul so open, that one +cannot but be surpriz'd, that any Poet, who had not himself been, +some time or other, engaged in a Conspiracy, could ever have given +such Force of Colouring to Truth and Nature. + + [Sidenote: The Question on _Shakespeare_'s Learning handled.] + +It has been allow'd on all hands, far our Author was indebted to +_Nature_; it is not so well agreed, how much he ow'd to _Languages_ +and acquir'd _Learning_. The Decisions on this Subject were +certainly set on Foot by the Hint from _Ben Jonson_, that he had +small _Latin_ and less _Greek_: And from this Tradition, as it were, +Mr. _Rowe_ has thought fit peremptorily to declare, that, "It is +without Controversy, he had no Knowledge of the Writings of the +ancient Poets, for that in his Works we find no Traces of any thing +which looks like an Imitation of the Ancients. For the Delicacy of +his Taste (_continues He_,) and the natural Bent of his own great +Genius (equal, if not superior, to some of the Best of theirs;) +would certainly have led him to read and study them with so much +Pleasure, that some of their fine Images would naturally have +insinuated themselves into, and been mix'd with, his own Writings: +so that his not copying, at least, something from them, may be an +Argument of his never having read them." I shall leave it to the +Determination of my Learned Readers, from the numerous Passages, +which I have occasionally quoted in my Notes, in which our Poet +seems closely to have imitated the Classics, whether Mr. _Rowe_'s +Assertion be so absolutely to be depended on. The Result of the +Controversy must certainly, either way, terminate to our Author's +Honour: how happily he could imitate them, if that Point be allow'd; +or how gloriously he could think like them, without owing any thing +to Imitation. + +Tho' I should be very unwilling to allow _Shakespeare_ so poor a +Scholar, as Many have labour'd to represent him, yet I shall be +very cautious of declaring too positively on the other side of the +Question: that is, with regard to my Opinion of his Knowledge in the +dead Languages. And therefore the Passages, that I occasionally +quote from the _Classics_, shall not be urged as Proofs that he +knowingly imitated those Originals; but brought to shew how happily +he has express'd himself upon the same Topicks. A very learned +Critick of our own Nation has declar'd, that a Sameness of Thought +and Sameness of Expression too, in Two Writers of a different Age, +can hardly happen, without a violent Suspicion of the Latter copying +from his Predecessor. I shall not therefore run any great Risque +of a Censure, tho' I should venture to hint, that the Resemblance, +in Thought and Expression, of our Author and an Ancient (which +we should allow to be Imitation in One, whose Learning was not +question'd) may sometimes take its Rise from Strength of Memory, and +those Impressions which he ow'd to the School. And if we may allow a +Possibility of This, considering that, when he quitted the School, +he gave into his Father's Profession and way of Living, and had, +'tis likely, but a slender Library of Classical Learning; and +considering what a Number of Translations, Romances, and Legends, +started about his Time, and a little before; (most of which,'tis +very evident, he read;) I think, it may easily be reconcil'd, why he +rather schemed his _Plots_ and _Charaters_ from these more latter +Informations, than went back to those Fountains, for which he might +entertain a sincere Veneration, but to which he could not have so +ready a Recourse. + +In touching on another Part of his Learning, as it related to the +Knowledge of _History_ and _Books_, I shall advance something, that, +at first sight, will very much wear the Appearance of a Paradox. +For I shall find it no hard Matter to prove, that from the grossest +Blunders in History, we are not to infer his real Ignorance of it: +Nor from a greater Use of _Latin_ Words, than ever any other +_English_ Author used, must we infer his Knowledge of that Language. + +A Reader of Taste may easily observe, that tho' _Shakespeare_, +almost in every Scene of his historical Plays, commits the grossest +Offences against Chronology, History, and Antient Politicks; yet +This was not thro' Ignorance, as is generally supposed, but thro' +the too powerful Blaze of his Imagination; which, when once raised, +made all acquired Knowledge vanish and disappear before it. For +Instance, in his _Timon_, he turns _Athens_, which was a perfect +Democracy, into an Aristocracy; while he ridiculously gives a +Senator the Power of banishing _Alcibiades_. On the contrary, in +_Coriolanus_, he makes _Rome_, which at that time was a perfect +Aristocracy, a Democracy full as ridiculously, by making the People +choose _Coriolanus_ Consul: Whereas, in Fact, it was not till the +Time of _Manlius_ _Torquatus_, that the People had a Right of +choosing one Consul. But this Licence in him, as I have said, must +not be imputed to Ignorance: since as often we may find him, when +Occasion serves, reasoning up to the Truth of History; and throwing +out Sentiments as justly adapted to the Circumstances of his +Subject, as to the Dignity of his Characters, or Dictates of Nature +in general. + +Then, to come to his Knowledge of the _Latin_ Tongue, 'tis certain, +there is a surprising Effusion of _Latin_ Words made _English_, far +more than in any one _English_ Author I have seen; but we must be +cautious to imagine, this was of his own doing. For the _English_ +Tongue, in his Age, began extremely to suffer by an Inundation of +_Latin_; and to be overlaid, as it were, by its Nurse, when it had +just began to speak by her before-prudent Care and Assistance. And +this, to be sure, was occasion'd by the Pedantry of those two +Monarchs, _Elizabeth_ and _James_, Both great _Latinists_. For it +is not to be wonder'd at, if both the Court and Schools, equal +Flatterers of Power, should adapt themselves to the Royal Taste. +This, then, was the Condition of the _English_ Tongue when +_Shakespeare_ took it up: like a Beggar in a rich Wardrobe. He found +the pure native _English_ too cold and poor to second the Heat and +Abundance of his Imagination: and therefore was forc'd to dress it +up in the Robes, he saw provided for it: rich in themselves, but +ill-shaped; cut out to an air of Magnificence, but disproportion'd +and cumbersome. To the Costliness of Ornament, he added all the +Graces and Decorum of it. It may be said, this did not require, or +discover a Knowledge of the _Latin_. To the first, I think, it did +not; to the second, it is so far from discovering it, that, I think, +it discovers the contrary. To make This more obvious by a modern +Instance: The great MILTON likewise labour'd under the like +Inconvenience; when he first set upon adorning his own Tongue, he +likewise animated and enrich'd it with the _Latin_, but from his own +Stock: and so, rather by bringing in the Phrases, than the Words: +And This was natural; and will, I believe, always be the Case in the +same Circumstances. His Language, especially his Prose, is full of +_Latin_ Words indeed, but much fuller of _Latin_ Phrases: and his +Mastery in the Tongue made this unavoidable. On the contrary, +_Shakespeare_, who, perhaps, was not so intimately vers'd in the +_Language_, abounds in the Words of it, but has few or none of its +Phrases: Nor, indeed, if what I affirm be true, could He. This I +take to be the truest _Criterion_ to determine this long agitated +Question. + +It may be mention'd, tho' no certain Conclusion can be drawn from +it, as a probable Argument of his having read the Antients; that He +perpetually expresses the Genius of _Homer_, and other great Poets +of the Old World, in animating all the Parts of his Descriptions; +and, by bold and breathing Metaphors and Images, giving the +Properties of Life and Action to inanimate Things. He is a Copy +too of those _Greek_ Masters in the infinite use of _compound_ and +_de-compound Epithets_. I will not, indeed, aver, but that One with +_Shakespeare_'s exquisite Genius and Observation might have traced +these glaring Characteristics of Antiquity by reading _Homer_ in +_Chapman_'s Version. + + [Sidenote: _B. Jonson_ and _Shakespeare_ compar'd.] + +An additional Word or two naturally falls in here upon the Genius of +our Author, as compared with that of _Jonson_ his Contemporary. They +are confessedly the greatest Writers our Nation could ever boast +of in the _Drama_. The first, we say, owed all to his prodigious +natural Genius; and the other a great deal to his Art and Learning. +This, if attended to, will explain a very remarkable Appearance in +their Writings. Besides those wonderful Masterpieces of Art and +Genius, which each has given Us; They are the Authors of other Works +very unworthy of them: But with this Difference; that in _Jonson_'s +bad Pieces we don't discover one single Trace of the Author of +the _Fox_ and _Alchemist_: but in the wild extravagant Notes +of _Shakespeare_, you every now and then encounter Strains that +recognize the divine Composer. This Difference may be thus accounted +for. _Jonson_, as we said before, owing all his Excellence to his +Art, by which he sometimes strain'd himself to an uncommon Pitch, +when at other times he unbent and play'd with his Subject, having +nothing then to support him, it is no wonder he wrote so far beneath +himself. But _Sbakespeare_, indebted more largely to Nature, than +the Other to acquired Talents, in his most negligent Hours could +never so totally divest himself of his Genius, but that it would +frequently break out with astonishing Force and Splendor. + + [Sidenote: His Reputation under Disadvantages.] + +As I have never propos'd to dilate farther on the Character of my +Author, than was necessary to explain the Nature and Use of this +Edition, I shall proceed to consider him as a Genius in Possession +of an Everlasting Name. And how great that Merit must be, which +could gain it against all the Disadvantages of the horrid Condition +in which he has hitherto appear'd! Had _Homer_, or any other admir'd +Author, first started into Publick so, maim'd and deform'd, we +cannot determine whether they had not sunk for ever under the +Ignominy of such an ill Appearance. The mangled Condition of +_Shakespeare_ has been acknowledg'd by Mr. _Rowe_, who publish'd him +indeed, but neither corrected his Text, nor collated the old Copies. +This Gentleman had Abilities, and a sufficient Knowledge of his +Author, had but his Industry been equal to his Talents. The same +mangled Condition has been acknowledg'd too by Mr. _Pope_, who +publish'd him likewise, pretended to have collated the old Copies, +and yet seldom has corrected the Text but to its Injury. I +congratulate with the _Manes_ of our Poet, that this Gentleman has +been sparing in _indulging his private Sense_; for He, who tampers +with an Author whom he does not understand, must do it at the +Expence of his Subject. I have made it evident throughout my +Remarks, that he has frequently inflicted a Wound where he intended +a Cure. He has acted with regard to our Author, as an Editor, whom +LIPSIUS mentions, did with regard to MARTIAL; _Inventus est nescio +quis _Popa_, qui non _vitia_ ejus, sed _ipsum_, excîdit._ He has +attack'd him like an unhandy _Slaughterman_; and not lopp'd off the +_Errors_, but the _Poet_. + + [Sidenote: Praise sometimes an Injury.] + +When this is found to be the Fact, how absurd must appear the +Praises of such an Editor? It seems a moot Point, whether Mr. _Pope_ +has done most Injury to _Shakespeare_ as his Editor and Encomiast; +or Mr. _Rymer_ done him Service as his Rival and Censurer. Were it +every where the true Text, which That Editor in his late pompous +Edition gave us, the Poet deserv'd not the large Encomiums bestow'd +by him: nor, in that Case, is _Rymer_'s Censure of the Barbarity of +his Thoughts, and the Impropriety of his Expressions, groundless. +They have Both shewn themselves in an equal _Impuissance_ of +suspecting or amending the corrupted Passages: and tho' it be +neither Prudence to censure, or commend, what one does not +understand; yet if a Man must do one when he plays the Critick, +the latter is the more ridiculous Office. And by That _Shakespeare_ +suffers most. For the natural Veneration, which we have for him, +makes us apt to swallow whatever is given us as _his_, and let off +with Encomiums; and hence we quit all Suspicions of Depravity: On +the contrary, the Censure of so divine an Author sets us upon his +Defence; and this produces an exact Scrutiny and Examination, which +ends in finding out and discriminating the true from the spurious. + +It is not with any secret Pleasure, that I so frequently animadvert +on Mr. _Pope_ as a Critick; but there are Provocations, which a Man +can never quite forget. His Libels have been thrown out with so much +Inveteracy, that, not to dispute whether they _should_ come from a +_Christian_, they leave it a Question whether they _could_ come from +a _Man_. I should be loth to doubt, as _Quintus Serenus_ did in a +like Case, + + Sive homo, seu similis turpissima bestia nobis, + Vulnera dente dedit. + +The Indignation, perhaps, for being represented a _Blockhead_, may +be as strong in Us as it is in the Ladies for a Reflexion on their +_Beauties_. It is certain, I am indebted to Him for some _flagrant +Civilities_; and I shall willingly devote a part of my Life to the +honest Endeavour of quitting Scores: with this Exception however, +that I will not return those Civilities in his _peculiar_ Strain, +but confine myself, at lead, to the Limits of _common Decency_. +I shall ever think it better to want _Wit_, than to want _Humanity_: +and impartial Posterity may, perhaps, be of my Opinion. + + [Sidenote: The old Editions faulty, whence.] + +But, to return to my Subject; which now calls upon me to inquire +into those Causes, to which the Depravations of my Author originally +may be assign'd. We are to consider him as a Writer, of whom no +authentic Manuscript was extant; as a Writer, whose Pieces were +dispersedly perform'd on the several _Stages_ then in Being. And it +was the Custom of those Days for the Poets to take a Price of the +_Players_ for the Pieces They from time to time furnish'd; and +thereupon it was suppos'd, they had no farther Right to print them +without the Consent of the _Players_. As it was the Interest of the +_Companies_ to keep their Plays unpublish'd, when any one succeeded, +there was a Contest betwixt the Curiosity of the Town, who demanded +to see it in Print, and the Policy of the _Stagers_, who wish'd +to secrete it within their own Walls. Hence, many Pieces were +taken down in Short-hand, and imperfectly copied by Ear, from +a _Representation_: Others were printed from piece-meal Parts, +surreptitiously obtain'd from the Theatres, uncorrect, and without +the Poet's Knowledge. To some of these Causes we owe the train of +Blemishes, that deform those Pieces which stole singly into the +World in our Author's Life-time. + +There are still other Reasons, which may be suppos'd to have +affected the whole Set. When the _Players_ took upon them to publish +his Works intire, every Theatre was ransack'd to supply the Copy; +and _Parts_ collected which had gone thro' as many Changes as +Performers, either from Mutilations or Additions made to them. Hence +we derive many Chasms and Incoherences in the Sense and Matter. +Scenes were frequently transposed, and shuffled out of their true +Place, to humour the Caprice or suppos'd Convenience of some +particular Actor. Hence much Confusion and Impropriety has attended, +and embarras'd, the Business and Fable. For there ever have been, +and ever will be in Playhouses, a Set of assuming Directors, who +know better than the Poet himself the Connexion and Dependance of +his Scenes; where Matter is defective, or Superfluities to be +retrench'd; Persons, that have the Fountain of _Inspiration_ as +peremptorily in them, as Kings have That of _Honour_. To these +obvious Causes of Corruption it must be added, that our Author has +lain under the Disadvantage of having his Errors propagated and +multiplied by Time: because, for near a Century; his Works were +republish'd from the faulty Copies without the assistance of any +intelligent Editor: which has been the Case likewise of many a +_Classic_ Writer. + + [Sidenote: The Editor's Drift and Method.] + + [Sidenote*: Difference betwixt this Edition and Dr. _Bentley_'s + _Milton_.] + +The Nature of any Distemper once found has generally been the +immediate Step to a Cure. _Shakespeare_'s Case has in a great +Measure resembled That of a corrupt _Classic_; and, consequently, +the Method of Cure was likewise to bear a Resemblance. By what +Means, and with what Success, this Cure has been effected on ancient +Writers, is too well known, and needs no formal Illustration. The +Reputation consequent on Tasks of that Nature invited me to attempt +the Method here; with this View, the Hopes of restoring to the +Publick their greatest Poet in his Original Purity: after having so +long lain in a Condition that was a Disgrace to common Sense. To +this End I have ventur'd on a Labour, that is the first Assay of +the kind on any modern Author whatsoever. For the late Edition of +_Milton_ by the Learned *Dr. _Bentley_ is, in the main, a Performance +of another Species. It is plain, it was the Intention of that +Great Man rather to Correct and pare off the Excrescencies of +the _Paradise Lost_, in the manner that _Tucca_ and _Varius_ were +employ'd to criticize the _Æneis_ of _Virgil_, than to restore +corrupted Passages. Hence, therefore, may be seen either the +Iniquity or Ignorance of his Censurers, who, from some Expressions, +would make us believe, the _Doctor_ every where gives us his +Corrections as the Original Text of the Author; whereas the chief +Turn of his Criticism is plainly to shew the World, that if _Milton_ +did not write as He would have him, he ought to have wrote so. + +I thought proper to premise this Observation to the Readers, as it +will shew that the Critic on _Shakespeare_ is of a quite different +Kind. His genuine Text is religiously adher'd to, and the numerous +Faults and Blemishes, purely his own, are left as they were found. +Nothing is alter'd, but what by the clearest Reasoning can be +proved a Corruption of the true Text; and the Alteration, a real +Restoration of the genuine Reading. Nay, so strictly have I strove +to give the true Reading, tho' sometimes not to the Advantage of my +Author, that I have been ridiculously ridicul'd for it by Those, who +either were iniquitously for turning every thing to my Disadvantage; +or else were totally ignorant of the true Duty of an Editor. + +The Science of Criticism, as far as it affects an Editor, seems +to be reduced to these three Classes; the Emendation of corrupt +Passages; the Explanation of obscure and difficult ones; and an +Inquiry into the Beauties and Defects of Composition. This Work is +principally confin'd to the two former Parts: tho' there are some +Specimens interspers'd of the latter Kind, as several of the +Emendations were best supported, and several of the Difficulties +best explain'd, by taking notice of the Beauties and Defects of +the Composition peculiar to this Immortal Poet. But This was but +occasional, and for the sake only of perfecting the two other Parts, +which were the proper Objects of the Editor's Labour. The third lies +open for every willing Undertaker: and I shall be pleas'd to see it +the Employment of a masterly Pen. + +It must necessarily happen, as I have formerly observ'd, that where +the Assistance of Manuscripts is wanting to set an Author's Meaning +right, and rescue him from those Errors which have been transmitted +down thro' a Series of incorrect Editions, and a long Intervention +of Time, many Passages must be desperate, and past a Cure; and +their true Sense irretrievable either to Care or the Sagacity of +Conjecture. But is there any Reason therefore to say, That because +All cannot be retriev'd, All ought to be left desperate? We should +shew very little Honesty, or Wisdom, to play the Tyrants with an +Author's Text; to raze, alter, innovate, and overturn, at all +Adventures, and to the utter Detriment of his Sense and Meaning: +But to be so very reserved and cautious, as to interpose no Relief +or Conjecture, where it manifestly labours and cries out for +Assistance, seems, on the other hand, an indolent Absurdity. + +But because the Art of Criticism, both by Those who cannot form a +true Judgment of its Effects, nor can penetrate into its Causes, +(which takes in a great Number besides the Ladies;) is esteem'd only +an arbitrary capricious Tyranny exercis'd on Books; I think +proper to subjoin a Word or two about those Rules on which I have +proceeded, and by which I have regulated myself in this Edition. By +This, I flatter myself, it will appear, my Emendations are so far +from being arbitrary or capricious, that They are establish'd with +a very high Degree of moral Certainty. + +As there are very few Pages in _Shakespeare_, upon which some +Suspicions of Depravity do not reasonably arise; I have thought it +my Duty, in the first place, by a diligent and laborious Collation +to take in the Assistances of all the older Copies. + +In his _Historical Plays_, whenever our _English_ Chronicles, and in +his Tragedies when _Greek_ or _Roman_ Story, could give any Light; +no Pains have been omitted to set Passages right by comparing my +Author with his Originals: for, as I have frequently observed, he +was a close and accurate Copier where-ever his _Fable_ was founded +on _History_. + +Where-ever the Author's Sense is clear and discoverable, (tho', +perchance, low and trivial;) I have not by any Innovation tamper'd +with his Text; out of an Ostentation of endeavouring to make him +speak better than the Old Copies have done. + +Where, thro' all the former Editions, a Passage has labour'd under +flat Nonsense and invincible Darkness, if, by the Addition or +Alteration of a Letter or two, I have restored to Him both Sense +and Sentiment, such Corrections, I am persuaded, will need no +Indulgence. + +And whenever I have taken a greater Latitude and Liberty in +amending, I have constantly endeavoured to support my Corrections +and Conjectures by parallel Passages and Authorities from himself, +the surest Means of expounding any Author whatsoever. _Cette voïe +d'interpreter un Autheur par lui-même est plus sure que tous les +Commentaires_, says a very learned _French_ Critick. + +As to my _Notes_, (from which the common and learned Readers of our +Author, I hope, will derive some Pleasure;) I have endeavour'd to +give them a Variety in some Proportion to their Number. Where-ever +I have ventur'd at an Emendation, a _Note_ is constantly subjoin'd +to justify and assert the Reason of it. Where I only offer a +Conjecture, and do not disturb the Text, I fairly set forth my +Grounds for such Conjecture, and submit it to Judgment. Some Remarks +are spent in explaining Passages, Where the Wit or Satire depends +on an obscure Point of History: Others, where Allusions are to +Divinity, Philosophy, or other Branches of Science. Some are added +to shew, where there is a Suspicion of our Author having borrowed +from the Antients: Others, to shew where he is rallying his +Contemporaries; or where He himself is rallied by them. And some are +necessarily thrown in, to explain an obscure and obsolete _Term_, +_Phrase_, or _Idea_. I once intended to have added a complete and +copious _Glossary_; but as I have been importun'd, and am prepar'd, +to give a correct Edition of our Author's POEMS, (in which many +Terms occur that are not to be met with in his _Plays_,) I thought a +_Glossary_ to all _Shakespeare_'s Works more proper to attend that +Volume. + +In reforming an infinite Number of Passages in the _Pointing_, where +the Sense was before quite lost, I have frequently subjoin'd Notes +to shew the _deprav'd_, and to prove the _reform'd_, Pointing: a +Part of Labour in this Work which I could very willingly have spared +myself. May it not be objected, why then have you burthen'd us with +these Notes? The Answer is obvious, and, if I mistake not, very +material. Without such Notes, these Passages in subsequent Editions +would be liable, thro' the Ignorance of Printers and Correctors, to +fall into the old Confusion: Whereas, a Note on every one hinders +all possible Return to Depravity; and for ever secures them in a +State of Purity and Integrity not to be lost or forfeited. + + [Sidenote*: Causes of Obscurities in _Shakespeare_.] + +Again, as some Notes have been necessary to point out the Detection +of the corrupted Text, and establish the Reiteration of the genuine +Readings; some others have been as necessary for the Explanation of +Passages obscure and difficult. *To understand the Necessity and Use +of this Part of my Task, some Particulars of my Author's Character +are previously to be explain'd. There are _Obscurities_ in him, +which are common to him with all Poets of the same Species; there +are Others, the Issue of the Times he liv'd in; and there are +Others, again, peculiar to himself. The Nature of Comic Poetry +being entirely satyrical, it busies itself more in exposing what +we call Caprice and Humour, than Vices cognizable to the Laws. The +_English_, from the Happiness of a free Constitution, and a Turn of +Mind peculiarly speculative and inquisitive, are observ'd to produce +more _Humourists_ and a greater Variety of Original _Characters_, +than any other People whatsoever: And These owing their immediate +Birth to the peculiar Genius of each Age, an infinite Number of +Things alluded to, glanced at, and expos'd, must needs become +obscure, as the _Characters_ themselves are antiquated, and disused. +An Editor therefore should be well vers'd in the History and Manners +of his Author's Age, if he aims at doing him a Service in this Respect. + +Besides, _Wit_ lying mostly in the Assemblage of _Ideas_, and in the +putting Those together with Quickness and Variety, wherein can be +found any Resemblance, or Congruity, to make up pleasant Pictures, +and agreeable Visions in the Fancy; the Writer, who aims at Wit, +must of course range far and wide for Materials. Now, the Age, in +which _Shakespeare_ liv'd, having, above all others, a wonderful +Affection to appear Learned, They declined vulgar Images, such as +are immediately fetch'd from Nature, and rang'd thro' the Circle +of the Sciences to fetch their Ideas from thence. But as the +Resemblances of such Ideas to the Subject must necessarily lie very +much out of the common Way, and every piece of Wit appear a Riddle +to the Vulgar; This, that should have taught them the forced, +quaint, unnatural Tract they were in, (and induce them to follow a +more natural One,) was the very Thing that kept them attach'd to it. +The ostentatious Affectation of abstruse Learning, peculiar to that +Time, the Love that Men naturally have to every Thing that looks +like Mystery, fixed them down to this Habit of Obscurity. Thus +became the Poetry of DONNE (tho' the wittiest Man of that Age,) +nothing but a continued Heap of Riddles. And our _Shakespeare_, with +all his easy Nature about him, for want of the Knowledge of the true +Rules of Art, falls frequently into this vicious Manner. + +The third Species of _Obscurities_, which deform our Author, as +the Effects of his own Genius and Character, are Those that proceed +from his peculiar Manner of _Thinking_, and as peculiar a Manner of +_cloathing_ those _Thoughts_. With regard to his _Thinking_, it is +certain, that he had a general Knowledge of all the Sciences: But +his Acquaintance was rather That of a Traveller, than a Native. +Nothing in Philosophy was unknown to him; but every Thing in it had +the Grace and Force of Novelty. And as Novelty is one main Source of +Admiration, we are not to wonder that He has perpetual Allusions to +the most recondite Parts of the Sciences: and This was done not +so much out of Affectation, as the Effect of Admiration begot by +Novelty. Then, as to his _Style_ and _Diction_, we may much more +justly apply to SHAKESPEARE, what a celebrated Writer has said of +MILTON; _Our Language sunk under him, and was unequal to that +Greatness of Soul which furnish'd him with such glorious +Conceptions_. He therefore frequently uses old Words, to give his +Diction an Air of Solemnity; as he coins others, to express the +Novelty and Variety of his Ideas. + +Upon every distinct Species of these _Obscurities_ I have thought it +my Province to employ a Note, for the Service of my Author, and the +Entertainment of my Readers. A few transient Remarks too I have not +scrupled to intermix, upon the Poet's _Negligences_ and _Omissions_ +in point of Art; but I have done it always in such a Manner, as will +testify my Deference and Veneration for the Immortal Author. Some +Censurers of _Shakespeare_, and particularly Mr. _Rymer_, have +taught me to distinguish betwixt the _Railer_ and _Critick_. The +Outrage of his Quotations is so remarkably violent, so push'd beyond +all Bounds of Decency and sober Reasoning, that it quite carries +over the Mark at which it was levell'd. Extravagant Abuse throws +off the Edge of the intended Disparagement, and turns the Madman's +Weapon into his own Bosom. In short, as to _Rymer_, This is my +Opinion of him from his _Criticisms_ on the _Tragedies_ of the Last +Age. He writes with great Vivacity, and appears to have been a +Scholar: but, as for his Knowledge of the Art of Poetry, I can't +perceive it was any deeper than his Acquaintance with _Bossu_ and +_Dacier_, from whom he has transcribed many of his best Reflexions. +The late Mr. _Gildon_ was One attached to _Rymer_ by a similar Way +of Thinking and Studies. They were Both of that Species of Criticks, +who are desirous of displaying their Powers rather in finding +Faults, than in consulting the Improvement of the World: the +_hypercritical_ Part of the Science of _Criticism_. + + I had not mentioned the modest Liberty I have here and there taken +of animadverting on my Author, but that I was willing to obviate in +time the splenetick Exaggerations of my Adversaries on this Head. +From past Experiments I have Reason to be conscious, in what Light +this Attempt may be placed: and that what I call a _modest Liberty_, +will, by a little of their Dexterity, be inverted into downright +_Impudence_. From a hundred mean and dishonest Artifices employ'd to +discredit this Edition, and to cry down its Editor, I have all the +Grounds in Nature to be aware of Attacks. But tho' the Malice of Wit +join'd to the Smoothness of Versification may furnish some Ridicule; +Fact, I hope, will be able to stand its Ground against Banter and +Gaiety. + + [Sidenote: _Shakespeare_'s Anachronisms defended.] + + [Sidenote*: Mr. _Pope_'s Anachronisms examin'd.] + +It has been my Fate, it seems, as I thought it my Duty, to discover +some _Anachronisms_ in our Author; which might have slept in +Obscurity but for _this Restorer_, as Mr. _Pope_ is pleas'd +affectionately to style me; as, for Instance, where _Aristotle_ +is mentioned by _Hector_ in _Troilus_ and _Cressida_: and _Galen_, +_Cato_, and _Alexander_ the Great, in _Coriolanus_. These, in Mr. +_Pope_'s Opinion, are Blunders, which the Illiteracy of the first +Publishers of his Works has father'd upon the Poet's Memory: _it not +being at all credible, that These could be the Errors of any Man who +had the least Tincture of a School, or the least Conversation with_ +_such as had._ But I have sufficiently proved, in the Course of my +_Notes_, that such Anachronisms were the Effect of poetic Licence, +rather than of Ignorance in our Poet. And if I may be permitted +to ask a modest Question by the way, *Why may not I restore an +Anachronism really made by our Author, as well as Mr. _Pope_ take +the Privilege to fix others upon him, which he never had it in his +Head to make; as I may venture to affirm He had not, in the Instance +of Sir _Francis Drake_, to which I have spoke in the proper Place? + +But who shall dare make any Words about this Freedom of Mr. _Pope_'s +towards _Shakespeare_, if it can be prov'd, that, in his Fits of +Criticism, he makes no more Ceremony with good _Homer_ himself? +To try, then, a Criticism of his own advancing; In the 8th Book of +the _Odyssey_, where _Demodocus_ sings the Episode of the Loves of +_Mars_ and _Venus_; and that, upon their being taken in the Net by +_Vulcan_, + + ----the God of Arms + Must pay the Penalty for lawless Charms; + +Mr. _Pope_ is so kind gravely to inform us, "That _Homer_ in This, +as in many other Places, seems to allude to the Laws of _Athens_, +where Death was the Punishment of Adultery." But how is this +significant Observation made out? Why, who can possibly object any +Thing to the Contrary?--_Does not_ Pausanias_ relate, that _Draco_ +the Lawgiver to the _Athenians_ granted Impunity to any Person that +took Revenge upon an Adulterer? And was it not also the Institution +of _Solon_, that if Any One took an Adulterer in the Fact, he might +use him as he pleas'd?_ These Things are very true: and to see What +a good Memory, and sound Judgment in Conjunction can atchieve! Tho' +_Homer_'s Date is not determin'd down to a single Year, yet 'tis +pretty generally agreed that he liv'd above 300 Years before _Draco_ +and _Solon_: And That, it seems, has made him _seem_ to allude to +the very Laws, which these Two Legislators propounded above 300 +Years after. If this Inference be not something like an _Anachronism_ +or _Prolepsis_, I'll look once more into my Lexicons for the true +Meaning of the Words. It appears to me, that somebody besides _Mars_ +and _Venus_ has been caught in a Net by this Episode: and I could +call in other Instances to confirm what treacherous Tackle this +Network is, if not cautiously handled. + +How just, notwithstanding, I have been in detecting the Anachronisms +of my Author, and in defending him for the Use of them, Our late +Editor seems to think, They should rather have slept in Obscurity: +and the having discovered them is sneer'd at, as a sort of +wrong-headed Sagacity. + +The numerous Corrections, which I made of the Poet's Text in my +SHAKESPEARE _Restor'd_, and which the Publick have been so kind to +think well of, are, in the Appendix of Mr. _Pope_'s last Edition, +slightingly call'd _Various Readings_, _Guesses_, &c. He confesses +to have inserted as many of them as he judg'd of any the least +Advantage to the Poet; but says, that the Whole amounted to about +25 Words: and pretends to have annexed a compleat List of the Rest, +which were not worth his embracing. Whoever has read my Book will at +one glance see, how in both these Points Veracity is strain'd, so an +Injury might but be done. _Malus etsi obesse non pote, tamen cogitat_. + + [Sidenote: _Literal Criticism_ defended.] + +Another Expedient, to make my Work appear of a trifling Nature, has +been an Attempt to depreciate _Literal Criticism_. To this End, and +to pay a servile Compliment to Mr. _Pope_, an _Anonymous_ Writer +has, like a _Scotch_ Pedlar in Wit, unbraced his Pack on the +Subject. But, that his Virulence might not seem to be levelled +singly at Me, he has done Me the Honour to join Dr. _Bentley_ in +the Libel. I was in hopes, We should have been Both abused with +Smartness of Satire, at least; tho' not with Solidity of Argument: +that it might have been worth some Reply in Defence of the Science +attacked. But I may fairly say of this Author, as _Falstaffe_ does +of _Poins_;--_Hang him, Baboon! his Wit is as thick as _Tewksbury_ +Mustard; there is no more Conceit in him, than is in a _MALLET_._ If +it be not Prophanation to set the Opinion of the divine _Longinus_ +against such a Scribler, he tells us expresly, "That to make a +Judgment upon _Words_ (and _Writings_) is the most consummate Fruit +of much Experience." +hê gar tôn logôn krisis pollês esti peiras +teleutaion epigennêma.+ Whenever Words are depraved, the Sense of +course must be corrupted; and thence the Readers betray'd into a +false Meaning. Tho' I should be convicted of Pedantry by some, +I'll venture to subjoin a few flagrant Instances, in which I have +observed most Learned Men have suffer'd themselves to be deceived, +and consequently led their Readers into Error: and This for want +of the Help of _Literal Criticism_: in some, thro' Indolence and +Inadvertence: in others, perhaps, thro' an absolute Contempt of It. +If the _Subject_ may seem to invite this Digression, I hope, the +_Use_ and _Application_ will serve to excuse it. + + [Sidenote: _Platonius_ corrected.] + +I. In that golden Fragment, which we have left of _Platonius_, upon +the three Kinds of _Greek_ Comedy, after he has told us, that when +the State of _Athens_ was alter'd from a Democracy to an Oligarchy, +and that the Poets grew cautious whom they libell'd in their +Comedies; when the People had no longer any Desire to choose the +accustom'd Officers for furnishing _Choric_ Singers, and defraying +the Expence of them, _Aristophanes_ brought on a Play in which +there was no _Chorus_. For, subjoins He, +tôn gar CHOREUTÔN mê +cheirotonoumenôn, kai tôn CHORÊGÔN ouk echontôn tas trophas, +hypexêrethê tês Kômôdias ta chorika melê, kai tôn hypotheseôn ho +tropos meteblêthê+. _"The _Chorus-Singers_ being no longer chosen +by Suffrage, and the _Furnishers_ of the_ Chorus _no longer having +their Maintenance, the _Choric_ Songs were taken out of Comedies, +and the Nature of the Argument and Fable chang'd._" But there +happen to be two signal Mistakes in this short Sentence. For the +_Chorus-Singers_ were never elected by Suffrage at all, but hir'd by +the proper Officer who was at the Expence of the _Chorus_: and the +_Furnishers_ of the _Chorus_ had never either Table, or Stipend, +allowed them, towards their Charge. To what Purpose then is this +Sentence, which should be a Deduction from the Premises, and yet is +none, brought in? Or how comes the Reasoning to be founded upon what +was not the Fact? The Mistake manifestly arises from a careless +Transposition made in the Text: Let the two _Greek_ Words, which I +have distinguished by _Capitals_, only change Places, and we recover +what _Platonius_ meant to infer: "That the [A]_Furnishers_ +of _Chorus_'s being no longer elected by Suffrage, and the +[B]_Chorus-Singers_ having no Provision made for them, _Chorus_'s +were abolished, and the Subjects of Comedies alter'd." + + [Footnote A: Chorêgôn.] + [Footnote B: Choreutôn.] + +II. There is another more egregious Error still subsisting in this +instructive Fragment, which has likewise escaped the Notice of +the Learned. The Author is saying, that, in the _old Comedy_, the +_Masks_ were made so nearly to resemble the Persons to be satirized, +that before the Actor spoke a Word, it was known whom he was to +personate. But, in the _New Comedy_, when _Athens_ was conquered +by the _Macedonians_, and the Poets were fearful lest their Masks +should be construed to resemble any of their New Governors, they +formed them so preposterously as only to move Laughter; +horômen goun+ +(says He) +tas ophrys en tois prosôpois tês Menandrou kômôdias hopoias +echei, kai hopôs exestrammenon to SÔMA. kai oude kata anthrôpôn physin+. +"We see therefore what strange Eyebrows there are to the Masks used in_ +Menander_'s Comedies; and how the _Body_ is distorted, and unlike +any human Creature alive." But the Author, 'tis evident, is speaking +abstractedly of _Masks_; and what Reference has the _Distortion_ of the +_Body_ to the Look of a _Visor_? I am satisfied, _Platonius_ wrote; +kai +hopôs exestrammenon to OMMA+, _i.e._ "and how the _Eyes_ were _goggled_ +and _distorted_." This is to the Purpose of his Subject: and _Jul. +Pollux_, in describing the Comic Masques, speaks of some that had ++STREBLON to OMMA+: Others, that were +DIASTROPHOI tên OPSIN+. +PERVERSIS _oculis_, as _Cicero_ calls them, speaking of _Roscius_. + + [Sidenote: _Camerarius_ and _Keuster_, mistaken.] + +III. _Suidas_, in the short Account that he has given us of +_Sophocles_, tells us, that, besides Dramatic Pieces, he wrote +Hymns and Elegies; +kai logon katalogadên peri tou Chorou pros +Thespin kai Choirilon agônizomenos+. This the Learned _Camerarius_ +has thus translated: _Scripsit Oratione solutâ de _Choro_ contra +_Thespin_ & _Choerilum_ quempiam._ And _Keuster_ likewise +understood, and render'd, the Passage to the same Effect. He +owns, the Place is obscure, and suspected by him. "For how could +_Sophocles_ contend with _Thespis_ and _Choerilus_, who liv'd long +before his Time?" The Scholiast upon [C]_Aristophanes_, however, +expresly says, as _Keuster_ might have remember'd, that _Sophocles_ +actually did contend with _Choerilus_. But that is a Point nothing +to the Passage in Question; which means, as I have shewn in another +Place, That _Sophocles_ declaimed in Prose, contending to obtain a +_Chorus_ for reviving some Pieces of _Thespis_ and _Choerilus_. +Is This contending against Them, as rival Poets? + + [Footnote C: In Ranis, v. 73.] + + [Sidenote: _Meursius_, and _Camerarius_ mistaken.] + +IV. Some other Learned Men have likewise been mistaken in +Particulars with regard to _Sophocles_. In the Synopsis of his +Life, we find these Words; +Teleuta de meta Euripidên etôn [st]'+. +_Meursius_, as well as _Camerarius_, have expounded This, as if +_Sophocles_ surviv'd _Euripides_ six Years. But the best Accounts +agree that they died both in the same Year, a little before the +_Frogs_ of _Aristophanes_ was play'd; _scil._ Olymp. 93, 3. The +Meaning, therefore, of the Passage is, as some of the Commentators +have rightly observ'd; _That _Sophocles_ died after _Euripides_, at +90 Years of Age._ The Mistake arose from hence, that, in Numerals, ++stigma'+ signifies as well 6 as 90. + + [Sidenote: Father _Brumoy_ mistaken.] + +V. The Learned Father _Brumoy_ too, who has lately given us three +Volumes upon the _Theatre_ of the _Greeks_, has slipt into an Error +about _Sophocles_; for, speaking of his _Antigone_, he tells us, it +was in such Request as to be perform'd Two and Thirty times; _Elle +fût representée trente deux fois._ The Account, on which This is +grounded, we have from the Argument prefix'd to _Antigone_ by +_Aristophanes_ the Grammarian: and the _Latin_ Translator of this +Argument, probably, led Father _Brumoy_ into his Mistake, and +he should have referr'd to the Original. The _Greek_ Words are; ++lelektai de to drama touto triakoston deuteron+. i. e. "_This _Play_ +is said to have been the _Thirty Second_, in Order of Time, produced +by_ Sophocles." + +The Mistakes, that I have mentioned, (tho' they necessarily lead +into Error, from the Authority with which they come into the World;) +yet are such, 'tis obvious, as have been the Effects of Inadvertence; +and therefore I do not quote them to the Dishonour of their Learned +Authors. I shall point out Two or Three, which seem to have sprung +from another Source: either a due Want of Sagacity, or an absolute +Neglect of _literal Criticism_. + + [Sidenote: Sir _George Wheler_ corrected.] + +VI. Sir _George Wheler_, who, in his JOURNEY into GREECE, has traded +much with _Greek_ Antiquities and Inscriptions, and who certainly +was no mean Scholar, has shewn himself very careless in this +Respect. When he was at _Sardis_, he met with a Medal of the Emperor +_Commodus_ seated in the Midst of the Zodiack with Celestial Signs +engraven on it; and, on the other Side, a Figure with a Crown-Mure +with these Letters about it, +Sardis Asias, AUDIAS, Hellados, +1' metropolis+: __Sardis_, the first Metropolis of _Asia_, _Greece_, +and _Audia_._--But where and what _Audia_ was, (_says He_) I find +not. Now is it not very strange, that this Gentleman should not +remember, that _Sardis_ was the Capital City of _Lydia_; and, +consequently, that for +AUDIAS+ we should read +LYDIAS+? Tho' my +Correction is too obvious to want any Justification, yet, I find, it +has One from the Learned Father [D]_Harduin_; who produces another +Coin of _Sardis_ (in the _French_ King's Cabinet) which bears the +very same Inscription, only exhibited as it ought to be. + + [Footnote D: In his _Nummi Antiqui illustrati_.] + +Nor was This a single Inaccuracy in Sir _George_. I'll instance in +Two pretty Inscriptions, the One an _Epitaph_, the other a _Votive +Table_, which He has given Us, but in a very corrupt Condition. Tho' +I have never been in _Greece_, nor seen the Inscriptions any where +but in _his_ Book, I think, I can restore them to their true Sense +and Numbers: And, as they are particularly elegant, some Readers +will not be displeas'd to see them in a State of Purity. + + [Sidenote: An _Epitaph_ corrected and explained.] + +VII. _Of the Antiquities of _Philadelphia_ (says he) I had but a +slender Account; only I have the Copy of one Inscription, being the +Monument of a _Virgin_, in these three Couplets of Verses_. But she +was so far from being a _Virgin_, that the Epitaph shews her to have +been a _Wife_; that it was put up in Memory of Her by her _Husband_; +and that she dy'd in the Flower of her Youth at the Age of twenty +three. + + +Xantippen Akyla mnêmên [1]biou paredôkên + Bômô [2]teimêsas semnô tautên alochon; + Parthenon hês apelyse mitrên ÊSDRION anthos + Esken en hêmitelei pausamenon thalamô. + Treis gar ep' eikosious teleôse [3]bion eniautous, + Kai meta tousde thanen [4]toutou lipousaphaos.+ + + [Notes: + 1: +biotou paredôken+. + 2: +timêsas semnotatên+. + 3: +bious'+. + 4: +touto lipousa phaos+.] + +I have, for Brevity's sake, mark'd the general Corrections, which I +have made, at the Side. The third Verse is neither true in Quantity, +nor Language: +ÊSDRION+ is a Monster of a Word, which never could +be the Reading of any Marble. As I correct it, we recover a most +beautiful Couplet. + + +Parthenon, hês apelyse mitrên; HÊS ÊRINON anthos + Esken en hêmitelei pausamenon thalamô.+ + + Puellam, cujus Zonam solvit; cujus _VERNUS_ Flos + Præproperô tabuit in Thalamô. + + [Sidenote: A _Votive Table_ corrected.] + +VIII. I come now to the _Votive Table_, which is rich in poetick +Graces, however overwhelm'd with Depravation: and Sir _George_ +seems as much to have mistaken the Purport, as the Words, of the +Inscription. _At _Chalcedon_, _says he_, I found an Inscription in +the Wall of a private House near the Church; which signifieth, that +_Evante_, the Son of _Antipater_, having made a prosperous Voyage, +and desiring to return by the _Ægean_ Sea, offered Cakes at a +Statue, which he had erected to _Jupiter_, which had sent him such +good Weather, as a Token of his good Voyage._ + + +[1]OURION epi [2]PRIMNÊS tis hodêgêtêra kaleitô, + Zêna kata [3]prôtON ÔNistion ekpetasas + [4]EPI KYANEAS DINAS DROMOUS entha Poseidôn + Kampylon eilissei kyma para psamathois. + Eita kat' Aigaian pontou plaka [5]NAS ereunôn, + Neisthô; tô de [6]BALLÔN psaista para [7]TÔ ZÔANÔ. + [8]HODE ton [9]EUANTÊ ton aei theon Antipatrou pais + Stêse [10]philôn agathês symbolon euploiês.+ + + [Notes: + 1: +Ouron+. + 2: +prymnês+. + 3: +prôtôn, histion+. + 4: +Kyaneais dinêsin epidromon+. + 5: +Noston+. + 6: +balôn+. + 7: +xoanô+. + 8: +Esde+. + 9: +euanthê+. + 10: +Philôn+.] + +I have mark'd, as before, my Corrections at the Side; and I may +venture to say, I have supported the faltring Verses both with +_Numbers_ and _Sense_. But who ever heard of _Evante_, as the Name +of a Man, in _Greece_? Neither is this Inscription a Piece of Ethnic +Devotion, as Sir _George_ has suppos'd it, to a Statue erected to +_Jupiter_: On the contrary, it despises those fruitless Superstitions. +_Philo_ (a _Christian_, as it seems to me;) sets it up, in Thanks +for a safe Voyage, to the _true God_. That all my Readers may +equally share in this little Poem, I have attempted to put it into +an _English_ Dress. + + Invoke who Will the prosp'rous Gale _behind_, + _Jove_ at the _Prow_, while to the guiding Wind + O'er the blue Billows he the Sail expands, + Where _Neptune_ with each Wave heaps Hills of Sands: + Then let him, when the Surge he backward plows, + Pour to his Statue-God unaiding Vows: + But to the God of Gods, for Deaths o'erpast, + For Safety lent him on the watry Waste, + To native Shores return'd, thus _Philo_ pays + His Monument of Thanks, of grateful Praise. + +I shall have no Occasion, I believe, to ask the Pardon of _some_ +Readers for these _Nine_ last Pages; and Others may be so kind to +pass them over at their Pleasure. (Those Discoveries, which give +Light and Satisfaction to the truly Learned, I must confess, are +Darkness and Mystery to the less capable: +Phengos men xunetois, +axunetois d' Erebos+.) Nor will they be absolutely foreign, I hope, +to a Preface in some Measure critical; especially, as it could not +be amiss to shew, that I have read other Books with the same +Accuracy, with which I profess to have read _Shakespeare_. Besides, +I design'd this Inference from the Defence of Literal Criticism. +If the _Latin_ and _Greek_ Languages have receiv'd the greatest +Advantages imaginable from the Labours of the Editors and Criticks +of the two last Ages; by whose Aid and Assistance the Grammarians +have been enabled to write infinitely better in that Art than even +the preceding Grammarians, who wrote when those Tongues flourish'd +as living Languages: I should account it a peculiar Happiness, that, +by the faint Assay I have made in this Work, a Path might be chalk'd +out, for abler Hands, by which to derive the same Advantages to our +own Tongue: a Tongue, which, tho' it wants none of the fundamental +Qualities of an universal Language, yet as a _noble Writer_ says, +lisps and stammers as in its Cradle; and has produced little more +towards its polishing than Complaints of its Barbarity. + + [Sidenote: The Delay of this Edition excused.] + +Having now run thro' all those Points, which I intended should +make any Part of this Dissertation, it only remains, that I should +account to the Publick, but more particularly to my Subscribers, +why they have waited so long for this Work; that I should make my +Acknowledgments to those Friends, who have been generous Assistants +to me in the conducting it: and, lastly, that I should acquaint my +Readers what Pains I have myself taken to make the Work as complete, +as faithful Industry, and my best Abilities, could render it. + +In the middle of the Year 1728, I first put out my _Proposals_ for +publishing only _Emendations_ and _Remarks_ on our Poet: and I had +not gone on many Months in this Scheme, before I found it to be the +unanimous Wish of those who did me the Honour of their Subscriptions, +that I would give them the Poet's Text corrected; and that I would +subjoin those Explanatory Remarks, which I had purpos'd to publish +upon the Foot of my first Proposals. Earnest Sollicitations were +made to me, that I would think of such an Edition; which I had as +strong Desires to listen to: and some _noble_ Persons then, whom I +have no Privilege to name, were pleased to interest themselves so +far in the Affair, as to propose to Mr. _Tonson_ his undertaking an +Impression of _Shakespeare_ with my Corrections. The throwing my +whole Work into a different Form, to comply with this Proposal, was +not the slightest Labour: and so no little Time was unavoidably +lost. While the Publication of my Remarks was thus respited, my +Enemies took an unfair Occasion to suggest, that I was extorting +Money from my Subscribers, without ever designing to give them +any Thing for it: an Insinuation levell'd at once to wound me + Reputation and Interest. Conscious, however, of my own just +Intentions, and labouring all the while to bring my wish'd Purpose +to bear, I thought these anonymous Slanderers worthy of no Notice. +A Justification of myself would have been giving them Argument for +fresh Abuse; and I was willing to believe that any unkind Opinions, +entertain'd to my Prejudice, would naturally drop and lose their +Force, when the Publick should once be convinc'd that I was in +Earnest, and ready to do them Justice. I left no Means untry'd +to put it in my Power to do this: and I hope, without Breach of +Modesty, I may venture to appeal to all candid Judges, whether I +have not employ'd all my Power to be just to them in the Execution +of my Task. I must needs have been in the most Pain, who saw myself +daily so barbarously outraged. I might have taken advantage of +the favourable Impressions entertain'd of my Work, and hurried it +crudely into the World: But I have suffer'd, for my Author's sake, +those Impressions to cool, and perhaps, be lost; and can now appeal +only to the _Judgment_ of the Publick. If I succeed in this Point, +the Reputation gain'd will be the more solid and lasting. + + [Sidenote: Acknowledgment of Assistance.] + +I come now to speak of those kind Assistances which I have met with +from particular Friends, towards forwarding and compleating this +Work. Soon after my Design was known, I had the Honour of an +Invitation to _Cambridge_; and a generous Promise from the Learned +and ingenious Dr. _Thirlby_ of _Jesus_-College, there, who had taken +great Pains with my Author, that I should have the Liberty of +collating his Copy of _Shakespeare_, mark'd thro' in the Margin with +his own Manuscript References and accurate Observations. He not only +made good this Promise, but favour'd me with a Set of Emendations, +interspers'd and distinguish'd in his Name thro' the Edition, and +which can need no Recommendation here to the judicious Reader. + +The next Assistance I receiv'd was from my ingenious Friend _Hawley +Bishop_ Esq; whose great Powers and extensive Learning are as well +known, as his uncommon Modesty, to all who have the Happiness of his +Acquaintance. This Gentleman was so generous, at the Expence both +of his Pocket and Time, to run thro' all _Shakespeare_ with me. We +join'd Business and Entertainment together; and at every of our +Meetings, which were constantly once a Week, we read over a _Play_, +and came mutually prepar'd to communicate our Conjectures upon it to +each other. The Pleasure of these Appointments, I think, I may say, +richly compensated for the Labour in our own Thoughts: and I may +venture to affirm, in the Behalf of my Assistant, that our Author +has deriv'd no little Improvement from them. + +To these, I must add the indefatigable Zeal and Industry of my most +ingenious and ever-respected Friend, the Reverend Mr. _William +Warburton_ of _Newark_ upon _Trent_. This Gentleman, from the +Motives of his frank and communicative Disposition, voluntarily took +a considerable Part of my Trouble off my Hands; not only read over +the whole Author for me, with the exactest Care; but enter'd into +a long and laborious Epistolary Correspondence; to which I owe no +small Part of my best Criticisms upon my Author. + +The Number of Passages amended, and admirably Explained, which I +have taken care to distinguish with his Name, will shew a Fineness +of Spirit and Extent of Reading, beyond all the Commendations I can +give them: Nor, indeed, would I any farther be thought to commend a +Friend, than, in so doing, to give a Testimony of my own Gratitude. +How great a share soever of Praise I must lose from my self, in +confessing these Assistances; and however my own poor Conjectures +may be weaken'd by the Comparison with theirs; I am very well +content to sacrifice my Vanity to the Pride of being so assisted, +and the Pleasure of being just to their Merits. I beg leave to +observe to my Readers, in one Word, here, that from the Confession +of these successive Aids, and the Manner in which I deriv'd them, +it appears, I have pretty well fill'd up the _Interval_, betwixt my +first _Proposals_ and my _Publication_, with having my Author always +in View, and at Heart. + +Some Hints I have the Honour to owe to the Informations of Dr. +_Mead_, and the late Dr. _Friend_: Others to the Kindness of the +ingenious _Martin Folkes_, Esq; who likewise furnish'd me with the +first _folio_ Edition of _Shakespeare_, at a Time when I could not +meet with it among the Booksellers; as my obliging Friend _Thomas +Coxeter_, Esq; did with several of the old 4to single Plays, which +I then had not in my own Collection. Some few Observations I +likewise owe to _F. Plumptree_, Esq; Others to the Favour of +anonymous Persons: for all which I most gladly render my +Acknowledgments. + + [Sidenote: The Editor's particular Pains taken.] + +As to what regards my self singly, if the Edition do not speak +for the Pains I have taken about it, it will be very vain to plead +my own Labour and Diligence. Besides a faithful Collation of all +the printed Copies, which I have exhibited in my _Catalogue_ of +_Editions_ at the End of this Work; let it suffice to say, that, to +clear up several Errors in the Historical Plays, I purposely read +over _Hall_ and _Holingshead_'s Chronicles in the Reigns concern'd; +all the Novels in _Italian_, from which our Author had borrow'd any +of his Plots; such Parts of _Plutarch_, from which he had deriv'd +any Parts of his _Greek_ or _Roman_ Story: _Chaucer_ and _Spenser_'s +Works; all the Plays of _B. Jonson_, _Beaumont_ and _Fletcher_, +and above 800 old _English_ Plays, to ascertain the obsolete and +uncommon Phrases in him: Not to mention some Labour and Pains +unpleasantly spent in the dry Task of consulting Etymological +_Glossaries_. + +But as no Labour of Mine can be equivalent to the dear and ardent +Love I bear for _Shakespeare_, so, if the Publick shall be pleas'd +to allow that He owes any Thing to my Willingness and Endeavours of +restoring Him; I shall reckon the Part of my Life so engag'd, to +have been very happily employ'd: and put Myself, with great +Submission, to be try'd by my Country in the Affair. + + * * * * * + * * * * + * * * * * + + + The Editors of THE AUGUSTAN REPRINT SOCIETY + + are pleased to announce that + + THE WILLIAM ANDREWS CLARK MEMORIAL LIBRARY + of The University of California, Los Angeles + +will become the publisher of the Augustan Reprints in May, 1949. The +editorial policy of the Society will continue unchanged. As in the past, +the editors will strive to furnish members inexpensive reprints of rare +seventeenth and eighteenth century works. + + +Publications for the fourth year (1949-1950) + +[Transcriber's Note: +Many of the listed titles are or will be available from Project +Gutenberg. Where possible, the e-text number is given in brackets.] + +(_At least six items will be printed in the main from the following +list_) + + +SERIES IV: MEN, MANNERS, AND CRITICS + +John Dryden, _His Majesties Declaration Defended_ (1681) [#15074] +Daniel Defoe (?), _Vindication of the Press_ (1718) [#14084] +_Critical Remarks on Sir Charles Grandison, Clarissa, and Pamela_ (1754) + + +SERIES V: DRAMA + +Thomas Southerne, _Oroonoko_ (1696) +Mrs. Centlivre, _The Busie Body_ (1709) +Charles Johnson, _Caelia_ (1733) +Charles Macklin, _Man of the World_ (1781) [#14463] + + +SERIES VI: POETRY AND LANGUAGE + +Andre Dacier, _Essay on Lyric Poetry_ +_Poems_ by Thomas Sprat +_Poems_ by the Earl of Dorset +Samuel Johnson, _Vanity of Human Wishes_ (1749), and one of the 1750 + _Rambler_ papers. [#13350] + + +EXTRA SERIES: + +Lewis Theobald, _Preface to Shakespeare's Works_ (1733) + + +A few copies of the early publications of the Society are still +available at the original rate. + + + + +GENERAL EDITORS + +H. RICHARD ARCHER, _William Andrews Clark Memorial Library_ +R.C. BOYS, _University of Michigan_ +E.N. HOOKER, _University of California, Los Angeles_ +H.T. SWEDENBERG, JR., _University of California, Los Angeles_ + + + + +PUBLICATIONS OF THE AUGUSTAN REPRINT SOCIETY + + +First Year (1946-1947) + + 1. Richard Blackmore's _Essay upon Wit_ (1716), and Addison's + _Freeholder_ No. 45 (1716). (I, 1) [#13484] + + 2. Samuel Cobb's _Of Poetry_ and _Discourse on Criticism_ (1707). + (II, 1) [#14528] + + 3. _Letter to A.H. Esq.; concerning the Stage_ (1698), and Richard + Willis' _Occasional Paper No. IX_ (1698). (III, 1) + + 4. _Essay on Wit_ (1748), together with Characters by Flecknoe, and + Joseph Warton's _Adventurer_ Nos. 127 and 133. (I, 2) [#14973] + + 5. Samuel Wesley's _Epistle to a Friend Concerning Poetry_ (1700) and + _Essay on Heroic Poetry_ (1693). (II, 2) + + 6. _Representation of the Impiety and Immorality of the Stage_ (1704) + and _Some Thoughts Concerning the Stage_ (1704). (III, 2) [#15656] + + +Second Year (1947-1948) + + 7. John Gay's _The Present State of Wit_ (1711); and a section on Wit + from _The English Theophrastus_ (1702). (I, 3) [#14800] + + 8. Rapin's _De Carmine Pastorali_, translated by Creech (1684). (II, 3) + [#14495] + + 9. T. Hanmer's (?) _Some Remarks on the Tragedy of Hamlet_ (1736). + (III, 3) [#14899] + +10. Corbyn Morris' _Essay towards Fixing the True Standards of Wit, + etc._ (1744). (I, 4) [#16233] + +11. Thomas Purney's _Discourse on the Pastoral_ (1717). (II, 4) [#15313] + +12. Essays on the Stage, selected, with an Introduction by Joseph Wood + Krutch. (III, 4) [#16335] + + +Third Year (1948-1949) + +13. Sir John Falstaff (pseud.), _The Theatre_ (1720). (IV, 1) [#15999] + +14. Edward Moore's _The Gamester_ (1753). (V, 1) [#16267] + +15. John Oldmixon's _Reflections on Dr. Swift's Letter to Harley_ + (1712); and Arthur Mainwaring's _The British Academy_ (1712). (VI, 1) + +16. Nevil Payne's _Fatal Jealousy_ (1673). (V, 2) + +17. Nicholas Rowe's _Some Account of the Life of Mr. William Shakespear_ + (1709). (Extra Series, 1) [#16275] + +18. Aaron Hill's Preface to _The Creation_; and Thomas Brereton's + Preface to _Esther_. (IV, 2) [#15870] + + * * * * * + * * * * + * * * * * + +[Transcriber's Corrections: + + ARS title page: Publication Number 20 + _text reads_ 19, corrected by hand to 20. "Number 20" agrees with + later years' ARS publication lists. + + vii: before he could write full Many. + _text reads_ Man . + + xxiv: that surprizing Knowledge of human Nature + _text reads_ surpizing + + xlii: its Causes, (which takes in a great Number + _text has_ blank space before "which" at beginning of line + + lv: the Look of a _Visor_ + _text reads_ the Look o a _with extra blank space_ + + +Also Noted: + + xii: intirely synonomous Terms + _spelling "synonomous" as in original_ + + xvii: the Stanza's sung by the Gravedigger + _apostrophe in original_ + + xxiii: frustráq; laboret + _abbreviation "q;" (-que) as in original_ + + xxxvii: Sidenote: The old Editions faulty, whence. + _exact text as in original_ + + lxi: For Safety lent him on the watry Waste, + _no apostrophe in "watry"_ + + ARS List of Publications: _Preface to Shakespeare's Works_ + _wording as in original_ ] + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Preface to the Works of Shakespeare +(1734), by Lewis Theobald + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PREFACE WORKS OF SHAKESPEARE *** + +***** This file should be named 16346-8.txt or 16346-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/3/4/16346/ + +Produced by David Starner, Louise Hope and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Preface to the Works of Shakespeare (1734) + +Author: Lewis Theobald + +Commentator: Hugh G. Dick + +Release Date: July 22, 2005 [EBook #16346] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PREFACE WORKS OF SHAKESPEARE *** + + + + +Produced by David Starner, Louise Hope and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + + + + +[Transcriber's Note: +This e-text contains a few brief passages of Greek. They have been +transliterated and placed between +marks+.] + + + The Augustan Reprint Society + + + LEWIS THEOBALD + _Preface to The Works of Shakespeare_ + (1734) + + With an Introduction by + Hugh G. Dick + + + Publication Number 20 + (Extra Series, No. 2) + + + + + Los Angeles + William Andrews Clark Memorial Library + University of California + 1949 + + + * * * * * + +_GENERAL EDITORS_ + +H. RICHARD ARCHER, _Clark Memorial Library_ +RICHARD C. BOYS, _University of Michigan_ +EDWARD NILES HOOKER, _University of California, Los Angeles_ +H.T. SWEDENBERG, JR., _University of California, Los Angeles_ + + +_ASSISTANT EDITORS_ + +W. EARL BRITTON, _University of Michigan_ +JOHN LOFTIS, _University of California, Los Angeles_ + + +_ADVISORY EDITORS_ + +EMMETT L. AVERY, _State College of Washington_ +BENJAMIN BOYCE, _University of Nebraska_ +LOUIS I. BREDVOLD, _University of Michigan_ +CLEANTH BROOKS, _Yale University_ +JAMES L. CLIFFORD, _Columbia University_ +ARTHUR FRIEDMAN, _University of Chicago_ +SAMUEL H. MONK, _University of Minnesota_ +ERNEST MOSSNER, _University of Texas_ +JAMES SUTHERLAND, _Queen Mary College, London_ + + * * * * * + + +INTRODUCTION + + +Lewis Theobald's edition of Shakespeare (1734) is one cornerstone +of modern Shakespearian scholarship and hence of English literary +scholarship in general. It is the first edition of an English writer in +which a man with a professional breadth and concentration of reading in +the writer's period tried to bring all relevant, ascertainable fact to +bear on the establishment of the author's text and the explication of +his obscurities. For Theobald was the first editor of Shakespeare who +displayed a well grounded knowledge of Shakespeare's language and +metrical practice and that of his contemporaries, the sources and +chronology of his plays, and the broad range of Elizabethan-Jacobean +drama as a means of illuminating the work of the master writer. Thus +both in the edition itself and in his Preface, which stands as the first +significant statement of a scholar's editorial duties and methods in +handling an English classic, Theobald takes his place as an important +progenitor of modern English studies. + +It is regrettable, though it was perhaps historically inevitable, that +this pioneer of English literary scholarship should have been tagged +"piddling Theobald" by Pope and crowned the first king of _The Dunciad_. +Pope's edition of Shakespeare was completed by 1725, and in the +following year Theobald made the poet his implacable enemy when he +issued his _Shakespeare Restored_, which demolished Pope's pretensions +as an editor by offering some two hundred corrections. But the conflict +was not merely strife between two writers: it was a clash between two +kinds of criticism in which the weight of tradition and polite taste +were all on the side of Pope. What Theobald had done, in modern +terms, was to open the rift between criticism and scholarship or, in +eighteenth-century terms, to proclaim himself a "literal critic" and to +insist upon the need for "literal criticism" in the understanding and +just appreciation of an older writer. The new concept, which Theobald +owed largely to Richard Bentley as primate of the classical scholars, +was of course the narrower one--implicit in it was the idea of +specialization--and Theobald's opponents among the literati were +quick to assail him as a mere "Word-catcher" (cf. R.F. Jones, _Lewis +Theobald_, 1919, p. 114). + +His own edition of Shakespeare, therefore, was the work of a man and a +method on trial. At first Theobald had proposed simply to write further +commentary on Shakespeare's plays, but by 1729 he determined to issue a +new edition and in October of that year signed a contract with Tonson. +From the first Theobald found warm support for his project among +booksellers, incipient patrons, and men of learning. His work went +forward steadily; subscribers, including members of the Royal Family, +were readily forthcoming; and by late 1731 Theobald felt that his labors +were virtually complete. But vexing delays occurred in the printing so +that the edition, though dated 1733, did not appear until early in 1734, +New Style. When it did appear, it was plain to all that Theobald's +vindication of himself and his method was complete. Judicious critics +like the anonymous author of _Some Remarks on the Tragedy of Hamlet_ +(1736) were quick to applaud Theobald's achievement, and even Pope +himself was silenced. + +Ultimately of course Theobald came under severe attack by succeeding +editors of Shakespeare, notably Warburton and Johnson, yet both men were +guilty of unwarranted abuse of their predecessor, whose edition was nine +times issued in the course of the century and was still in current use +by the time of Coleridge (cf. Wm. Jaggard, _Shakespeare Bibliography_, +1911, pp. 499-504). Warburton and Johnson's abuse, coupled with that of +Pope, obscured Theobald's real achievements for more than a century +until J.C. Collins did much to rehabilitate his reputation by an essay +celebrating him as "The Porson of Shakespearian Criticism" (_Essays and +Studies_, 1895, pp. 263-315). Collins's emotional defense was largely +substantiated by T.R. Lounsbury's meticulous _The Text of Shakespeare_ +(1906), R.F. Jones's _Lewis Theobald_ (1919), which brought much new +material to light, and most recently by R.B. McKerrow's dispassionate +appraisal, "The Treatment of Shakespeare's Text by his Earlier Editors, +1709-1768" (_Proceedings of the British Academy_, XIX, 1933, 23-27). As +a result, so complete has been Theobald's vindication that even in a +student's handbook he is hailed as "the great pioneer of serious +Shakespeare scholarship" and as "the first giant" in the field +(_A Companion to Shakespeare Studies_, 1934, ed. H. Granville Barker +and G.B. Harrison, pp. 306-07). + +Theobald's Preface occupied his attention for over a year and gave him +much trouble in the writing. Its originality was, and still is, a matter +of sharp dispute. The first we hear of it is in a letter of 12 November +1731 from Theobald to his coadjutor Warburton, who had expressed some +concern about what Theobald planned to prefix to his edition. Theobald +announced a major change in plan when he replied that "The affair of the +_Prolegomena_ I have determined to soften into a _Preface_." He then +proceeded to make a strange request: + + But, dear Sir, will you, at your leisure hours, think over for me + upon the contents, topics, orders, &c. of this branch of my labour? + You have a comprehensive memory, and a happiness of digesting the + matter joined to it, which my head is often too much embarrassed to + perform.... But how unreasonable is it to expect this labour, when + it is the only part in which I shall not be able to be just to my + friends: for, to confess assistance in a _Preface_ will, I am + afraid, make me appear too naked (John Nichols, _Illustrations + of the Literary History of the Eighteenth Century_, 1817, II, + 621-22). + +His next letter, which contains the list of acknowledgements +substantially as printed, thanks Warburton for consenting to give the +requested help, announces that he is himself busy about "the Contents... +wch. I am Endeavouring to modell in my Head, in Order to communicate +them to you, for your Directions & refinement," indicates that he has +"already rough-hewn the Exordium & Conclusion," and asserts that "What I +shall send you from Time to Time, I look upon only as Materials: wch I +hope may grow into a fine Building, under your judicious Management" +(Jones, _op. cit._, pp. 283-84). + +Warburton apparently misunderstood or overlooked Theobald's remarks +about materials, for in his next letter Theobald was obliged to return, +somewhat ambiguously, to the same point: + + I make no Question of my being wrong in the disjointed Parts + of my Preface, but my Intention was, (after I had given you the + Conclusion, & the Manner in wch. I meant to start) to give you a + List of all the other general Heads design'd to be handled, then to + transmit to you, at proper Leisure, my rough Working off of each + respective Head, that you might have the Trouble only of refining & + embellishing wth: additional Inrichments: of the general Arrangement, + wch. you should think best for the whole; & of making the proper + Transitions from Subject to Subject, wch. I account no inconsiderable + Beauty (_Ibid._, pp. 289-90). + +Finally on January 10, 1733, Theobald wrote Warburton: "I promise myself +now shortly to sit down upon ye fine Synopsis, wch. you so modestly call +the Skeleton of Preface" (_Ibid._, p. 310). + +It is clear from the foregoing that Theobald wrote most of the Preface +topic by topic, and probably followed the plan for the general structure +as submitted by Warburton. Yet it is equally clear that certain parts of +the Preface, such as the contrast between _Julius Caesar_ and Addison's +_Cato_, which Warburton later claimed as his and which Theobald omitted +from his second edition, were furnished Theobald as "additional +Inrichments" (D.N. Smith, _Eighteenth Century Essays on Shakespeare_, +1903, pp. xlviii-ix). When later a break did occur between the two men, +neither was free from blame. Theobald had asked and got so much help +with the Preface that he should have acknowledged the debt, no matter +how naked it might have made him seem. Warburton, on the other hand, had +had honest warning that acknowledgement would not be made for this part +of his help; and if his synopsis were followed, as seems likely, his +condemnation of the Preface as "Theobald's heap of disjointed stuff" was +disingenuous, to say the least. Far less defensible was his assertion in +the same letter to Thomas Birch that, apart from the section on Greek +texts, virtually the entire Preface was stitched together from notes +which he had supplied (Nichols, _Illustrations_, II, 81). + +Three further points concerning the Preface demand mention. First, the +section on Shakespeare's life is often dismissed as a simple recension +of Rowe's Life (1709). Actually, however, the expansion itself is a +characteristic example of Theobald's habit of exploring original +sources. To take only a single instance, Rowe says that Shakespeare's +"Family, as appears by the Register and Publick Writings relating to +that Town, were of good Figure and Fashion there, and are mention'd as +Gentlemen" (ed. S.H. Monk, Augustan Society Reprints, 1949, p. ii). +To this statement Theobald adds plentiful detail drawn from the same +Stratford records, from tombs in the Stratford Church, and from +documents in the Heralds' Office connected with the coat of arms +obtained for the playwright's father. Such typical expansions were +the result of conscientious research. + +Second, all critics have agreed to condemn the digression in which +Theobald advertised his ability to emend Greek texts. Theobald himself +was hesitant about including it lest he be indicted for pedantry, but +was encouraged to do so by Warburton, who later scoffed at what he had +originally admired. This much may be said in Theobald's behalf. Such a +digression would not have seemed irrelevant in an age which took its +classical scholarship seriously; and such digressions, arising naturally +out of context and strategically placed before the conclusion, were not +only allowed but actually encouraged by classical rhetoricians like +Cicero and Quintilian, whose teachings were still standard in the +English schools. + +Finally, the Preface exists in two forms. The later and shorter form +was that designed for Theobald's second edition (1740), which omits all +passages presumably contributed by Warburton and more besides, the +section on Greek texts, and the list of acknowledgements to contemporary +Shakespearian enthusiasts. This abridged form has been frequently +reprinted. From a copy in the University of Michigan Library the +original Preface is here reproduced for the first time. + + Hugh G. Dick + University of California, + Los Angeles + + * * * * * + * * * * + * * * * * + +[Transcriber's Note: +Most Sidenotes appear at the beginning of a paragraph. Where they +originally appeared at mid-paragraph, their approximate position is +shown with an asterisk*.] + + + The + WORKS + of + _SHAKESPEARE:_ + + in + Seven Volumes. + + +Collated with the Oldest Copies, and Corrected; + With NOTES, Explanatory, and Critical: + + By Mr. _THEOBALD_. + + +_I, Decus, i, nostrum: melioribus utere Fatis._ + Virg. + + + _LONDON:_ + Printed for A. Bettesworth and C. Hitch, + J. Tonson, F. Clay, W. Feales, + and R. Wellington. + + + MDCCXXXIII. + + * * * * * + + + THE + + PREFACE. + + +The Attempt to write upon SHAKESPEARE is like going into a large, a +spacious, and a splendid Dome thro' the Conveyance of a narrow and +obscure Entry. A Glare of Light suddenly breaks upon you, beyond +what the Avenue at first promis'd: and a thousand Beauties of Genius +and Character, like so many gaudy Apartments pouring at once upon +the Eye, diffuse and throw themselves out to the Mind. The Prospect +is too wide to come within the Compass of a single View: 'tis a gay +Confusion of pleasing Objects, too various to be enjoyed but in a +general Admiration; and they must be separated, and ey'd distinctly, +in order to give the proper Entertainment. + + [Sidenote*: A sketch of _Shakespeare's_ general Character.] + +And as in great Piles of Building, some Parts are often finish'd up +to hit the Taste of the _Connoisseur_; others more negligently put +together, to strike the Fancy of a common and unlearned Beholder: +Some Parts are made stupendiously magnificent and grand, to surprize +with the vast Design and Execution of the Architect; others are +contracted, to amuse you with his Neatness and Elegance in little. +*So, in _Shakespeare_, we may find _Traits_ that will stand the Test +of the severest Judgment; and Strokes as carelessly hit off, to the +Level of the more ordinary Capacities: Some Descriptions rais'd to +that Pitch of Grandeur, as to astonish you with the Compass and +Elevation of his Thought: and others copying Nature within so +narrow, so confined a Circle, as if the Author's Talent lay only +at drawing in Miniature. + +In how many Points of Light must we be oblig'd to gaze at this great +Poet! In how many Branches of Excellence to consider, and admire +him! Whether we view him on the Side of Art or Nature, he ought +equally to engage our Attention: Whether we respect the Force and +Greatness of his Genius, the Extent of his Knowledge and Reading, +the Power and Address with which he throws out and applies either +Nature, or Learning, there is ample Scope both for our Wonder and +Pleasure. If his Diction, and the cloathing of his Thoughts attract +us, how much more must we be charm'd with the Richness, and Variety, +of his Images and Ideas! If his Images and Ideas steal into our +Souls, and strike upon our Fancy, how much are they improv'd in +Price, when we come to reflect with what Propriety and Justness they +are apply'd to Character! If we look into his Characters, and how +they are furnish'd and proportion'd to the Employment he cuts out +for them, how are we taken up with the Mastery of his Portraits! +What Draughts of Nature! What Variety of Originals, and how +differing each from the other! How are they dress'd from the Stores +of his own luxurious Imagination; without being the Apes of Mode, or +borrowing from any foreign Wardrobe! Each of Them are the Standards +of Fashion for themselves: like Gentlemen that are above the +Direction of their Tailors, and can adorn themselves without the Aid +of Imitation. If other Poets draw more than one Fool or Coxcomb, +there is the same Resemblance in them, as in that Painter's +Draughts, who was happy only at forming a Rose: you find them all +younger Brothers of the same Family, and all of them have a Pretence +to give the same Crest: But _Shakespeare_'s Clowns and Fops come all +of a different House: they are no farther allied to one another than +as Man to Man, Members of the same Species: but as different in +Features and Lineaments of Character, as we are from one another in +Face, or Complexion. But I am unawares launching into his Character +as a Writer, before I have said what I intended of him as a private +Member of the Republick. + + [Sidenote: Some Particulars of his private Life.] + +Mr. _Rowe_ has very justly observ'd, that People are fond of +discovering any little personal Story of the Great Men of Antiquity: +and that the common Accidents of their Lives naturally become the +Subject of our critical Enquiries: That however trifling such a +Curiosity at the first View may appear, yet, as for what relates to +Men of Letters, the Knowledge of an Author may, perhaps, sometimes +conduce to the better understanding his Works: And, indeed, this +Author's Works, from the bad Treatment he has met with from his +Editors, have so long wanted a Comment, that one would zealously +embrace every Method of Information, that could contribute to +recover them from the Injuries with which they have so long lain +o'erwhelm'd. + +'Tis certain, that if we have first admir'd the Man in his Writings, +his Case is so circumstanc'd, that we must naturally admire the +Writings in the Man: That if we go back to take a View of his +Education, and the Employment in Life which Fortune had cut out +for him, we shall retain the stronger Ideas of his extensive +Genius. + +His Father, we are told, was a considerable Dealer in Wool; but +having no fewer than ten Children, of whom our _Shakespeare_ was the +eldest, the best Education he could afford him was no better than to +qualify him for his own Business and Employment. I cannot affirm +with any Certainty how long his Father liv'd; but I take him to be +the same Mr. _John Shakespeare_ who was living in the Year 1599, +and who then, in Honour of his Son, took out an Extract of his +Family-Arms from the Herald's Office; by which it appears, that he +had been Officer and Bailiff of _Stratford_, and that he enjoy'd +some hereditary Lands and Tenements, the Reward of his Great +Grandfather's faithful and approved Service to King _Henry_ +VII. + +Be this as it will, our _Shakespeare_, it seems, was bred for some +Time at a Free-School; the very Free-School, I presume, founded at +_Stratford_: where, we are told, he acquired what _Latin_ he was +Master of: but, that his Father being oblig'd, thro' Narrowness +of Circumstance, to withdraw him too soon from thence, he was +so unhappily prevented from making any Proficiency in the Dead +Languages: A Point, that will deserve some little Discussion in +the Sequel of this Dissertation. + +How long he continued in his Father's Way of Business, either as an +Assistant to him, or on his own proper Account, no Notices are left +to inform us: nor have I been able to learn precisely at what +Period of Life he quitted his native _Stratford_, and began his +Acquaintance with _London_, and the _Stage_. + +In order to settle in the World after a Family-manner, he thought +fit, Mr. _Rowe_ acquaints us, to marry while he was yet very young. +It is certain, he did so: for by the Monument, in _Stratford_ +Church, erected to the Memory of his Daughter _Susanna_, the Wife of +_John Hall_, Gentleman, it appears, that she died on the 2d Day of +_July_ in the Year 1649, aged 66. So that She was born in 1583, when +her Father could not be full 19 Years old; who was himself born in +the Year 1564. Nor was She his eldest Child, for he had another +Daughter, _Judith_, who was born before her, and who was married to +one Mr. _Thomas Quiney_. So that _Shakespeare_ must have entred into +Wedlock, by that Time he was turn'd of seventeen Years. + +Whether the Force of Inclination merely, or some concurring +Circumstances of Convenience in the Match, prompted him to marry +so early, is not easy to be determin'd at this Distance: but 'tis +probable, a View of Interest might partly sway his Conduct in this +Point: for he married the Daughter of one _Hathaway_, a substantial +Yeoman in his Neighbourhood, and She had the Start of him in Age no +less than 8 Years. She surviv'd him, notwithstanding, seven Seasons, +and dy'd that very Year in which the _Players_ publish'd the first +Edition of his Works in _Folio_, Anno Dom. 1623, at the Age of 67 +Years, as we likewise learn from her Monument in _Stratford_-Church. + +How long he continued in this kind of Settlement, upon his own +Native Spot, is not more easily to be determin'd. But if the +Tradition be true, of that Extravagance which forc'd him both to +quit his Country and way of Living; to wit, his being engag'd, with +a Knot of young Deer-stealers, to rob the Park of Sir _Thomas Lucy_ +of _Cherlecot_ near _Stratford_: the Enterprize favours so much of +Youth and Levity, we may reasonably suppose it was before he could +write full Many. Besides, considering he has left us six and thirty +Plays, which are avow'd to be genuine; (to throw out of the Question +those Seven, in which his Title is disputed: tho' I can, beyond all +Controversy, prove some Touches in every one of them to come from +his Pen:) and considering too, that he had retir'd from the Stage, +to spend the latter Part of his Days at his own Native _Stratford_; +the Interval of Time, necessarily required for the finishing so many +Dramatic Pieces, obliges us to suppose he threw himself very early +upon the Play-house. And as he could, probably, contract no +Acquaintance with the Drama, while he was driving on the Affair of +Wool at home; some Time must be lost, even after he had commenc'd +Player, before he could attain Knowledge enough in the Science to +qualify himself for turning Author. + +It has been observ'd by Mr. _Rowe_, that, amongst other Extravagancies +which our Author has given to his Sir _John Falstaffe_, in the +_Merry Wives_ of _Windsor_, he has made him a Deer-stealer; and that +he might at the same time remember his _Warwickshire_ Prosecutor, +under the Name of Justice _Shallow_, he has given him very near the +same Coat of Arms, which _Dugdale_, in his Antiquities of that +County, describes for a Family there. There are two Coats, I +observe, in _Dugdale_, where three Silver Fishes are borne in the +Name of _Lucy_; and another Coat, to the Monument of _Thomas Lucy_, +Son of Sir _William Lucy_, in which are quarter'd in four several +Divisions, twelve little Fishes, three in each Division, probably +_Luces_. This very Coat, indeed, seems alluded to in _Shallow_'s +giving the _dozen_ White _Luces_, and in _Slender_ saying, _he may +quarter_. When I consider the exceeding Candour and Good-nature of +our Author, (which inclin'd all the gentler Part of the World to +love him; as the Power of his Wit obliged the Men of the most +delicate Knowledge and polite Learning to admire him;) and that he +should throw this humorous Piece of Satire at his Prosecutor, at +least twenty Years after the Provocation given; I am confidently +persuaded it must be owing to an unforgiving Rancour on the +Prosecutor's Side: and if This was the Case, it were Pity but the +Disgrace of such an Inveteracy should remain as a lasting Reproach, +and _Shallow_ stand as a Mark of Ridicule to stigmatize his +Malice. + +It is said, our Author spent some Years before his Death, in Ease, +Retirement, and the Conversation of his Friends, at his Native +_Stratford_. I could never pick up any certain Intelligence, when He +relinquish'd the Stage. I know, it has been mistakenly thought by +some, that _Spenser_'s _Thalia_, in his _Tears of his Muses_, where +she laments the Loss of her _Willy_ in the Comic Scene, has been +apply'd to our Author's quitting the Stage. But _Spenser_ himself, +'tis well known, quitted the Stage of Life in the Year 1598; and, +five Years after this, we find _Shakespeare_'s Name among the Actors +in _Ben Jonson_'s _Sejanus_, which first made its Appearance in the +Year 1603. Nor, surely, could he then have any Thoughts of retiring, +since, that very Year, a Licence under the Privy-Seal was granted +by K. _James_ I. to him and _Fletcher_, _Burbage_, _Phillippes_, +_Hemmings_, _Condel_, &c. authorizing them to exercise the Art of +playing Comedies, Tragedies, &c. as well at their usual House call'd +the _Globe_ on the other Side of the Water, as in any other Parts of +the Kingdom, during his Majesty's Pleasure: (A Copy of which Licence +is preserv'd in _Rymer_'s _Foedera_.) Again, 'tis certain, that +_Shakespeare_ did not exhibit his _Macbeth_, till after the _Union_ +was brought about, and till after K. _James_ I. had begun to touch +for the _Evil_: for 'tis plain, he has inserted Compliments, on both +those Accounts, upon his Royal Master in that Tragedy. + +Nor, indeed, could the Number of the Dramatic Pieces, he produced, +admit of his retiring near so early as that Period. So that what +_Spenser_ there says, if it relate at all to _Shakespeare_, must +hint at some occasional Recess he made for a time upon a Disgust +taken: or the _Willy_, there mention'd, must relate to some other +favourite Poet. I believe, we may safely determine that he had not +quitted in the Year 1610. For in his _Tempest_, our Author makes +mention of the _Bermuda_ Islands, which were unknown to the +_English_, till, in 1609, Sir _John Summers_ made a Voyage to +_North-America_, and discover'd them: and afterwards invited some +of his Countrymen to settle a Plantation there. That he became the +private Gentleman at least three Years before his Decease, is pretty +obvious from another Circumstance: I mean, from that remarkable and +well-known Story, which Mr. _Rowe_ has given us of our Author's +Intimacy with Mr. _John Combe_, an old Gentleman noted thereabouts +for his Wealth and Usury: and upon whom _Shakespeare_ made the +following facetious Epitaph. + + Ten in the hundred lies here in-grav'd, + 'Tis a hundred to ten his Soul is not sav'd; + If any Man ask who lies in this Tomb, + Oh! oh! quoth the Devil, 'tis my _John-a-Combe_. + +This sarcastical Piece of Wit was, at the Gentleman's own Request, +thrown out extemporally in his Company. And this Mr. _John Combe_ +I take to be the same, who, by _Dugdale_ in his Antiquities of +_Warwickshire_, is said to have dy'd in the Year 1614, and for whom +at the upper End of the Quire, of the Guild of the Holy Cross at +_Stratford_, a fair Monument is erected, having a Statue thereon cut +in Alabaster, and in a Gown with this Epitaph. "Here lyeth enterr'd +the Body of _John Combe_ Esq; who dy'd the 10th of _July_, 1614, who +bequeathed several Annual Charities to the Parish of _Stratford_, +and 100_l._ to be lent to fifteen poor Tradesmen from three years to +three years, changing the Parties every third Year, at the Rate of +fifty Shillings _per Annum_, the Increase to be distributed to the +Almes-poor there."--The Donation has all the Air of a rich and +sagacious Usurer. + +_Shakespeare_ himself did not survive Mr. _Combe_ long, for he dy'd +in the Year 1616, the 53d of his Age. He lies buried on the North +Side of the Chancel in the great Church at _Stratford_; where a +Monument, decent enough for the Time, is erected to him, and plac'd +against the Wall. He is represented under an Arch in a sitting +Posture, a Cushion spread before him, with a Pen in his Right Hand, +and his Left rested on a Scrowl of Paper. The _Latin_ Distich, which +is placed under the Cushion, has been given us by Mr. _Pope_, or his +Graver, in this Manner. + + INGENIO _Pylium_, Genio _Socratem_, Arte _Maronem_, + Terra tegit, Populus maeret, Olympus habet. + +I confess, I don't conceive the Difference betwixt _Ingenio_ and +_Genio_ in the first Verse. They seem to me intirely synonomous +Terms; nor was the _Pylian_ Sage _Nestor_ celebrated for his +Ingenuity, but for an Experience and Judgment owing to his long Age. +_Dugdale_, in his Antiquities of _Warwickshire_, has copied this +Distich with a Distinction which Mr. _Rowe_ has follow'd, and which +certainly restores us the true meaning of the Epitaph. + + _JUDICIO Pylium_, Genio _Socratem_, &c. + +In 1614, the greater part of the Town of _Stratford_ was consumed by +Fire; but our _Shakespeare_'s House, among some others, escap'd the +Flames. This House was first built by Sir _Hugh Clopton_, a younger +Brother of an ancient Family in that Neighbourhood, who took their +Name from the Manor of _Clopton_. Sir _Hugh_ was Sheriff of _London_ +in the Reign of _Richard_ III, and Lord Mayor in the Reign of King +_Henry_ VII. To this Gentleman the Town of _Stratford_ is indebted +for the fine Stone-bridge, consisting of fourteen Arches, which at +an extraordinary Expence he built over the _Avon_, together with a +Cause-way running at the West-end thereof; as also for rebuilding +the Chapel adjoining to his House, and the Cross-Isle in the Church +there. It is remarkable of him, that, tho' he liv'd and dy'd a +Batchelor, among the other extensive Charities which he left both +to the City of _London_ and Town of _Stratford_, he bequeath'd +considerable Legacies for the Marriage of poor Maidens of good Name +and Fame both in _London_ and at _Stratford_. Notwithstanding which +large Donations in his Life, and Bequests at his Death, as he had +purchased the Manor of _Clopton_, and all the Estate of the Family, +so he left the same again to his Elder Brother's Son with a very +great Addition: (a Proof, how well Beneficence and Oeconomy may walk +hand in hand in wise Families:) Good part of which Estate is yet in +the Possession of _Edward Clopton_, Esq; and Sir _Hugh Clopton_, +Knt. lineally descended from the Elder Brother of the first Sir +_Hugh_: Who particularly bequeathed to his Nephew, by his Will, his +House, by the Name of his _Great-house_ in _Stratford_. + +The Estate had now been sold out of the _Clopton_ Family for above a +Century, at the Time when _Shakespeare_ became the Purchaser: who, +having repair'd and modell'd it to his own Mind, chang'd the Name to +_New-place_; which the Mansion-house, since erected upon the same +Spot, at this day retains. The House and Lands, which attended it, +continued in _Shakespeare_'s Descendants to the Time of the +_Restoration_: when they were repurchased by the _Clopton_ Family, +and the Mansion now belongs to Sir _Hugh Clopton_, Knt. To the +Favour of this worthy Gentleman I owe the Knowledge of one +Particular, in Honour of our Poet's once Dwelling-house, of which, +I presume, Mr. ROWE never was appriz'd. When the Civil War raged in +_England_, and K. _Charles_ the _First's_ Queen was driven by the +Necessity of Affairs to make a Recess in _Warwickshire_, She kept +her Court for three Weeks in _New-place_. We may reasonably suppose +it then the best private House in the Town; and her Majesty +preferr'd it to the _College_, which was in the Possession of +the _Combe_-Family, who did not so strongly favour the King's Party. + +How much our Author employ'd himself in Poetry, after his Retirement +from the Stage, does not so evidently appear: Very few posthumous +Sketches of his Pen have been recover'd to ascertain that Point. We +have been told, indeed, in Print, but not till very lately, That two +large Chests full of this Great Man's loose Papers and Manuscripts, +in the Hands of an ignorant Baker of _Warwick_, (who married one of +the Descendants from our _Shakespeare_) were carelesly scatter'd +and thrown about, as Garret-Lumber, and Litter, to the particular +Knowledge of the late Sir _William Bishop_, till they were all +consumed in the general Fire and Destruction, of that Town. I cannot +help being a little apt to distrust the Authority of this Tradition; +because as his Wife surviv'd him seven Years, and as his Favourite +Daughter _Susanna_ surviv'd her twenty six Years, 'tis very +improbable, they should suffer such a Treasure to be remov'd, and +translated into a remoter Branch of the Family, without a Scrutiny +first made into the Value of it. This, I say, inclines me to +distrust the Authority of the Relation: but, notwithstanding such +an apparent Improbability, if we really lost such a Treasure, by +whatever Fatality or Caprice of Fortune they came into such ignorant +and neglectful Hands, I agree with the _Relater_, the Misfortune is +wholly irreparable. + + [Sidenote*: His Character as a _Writer_.] + +To these Particulars, which regard his Person and private Life, some +few more are to be glean'd from Mr. ROWE's Account of his _Life_ +and _Writings_: *Let us now take a short View of him in his publick +Capacity, as a _Writer_: and, from thence, the Transition will be +easy to the _State_ in which his _Writings_ have been handed down +to us. + +No Age, perhaps, can produce an Author more various from himself, +than _Shakespeare_ has been universally acknowledg'd to be. The +Diversity in Stile, and other Parts of Composition, so obvious in +him, is as variously to be accounted for. His Education, we find, +was at best but begun: and he started early into a Science from the +Force of Genius, unequally assisted by acquir'd Improvements. His +Fire, Spirit, and Exuberance of Imagination gave an Impetuosity +to his Pen: His Ideas flow'd from him in a Stream rapid, but not +turbulent; copious, but not ever overbearing its Shores. The Ease +and Sweetness of his Temper might not a little contribute to his +Facility in Writing; as his Employment, as a _Player_, gave him an +Advantage and Habit of fancying himself the very Character he meant +to delineate. He used the Helps of his Function in forming himself +to create and express that _Sublime_, which other Actors can only +copy, and throw out, in Action and graceful Attitude. But _Nullum +fine Venia placuit Ingenium_, says _Seneca_. The Genius, that +gives us the greatest Pleasure, sometimes stands in Need of our +Indulgence. Whenever this happens with regard to _Shakespeare_, +I would willingly impute it to a Vice of _his Times_. We see +Complaisance enough, in our own Days, paid to a _bad Taste_. His +_Clinches_, _false Wit_, and descending beneath himself, seem to +be a Deference paid to _reigning Barbarism_. He was a _Sampson_ in +Strength, but he suffer'd some such _Dalilah_ to give him up to the +_Philistines_. + +As I have mention'd the Sweetness of his Disposition, I am tempted +to make a Reflexion or two on a Sentiment of his, which, I am +persuaded, came from the Heart. + + The Man, that hath no Musick in himself, + Nor is not mov'd with Concord of sweet Sounds, + Is fit for Treasons, Stratagems, and Spoils: + The Motions of his Spirit are dull as Night, + And his Affections dark as _Erebus_: + Let no such Man be trusted.---- + + [Sidenote: A Lover of _Musick_.] + +_Shakespeare_ was all Openness, Candour, and Complacence; and had +such a Share of Harmony in his Frame and Temperature, that we have +no Reason to doubt, from a Number of fine Passages, Allusions, +Similies, &_c._ fetch'd from _Musick_, but that He was a passionate +Lover of it. And to this, perhaps, we may owe that great Number of +_Sonnets_, which are sprinkled thro' his _Plays_. I have found, +that the Stanza's sung by the Gravedigger in _Hamlet_, are not of +_Shakespeare_'s own Composition, but owe their Original to the old +Earl of _Surrey_'s Poems. Many other of his Occasional little Songs, +I doubt not, but he purposely copied from his Contemporary Writers; +sometimes, out of Banter; sometimes, to do them Honour. The Manner +of their Introduction, and the Uses to which he has assigned them, +will easily determine for which of the Reasons they are respectively +employ'd. In _As you like it_, there are several little Copies of +Verses on _Rosalind_, which are said to be the right _Butter-woman's +Rank to Market_, and the very _false Gallop of Verses_. Dr. _Thomas +Lodge_, a Physician who flourish'd early in Queen _Elizabeth_'s +Reign, and was a great Writer of the Pastoral Songs and Madrigals, +which were so much the Strain of those Times, composed a whole +Volume of Poems in Praise of his Mistress, whom he calls +_Rosalinde_. I never yet could meet with this Collection; but +whenever I do, I am persuaded, I shall find many of our Author's +Canzonets on this Subject to be Scraps of the Doctor's amorous Muse: +as, perhaps, those by _Biron_ too, and the other Lovers in _Love's +Labour's lost_, may prove to be. + +It has been remark'd in the Course of my Notes, that Musick in our +Author's time had a very different Use from what it has now. At this +Time, it is only employ'd to raise and inflame the Passions; it, +then, was apply'd to calm and allay all kinds of Perturbations. And, +agreeable to this Observation, throughout all _Shakespeare_'s Plays, +where Musick is either actually used, or its Powers describ'd, it is +chiefly said to be for these Ends. His _Twelfth-Night_, particularly, +begins with a fine Reflexion that admirably marks its soothing +Properties. + + That Strain again;--It had a dying Fall. + Oh, it came o'er my Ear like the sweet South, + That breathes upon a Bank of Violets, + Stealing and giving Odour! + + [Sidenote*: _Milton_ an Imitator of him.] + +This _Similitude_ is remarkable not only for the Beauty of the +Image that it presents, but likewise for the Exactness to the Thing +compared. This is a way of Teaching peculiar to the Poets; that, +when they would describe the Nature of any thing, they do it not by +a direct Enumeration of its Attributes or Qualities, but by bringing +something into Comparison, and describing those Qualities of it that +are of the Kind with those in the Thing compared. So, here for +instance, the Poet willing to instruct in the Properties of Musick, +in which the same Strains have a Power to excite Pleasure, or Pain, +according to that State of Mind the Hearer is then in, does it +by presenting the Image of a sweet South Wind blowing o'er a +Violet-bank; which wafts away the Odour of the Violets, and at the +same time communicates to it its own Sweetness: by This insinuating, +that affecting Musick, tho' it takes away the natural sweet +Tranquillity of the Mind, yet, at the same time, communicates a +Pleasure the Mind felt not before. This Knowledge, of the same +Objects being capable of raising two contrary Affections, is a Proof +of no ordinary Progress in the Study of human Nature. *The general +Beauties of those two Poems of MILTON, intitled, _L'Allegro_ and +_Il Pensoroso_, are obvious to all Readers, because the Descriptions +are the most poetical in the World; yet there is a peculiar Beauty +in those two excellent Pieces, that will much enhance the Value of +them to the more capable Readers; which has never, I think, been +observ'd. The Images, in each Poem, which he raises to excite Mirth +and Melancholy, are exactly the same, only shewn in different +Attitudes. Had a Writer, less acquainted with Nature, given us two +Poems on these Subjects, he would have been sure to have sought out +the most contrary Images to raise these contrary Passions. And, +particularly, as _Shakespeare_, in the Passage I am now commenting, +speaks of these different Effects in Musick; so _Milton_ has brought +it into each Poem as the Exciter of each Affection: and lest we +should mistake him, as meaning that different Airs had this +different Power, (which every Fidler is proud to have you +understand,) He gives the Image of those self-same Strains that +_Orpheus_ used to regain _Eurydice_, as proper both to excite Mirth +and Melancholy. But _Milton_ most industriously copied the Conduct +of our _Shakespeare_, in Passages that shew'd an intimate +Acquaintance with Nature and Science. + + [Sidenote: Shakespeare's _Knowledge of Nature_.] + +I have not thought it out of my Province, whenever Occasion offer'd, +to take notice of some of our Poet's grand Touches of Nature: Some, +that do not appear superficially such; but in which he seems the +most deeply instructed; and to which, no doubt, he has so much ow'd +that happy Preservation of his _Characters_, for which he is justly +celebrated. If he was not acquainted with the Rule as deliver'd by +_Horace_, his own admirable Genius pierc'd into the Necessity of +such a Rule. + + ----Servetur ad imum + Qualis ab incoepto processerit, & sibi constet. + +For what can be more ridiculous, than, in our modern Writers, to +make a debauch'd young Man, immers'd in all the Vices of his Age and +Time, in a few hours take up, confine himself in the way of Honour +to one Woman, and moralize in good earnest on the Follies of his +past Behaviour? Nor can, that great Examplar of _Comic_ Writing, +_Terence_ be altogether excused in this Regard; who, in his +_Adelphi_, has left _Demea_ in the last Scenes so unlike himself: +whom, as _Shakespeare_ expresses it, _he has turn'd with the seamy +Side of his Wit outward_. This Conduct, as Errors are more readily +imitated than Perfections, _Beaumont_ and _Fletcher_ seem to +have follow'd in a Character in their _Scornful Lady_. It may be +objected, perhaps, by some who do not go to the Bottom of our Poet's +Conduct, that he has likewise transgress'd against the Rule himself, +by making Prince _Harry_ at once, upon coming to the Crown, throw +off his former Dissoluteness, and take up the Practice of a sober +Morality and all the kingly Virtues. But this would be a mistaken +Objection. The Prince's Reformation is not so sudden, as not to be +prepar'd and expected by the Audience. He gives, indeed, a Loose to +Vanity, and a light unweigh'd Behaviour, when he is trifling among +his dissolute Companions; but the Sparks of innate Honour and true +Nobleness break from him upon every proper Occasion, where we would +hope to see him awake to Sentiments suiting his Birth and Dignity. +And our Poet has so well, and artfully, guarded his Character from +the Suspicions of habitual and unreformable Profligateness; that +even from the first shewing him upon the Stage, in the first Part of +_Henry_ IV, when he made him consent to join with _Falstaffe_ in a +Robbery on the Highway, he has taken care not to carry him off the +Scene, without an Intimation that he knows them all, and their +unyok'd Humour; and that, like the Sun, he will permit them only for +a while to obscure and cloud his Brightness; then break thro' the +Mist, when he pleases to be himself again; that his Lustre, when +wanted, may be the more wonder'd at. + +Another of _Shakespeare_'s grand Touches of Nature, and which lies +still deeper from the Ken of common Observation, has been taken +notice of in a Note upon _The Tempest_; where _Prospero_ at once +interrupts the Masque of _Spirits_, and starts into a sudden Passion +and Disorder of Mind. As the latent Cause of his Emotion is there +fully inquir'd into, I shall no farther dwell upon it here. + +Such a Conduct in a Poet (as _Shakespeare_ has manifested on many +like Occasions;) where the Turn of _Action_ arises from Reflexions +of his _Characters_, where the Reason of it is not express'd in +Words, but drawn from the inmost Resources of Nature, shews him +truly capable of that Art, which is more in Rule than Practice: +_Ars est celare Artem_. 'Tis the Foible of your worser Poets to make +a Parade and Ostentation of that little Science they have; and to +throw it out in the most ambitious Colours. And whenever a Writer of +this Class shall attempt to copy these artful Concealments of our +Author, and shall either think them easy, or practised by a Writer +for his Ease, he will soon be convinced of his Mistake by the +Difficulty of reaching the Imitation of them. + + Speret idem, sudet multum, frustraq; laboret, + Ausus idem:---- + +Another grand Touch of Nature in our Author, (not less difficult to +imitate, tho' more obvious to the Remark of a common Reader) is, +when he brings down at once any _Character_ from the Ferment +and Height of Passion, makes him correct himself for the unruly +Disposition, and fall into Reflexions of a sober and moral Tenour. +An exquisite fine Instance of this Kind occurs in _Lear_, where that +old King, hasty and intemperate in his Passions, coming to his Son +and Daughter _Cornwall_, is told by the Earl of _Gloucester_ that +they are not to be spoken with: and thereupon throws himself into a +Rage, supposing the Excuse of Sickness and Weariness in them to be a +purpos'd Contempt: _Gloucester_ begs him to think of the fiery and +unremoveable Quality of the Duke: and This, which was design'd to +qualify his Passion, serves to exaggerate the Transports of it. + +As the Conduct of Prince _Henry_ in the first Instance, the secret +and mental Reflexions in the Case of _Prospero_, and the instant +Detour of _Lear_ from the Violence of Rage to a Temper of Reasoning, +do so much Honour to that surprizing Knowledge of human Nature, +which is certainly our Author's Masterpiece, I thought, they could +not be set in too good a Light. Indeed, to point out, and exclaim +upon, all the Beauties of _Shakespeare_, as they come singly in +Review, would be as insipid, as endless; as tedious, as unnecessary: +But the Explanation of those Beauties, that are less obvious to +common Readers, and whose Illustration depends on the Rules of just +Criticism, and an exact Knowledge of human Life, should deservedly +have a Share in a general Critic upon the Author. + + [Sidenote*: Mr. _Addison_ and _He_ compared, on a similar Topick.] + +I shall dismiss the Examination into these his latent Beauties, when +I have made a short Comment upon a remarkable Passage from _Julius +Caesar_, which is inexpressibly fine in its self, *and greatly +discovers our Author's Knowledge and Researches into Nature. + + Between the acting of a dreadful Thing, + And the first Motion, all the _Interim_ is + Like a Phantasma, or a hideous Dream: + The Genius, and the mortal Instruments + Are then in Council; and the State of Man, + Like to a little Kingdom, suffers then + The Nature of an Insurrection. + +That nice Critick _Dionysius_ of _Halicarnassus_ confesses, that he +could not find those great Strokes, which he calls the _terrible +Graces_, in any of the Historians, which he frequently met with in +_Homer_. I believe, the Success would be the same likewise, if we +sought for them in any other of _our_ Authors besides our _British_ +HOMER, _Shakespeare_. This Description of the Condition of +Conspirators has a Pomp and Terror in it, that perfectly astonishes. +Our excellent Mr. _Addison_, whose Modesty made him sometimes +diffident in his own Genius, but whose exquisite Judgment always led +him to the safest Guides, as we may see by those many fine Strokes +in his _Cato_ borrow'd from the _Philippics_ of _Cicero_, has +paraphrased this fine Description; but we are no longer to expect +those _terrible Graces_, which he could not hinder from evaporating +in the Transfusion. + + O think, what anxious Moments pass between + The Birth of Plots, and their last fatal Periods. + Oh, 'tis a dreadful Interval of Time, + Fill'd up with Horror all, and big with Death. + +I shall observe two Things on this fine Imitation: first, that the +Subjects of these two Conspiracies being so very different, (the +Fortunes of _Caesar_ and the _Roman_ Empire being concern'd in the +First; and That of only a few Auxiliary Troops, in the other;) +Mr. _Addison_ could not with Propriety bring in that magnificent +Circumstance, which gives the terrible Grace to _Shakespeare_'s +Description. + + The Genius and the mortal Instruments + Are then in Council.---- + +For Kingdoms, in the poetical Theology, besides their good, have +their evil _Genius_'s likewise: represented here with the most +daring Stretch of Fancy, as fitting in Council with the Conspirators, +whom he calls the _mortal Instruments_. But this Would have been +too great an Apparatus to the Rape, and Desertion, of _Syphax_, and +_Sempronius_. Secondly, The other Thing very observable is, that Mr. +_Addison_ was so warm'd and affected with the Fire of _Shakespeare_'s +Description; that, instead of copying his Author's Sentiments, he +has, before he was aware, given us only the Image of his own +Impressions on the reading his great Original. For, + + Oh, 'tis a dreadful Interval of Time, + Fill'd up with Horror all, and big with Death; + +are but the Affections raised by such forcible Images as these; + + ----All the _Int'rim_ is + Like a Phantasma, or a hideous Dream. + ----the State of Man, + Like to a little Kingdom, suffers then + The Nature of an Insurrection. + +Comparing the Mind of a Conspirator to an Anarchy, is just and +beautiful; but the _Interim_ to a _hideous Dream_ has something in +it so wonderfully natural, and lays the human Soul so open, that one +cannot but be surpriz'd, that any Poet, who had not himself been, +some time or other, engaged in a Conspiracy, could ever have given +such Force of Colouring to Truth and Nature. + + [Sidenote: The Question on _Shakespeare_'s Learning handled.] + +It has been allow'd on all hands, far our Author was indebted to +_Nature_; it is not so well agreed, how much he ow'd to _Languages_ +and acquir'd _Learning_. The Decisions on this Subject were +certainly set on Foot by the Hint from _Ben Jonson_, that he had +small _Latin_ and less _Greek_: And from this Tradition, as it were, +Mr. _Rowe_ has thought fit peremptorily to declare, that, "It is +without Controversy, he had no Knowledge of the Writings of the +ancient Poets, for that in his Works we find no Traces of any thing +which looks like an Imitation of the Ancients. For the Delicacy of +his Taste (_continues He_,) and the natural Bent of his own great +Genius (equal, if not superior, to some of the Best of theirs;) +would certainly have led him to read and study them with so much +Pleasure, that some of their fine Images would naturally have +insinuated themselves into, and been mix'd with, his own Writings: +so that his not copying, at least, something from them, may be an +Argument of his never having read them." I shall leave it to the +Determination of my Learned Readers, from the numerous Passages, +which I have occasionally quoted in my Notes, in which our Poet +seems closely to have imitated the Classics, whether Mr. _Rowe_'s +Assertion be so absolutely to be depended on. The Result of the +Controversy must certainly, either way, terminate to our Author's +Honour: how happily he could imitate them, if that Point be allow'd; +or how gloriously he could think like them, without owing any thing +to Imitation. + +Tho' I should be very unwilling to allow _Shakespeare_ so poor a +Scholar, as Many have labour'd to represent him, yet I shall be +very cautious of declaring too positively on the other side of the +Question: that is, with regard to my Opinion of his Knowledge in the +dead Languages. And therefore the Passages, that I occasionally +quote from the _Classics_, shall not be urged as Proofs that he +knowingly imitated those Originals; but brought to shew how happily +he has express'd himself upon the same Topicks. A very learned +Critick of our own Nation has declar'd, that a Sameness of Thought +and Sameness of Expression too, in Two Writers of a different Age, +can hardly happen, without a violent Suspicion of the Latter copying +from his Predecessor. I shall not therefore run any great Risque +of a Censure, tho' I should venture to hint, that the Resemblance, +in Thought and Expression, of our Author and an Ancient (which +we should allow to be Imitation in One, whose Learning was not +question'd) may sometimes take its Rise from Strength of Memory, and +those Impressions which he ow'd to the School. And if we may allow a +Possibility of This, considering that, when he quitted the School, +he gave into his Father's Profession and way of Living, and had, +'tis likely, but a slender Library of Classical Learning; and +considering what a Number of Translations, Romances, and Legends, +started about his Time, and a little before; (most of which,'tis +very evident, he read;) I think, it may easily be reconcil'd, why he +rather schemed his _Plots_ and _Charaters_ from these more latter +Informations, than went back to those Fountains, for which he might +entertain a sincere Veneration, but to which he could not have so +ready a Recourse. + +In touching on another Part of his Learning, as it related to the +Knowledge of _History_ and _Books_, I shall advance something, that, +at first sight, will very much wear the Appearance of a Paradox. +For I shall find it no hard Matter to prove, that from the grossest +Blunders in History, we are not to infer his real Ignorance of it: +Nor from a greater Use of _Latin_ Words, than ever any other +_English_ Author used, must we infer his Knowledge of that Language. + +A Reader of Taste may easily observe, that tho' _Shakespeare_, +almost in every Scene of his historical Plays, commits the grossest +Offences against Chronology, History, and Antient Politicks; yet +This was not thro' Ignorance, as is generally supposed, but thro' +the too powerful Blaze of his Imagination; which, when once raised, +made all acquired Knowledge vanish and disappear before it. For +Instance, in his _Timon_, he turns _Athens_, which was a perfect +Democracy, into an Aristocracy; while he ridiculously gives a +Senator the Power of banishing _Alcibiades_. On the contrary, in +_Coriolanus_, he makes _Rome_, which at that time was a perfect +Aristocracy, a Democracy full as ridiculously, by making the People +choose _Coriolanus_ Consul: Whereas, in Fact, it was not till the +Time of _Manlius_ _Torquatus_, that the People had a Right of +choosing one Consul. But this Licence in him, as I have said, must +not be imputed to Ignorance: since as often we may find him, when +Occasion serves, reasoning up to the Truth of History; and throwing +out Sentiments as justly adapted to the Circumstances of his +Subject, as to the Dignity of his Characters, or Dictates of Nature +in general. + +Then, to come to his Knowledge of the _Latin_ Tongue, 'tis certain, +there is a surprising Effusion of _Latin_ Words made _English_, far +more than in any one _English_ Author I have seen; but we must be +cautious to imagine, this was of his own doing. For the _English_ +Tongue, in his Age, began extremely to suffer by an Inundation of +_Latin_; and to be overlaid, as it were, by its Nurse, when it had +just began to speak by her before-prudent Care and Assistance. And +this, to be sure, was occasion'd by the Pedantry of those two +Monarchs, _Elizabeth_ and _James_, Both great _Latinists_. For it +is not to be wonder'd at, if both the Court and Schools, equal +Flatterers of Power, should adapt themselves to the Royal Taste. +This, then, was the Condition of the _English_ Tongue when +_Shakespeare_ took it up: like a Beggar in a rich Wardrobe. He found +the pure native _English_ too cold and poor to second the Heat and +Abundance of his Imagination: and therefore was forc'd to dress it +up in the Robes, he saw provided for it: rich in themselves, but +ill-shaped; cut out to an air of Magnificence, but disproportion'd +and cumbersome. To the Costliness of Ornament, he added all the +Graces and Decorum of it. It may be said, this did not require, or +discover a Knowledge of the _Latin_. To the first, I think, it did +not; to the second, it is so far from discovering it, that, I think, +it discovers the contrary. To make This more obvious by a modern +Instance: The great MILTON likewise labour'd under the like +Inconvenience; when he first set upon adorning his own Tongue, he +likewise animated and enrich'd it with the _Latin_, but from his own +Stock: and so, rather by bringing in the Phrases, than the Words: +And This was natural; and will, I believe, always be the Case in the +same Circumstances. His Language, especially his Prose, is full of +_Latin_ Words indeed, but much fuller of _Latin_ Phrases: and his +Mastery in the Tongue made this unavoidable. On the contrary, +_Shakespeare_, who, perhaps, was not so intimately vers'd in the +_Language_, abounds in the Words of it, but has few or none of its +Phrases: Nor, indeed, if what I affirm be true, could He. This I +take to be the truest _Criterion_ to determine this long agitated +Question. + +It may be mention'd, tho' no certain Conclusion can be drawn from +it, as a probable Argument of his having read the Antients; that He +perpetually expresses the Genius of _Homer_, and other great Poets +of the Old World, in animating all the Parts of his Descriptions; +and, by bold and breathing Metaphors and Images, giving the +Properties of Life and Action to inanimate Things. He is a Copy +too of those _Greek_ Masters in the infinite use of _compound_ and +_de-compound Epithets_. I will not, indeed, aver, but that One with +_Shakespeare_'s exquisite Genius and Observation might have traced +these glaring Characteristics of Antiquity by reading _Homer_ in +_Chapman_'s Version. + + [Sidenote: _B. Jonson_ and _Shakespeare_ compar'd.] + +An additional Word or two naturally falls in here upon the Genius of +our Author, as compared with that of _Jonson_ his Contemporary. They +are confessedly the greatest Writers our Nation could ever boast +of in the _Drama_. The first, we say, owed all to his prodigious +natural Genius; and the other a great deal to his Art and Learning. +This, if attended to, will explain a very remarkable Appearance in +their Writings. Besides those wonderful Masterpieces of Art and +Genius, which each has given Us; They are the Authors of other Works +very unworthy of them: But with this Difference; that in _Jonson_'s +bad Pieces we don't discover one single Trace of the Author of +the _Fox_ and _Alchemist_: but in the wild extravagant Notes +of _Shakespeare_, you every now and then encounter Strains that +recognize the divine Composer. This Difference may be thus accounted +for. _Jonson_, as we said before, owing all his Excellence to his +Art, by which he sometimes strain'd himself to an uncommon Pitch, +when at other times he unbent and play'd with his Subject, having +nothing then to support him, it is no wonder he wrote so far beneath +himself. But _Sbakespeare_, indebted more largely to Nature, than +the Other to acquired Talents, in his most negligent Hours could +never so totally divest himself of his Genius, but that it would +frequently break out with astonishing Force and Splendor. + + [Sidenote: His Reputation under Disadvantages.] + +As I have never propos'd to dilate farther on the Character of my +Author, than was necessary to explain the Nature and Use of this +Edition, I shall proceed to consider him as a Genius in Possession +of an Everlasting Name. And how great that Merit must be, which +could gain it against all the Disadvantages of the horrid Condition +in which he has hitherto appear'd! Had _Homer_, or any other admir'd +Author, first started into Publick so, maim'd and deform'd, we +cannot determine whether they had not sunk for ever under the +Ignominy of such an ill Appearance. The mangled Condition of +_Shakespeare_ has been acknowledg'd by Mr. _Rowe_, who publish'd him +indeed, but neither corrected his Text, nor collated the old Copies. +This Gentleman had Abilities, and a sufficient Knowledge of his +Author, had but his Industry been equal to his Talents. The same +mangled Condition has been acknowledg'd too by Mr. _Pope_, who +publish'd him likewise, pretended to have collated the old Copies, +and yet seldom has corrected the Text but to its Injury. I +congratulate with the _Manes_ of our Poet, that this Gentleman has +been sparing in _indulging his private Sense_; for He, who tampers +with an Author whom he does not understand, must do it at the +Expence of his Subject. I have made it evident throughout my +Remarks, that he has frequently inflicted a Wound where he intended +a Cure. He has acted with regard to our Author, as an Editor, whom +LIPSIUS mentions, did with regard to MARTIAL; _Inventus est nescio +quis _Popa_, qui non _vitia_ ejus, sed _ipsum_, excidit._ He has +attack'd him like an unhandy _Slaughterman_; and not lopp'd off the +_Errors_, but the _Poet_. + + [Sidenote: Praise sometimes an Injury.] + +When this is found to be the Fact, how absurd must appear the +Praises of such an Editor? It seems a moot Point, whether Mr. _Pope_ +has done most Injury to _Shakespeare_ as his Editor and Encomiast; +or Mr. _Rymer_ done him Service as his Rival and Censurer. Were it +every where the true Text, which That Editor in his late pompous +Edition gave us, the Poet deserv'd not the large Encomiums bestow'd +by him: nor, in that Case, is _Rymer_'s Censure of the Barbarity of +his Thoughts, and the Impropriety of his Expressions, groundless. +They have Both shewn themselves in an equal _Impuissance_ of +suspecting or amending the corrupted Passages: and tho' it be +neither Prudence to censure, or commend, what one does not +understand; yet if a Man must do one when he plays the Critick, +the latter is the more ridiculous Office. And by That _Shakespeare_ +suffers most. For the natural Veneration, which we have for him, +makes us apt to swallow whatever is given us as _his_, and let off +with Encomiums; and hence we quit all Suspicions of Depravity: On +the contrary, the Censure of so divine an Author sets us upon his +Defence; and this produces an exact Scrutiny and Examination, which +ends in finding out and discriminating the true from the spurious. + +It is not with any secret Pleasure, that I so frequently animadvert +on Mr. _Pope_ as a Critick; but there are Provocations, which a Man +can never quite forget. His Libels have been thrown out with so much +Inveteracy, that, not to dispute whether they _should_ come from a +_Christian_, they leave it a Question whether they _could_ come from +a _Man_. I should be loth to doubt, as _Quintus Serenus_ did in a +like Case, + + Sive homo, seu similis turpissima bestia nobis, + Vulnera dente dedit. + +The Indignation, perhaps, for being represented a _Blockhead_, may +be as strong in Us as it is in the Ladies for a Reflexion on their +_Beauties_. It is certain, I am indebted to Him for some _flagrant +Civilities_; and I shall willingly devote a part of my Life to the +honest Endeavour of quitting Scores: with this Exception however, +that I will not return those Civilities in his _peculiar_ Strain, +but confine myself, at lead, to the Limits of _common Decency_. +I shall ever think it better to want _Wit_, than to want _Humanity_: +and impartial Posterity may, perhaps, be of my Opinion. + + [Sidenote: The old Editions faulty, whence.] + +But, to return to my Subject; which now calls upon me to inquire +into those Causes, to which the Depravations of my Author originally +may be assign'd. We are to consider him as a Writer, of whom no +authentic Manuscript was extant; as a Writer, whose Pieces were +dispersedly perform'd on the several _Stages_ then in Being. And it +was the Custom of those Days for the Poets to take a Price of the +_Players_ for the Pieces They from time to time furnish'd; and +thereupon it was suppos'd, they had no farther Right to print them +without the Consent of the _Players_. As it was the Interest of the +_Companies_ to keep their Plays unpublish'd, when any one succeeded, +there was a Contest betwixt the Curiosity of the Town, who demanded +to see it in Print, and the Policy of the _Stagers_, who wish'd +to secrete it within their own Walls. Hence, many Pieces were +taken down in Short-hand, and imperfectly copied by Ear, from +a _Representation_: Others were printed from piece-meal Parts, +surreptitiously obtain'd from the Theatres, uncorrect, and without +the Poet's Knowledge. To some of these Causes we owe the train of +Blemishes, that deform those Pieces which stole singly into the +World in our Author's Life-time. + +There are still other Reasons, which may be suppos'd to have +affected the whole Set. When the _Players_ took upon them to publish +his Works intire, every Theatre was ransack'd to supply the Copy; +and _Parts_ collected which had gone thro' as many Changes as +Performers, either from Mutilations or Additions made to them. Hence +we derive many Chasms and Incoherences in the Sense and Matter. +Scenes were frequently transposed, and shuffled out of their true +Place, to humour the Caprice or suppos'd Convenience of some +particular Actor. Hence much Confusion and Impropriety has attended, +and embarras'd, the Business and Fable. For there ever have been, +and ever will be in Playhouses, a Set of assuming Directors, who +know better than the Poet himself the Connexion and Dependance of +his Scenes; where Matter is defective, or Superfluities to be +retrench'd; Persons, that have the Fountain of _Inspiration_ as +peremptorily in them, as Kings have That of _Honour_. To these +obvious Causes of Corruption it must be added, that our Author has +lain under the Disadvantage of having his Errors propagated and +multiplied by Time: because, for near a Century; his Works were +republish'd from the faulty Copies without the assistance of any +intelligent Editor: which has been the Case likewise of many a +_Classic_ Writer. + + [Sidenote: The Editor's Drift and Method.] + + [Sidenote*: Difference betwixt this Edition and Dr. _Bentley_'s + _Milton_.] + +The Nature of any Distemper once found has generally been the +immediate Step to a Cure. _Shakespeare_'s Case has in a great +Measure resembled That of a corrupt _Classic_; and, consequently, +the Method of Cure was likewise to bear a Resemblance. By what +Means, and with what Success, this Cure has been effected on ancient +Writers, is too well known, and needs no formal Illustration. The +Reputation consequent on Tasks of that Nature invited me to attempt +the Method here; with this View, the Hopes of restoring to the +Publick their greatest Poet in his Original Purity: after having so +long lain in a Condition that was a Disgrace to common Sense. To +this End I have ventur'd on a Labour, that is the first Assay of +the kind on any modern Author whatsoever. For the late Edition of +_Milton_ by the Learned *Dr. _Bentley_ is, in the main, a Performance +of another Species. It is plain, it was the Intention of that +Great Man rather to Correct and pare off the Excrescencies of +the _Paradise Lost_, in the manner that _Tucca_ and _Varius_ were +employ'd to criticize the _AEneis_ of _Virgil_, than to restore +corrupted Passages. Hence, therefore, may be seen either the +Iniquity or Ignorance of his Censurers, who, from some Expressions, +would make us believe, the _Doctor_ every where gives us his +Corrections as the Original Text of the Author; whereas the chief +Turn of his Criticism is plainly to shew the World, that if _Milton_ +did not write as He would have him, he ought to have wrote so. + +I thought proper to premise this Observation to the Readers, as it +will shew that the Critic on _Shakespeare_ is of a quite different +Kind. His genuine Text is religiously adher'd to, and the numerous +Faults and Blemishes, purely his own, are left as they were found. +Nothing is alter'd, but what by the clearest Reasoning can be +proved a Corruption of the true Text; and the Alteration, a real +Restoration of the genuine Reading. Nay, so strictly have I strove +to give the true Reading, tho' sometimes not to the Advantage of my +Author, that I have been ridiculously ridicul'd for it by Those, who +either were iniquitously for turning every thing to my Disadvantage; +or else were totally ignorant of the true Duty of an Editor. + +The Science of Criticism, as far as it affects an Editor, seems +to be reduced to these three Classes; the Emendation of corrupt +Passages; the Explanation of obscure and difficult ones; and an +Inquiry into the Beauties and Defects of Composition. This Work is +principally confin'd to the two former Parts: tho' there are some +Specimens interspers'd of the latter Kind, as several of the +Emendations were best supported, and several of the Difficulties +best explain'd, by taking notice of the Beauties and Defects of +the Composition peculiar to this Immortal Poet. But This was but +occasional, and for the sake only of perfecting the two other Parts, +which were the proper Objects of the Editor's Labour. The third lies +open for every willing Undertaker: and I shall be pleas'd to see it +the Employment of a masterly Pen. + +It must necessarily happen, as I have formerly observ'd, that where +the Assistance of Manuscripts is wanting to set an Author's Meaning +right, and rescue him from those Errors which have been transmitted +down thro' a Series of incorrect Editions, and a long Intervention +of Time, many Passages must be desperate, and past a Cure; and +their true Sense irretrievable either to Care or the Sagacity of +Conjecture. But is there any Reason therefore to say, That because +All cannot be retriev'd, All ought to be left desperate? We should +shew very little Honesty, or Wisdom, to play the Tyrants with an +Author's Text; to raze, alter, innovate, and overturn, at all +Adventures, and to the utter Detriment of his Sense and Meaning: +But to be so very reserved and cautious, as to interpose no Relief +or Conjecture, where it manifestly labours and cries out for +Assistance, seems, on the other hand, an indolent Absurdity. + +But because the Art of Criticism, both by Those who cannot form a +true Judgment of its Effects, nor can penetrate into its Causes, +(which takes in a great Number besides the Ladies;) is esteem'd only +an arbitrary capricious Tyranny exercis'd on Books; I think +proper to subjoin a Word or two about those Rules on which I have +proceeded, and by which I have regulated myself in this Edition. By +This, I flatter myself, it will appear, my Emendations are so far +from being arbitrary or capricious, that They are establish'd with +a very high Degree of moral Certainty. + +As there are very few Pages in _Shakespeare_, upon which some +Suspicions of Depravity do not reasonably arise; I have thought it +my Duty, in the first place, by a diligent and laborious Collation +to take in the Assistances of all the older Copies. + +In his _Historical Plays_, whenever our _English_ Chronicles, and in +his Tragedies when _Greek_ or _Roman_ Story, could give any Light; +no Pains have been omitted to set Passages right by comparing my +Author with his Originals: for, as I have frequently observed, he +was a close and accurate Copier where-ever his _Fable_ was founded +on _History_. + +Where-ever the Author's Sense is clear and discoverable, (tho', +perchance, low and trivial;) I have not by any Innovation tamper'd +with his Text; out of an Ostentation of endeavouring to make him +speak better than the Old Copies have done. + +Where, thro' all the former Editions, a Passage has labour'd under +flat Nonsense and invincible Darkness, if, by the Addition or +Alteration of a Letter or two, I have restored to Him both Sense +and Sentiment, such Corrections, I am persuaded, will need no +Indulgence. + +And whenever I have taken a greater Latitude and Liberty in +amending, I have constantly endeavoured to support my Corrections +and Conjectures by parallel Passages and Authorities from himself, +the surest Means of expounding any Author whatsoever. _Cette voie +d'interpreter un Autheur par lui-meme est plus sure que tous les +Commentaires_, says a very learned _French_ Critick. + +As to my _Notes_, (from which the common and learned Readers of our +Author, I hope, will derive some Pleasure;) I have endeavour'd to +give them a Variety in some Proportion to their Number. Where-ever +I have ventur'd at an Emendation, a _Note_ is constantly subjoin'd +to justify and assert the Reason of it. Where I only offer a +Conjecture, and do not disturb the Text, I fairly set forth my +Grounds for such Conjecture, and submit it to Judgment. Some Remarks +are spent in explaining Passages, Where the Wit or Satire depends +on an obscure Point of History: Others, where Allusions are to +Divinity, Philosophy, or other Branches of Science. Some are added +to shew, where there is a Suspicion of our Author having borrowed +from the Antients: Others, to shew where he is rallying his +Contemporaries; or where He himself is rallied by them. And some are +necessarily thrown in, to explain an obscure and obsolete _Term_, +_Phrase_, or _Idea_. I once intended to have added a complete and +copious _Glossary_; but as I have been importun'd, and am prepar'd, +to give a correct Edition of our Author's POEMS, (in which many +Terms occur that are not to be met with in his _Plays_,) I thought a +_Glossary_ to all _Shakespeare_'s Works more proper to attend that +Volume. + +In reforming an infinite Number of Passages in the _Pointing_, where +the Sense was before quite lost, I have frequently subjoin'd Notes +to shew the _deprav'd_, and to prove the _reform'd_, Pointing: a +Part of Labour in this Work which I could very willingly have spared +myself. May it not be objected, why then have you burthen'd us with +these Notes? The Answer is obvious, and, if I mistake not, very +material. Without such Notes, these Passages in subsequent Editions +would be liable, thro' the Ignorance of Printers and Correctors, to +fall into the old Confusion: Whereas, a Note on every one hinders +all possible Return to Depravity; and for ever secures them in a +State of Purity and Integrity not to be lost or forfeited. + + [Sidenote*: Causes of Obscurities in _Shakespeare_.] + +Again, as some Notes have been necessary to point out the Detection +of the corrupted Text, and establish the Reiteration of the genuine +Readings; some others have been as necessary for the Explanation of +Passages obscure and difficult. *To understand the Necessity and Use +of this Part of my Task, some Particulars of my Author's Character +are previously to be explain'd. There are _Obscurities_ in him, +which are common to him with all Poets of the same Species; there +are Others, the Issue of the Times he liv'd in; and there are +Others, again, peculiar to himself. The Nature of Comic Poetry +being entirely satyrical, it busies itself more in exposing what +we call Caprice and Humour, than Vices cognizable to the Laws. The +_English_, from the Happiness of a free Constitution, and a Turn of +Mind peculiarly speculative and inquisitive, are observ'd to produce +more _Humourists_ and a greater Variety of Original _Characters_, +than any other People whatsoever: And These owing their immediate +Birth to the peculiar Genius of each Age, an infinite Number of +Things alluded to, glanced at, and expos'd, must needs become +obscure, as the _Characters_ themselves are antiquated, and disused. +An Editor therefore should be well vers'd in the History and Manners +of his Author's Age, if he aims at doing him a Service in this Respect. + +Besides, _Wit_ lying mostly in the Assemblage of _Ideas_, and in the +putting Those together with Quickness and Variety, wherein can be +found any Resemblance, or Congruity, to make up pleasant Pictures, +and agreeable Visions in the Fancy; the Writer, who aims at Wit, +must of course range far and wide for Materials. Now, the Age, in +which _Shakespeare_ liv'd, having, above all others, a wonderful +Affection to appear Learned, They declined vulgar Images, such as +are immediately fetch'd from Nature, and rang'd thro' the Circle +of the Sciences to fetch their Ideas from thence. But as the +Resemblances of such Ideas to the Subject must necessarily lie very +much out of the common Way, and every piece of Wit appear a Riddle +to the Vulgar; This, that should have taught them the forced, +quaint, unnatural Tract they were in, (and induce them to follow a +more natural One,) was the very Thing that kept them attach'd to it. +The ostentatious Affectation of abstruse Learning, peculiar to that +Time, the Love that Men naturally have to every Thing that looks +like Mystery, fixed them down to this Habit of Obscurity. Thus +became the Poetry of DONNE (tho' the wittiest Man of that Age,) +nothing but a continued Heap of Riddles. And our _Shakespeare_, with +all his easy Nature about him, for want of the Knowledge of the true +Rules of Art, falls frequently into this vicious Manner. + +The third Species of _Obscurities_, which deform our Author, as +the Effects of his own Genius and Character, are Those that proceed +from his peculiar Manner of _Thinking_, and as peculiar a Manner of +_cloathing_ those _Thoughts_. With regard to his _Thinking_, it is +certain, that he had a general Knowledge of all the Sciences: But +his Acquaintance was rather That of a Traveller, than a Native. +Nothing in Philosophy was unknown to him; but every Thing in it had +the Grace and Force of Novelty. And as Novelty is one main Source of +Admiration, we are not to wonder that He has perpetual Allusions to +the most recondite Parts of the Sciences: and This was done not +so much out of Affectation, as the Effect of Admiration begot by +Novelty. Then, as to his _Style_ and _Diction_, we may much more +justly apply to SHAKESPEARE, what a celebrated Writer has said of +MILTON; _Our Language sunk under him, and was unequal to that +Greatness of Soul which furnish'd him with such glorious +Conceptions_. He therefore frequently uses old Words, to give his +Diction an Air of Solemnity; as he coins others, to express the +Novelty and Variety of his Ideas. + +Upon every distinct Species of these _Obscurities_ I have thought it +my Province to employ a Note, for the Service of my Author, and the +Entertainment of my Readers. A few transient Remarks too I have not +scrupled to intermix, upon the Poet's _Negligences_ and _Omissions_ +in point of Art; but I have done it always in such a Manner, as will +testify my Deference and Veneration for the Immortal Author. Some +Censurers of _Shakespeare_, and particularly Mr. _Rymer_, have +taught me to distinguish betwixt the _Railer_ and _Critick_. The +Outrage of his Quotations is so remarkably violent, so push'd beyond +all Bounds of Decency and sober Reasoning, that it quite carries +over the Mark at which it was levell'd. Extravagant Abuse throws +off the Edge of the intended Disparagement, and turns the Madman's +Weapon into his own Bosom. In short, as to _Rymer_, This is my +Opinion of him from his _Criticisms_ on the _Tragedies_ of the Last +Age. He writes with great Vivacity, and appears to have been a +Scholar: but, as for his Knowledge of the Art of Poetry, I can't +perceive it was any deeper than his Acquaintance with _Bossu_ and +_Dacier_, from whom he has transcribed many of his best Reflexions. +The late Mr. _Gildon_ was One attached to _Rymer_ by a similar Way +of Thinking and Studies. They were Both of that Species of Criticks, +who are desirous of displaying their Powers rather in finding +Faults, than in consulting the Improvement of the World: the +_hypercritical_ Part of the Science of _Criticism_. + + I had not mentioned the modest Liberty I have here and there taken +of animadverting on my Author, but that I was willing to obviate in +time the splenetick Exaggerations of my Adversaries on this Head. +From past Experiments I have Reason to be conscious, in what Light +this Attempt may be placed: and that what I call a _modest Liberty_, +will, by a little of their Dexterity, be inverted into downright +_Impudence_. From a hundred mean and dishonest Artifices employ'd to +discredit this Edition, and to cry down its Editor, I have all the +Grounds in Nature to be aware of Attacks. But tho' the Malice of Wit +join'd to the Smoothness of Versification may furnish some Ridicule; +Fact, I hope, will be able to stand its Ground against Banter and +Gaiety. + + [Sidenote: _Shakespeare_'s Anachronisms defended.] + + [Sidenote*: Mr. _Pope_'s Anachronisms examin'd.] + +It has been my Fate, it seems, as I thought it my Duty, to discover +some _Anachronisms_ in our Author; which might have slept in +Obscurity but for _this Restorer_, as Mr. _Pope_ is pleas'd +affectionately to style me; as, for Instance, where _Aristotle_ +is mentioned by _Hector_ in _Troilus_ and _Cressida_: and _Galen_, +_Cato_, and _Alexander_ the Great, in _Coriolanus_. These, in Mr. +_Pope_'s Opinion, are Blunders, which the Illiteracy of the first +Publishers of his Works has father'd upon the Poet's Memory: _it not +being at all credible, that These could be the Errors of any Man who +had the least Tincture of a School, or the least Conversation with_ +_such as had._ But I have sufficiently proved, in the Course of my +_Notes_, that such Anachronisms were the Effect of poetic Licence, +rather than of Ignorance in our Poet. And if I may be permitted +to ask a modest Question by the way, *Why may not I restore an +Anachronism really made by our Author, as well as Mr. _Pope_ take +the Privilege to fix others upon him, which he never had it in his +Head to make; as I may venture to affirm He had not, in the Instance +of Sir _Francis Drake_, to which I have spoke in the proper Place? + +But who shall dare make any Words about this Freedom of Mr. _Pope_'s +towards _Shakespeare_, if it can be prov'd, that, in his Fits of +Criticism, he makes no more Ceremony with good _Homer_ himself? +To try, then, a Criticism of his own advancing; In the 8th Book of +the _Odyssey_, where _Demodocus_ sings the Episode of the Loves of +_Mars_ and _Venus_; and that, upon their being taken in the Net by +_Vulcan_, + + ----the God of Arms + Must pay the Penalty for lawless Charms; + +Mr. _Pope_ is so kind gravely to inform us, "That _Homer_ in This, +as in many other Places, seems to allude to the Laws of _Athens_, +where Death was the Punishment of Adultery." But how is this +significant Observation made out? Why, who can possibly object any +Thing to the Contrary?--_Does not_ Pausanias_ relate, that _Draco_ +the Lawgiver to the _Athenians_ granted Impunity to any Person that +took Revenge upon an Adulterer? And was it not also the Institution +of _Solon_, that if Any One took an Adulterer in the Fact, he might +use him as he pleas'd?_ These Things are very true: and to see What +a good Memory, and sound Judgment in Conjunction can atchieve! Tho' +_Homer_'s Date is not determin'd down to a single Year, yet 'tis +pretty generally agreed that he liv'd above 300 Years before _Draco_ +and _Solon_: And That, it seems, has made him _seem_ to allude to +the very Laws, which these Two Legislators propounded above 300 +Years after. If this Inference be not something like an _Anachronism_ +or _Prolepsis_, I'll look once more into my Lexicons for the true +Meaning of the Words. It appears to me, that somebody besides _Mars_ +and _Venus_ has been caught in a Net by this Episode: and I could +call in other Instances to confirm what treacherous Tackle this +Network is, if not cautiously handled. + +How just, notwithstanding, I have been in detecting the Anachronisms +of my Author, and in defending him for the Use of them, Our late +Editor seems to think, They should rather have slept in Obscurity: +and the having discovered them is sneer'd at, as a sort of +wrong-headed Sagacity. + +The numerous Corrections, which I made of the Poet's Text in my +SHAKESPEARE _Restor'd_, and which the Publick have been so kind to +think well of, are, in the Appendix of Mr. _Pope_'s last Edition, +slightingly call'd _Various Readings_, _Guesses_, &c. He confesses +to have inserted as many of them as he judg'd of any the least +Advantage to the Poet; but says, that the Whole amounted to about +25 Words: and pretends to have annexed a compleat List of the Rest, +which were not worth his embracing. Whoever has read my Book will at +one glance see, how in both these Points Veracity is strain'd, so an +Injury might but be done. _Malus etsi obesse non pote, tamen cogitat_. + + [Sidenote: _Literal Criticism_ defended.] + +Another Expedient, to make my Work appear of a trifling Nature, has +been an Attempt to depreciate _Literal Criticism_. To this End, and +to pay a servile Compliment to Mr. _Pope_, an _Anonymous_ Writer +has, like a _Scotch_ Pedlar in Wit, unbraced his Pack on the +Subject. But, that his Virulence might not seem to be levelled +singly at Me, he has done Me the Honour to join Dr. _Bentley_ in +the Libel. I was in hopes, We should have been Both abused with +Smartness of Satire, at least; tho' not with Solidity of Argument: +that it might have been worth some Reply in Defence of the Science +attacked. But I may fairly say of this Author, as _Falstaffe_ does +of _Poins_;--_Hang him, Baboon! his Wit is as thick as _Tewksbury_ +Mustard; there is no more Conceit in him, than is in a _MALLET_._ If +it be not Prophanation to set the Opinion of the divine _Longinus_ +against such a Scribler, he tells us expresly, "That to make a +Judgment upon _Words_ (and _Writings_) is the most consummate Fruit +of much Experience." +he gar ton logon krisis polles esti peiras +teleutaion epigennema.+ Whenever Words are depraved, the Sense of +course must be corrupted; and thence the Readers betray'd into a +false Meaning. Tho' I should be convicted of Pedantry by some, +I'll venture to subjoin a few flagrant Instances, in which I have +observed most Learned Men have suffer'd themselves to be deceived, +and consequently led their Readers into Error: and This for want +of the Help of _Literal Criticism_: in some, thro' Indolence and +Inadvertence: in others, perhaps, thro' an absolute Contempt of It. +If the _Subject_ may seem to invite this Digression, I hope, the +_Use_ and _Application_ will serve to excuse it. + + [Sidenote: _Platonius_ corrected.] + +I. In that golden Fragment, which we have left of _Platonius_, upon +the three Kinds of _Greek_ Comedy, after he has told us, that when +the State of _Athens_ was alter'd from a Democracy to an Oligarchy, +and that the Poets grew cautious whom they libell'd in their +Comedies; when the People had no longer any Desire to choose the +accustom'd Officers for furnishing _Choric_ Singers, and defraying +the Expence of them, _Aristophanes_ brought on a Play in which +there was no _Chorus_. For, subjoins He, +ton gar CHOREUTON me +cheirotonoumenon, kai ton CHOREGON ouk echonton tas trophas, +hypexerethe tes Komodias ta chorika mele, kai ton hypotheseon ho +tropos meteblethe+. _"The _Chorus-Singers_ being no longer chosen +by Suffrage, and the _Furnishers_ of the_ Chorus _no longer having +their Maintenance, the _Choric_ Songs were taken out of Comedies, +and the Nature of the Argument and Fable chang'd._" But there +happen to be two signal Mistakes in this short Sentence. For the +_Chorus-Singers_ were never elected by Suffrage at all, but hir'd by +the proper Officer who was at the Expence of the _Chorus_: and the +_Furnishers_ of the _Chorus_ had never either Table, or Stipend, +allowed them, towards their Charge. To what Purpose then is this +Sentence, which should be a Deduction from the Premises, and yet is +none, brought in? Or how comes the Reasoning to be founded upon what +was not the Fact? The Mistake manifestly arises from a careless +Transposition made in the Text: Let the two _Greek_ Words, which I +have distinguished by _Capitals_, only change Places, and we recover +what _Platonius_ meant to infer: "That the [A]_Furnishers_ +of _Chorus_'s being no longer elected by Suffrage, and the +[B]_Chorus-Singers_ having no Provision made for them, _Chorus_'s +were abolished, and the Subjects of Comedies alter'd." + + [Footnote A: Choregon.] + [Footnote B: Choreuton.] + +II. There is another more egregious Error still subsisting in this +instructive Fragment, which has likewise escaped the Notice of +the Learned. The Author is saying, that, in the _old Comedy_, the +_Masks_ were made so nearly to resemble the Persons to be satirized, +that before the Actor spoke a Word, it was known whom he was to +personate. But, in the _New Comedy_, when _Athens_ was conquered +by the _Macedonians_, and the Poets were fearful lest their Masks +should be construed to resemble any of their New Governors, they +formed them so preposterously as only to move Laughter; +horomen goun+ +(says He) +tas ophrys en tois prosopois tes Menandrou komodias hopoias +echei, kai hopos exestrammenon to SOMA. kai oude kata anthropon physin+. +"We see therefore what strange Eyebrows there are to the Masks used in_ +Menander_'s Comedies; and how the _Body_ is distorted, and unlike +any human Creature alive." But the Author, 'tis evident, is speaking +abstractedly of _Masks_; and what Reference has the _Distortion_ of the +_Body_ to the Look of a _Visor_? I am satisfied, _Platonius_ wrote; +kai +hopos exestrammenon to OMMA+, _i.e._ "and how the _Eyes_ were _goggled_ +and _distorted_." This is to the Purpose of his Subject: and _Jul. +Pollux_, in describing the Comic Masques, speaks of some that had ++STREBLON to OMMA+: Others, that were +DIASTROPHOI ten OPSIN+. +PERVERSIS _oculis_, as _Cicero_ calls them, speaking of _Roscius_. + + [Sidenote: _Camerarius_ and _Keuster_, mistaken.] + +III. _Suidas_, in the short Account that he has given us of +_Sophocles_, tells us, that, besides Dramatic Pieces, he wrote +Hymns and Elegies; +kai logon katalogaden peri tou Chorou pros +Thespin kai Choirilon agonizomenos+. This the Learned _Camerarius_ +has thus translated: _Scripsit Oratione soluta de _Choro_ contra +_Thespin_ & _Choerilum_ quempiam._ And _Keuster_ likewise +understood, and render'd, the Passage to the same Effect. He +owns, the Place is obscure, and suspected by him. "For how could +_Sophocles_ contend with _Thespis_ and _Choerilus_, who liv'd long +before his Time?" The Scholiast upon [C]_Aristophanes_, however, +expresly says, as _Keuster_ might have remember'd, that _Sophocles_ +actually did contend with _Choerilus_. But that is a Point nothing +to the Passage in Question; which means, as I have shewn in another +Place, That _Sophocles_ declaimed in Prose, contending to obtain a +_Chorus_ for reviving some Pieces of _Thespis_ and _Choerilus_. +Is This contending against Them, as rival Poets? + + [Footnote C: In Ranis, v. 73.] + + [Sidenote: _Meursius_, and _Camerarius_ mistaken.] + +IV. Some other Learned Men have likewise been mistaken in +Particulars with regard to _Sophocles_. In the Synopsis of his +Life, we find these Words; +Teleuta de meta Euripiden eton [st]'+. +_Meursius_, as well as _Camerarius_, have expounded This, as if +_Sophocles_ surviv'd _Euripides_ six Years. But the best Accounts +agree that they died both in the same Year, a little before the +_Frogs_ of _Aristophanes_ was play'd; _scil._ Olymp. 93, 3. The +Meaning, therefore, of the Passage is, as some of the Commentators +have rightly observ'd; _That _Sophocles_ died after _Euripides_, at +90 Years of Age._ The Mistake arose from hence, that, in Numerals, ++stigma'+ signifies as well 6 as 90. + + [Sidenote: Father _Brumoy_ mistaken.] + +V. The Learned Father _Brumoy_ too, who has lately given us three +Volumes upon the _Theatre_ of the _Greeks_, has slipt into an Error +about _Sophocles_; for, speaking of his _Antigone_, he tells us, it +was in such Request as to be perform'd Two and Thirty times; _Elle +fut representee trente deux fois._ The Account, on which This is +grounded, we have from the Argument prefix'd to _Antigone_ by +_Aristophanes_ the Grammarian: and the _Latin_ Translator of this +Argument, probably, led Father _Brumoy_ into his Mistake, and +he should have referr'd to the Original. The _Greek_ Words are; ++lelektai de to drama touto triakoston deuteron+. i. e. "_This _Play_ +is said to have been the _Thirty Second_, in Order of Time, produced +by_ Sophocles." + +The Mistakes, that I have mentioned, (tho' they necessarily lead +into Error, from the Authority with which they come into the World;) +yet are such, 'tis obvious, as have been the Effects of Inadvertence; +and therefore I do not quote them to the Dishonour of their Learned +Authors. I shall point out Two or Three, which seem to have sprung +from another Source: either a due Want of Sagacity, or an absolute +Neglect of _literal Criticism_. + + [Sidenote: Sir _George Wheler_ corrected.] + +VI. Sir _George Wheler_, who, in his JOURNEY into GREECE, has traded +much with _Greek_ Antiquities and Inscriptions, and who certainly +was no mean Scholar, has shewn himself very careless in this +Respect. When he was at _Sardis_, he met with a Medal of the Emperor +_Commodus_ seated in the Midst of the Zodiack with Celestial Signs +engraven on it; and, on the other Side, a Figure with a Crown-Mure +with these Letters about it, +Sardis Asias, AUDIAS, Hellados, +1' metropolis+: __Sardis_, the first Metropolis of _Asia_, _Greece_, +and _Audia_._--But where and what _Audia_ was, (_says He_) I find +not. Now is it not very strange, that this Gentleman should not +remember, that _Sardis_ was the Capital City of _Lydia_; and, +consequently, that for +AUDIAS+ we should read +LYDIAS+? Tho' my +Correction is too obvious to want any Justification, yet, I find, it +has One from the Learned Father [D]_Harduin_; who produces another +Coin of _Sardis_ (in the _French_ King's Cabinet) which bears the +very same Inscription, only exhibited as it ought to be. + + [Footnote D: In his _Nummi Antiqui illustrati_.] + +Nor was This a single Inaccuracy in Sir _George_. I'll instance in +Two pretty Inscriptions, the One an _Epitaph_, the other a _Votive +Table_, which He has given Us, but in a very corrupt Condition. Tho' +I have never been in _Greece_, nor seen the Inscriptions any where +but in _his_ Book, I think, I can restore them to their true Sense +and Numbers: And, as they are particularly elegant, some Readers +will not be displeas'd to see them in a State of Purity. + + [Sidenote: An _Epitaph_ corrected and explained.] + +VII. _Of the Antiquities of _Philadelphia_ (says he) I had but a +slender Account; only I have the Copy of one Inscription, being the +Monument of a _Virgin_, in these three Couplets of Verses_. But she +was so far from being a _Virgin_, that the Epitaph shews her to have +been a _Wife_; that it was put up in Memory of Her by her _Husband_; +and that she dy'd in the Flower of her Youth at the Age of twenty +three. + + +Xantippen Akyla mnemen [1]biou paredoken + Bomo [2]teimesas semno tauten alochon; + Parthenon hes apelyse mitren ESDRION anthos + Esken en hemitelei pausamenon thalamo. + Treis gar ep' eikosious teleose [3]bion eniautous, + Kai meta tousde thanen [4]toutou lipousaphaos.+ + + [Notes: + 1: +biotou paredoken+. + 2: +timesas semnotaten+. + 3: +bious'+. + 4: +touto lipousa phaos+.] + +I have, for Brevity's sake, mark'd the general Corrections, which I +have made, at the Side. The third Verse is neither true in Quantity, +nor Language: +ESDRION+ is a Monster of a Word, which never could +be the Reading of any Marble. As I correct it, we recover a most +beautiful Couplet. + + +Parthenon, hes apelyse mitren; HES ERINON anthos + Esken en hemitelei pausamenon thalamo.+ + + Puellam, cujus Zonam solvit; cujus _VERNUS_ Flos + Praepropero tabuit in Thalamo. + + [Sidenote: A _Votive Table_ corrected.] + +VIII. I come now to the _Votive Table_, which is rich in poetick +Graces, however overwhelm'd with Depravation: and Sir _George_ +seems as much to have mistaken the Purport, as the Words, of the +Inscription. _At _Chalcedon_, _says he_, I found an Inscription in +the Wall of a private House near the Church; which signifieth, that +_Evante_, the Son of _Antipater_, having made a prosperous Voyage, +and desiring to return by the _AEgean_ Sea, offered Cakes at a +Statue, which he had erected to _Jupiter_, which had sent him such +good Weather, as a Token of his good Voyage._ + + +[1]OURION epi [2]PRIMNES tis hodegetera kaleito, + Zena kata [3]protON ONistion ekpetasas + [4]EPI KYANEAS DINAS DROMOUS entha Poseidon + Kampylon eilissei kyma para psamathois. + Eita kat' Aigaian pontou plaka [5]NAS ereunon, + Neistho; to de [6]BALLON psaista para [7]TO ZOANO. + [8]HODE ton [9]EUANTE ton aei theon Antipatrou pais + Stese [10]philon agathes symbolon euploies.+ + + [Notes: + 1: +Ouron+. + 2: +prymnes+. + 3: +proton, histion+. + 4: +Kyaneais dinesin epidromon+. + 5: +Noston+. + 6: +balon+. + 7: +xoano+. + 8: +Esde+. + 9: +euanthe+. + 10: +Philon+.] + +I have mark'd, as before, my Corrections at the Side; and I may +venture to say, I have supported the faltring Verses both with +_Numbers_ and _Sense_. But who ever heard of _Evante_, as the Name +of a Man, in _Greece_? Neither is this Inscription a Piece of Ethnic +Devotion, as Sir _George_ has suppos'd it, to a Statue erected to +_Jupiter_: On the contrary, it despises those fruitless Superstitions. +_Philo_ (a _Christian_, as it seems to me;) sets it up, in Thanks +for a safe Voyage, to the _true God_. That all my Readers may +equally share in this little Poem, I have attempted to put it into +an _English_ Dress. + + Invoke who Will the prosp'rous Gale _behind_, + _Jove_ at the _Prow_, while to the guiding Wind + O'er the blue Billows he the Sail expands, + Where _Neptune_ with each Wave heaps Hills of Sands: + Then let him, when the Surge he backward plows, + Pour to his Statue-God unaiding Vows: + But to the God of Gods, for Deaths o'erpast, + For Safety lent him on the watry Waste, + To native Shores return'd, thus _Philo_ pays + His Monument of Thanks, of grateful Praise. + +I shall have no Occasion, I believe, to ask the Pardon of _some_ +Readers for these _Nine_ last Pages; and Others may be so kind to +pass them over at their Pleasure. (Those Discoveries, which give +Light and Satisfaction to the truly Learned, I must confess, are +Darkness and Mystery to the less capable: +Phengos men xunetois, +axunetois d' Erebos+.) Nor will they be absolutely foreign, I hope, +to a Preface in some Measure critical; especially, as it could not +be amiss to shew, that I have read other Books with the same +Accuracy, with which I profess to have read _Shakespeare_. Besides, +I design'd this Inference from the Defence of Literal Criticism. +If the _Latin_ and _Greek_ Languages have receiv'd the greatest +Advantages imaginable from the Labours of the Editors and Criticks +of the two last Ages; by whose Aid and Assistance the Grammarians +have been enabled to write infinitely better in that Art than even +the preceding Grammarians, who wrote when those Tongues flourish'd +as living Languages: I should account it a peculiar Happiness, that, +by the faint Assay I have made in this Work, a Path might be chalk'd +out, for abler Hands, by which to derive the same Advantages to our +own Tongue: a Tongue, which, tho' it wants none of the fundamental +Qualities of an universal Language, yet as a _noble Writer_ says, +lisps and stammers as in its Cradle; and has produced little more +towards its polishing than Complaints of its Barbarity. + + [Sidenote: The Delay of this Edition excused.] + +Having now run thro' all those Points, which I intended should +make any Part of this Dissertation, it only remains, that I should +account to the Publick, but more particularly to my Subscribers, +why they have waited so long for this Work; that I should make my +Acknowledgments to those Friends, who have been generous Assistants +to me in the conducting it: and, lastly, that I should acquaint my +Readers what Pains I have myself taken to make the Work as complete, +as faithful Industry, and my best Abilities, could render it. + +In the middle of the Year 1728, I first put out my _Proposals_ for +publishing only _Emendations_ and _Remarks_ on our Poet: and I had +not gone on many Months in this Scheme, before I found it to be the +unanimous Wish of those who did me the Honour of their Subscriptions, +that I would give them the Poet's Text corrected; and that I would +subjoin those Explanatory Remarks, which I had purpos'd to publish +upon the Foot of my first Proposals. Earnest Sollicitations were +made to me, that I would think of such an Edition; which I had as +strong Desires to listen to: and some _noble_ Persons then, whom I +have no Privilege to name, were pleased to interest themselves so +far in the Affair, as to propose to Mr. _Tonson_ his undertaking an +Impression of _Shakespeare_ with my Corrections. The throwing my +whole Work into a different Form, to comply with this Proposal, was +not the slightest Labour: and so no little Time was unavoidably +lost. While the Publication of my Remarks was thus respited, my +Enemies took an unfair Occasion to suggest, that I was extorting +Money from my Subscribers, without ever designing to give them +any Thing for it: an Insinuation levell'd at once to wound me + Reputation and Interest. Conscious, however, of my own just +Intentions, and labouring all the while to bring my wish'd Purpose +to bear, I thought these anonymous Slanderers worthy of no Notice. +A Justification of myself would have been giving them Argument for +fresh Abuse; and I was willing to believe that any unkind Opinions, +entertain'd to my Prejudice, would naturally drop and lose their +Force, when the Publick should once be convinc'd that I was in +Earnest, and ready to do them Justice. I left no Means untry'd +to put it in my Power to do this: and I hope, without Breach of +Modesty, I may venture to appeal to all candid Judges, whether I +have not employ'd all my Power to be just to them in the Execution +of my Task. I must needs have been in the most Pain, who saw myself +daily so barbarously outraged. I might have taken advantage of +the favourable Impressions entertain'd of my Work, and hurried it +crudely into the World: But I have suffer'd, for my Author's sake, +those Impressions to cool, and perhaps, be lost; and can now appeal +only to the _Judgment_ of the Publick. If I succeed in this Point, +the Reputation gain'd will be the more solid and lasting. + + [Sidenote: Acknowledgment of Assistance.] + +I come now to speak of those kind Assistances which I have met with +from particular Friends, towards forwarding and compleating this +Work. Soon after my Design was known, I had the Honour of an +Invitation to _Cambridge_; and a generous Promise from the Learned +and ingenious Dr. _Thirlby_ of _Jesus_-College, there, who had taken +great Pains with my Author, that I should have the Liberty of +collating his Copy of _Shakespeare_, mark'd thro' in the Margin with +his own Manuscript References and accurate Observations. He not only +made good this Promise, but favour'd me with a Set of Emendations, +interspers'd and distinguish'd in his Name thro' the Edition, and +which can need no Recommendation here to the judicious Reader. + +The next Assistance I receiv'd was from my ingenious Friend _Hawley +Bishop_ Esq; whose great Powers and extensive Learning are as well +known, as his uncommon Modesty, to all who have the Happiness of his +Acquaintance. This Gentleman was so generous, at the Expence both +of his Pocket and Time, to run thro' all _Shakespeare_ with me. We +join'd Business and Entertainment together; and at every of our +Meetings, which were constantly once a Week, we read over a _Play_, +and came mutually prepar'd to communicate our Conjectures upon it to +each other. The Pleasure of these Appointments, I think, I may say, +richly compensated for the Labour in our own Thoughts: and I may +venture to affirm, in the Behalf of my Assistant, that our Author +has deriv'd no little Improvement from them. + +To these, I must add the indefatigable Zeal and Industry of my most +ingenious and ever-respected Friend, the Reverend Mr. _William +Warburton_ of _Newark_ upon _Trent_. This Gentleman, from the +Motives of his frank and communicative Disposition, voluntarily took +a considerable Part of my Trouble off my Hands; not only read over +the whole Author for me, with the exactest Care; but enter'd into +a long and laborious Epistolary Correspondence; to which I owe no +small Part of my best Criticisms upon my Author. + +The Number of Passages amended, and admirably Explained, which I +have taken care to distinguish with his Name, will shew a Fineness +of Spirit and Extent of Reading, beyond all the Commendations I can +give them: Nor, indeed, would I any farther be thought to commend a +Friend, than, in so doing, to give a Testimony of my own Gratitude. +How great a share soever of Praise I must lose from my self, in +confessing these Assistances; and however my own poor Conjectures +may be weaken'd by the Comparison with theirs; I am very well +content to sacrifice my Vanity to the Pride of being so assisted, +and the Pleasure of being just to their Merits. I beg leave to +observe to my Readers, in one Word, here, that from the Confession +of these successive Aids, and the Manner in which I deriv'd them, +it appears, I have pretty well fill'd up the _Interval_, betwixt my +first _Proposals_ and my _Publication_, with having my Author always +in View, and at Heart. + +Some Hints I have the Honour to owe to the Informations of Dr. +_Mead_, and the late Dr. _Friend_: Others to the Kindness of the +ingenious _Martin Folkes_, Esq; who likewise furnish'd me with the +first _folio_ Edition of _Shakespeare_, at a Time when I could not +meet with it among the Booksellers; as my obliging Friend _Thomas +Coxeter_, Esq; did with several of the old 4to single Plays, which +I then had not in my own Collection. Some few Observations I +likewise owe to _F. Plumptree_, Esq; Others to the Favour of +anonymous Persons: for all which I most gladly render my +Acknowledgments. + + [Sidenote: The Editor's particular Pains taken.] + +As to what regards my self singly, if the Edition do not speak +for the Pains I have taken about it, it will be very vain to plead +my own Labour and Diligence. Besides a faithful Collation of all +the printed Copies, which I have exhibited in my _Catalogue_ of +_Editions_ at the End of this Work; let it suffice to say, that, to +clear up several Errors in the Historical Plays, I purposely read +over _Hall_ and _Holingshead_'s Chronicles in the Reigns concern'd; +all the Novels in _Italian_, from which our Author had borrow'd any +of his Plots; such Parts of _Plutarch_, from which he had deriv'd +any Parts of his _Greek_ or _Roman_ Story: _Chaucer_ and _Spenser_'s +Works; all the Plays of _B. Jonson_, _Beaumont_ and _Fletcher_, +and above 800 old _English_ Plays, to ascertain the obsolete and +uncommon Phrases in him: Not to mention some Labour and Pains +unpleasantly spent in the dry Task of consulting Etymological +_Glossaries_. + +But as no Labour of Mine can be equivalent to the dear and ardent +Love I bear for _Shakespeare_, so, if the Publick shall be pleas'd +to allow that He owes any Thing to my Willingness and Endeavours of +restoring Him; I shall reckon the Part of my Life so engag'd, to +have been very happily employ'd: and put Myself, with great +Submission, to be try'd by my Country in the Affair. + + * * * * * + * * * * + * * * * * + + + The Editors of THE AUGUSTAN REPRINT SOCIETY + + are pleased to announce that + + THE WILLIAM ANDREWS CLARK MEMORIAL LIBRARY + of The University of California, Los Angeles + +will become the publisher of the Augustan Reprints in May, 1949. The +editorial policy of the Society will continue unchanged. As in the past, +the editors will strive to furnish members inexpensive reprints of rare +seventeenth and eighteenth century works. + + +Publications for the fourth year (1949-1950) + +[Transcriber's Note: +Many of the listed titles are or will be available from Project +Gutenberg. Where possible, the e-text number is given in brackets.] + +(_At least six items will be printed in the main from the following +list_) + + +SERIES IV: MEN, MANNERS, AND CRITICS + +John Dryden, _His Majesties Declaration Defended_ (1681) [#15074] +Daniel Defoe (?), _Vindication of the Press_ (1718) [#14084] +_Critical Remarks on Sir Charles Grandison, Clarissa, and Pamela_ (1754) + + +SERIES V: DRAMA + +Thomas Southerne, _Oroonoko_ (1696) +Mrs. Centlivre, _The Busie Body_ (1709) +Charles Johnson, _Caelia_ (1733) +Charles Macklin, _Man of the World_ (1781) [#14463] + + +SERIES VI: POETRY AND LANGUAGE + +Andre Dacier, _Essay on Lyric Poetry_ +_Poems_ by Thomas Sprat +_Poems_ by the Earl of Dorset +Samuel Johnson, _Vanity of Human Wishes_ (1749), and one of the 1750 + _Rambler_ papers. [#13350] + + +EXTRA SERIES: + +Lewis Theobald, _Preface to Shakespeare's Works_ (1733) + + +A few copies of the early publications of the Society are still +available at the original rate. + + + + +GENERAL EDITORS + +H. RICHARD ARCHER, _William Andrews Clark Memorial Library_ +R.C. BOYS, _University of Michigan_ +E.N. HOOKER, _University of California, Los Angeles_ +H.T. SWEDENBERG, JR., _University of California, Los Angeles_ + + + + +PUBLICATIONS OF THE AUGUSTAN REPRINT SOCIETY + + +First Year (1946-1947) + + 1. Richard Blackmore's _Essay upon Wit_ (1716), and Addison's + _Freeholder_ No. 45 (1716). (I, 1) [#13484] + + 2. Samuel Cobb's _Of Poetry_ and _Discourse on Criticism_ (1707). + (II, 1) [#14528] + + 3. _Letter to A.H. Esq.; concerning the Stage_ (1698), and Richard + Willis' _Occasional Paper No. IX_ (1698). (III, 1) + + 4. _Essay on Wit_ (1748), together with Characters by Flecknoe, and + Joseph Warton's _Adventurer_ Nos. 127 and 133. (I, 2) [#14973] + + 5. Samuel Wesley's _Epistle to a Friend Concerning Poetry_ (1700) and + _Essay on Heroic Poetry_ (1693). (II, 2) + + 6. _Representation of the Impiety and Immorality of the Stage_ (1704) + and _Some Thoughts Concerning the Stage_ (1704). (III, 2) [#15656] + + +Second Year (1947-1948) + + 7. John Gay's _The Present State of Wit_ (1711); and a section on Wit + from _The English Theophrastus_ (1702). (I, 3) [#14800] + + 8. Rapin's _De Carmine Pastorali_, translated by Creech (1684). (II, 3) + [#14495] + + 9. T. Hanmer's (?) _Some Remarks on the Tragedy of Hamlet_ (1736). + (III, 3) [#14899] + +10. Corbyn Morris' _Essay towards Fixing the True Standards of Wit, + etc._ (1744). (I, 4) [#16233] + +11. Thomas Purney's _Discourse on the Pastoral_ (1717). (II, 4) [#15313] + +12. Essays on the Stage, selected, with an Introduction by Joseph Wood + Krutch. (III, 4) [#16335] + + +Third Year (1948-1949) + +13. Sir John Falstaff (pseud.), _The Theatre_ (1720). (IV, 1) [#15999] + +14. Edward Moore's _The Gamester_ (1753). (V, 1) [#16267] + +15. John Oldmixon's _Reflections on Dr. Swift's Letter to Harley_ + (1712); and Arthur Mainwaring's _The British Academy_ (1712). (VI, 1) + +16. Nevil Payne's _Fatal Jealousy_ (1673). (V, 2) + +17. Nicholas Rowe's _Some Account of the Life of Mr. William Shakespear_ + (1709). (Extra Series, 1) [#16275] + +18. Aaron Hill's Preface to _The Creation_; and Thomas Brereton's + Preface to _Esther_. (IV, 2) [#15870] + + * * * * * + * * * * + * * * * * + +[Transcriber's Corrections: + + ARS title page: Publication Number 20 + _text reads_ 19, corrected by hand to 20. "Number 20" agrees with + later years' ARS publication lists. + + vii: before he could write full Many. + _text reads_ Man . + + xxiv: that surprizing Knowledge of human Nature + _text reads_ surpizing + + xlii: its Causes, (which takes in a great Number + _text has_ blank space before "which" at beginning of line + + lv: the Look of a _Visor_ + _text reads_ the Look o a _with extra blank space_ + + +Also Noted: + + xii: intirely synonomous Terms + _spelling "synonomous" as in original_ + + xvii: the Stanza's sung by the Gravedigger + _apostrophe in original_ + + xxiii: frustraq; laboret + _abbreviation "q;" (-que) as in original_ + + xxxvii: Sidenote: The old Editions faulty, whence. + _exact text as in original_ + + lxi: For Safety lent him on the watry Waste, + _no apostrophe in "watry"_ + + ARS List of Publications: _Preface to Shakespeare's Works_ + _wording as in original_ ] + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Preface to the Works of Shakespeare +(1734), by Lewis Theobald + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PREFACE WORKS OF SHAKESPEARE *** + +***** This file should be named 16346.txt or 16346.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/3/4/16346/ + +Produced by David Starner, Louise Hope and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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