Jnsepli I J 
 

 
 CRITICAL 
 
 OBSERVATION? 
 
 ON 
 
 SHAKESPEARE. 
 
 By JOHN UPTON 
 
 Prebendary of Rocbefter. 
 
 Ne forte pudori 
 Sit tibi Mufa lyrae folers, & cantor Apollo. 
 
 Hor. 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 Printed for G. HAWKINS, in Fleet-Jlreet. 
 M,DCC,XlVL 
 
 4824G
 
 
 
 lo 

 
 T O T H E 
 
 RIGHT HONOURABLE 
 
 THE 
 
 EARL of GRANVILLE 
 
 THESE 
 
 CRITICAL OBSERVATIONS 
 ON 
 
 SHAKESPEARE 
 
 ARE WITH ALL DECENT HUMILITY 
 
 AND THE HIGHEST ESTEEM 
 
 INSCRIBED AND DEDICATED 
 
 BY 
 
 TH E AUTHOR.
 
 . 
 
 Critical ObfervationS 
 
 ON 
 
 SHAKESPEARE, 
 
 BOOK I, 
 
 SECT. I. 
 
 *F ^IS a common obfervation, and there- 
 fore perhaps not altogether untrue, that 
 * critics generally fet out with thefe two 
 maxims j the one, that the author muft always 
 dictate what is left -, the other, that the critic 
 is to determine what that befl is. There is an 
 afiertion not very unlike this, that Dr. Bentley 
 has made in his late edition of Milton : " ' I have 
 
 " fuch 
 
 1. See his fir ft note on Milton's Paradife loft. However 
 to do the Dr. juftice, there are fome errors which he has 
 Undoubtedly mended, of which two are moft remarkable. 
 B. VII, 321. The fmelling g ourd, which fhould be /*///. 
 and ^-.451. fo&ottMjtg, which ought to haVe been printed, 
 foul living. In mod of the other places, if he cannot find 
 errors, he will make them. But methinks an author fhould 
 B bear
 
 2 Critical Obfervations Book I. 
 
 " fuch an efteem for our poet, that which of the 
 " two words is the better, that: Ifay was dilated 
 
 bear his {hare, as well as the tranfcriber : and though the 
 context is a facr-ed thing, and ought not to be dillurbed, 
 yet in a note a better reading may be propofed. In 
 B. IX ^. 670. there is the following beautiful defcription. 
 
 As nuhen of old fomc orator rtnound 
 
 Jft Athens er free Rome, where eloquence 
 
 Flour ijhd, fence mute, to fame great caufe addreji, 
 
 Stood in himfelf collected, while each part, 
 
 Motion, each aft won audience, ere the tsngue. 
 
 In defcriptions particularly the words ought to be neither 
 embarraffed, nor ambiguous. But here, is motion the ac- 
 cufative or nominative cafe ? If the accufative ; how fa* 
 fetch'd is the meaning, each part won motion ? If the no- 
 minative ; Milton fhould have given it, tach part, each mo- 
 tion, each aft : or rather thus, in a great meafare according 
 to Dr. Bentley's reading, 
 
 Stood in himfelf collected whole, nubile each 
 Motion, each act won audience, ere the tongue. 
 
 Colleffed whole : Infeipfo tot us feres, at fue rotundas. Hor, 
 L. II. f. 7. A perfon mult have no feeling of poetry not 
 to allow this the better reading ; but allowing this, no rules 
 of criticifm will fuffer him to alter, what the tranfcriber, or 
 printer has not firft altered. In Shakefpeare the editors have 
 propofed many better readings, which they fhoald have men- 
 tion'd only in their notes ; and they would thus have de- 
 ferved that praife for their ingenuity, which they feem to 
 forfeit, by going out of their province to correft the author, 
 when they fhould only have corrded the faulty copy. 
 
 c by
 
 Seft. i. on SHAKESPEARE. 3 
 
 " by Milton." And from a fimilar caft of rea- 
 foning, in his preface to Horace, he fays, * that 
 thofe emendations of his are for the moft part more 
 certain, which are made from conjectures, than 
 thofe from ancient copies, and manufcripts. 
 
 'Twas never my intention to call in queftion 
 the fkill, and abilities of one, whofe reputation in 
 learning is fo defervedlyeftablifhed : but there was 
 a good piece of J advice, (which I cannot fo eafily 
 pafs over, becaufe of univerfal tife to critics,) 
 offered him, when firft he made his defign known 
 of publifhing his Horace , which was, to admit 
 into the context all thofe better readings, for which 
 he had the authority of ancient manufcripts ; but as 
 to meer conjectural corrections, to place them 
 in his notes. His reply to this advice was, as 
 might be expected, " No, for then who will re- 
 " gard'em?" 
 
 Our great critic was too well guarded by 
 his learning, to have his own reply turned as 
 a farcafm againft himfelf; which might fo juftly 
 
 2. Plura igltur in Harattanis bis cur is ex covjeflura fxbi- 
 iemus, quern ex cudicum Jubjltiio \ et t xiji me omnia fallunt, 
 plerurr.qitc certicra. 
 
 3. Of this pnrticular circumftance I was informed by the 
 late learned Mr. Wafs of Aynoe. I will add here a rule of 
 Graevius, in his preface to Cicero's offices : A prifiis libris 
 nan rccedtndum, tiijt oat librarii, aut fcioli peccatum fit tan 
 tcjlatum, fit at omnibus, qui non cnligent in Jclc t ^idiri pojfit. 
 
 B 2 b
 
 4 Critical Obfervations Book I. 
 
 be turned againft many dealers in the critical 
 craft, who with little, or no ftock in trade, fet up 
 for correctors, and fuccefibrs ofAriftarchus. There 
 is one part of their cunning, that I cannot help here 
 mentioning, which is, their intruding their own 
 gueffes, and reveries into the context, which firft 
 meeting the reader's eye, naturally prepoffefs his 
 judgment : mean while the author's words are 
 either removed entirely out of the way, or per- 
 mitted a place in fome remote note, loaden with 
 * mifreprefentations and abuie, according to the 
 
 great 
 
 4. Dr. Bentley's foul play in this refpeft is moft notori- 
 ous ; who, in order to make way for his emendations, will 
 often drop the only, and true conftruftion : the reader is 
 miilaken if he thinks this done through ignorance. I will 
 initance in a correction of a paflage of Virgil, Aen. IV, 256. 
 which, among many other corrections, I chiefly make choice 
 of, becaufe fome have beendeceiv'd into an opinion of its fu- 
 perior excellency : and I will give it in his own words, from 
 a note on Horace, Lib. I. od. 34. 
 
 Hie primum paribus nit ens Cyllenius alts 
 Conftitit : hir.c toto praeceps fe corpore ad ur.das 
 Mi fit, a<ui Jimilis, q-uae circum lit or a, circum 
 Pifcofos fcopulos bumilis volat aequora juxta. 
 Hand aliter terras inter caelumyue volabat ; 
 Litus arenofum Libyae <ventofque fecabat, 
 Mattrno veniens ab a--vo Cyllenia proles. 
 
 " ubi quam multa merito vituperanda fint vides. Volat, et 
 " mox. volabat : deinde in continuatis verfibus ingratura 
 
 " auribus
 
 Sedh i." en SHAKESPEARE." 5 
 
 great goodnefs of the moft gracious critic ; who 
 
 with 
 
 " zuribus opotcsT&evlov t 'uoJabat,/ecal>at : ad quod evitandum 
 " vetuftiffimi aliquot codices apud Pierium mutato ordine 
 " fie verfus collocant, 
 
 HauJ aliter terras inter caclumquc volabat 
 Materno veniens ab a<vo Cyllenia proles, 
 Litus arenofum et Libyae ventofque fecabat. 
 
 " Sed nihil omnino proficiunt, aut locum adjuvant : adhac 
 *' enim relinquitur vitium omnium deterrimum, fecabat littus 
 " ventofque. Quid enim eft littus fecare, niil littus arare 
 " et efFodere ? Quid autem hoc ad Mercurium volantem ? 
 " Nullus dubito quin fie fcripferit princeps poetarum : 
 
 Haud aliter, terras inter caelumque, legcbat 
 Litus arenofum Libyae, <ventofque fecabat 
 Materno veniens ab aua Cyllenia prolss. 
 
 The firft fault he finds is with volabat coming fo quick 
 after volat. But this repetition is fo far from a fault, that 
 it has a peculiar beauty here ; for 'tis in the application of 
 the fimile ; fo Mihon IV, 1 89. 
 
 Or as a tJ.-ief, &c. 
 
 //; at the ov/Wow climbs, or esr tbs tilts : 
 
 So clomb this firfl grand thief 'into God's fold; 
 
 So face into bis Church /<rivV hirelings climb. 
 
 Moreinftances might be added from Homer, and Milton, 
 and Virgil. The next fault is the rime volabat, fee abat : 
 If there was any Hop after volabat and ftcabat y fome 
 anfwer or apology fhould be made. But there is aftually 
 no more jingle in thofe verfes of Virgil, than in theic of" 
 Milton, 
 
 B 3 II, Z2Q,
 
 Critical Observations .Book I. 
 
 with his dagger of lath on his own ftage, like the 
 
 old 
 
 IT, 220. This horror will gr&w mild, this darknefs light ; 
 
 Bejides 'what hope the never-ending flight. 
 VI, 34. Far ivorfe to bear 
 
 Than violence : for this <was all thy care. 
 VI, 79. Byfacred un&ion, thy deferred right. 
 
 Go then, thou mightieft in thy father 's might. 
 
 For if the reader will turn to the places cited, he will 
 find, that all this jingling found of like endings is avoided by 
 the verfes running one into the other : and I have cited 
 them here in this unfair manner, as a parallel inftance of 
 Dr. Bentley's mifreprefentation : for the Dr, knew well 
 enough, if he had given you the poet's verfes, (as in his trials 
 to correct them he muft himfelf have turn'd, and varied tho 
 pointing feveral ways) in the following manner, 
 
 Haud aliter, terras inter eoelumque, volabat 
 Litiu arenofum Libyae, v entofque fee abat 
 Materno r venienj ab a<vo Cyllenia proles. 
 
 i. e. fled to the caaft of Libya ; he could not have made 
 way for his own correction : or if he had told you, that no- 
 thing was more common than for the beft authors, to ap 
 ply the verb properly to one fubftantive, and improperly often 
 to the other : (fee the fchol. on Sophocl. Eleft. jfr. 437. 
 Edit. Steph. p. 101. and Homer II. y. 327.) he could not 
 have abus'd that phrafe, liitus et <ventos fecabdt, wliich he 
 mifreprefenting cites, littus fecabat <ventofque. So that whe- 
 ther you keep the old pointing, or change it, the Dr. can-r 
 not get one jot forward towards an emendation : not tho' 
 you allowed him, which I fomewhat queftion, the propriety 
 of legebat littits t apply'd to Mercury flying dire&ly from 
 
 mount
 
 Se6h i. on SHAKESPEARE. 7 
 
 old 5 Vice, or modern Harlequin, belabours the 
 poor Devil of his own railing. 
 
 Who 
 
 mount Atlas to the coaft of Libya. This whole paffage 
 of Virgil, Milton has finely imitated in his 5 th book. if. 265. 
 &c. where the Dr. is at his old work, hacking and hewing. 
 Were I to give an inftance of Bentley's critical flcill, I mould 
 not forget that place in the Plutus of Ariftophanes, jfr. 1010. 
 which puzzled the Grecian critics, being an old inveterate 
 eviljuft gloried over, 'till Bentley probed it to the bottom, 
 and recovered it's priftine beauty. No one did better than 
 the Dr. when he met with a corrupt place ; but the mifchief 
 was, he would be medling with found places. The emen- 
 dation is printed in a letter to Kufter, inferted at the end 
 of his edition of Ariftophanes : to which I rather refer the 
 reader, than lengthen this note, too long already. 
 
 5. THE VICE was a droll character in our old plays, 
 accoutred with a long coat, a cap with a pair of afs's ears, 
 and a dagger of lath. Shakefpeare alludes to his buffoon 
 appearance in Twelfth-Night, Acl. IV. 
 
 In a trice, like to the old Vice ; 
 
 . Who <witb dagger of lath, in his rage, and his wrath 
 Cries, ab, ba ! to the Devif. 
 
 In the fecond part of K. Henry IV. Aft. III. Falfhff 
 compares Shallow to VICE'S dagger of lath. In Hamlet 
 Acl III. Hamlet calls his uncle, A VICE of Kings : j. t. 
 a ridiculous reprefentation of majeily. Thefe paflages the 
 editors have very rightly expounded. I will now mention 
 fome others, which feem to have efcaped their notice, the 
 idlufions being not quite fo obvious. 
 
 THE INIQJJITY was often the VICE in our old Morali- 
 
 tk-ii and is introduced in Ben Johnfon's play call'd the 
 
 B 4
 
 8 Critical Objervations Book I. 
 
 Who is there but will allow greater liberty for 
 
 altering authors, who wrote before the invention 
 
 of printing, thanfmce? Blunders upon blunders 
 
 of 
 
 an afs : and like\yife mentioned in his Epigr. 
 XV. 
 
 Being no vitious perfin, but the Vice 
 About the tonvn. 
 Afli old Iniquity, and in the Jit 
 Of miming, get 3 tti opinion of a ivit. 
 
 But a paflage cited from his play will make the follow. r 
 fng obfervations more plain. Aft. I. Pug afks the Devil 
 to lend him a Vice. 
 
 Satan. WhatJ7<r<ff 
 What kind wouldft thou have it of? 
 
 " Pug. Why, any Fraud, 
 f Or Covetoufnefs, or Lady Vanity, 
 " Or old Iniquity : I'll call him hither. 
 " Enter Iniquity, the Vice. 
 
 Ini. What is he calls upon me, and would feem to lack 
 
 ' Ere his words be half fpoken, I am with him in a trice." 
 
 And in his Steple of News Ad. II. " Mirth. How like 
 " you the Vice i' the play ? Expectation. Which is he ? 
 " Mirth. Three or four, oldCovetoufnefs, the fordid Peniboy, 
 " the Money-bawd, who is a flefh-bawd too they fay. 
 " Tattle. But here is never a Fiend to carry him away. 
 " Befides, he has never a wooden-dagger ! I'd not give a 
 " rufn for a VICE, that has not a wooden-dagger to fnap 
 V at every body he meets. Mirth. That was the old 
 " way, Gpifp, when Iniquity came in like hokos pokes, 
 
 in
 
 Sea. i, on SHAKESPEARE. $ 
 
 of tranfcribers interpolations glofles - omiA 
 fions various readings and what not ? But to, 
 try thefe experiments, without great caution, on 
 
 Milton 
 
 " in a juglers jerkin, &c." Some places of Shakefpeare 
 will from hence appear more eafy : as in the i ft part of 
 Henry IV. Aft. II. where Hal, humouroufly characterizing 
 Falftaff, calls him, That reverend VICE, that grey INIQUITY, 
 ^hat father ruff an, that VANITY in years, in allufion to this 
 buffoon charafter. In K. Richard III. Aft III. 
 
 Thus like the formal Vice, Iniquity, 
 I moralize t-ivo meanings in one word. 
 
 1 1 i QJJ i T Y is the formal Vice. Some correft the 
 pafiage, 
 
 Thus, like the formal ivife Antiquity, 
 I moralize tiuo meanings in one word. 
 
 Which correction is out of all rule of criticifm. In Hamlet 
 Aft I. there is an allufion, ftill more diftant, to THE VICE ; 
 which will not be obvious at firft, and therefore is to be 
 introduced with a fhort explanation. This buffoon cha- 
 rafter was ufed to make fun with the Devil ; and he had 
 feveial trite exprefTions, as, /// fre with you in a. trice : 
 Ah, ha, boy, are you there, &c. And this was great enterr 
 tainment to the audience, to fee their old enemy fo belabour'd 
 in effigy. In K.Henry V. Aft IV. a boy charafterizing 
 Piftol lays, Bardolph and Nim had ten times more valour, 
 than this roaring Devil /" //>' old play ; every one may pare 
 his nails with a wooden dagger. Now Hamlet, having 
 been inflrufted by his father's ghoft, is refolved to break 
 the fubjeft of the difcourfe to none but Horatio j and to 
 all others his intention is to appear as a fort of madman : 
 
 when
 
 I o Critical Observations Book I. 
 
 Milton or Shakefpeare, tho' it may be fport 
 to you, as the pelted frogs cried out in the fable, 
 
 yet, 
 
 when therefore the oath of fecrefy is given to the centinels, 
 and the Ghoft unfeen calls out /wear ; Hamlet fpeaks to it 
 as THE VICE does to the Devil. Ah, ha boy, fayft thoufo? 
 Art thou there, trupenny ? Hamlet had a mind that the cen- 
 tinels fliould imagine this was a fhape that the Devil had 
 put on j and in Aft III. he is fomewhat of this opinion 
 himfelf, 
 
 The Spirit that I have fe en 
 May be the Devil. 
 
 This manner of fpeech therefore to the Devil was what 
 all the audience were well acquainted with ; and it takes 
 off in fome meafure from the horror of the fcene.J Per. 
 haps too the poet was willing to inculcate, that good hu- 
 mour is the beft weapon to deal with the Devil. Truepenny is 
 either by way of irony, or literally from the Greek T^uVanov, 
 veterator. Which word the Scholiaft on Ariitophanes, 
 Clouds -jr. 447. explains, T^'^D, o >&egiltlgt[A(Afi>oi; lv TO<? 
 <&&yp.Kcrw l ov tj/vnT; TPYIIANON xaXa/vwv. Several have 
 tried to find a derivation of THE VICE ; if I mould not hit 
 on the right, I fhall only err with others. THE VICE 
 is either a quality perfonalized as BIH and KAPTO2 in 
 Hefiod and Aefchylus , SIN and DEATH in Milton j and 
 indeed VICE itfelf is a perfon. B. XI, 517. 
 
 And took His image whom they ferrf d, a brutijh VICE. 
 
 bis image, i. "e. a brutiih Vice's image : the Vice Gluttony j 
 not without fome allufion to the VICE of the old plays. 
 Or VICE may be in the abftraft, as in Martial, 
 
 Nou
 
 Se<5l. 2. en SHAKESPEARE. n 
 
 yet, Gentlemen, 'tis death and deftruction to the 
 little taft remaining among us. 
 
 Non Vitiofui homo es, Zoi/e, fed VITIUM. 
 
 But rather, I think, 'tis an abbreviation of Vice-Devil, -as 
 Vice-roy, Vice-doge &c. and therefore properly called 
 THE VICE. He makes very free with .his mailer, like 
 jnoft other Vice-roys, or prime-minkters. So that he is the 
 Pevil's Vice, and prime minilter ; and 'tis this, that makes 
 iim fo fawcy. 
 
 The other old droll charafters, are the Fool, and the 
 Clown, which we have in Shakefpeare's plays. The Ro* 
 mans in their Atellan interludes, and Mimes, had their buf- 
 foons, called Maccus, MiJxoj, from whence the Englim, 
 word, MOCKER ; and Sannio, from whence the Italian 
 Zanni, and ZAKY. See Cicer. de Orat. L. 2. c 61. and 
 Bucco, o f unya9o?, quod buccas inf.aret ad rifum tnevtn 
 dum : from whence is derived a BUFFOON. 
 
 SECT. II. 
 
 I HAVE often wonder'd with what kind of 
 reafoning any one could be fo far impofed on, 
 as to imagine that Shakefpeare had no learning ; 
 when it muft at the fame time be acknowledged, 
 that without learning, he cannot be rejd with any 
 degree of underftanding, or taft. At this time 
 of day he will hardly be allowed that ' infpiration, 
 
 which 
 
 I Cicero pro Arch. Poet. J$ fumrr.is bominilus eruditijp- 
 jnifquc accepitnu} Poetttm nature ipffi ijaltre ~ et quafi 
 
 diving
 
 1 2 Critical Obfervations Book I. 
 
 which his brother bards formerly claim'd, and 
 which claim, if the pretenfions were any ways 
 anfwerable, was generally granted them. How- 
 ever we are well allured from the hiftories of his 
 times, that he was early initiated into the facred 
 company of the Mufes, and tho' he might have 
 fmall avocations, yet he foon returned again with 
 greater eagernefs to his beloved ftudies. Hence he 
 waspoffefied of fufficient helps,either from abroad, 
 or at home, to midwife into the world his great 
 and beautiful conceptions, and to give them 
 birth, and being. That a contrary opinion has 
 ever prevailed, is owing partly to * Ben John- 
 fon's jealoufy, and partly to the pride and pert- 
 nefs of dunces, who, under the umbrage of fuch 
 a name as Shakefpeare's, would gladly flicker 
 their own idlenefs and ignorance. 
 
 di<vino quodam fpiritif inflari. De Nat. Deor. II. 66. Netnt 
 igitur vir magnus Jlne aliquo afflatu d'rvino unquam fuit. In 
 Plato's lo, there is a great deal to the fame purpofe con- 
 cerning this poetic rapture and enthufiafm ; where a certain 
 poet is mention'd, who having made a number of very bad 
 verfes, wrote one poem which he himfelf faid was tvfityMt T 
 Ma3-a: the poem happened to be a very extraordinary 
 one ; and the people took the poet's word, thinking it irn- 
 poflible, without infpiration, that fo bad a poet fhould write 
 fuch fine verfes. 
 
 2 And though thou badft fmall Latin and lefs Greek. 
 'Tis true Johnfon fays very handfome things of him pre- 
 fentiy after : for people will allow others any qualities^but 
 \vhjch-they highly value therrjfelves for. 
 
 Ha
 
 Stft. 2; on SHAKESPEARE. 13 
 
 He was bred in a learned age, when even the 
 3 court ladies learnt Greek, and the Queen of 
 England among fcholars had the reputation of 
 being a fcholar. Whether her fucceffor had 
 equal learning and fenfe, is not material to be at 
 
 3. See what Afcham writes of Lady Jane Grey, (who 
 Hved foms time before Shakefpeare) in his Schole- 
 mafter p. 37. Edit. Lond. 1743. and afterwards p. 67. 
 of Queen Elizabeth. " It is your (hame (I fpeak to you 
 all, you young gentlemen of England) that one maid 
 * fhould go beyond you all in excellency of learning, and 
 " knowledge of divers tongues. Point forth fix of the 
 4' beft given gentlemen of this court, and all they together 
 " fliew not fo much good will, fpend not fo much time, 
 " beftow not fo many hours daily, orderly and conftantly. 
 " for the increafe of learning and knowledge, as doth the 
 " Queen's majefty her felf. Yea I believe that befide her 
 " perfect readinefs in Latin, Italian, French and Spanifti, 
 " me readeth here now at Windfor more Greek every day, 
 " than fome prebendary of this church doth read Latin in 
 " a whole week." Sir H. Savil in his latin fpeech at Ox- 
 ford thus compliments her ; Ilia commemorabo, qutg >vu!g9 
 minus nata, non minus ccrte mirabilia ad laudem : te, cum tot 
 literis legends, tot diciar.dis, tot manu tua fcribendis fufficias 
 * * * te magnam diei par tern ingra<vij[fimorum autorum fcriptis 
 Icgendis, cnttRtndifyue ponere : nemlnem nifi fua lingua fecun 
 toqui ; te cum nemine irijl ipforum, aut omnium cotnmunibus 
 Latina, Graecaque. Omitto plebeios pbilofopbos, quos raro in 
 manus fumis. ^ttotics divinum Platonem animati-verti tuts in* 
 terpretationibus iKviniortnt ejfefium I quoties Ariftotelis obfcvri- 
 tates principis pbilofjpborum, a principe foeminarum evolutat 
 atqu: trpiicatas f 
 
 2 prefent
 
 14 Critical Obfervafions Book I. 
 
 prefent enquir'd into ; but thus far is certain, that 
 letters, even then, flood in fome rank of praife. 
 Happy for us, that our poet, and Johnfon, came in- 
 to life fo early ; that they lived not in an age, when 
 not only their art, but every thing elfe that had wit, 
 and elegance, began to be defpifed: 'till the minds 
 of the people came to be difpofed for all that 
 hypocrify, nonfenfe, and fuperflitious fanaticifm, 
 which foon after like a deluge overwhelmed this 
 nation. 'Twere to be wifhed, that with our re- 
 ftored king, fome of that taft of literature had 
 been reftored, which we enjoyed in the days of 
 Queen Elizabeth. But when we brought home 
 our frenchified king, we did then, and have 
 even to this day continued to bring from 
 France our models, not only of letters, but 
 (O fhame to free born Englifhmen ! ) of morals 
 and manners. Hence every thing, unlefs of French 
 extraction, appears aukward and antiquated. Our 
 poets write to the humour of the age ; and when 
 their own little ftock is fpent, they fet themfelves 
 to work on new-modelling 4 Shakefpeare's plays, 
 
 4 Sir William Davenant, and Dryden, began this juft 
 after the reiteration. They were {"acceded by Shadweil, 
 Rymer, the Duke of Buckingham, and others. The 
 D. of B. made choice of Julias Caefar : which puts 
 me in mind of a painter 1 knew, who told his cuilomer, 
 he had a picture of Claudio of Lorain, " and Sir (fays he) 
 " when I have touched up tbt fky*. little, 'twill make a moil 
 " excellent piece." 
 
 2 - and
 
 Sect. 2. on SHAKESPEARE. 15 
 
 and adapting them to the taft of their audience ; 
 by dripping off their antique and proper tragic 
 drefs, and by introducing in thefe mock-tragedies, 
 not only gallantry to women, but an endeavour 
 to raife a ferious diftrefs from the difappoint- 
 ment of lovers , not confidering that the paflion 
 of love, which one would think they mould 
 underftand fomething of, is a 5 comic paflion. 
 
 5 Love is a paffion, in which the great and the little, the 
 earthly and the heavenly, (to fpeak a little myfterioufly) 
 is fo blended and mixed together, as to make it the fitteft 
 *ubjed in the world for ridicule. Totus vero ijle, qui -vulgo 
 appellatur Amor, (nee hercule invenio, quo nomine alio pojfit 
 appell*ri) tantae twit at is eft, ut nihil videam, quod put em con- 
 fer endum. * * O praeclat am emendationem vitae, Poeticam ! 
 quae Amorem, flagiii ef levitatis auftorem, in concilia dcorum 
 conlocandum pittct : DE C OM OEDIA loquor : quae, fi kaec 
 flagitia nan probaremus, nulla cffet omnino. Cicero Tufcul. 
 difp. iv, 32. Romeo and Juliet is a ftory of real diftrefs ; 
 fo is that, in Otway's Venice preferv'd, between Jafner and 
 his wife. In Shakefpeare you have nothing of what we call 
 gallantry ; nothing of that whining love introduced, (as in 
 Addifon's Cato, in the Siege of Damafcus by Hughes, and in 
 Rymer's Edgar, a play ftolen, or murdered from Shakefpeare) 
 which, one would think, by the dignity of the ftories, 
 ought to have been excluded. But Dryden,-in his epilogue 
 to the fecom] part of the tonqueft of Granada, fpeaks out. 
 Jf LOVE and HO N OUR now are higher raised, 
 'Tis not the poet, but the AGE is praised. 
 
 # * * 
 
 Our LA DIES and our men now fytak more luit 
 In convfrfatlon, than THOSE POETS lurit. 
 
 ineaningShakefpeare and Johnfon Very gallant truly.Mr. Bays? 
 
 In
 
 1 6 Critical Obferuatiotis Book I. 
 
 In fhort they make up a poet of flireds and 
 patches ; fo that the ancient robe of our trage- 
 dian, by this miferable darning, and threadbare 
 patchwork, refembles the long motley coat of 
 the Fool, in our old plays, introduced to raife the 
 laughter of the fpectators. And I am afraid, if 
 the matter was minutely examined into, we mould 
 find, that many paflages, in fome late editions of 
 our poet, have been altered, or added, or lopped 
 off, entirely thro* modern, and French refine- 
 ment. 
 
 SECT. IIL 
 
 A | A H E misfortune feems to be, that fcarcely 
 JL any one pays a regard to whatShakefpeare 
 does write, but they are all ways guefiing at what 
 \&fhould write ; nor in any other light is he 
 look'd on, than as a poor mechanic \ a fellow, 
 'tis true, of genius, who fays, now and then, 
 very good things, but wild and uncultivated ; 
 and as one by no means proper compa- 
 ny for lords, and ladies, maids of honour, 
 and court-pages, 'till fome poet or other, who 
 knows the world better, takes him in hand, and 
 introduces him in this modern drefs to good 
 (ompany. 
 
 Whatever be the opinion of the vulgar, whe* 
 ther the great vulgar or the fmall, is of no great 
 
 concern-
 
 Se&. 3. on SHAKESPEARE. 17 
 
 concernment j but indeed it was a matter of 
 fome furprife to read the following account in a 
 noble writer of a better taft : l " Our old dra- 
 " matick poet may witnefs for our good ear 
 " and manly relifh [notwithjlanding his natural 
 " rudenefs, bis unpoliftfdftile, his antiquated phrafe 
 " and wit, his want of met bod. and coherence, and 
 " his deficiency in almoft all the graces and orna- 
 " ments of this kind of writing-,] yet by the 
 " juftnefs of his moral, the aptnefs of many of 
 " his defcriptions, and the plain and natural turn 
 " of feveral of his characters ; he pleafes his au- 
 " dience, and often gains their ear, without a 
 " fmgle bribe from luxury or vice." Thofe 
 lines, that I have placed between two hooks, 
 ought certainly to have been omitted, as they 
 carry with them reflections falfe in every parti- 
 cular. Or mail we play the critic, and fuppofe 
 them fome marginal obfervation, not written 
 by the learned Antony Aihley Cooper ; and from 
 hence by the blundering tranfcriber foifled into 
 the context ? 
 
 s Twas thro' fuch wrong notions of refine- 
 ment, that z bifhop Burnet was led into no lefs 
 
 miftakes 
 
 1. Charafterifticks, vol. I. Advice to an author, p. 275. 
 
 2. .Burnet's hiftory of his own times, vol. I. p. 163. 
 Mr Richardfon tells us, that Sir William Davenant pro- 
 cured Milton's pardon. See his remarks, p. LXXXIX. 
 
 C Perhaps
 
 1 8 Critical Obfervatiotti Book I. 
 
 miftakes concerning Milton. " He was not 
 " excepted out of the act of indemnity ; and 
 " afterwards he came out of his concealment, 
 " and lived many years, much vifited by all 
 " flrangers, and much admired by all at home 
 c for the poems he writ, tho' he was then blind, 
 " chiefly that of Paradife loft, in which there is 
 c * a noblenefs both of contrivance and execution, 
 " that [tho he affe&tedto write in blank verfe with- 
 out rhyme, and made many new and rough words] 
 ec yet it was efteemed the beautifulleft and per- 
 " fecteft poem that ever was writ, at leaft in our 
 " language." This cenfure falls equally on 
 Shakefpeare , for he too wrote in blank verfe with- 
 out rhyme, and made many new and rough words. 
 But let Milton fpeak for himfelf and his admired 
 Shakefpeare, for doubtlefs he means him, in his 
 apology prefixed to the Paradife loft. " The 
 " meafure is Englifh heroic verfe without rime, 
 " as that of Homer in Greek and Virgil in 
 " Latin-, rime being no necefTary adjunct or 
 
 " true 
 
 Perhaps bifliop Burnet took his cenfure from Dryden's 
 dedicatioa before the tranfhtion of Juvenal ; where he fays, 
 that Milton " runs into a flat of thought fometimes for 
 " a hundred lines together : that he was tranfported too ^ 
 ic fur in the ufe of obfolete words : and that he can by 
 " no means approve of his choice of blank verfe." Dry- 
 <ien might be willing the world fhould think this true, in order 
 that his own wares might go off the better. The folly is
 
 Sea. 3- a SHAKESPEARE. 19 
 
 " true ornament of poem or good verfe, in long 
 * c works efpecially, but the invention of a bar- 
 <6 barous age, to fet off wretched matter and 
 " lame metre ; grac'd indeed fmce by the ufe 
 " of fome famous modern poets, carried away 
 *' by cuftom, but much to their own vexation, 
 " hindrance, and conftraint to exprefs many 
 " things otherwife, and for the moil part worfe 
 " than elfe they would have exprefs'd them. Not 
 " without caufe therefore fome both Italian and 
 
 to be caught. But Burnet was not particular in his opi- 
 nion, 'twas the reigning raft of the age : to comply with 
 which, Dryden turned the Paradife loft into rime, calling 
 h, The State of Innocence, and Fall of Man. For which 
 he received the complements of his poetical brothers ; 
 hear one of them. 
 
 For Milton did the wealthy mine difclofe 
 
 And RUDELY cafl <vubat you cou d <well difyofe . 
 
 He ROUGHLY drew, on an OLD FASHION'D ground 
 
 A Chaos, for no perfect world was found, 
 
 Til/ thro' the heap, your mighty genius Jhin'd, 
 
 He *was the golden ore ivhich you repn d. 
 
 He Jirji beheld the beauteous ruftic maid, 
 
 And to a place of ftrength the prize conveyed; 
 
 You took her thence : To court this virgin brought, 
 
 J)reft her<with gems, newivea'v' J her HARD-SPUN thought^ 
 
 Andfoftefl language, fvjceteJJ manners taught. 
 
 There fpoke the courtiers and poets of Charles's reign ; 
 this was their taft : and exactly fo did they ferve, and 
 judge of Shakefpeare. 
 
 C 2 " Spanifh
 
 2o Critical Qbfervation* Book I. 
 
 *' Spanifh poets of prime note have rejected 
 * e rime both in longer and fhorter works, as 
 * c have alfo long fmce OUR BEST ENGLISH 
 " TRAGEDIES, asa thing of itfelf, to all ju- 
 *' dicious ears, trivial and of no true mufica) 
 * delight ; which confifts only in apt numbers* 
 " fit quantity of fyllables, and the fenfe variously 
 " drawn out from one verfe into another, not 
 " in the 3 jingling found of like endings, a fault 
 " avoided by the learned ancients both in poetry 
 " and all good oratory. This negledt then of 
 " rime fo little is to be taken for a defedb, though 
 " it may feem fo perhaps to vulgar readers, 
 " that it rather is to be efteem'd an example fet, 
 *' the firft in Engliih, of ancient liberty, reco- 
 
 " vered 
 
 3. 'OpotsT/XsvTa. See Quinclil. 1. IX. c. 3. To the 
 
 fiie purpofe Mr. Afcham, in his Scholemafter, p. 194. 
 ' They wiih'd, as Virgil and Horace were not wedded to 
 *' follow the faults of former fathers, (a fhrewd marriage 
 ' ' in greater matters} but by right imitation of the perfeft 
 ' Grecians, had brought poetry to perfednefs alfo in the 
 " Latin tongue ; that we Englilhmen likewife would ac- 
 " knowledge and underftand rightfully our rude beggarly 
 ** riming, brought firit into Italy by Goths and Huns, when 
 " all good verfes, and all good learning too were deflroyed 
 " by them ; and after carried into France and Germany, 
 *' and at laft received into England by men of excellent 
 <; vwt indeed, but of fmall learning, and lefs judgment in 
 " that behalf. But now when men know the difference, 
 '' and have, the examples both of the bed and of the worlt ; 
 
 " furely
 
 5ed, 3.' on SHAKESPEARE, 21 
 
 vered to heroic poem from the troublefome 
 * e and modern bondage of riming." With re- 
 fpeft to the latter part of the cenfure, of making 
 many new and rough words 4 , it may be very juftly 
 
 obferved, 
 - 
 
 " furely to follow rather the Goths in riming, than the 
 ' Greeks in true verfifying, were even to eat acorns with 
 " Twine, when we may freely eat wheat bread among 
 " men." Thefe chiming terminations were fo induftrioufly 
 avoided by Virgil, that in his whole poem 'tis difficult to 
 find one : for in Aen. IX, 634. 
 
 Cceva tempora ferro 
 
 Trajicit. I, verbis virtutem illude fuperbis. 
 
 This play on the words is properly enough put in the 
 mouth of young Afcanius. But thefe verfes have no jingle 
 at all : 
 
 Hie labor extremus, longar' baec met a viarum. 
 Cornua velatar' obvertimus antennarum. 
 
 Indeed Homer has, here and there, thefe fimilar founds 
 and cadences. 
 
 II. t. 865* K.ctvfMii^' i y/aoio 
 II. v. 392. "YWvw ITT' Ixflvitvlt, *x 
 
 Eut the fcarcity of them in fo long a poem plainly {hews, 
 that Homer thought they added no kind of beauty to his 
 verfes. The fame letters repeated fall not under this 
 cenfure ; as, 
 
 Et premere, et la\a.sfciret darejuffus habenas. 
 4. See what Horace writes to this purpofe of coining 
 . new words and Qf making current the old in his art of 
 C 3 poetry,
 
 "2 2 Critical Observations Book L 
 
 obferved, that this liberty, managed with dif- 
 crction and learning, adds a peculiar dignity to 
 the didtion : for things are often deipifed for 
 
 no 
 
 poetry, $. 406, &c. &c. And Ariftotle in his rhetoric 
 IJI, 2. fays, that changing our common idiom for foreign 
 and borrowed terms, often gives grace and dignity to a 
 
 language : TO iaXXaat ttfoktt" ^aiVEcrfiou afoTefa* u<J7rt!> 
 
 <B;ciaXJ^}a^ x} w^o? TK X/!^ : and in his poetics, 
 
 TO~S |i*xor? Kixgtftsw. The words cj and J fhould change 
 places, and the paiTage is thus to be red ; e-ffwj} ^i, ^ ||A- 
 faLrlsiffct TO i^JItxov, xj TOK ItvixoTf cutfjpUfi}. Ti^a/ expreffton 
 has grace and dignity, which differs from the common idiom, 
 and Jifes borrowed terms. I will here add a fpecimen of 
 Milton's words (however new they may feem, or rough) 
 illultrated with fome of Shakefpeare's, and they will be 
 found to have all the grace and dignity, which the above- 
 mention'd critics require. 
 
 Adamantine chains, I, 48. Acfchyl. Prometh. j>. 6. A&x- 
 
 (/.atl'tvuv $icrp.uv. 
 
 Amber flream, III, 359. and in Parad. Reg. Ill, 288. 
 
 Callim. hym. in Cer. j>. 29. AX/x]g WO \ioug. 
 Ambrofal odors, I, '245. Spenc. B. 2. c. 3. . 22. The 
 which ambrojial odours from them threw. Virg. Aen. I, 
 403. Horn. II. . 529. Aft^oc-.a. x rT* t . Milt. V, 56. 
 Hh dewy locks dijliir d Amlrofia. Ambrojial Night, ,642. 
 Horn. II. '. 57. A^oc-W J vux7a. 
 
 of bis throne, VI, 679. Irenaeas L i. c. 14. 
 tw, O /> affeffbr. Nonnus in his pataphr. 
 of St. John, in the beginning, 'Ati^n rJ*fi?^ ii^ji. 
 
 Sophocles
 
 3. on SHAKESPEAKS. 23 
 
 no other reafon than being common. Nor are 
 rough words to be avoided, if the fubject be harfh 
 and rough. The muficians and painters can in- 
 
 form 
 
 Sophocles in Oed. col. p. 316. Edit. Steph. fpeaks of 
 Jujiice, us The a/e/br of Jove : Atxrj $>}&< Zwc. So 
 Arrian in Exped. Alex. IV, 9. d iraXa* o- f eZ*tyi<; TT> 
 Aixiv tracgt^fai TW At' tTroiwav. Pindar calls Rhadaman- 
 thus, Saturn's aj/e/or, and Callimachus the poets, 
 Apollo's affeflbrs. 
 
 A bevy of fair women, XI, 582. The fportfman's phrafe, 
 (peaking of quailes. Spencer ufes it very frequent, B. z. 
 c. 8. f. 34. and B. 4. c. 10. f. 4. and B- 5. c. 9. f. 31. 
 And Shakefp. in Hen. VIII. Ad. i . 
 
 / all this noble bevy, has brought with her 
 One care abroad. 
 Arms on armor clajhing bray'd horrible difcord, VI, 209. a gr. 
 
 GfaixtH, clamare. Horn. II. /x,'. 396. %%*& riv^ta, 
 
 fomtum dedere arma. II. $ '. 387. ^ga'^E ^ ^er a ^6^. 
 
 remugiit 'veru laid tellus. Shakefp. in K. John Aft III. 
 
 Brajing trumpets. In Hamlet Adi I. The kettle-drum and 
 
 trumpet thus bray out The triumph of his pledge. Spencer, 
 
 B. 4. c 4. f. 48. Then ft/rilling trumpets loudly ""gan to 
 
 bray. 
 Sings darkling, III, 39. Sidney's Arcad. p. 614. edit. 
 
 quart. He came darkling into his chamber. Shakefp. in 
 
 Midi". Adi. II. O wilt thou darkling leave mt ? In K. 
 
 Lear, Acl I. we "Mere left darkling. In Ant. and Cleop. 
 
 Al IV. darkling Jland The -varying Jhore of the world. 
 Dulcet Symphonies, I, 7 1 2. Shakefp. in Taming of a fhrew. 
 
 To make a dulcet and a heavenly found, a Lat. dulcis. 
 
 Ital. dolcf t doUiato, 
 
 C 4 Or
 
 ;24 Critical Obfervations Book I. 
 
 form us, what effeft difcords have in mufic, 
 and fhades in pi&ures. Even in profpe&s 
 (Nature's landfkips) how beautifully do rough 
 
 rocks 
 
 Or HEARST thott rather pure ethereal ftream, III, 7. Hor. 
 
 f. II. 6. 20. 
 
 Matutine pater, feu Jane libentius AUDI 3. 
 y~e birds That finging up to heaven- gate afcend, V, 198. 
 
 Shakefp. in Cymb. Aft I. Hark, the lark at heaven's gate 
 
 Horrent arms, II, 513. Virg. Aen. I. Horrentia Mortis Arma 
 v/rumjue cano, and Aen. X, 178. horrentibus haft is. Met. 
 from the briftles of animals ftanding ereft. So B. VI, 
 if. 82. Briftled with upright beams of rigid f pears. And 
 Virg. XII. Striftifque feges mucronibus \iQtrtt ferrea, i. e. 
 an iron crop briftles with unfheathed fwords. This me- 
 taphor Milton has lengthened out into a fxmilitude, 
 E. IV. )fr. 979, &c. 
 
 Hyacinthin locks, IV, 301. Horn. od. '. 
 
 W ben Vapour* fir* d IMPRESS THE AIR, IV, 558. Shakefp, 
 in Macbeth, Aa V. 
 
 -A f^// wa)']/? thou the intrench ant AIR 
 /T///6 tky keen f^icord I M P R E s s . 
 
 In K. Rich. II. Ad. III. He ufes the fubft. mfre/s : from 
 the Ital. imprefa ; ab imprimendo. i. e. a device with a 
 jnotto ; an achievement. 
 
 from my awn nuinJo'ws torn my boujbtld toat ; 
 Rax*d out my IMPRESS. 
 
 Nat
 
 Sed. 3 en SHAKESPEARE. 25 
 
 rocks and ragged hills fet off the more cultivated ,< 
 fcenes ? But however you find fault, in the name 
 
 of 
 
 Wot with INDENTED ivavt Prone on the ground, as Jinct, 
 IX, 496. Shakefp. in As you like it, Aft. IV. fpeaking 
 of a (hake, 
 
 And with indented glide* didjlip away. 
 Liquid fre, I, 229. Shakefp. in Othell. Aft. V. has the 
 fame expreffion ; fo has Virg. Eel. VI, 33. Et liquidi 
 Jlmul ignis. Liquid air, VII, 264. Spencer, B. I. c. i. 
 f. 45. Virgil. Georg. I, 404. Liquid light, VII, 362. 
 and Lucret. V, 282. 
 
 The pure marble air, III, 564. Shakefp. in Othello, Aft 
 III. AW by yond marble hcaafn. In Timon, Aft IV. 
 *Ike marbled manfeon all above, a Graec. fAafpotigsti, 
 refplcndere, /**/*', marmor. Horn. II. | . 275. aXa 
 |x,a/x.6ji/ : which the fcholiart interprets, favxr.t. Hence 
 Virg. Aen. VI, 729. Aequor marmoreum. Shining, re* 
 fplendent like marble. Herat. I, 19. 
 
 Urit me Gtyccrae nitor 
 Splendentif Pario marmore purius. 
 
 Minims ef nature , VII, 482. Proverb. XXX, 24. Quqtuor 
 ifta funt minima terrae, according to the Vulgate. 
 Spencer, B. 6. c. 10. f. 28. 
 
 To make one minime of thy poor handmayj. 
 There is an order- of Monks, who took the name of 
 Minims thro' affefted humility. Shakefp. in Midfum. 
 Adi III. Lyfander to Hermia, 
 
 Get you gone, you dwarf \ 
 You minimus. 
 
 Mr. Theobald reads, you minim you. 
 Wfereattd, II, 683. Spencer, B. i. c. 2. f. 3. that mi/- 
 treated fair. B. 2. c. 7. f. 42. his mifcreateJ mold. 
 Shakefp, Hen. V. Aft I, 
 
 Or
 
 $ Critical Observation* Book I. 
 
 of the Mufes keep your hands from the context j 
 be cautious how you pluck up what you may think 
 
 excrefcencies, 
 
 Or nicely charge your underflanding foul 
 With open tiths mifcreate. 
 
 O FOR that warning VOICE, IV, i. Shakefp. in Roraeo 
 and Juliet. Aft II. 
 
 O FOR a faulkner 1 ! VOICE, 
 To lure this tajjel gentle back again. 
 Prolog, to K. Henry V. O FOR a mufe offre &c. 
 
 In arms they flood Of 'golden PANOPLY, VI, 527. /* eelejli&l 
 yANOPLY all armed, VI, 760. In ailufion to St. 
 .Paul's Epiftle to the Ephefians, VI, n. t$vo-<t<rQs rj 
 IIANOIIAIAN r5 $. i. e. Armor covering the whole 
 foldier : what the Latins called Armatura gravif. 
 Herodian, L. 2. AjaXa&vU? *> r*j IlANOnAIAS j^ 
 x.. r. A. 
 
 let us PI. AY, Ai meet is, after fucb delicious fare, IX, 
 1 027. The whole paflage feeras an imitation of Horn. 
 II. /. 44^- U- I'- 5 '4- The word p!ay, is ufed in 
 the fame fenfe as the Latins ufe Ludtre t and the Greeks 
 
 ll^ux. 
 
 Fis anus, et tamen 
 
 Visformofa videri 
 
 1_,vi>i$qu et bibis inpudens. Hor. IV. 13. 
 LUSISTI^//J, edijii fatis, atque bilijli. L. 2. 2. 214. 
 Turla Menandreae fuerat nee Tbaidos olim 
 Tanta, in qua popxlus LUSIT Ericbthonius. Proper tills. 
 Natives and font of heaven, POSSESS 'D before By vone, 
 V. 790. i. e. Slaves to none. So the Athenians calkd 
 the flaves, jfl*>a7, fofej/tons, tbingi pofleffed : The 
 jnafter, *uRr,pb&. See Ariiloph. Plut. ;fr. 4. 
 
 The
 
 $e&. 3^ on SHAKESPEARE. 25? 
 
 excrefcencies, left with thefe you tear in pieces 
 the poet himfelf. 
 
 Jam farce fepulto, 
 Pane pias fcelerare manus. 
 
 7tre morn Begins Her rofy PROGRESS /miling, XI. !?. 
 Shakefp. in K. Henry IV. Aft III. 
 
 Ibe heavenly -barnef s 1 d team 
 Begins bis golden PROGRESS in the eajl. 
 Sceptred King, If, 43. Horn. II. '. 279. 
 
 Thou my SHADE Inferrable, muft with me along, X, 24$. 
 
 Hor. L. 2. 8. fpeaking of thofe who attended Maecenas 
 
 as unbidden gueito. 
 
 Quos Maecenas adduxerat UMBRAS. 
 
 And L. I. Ep. 5. Locus eft et pluribus UMBRIS. 
 
 'Tis a pretty allufion of conftant attendants in the fun- 
 
 fhine of fortune, and who cannot then be eafily ftiaken 
 
 off. 
 SHAVES with level wing the dtep, II, 634. VirgiL V, 2 1 7, 
 
 RADIT iter liquidum ctleres neque commo'vet alat. 
 Now morn her rofie ftefs in th" 1 eaftfrn clime 
 Advancing, SOW'D the earth 'with orient pearl, V, I. 
 
 In Ariftot. poet. K.tp. *a. Sf&xTra ^Xya. 
 
 Lucretius, Et lumine conferit arva. Virgil, Et jam 
 
 prima novo fpargebat lumine terras. 
 
 the violence of Ramie!, VI, 3 7 1 . Virgil, XI, 576. Violent!* 
 Turni. i. e. the violnt Turnus himfelf. 
 
 SECT.
 
 2% Critical Obfervatlons Rook I. 
 
 SECT. IV. 
 
 
 IT feems no wonder, that the mafculine and 
 nervous Shakefpeare, and Milton, mould fo 
 little pleafe our effeminate taft. And the more 
 I confider our ftudies and amufements, the 
 greater is the wonder they mould ever pleafe at 
 all. The childifh fancy and love of falfe orna- 
 ments follow us thro* life ; nothing being fo dif- 
 pleafmg to us, as nature and fimplicity. This 
 admiration of falfe ornaments is vifibly feen even 
 in our relifh of books. After fuch examples, 
 can we ftill admire, that rattle of the Mufes, a 
 jingling found of like endings tag'd to every 
 line ? Whilft we have ftill preferved fome noble 
 remains of antiquity, and are not entirely void 
 
 , of true genius's among our own nation, what 
 taft mufl it mew, to fly for amufements to the 
 crude productions of an enQaved nation ? Yet 
 this is our reigning taft : from hence our law- 
 givers are taught to form their lives and con- 
 duct, with a thorough contempt of ancient 
 learning, and all thofe, whofe inclinations lead 
 them thro* fuch untrodden paths, 
 
 But this perhaps will not appear fo furprifing, 
 when 'tis confidered, that the more liberal 
 fciences and humane letters, are not the natural 
 
 - growth of thefe Gothic and northern regions, 
 
 We
 
 Sect. 4. on SHAKESPEARE. 29 
 
 We are little better than fons and fucceflbrs of 
 the Goths, ever and anon in danger of relapfing 
 into our original barbarity. And how far the 
 corruption of even our ' public diverfions may 
 
 contribute 
 
 i. Becaufe thefe may be abufed, fome, contrary to all 
 rules of logic, have argued therefore they ftiould entirely 
 be aboliftfd ; as if, becaufe my little finger pain'd me, I 
 fhould have my whole arm cut off. Prynne, with the whole 
 tribe of puritans, reafon'd after this manner. What then, 
 mall we think of St. Paul, who cites the plays of the 
 Athenian ftage in his graveft epiftles ? He has a whole line 
 from the Thais of Menander in his firft epiftle to the Co- 
 rinthians, XV, 33. 
 
 <J>0ti:n>' jj'flaj xfio-Q'' opitiat nemsft. 
 
 'Tis well known the Jews had many dramatic pieces 
 among them, (tho* not perhaps defign'd for the ftage) taken 
 from ftories out of their own chronicles ; fuch fcems the 
 book of Job. To me it appears almoft evident, that 
 St. Jude alludes to a kind of dramatic poem j [yet Michael 
 the archangel when contending with the Devil, he difputetl 
 about the body of Mofes, durji not bring againji him a railing 
 accufation, but Jaid, the Lord rebuke thee. if. 7.] where 
 Michael and the Devil were introduced difputing about 
 the burial of Mofes. The ftory might be taken from fome 
 old Rabbinical comment upon thelaft chapter in Deuterono- 
 my, and the fubjeft might be, The death of Mofes. But 
 not play-books only, but all books of elegance hav* thefe, 
 worfe than Goths and Vandals, attacked : and thefe in- 
 deed muft be firft deftroyed, before their own barbarity can 
 take place. How contrary a ch^ra&er was that of the Apo- 
 ftle Paul ? How politely does he addrefs the Athenians with 
 
 citations
 
 go Critical Obfervations Book I. 
 
 contribute to the corruption of our manners, 
 may be an inquiry not unworthy the civil magi- 
 
 ftrate : 
 
 citations from their own Poets ? How learnedly does he 
 charafterize the Cretans, with humour quoting a verfe 
 from a prophet, as he there calls the religious poet 
 
 Epimenides ? 
 
 [not afya-] Nor mould the elegant addrefs of the Apoftle 
 to the Corinthian women be pafled over, i Cor. XI. 10. 
 Ai raro c^ston v ywn l&a-ictv rp^tiv ITT* T? xe^aX^', AIA 
 TOYS AITEAOYE. There were books in vogue among 
 them (a fort of romances) that told them tales of angels 
 falling in love with women. This is alluded to by Jofephus 
 in his antiquities, L. I. c. IV. "AyytXot SEW yvmii-t crvp^yifas 
 vu-? iyiiyo-ctr ma^ct*;, from a miftaken text in Gen. c. vi. 
 jK 4. which Milton has rightly explained Par. Loft, XI. 621. 
 &c. And hinted at the other opinion. V, 446. 
 
 If ever t tken, 
 
 Then bad the Sons of God excufe /' have been 
 Enamoured at that fight. 
 
 Some of the Rabbins fay Eve was fo beautiful, that the 
 prince of angels fell in love with her, which occasioned his 
 fall. Now thefc ftories were believed by the women in the 
 Apoftle's time ; he puto them in mind therefore of thefe 
 received opinions, and condefcends to reafon on their own 
 hypothefis : for the angels fake then veil your faces, &c. 
 From a like hypothefb the Apoftle, Ephef. ii. 2. 
 calls Satan a prince of the air. But above all will be 
 feen the learned elegance of Paul, when he came to Mars's 
 
 court
 
 Se&. 4. on SHAKESPEARE. 31 
 
 ftrate : lawgivers of old did not deem it beneath 
 their care and caution. You may fee what a ftrefs ts 
 
 laid 
 
 court at Athens ; for even then, tho' their fortune w 
 changed, the Athenians were renowned for arts and fciences : 
 "A^f? 'A0>jva*oi, xctla. fVfuufe u<; &0-$i/*onr8$ /*? Stugu. 
 Ye men of Athens, I fee that in all things you are very religi- 
 oxs. There is great art in the Apoftle's ufing a word of a 
 middle fignification : &<rJa>fiofrfs- This the Athenians 
 took as a complement ; and for this zeal in religion they 
 were praifed by their orators and poets. Then mentioning 
 the infcription he faw on an altar, TO THE UNKNOWN 
 GOD, [fee Paufan. in Eliacis, Lucian in Philop. PhiloftraU 
 de vita Apoll. VI, 2.] he takes occafion to fpeak td them 
 of God ; and he fpeaks to them in fuch a manner, that they 
 imagined one of their own philosophers difcourfing to them. 
 Qvx. i %ctgc7ro>jT<H? ao<? xaTcuXE*". God dwells not in temples 
 made by the bands of men. This was what Zeno had often 
 faid, whofe opinion is juil hinted at in Laertius VII, 33. 
 and in Plutarch's treatife concerning the contradictions of 
 the Stoics. So the Stoic in Lucan IX. 
 
 Eftne Dei fides niji terra, et pontus, et acr, 
 Et caelum, et virtus ? 
 
 [i.e. niji roTIolv, et fapientis animus] and Hierocles, p. 24. 
 edit. Needh. *v%riS xaSfS TOTOV olKiioTs^w lis} yr,<; 9ioj ax 
 fat. Milton I, 17. 
 
 And chief y tbou, O Spirit ! that doft prefer > 
 Before all temples, tfr upright heart and pure. 
 
 See i Cor. Hi. 16, 17. i Cor. vi. 19. 2 Cor. vi. 16. The 
 apoftle goes on, En-ciW rs 1| wo a^atlot irZv I'O*-. This 
 common relationship between mankind was a conflant topic 
 
 f
 
 32 Critical Obfervations Book I. 
 
 laid on mufical entertainments alone, in Plato's 
 republic. Nor did the ftatefman Cicero, in his 
 laws, think Plato's an idle notion. 2 Quamobrem 
 ilk quidem fapientiffimus Graeciae vir, longeque 
 doRiffimuSi valde bane labem veretur : negat enim 
 mutari poj/e muficas leges fine immutatione legum 
 publicarum. Ego autem nee tarn valde idtimendum, 
 nee plane contemwndum puto. Matters of thefe 
 
 con- 
 
 of the academy and porch. Hence the Emperor Marcus 
 Anton. XII, 26. e<r >j cvyyiviia. diQgwira r^oj Era TO 
 utfyuK-cKiv y<v<&~ a y*% alpofl'm xj arvi^etl'm, a'AXa vS xovw>!. 
 [where s is for a ftoo] Even Lucretius could fay, 
 
 caelejli fumus omnesfemine orinndi ; 
 Omnibus ille idem pater eft. 
 
 The apoftle however does not cite the philofophers, but 
 even a poet to witnefs this truth, Aratus. So far they 
 Kftened and acquiefced. But when he began to introduce 
 his grand do&rine, of one, not only being fent into the 
 world to teach mankind the will of God, but of this divine 
 perfon's being raifed from the dead : this aara0-? they 
 could not bear ; their old poet Aefchylus had told them, 
 
 "A7ra| Savofl- T? er' aWrac-tJ. Eumen. 651. 
 
 The hubbub began, and the Apoftle was obliged abruptly to 
 break off his difcourfe. 'Tis a fubjecl deferring confidera- 
 tion, how blind zeal and fuperftition on one hand, and 
 open profligacy and contempt of religion on the other, 
 tend equally alike to lead us die fame road to ignorance. 
 
 2. Cicero de Leg. II, 15. Plato's words are, E~ia<& yp 
 KA1NON [lego, KOINQN] pww .a/Ia&t'W.tH' t&a&Tn*, <fc 
 
 it
 
 Sett. 4. on SHAKESPEARE. 33* 
 
 concernments are now left to the management 
 of our women of fafhion : and even our poets, 
 whofeend is profit and delight ^ are exceeding cauti- 
 ous how they incur the cenfure of thefe fair um- 
 pires and critics. Hence what we call honor, 
 love, and gallantry, make up the chief parts of 
 modern tragedies -, and our Wicherlys and Con- 
 greves, well knowing their audience, took the 
 fureft way to pleafe them. 
 
 A corruption of taft eafily makes way for a 
 corruption of morals and manners; and thefe 
 once depraved foon fit us for the groffeft fervi- 
 tude both of body and mind. They who can 
 read hiftory fomewhat beyond the common chro- 
 nologer's and antiquarian's obfervation ; and can 
 trace the progrefs of national manners, are very 
 fenfible of the reciprocal dependence and mutual 
 connexion between civil liberty and polite lite- 
 rature. However half- feeing critics may extol 
 
 ex oka XHowivtfla. Ou^a/aa yo.% x,V]a [juia-ntr^ T^STTOI iv 
 'Z3'c?UTfctty topuf TW (Aiy'trut, uf Qri&i TS Aa.i,, x^ lyu 
 
 viiOopttt. De Repub. L. IV. p. 424. Edit. Steph. To 
 the fame purpofe the philologift Dio, Orat. 33-. p. 411. 
 
 Iv rc,7<; $tarof. QVTU 
 
 D - the
 
 34 Critical Obfervations Book I. 
 
 the golden age of Auguftus, yet all that blaze of 
 wit was kindled during the ftruggle for liberty : 
 'twas then indeed they had leifure to exert their fa- 
 cultie*, when their country had a little refpite from 
 civil commotions. But this was the laft effort of 
 expiring politenefs and literature. Barbarifm, with 
 gigantic ftrides, began to advance j and to check 
 its progrefs there was but one effectual way , and 
 that was, to alter the whole conftitution of affairs. 
 Thus they went on from bad to worfe, 'till the 
 finifhing ftroke was given by St. Gregory the 
 Great, who in a pious fury fet fire to the J Pala- 
 tine library. In the eailern empire, by the in- 
 fluence of the 4 Greek fathers of the church, all 
 reading of the Attic writers was not only dif- 
 
 couraged, 
 
 3. Sapientiffimus ille Gregorius non modo matbefm jujfllt 
 ab aula recedere, fed ut traditur a majaribus incendio dedlt 
 probates hRionh 
 
 Script a, Pa/a ti nus queecunque tenebat Apollo. Joannes 
 Sarelberienfis de nugis curial. 1. 2. c. 26. Fertur tamen 
 beatus Gregorius bibliotbec&m CQinbuJfijJc gentilem, quo divine? 
 fagince gratior ej/ist locus, et major autoritas, et diligentia, 
 Jludiojior. Idem 1. 8. c. 19. 
 
 4. Auditbam etlampuercx Demetrio Chalcondyla Graecarum 
 ttratH. peril iffima, facerdotes Graecos tanta fiaruijfje auttoritatc 
 npudCae lares Bjzanti?m, nt Integra ( illorum gratia) complura 
 de veterlbus Graecis poemata combujjerint, inprimifquc ea ubi 
 tmores, turpes lufus et nequltiae amantium continebantur, 
 Atqiie iia Menandri, Dipbili, Apollodori > Pbilemonii, Alexis 
 
 fabellv
 
 Sec*t. 4, 0# SHAKESPEARE. 35 
 
 couraged, but the originals were burnt and de- 
 ftroyed. If any furvived this religious mafiacre, 
 'twas partly owing to fome particular attach- 
 ment to a favourite author, and partly to meer 
 accidental caufes. About the fame time the 
 northern nations difmantled the empire, and at 
 length left it an eafy prey to the Turk. 
 
 If we turn our eyes to our own country, we 
 cannot go farther than the invafion of Julius 
 Caefar, without being immerged in legends and 
 romances. But even in that late period of arts 
 and fciences, our Britifh barbarity was fo very 
 notorious, that our 5 inhofpitality to ftrangers, 
 our poverty and meannefs, and our ignorance of 
 
 every 
 
 fabellas, et Sappbui, Erinnae t Anacreontis, Minermimi, 
 [MimnermC\ Bionis, Akmanis, Alcaei carmina intercidijje, 
 turn pro his fubf.ituta Nazianzeni nojlri poemdta ; quae, ctfi 
 excitant animos nojlrorum hotr.intim ad Jlagrantiortm rcligionis 
 cultum, non tamen <verborum dtticorum proprietatem et Graccae 
 linguae elegantiarn edocent. Turpiter quidem face rdote s ijli in 
 vctcres Graecos male^voli fuerunt t fed integritatis, probitatis 
 et religlonis maximum dedere tfjl*monium. Pctrus Alcyonius 
 de Exil. p. 29. edit. Bafil. 
 
 5. Horace, Lib. III. Ode 4. Tifam Britantios hoftitihts 
 feros. See Caefar's defcription of Britain (if 'tis Caefar's, 
 and not inferted by a later hand) de bello Gallic. V, 1 2. 
 &c. Cicero ad Attic. Epift. IV, 16. Hind jam cognitum eft, 
 neque argent i fc rupulum ej/e ullum in ilia infula, neque ullam 
 fpem praedae, mfi ex tnatuipiis. If Caefar did not thoroughly 
 conquer ns, the reafon was, becaufe we were not worth 
 
 D 2 conquer-
 
 3 6 Critical Obfervations Book I. 
 
 every polite art, made us as contemptible to the 
 Romans, as the loweft of the Indian clans can 
 poffibly at this day appear to us. And even when 
 we were beaten into a better behaviour, and 
 taught by our conquerors a little more civility, 
 yet we always relilh'd the Gothic, more than the 
 Roman manners. Our reading, if we could 
 read at all, was fuch as the 6 Monks were pleafed 
 to allow us, either pious tales of their own forg- 
 ing, or lying hiftories of adventurous knight- 
 errants. Our heroes were of a piece with our 
 learning, formed from the Gothic and Moorim 
 models. 
 
 A pleafant picture of our ancient chivalry 
 may be feen in Shakefpeare's K. Richard II. 
 where Bolingbroke, fon to John of Gaunt, ap- 
 peals the duke of Norfolk, on an accufation of 
 high treafon. He would have been thought 
 a moft irreligious perfon, who mould have dared 
 to queftion the immediate interpofition of hea- 
 
 conquering. He had other defigns than fpending his 
 time in fuch a miferable country ; which Rome foon began 
 to be fenfible of. 
 
 6. " Jn our forefathers time, when papiflry, as a ftand- 
 *' ing pool, covered and overflowed all England, few books 
 " were read in our tongue, faving certain books of chival- 
 *' ry, as they faid for paftime and pleafure ; which, as 
 " Ibme fay, were made in nionafteries by idle Monks or 
 ' wanton Canons." Afcham's Scholemalter, p. 86. 
 
 ven
 
 Sedl. 4 c SHAKESPEARE. 37 
 
 ven in defending the right caufe. The judge 
 therefore allowing the appeal, the accufed per- 
 fon threw down his gage, whether glove or 
 gauntlet, which was taken up formally by the 
 accufer ; and both were taken into fafe cuftody 
 till battle was to decide the truth. The champi- 
 ons arms being ceremonioufly blefied, each took 
 an oath, that he ufed no charmed weapons. 
 7 Macbeth, according to the law of arms, tells 
 Macduff, 
 
 / bear a charmed life, 'which mufl not yield 
 To one of woman born. 
 
 To this Pofthumus alludes in Cymbeline, Ad V. 
 
 /, in my own woe charm 5 d 
 Could not fnd death, 
 
 The action began with giving one another the 
 lye in the mofl reproachful terms, 
 
 Then, Botingbroke, as low as to thy heart ^ 
 Thro 1 the falfc fajfage of thy throat, thou lyeftl 
 
 The vanquimed were always deem'd guilty, 
 and deferring their punimment. In the fecond 
 part of K. Henry VI. there is exactly fuch a duel 
 fought, as, 8 in Don Quixote, the fquire of the 
 knight of the wood propofes between himfelf 
 
 7. Macbeth, Aft V. 
 
 8. Don Quixote, vol. 2. chap. 14. 
 
 D 3 and 
 
 48246
 
 3 8 (Critical Obfervation* Book I. 
 
 and Sancho. For the plebeians, not being al- 
 lowed the ufe of the fword or lance, fought 
 with wooden ftaves, at the end of which they 
 tied a bag filled with fand and pebbles. When 
 poor Peter is killed with this weapon by his 
 mailer, K. Henry makes this reflection, 
 
 Go fake hence that traitor from our fight y 
 per by bis death we do perceive his guilt. 
 
 When our judges now a days afk the accufed 
 perfon, how he will be tryed ; they would hardly 
 I believe allow his appealing to his fword or his 
 fandbag to prove his innocency. 
 Our Gothic chivalry Shakefpeare has likewife 
 touched on, in his K. Henry VIII. Hall and 
 Holingfhed, whom our poet has followed, tells 
 us, that in the year 1520 a king of arms from 
 France came to the Englifh court, with a fo- 
 lemn proclamation, declaring, that in June en- 
 fuing, the two kings, Henry and Francis, with 
 fourteen aids, would in a camp, between Ardres 
 and Guifnes, anfwer all comers that were gentle- 
 men, at tik, tourney and barriers. The like 
 proclamation was made by Clarencieux in the 
 French court : and thefe defiances were fent like- 
 wife into Germany, Spain and Italy. Knights and 
 fquires accordingly affem bled, All clinquant, all 
 in gold, as our poet has it : And the two kings, 
 especially our fturdy Henry, performed wonders 
 
 equal
 
 Se&. 4. 0# SHAKESPEARE. 39 
 
 equal to any knight-errant in fairy land. The 
 ladies were not only fpectators of thefe knightly 
 jufts, and fierce encounters, but often the chief 
 occafion of them : for to vindicate their unfpot- 
 ted honors and beauty, what warrior would 
 refufe to enter the lifts? The witty earl of 
 Surry, in Henry the eighth's reign, like another 
 Don Quixote, travelled to Florence, and there, 
 in honor of a fair Florentine, challenged all 
 nations at fingle combat in defence of hisDul- 
 cinea's beauty. The more witty and wife Sir 
 Philip Sydney, 
 
 9 Yclad in mightie arms and jyher Jhield, 
 
 in honor of his royal miftrefs, fhew'd his 
 knight-errant chivalry before the French nobles, 
 who came here on an embafly about the marriage 
 of Elizabeth with the duke of Anjou. 
 
 Would it not be unjuft to ridicule our fore- 
 fathers, for their aukward manners, and at the 
 fame time have no other tell of ridicule but 
 fnode or fafhion ? For we, of a modern date, 
 may pofllbly appear, in many refpecls, equally 
 ridiculous to a critical and philofophical inquirer, 
 who takes no other criterion and ftandard to 
 
 9. Spencer in his Fairy Queen, of Prince Arthur. This 
 Arthur reprefents his patron, Sir Philip Sydney. And 
 every one of his knight-errants reprefented fome hero in 
 the court of Elizabeth. 
 
 D 4 judge
 
 40 Critical Objervations Book I. 
 
 judge from, than truth and nature. We want 
 natural and rightly improved manners : for thefe 
 our poets muft go abroad , and from the Attic 
 and Roman flowers colled: their honey , and 
 they fhould give a new fafhion and drefs, not 
 contrad idling however probability and fame, to 
 whatever is meerly of a Britifh and barbarous 
 growth, agreeable to their imagination and crea- 
 tive fancy. Shakefpeare never writes fo below 
 himfelf, as when he keeps clofeft to our mofl 
 authentic chronicles, and fights over the battles 
 between the houfes of York and Lancafter. Not 
 that he is to blame for following fame in known 
 characters, but in the ill Ie choice of his fubject ; 
 
 for 
 
 10. ATT,$ 06 T? uotijjt^^i ejT/sj 15 ctfiotffllu,, H ffcsv ya 
 .26' at,vT\v, r> $t xatla <7Vf&ir)Xo$. *H ftiv ya,^ isfvilhtlo f<.f/)- 
 cacQau a^xajxiay at'-nT;, 15 a'fAa^Tia. *H $1 T nr^osXfVSai 
 
 f*i7 opfii;?, Kola. *vp6t*of. After YI a/*Tt, by the tran- 
 fcrib?r's negligence, $' elvrw is omitted. The paflage 
 I would thus read, Avr^ li T? nron:lx hrlri v <z/^a]ta' 
 
 ;. Ariftot. 
 
 crs^j Tojr,T. xi(p. XE. In poetry there are tivo defefts, the 
 one arifes from itftlf, [per fe?] the other is accidental: 
 [per accidens: ] far if it cbufes fubjefls for imitation, out of 
 its power and reach, the fault is from itfelf; \J>erfe,~] lut when 
 ?; dntfcs ignorant ly, the fault is accidental [ per accidens, ~^ 
 7 o illuftrate from Shakefpeare. The apufia x6' UVT^S, 
 Jtc historical tranfaclions of York and Lancafter : the 
 
 making
 
 Seft.5- cn SHAKESPEARE. 4I 
 
 for he fhould have rejected what was incapable of 
 embelifhment. But in thofe (tares where his 
 imagination has greater fcope, and where he 
 can " lye without being contradicted, there he 
 reigns without a rival. 
 
 making choice of fuch a ftory as the Winter 's Tale, Sec. 
 The f*lia xaia evpk&Giitos, is where Shakefpeare, not 
 heeding geography, calls Delphi an ifle, in the Win- 
 ter's Tale, Aft III. Not knowing phyfic fays fleurific, 
 inftead of fletbory, in liamlet, Aft IV. With others of the 
 like nature. 
 
 1 1. Homer knew the whole art of lying t and has taught 
 other poets the way. As^a^e SI 
 
 Horace has given this an elegant turn in his art of poetry, 
 J-iSf'. 
 
 Atque it a menfitur, Jic verts falfa remifcet, 
 Pritno ne vtedium, media ne (lifer epet imum. 
 
 SECT. V. 
 
 BU T perhaps our poet's art will appear to 
 greater advantage, if we enter into a detail, 
 and a minuter examination of his plays. There 
 are many who, never having red one word of 
 Ariftotle, gravely cite his rules, and talk of the 
 unities of time and place, at the very mention- 
 ing Shakefpeare's name ; they don't feem ever 
 to have given themfelves the trouble of confx- 
 dering, whether or no his ftory does not hang 
 i together,
 
 42 Critical Otfervations Book I. 
 
 together, and the incidents follow each other 
 naturally and in order , in fhort whether br no 
 he has not a beginning, middle and end. If you 
 will not allow that he wrote ftrictly tragedies -, 
 yet it may be granted that he wrote dramatic 
 heroic poems ; in which, is there not an imita- 
 tation of one action, ferious, entire, and of a 
 juft length, and which, without the help of nar- 
 ration, raifes pity and terror in the beholders 
 breaft, and refines the perturbed paffions ? So 
 that he fully anfwers " ' that end, which both at 
 " the firft and now, was and is, to hold as 'twere 
 " the mirrour up to nature ; to mew virtue her 
 " own feature, fcorn her own image, and the 
 *' very age and body of the time, his form 
 " and preffure." 
 
 Let us fuppofe Shakefpeare has a mind to 
 paint the fatal effects of ambition. For this 
 purpofe he makes choice of a hero, well known 
 from the Britifh chronicles, and as the ftory had 
 a particular relation to the king then reigning, 
 'twas an interefting ftory ; and though full of 
 machinery, yet * probable, becaufe the won- 
 derful 
 
 1. Hamlet, Aft III. he feems to have had in his mind 
 \vhat Donatus in his life of Terence cites from Cicero, 
 Comoedia ejl imitatio <vitae, fpeculum confueiudinis, imago 
 verztatis. 
 
 2. For 'tis probable fometimes that things fliould happen 
 Contrary to probability, "flcrve^ yd^AydQuitiyi^ use; yfawfcti
 
 Se&. 5. on SHAKESPEARE. 43 
 
 derful tales there related were not only mention'd 
 in hiftory, but vulgarly believed. This hero 
 had conduct and courage, and was univerfally 
 courted and careis'd , but his mafter-pafllon 
 was ambition. What pity, that fuch a one mould 
 fall off from the ways of virtue ! It happened 
 that he and his friend, (from whom defcended 
 the Stewart family) one day, travelling thro' a 
 foreft, met 3 three witches, who foretold his fu- 
 ture 
 
 croXXa K) wa^a ro tlx.o$. Sp the place fhould be corrected, 
 Ariftot. Ktpl -zFotflT. xttp. w. See his rhetoric, 1. 2. c. 24. 
 Poetry, whether epic or dramatic, is founded on probability, 
 and admits rather a probable lye, than an improbable truth, 
 It propofes to {hew, not what a perfon did fay or aft, but 
 what 'tis probable ought to have been faid or acted upon 
 that or the like occafion. So that poetry is of a philofo- 
 phical nature, much more than hiftory. See Ariftot. xe<p. '. 
 
 3. Maccabaeo Banquhonique Forres (ubi turn rex agebat) 
 proficifcentibus, ac in itinere lufus gratia per campos 
 fylvafque errantibus, medio repente campo tres apparuere 
 muliebri fpecie, ir.folita vcftitus facie ad ipfos accedentes; 
 quas cum a^ipropinquentes diiigentius intuerentur admira- 
 renturque, falve, inquit prima, Maccabaee Tliane Glammis 
 (nam eum magiftratum defundlo paulo ante patre Synele 
 acceperat) Altera vero, falve, inquit, Caldariae Thane. 
 At tertia, falve, inquit, Maccabaee olim Scotorum rex fu- 
 ture. Heft. Boeth. Scot. hift. L. 12. And afterwards 
 he adds, P areas aut- nympkas aliquai fatldicas diabolico ajiu 
 fraeditas. Which Holinglhed, in his hift. of Scotland, 
 p. 171. renders, Thefe women nvere either the weird fitters, 
 that is, as ye would fay, the goddejfes of dejlinit, or elfe fomt
 
 44 Critical Obfervations Book I. 
 
 ture royalty. This ftruck his ambitious fancy , 
 crowns, fceptres and titles danced before his 
 dazled eyes, and all his vifionary dreams of 
 happinefs are to be compleated in the poffefTion 
 of a kingdom. The prediction of the witches 
 he makes known by letter to his 4 wife, who, 
 
 ttympbs or fflrlei. And the old Scotifh chron. fol. c. LXXIII. 
 Pe adventure Makbetb and Banqubo <wer pajfend to Fores, 
 qnbair kyng Duncane bapnit to be for the tyme, and met be 
 ye gait tbre ivomen clothit in elrage and uncouth iveid. They 
 werjugit be the pepill to be iveirdjifteris. From the Anglo- 
 Sax. tDWrD, //, comes, weird fillers, parcae. So Douglafs 
 in his tranflation of Virgil, Aen. III. 
 
 Probibent nam caetera parcae 
 Scire. 
 
 The weird Jifteris defendh that Juld be ivit. 
 
 And hence comes toward. Buchanan rer. Scot. L. 7. 
 gives the ftory a more hiftorical turn. Macbethm, qui con- 
 jabrini ignai'id femper fpretd regni fpem occultam in animt 
 alcbat, creditur (omno quodam ad earn confirmatus. i^uadant 
 snin: rocle, cum longiufcule abeftt a rege, i-ifas eji Jibi tres 
 fcwirtas forma auguftiore quam humana vidiffe ; quarum una 
 Angufiae ibamtm, alt era Moraviae, tcrtia regem turn Jalu- 
 tafii. 
 
 4. Inftigabat quoque uxor ejus cupida nominis regii, 
 impotentiffimaque morae ut eft mulierum genus proclive ad 
 /em aliquam concipiendam, & ubi conceperint nimio affeclu 
 profequendam. Heclor Boeth. Scot. hift. L. 12. p. 249. 
 Animus ctiam per fe ferox, prope quotidianis convitiis 
 uxoris (quae omnium coniiliorum ei erat confcia) ilimula- 
 fcatur. Buch. rer. Scot. 1. 7. 
 
 ten
 
 Seel. 5. on SHAKESPEARE. 4- 
 
 ten times prouder than himfelf, knew there was 
 one fpeedy and certain way to the crown, by 
 treafon and murder. This pitch of 5 cruelty a 
 human creature may be work'd up to, who is 
 prompted by felf-love, (that narrow circle of 
 love, beginning and ending in itfelf,) and by 
 ambitious views. Befide cruelty is moft notori- 
 ous in weak and womaniih natures. As 'twas 
 6 cuftomary for the king to vifit his nobles, he 
 came one day to our hero's caftle at Invernefs ; 
 where time and place confpiring, he is murdered ; 
 and thus the fo much defired crown is obtained. 
 
 Who does not fee that had Shakefpeare 
 broken off the ftory here, it would have been 
 incomplete ? For his defign being to fhew the 
 effects of ambition, and having made choice of 
 
 5. Sophocles is blamed by Ariftotle for drawing Hemon 
 cruel without neceflity. Perhaps Ariftotle's remark will 
 appear over refined, if it be confidered what a fmall cir- 
 cumilance this intended cruelty of Hemon's is in the play ; 
 and that Creon, Hemon's father, had put to death his Con's 
 efpoufed wife, Antigone. No wonder therefore the fon 
 mould draw his fword, furprized as he was, againft his 
 father, and afterwards plunge it in his own breaft. The 
 cruelty of Hemon, as weH as this of Macbeth's wife, feem 
 to have both neceflity and paflion. 
 
 6. Inerat ei [Duncano] laudabilis confuetudo, regni per- 
 tranfire regiones femel in anno &c. Johan. dc Fordun Scoti- 
 chron. 1. 4. c. 44. Singulis annis ad inopum querelas 
 audiendai perlujlrakat provincial. Buchan. rer. Scot. 1. 7.
 
 46 Critical Obfervatiom Book I. 
 
 one paflion, of one hero, he is to carry it through- 
 out in all its confequences. I mentioned above 
 that the ftory was interefting, as a Britilh ftory 5 
 and 'tis equally fo, as Macbeth, the hero of 
 the tragedy, is drawn a man, not a monfterj 
 a man of virtue, 'till he hearken'd to the lures 
 of ambition : then how is his mind agitated and 
 convulfed, now virtue, now vice prevailing; 
 'till reafon, as is ufual, gives way to inclination ? 
 And how beautifully, from fuch a wavering 
 character, does the poet let you into the know- 
 ledge of the fecret fprings and motives of hu- 
 man actions ? In the foliloquy before the mur- 
 der, all the aggravating circumftances attending 
 fuch a horrid deed, appear in their full view be- 
 fore him. 
 
 Hfs here in double truft : 
 Firft as I am his kinfman and his fubjeft, 
 Strong loth againft the deed : then, as his 7 bqft 9 
 IVho jhotdd againft bis miirttfrfrjhttt the door \ 
 Not bear the knife ivyfelf. Befides, this Duncan 
 Hath lorn his faculties fo meek, &c. 
 
 When 
 
 7. A ftronger reafoh againft the murder than any other. 
 Hofpitality was always facred. This is according to an- 
 tiquity. Homer, Od. |'. 55. 
 
 HfTr' ftoj ftfMf ff' 
 Stwv oT/*r<rai* <c 
 SIHQ'L ft -nr]fc'jj*i TE. 
 
 Hence
 
 Sect. 5. on SHAKESPEARE. 47 
 
 When his wife enters, he tells her he is refolved 
 to proceed no further in this fatal affair ; and 
 upon her calling him coward, he makes this 
 fine reflection, 
 
 / dare do all that may become a man\ 
 Who dares do more is wne. 
 
 But what is will and refolution, when people's 
 opinions are what the philofopher calls 8 KHPINAI 
 TnOAHYElS ? How does every honeft fuggeftion 
 vanifh, and refolution melt like wax before the 
 fun, coming in competition with his ambition ? 
 For her fake (powerful phantom ! ) honor, ho- 
 nefty, all is facrificed. 
 
 Macbeth is now king, and his wife a queen, 
 in enjoyment of their utmoft wilhes. How 
 dear the purchafe, will foon appear. When he 
 murders his royal hoft, he comes out with the 
 bloody daggers. This circumftance, little as it 
 feems, paints the hurry and agitation of his 
 
 Hence among the Greeks, Zic *&, and the Latins, 
 Jupiter bofpitalis. Virg. Aen. I, 735. 
 
 Jupiter hofpitibus nam te dart jura loquuntur. 
 
 'Tis very fine in Shakefpeare to give this caft of antiquity 
 to his poem ; whatever the inhofpitable character of out 
 ifland-nation happens to be. 
 
 8. Epift. L. IJI. c. XVI. 
 
 mind,
 
 48 Critical Obfervatiom Book I. 
 
 mind, ftronger than a thoufand verfes. But 
 Shakefpeare is full of thefe true touches of nature. 
 
 Methought 1 heard a voice cry, Sleep no more, 
 Macbeth doth murder Jleep. 
 
 Again, looking on his hands, 
 
 What hands are here ? hah ! t hey pluck out mine eyes. 
 Will all great Neptune's ocean wafh this blood 
 Clean from my hand 9 ? 
 
 9. Shakefpeare had this from his brother tragedians. 
 So Hercules in Seneca : 
 
 Artloum licet 
 
 Maeotis in me gelida transfundet mare, 
 Et tota Tethys per meats currat manus, 
 Hasrebit altum f acinus. Hercul. Fur. Acl V. 
 *Tis faid of Oedipus, in Sophocles, that neither the 
 waters of the Danube, or Phafis can wajh him and his hoitft 
 clean. 
 
 In allufion to their expiatory waftiings in the fea or rivers. 
 Various were the ceremonies of vvafhing among the Jews, as 
 well as Gentiles ; particularly that of the hands. Homer, 
 II. ' z66 - 
 
 Hence came the proverb of doing things with ynrwafitd 
 hands ; i. e. impudently, without any regard to decency 
 or religion. Henry IV. Aft III. 
 
 Falit. Rob me tit exchequer the firfl thing than daft, and do 
 it wiih unwarned hands tea. 
 
 'Tis
 
 Se&. 5. on SHAKESPEARE. 49 
 
 'Tis much happier for a man never to have 
 known what honefty is, than once knowing it, 
 after to forfake it. Macbeth begins now to fee, 
 at a diftance, that virtue which he had forfaken ; 
 he fees the beauty of it, and repines at its lofs. 
 Jealoufie, miftruft, and all the tyrannic pafiions 
 now wholly pofiefs him. He grows chiefly 
 jealous of Banquo, becaufe his polterity had been 
 promifed the crown. 
 
 For Banquets ijjue have Iffid my mind: 
 
 For tbem^ the gracious Duncan have I murther'd* 
 * * * * 
 
 To make them kings : I0 the feed of Banquo kings : 
 Rather than fo, come Fate into the lift, 
 And champion me to th* utterance " / 
 
 And 
 
 10. The place mould thus be pointed, 
 
 To make them kings. The feed of Banquo kings / 
 to be fpoken with irony and contempt, which gives a fpirit 
 to the fentence. 
 
 1 1 . Alluding to the words of the champion at the coro- 
 nation. So Holingflled : " Whoever fhall fay, that king 
 ' Richard is not lawful king, I will fight with him at the 
 " UTTERANCE." i.e. to the uttermoft, to the laft extre- 
 mity. Douglafs in his tranilation of Virgil. Aen. V, 197. 
 
 Olli certaminey/7K0 
 Frocitmbunt. 
 
 JDitfj alt rfjare fozce tljan at tfj* utcrance. 
 
 And Aen. X, 430. 
 
 Et vos, O Gratis imperdita corpora, Tcttcri.
 
 50 Critical Obfervations Book I. 
 
 And to have any virtue is caufe fufficient of a 
 tyrant's hatred ; hence vengeance is vowed a- 
 gainft MacdufF. 
 
 / am m blood 
 
 Stept in fo far, that Jhould 1 wade no more, 
 Returning were as tedious as I4 go o'er. 
 
 This is one of the great morals inculcated in the 
 play, that wickednefs draws on wickednefs, fuch 
 is it's deceitful nature. lAnd how poetically is 
 the whole managed, to make all the incidents 
 produce each the other neceflarily and in order ; 
 till the meafure of their iniquity being full, they 
 both miferably perilh ? And thus the fatal effects 
 of ambition are defcribed, and the ftory is one. 
 
 The epifodes, or under-actions, are fo inter- 
 woven with the fabric of the ftory, that they 
 are really parts of it, though feemingly but 
 
 5CnO se alfo feil boDi'te of 
 
 3Tl)at toat not put fou <8rcifci to utetancc, 
 
 The gloflary thus explains it : " iterance. Chauc. 
 " Outrance, dejiruftion : to the uttermojl of their power, a F. 
 ' Oul trance, extremity, excefs ; comb at re a oultrance, to 
 " fight it out, or to the uttermoft, not to fpare one another 
 " in righting : and that from the adv. cultre, ultra, q. d. 
 *' K//TA'." 
 
 1 2. i. e. as to go o'er. 'Tis very common for our poet 
 and his contempories to omit [to'] the Cgn of the infinitive 
 mood. 
 
 adornings.
 
 Sed. 5, on SHAKESPEARE. 51 
 
 adornings. Thus, for inftance, it being proper 
 to fliew the terrors of Macbeth for his murder of 
 Banquo ; the poet makes him haunted with IJ his 
 apparition. And as wicked men are often fuper- 
 ftitious, as well as inquifitive and jealous, to 
 draw this character in him more ftrongly, he 
 fends him to enquire his deftiny of the three 
 witches. But every thing falls out to encreafe 
 his misfortunes. There i$ fuch a caft of I4 an- 
 tiquity, 
 
 13. The Greek rhetoricians call this, fa/lac-ia and 
 tl$uho7rot'. One of the fineft inftances of this kind is in 
 the Oreftes of Euripides. 
 
 14. If the reader has a mind to compare Shakefpeare 
 with the ancients, I would refer him to Ovid's Circe : and 
 Medaea, Met. VII. where the boiling and bubbling of the 
 cauldron is prettily expreft : 
 
 Interea nialidum pojtto medicamen abfno 
 Fervet et exultat, fpumifque tumentibus albet. 
 
 among the ingredients in her charms, are mentioned the 
 owlet's wing, and filet of a fenny fnake. 
 
 Et ftrigis infames ipjts cum carnibus alas 
 
 Nee defuit illic 
 Squqmea Cinjphii tenuis membrana Chelydri. 
 
 See likewife the Medaea of Seneca : 
 
 Mart if era carpit gramina, ac ferpe ntium 
 Saniem exprimit ; mifcetqut et obfcenas avts 
 Maeftique car bubonis, et rattcae ftrigis 
 Exfecla vivae wife era, 
 
 z -And
 
 52 Critical Obfervations Book I. 
 
 tiquity, and fomething fo horridly folemn in this 
 infernal ceremony of the witches, that I never 
 confider it without admiring our poet's improve- 
 ment of every hint he receives from the ancients, 
 
 And theprieftefs in Virgil, Aen. IV, 509, &c. And the witch 
 Eriftho in Lucan, B. VI. where (he mixes for her ingre- 
 dients every thing of the ill-ominous kind. 
 
 Hue quicquid foetu genuit natura jlnijlra 
 Mifcetur, &c. 
 
 And Canidia in Horace, Epod. V. 
 
 Jubet fepultris caprijicos erutas, 
 
 Jubet cuprej/us funebres, 
 Et unfta turpii o<va ranaefanguine, 
 
 Plumamque nofturnae ftrigis, 
 Herbafque, &c. 
 
 Before the witches call up the apparitions, they pour into 
 the cauldron fow's blood. So the witches in Horace, L. I. 
 fat. 8. pour out the blood of a black ram into a pit digged 
 for that purpofe. 
 
 Cruor In fo/ant confufus, ut in inde 
 Manes elicerent, animas refponfa daturas. 
 
 -The ghoft of Darius is conjur'd up in the Perfae of Aefdiy- 
 lus, and foretells to queen Atoffa her calamities. Sextus 
 Pompeius, in Lucan, enquired of Erictho the forcerefc the 
 event of the civil wars, and fhe raifed up a dead body by 
 her magic art, to anfwer his demands. Homer ought 
 not to be pafled over ; in his OdyfT. B. XI. Ulyffes calls 
 up Tircfias, Our poet will bear comparifon with any of 
 thefc. 
 
 being
 
 Sect. 5. on SHAKESPEARE. 53 
 
 or '* moderns. Then again thofe apparitions, 
 being l6 fymbolical reprefentations of what lhall 
 happen to him, are introduced paltering with him 
 in a double fenfe, and leading him on, according 
 to the common notions of diabolical oracles, to 
 his confufion. And when the kings appear, we 
 have a piece of machinery, that neither the an- 
 cients or moderns can exceed. I know nothing 
 
 15. See amafque of Johnfon's at Whitehall, Feb. 2. 1609. 
 which feems to have preceded this play. For Johnfon's 
 pride would not luffer him to borrow from Shakefpeare, 
 tho' he ftole from the ancients: a theft excufable enough. 
 Both thefe poets made this entertainment of" the witches to 
 pleafe king James, who then had written his book of De- 
 monology. Johnfon, in the introduction of the mafque fays, 
 44 The part of the fcene which firft prefented itfelf was an 
 " ugly Hell, which flaming beneath, fmoked unto the top 
 " of the roofe. And in refpeft all evils are morally faid 
 " to come .from lull-, as alfo from that obfervation of 
 " Terrexthu upon Horace his Camdia, quae tot inftrufla 
 *' uenenjs, ex orci faucibus, profefta niideri poj/tt : thefe 
 " witches, with a hollow and infernal mufick came forth 
 " from thence." He tells us, Jones invented the archi<- 
 tedture of the whole fcene and machine. Perhaps Shake- 
 fpeare made ufe of the fame fcenes. 
 
 1 6. The armed head, reprefents fymbolically Macbeth's 
 head cut off and brought to Malcolm by Macduff. The 
 bloody child, is Macduff untimely ripp'd from his mother's 
 womb. The child with a crown on his head, and a bough 
 in his hand, is the royal M>lcolme ; who ordered his fol- 
 4iers to hew them down a bough, and bear it before them 
 to Dunfmane. 
 
 E 3 any
 
 54 Critical Obfervations Bbok I; 
 
 any where can parallel it, but that moft fublime 
 paflage in Virgil, where the great fucCeffofs of 
 Aeneas pafs in review before the hero ? 3 eyes. 
 Our poet's doling with a compliment to James 
 the firft upon the union, equals Virgil's compli- 
 ment to Auguftus. 
 
 The variety of characters with their different 
 manners ought not to be pafTed over in filence. 
 Banquo was as deep in the murder of the king, 
 as fome of the I7 Scotilh writers inform us, as 
 Macbeth. But Shakefpeare, with great art and 
 addrefs, deviates from the hiftory. By thefe 
 means his characters have the greater variety ; 
 and he at the fame time pays a compliment to 
 king Jame.s, who was lineally defcended from 
 Banquo. There is a thorough honefty, and a 
 love of his country in Macduff, that diftinguifhes 
 him from all the reft. The characters of the 
 two "kings, Duncan and Macbeth, are finely 
 contrafted ; fo are thofe of the two women, lady 
 Macbeth and lady Macduff. 
 
 l j . Igitur' re cum intimis amicorum, in qvibus erat 
 BANQJJO, communicata, regent cppyrtummi infidiis ad E n<ver- 
 tiejfum naftus, feptimum jam reg'nante?n annum, obtruncat. 
 Buchan. rer. Scot, L. 7. Ccnji/ia igitur cum proximis amicii 
 communicata at in primis cum BANQJJHONE ; c,ui ubi omnia 
 polliciti fu'iffenti per cccafioncm regem fcpiimum "jam Annum 
 regnant em ad Etrvernes (alii dicunt dd Botgofuanae ) obtrunc&t. 
 Heft. Boeth. p. 250, 
 
 In
 
 5. on SHAKESPEARE. 55 
 
 In whatever light this play is viewed, it will 
 fliew beautiful in all. The emperor ' 8 Marcus 
 Antoninus fpeaks in commendation of tragedy, 
 as not only exhibiting the various events of life, 
 but teaching us wife and moral obfervations. 
 What tragedian equals Shakefpeare? When 
 news was brought to Macbeth that the queen was 
 dead, he wifhes me had not then died ; to morrow, 
 or any other time would have pleafed him better. 
 This is the concatenation of ideas, and hence is 
 introduced the obfervation that follows. 
 
 To morrow, and to morrow, and to morrow, 
 Creeps in this petty pace from day to day, 
 To the loft fyllable of recorded time : 
 And all our yejierdays have lighted fools 
 Tbeway to I9 ftudy death. Out, out, brief candle! 
 Life's but a walking Jhadow, a poor player 
 Thatjlruts and frets his hour upon the ft age 
 And then is beard no more ! It is a tale, 
 Told by an idiot, full of found and fury, 
 Signifying nothing ! 
 
 And 
 
 18. Marc. Ant. XI, 6. 
 
 19. The firft folio edition reads dufty death : i.e. death 
 which reduces us to duft and alhcs ; as Mr. Theobald explains 
 it, an efpoufer of this reading. It might be further 
 ftrengthened from a flmilar expreffionin the pfalins, xxii. 15. 
 tbou baft brought me to the dufl of death : the dull of death, 
 i. e. dufty death. I don't doubt but dujly death was 
 
 E 4 Shake-
 
 <6 Critical Objervations Book I. 
 
 And fomewhat before, when the doctor gives 
 Macbeth an account of the troubfed ftate of the 
 queen, he afks, 
 
 Canft tbou not minifler to a minddifeas'dy 
 Pluck from the memory a rooted forrow, 
 Raze out the written troubles of the brain 5 
 And^ with fome fweet * oblivious antidote, 
 Cleanfe the fluff* d bofcm of that perilous fluff 
 Which weighs upon the heart ? 
 
 It might be likewife deferring notice, how 
 finely Shakefpeare obferves that rule of tragedy, to 
 
 paint 
 
 Shakefpeare's own reading; but 'twas his firft reading; and 
 he afterwards altered it himfelf into/a^y death, which the 
 players finding in fome other copy, gave it us in their 
 fecond edition. Study then feems the authentic word. 
 To die is a leflbn fo eafily learnt, that even fools can ftudy 
 it : even the motley fool, in As you like it, could reafon 
 on the time. 
 
 'Tis lut an hour ago fence it was ine, 
 And after one hour more 'twill be e levee ; 
 And fo from hour to hour ijae ripe and ripe t 
 And then from hour to hour ive rt ana" rot, 
 And thereby bangs a tale, 
 
 20. Alluding to the Nepenthe : a certain mixture, of 
 which perhaps opium was one of the ingredients. Homer, 
 Od. y. 221. 
 
 I'll
 
 Sett. 6. on SHAKESPEARE. 57 
 
 paint the miferies of the 21 great : almoft all the 
 perfons in the play, more or lefs, are involved 
 in calamity. The leffon to be learnt by the lower 
 people is, acquiefcence in the eafe of a private 
 ftation, not obnoxious to thofe diforders, which 
 attend greatnefa in the ftage of the world. 
 /. e. the oblivious antidote, caufmg the fbrgetfulnefs of all 
 the eyils of life. What is remarkable, had Shakefpeare 
 understood Greek as well as Johnfon, he could not more 
 clofely have expreffed the meaning of the old bard. 
 
 21. "E rot's -nrXao-kOK xj @ff&it-an rwga'tm; ai TaywJia 
 
 ZT/4/ali Svyutla. 
 tlta iffigi T^iror TSTa^ 
 
 'Iw K0afa;y, TJ /*' i&xp 
 
 Arian. L. i. c. 25. p. 124. Marc. Anton. XI, 16. 
 
 SECT. VI. 
 
 AGAIN, let us fuppofe the poet had a mind 
 to inculcate this moral, that villany, tbo* 
 for a time fuccefsful^ will meet ifs certain ruin. 
 
 1 EiriEP TAP TE KAI ATTIK* OATMIIIOS OTK 
 
 ETEAESZEN 
 EK TE KAI O'fE TEAEI. 
 
 i. Horn. II. '. 1 60. &c. Agamemnon foon after fuggefh 
 he (hall return back to Argos with ignominy ; to his much- 
 injurd Argos, fo he calls it ; this expreflion carries paffion 
 with it, nOATFinriON APFOS. Which the tranfcriber 
 has alter'd into woXt;^^cr "A ? f^, miftaking the Aeolic 
 digamma for a 4.
 
 5 3 Critical Obfervations Book I. 
 
 What, tbo* tbe band of bean? n withholds itsftroke? 
 At length^ tbo' late, more dreadful 'twill defcend 
 Down, OH tbe author's head, bis wife and off spring. 
 For well 1 ween tbe fatal day draws near, 
 When Troy's curjl walls, and Priam with his people 
 Shall ptrijh all. High o'er their impious beads 
 Jove /hakes bis gloomy Aegis, fully fraught 
 Witb vengeance 'gainft their frauds and perjuries. 
 Thus Fate ordains irrevocably fixt. 
 
 Thus is Hamlet made an inftrument by provi- 
 dence to work the downfall of his uncle , and the 
 punimment being compleated, the play ends. 
 Were one to enter into a detail of the fable, to 
 what advantage would the poet's art appear ? 
 The former king of Denmark being fecretly 
 murdered by the pofieflbr of the crown, the fad: 
 could not be brought to light, but by the * in- 
 tervention of a fupernatural power. The ghoft 
 
 of 
 
 2. Ariftodc having obferved that the unravelling of the 
 plot, or the folution of the fable, mould proceed from the 
 fcble itfelf, and not from any machine, adds, 'AW^ t*vx'* 
 
 X^r/c. hrl T* {"Iw ra ^a'ftoi., ^ os-a &%o rS ys'/wrr, (i *% 
 .olo'i T{ aiO^wTror tlSitctt,) i oer v r t6>, ourat & go [oi tiffins 
 ^ vyyiticu;. ri l WOIIJT. Ki$. tl . But a machine may be ufed 
 tut of the aclion of tbe drama, either to explain fame things 
 that tave already happened, (which 'tis impoJJ&le otberwift 
 fur a. man to ie acquainted with ) or that may ha^en hereafter, 
 cntcnring ivbicb ive want to be informed. The murder of 
 
 the
 
 Se&. 6. on SHAKESPEARE. $g 
 
 of the murdered king was ufually feen to walk 
 on a platform before the palace, where the cen- 
 tinels kept guard. There was a foldier, who 
 doubting this tale, came on the platform out of 
 
 curiofity, 
 
 the king is a fact of this fort, which could not be known 
 but by a machine. Machines thus introduced add furprife 
 and majefty to the incidents : nor are they improbable, if 
 according to the received and vulgarly-believed opinions ; 
 as the ghoft in Hamlet, th^ witches in Macbeth, &c. The 
 epic poet has greater latitude : hisjpeciofa miracula are 
 received more eafily ; he tells you ftories ; the tragedian 
 reprefents them, and brings them before your eyes. 
 
 Segnius irritant animot demijfa per aurem, 
 uam quae funt oculis fubjeffajidelibus. 
 
 Hor. art. poet. 1 80. 
 
 Now what is marvellous, and out of the vulgar road, is 
 highly pleafing. What Ariftotle fays to this purpofe is 
 worth our notice. I will give his words as they feem to 
 me they {hould be printed and corrected. A<r yi.lv '' 
 Ta;? Ty&'Jiaj croi-iV TO Sat-'/xa-of. MXAov ' 
 Tfl tflroTroua TO \o/8v, (tfj' s ffvpu.'n p. ctkiret To 
 ^* TO ftfl o^av jij TCV -nrgatTlovla. "Eirjila [lege 'Ew Tot] 
 T "CTipJ T)jx "Exlog' o'lu^m \TC\ ffKr,tr,c Zvlat, yihaTa, oil ^aetj, 
 Oi f* tr<wTj x^ K ciKXfJl;t, o ct ci^xni'ti.".'. *Er Je TO^ fifsa'i 
 ^9a'y?<. To ^i Sa^arci, S'J t cr^i^v as' 'BsifliS ya 
 .rgor*8/nl; aTray/sAXyc-tr w? ^ag^ofistst. 7^ marvellous 
 ought to be in tragedy ; but rather in the Epopea is admitted 
 what even tranjgrejjls the bounds of reafon, (by lukich the 
 marvellous is chiefly raifed) becaufe the aflors art not fcen. 
 So that ivhicb Homer writes of Heflor, perfued by Achillei t 
 would be ridiculous on the ft age ; for here the foldier -s muft be 
 i Jlanding
 
 60 Critical Obfervations Book I. 
 
 curiofity, and defired to hear a particular account 
 of this apparition. The centinel begins : 
 
 Loft night of all 
 
 When yon fameftar, that's weftward from the pole, 
 Had made bis courfe ? illume that part of heart n 
 Where now it burns, Marcellus and myfelf, 
 
 The bell then beating one 
 
 Mar. Peace, break thee off-, Enter the ghofl. 
 Look, where it comes. 
 
 With what art does the poet break off, juft as he 
 raifes the curiofity of the audience ; and thus 
 avoids a long circumftantial narration ? Let any 
 one compare the fcornful file nee of Dido's ghoft 
 to Aeneas, the fallen filence of Ajax to UlyfTes, 
 with the majeftic filence of Hamlet's ghoft, 
 which occafions fo much terror and wonder j 
 tho* all are highly beautiful, yet confidering 
 time and circumftances, our poet will appear to 
 the greateft advantage. The centinels break the 
 matter with all it's particularities, to give it an 
 air of probability to the prince, who refolves to 
 
 Banding fiill, and not perfuitig the flying Heftor ; there one 
 perfon only following and beckoning the reft to ft and off. But 
 all this is not difcernable in the Epopea. AW the marvellous 
 is Kkfwift plea/ant : a proof of it is, that thofe, who relate 
 mny tthtg, generally add fomethlng or other of their own 
 invention, to tnakt their narration mare' diverting, or^ mowr. 
 x>?. *} 
 
 watch
 
 Se#. 6. o;2 SHAKESPEARE. 61 
 
 watch upon the platform. At the ufual hour the 
 ghoft enters, and draws Hamlet apart to tell him 
 his dreadful tale, which was improper for the 
 reft to be acquainted with. Our hero determines 
 upon his behaviour, and * fwears the centinels to 
 fecrefy. However, upon fecond thoughts, he 
 does not know but the apparition might be the 
 4 devil, that affumed his father's ihape : he will 
 therefore have furer foundations to proceed on, 
 before he puts his intended revenge in execution j 
 and an expedient offers itfelf : for certain players 
 arriving at court, are inftructed by him to play 
 
 3. He fwears them on his fword, very foldier-like, and 
 agreeable to the ancient cuftom of his country. Nor is 
 this lefs fcholar-like in our poet. Jordanes in his Gothic 
 hiftory mentions this cuftom, Sacer [glzdi\is']apiu/Syt&arum 
 reges Jemper habitus. Ammianus Marcellinus relates the 
 fame ceremony among the Hunns. L. 31. c. 2. Hence 
 our learned Spencer, B. 5. c. 8. ft. 14. 
 
 And fwearing faith to either on his Hade. 
 
 The fpear was held equally facred. Ab origins rerum pro 
 diis immortalibus veteres bajlas coluere. Juftin. L. 43. c. 2, 
 The fpears, they called fcepters^ fo Paufanias informs us : 
 and this explains to us that paflage in Homer, where 
 Achilles fwears by his fcepter, which he hurls to the 
 ground. /'. e. his fpear. II. . 234. and 245. 
 
 4. Oreftes, in Euripides, Ele&r. -jr. 979, has the very 
 fame doubt, that Hamlet has. 
 
 Oreftes. T A^ tJr' AaVw ilw' aVuxao-Bti? $if ; 
 Eleft. "li^sv xa0{lw Teiwe^ ; lyu pit a Soxu. 
 
 fome-
 
 62 Critical Obfet -vations Book I. 
 
 fomewhat before the king like the murder of his 
 
 father. 
 
 I'll obferve bis looks, 
 
 I'll tent bim to the quick j // be but blench^ 
 I know my courfe. 
 
 And here our poet takes an opportunity to pay ' 
 a fine compliment to his own art, 
 
 s P ve beard that guilty creatures at a play, 
 Have by tbe very cunning of tbe fcene 
 Been Jlruck fo to the foul, that prefently 
 'They have proclaimed their makfaftiom. 
 
 This making of a play within a play, befides 
 introducing fome ftrokes of fatyre on former 
 tragedians, mews, by the comparifon, to what 
 perfection our poet brought tragedy, which after 
 him made no further progrefs. There was ufually 
 in the beginning of every act a dumb mew, be- 
 ing a fymbolical reprefentation of what the au- 
 
 5. "Tis plain Shakefpeare alludes to a ftory told of Alex- 
 ander the cruel tyrant of Pherae in Theffaly, who feeing a 
 famous tragedian aft the Troades of Euripides, was fo 
 fenfibly touch'd, that he left the theatre before the play was 
 ended ; being aftiamed, as he owned, that he, who never 
 pitied thofe he murdered, (hould weep at the fufferings of 
 HECUBA and Andromache. See Plutarch in the life of 
 Pelopidas. 
 
 Wbaft HECUBA to bim, or be to HECUBA, 
 that bejhould vjeepfQr her ? 
 
 diencc
 
 Sect. 6. on SHAKESPEARE. 63 
 
 dience were to expect , who were well dealt with, 
 if after all they could guefs at the poet's mean- 
 ing inveloped in a figurative and bombaft ftile. 
 But why do I enter into a detail of particular 
 beauties, where the whole is beautiful ? Divine 
 juftice at length overtakes the tyrant in his fe- 
 cure'ft hours, and the poet is true to the caufe of 
 virtue. 
 
 The Electra of Sophocles, in many inftances, 
 is not very unlike the Hamlet of Shakefpeare. 
 Aegyfthus and Clytemneftra, having murthered 
 the former king, were in pofieflion of the crown, 
 when Oreftes returned from Phocis, where he 
 had been privately fent by his fifter Electra. 
 Thefe two contrive, and foon after effect the 
 punimment of the murtherers. Electra is a 
 Grecian woman, of a mafculine and generous 
 difpofition of mind ; me had been a witnefs of 
 the wickednefs of thofe two mifcreants, who 
 had barbaroufty plotted the death of her father, 
 the renowned Agamemnon : his ghoft called for 
 juftice , and me herfelf, rather than they mall 
 efcape, will be the inftrument of vengeance. 
 Thus when Clytemneftra calls out to Oreftes, 
 
 O fan, Ofon, have mercy on thy mother ! 
 
 [from within, 
 Electra replys, 
 
 For theejhe felt no mercy, or thy father. 
 
 Clyt. Ob, Pm wounded. [from within. 
 
 Elect. Double the blow, Orejtes. 
 
 There
 
 64 Critical Obfervations Book I. 
 
 There is a vaft affectation of lenity in mankind: 
 and I am inclin'd to believe that an Englim au- 
 dience would fcarcely bear this Grecian character. 
 Soon after Oreftes kills Aegyfthus, and, that 
 this piece of juftice maybe a greater expiation 
 to the manes of the murdered king, he kills him 
 in the fame place where Aegyfthus had killed 
 Agamemnon. 
 
 SECT. VII. 
 
 THO* people in a lower ftation of life take 
 a peculiar fatisfaction in feeing wickednefs 
 in high places brought to punifhment ; yet are 
 they no lefs pleafed, when the poet condefcends 
 to bring matters home to themfelves, by paint- 
 ing the pafiions of a more domeflic nature. Such 
 a paflion is Jeakujie -, to the fatal effects of which, 
 the peafant is equally fubject as the prince. 
 
 1 An unhappy young woman (for fo her name 
 fignifics) falls in love with a commander in the 
 Venetian ft- rvice, who had entertain'd her with a ro- 
 mantic account of his own exploits -, and hearken- 
 ing to no advice, but her own mifplaced incli- 
 nations, 
 
 i. Dido's cafe feenis exa&ly like that of Dcfdemoiw. 
 The Dux T/ojattas told lici 1m wonderful adventures by 
 lea and land, of irichantmcnts, mouAcrs, ,^c. 'Zhefetohear 
 diJ DiJo ferioufly incline. 
 
 I Haerent
 
 Sect, 7. OTZ SnAKESPEAkE. 65 
 
 nations, fhe marries him. There was an officer 
 under him, cunning and hypocritical, with an 
 appearance of great honefty : he thought he had 
 been wronged by his captain both in his bed, 
 and in having another preferred before him. This 
 
 Hat rent infixi pftfore VULTUS 
 V t H B A qite . 
 
 She confults her fitter, 
 
 <%u$s N ovus hie ttojiiis fuccejjjtt fedibus bofpes ! 
 Qutm ftfe oreferem ! quam forti petto re et armis I 
 
 Heu quibus ille 
 
 Jaflatus fatis ! quae bella exhaujla canelat ! 
 
 If indeed (be could harbour any notions of a fecond lover, 
 Aeneas was the man ; but that was far from her thoughts f 
 
 " No, if I ever think of another lover, may " The 
 
 filler, a fine lady, knew what advice fhe would follow, viz. 
 what her inclinations perfuaded her to, 
 
 Holane per pet ua maerens carper e jiwentd ? 
 Nee dulces natos, Generis ntc praemia noris ? 
 Id cinerem, aut manes credit curare fepultos ! 
 
 In fliort the hero, by chance, foon after meets his rnifrrefs 
 in a cave : a fort of a match is huddled up between ^m : and 
 he, having gain'd his ends, watches an opportunity, and 
 leaves her to defpair and death. That even a religious 
 lawgiver, and a founder of an empire mould be caught with 
 love, is no great wonder ; but that he fhould complicate 
 his crime with cruelty and treachery, is not this foinewhat 
 out of character ? And has not the poet a hard taflc to 
 L* ing him fairly off, by the help of even his pagan deities ? 
 
 F to
 
 66 Critical Obfervations Book I. 
 
 to him feem'd fufficient reafon for revenge ; and 
 cafting how to put his revenge in execution, no 
 readier way offered itfelf, than to ftir up Othello 
 to jealoufy, whofe temper naturally led him to 
 that fatal pafiion. Jealoufy often arifes from an 
 opinion of our own defects to pleafe ; and Othello 
 had too much reafon to be apprehenfive of fuch 
 defects in himfelf ; as he was by complexion a 
 Moor, and declined in years. 
 
 The art of the poet is beyond all praife, where 
 he makes lago kindle by degrees the flames of 
 Othello's jealous temper, which burfting out into 
 rage and fury, occafions firft the deftrudion of 
 his wife, and loon after his own. 
 
 SECT. VIII. 
 
 THESE three plays, of which I have above 
 given a Ihort Iketch, end with an unhappy 
 cataftrophe -, and all the ftories are finely calcu- 
 lated to raife the tragical paflions, grief, pity, and 
 terror. 'Tis fomewhat ftrange, at the firft thought, 
 that people ihould take any kind of delight to 
 Ice iccnes of diftrefs : yet even x fhipwrecks and 
 
 florins 
 
 i. Lucretius II, i. Sec. This is faid of the vulgar. The 
 phifofophcr receives no pleaiure from fuch objefts, but 
 prevents the paffion of grief, by confidering the neceflary 
 and natural connexion, and relation of things. Storms 
 
 and
 
 Se#. 7. on SHAKESPEARE. 67 
 
 ftorms at fea, when beheld from the fhore , and 
 embattled armies viewed with fafety from afar, 
 raile a mixed kind of pleafure in the fpeclator, 
 partly from novelty, and partly from a pity of 
 the misfortunes of other men, not without a re- 
 collection of his own fecurity. Now if the tragic 
 mufe can raife the paffions, and refine them too, 
 is fhe not the hand-maid of philofophy ? 
 
 But however it muft be confefled, that if any 
 of Shakefpeare's plays be plainly proved to have 
 variety of fables and actions, independent each 
 of the other, with no neceflary or probable con- 
 nexion, then muil thefe plays be faulty, and ac- 
 cording to the common expreflion, without head 
 or tail -, like the picture defcribed by * Horace, 
 a mixture of incoherent and monftrous parts. 
 Whereas in every poem there mould be a natural 
 union, as in a well proportion'd human body, 
 where all is homogeneal, united, and compact 
 together, fo as to form a J whole. 
 
 It 
 
 and tempefts, the violent effe&s of the perturbed paflions, 
 &c. have no beauty confidered by themfelves ; yet they arc 
 
 2. Horace in his art of poetry, $. i. &c. 
 
 3 . A 'whole is that -which has a beginning, middle and end. 
 The beginning fitppofes nothing wanting before it/elf ; and 
 requires fometbing after it : the middle fttppofes fomething 
 that fiuent before y And requires fomething to follow after : 
 the end require! nothing after itfelf, but Jutyofes fomething 
 F 2 that
 
 68 Critical Qbfervations Book I. 
 
 It does not follow, becaufe a hero is one 
 man, that the fable is therefore one ; for one 4 man 
 
 might 
 
 that %oti before. Arillot. chap. vii. The ghoft informs 
 Hamlet he had been murder'd : this is an exadt begin- 
 ning; no one wants to know any thing antecedent, 
 but only the oonfequences ; which are the middle : the 
 murderer being deftroyed, the Itory ends, and nothing 
 is required after. Othello privately marries Defdemona ; 
 this is the beginning : his jealoufy is the middle : the effe&s 
 of his jealoufy are the end. Macbeth's ambition is roufed 
 by the prediction of the witches ; this is the beginning : his 
 procuring the crown by murder is the middle : his punifh- 
 ment, being the eftecls of his ambition, is the end. And 
 thefe ftories are fuch, as the memory can eafily comprehend 
 and retain, as a whole ; e-jp^ovst/lo*. Juit as beautiful 
 objeds, being neither vaft, nor diminutive, can eafily be 
 meafured by one united view of the eye ; Ei/ViWIo*. Ariftot. 
 xitp. '. Thus in all things that are beautiful unity is evi- 
 dent ; by this, relations and proportions are difcovered : 
 but where there is no idea of a whole, there is no idea of 
 order ; and confequently no beauty. 
 
 4. The unity of the hero alone does not preferve the 
 unity of the fable : nor is- the poet to give a historical recital 
 cf the acts of Thefeus, or Hercules ; nor, like Statius, to 
 defcribe the whole hero, 
 
 Nos ire per cmnem, 
 Sic amor eft t beroa we/is. 
 
 By this means the unity of the aftion is deftroyed, as well 
 as the Simplicity. 
 
 ex duntaxat ft unum. 
 
 Hor. art. p. jfr. 23. 
 To
 
 Seft. 8. on SHAKESPEARE. 69 
 
 might be employed in variety of a&ions, and 
 fables. So that to defcribe the whole hero, or 
 the life and death of kings, and to make a hifto- 
 
 To this purpofe Ariftotle in his poetics, chap. viii. Xtf Si, 
 TK 'XXK fupuSluuiSf *> /*> ^^0-^ Iv6<; In*, /**? 
 rayrrj? oXn;, % T* fisgj) Wra TWK ta^a.^tLtuv 
 
 iniAHAON, [lege EDI TO OAON,] ^{ fto^on TOYTO 
 [fcribe TOYTOY] ?r. ^ / o/^r imitations, that which 
 a man imitates is one jingle thing ; Jo the fable, being the 
 imitation of an aftion, ought to be one, and that too a ivbo/e ; 
 and the parts Jbould fo correfpond, that one cannot be removed^ 
 tranfpofed or retrenched, without making a change in the whole. 
 Tor whatever can be added or left out, yet fo as fo make 
 nothing for the 'whole, cannot be any part of that whole. 
 Again in chap, xxiii. Tawrj) t<nriffi&' av ^otv 
 ? Taj aXXaf, TW fuj^e TOV 9rcXf*oy Xai7Tf s 
 
 t%J- crofr o'Xoi*' Xla yj av 
 
 /*iXXs I'crjcrOa*' i? TW pfyiQ 
 
 O.VTUV croXXsK. Tlie latter part is corrupted, 
 v is got out of it's place, and fhould be changed into 
 ;' viz. moXs/xa, and placed after fwp', thus ; NM ^' > 
 
 in refpetl to other poets, herein appears divine, in that he treats 
 not of the whole war, tho"" it has a beginning, and an end : 
 for it would be too great, and not to be comprehended at one 
 *vie*iv : or fuppofe be could have reduced it to a jujt extent, yet 
 he would have been perplexed with fuch a variety of incidents. 
 J$ut now taking one part only of the war, he introduces a great 
 number of eft f odes. 
 
 F 3 rical
 
 yo Critical Obfirvations Book I. 
 
 rical detail of particular fads, is writing chroni- 
 cles, not poems. 
 
 But has not Shakefpeare been guilty of this 
 very fault ? Are not feveral of his plays called 
 
 hiftorical plays The life and death of King 
 
 John The life of K. Henry VIII. with 
 
 many more of the like nature ? And did not he 
 think, that the unity of the hero conftituted the 
 unity of the action ? 'Tis true indeed, that the 
 editors of Shakefpeare have given a play of his the 
 tide of The life and d^atb of King John. But who- 
 11 confider this tragedy, will fee the title 
 mould be, < fbe troubles and death of King John. 
 For John having unjuftly feized the crown, and 
 excluded the rightful heir, his nephew Arthur 
 Plantagenet; the king of France efpoufes the 
 intereft of the young prince. Hence arife king 
 John's troubles, his punifliment and death. The 
 life of K. Henry VIII. would not improperly be 
 entitled, The fall of cardinal Wool fa. The car- 
 dinal is (hewn in the fummit of his power and 
 pride ; and his fall was in a good meafure owing 
 to the king's marriage with Anna Bullen. Here 
 therefore the play mould have ended ; but flattery 
 to princes has hurt the beft poems : and f ijhis, 
 I mail fpeak 5 hereafter. Other plays of our 
 poet are called, Fir/} and fecond parts, teTbtJirjl 
 and fecond parts of king Henry IV. But thefe 
 
 5- See below fcft. XIV. 
 
 plays 

 
 Sed. 8. M SHAKESPEARE. 71 
 
 plays are independent each of the other. 'Tbefrft 
 part, as 'tis named, ends with the fettlement in 
 the throne of king Henry IV. when he had gained 
 a compleat victory over his rebellious fubjects. 
 <Tbe fecond part contains king Henry's death ; 
 mewing his fon, afterwards Henry V, in the 
 various lights of a good-natured rake, 'till he 
 comes to the crown , when 'twas necefTary for 
 him to afifume a more manlike character, and 
 princely dignity. To call thefe two plays, frft 
 and fecond parts , is as injurious to the author- 
 character of Shakefpeare, as it would be to So- 
 phocles, to call his two plays on Oedipus, firjl 
 and fecond "parts of King Oedipus. Whereas the 
 one is 6 Oedipus King of Tbebes, the other, Oedipus 
 at Aliens. 
 
 Julius Caefar is as much a whole, as the Ajax 
 of Sophocles : which does not end at the death 
 of Ajax, but when the fpectators are made 
 acquainted with fome confequences, that might 
 be expected after his death ; as the reconciliation 
 between Teucer and the Grecian chieftains, and 
 the honourable interment of Ajax. Nor does ofar 
 poet's play end, at the death of Julius Caefar, 
 but when the audience are let into the kndw- 
 
 6. Olotvtf; W^anQ*. Ot.i-n*; MTI xeXi-. viz. a hjlloc 
 near Athens, where his daughter Antigone conducted him 
 after his expulfion from Thebes. 
 
 F 4 ledge
 
 7 1 Critical Obfervations Book I. 
 
 ledge of what befel the confpirators, being the 
 confequences of the murder of the hero of the 
 play. The (lory hangs together as in a heroic 
 poem. 
 
 The fable is ohe in The Tcmpejt, viz. the re- 
 flpration of Profpero to the dukedom of Milan : 
 and the poem haftens into the midft of things, 
 prefenting the ufurping duke fhipwrecked on 
 the inchanted ifland, where Profpero had long 
 refided. 
 
 The unity of a&ion is very vifible in Mee.fure 
 for Meajure. That reflection of Horace, 
 
 Quid leges fine moribus 
 Vanae proficiunt ? 
 
 is the chief moral of the play. How knowing 
 in the characters of men is our poet, to make 
 thefevere and inexorable Angelo incur the penalty 
 of that fanguinary law, which he was fo forward 
 to revive ? 
 
 The three plays containing feveral hiftorical 
 tranfadtions in the reign of K. Henry VI. (if 
 entirely written by Shakefpeare, which I fome- 
 what fufpect) are only rude and rough draughts ; 
 and tho' they have in them many fine pafiages, 
 yet I mall not undertake to juftify them accord- 
 ing to the drift rules of criticifm. 
 
 SECT,
 
 on SHAKESPEARE. 73 
 
 SECT. IX. 
 
 FROM what has been already obferved, it 
 becomes lefs difficult to fee into the art 
 and defign of Shakefpeare, in forming and plan- 
 ing his dramatic poems. The unity of action 
 he feems to have thought himfelf obliged to re- 
 gard ; but not at all the unities of time and 
 place ; no more, than if he were writing an epic 
 poem. Ariftotle (our chief authority, becaufe 
 he drew his obfervations from the moft perfect 
 models) tells us, that the epic poem has no 
 determined time, but the dramatic he fixes to 
 a ' fingle day : the former is to be red, the latter 
 to be feen. Now a man cannot eafily impofe on 
 himfelf, that what he fees reprefented in a con- 
 tinued action, at a certain period of time, and in 
 a certain place, mould take up fever al years, and 
 be tranfacted in feveral places. But dramatic 
 poetry is the art of impofing ; and he is the beft 
 poet, who can beft impofe on his audience ; and 
 he is the wifeft man, who is eafieit impofed on. 
 
 l/ux.f?ov i^aXXaTJEic* fl cit 'nroirciifct, a^jir 1 ^ TU %(>6tu. Tragedy 
 at much as pojjtble tries to confine itftlf to one period of the 
 fun y [fpeaking with refpeft to it's fuppofcd diurnal motion} 
 Df to exceed it as little as may bt : the epopaeia it unlimited 
 as to time. Arift. wep TTCI^T. xity. i, 
 
 The
 
 74 Critical Obfervations Book I. 
 
 The ftory therefore (which is the principal part, 
 and as it were the very foul of tragedy) being 
 made a whole, with natural dependance and con- 
 nexion ; the fpeftator feldom confiders the * length 
 of time neceflary to produce all thefe incidents, 
 but pafles all that over -, as in Julius Caefar, 
 Macbeth, Hamlet^ and in other plays of our 
 poet. 
 
 To iropofe on the audience, with refpect to 
 the unity of place, there is an artificial contrivance 
 of fcenes. For my own part, I fee no great 
 harm likely to accrue to the underftanding, in 
 thus accompanying the poet in his magical ope- 
 rations, and in helping on an innocent deceit ; 
 while he not only raifes or fooths the paffions, 
 but tranfports me from place to place, juft as it 
 
 2. The real length of time in Julius Caefa r, is as follows, 
 A. U. C. 709. a frantic feftival of Luperci was held in 
 honor of Caefar, about the middle of february, when 
 the regal crown was offer'd him by Antony: March 15, 
 he was (lain. A. U. C. 710. Nov. 27. the triumvirs met 
 at a fmall ifland, formed by the river Rhenus, near Bononia, 
 and there adjufted their cruel profcription. A. U. C. 711. 
 
 Brutus and Caffius were defeated near Phiiippi. Macbeth 
 
 reigned feventeen years. So Johan. de Fordin Scoticron. 
 L. iv. C. 45. Macbabtui malignorum vallatus turmis et 
 tpibus praepotem regali dignitate potitus an. dom, MXL. 
 
 rcgnavit annis XVII But the time is fo artfully paffed. 
 
 ever, and the incidents fo connected, that the fpe&ator 
 imagines all continued, and without interruption. 
 
 pleafes
 
 Se&. 9. on SHAKESPEARE. 75 
 
 pleafes him, and carries on the thread of his 
 ftory. 
 
 This perpetual varying and fhifting the Scene, 
 is a conftant caufe of offence to many who fet up 
 for admirers of the ancients. 3 Johnfon, who 
 
 thought 
 
 3. In his prologue to Every man in his humour. Sir 
 Philip Sydney, in his defence of poefie, has the following 
 no bad remark. " Our tragedies and comedies, not with* 
 " out caufe cried out againft, obferving rules neither of 
 (t honeft civilitie, nor flcilful poetrie. Excepting Gorbo- 
 * ducke (againe I fay of thofe that I have feene) which 
 " notwithstanding, as it is full of ftately fpecches, and well 
 founding phrafes, climing to tlie height of Seneca his 
 " ftile, and as full of notable moralitie, which it doth mod 
 ' delightfully teach, and fo obtaine the very end of poefie. 
 " Yet in truth it is very defeftuous in the circumftances, 
 *' which grieves me, becaufe it might not remaine as an 
 ' exaft modell of all tragedies. For it is faultie both in 
 " place and time, the two neceflarie companions of all cor- 
 " poral adlions. For where the Itage fliould alwayrepre- 
 " fent but one place ; and the uttermoft time prefuppofed 
 " in it mould bee, both by Ariftotle's precept, and common 
 " reafon, but one day ; there are both many days, and 
 " many places inartificially imagined. But if it be fo in 
 " Gorboducke, how much more in all the reft? where you 
 " jhall have Afia of the one fide and Affricke on the other, 
 ' and fo many other under-kingdoms, that the plaier when 
 " he comes in, muft ever begin with telling where he is, or 
 " elfe the tale will not be conceived. Now (hall you have 
 " three ladies walke to gather flowers, and then we muft 
 beleeve the ftage to bee a garden. By and by we heare 
 I " news
 
 7 6 Critical Obf equations Book I. 
 
 thought it a poetical fin to tranfgrefs the rules 
 of the Grecians, and old Romans, has this glance 
 at his friend Shakefpeare. 
 
 70 make a child now fwaddkd to proceed 
 Man, and then /boo te up in one beard and weed 
 
 " news of fhipwracke in the fame place, then wee are to 
 " blame if we accept it not for a rocke. Upon the backe of 
 " that comes out a hideous monfter with fire and fmoke, 
 " and then the miferable beholders are bound to take it for 
 " a cave : while in the mean time two armies flie in, repre- 
 " fented with foure fwordes and bucklers, and then what 
 " hard heart will not receive it for a pitched field ? Now of 
 " time they are much more liberal : for ordinarie it is, th^t 
 " two young princes fall in love ; after many traverfes fhee 
 " is got with childe, delivered of a faire boy, hee is loft, 
 " groweth a man, falleth in love, and is ready to get another 
 " childe; and all this in two houres fpace : which how 
 " abfurd it is in fenfe, even fenfe may imagine. * * * But 
 " befides thefe groffe abfurdities, how all their playes bee 
 " neither right tragedies, nor right comedies, mingling 
 " kings and clownes, not becaufe the matter fo carrieth it, 
 " but thruft in the clowne by head and moulders to play a 
 " part in majefticall matters, with neither decency nor dif- 
 " cretion : fo as neither the admiration and commiferation, 
 " nor the right fportfulneffe, is by their mongrell tragi- 
 " comedy obtained. * * * I know the ancients have one 
 " or two examples of tragicomedies, as Plautus hath 
 " Amphrituo. But if we marke them well, we mall finde 
 " that they never, or very daintily match home-pipes and 
 " funerals. * * The whole trad of a comedie fhould be 
 full of delight, as the tragedie fcould be ftill maintained 
 " in a well raifed admiradon." 
 
 Pajt
 
 Sett. 9. on SHAKESPEARE. 77 
 
 Paft tbreefcore years, or with three rufty fiver ds, 
 And help of fome few + foot-and-half-foote words 
 5 Fight over Tcrke and Lancafter's longjarres, 
 And in the tyring-houfe bring wounds to fcams. 
 He rather frays you will be pleas' d to fee 
 One fuch, to day, as other plays Jhould be. 
 b Where neither chorus wafts you o*re thefeas Sec. 
 
 And again in his play, Every man out of his 
 humour : 
 
 Mit. How comes it then, that in fame one play ws 
 fee fo many feas, countries and kingdoms, paft over 
 with fuch admirable dexter itie ? 
 
 Cor. O, that but fhews how well the autbours 
 can travaile in their vocation, and out-runne the 
 apprebenjion of their auditory. 
 
 Whether the unity of time and place is fo ne- 
 ceflary to the drama, as fome are pleafed to re- 
 quire, I cannot determine ; but this is certain, 
 the duration mould feem uninterrupted, and the 
 ftory ought to be one. 
 
 4. Sef$uipeJalia verba. Hor. Art. Poet. -jr. 97^ 
 
 5. Thofe three plays relating the hiftory of K.. Henry VI. 
 are much the worfi of Shakefpeare's plays. 
 
 6. In Shakefpeare's K. Henry V. 
 
 SECT.
 
 7 8 Critical Qbfervations Book I, 
 
 SECT. X. 
 
 \ A S dramatic poetry is the imitation of an 
 M\* action, and as there can be no action but 
 what proceeds from the manners and the fenti- 
 mcnts , manners and fentiments are its eflential 
 parts ; and the former come next to be con- 
 fidered, as the fource and caufe of action. 'Tis 
 action that makes us happy or miferable, and 
 'tis manners, whereby the characters, the various 
 inclinations, and genius of the perfons are mark- 
 ed and diftinguilhed. There are four things to 
 be obferved in manners. 
 
 I. That they be ' good. Not only ftrongly 
 marked and diftinguiftied, but good in a moral 
 fenfe, as far forth as the character will allow. 
 A Thais of Menander was as moral, as you 
 could fuppofe a courtefan to be -, and fo were 
 all Menander' s characters, as we may judge from 
 his tranflator Terence. They were good in a 
 moral, common, and ordinary acceptation of 
 the word, not in a high philofophical fenfe. In 
 Homer, the parent of all poetry, the angry, the 
 inexorable Achilles has valour, friendlhip, and 
 a contempt of death. In Virgil, the trueft of 
 
 I. "E* f*l? xj w^rra* oWj Xfr.ra, 4. Ariifat. csji TTO^T. 
 xsp. it. 
 
 his
 
 Se6t 10. on SHAKESPEAR. 79 
 
 his copyers, even Mezentius, the cruel and athe- 
 iftical tyrant, finely oppofed to the pious Aeneas, 
 when he refolves not to furvive his beloved fon 
 Laufus, raifes fome kind of pity in the reader's 
 breaft, 
 
 1 Aejluat ingens 
 
 Imoin corde PUDOR, miftoyte infama luflu, 
 Et furiis agitatus AMOR, et CONSCIA VIRTUS. 
 
 Milton would not paint the Devil without fome 
 moral virtues ; he has not only valour and con- 
 duct, but even compaflionate concern, 
 
 f Thrice be ajf~afd y and tMce infyight offcorn 
 Tears fucb as Angels weep, burft forth. 
 
 and prefers the general caufe, to his own fafety 
 and eafe. 
 
 * Nor f air d they to exprefs how much theyprais t d 9 
 
 That for the general fafety he defpfd 
 , His own. 
 
 So that the Devil's character has every thing 
 agreeable to the modern notions of a hero , but 
 nothing of thofe chriftian characters) humility 
 and refignation to the will of God , the great 
 and chara&eriftic virtues of chriftianity, which 
 our divine epic poet would chiefly inculcate. 
 
 2. Virgil. Acn. X, 870. 3, Milt. Par. 1. I, 619. 
 4. Milt. II. 480. 
 
 But
 
 8o Critical Observations Book I. 
 
 But what fhall we fay then of fuch characters, 
 as a Polyphemus, Cacus, Caliban, the Harpies, 
 and the like monftrous, and out of nature pro- 
 ductions ? They feem to be in the poetical world, 
 what in the natural are called lufus naturae ; fo 
 thefe are lufus poetici, the fportive creations of a 
 fertil imagination, introduced, by the bye, to 
 raife the paffions of admiration and abhorrence ; 
 and indeed they are fo far under-parts, as to be 
 loft in the grand action. 
 
 Upon thefe principles I cannot defend fuch a 
 character as Richard III. as proper for the ftage. 
 But much more faulty is the Jew's character, in 
 The Merchant of Venice , who is cruel without 
 neceflity. Thefe are not pictures of human 
 creatures, and are beheld with horror and de- 
 teftation. 
 
 In this poetical painting of the manners of 
 men, it ought to be remember'd, that 'tis the 
 human creature in general fliould be drawn, not 
 any one in particular. Now man is of a mixed 
 nature, virtue and vice alternately prevailing ; it 
 being as difficult to find a perfon thoroughly vi- 
 tious, as thoroughly virtuous. Thus Philofo- 
 phers who make human nature their ftudy fpeak 
 of it , and thus the * greateft of all philofophers, 
 having touched upon the character of the mifan- 
 
 5. Socrates in Plato's Phaedo. p. 89, 90. edit. H. Steph. 
 
 i thrope,
 
 io. en SHAKESPEARE^ 81" 
 
 thrope, adds, AijAov OTJ vw TEXNH2 ftif zrttf T# 
 
 profefs a hatred of mankind and fociety, and 
 would paint human nature ill, want art^ and are 
 but bunglers in the fcience they profefs. For it 
 muft be by long habit, and unnatural practice, 
 that a man can become void of humanity and 
 human affections : fmce, as our * mafters in this 
 wan-fcience have obferved, even public rob- 
 bers are not often without focial and generous 
 principles. Whenever, therefore, a human crea- 
 ture is made to deviate from what is fair and 
 good, the poet is unpardonable if he does not 
 Ihew the motives which led him aftray, and 
 dazled his judgment with falfe appearances of 
 happinefs. Mean while how beautiful is it to 
 
 6. Plato in rep. 1. i. p. 351. edit, Steph. AOXE<{ jj 
 
 roXiv v> r^oloTnJov rj Xr)ra?> ^ xXswla?, ? a'^Xo T e'fly^, cftt 
 xotfjj \ir\ Tt %] a.S'ixui;, cr^a| at Tt SvnctcrQctt, tl 
 aSutuir 7vX)jXBs ; Cicero in Off. II. 1 1. Cujus [juftitiae] tanta. 
 vis eft, tit nee illi quidem, qui maleficio et feeler e pafcuntur t 
 pojfint fine ulla particula juftitiae rvwere . Epift. 1.2. c. 2O. 
 rt xj <xn*MH<M Ij-tn 39 ^yV; oj 
 
 >j sXata cra^n' j*j 
 
 fee
 
 $2 Critical Obfervatiom Book 1. 
 
 fee the ftruggles of the mind, and the pafiions at 
 variance ; which are wanting in the fteady villain, 
 or fteady philofopher ? and thefe are characters 
 that feldom appear on the ftage of the world. 
 But what is tragic poetry without paflion ? In a 
 word, 'tis ourfelves, and our own paflions, that we 
 love to fee pictured ; and in thefe reprefentations 
 we feek for delight and inftruction. 
 
 II. The manners ought to be 7 fuitabk. When 
 the poet has formed his character, the perfon is 
 to act up to it. And here the age, the fex, and 
 condition, are to be confidered : thus what is 
 commendable in one, may be faulty in another. 
 An inflance of the fuitablenefs of character we 
 have in Milton, where Eve withdraws when me 
 finds her hufband and the angel entring on ftu- 
 dious thoughts abftrufe. 
 
 * Her bufband tbe relater Jhe prefer' d 
 Before tbe angel-, and of him to a/k 
 Cbofe ratber : He, Jhe knew, would intermix 
 Gratejul dignjjions^ andfohe bigb difpute 
 With conjugal careffes. 
 
 When he gave thefe fuitable manners to Eve, he 
 had in his mind Plato's great art, fo much com- 
 
 "-.-"*. Anil. <=-; KMT. xt$. . 
 
 Redder eperfmatfcit coitveniiKtia cuiqHf. Hor. poet. ^.316. 
 8. Par. loft. VIII, 40. 
 
 i mended
 
 Sect. 10: on SHAKESPEARE; 83 
 
 mended by 9 Cicero, in making old Cephalus 
 withdraw in the firft book of his republic on the 
 pretence of a facrifice. 
 
 Shakefpeare feems to me not to have known 
 fuch a character as a fine lady ; nor does 
 he ever recognize their dignity. What tra- 
 montanes in love are his Hamlets, the young 
 Percy, and K. Henry V. ? Inftead of the lady 
 Bettys, and lady Fannys, who mine fo much in 
 modern comedies, he brings you on the ftage 
 plain Mrs. Ford and Mrs. Page, two honeft 
 good-humoured wives of two plain country 
 gentlemen. His tragic ladies are rather feen, 
 than heard j fuch as Miranda, Defdemona, 
 Ophelia, and Portia. So Lavinia isjuftfhewn 
 in Virgil, innocent, and quiet. But Juno is a 
 Fury ; Dido and her fifter Anna plot together 
 to debauch the pious prince of the Trojans. On 
 this fide they fet the fleet on fire ; on that, they 
 blow the trumpet to fedition. And even a heroine 
 
 9. Cic. ad Att. 1. IV. ep. 16. )uod in it's libris, quo* 
 laudas, perfonam dejtderas fcaevotae, non earn teme're dimovi : 
 fed fed idem, quod in -n-cXmia, deus Hie nojler, Plato : 
 cum in Piraeeum Socrates 'venij/et ad Cepbalum, locupletem 
 et feflivum fenem ; quoad primus ille fermo haberetur, adtft 
 in difputando fenex : deinde cum ipfe qucqae commodffime 
 locutus ejftt, ad rem di<vinam dicit fe *v:lie difcedere ; neque 
 pojlea rc<vertitur. Credo Platonem <vix pufa/e confonum fore, 
 fi bominem id aetatis in tarn lang ofermone diutius retinuijfet. 
 
 G 2 cannot
 
 '84 Critical Obfervafions Book I. 
 
 cannot forget the inconftancy of the fex, as 
 Bofiu ingenioufly obferves ; her eyes are 
 
 caught 
 
 io. See BofTu of the epic poem. IV, n. Camilla's 
 chara&er, the heroine, Virgil has artfully daftied with 
 this tinclure of vanity, and love of finery ; he knew their 
 natural inclination from ftories of his own country. The 
 mother of Coriolanus, with other Roman women, had pre- 
 ferved their country from fire and fword, and the refentment 
 of that proud patrician. How could the fenate reward 
 them proportionably to their defert ? Why, as Valerius 
 Maximus tells us, 1. 5. c. 2. Sanxit uti faeminis f emit a 
 I'iri eederent permijtt quoque his purpurea <vefte et aureis 
 uti ftgmentis. Which we may tranflate, The fenate or- 
 dered that the men Jhould give the 'women the upper -hand, and 
 alhived them to ivear fine cloatht, and ornaments of gold. 
 However old Cato fome time after, affifted by the tribunes, 
 \vas refolved to repeal this order, but the clamors, and 
 uproars of the ladies were fo great, that he was forced to 
 defift. Livy's account [L. 34.] of this female commotion 
 is admirable. If we look into Milton, we fhall there 
 find this vanity in Eve, when in her innocent ftate ; that 
 Narcifius-like admiration of herfelf, which the poet paints, 
 B. IV. jr. 449, &c. far exceeds any thing in Ovid: and the 
 glozing tempter at length catches her with flattery. B. IX, 
 ?. 532. &c. What fhall we think after this of fuch un- 
 poetical charafters, as Marcia and Lucia in Addifon's 
 Cato ? [But the lefs that women appear on the ftage, ge- 
 nerally the better is the flory : and unmarried women are 
 left entirely out in Shakefpeare's beft plays, as in Macbeth, 
 Othello, Julius Gsfar ; in Hamlet, Ophelia is neceflary to 
 carry on the plot of the pretended madnefs. After the 
 Reiteration women were fuffered to aft on the ftage, and 
 
 ftories
 
 Scd:. 10. on SHAKESPEARE.' 85 
 
 caught with the gawdy drefs of a Trojan ; flic 
 eagerly perfues the glittering fpoils, and lofes 
 her life in the attempt. 
 
 How conformable to their characters are the 
 ambitious Macbeth, and the jealous Othello? 
 Tho' Falftaff is a fardle of low vices, a lyar, a 
 coward, a thief ; yet his good-humour makes 
 him a pleafant companionf If you laugh at 
 the oddnefs of Fluellin, yet his bravery and 
 honefty claim a laugh of love, rather than of 
 contempt. Thefe manners, and moft others 
 which the poet has painted, are agreeable to the 
 character, and fuitable to his defign. 
 
 III. The poet mould give his manners that 
 refemblance which hiftory, or common report 
 has publimed of them. This is to be underftood 
 of known " characters. Shakefpeare ve: y ftrict- 
 ly obferves this rule, and if ever he varies from 
 it, 'tis with great art ; as in the character of 
 Banquo, mention'd above. Of thofe characters, 
 which he has taken from the Engliih chronicles, 
 
 flories were formed for them, wherein they ailed the prin- 
 cipal parts. Hence the ftage began to be corrupted j and 
 at the fame time fprung up, love, honor, gallantry, and 
 fuch like Gothic ornamental parts of poetry ,- and Shakq- 
 fpeare, and Johnfon in proportion were defpifed.j 
 
 ii. Ariftot. xity. E. TITO <&, TO ofioo. i. e. this likeneft 
 muft be drawn from hiftory, or common report. Aut 
 famam feyuire. Horat. art. poet. 119. 
 
 6 as.
 
 86 Critical Obfervations Book I. 
 
 as king John, Henry VIII, cardinal Wolfey, &c. 
 the manners and qualities are like to what hiftory 
 reports of them. " Breval, in his account of 
 Verona, introducing the flory of Romeo and 
 Juliet, has the following remark, " Shake- 
 " fpeare, as I have found upon a ftricl fearch 
 " into the hiftories of Verona, has varied very 
 " little either in his names, characters, or other 
 " circumftances from truth, and matter of fact. 
 " He obferved this rule indeed in moft of his 
 " tragedies, which are fo much the more moving, 
 " as they are not only grounded upon nature, 
 " and hiftory, but likewife as he keeps clofer 
 " to both than any dramatic writer we ever had 
 befides himfelf." 
 
 To confider in this viewfome of the characters 
 in Julius Caefar. M. Junius Brutus was a Stoic 
 philofopher , the Stoics were of all feels the moft 
 humane and mild, and all profeffedly common- 
 wealthfmen. They made every thing fubmit to 
 honefty, but that they fubmitted to nothing. 
 3 Twas therefore the tyrant Caefar, the fubverter 
 of his country and the conftitution, that Brutus 
 killed, not the friendly Caefar. 
 
 Can weftand Iy 9 and fee 
 
 Our mother robfrd and bound and ravijtfd &t, 
 
 12. Breval's travels, p. 104. 
 
 Yet
 
 Seft. 10. on SHAKESPEARE. 87 
 
 Tet not to her affiftanceftir, 
 
 Pleased with theftrength and beauty of the ravi/her ? 
 
 Or Jhall we fear to kill him, if before 
 
 The canceled name of friend he bore ? 
 
 hgrateful Brutus do they call ? 
 
 Ingrateful Caefar, who could Rome enthral ! 
 
 C. Caffius was more of an Epicurean by name, 
 than principle. He was of an impetuous tem- 
 per, could not brook the thoughts of a mafter, 
 and was befide of a fevere life, and manners. 
 Seneca fays of him, Ep. 547. CcJJius tola vita, 
 aOjUam bibit. 
 
 Cicero was by nature timorous, and vain- 
 glorious. An improper perfon to be trufted with 
 fo great an enterprize. He had befide been a 
 flatterer of Caefar. 
 
 The characters of the IJ confpirators were in 
 after ages all abufed, when hiftorians and poets 
 turn'd court-flatterers. And even the profcrip- 
 tions of thofe three fuccefsful villains, the falfe 
 and cruel Oftavius, the wild and profligate An- 
 tony, the ftupid Lepidus, were either palliated 
 or excufed. The cruelty of Octavius is particu- 
 
 1 3 . Even Brutus they belied at his death ; for he never 
 was fo little of a philofopher as to call virtue an empty 
 name, and no folid good, becaufe he miffed his aim to re- 
 Jtore the Roman liberty. 
 
 Nunquam fuc c ejjtt crefcit bonejium. 
 
 G 4 larly
 
 88 Critical Obfervations Bookl 
 
 larly mention'd by Suetonius, Reftitit aliquandiu 
 follegiSy ne qua fieret prcfcriptio, fed inceptam 
 utroque acerbius exercuii. But with thefe and 
 other vices he ftill preferred great dignity, and, 
 what we moderns call, good-breeding , a fort of 
 mock -virtues of a very low clafs. And this 
 character of Octavius Shakefpeare has very juftly 
 preferved in his play. 
 
 IV. The manners ought to be 14 uniform and 
 confiftent : and, whenever a change of manners 
 is made, care mould be taken that there appear 
 proper motives for fuch a change j and the audi- 
 ence are to be prepared before hand. There is a 
 very fine inftance of this confiftent change in 
 Terence. Demea begins to find that all his 
 peevifli feverity avail'd nothing ; no reformation 
 was made by it, every one hated and avoided 
 him as much as they loved his brother, whofe 
 manners were diametrically oppofite. The old 
 
 14. Tsretflov $i TO oftaXon' xav y a'v<w/*Xo? TK; 
 f*ui7Hf <ara.^ix,ut t xj TOTC ^Q^ UTrortQeif, opu 
 
 r cTnat. The fourth is that the manners be equal : 
 and Jhould the perfen, who is tbefubjefl of imitation, be un- 
 equal in bis manners, yet we ought to make them equally un- 
 equal. 'OftaXwj a\4,aXov % as the manners of Tigellius in 
 Horace, conjlans in levitate. 
 
 Servetur ad imum 
 $ualis al incepto proce/erit, etjibi conflet. 
 
 Hor. art. poet. 126. 
 
 man
 
 Se#. 10. on SHAKESPEARE. S<j 
 
 man refolves to try a contrary behaviour, and 
 takes himfelf roundly to talk, 
 
 Ego ilk agreftis, faevus, triftis, parcus, truculentus, 
 tenax. 
 
 But how great is the poet's art ? Having thus 
 prepared the fpectators for a change of manners, 
 you plainly perceive how aukwardly this new 
 afiiimed character fits upon the old man ; his 
 civility is all forced. 'Tis as when fmners turn 
 faints, all is over-acted. 
 
 Who does not all along fee, that when prince 
 Henry comes to be king, he will afTume a cha- 
 racter fuitable to his dignity? And this change 
 the audience expect. 
 
 P. Henry. / know you all, and in-ill a while uphold 
 The unyofcd humour of your idlenefs; 
 Yet herein will I imitate the fun, 
 Who doth 'permit the bafe contagious clouds 
 To /mother up his beauty from the world; 
 That when hepleafe again to be HIMSELF, 
 Being wanted, he may be more wondredat y 
 By breaking through the foul and ugly mifts 
 Of vapours, that didfeem to jlr angle him. 
 
 The uxorious and jealous Othello is eafily 
 wrought to act deeds of violence and murder. 
 You know the haughty Coriolanus will perfevere 
 in his obftinacy and proud contempt of the com- 
 mons;
 
 go Critical Obfervations Book I. 
 
 mons : as well as that the refentful ' 5 Achilles 
 will never be prevailed on, by any offers from 
 Agamemnon, to return to the field. Angelo fo 
 fevere againft the common frailty of human 
 nature, never turns his eye on his own character. 
 What morofe bigot, or demure, hypocrite ever 
 did ? From Hamlet's filial affection, you expect 
 what his future behaviour will be, when the 
 ghoft-bids him revenge his murder. The phi- 
 lofophical character of Brutus bids you expect 
 confiftency and fteadinefs from his behaviour : 
 he thought the killing of Antony, when Caefar's 
 afiaftination was refolved on, would appear too 
 bloody and unjuft : 
 
 Let us be SACRIFICERS, but not butchers : 
 Let's carve him as a dijh FIT FOR THE GODS. 
 
 The hero, therefore, full of this idea of facrificing 
 Caefar to his injured country, after flabbing him 
 in the fenate, tells the Romans to Hoop, and be^ 
 fmear their hands and their fwords in the blood 
 of the facrifke. This was agreable to an ancient 
 and religious cuftom. So in l6 Aefcylus we read, 
 that the feven captains, who came againft Thebes, 
 facrificed a bull, and dipped their hands in the 
 gore, invoking, at the fame time, the gods of 
 war, and binding themfelves with an oath to 
 
 15. Horn. II. IX. 16. .*]. ?7rJ eC. } 42- &c. 
 
 revenge
 
 Sect. n. on SHAKESPEARE. 91 
 
 revenge the caufe of Eteocles. And ' 7 Xenophon 
 tells us, that when the barbarians ratified their 
 treaty with the Greeks, they made a facrifke, 
 and dipped their fpears and fwords in the blood 
 of the victim. By this folemn action Brutus 
 gives the afiafiination of Caefar a religious air and 
 turn ; and hiftory too informs us, that he marched 
 out of the fenate houfe, with his bloody hands, 
 proclaiming liberty. 
 
 As there is nothing pleafes the human mind 
 fo much as order, and confiftency j fo when the 
 poet has art to paint this uniformity in manners, 
 he not only hinders confufion, but brings the au- 
 dience acquainted, as it were, with the perfon 
 reprefented , you fee into his character, know 
 how he will behave, and what part he will take 
 on any emergency. And Shakefpeare's characters 
 are all thus ftrongly marked and manner'd. 
 
 17/Xen. AK*. '. 
 
 SECT. XL 
 
 AQueftion here arifes, which I mail leave to 
 the reader's confideration. It being proved 
 that manners are efiential to poetry, muft not 
 the poet, not only know what morals and man- 
 ners are, but be himfelf likewife a moral and 
 honeft man ? Or can there be knowledge without 
 practice? 'Tis certain no one can cxpfefs and 
 
 paint
 
 02 Critical Obfervations Book I. 
 
 paint manners, without knowing what manners 
 are, how they become deformed and monftrous, 
 how natural and beautiful. Nor can he know 
 others without knowing himfelf; what he is, 
 what conftitutes his good, and what his ill. But 
 whether fuch an enquiry will be attended with 
 anfwerable practice, will depend on the fairnefs 
 and fmcerity of the enquirer. For there is not 
 that man living, who does not act the hypocrite 
 more with refpect to himfelf, than to the reft of 
 the world. But this is a myfterious fubject, too 
 long for this place : and it may be fufficient 
 therefore at prefent, if we have the authorities of 
 a poet or two, without being at the trouble of 
 going to the more abftrufe philofophers. Let 
 us hear Horace : 
 
 'Qui didirit patriae quid debeat, et quid amicis -, 
 Quo fit amore par 'ens ', quo f rater amandus et hofpes ; 
 Quod fit confcripti, quodjudicis officium^ quae 
 Paries in helium miffi duds -, ILLE PROFECTO 
 REDDERE PERSONAE SCIT CONVENIENTIA 
 CUIQJJE. 
 
 And Johnfon, in his dedication of his Volpone 
 to the two univerfities : " It is certaine, nor can 
 ." it with any fore-head be oppofed, that the 
 " too much licenfe of poeta/ters, in this time, 
 44 hath much deformed their miftrifs , that, 
 ** every day, their manifold and manifeft igno^ 
 
 " rance
 
 Sed. ii. on SHAKESPEARE; 93 
 
 " ranee, doth flick unnatural reproaches upon 
 " her : but for their petulancy, it were an aft 
 " of the greateft injuftice, either to let the 
 " learned fuffer; or fo divine a fkill (which 
 " fhould not indeed be attempted with uncleane 
 " hands) to fall under the leaft contempt. For, 
 " if men will impartially, and not a-fquint looke 
 " toward the offices, and fanction of a poet, 
 " they will eafily conclude to themfelves, the 
 " impofiibility of any one man's being the good 
 " poet, without firft being a good man" Our 
 learned comedian being a great reader of Greek 
 authors, has literally tranflated ' Strabo's words. 
 
 AFA0ON }*ig nOlHTHN, p* 
 
 ANAPA AFA0ON. As to our poet, he is an un- 
 doubted example for that fide of the queftion, 
 which one would wifh to hold true in general. 
 All his contemporaries anfwer for his honefty. 
 
 Look how the father's face 
 
 Lives in his ijfue, even fo the race 
 
 Of Shakefye are's mind and manners brightly films 
 
 In his * well-torned and true-filed lines. 
 
 And in his Difcoveries. " I remember the 
 " players have often mention'd it as an honour 
 
 1. Strabo, 1. i. p. 33. 
 
 2. Johnfon had the expreffion of the ancients in view, 
 lent toniatos, et limatos ver/us. 
 
 1 " tO
 
 94 Critical Qbfewation* Book I. 
 
 to Shakefpeare, that in his writing, (whatfo- 
 " ever he penn'd) he never blotted out a line. 
 " My anfwer hath been, Would he had blotted 
 " a thoufand. Which they thought a malevo- 
 " lent fpeech. I had not told pofterity this, 
 " but for their ignorance, who chofe that cir- 
 " cumftance to commend their friend by, 
 " wherein he moft faulted. And to juftifie 
 * e mine own candor, (for 1 loved the Man, and 
 " do honour bis memory , on this fide idolatry , as 
 " muchastany.} HE WAS INDEED HONEST 
 
 " AND OF AN OPEN AND FREE NATURE : had 
 
 " ail excellent phantfie, brave notions, and 
 " gentle exprefllons : wherein he flowed with 
 " that facility, that fometime it was necefiary 
 " he mould be flop'd : fufflaminandus erat ; as 
 " J Auguftus faid of Haterius. His wit was in 
 " his own power ; would the rule of it had been 
 tc fo too. Many times he fell into thofe things, 
 " that could not efcape laughter : As when he 
 "*faid in the perfon of Caefar, one fpeaking to 
 " him, 4 Cc.efar^ thou deft me wong. He re- 
 
 3. Seneca 4. declam. 
 
 4. He cices by memory, which is often treacherous. In 
 Julius Caefar, Aft III. the pafiage is thus, 
 
 Caefar. Know, Caefar dotb not wrong, nor without caufe 
 
 Will be be fatisjied. 
 
 The fame kind of treacherous memory made Longinus 
 cenfure Xenophon, for what Xenophon never wrote. See 
 his treatife wt t'4-. ?. ^. 
 
 ply'd ;
 
 Sedt ii. on SHAKESPEARE. 9^ 
 
 " ply'd ; Caefar did never wrong but with jujl 
 " caufe : and fuch like ; which were ridiculous. 
 " But he redeemed his vices with his virtues. 
 <c There was ever more in him to be praifed 
 " than to be pardoned." 
 
 If Shakefpeare was this honeft man, he muft 
 have felt what the charms of honefty were, and 
 thus have exprefs'd it, as they fay, to the life. 
 And I cannot help obferving that the greateft 
 beauty in poetry is moral painting ; every thing 
 elfe alrnoft may be reduced to mechanical rules. 
 Our poets therefore are to endeavour to get a view 
 of virtue in her own fhape, and admire her lovely 
 form -, and from this knowledge they mould 
 animate every image and defcription. As far 
 forth as affections, caufes, events, objects, &c. 
 &c. participate of this primary and original 
 fource of perfection, they are lovely and beau- 
 tiful -, when loft to this, they become horrid and 
 deformed. Some writers there are, who feek 
 for beauty from other fources; Hobbs fairly 
 gives us his opinion in his 5 Leviathan; " In a 
 " good poem both judgment and fancy are re- 
 " quired : but the fancy muft be more eminent ; 
 " becaufe they pleafe for the extravagancy j but 
 " ought not to difpleafe by indifcretion." Hobbs 
 had a ftrange way of exprefling himfelf ; if e x- 
 travagancy bears fuch a fway in poetry, then is 
 c. Part T. ch. viii. 
 
 Taflb
 
 96 Critical Obfervatiom Book T, 
 
 Taflb a better poet than Virgil, and Ariofto than 
 either of them. But 'tis truth, or it's refemblance, 
 that gives the pleafure : and hence arifes the 
 chief beauty of that figure called by the rheto- 
 ricians, IIPOSnnonoiIA. Inftances of this 
 Shakefpeare abounds with : fuch are, the duke's 
 reflection on L i F E, in Meafure for Meafure : 
 the queen, in K. Richard II. calling HOPE a 
 cozening flatterer^ a parq/ite, &c. Wolfey, in 
 K. Henry VIII, reflecting on the ftate of man : 
 
 Vain POMP and GLORY of ibis world, I bate ye. 
 Othello confcious of his mifery exclaims, 
 
 Farewell CONTENT ! 
 
 And you MORTAL ENGINES, wbofe rude threats 
 Tb* immortal Jove's dread clamors counterfeit 
 Farewell ! Of hello's occupation's gone. 
 
 Thus every thing in poetry mould have manners 
 and pafiions : and the moral ihould mine per- 
 fpicuous in whatever aims at the fublime. And 
 thus he enriches with morals all his fublime 
 paflages; as in Profpero's reflections on the 
 tranfitory ftate of human grandeur. Ifabella's 
 moralizing on men in power abufing their au- 
 thority. Lear's reflection, when it thunders, on 
 the ingratitude of his daughter. With many 
 more of the like nature. Defcriptions without 
 moral or manners, however defigned by the poet 
 
 to
 
 Seft. n. on SHAKESPEARE.' 97 
 
 to raife the pafiion of wonder and aftonimment, 
 are not inftances of the true fublime. . The vaft 
 jumps that Juno's fteeds take in 6 Homer, is an 
 example of that pompous and aftonifliing kind 
 of the fublime, which is calculated to raife ad- 
 miration in 7 vulgar minds ; for in poetry the 
 vulgar are to be fometimes considered, as well 
 as philofophers. How careful then fliould the 
 poet be, to check all childifh admiration in him- 
 felf ; tho' he may be allowed, with fome re- 
 ferve, to raife it in his readers ? 
 
 8 Conjtderfirfi, that great 
 Or bright infers not excellence, 
 
 And furely that cannot be great, which 'tis great 
 for a man to defpife. Hence the eye is to be 
 turned fromthediftinclicnsof cuftom and fafhion, 
 to thofe of nature and truth. The dignity of 
 Socrates and Brutus is to be recognized, before 
 that of Caefar. With what contempt then mould 
 that diftinction of high and low life, introduced 
 by our modern comic poets, be treated ? For 
 in what other fenfe can this fantaftical diftinction 
 be allowed, than as the monkey, that climbs to 
 
 6. II. i. jfr. 770. See Longinus, fed. IX. 
 
 7. To 06 jar xoia^tXaVtjai I &(*&'' ^Traj -Jj TieV*f. 
 
 Synefms. 
 
 8. Milton, VIII, 90. 
 
 H Jh?
 
 9 8 Critical Obfervatiom Book I. 
 
 the top of the tree, is a higher creature, than the 
 generous horfe that ftands grafing below? So 
 that after all were I to fhew the reader inftances 
 of the true fublime, I fhould make choice of 
 fuch as thefe : 
 
 Aude bofpes contemnere opes, et te quoque dignum 
 Finge deo. Virg. Aen. VIII, 369. 
 
 And in Milton. V, 350. 
 
 " Mean while our primitive great fire, to meet 
 <c His godlike gueft, walks forth : without more 
 
 " train 
 
 " Accompanied than with his own compleat 
 " Perfections ; in himfelf was all his ftate : 
 *' More folemn than the tedious pomp that waits 
 " On princes, when their rich retinue long 
 " Of horfes led, and grooms befmear'd with gold 
 " Dazzles the crowd, and fets them al! 9 agap. 
 
 9. K.i%r,i,37ff. Virg. Aen. VII, 8ij. 
 
 Turbaque miratur matrum, et profpeffat tantsm, 
 Attonitii INDIANS animis. 
 
 Servius, INHIANS, ftupore ^undam ix *t puttf*8f 
 
 SECT.
 
 12. on SHAKESPEARE. 
 
 SECT. XII. 
 
 99 
 
 BU T to return. What manners are to the 
 fable, fuch are fentiments to manners ; and 
 1 fentiments properly exprefs the manners. In 
 the fentiments, truth, nature, probability, and 
 likelihood, are entirely to be regarded. 
 * Refpicere exemplar litae morumque jubcbo 
 Doff urn imitator em, et veras hinc due ere voces. 
 
 Poetic truth, and likelihood, Horace means; 
 fuch fentiments, as exhibit the truth of cha- 
 
 i. The perfons muft not only have manners, but fenti- 
 ments conformable to thofe manners. Now fentiments* 
 ^tawia, are the difcaurfes by 'which men make knoivn fome- 
 thing, or difcover their opinions : oia'notav ^, Ix eVo; Xs'J6>lf 
 ctifOGHtnvtia-i T, i) y^ aVcpatvovlaj ytupr.t. Ariftot. -ETE^* croi!T. 
 *j^>. r- And prefently after, Atxsa $l t e oT; aaeoXuxivuet 
 TI us Irix, n w? x trx, n xafi^Aa TI Vc^s;Ici1ai. Again, 
 Ks. iS. "Er ^ *ati Trx ^av6t> TaT-a, [legC TouTa,] 
 oVa t;7ro TB Xo.'s JsT tucc^cc<7Kivat,fffir,tcit' f*ig*> ot TUTUI, 
 ro,TE aTro^kjentira*, xj TO X-Jtjy, >c^ TO -craOn AafiiMUffa^iu' 
 oTtx, ^scx, 11 fooox, o^x, xj co-* Toiat-ra, xj TTI fti.l- 
 
 ments, ivbich are the proper apparatus of poetic difcourft : 
 their parts arc to demenjirnte t to/o/-ve t and to raij'e the pajfiors, 
 as pity, fear, anger, and the like ; and to eKcreafs ar.d diminijh. 
 
 2. Hor. art. poet. 317. Dr. Bentley, not refledling how 
 to feparate hiftorical from poetical truth, has altered this 
 pafTage in his edition ; he reads, 
 
 Et vivas line duccre i'c;(. r . 
 
 H 2 raders,
 
 ioo Critical ' Obfervations Book I. 
 
 rafters, the nature and difpofitions of mankind. 
 In this light Shakefpeare is mofl admirable. Can 
 the ambitious, and jealous man have fentiments 
 more expreflive of their manners, than what the 
 poet gives to Macbeth and Othello? Mark 
 Antony, as Plutarch informs us, affected the 
 Afiatic manner of fpeaking, which much re- 
 fembled his own temper, being ambitious, un- 
 equal, and very rodomontade. And 3 Cicero in 
 his Brutus, mentioning the Afiatic manner, gives 
 it the following character: Aliud autem genus eft 
 ncn tamftntentiisfrHpuntaium^ quam verfasvolucre, 
 atqite incitatum ; quails mine eft dfia tota ; nee 
 flutnlni fclum oraticnis, fed etiam exornato^ etfaceto 
 gcihT,; vcrborur.1. This ftyle our poet has very 
 artfully, and learnedly interfperfed in Antony's 
 Speeches. He thus addrefles Cleopatra, 
 
 4 Let Rome in Tyber melt y find the wide arch 
 Of the raifd empire fall, here is my fpacc 9 
 Kingdoms are clay, &c. 
 
 And again, 
 
 5 Theflrirt of NeJJus is upon me ; teach me 
 
 ^ thou mine anceftor^ thy rage. 
 
 3. Cic. in Brut, five de claris orator, f. 95. & f. 13. 
 HIKC AJlatici oratores non contemnendi quidem tec celeritate, 
 nee copid, Jed parum prejjt, et ninris redundantes. 
 
 4. Antony and Cleop. Aft I. 
 
 5. Ant. and Cleop. Adt IV. alluding to the ftory in Ovid. 
 Met. IX, 2 1 7. Sophocles in Trachin. jK 790, &c. 
 
 I Let
 
 Seft. 12. on SHAKESPEARE. J0 i 
 
 Let me lodge Licbas on the herns o'tb'moon ; 
 And with thofehands^ tbatgrafpt the heavieft club^ 
 Subdue my wortbieft felf. 
 
 Nor with lefs art has Shakefpeare exprefied the 
 coquetry of the wanton Cleopatra. "When he 
 defcribes nature diftorted and depraved, as in 
 the characters of the Clown, the Courtier, the 
 Fool, or Madman ; how juftly conformable are 
 the fentiments to the feveral characters ? One 
 would think it impoffible that Falftaff fhould 
 talk otherwife, than Shakefpeare has made him 
 talk : and what not a little mews the genius of 
 our poet, he has kept up the fpirit of his hu- 
 mour through three plays, one of which he wrote 
 at the requeft of queen Elizabeth. For which 
 reafon, if 'tis true what 6 Dryden tells us, fpeak- 
 ing of Mercutio's character in Romeo and Juliet, 
 that Shakefpeare faid hfmfelf, he was forced to 
 kill him in the third act, to prevent being killed 
 by him : it muft be his diffidence and modefty 
 that made him fay this , for it never could be 
 thro* barrennefs of invention, that Mercutio's 
 fprightly wit was ended in the third act ; but be- 
 caufe there was no need of him, or his wit any 
 longer. The variety of humour, exhibited in 
 the feveral characters, deferves no lefs our ad- 
 
 6 Dryden's defence of the epilogue : or an efluy on the 
 dramatic poetry of the laft age. 
 
 H 3 miration i
 
 i o 2 Critical Obfervations Book I. 
 
 miration; and whenever he forms a different 
 perfon, he forms a different kind of man. But 
 when he exercifes his creative art, and makes a 
 7 new creature, a hag-lorn tyhelp^ not honoured 
 with a human jhape ; he gives him manners, as 
 difproportion'd, as his Jhape, and fentiments pro- 
 per for fuch manners. If on the contrary nature 
 is to be pictured in more beautiful colours j if 
 the hero, the friend, the patriot, or prince ap- 
 pears, the thoughts and fentiments alone give 
 an air of majefty to the poetry, without con- 
 fidering even the lofty exprefllons and fublimity 
 of the diction. What can be more affecting 
 and paflionate than king Lear ? How does the 
 ghoft in Hamlet raife and terrify the imagination 
 of the audience ? In a word, the fentiments 
 are fo agreable to the characters, fo juft and na^ 
 tural, yet fo animated and tranfported, that one 
 would think no other could be poffibly ufed, 
 more proper to the ends he propofes, whether it 
 be to approve or difapprove, to magnify or di^ 
 miniih, to ftir or to calm the paflions. 
 
 Ut fibi quivis 
 
 Speret idem ; fudet multum^ fruftraqite labor ef 
 Aujus idem. 
 
 THE laft and loweft is the diftion or 
 exprejfton, which mould indeed be fuitable to 
 
 7. Calfyan, in the Terapeft. 
 
 the
 
 Se6L 12. on SHAKESPEARE. 103 
 
 the fubjeft and character ; and every affection of 
 the human mind ought to fpeak in its proper 
 tone and language. Shakefpeare's expreflion is 
 fo various, fo flowing and metaphorical, and has 
 fo many peculiarities in it, that a more minute 
 examination muft be referved for another place. 
 Mean while it may be fufficient to obferve, that 
 for a 8 poet to labour in thefe meer ornamental 
 parts of poetry ; to make his diction fwelling 
 and fplendid, fo as to overlook his plan, and 
 obfcure his manners and fentiments ; is juft as 
 abfurd, as if a painter mould only attend to his 
 colouring and drapery, and never regard tie 
 human face divine. 9 Painting and poetry are two 
 fitter arts i each of them has it's Ihades and lights, 
 and each requires it's proper points of view: 
 each has it's deftgn, as well as colouring ; if the 
 former is defective, the latter is ridiculous. An 
 ugly woman, tricked out in a tawdry drefs, 
 renders herfelfmore notorioufly contemptible by 
 her ufelefs ornaments. 
 
 8. T} oXt|i &T twor Ir rsV g/o 
 
 T 6>j x, T* ? oi*ei ? . The poet Jhould labour in his a'iftion 
 in tbofe places where there is no aSion ; not where there art 
 manners and fentiments ; for both thefe are obfcured where tht 
 diflisn is fplendid and glowing. Ariftot. vi$ TT!T. *t<p. x$. 
 9. Ut picture poejis erit, &c. Hor. art. poet. 361. 
 
 H 4 Interdum
 
 '104 Critical Qbjervations Book I, 
 
 Inter dum fpeciofa locis, moral aque refle 
 Fabula., vullius veneris^ fine ponder 'e et arte, 
 Valdius obkttat popuhtm meliufque moratur, 
 >uam verfus inopes rerum nugaeque canorae. 
 
 SECT. XIIL 
 
 IF we will confider Shakefpeare's tragedies, 
 as dramatic heroic poems, fome ending with 
 a happy, others with an unhappy cataftrophe ; 
 why then, if Homer introduces a buffoon cha- 
 racter, both among his ' gods and 2 heroes in his 
 IJiad, and a ridiculous moniler 3 Polypheme in 
 
 his 
 
 1 . A limping Vulcan takes upon him the office of Gany- 
 mede. II. *. He advifes the gods not to trouble their 
 heads about wretched mortals. I wonder fome of the 
 commentators, who are fond of fetching every thing from 
 Homer, never thought of making Epicurus fleal his philo- 
 fophy from Vulcan. 
 
 2. Therfites. II. '. Where Eufhthius has this remark, 
 ' The tragic poets aim at what is grave and ferious, and 
 *' treat fublimely the events of things. The comedians on 
 
 the contrary treat things luclicroufly, and leffen them. 
 In Homer tbefe tragic and comic cbaraflers are found mixed ; 
 for he plainly afts the comedian when he leffens and 
 brings down from its heroic ftation, the character of 
 Therfites." 
 
 3. The character of Polyphemus appear'd to Euripides 
 fo proper for farce; that from hence he form'd his fatyric 
 
 P lay,
 
 Sect. 13." on SHAKESPEARE; 
 his Odyfiey, might not Shakefpeare in his heroic 
 drama exhibit a Falftaff, a Caliban, or clown ? 
 Here is no mixture of various fables : tho' the 
 incidents are many, the ftory is one. 'Tis true, 
 there is a mixture of characters, not all proper 
 to excite thofe tragic pafllons, pity and terror ; 
 
 play, The Cyclops. Ulyffes told the monfler his name was 
 OYTIS, or Neman. Polyphemus' eye being put out, he 
 calls to his friends, 
 
 SI piXoi OYTIE pi XVWH &Xw, a'Jt &ir,$i. 
 
 In Euripides the fcene is as follows, 
 
 KYK. OYTJS f* 
 
 XO. Ow* ^' a^ 
 
 K.YK. OYTIS f*t 
 
 XO. Oux ^' T TW^XOS. 
 
 KYK. fl? W o-J. 
 
 XO. Kat tffw? cr' TK a Se^ T 
 
 KYK. rxwVlfK, c' OYTI2 -ma' ri> i 
 
 XO. QvSctpii, KvxXu;^. 
 
 Cyc. Neman bath killed me. 
 
 Cho. 7* no one bath hurt tbte. 
 
 Cyc. homan puts cut my eye. 
 
 Cho. Then tbou'rt not blind. 
 
 Cyc. Would tbou waft jo. 
 
 Cho. Can no man make tbct blind? 
 
 Cyc. You mock me ; luhere is Noman ? 
 
 Cho. Nowhere, Cyclops. 
 
 the
 
 jo6 Critical Observations Book I. 
 
 the ferious and comic being fo blended, as to 
 Form in fome meafure what Plautus calls 4 tragi- 
 comedy ; where, not two different ftories, the 
 one tragic, the other comic, are prepofteroufly 
 jumbled together, as in the Spanifh Fryar, and 
 Oroonoko : but the unity of the fable being 
 preferred, feveral ludicrous characters are in- 
 terfperfed, as in a heroic poem. Nor does the 
 mind from hence fuffer any violence, being only 
 accidentally called off from the ferious flory, to 
 which it foon returns again, and perhaps better 
 prepared by this little refrefhment. The 5 tragic 
 epifode of Dido is followed by the fports in ho- 
 nor of old Anchifes. Immediately after the 
 6 quarrel among the heroes, and the wrathful de- 
 bates arifing in heaven, the deformed Vulcan af- 
 fumes the office of cup-bearer, and raifes a laugh 
 among the heavenly fynod. Milton has intro- 
 duced a piece of mirth in his battle of the gods 
 where the evil fpirits, elevated with a little 
 
 4. In his prologue to Amphitryo. 
 
 Faclam ut cwimijja Jit tragicomoedia : 
 
 Nam me per pet lib facer e ut fit camocdia, 
 
 Reges quo r veniant ft Dii, no n par arbitror, 
 
 Quid igitur ? quyniam bic ferwus partes quo^tie habet 
 
 Faciam proinde* tit dixi, tragicomoediam. 
 
 5. Virg. Aen. IV. ^r.d V. 
 
 6. Horn. IL . 
 
 fuccefs,
 
 Sct 13. en SHAKESPEARE. 107 
 
 fuccefs, ' fiand fcoffing and punning in pkafant 
 win. But thefe are mafterly ftrokcs, and touches 
 of great artifts, not to be imitated by poets who 
 creep on the ground, but by thofe only who (bar 
 with the eagle wings of Homer, Milton, or 
 Shakefpeare. 
 
 But fo far at leaft muft be acknowledged true 
 of our dramatic poet, that he is always a ftrift 
 obferver of decorum ; and conftantly a friend to 
 the caufe of virtue : hence he fhews, in it's pro- 
 per light, into what miferies mankind are led 
 by indulging wrong opinions. No philofopher 
 feems ever to have more minutely examined into 
 the different manners, paflions, and inclinations 
 of mankind ; nor is there known a character, 
 perhaps that of Socrates only excepted, where 
 refined ridicule, raillery, wit, and humour, were 
 fo mixed and united with what is moft grave 
 and ferious in morals and philofophy. This is 
 the magic with which he works fuch wonders. 
 
 PeEius imniter (ingit^ 
 Irritaty mulcet^ faljis terrorism implet, 
 Ut magus ; et modo me Tbebis, tnodoponit Atbenis. 
 
 I T feems to me, that this philofophical mix- 
 ture of character is fcarce at all attended to by 
 the moderns. Our grave writers are dully grave j 
 
 7. The fp^eches which Satan and Belial make in derifion, 
 are after the caft of Homer. II. '. 374. and IL *'. 745. 
 
 and
 
 Critical Obfervations Book I/ 
 
 and our men of wit are loft to all fenfe of gravity. 
 3 Tis all formality, or all buffoonery. However 
 this mixture is vifible in the writings of Shake- 
 fpeare j he knew the pleafmg force of humour, 
 and the dignity of gravity. And he is the beft 
 inftance, that can be cited, to countenance that 
 famous pafiage in 8 Plato's banquet, where the 
 philofopher makes a tragic and a comic poet 
 both allow, againft their inclinations, that he 
 who according to the beft rules of art was a 
 writer of tragedy, muft be likewife a good writer 
 of comedy. 
 
 8. The Banquet was held in Agatho's houfe, a tragic 
 poet. The perfon, who relates, concludes with faying, 
 that having drunken a little too much, and fallen faft afleep, 
 he waked juft about break of day, when he found Agatho 
 the tragedian, and Ariftophanes the comedian difputing 
 with Socrates. Socrates had brought both thefe poets to 
 confefs what is mentioned above. And yet it is obfervable 
 that, among the ancient dramatic writers, the fock and 
 bufkin perhaps never interfered : Sophocles and Euripides 
 never wrote comedies : Ariftophanes and Menander never 
 attempted tragedies. 
 
 SECT.
 
 Se&. 14. on SHAKESPEARE. 
 
 SECT. XIV. 
 
 IT is furprifing how, in fo fhort a time, 
 Shakefpeare and Johnfon could bring the 
 ftage to fuch perfection, that after them it received 
 no x farther improvement. But what cannot men 
 of genius effect, when, in an age of liberty, they 
 have power to exert their faculties ? * Popifh 
 
 I . This is Ariflotle's obfervation on the Grecian ftage, 
 fpcaking of the perfection it was brought to by Sophocles, 
 and Euripides. Ka cu-oXXaj fwhtCofaij fti]CXa<ra i T^a/I;- 
 Sia. iTTKVc-ctlo iiril to-ftf Tr,r ietvlw QVCTH. XiQ. &. It ft opt 
 after it received TW loivTr.s (pvirtv, what <was agreable to iff 
 nature. He does not fay it arrived to it's fuileft perfe&ion ; 
 that is a queftion he artfully waves. To fto e ijno-xoirtr*, 
 
 u<;, 1} tf, aura it 
 XXo; Xsj. The 
 examination, whether tragedy has received every form ftijfici- 
 ently, or not ; confedered either in refpeEl to itfelf or the 
 theatre, is another confideratior.. 'Tis the nature of all arts 
 and fciences, that after once arriving at their feeming per- 
 feftion, they decline : one reafon may be want of emulation. 
 To be firil in the race is the great fpur and incitement. 
 
 2. Ladovicus Vives, in his notes on Auguilin de Civit. 
 Dei. 1. 8. c. 27. mentions thefe. " Ibi ridetur Juaas, 
 " quam potefi inept ijfitna jaflans dum Chriftum prodit. Hi 
 " difcipulumfugiuntmilitibusperfequentibm, nee fine cachinnis 
 f< afiorum et f peel at or urn. Ibi Pitrus auriculam refcindit 
 " Malcho, applaudcnte pullata turba t ceu ita vindicetur 
 " Chrifli captivitas. Et fvft paulum f ta tarn jlrenut modo 
 
 * dimi-
 
 1 1 6 Critical Obferuations Book I, 
 
 myfteries, and moralities were the public enter- 
 tainments, and encouraged by theRomifh priefts, 
 however in themfelves ridiculous or blafphemous. 
 But no fooner did the dawn of liberty arife, but 
 critics began to exercife their art. Sydney and 
 Afcham drew their obfervations from the bed 
 models of antiquity. Spencer moralized his fong \ 
 Fairfax tranflated ; and the ftage had it's Shake- 
 
 *' dimicarat, rogaticnilus uHius ancilltdae ferritus abnegat 
 " nta%iftritm t ricients multitudixe and! lam 'nterrogantem t tt 
 " exhibilante Petrum neganttm > cfjV. 1 ' Polydore Vergil, 
 1. 5. c. 2. " Sol emus <vel more prifcorum fpeflacula edere 
 " populo, ut /Witt, &fr . &c. item in tcmplis vitas dinjorwn 
 " ac tnartyria rcpraefcntare, in quibus tit cunQh par Jit 'vslup* 
 " taSy yui recitaxt rvernaculatn linguan teintum ufurpant^ 
 See Rabelais, book IV. ch. xiii. In the late edition of Stow's 
 furvey, &c. Vol. I. p. 247. is the following account. " But 
 ' London for the ihows upon theatres, and comical paflimes, 
 * hath holy plays, reprefentations of miracles, which holy 
 *' confeflbrs have wrought ; or reprefentations of torments, 
 " wherein the conftancy of martyrs appeared." From 
 Fitzftephen. And again, " Thefe or the like exercifes, 
 " have been continued till our time, namely in ftage plays, 
 " whereof we may read, in anno 1391. a play to beplay'd 
 " by the parifh clerks of London at the Skinners well 
 " befides Smithfield ; which play contlnacd three days to- 
 " gether^ the king, queen and nobles of the realm being 
 " prefent. And of another played in the year 1409, which 
 " laited eight days, and <?tw of matter from tie creation of 
 tc the world* whereat was prefent moft part of the nobility 
 " and gentry of England." 
 
 t fpeare
 
 Sect 14. on SHAKESPEARE.' 
 fpeare and Johnfon. When Nature meets no 
 check, fhe works inftantaneoufly almoft, 'till fhe 
 arrives at perfection. 
 
 Thus in the more free ftates of Greece it being 
 ufual, at the times of vintage, to fing J extem- 
 poral fongs in praife of Bacchus, Thefpis taking 
 the hint made a portable ftage, and acted a kind 
 of plays, made up entirely of finging and dancing, 
 with a chorus of fatyrs. As this invention of 
 Thefpis preferved ftill the original fuperftitious 
 inftitutior, what poet would be fo bold as to 
 vary from fo facred a model ? Yet fome time 
 after Aefchylus ventured to bring his 4 heroes, 
 
 and 
 
 3. aa-fjutlsi AXoflti; avrocrxihce. Max. Tyr. difl". 37. f. 4. 
 p. 437. edit. Lend, ymofuyrtf & * a '?%*? otvTor%i$ixefltxiJs 
 *. r. A. Arift. nrtgi tron7T. xt<p. ^'. Virgil. Gcorg. II, 380, 
 &c. Tibullus eleg. i. 1. i. 
 
 dgricola adfiduo primum ceffatus aratr 
 
 Cantavit certo ruftica verba pede. 
 Et fatur arenti primum eft inodvlatus avenci 
 
 Carmen, ut ornatos duceret ante deos. 
 Agricola et minio fujfufus , Baccbe, rubentiy 
 
 Primus inexpert a duxit ab arte chores. 
 
 4. EK ^t-'Sf ^ wa'9jj flrjoayoVW. Plut. Symp. I. C. I. 
 He is fpeaking of Phrynichus and Aefchylus. So that before 
 dxefe the drama was fatiric. Aefchylus exhibited his firft 
 play at olymp. LXX. Thefpis flourifh'd in the times of 
 Solon. When Phrynichus and Aefchylus brought their 
 plays on the ftage, the people alk'd, " What's all this to 
 
 " Bacchus ? "'
 
 ii a Critical Obfcrvations Book L 
 
 and heroic ftories on the ftage, without one word 
 concerning Bacchus or his fatyrs. 
 
 This great man is truly called, the s father 
 and author of tragedy, notwithftanding any hints 
 that he might take from others. For he firft 
 
 formed 
 
 * Bacchus?" To content the people, they fuperadded a 
 Satiric drama, a farce with fatyrs, formed upon fome ftory 
 Of Bacchus or Silenus. 
 
 Cat mine qui tragic s vilem eertavit ob bircutn 
 Max etiam agreftes fatyros Truda-iiit. 
 
 Horat. art. poet. p. 220. The poet fpends a great number 
 of verfes about thefe fatyrs. But the fubjeft itfelf is un- 
 worthy his pen. He who could not bear the elegant mimes 
 of Laberius, [L. i. f. 10. ^. 6. See Macrob. Saturn. 1. 2. 
 A. Cell. 1. ii. c. 9.] that he mould think this farcical, and 
 obfcene trafli worth his particular noticej is fomewhat 
 ftrange. We have but one of all the latiric plays now re- 
 maining, and that is the Cyclops of Euripides : where 
 heroes, and fatyrs are promifcuoufly introduced juft as 
 ferves to carry on the thread of the fable. Diomedes, 1. 3. 
 p. 488. Satjfica eft apud Graecos fabula, in qua item tragici 
 poetae non reges aut heroas [i. e. non modo r.] fed fatyros 
 induxerunt ludendi causa jocandique, Jimid ut fpeftator inter 
 ret tragicas feriafque, fatyrorum quoque jocis et luribus dt~ 
 le&aretur. 
 
 5. Iragoedias primus in lucem Aefchylus profu/it, fublifnit 
 (t gratis et g>-andilcquus faepe ufque ad i>itinm. Quinft. 
 1. 10. c. i. fhiloftratus, in the life of Apollonius, VI, 6. 
 p. 258. fpeaking of his feveral inventions, adds, "O& E
 
 Seft. 14. on SHAKESPEARE. 113 
 
 formed his ftory into a regular and tragic fable ; 
 and 6 introduced dialogue between the aftors, 
 omitting the tedious narration of fmgle perfons. 
 
 His 
 
 FIATEPA p rijf r^etMiuf auro jyutlo. See Athe- 
 naeus, 1. i. p. 121. Horace fpeaking of him fays, in art, 
 poet. 280. 
 
 Et docuit magnumque loqui, nitique cotlurno. 
 And Ariftophanes, 
 
 'AXX' a riPfiTOS 7u 'E\hwut tsvpyujxi; jV/Aolflt fftpt 
 Kat Xocr{AiC-a{ T^a/ixor Xijfox. 
 
 This will explain what Ariftotle fays in his poetics, chap. ir. 
 
 ' ET Si TO f*,*lS^ Ix fMX^ut [A-JQuv, t X/^tw; ycXoioc^, ^tx TO ix 
 eetlv^xa pAm&aKtn, oij/e 9r0-ff*w9i. 5/ however ''tiuat 
 late [e-^i fo he calls it, from the times of Thefpis to 
 Aefchylus, or rather to Sophocles] ier it bad its proptr 
 gravity and grandeur, by getting rid of trifling fables [flories 
 of Bacchus and Silenus] and the burlefque Jlile, ivhicb it 
 received from thofe fatirical pieces. 
 
 6. Kat TO,TI rat uVoxgilwx 
 'Ats-^t'A' ^Ja/s, xj T T xo( 
 yuttrw <Ba.yffx.ivu.fff Tgs?; 5e xj 
 Arift. rEp -Er6)T. xtip. ^. 'Tis faid here that Sophocles 
 invented the fcenes, and decorations for the llage. But 
 that is not true, Horace's verfes of Aefchylus prove the 
 contrary in his art of poetry, if. 278, &c. and Athenaeus, 
 I. i. p. 121. and Philoftratus, 1. 6. c. 6. And we know 
 from Vitruvius, that Agatharcus helped Aefchylus in the 
 contrivance of his fcenes, and ether decorations. But the 
 blunder is eafily removed by reducing the words to their 
 
 I proper
 
 1 1 4 Critical Obfervatiom Book I. 
 
 His actors were drefifed and decorated proper for 
 their parts j and the ftage was furnifhed with 
 fumptuous fcenes, and machines. The 7 mafk 
 
 likewife, 
 
 proper places thus, xj TOV Xo/ovar^. i aa,!>e<rxzvsto-i 
 TgE*V ^ Zo^oxX??. And this is their meaning, Aefchylus 
 fir ft increafed the number of the affors, bringing two on the 
 ftage, inftead of one ; and Jhortened the fongs of the chorus ; 
 and invented principal parts, [or chief characters, as the chief 
 part, is Hamlet, Macbeth, Othello, in the plays called after 
 their names] and fcenes nuith their proper decorations : But 
 Sophocles brought a third acJor on the Jl age. 
 
 7. Horace, art. poet. ^. 278. Platonius, in a fragment 
 of his, Hill preferred, concerning the three kinds of Greek 
 comedy, tells us, that the mafks in the old comedy were 
 made fo nearly to refemble the perfons to be fatirized, that 
 they were known before the aftor fpoke. But in the new 
 comedy, the mafks were only formed to move laughter. 
 
 "Ofwftin yy T; oQey/; o Tci? 's^ruTrzis T?? Mncc>oca xupaSiaf 
 wo? 'X'-t, >Jj '^itu^ elsr^afAfwW TO ZflMA ^ $i xotlu, et$gu- 
 7T4.' Qv?u. We fee therefore nvhat ftrange eyebrotvs there are 
 to the majki ufed in Menander 's comedies ; and hmv the 
 S O D T is distorted, and unlike any hitman creature. Mr. 
 Theobald, in his preface to Shakefpeure, has cited this 
 paflage, and thus corrected it, x^ CTTUI i|ir^f*fUK TO Ippa,, 
 i. e. andhovj the eyes -inere goggled ar.d dijlorttd. But furely, 
 inftead of SfiMA, with little or no variation, it mould be 
 ZTOMA. And this is plain from the reprefentations we 
 have of the comic mafk>, which may be feen in Madam 
 Dac'er's Terence ; and are likewife in an old MS. Terence 
 in the Bouley library at Oxford ; in which mafks the mouth 
 is hideoufly, and ridiculoufly diflorted : and the chief reafon 
 of the mouth being thus formed was, to help the aftor to 
 
 throw
 
 Sect. 14. on SHAKESPEARE. nj 
 
 likewife, which they fuited to the character to 
 be reprefented, was the invention of Aefchylus: 
 and doubtlefs much more becoming it was, than 
 thofe ridiculous countenances, which the actors 
 gave themfelves, by befmearing their faces with 
 wine-lees : thefe mafks were of fome ufe to thofe 
 who were fpectators at a diftance, as well in 
 helping to diftinguifh the feveral characters, as 
 in aflifting the voice. But however they muft 
 hide all the various changes of the countenance, 
 fo neceflary in a good actor, and more expreflive 
 of paffion than any gefture whatever. Notwith- 
 ftanding the improvements made in tragedy by 
 Aefchylus, yet he lived to fee himfelf excelled by 
 8 Sophocles. With what rapidity did the tragic 
 mufe thus advance to perfection ? 
 
 But 
 
 throw his voice to a greater diftance. This is plain from 
 A. Gellius, lib. 5. c. 7. Perfona, a perfonando ditto, eft: 
 nam caput et os cooperimento perfortae teQum undique, unaque 
 tantum vocis emlttendae t'ia per'vium, quod non vaga tteque 
 diffufa ejl t in unum tantummodo exitum colic flam coatfamque 
 vocem, ft magis claros canorofque fonitus facit. 
 
 8. Sophocles was the firft that did not aft his own plays, 
 having but a weak and unharmonious voice. He added a 
 third actor, which critics imagine fufficient to be brought 
 together in converfation in one fcene, for more they fuppofe 
 would occafion embarrafment and confufion. 
 
 Nee quarta loqui pirfana labortt. 
 
 I a There
 
 I 1 6 Critical Qbfervations Book I. 
 
 But what muft appear moft ftrange to us mo- 
 derns, is the inexhauftible invention of thefe 
 Attic poets, who could write fo correct, yet fo 
 quick and almoft extemporal. The loweft ac- 
 count of the plays of Aefchylus amounts to 
 above feventy ; Sophocles and Euripides wrote 
 a greater number. The genius of our Shake- 
 fpeare feems to equal any of the ancients, and 
 his invention was fcarce to be exhaufted. Dryden 
 did not come far mort, but he wanted fteady 
 and honeft principles, and that love for his art, 
 which is always requifite to make a compleat 
 artift. For when the mind is filled with great 
 and noble ideas, 'tis no fuch difficult matter to 
 give them a tone and utterance.'; Or as our 
 Platonic 9 Spencer expreffes it ; 
 
 The noble heart that harbours virtuous thoughts 
 And is with child of glorious great intent^ 
 
 There is another piece of art of Sophocles' worth notice, 
 and that is, his confuting the genius and abilities of hi& 
 chief aftors, and fitting the parts to them. See Triclinius, 
 or whoever elfe was the writer of this poet's life. Sophocles 
 undoubtedly wrote better plays than Aefchylus : but who 
 has excelled Shakefpeare ? 'Tis remarkable, that the Athe- 
 nians gave leave to the poets to revife the plays of their 
 old bard, and then to bring them on the ftage. So Quinfti- 
 lian informs us, 1. i o. c. i . We have had feveral poets too 
 t .it have attempted the fame with Shakefpeare. 
 9. In his Fairy Queen, B. 2, c. 12. f, 47. 
 
 Can
 
 Se&. 14. on SHAKESPEARE. 
 
 Can never reft until it forth have brought 
 Tb* eternal brood of glory excellent. 
 
 THERE is apaiTage in l6 Plato's Minos, 
 that at firft fight contradicts this account of the 
 original of tragedy, which is there faid to be 
 of a much ancienter date, than the times of Thef- 
 pis. " Dr. Bentley, in his very learned differta- 
 tion on the epiftles of Phalaris, thinks that Plato 
 was miftaken. But this can hardly be allowed 
 in a piece of hiftorical learning, relating to his 
 own country ; if it be confidered too, that Plato 
 was a critic, as well as a philofopher. There 
 are others again who will literally interpret Plato's 
 words, in contradiction to all other authorities. 
 However, if he be here understood, as often 
 he mould, with fome latitude, perhaps the whole 
 difficulty will difappear. Socrates is defending 
 the character of Minos, which had been abufed : 
 " How comes it then (fays fome one) that 
 " Minos has been fo afperfed for a barbarous and 
 " cruel prince ? Why, replies Socrates, if you 
 " have any inclination to have a good name, 
 c * keep fair with the poets, which was not the 
 " cafe of Minos ; for he waged war with this 
 " city, which abounds with arts and fciences, 
 " and with all other forts of poets, as well as 
 
 10. Plat, in Min. p. 320, 321, edit. Steph. vol. 2. 
 i-i, Bentl. diflcrt. &c. p. 235, 278. 
 
 13 " tragic
 
 1 1 8 Critical Obfervatiom Book I/. 
 
 <* tragic writers. For here tragedy is of ancient 
 " date, not, as men think, beginning from 
 " Thefpis or Phrynichus j but if you'll examine, 
 " you'll find it an old invention of this ftate. 
 cc For tragedy is a kind of poetry moft proper 
 " to pleafe the people, and to work upon their 
 -' affections." C FI $z -r^dfiu^'at \<;i arA#iaV ivQoife, 
 ? o<o7i oliro <r7r?- oi(>%ot[4ivq t x' etW 
 &AA ft <7Ae<f tvvoyffou urctw sr#Aa<cy MUTO 
 
 feems to me very plain, that TpAmaiA is here 
 to be taken in it's larger extent and fignification. 
 Thus if I mould fay the book of Job is a tragedy 
 with a happy cataftrophe, I mould not mean 
 ? twas ever acted on a ftage. There were no 
 ftage-plays, 'till the times of Thefpis and Phry- 
 nichus, and in this fenfe no tragedies. But yet 
 there were ftories, of a dramatic kind, formed 
 into dialogue, and characters drawn, as of Minos, 
 a cruel king : and this manner of writing was of 
 ancient date at Athens, not the invention of 
 Thefpis or Phrynichus, as people generally 
 thought, confounding the ftage with the cha- 
 racteriftic and dialogue manner of writing : fo 
 that the thing itfelf was older than the name. 
 
 And this explanation of Plato will lead us to 
 another of Horace. 
 
 Ignotv.m
 
 Se&. 14. on SHAKESPEARE. 119 
 
 Ignotum traglcae genus invenijfe camaenac 
 Did fur, et plauftris vexiffe IZ poemata Thefpis y 
 <j$uae canerent agerentque per unfit faecibus or a. 
 
 Tbefpis is /aid to bc.Vi invented a new kind of 
 tragic poetry ', and to have carried his plays with all 
 their apparatus about in a cart^ which were to be 
 
 12. HOP. art. poet. 275. In this paflage of Horace 
 poemata is not ftriflly his written plays ; but in a larger 
 fignification bis plays with their whole apparatus : fo Diogenes 
 Laertius in the life of Solon ufes Ta*/*,-oj, tragedies with 
 their apparatus, Gts-ru ixxfco-t rga/M&oc /*' T, *$ $^a-~ 
 *tv. 1. l. f. 59. Solon forbid The/pis to carry bis tragedies 
 about in carts, and to act them ; which I mention, becaufc 
 Dr. Bentley will take the word poimata in a limited and 
 itrift fenfe, on purpofe to make way for his emendation. 
 " Quale tamen obfecro illud eft, vexiiTe plauftris poemata ? 
 " hoc eft ut enarrat Acron, tarn mult a firipjrfe quae pojjet 
 " plauftris advebere. Mirum hoc profecio, ^fff." The 
 Dr. however faw the true meaning, but th.;t he hurries over, 
 and corrects, 
 
 Et plauftris <vexi/e poemata Thefpis 
 Qu I canerent agerentque perunQi faecibus or*L 
 
 id eft, vexiffe plauftris eos qui canerent, &c. Bat that Horace 
 is to be underftood in this expreffion, [pyemata] according 
 to its utmoi: latitude, I have a witnefs beyond all exception, 
 the learned author of the differtation upon the epiflles of 
 Phalaris, to oppofe to the editor of Horace ; who citing 
 thefe words, p. 207. plauftris vexi/e poemata Tbej'pis, thus 
 tranflates them, That in the beginning the PLATS were 
 (arried about the village* in carts. 
 
 1 4 afted
 
 'I2O Critical Obfervations Book I. 
 
 a&ed byftrolers, wbofe faces were daubed with the 
 lees of wine, Horace does not fay the tragic 
 mufe had no exiftence, in any fhape whatever, 
 before Thefpis , but only that he invented a new 
 kind^ unknown before : for he firft made his ftories 
 entirely dramatic^ and brought them on the 
 ftage. 
 
 11 AFTER tragedy, the old comedy fuc- 
 ceeded : which took it's firft hint from an obfcene 
 fong, which they fung in the feftivals of Bacchus, 
 called hence the I4 Phallic. Comedy lay neglected, 
 
 and 
 
 13. Hor. art. poet. 281. Succejfit vetus his Comoedia. 
 Marc. Anton. XI, 6. M] $ T^ r^a/wJiav *j a'e%ara 
 
 o-xacra. After tragedy the old comedy fucceeded, ufing an in- 
 JiruSi'ue liberty of inveighing againji perfonal 'vices, and by 
 this direfl freedom offpeech was of great ufe to humble pride 
 and arrogance. What Ariftotle fays, is worth our notice : 
 'H os x.a(n.u%\a. t ^a TO pv (T7cx$d.^tff$ou I| a'g%??, iX0v' x^ 
 yoi% X,O!>QI> xufLuouv o$>f tuolt o oi^ut touxet/, aXA 1 tfieTiovla* 
 wet*. We don't knonu the fever al changes of comedy fo well, 
 becaufe it has not been improved fence it's beginning as much 
 as tragedy. For 'twas late e^re the archon gave the comic 
 chorus: but the aftors played voluntarily. Arifl. xeip. t. 
 
 1 4. *H SI aVo ruv TO. <p>iXtx, a lr^ t t 
 
 otaf* >of*^of*a. Arift. xttp. $'. And Ariftophancs, 
 if. 260. 'E/w ^' a'xoXt?6o/v <7ox,ai TO ^aXX;X6v. Schol. 
 
 rjfi7ro. See the fchol. on 
 the
 
 Sect. 14^ on SHAKESPEARE* 121 
 
 and remained, according to it's etymology, a 
 fong in country towns, when tragedy was publicly 
 acted at the expence of the magiftrate. Thefe 
 village fongs were either abufive and fcurrilous, 
 expofing the follies and failings of the neighbour- 
 hood ; or they were of the obfcene kind, as 
 more agreable to the ridiculous figure carried in 
 the proceflions of the feltival. It had another 
 name, tpfy$i* t the wine-fong ; as T*W/, is 
 the goat-fong : a veffel of wine being the prize of 
 comedy, and a goat of tragedy. Ariflophanes 
 calls the old comedians IS T^oSau^ov^, in that 
 paffage, rather from their diabolical faces be- 
 daubed with the lees of wine, than from their 
 
 prize. 
 
 the fame play, -jr. 242. where the (lory there told has a 
 near refemblance to what the priefts and diviners advifed the 
 Philiftines, being afflicled with emerods : viz. to make them 
 images. And they accordingly made them images of the 
 emerods. \ Sam. vi. 4& 17. But another word fliould be 
 ufed, not emerods. 
 
 15. Ariftoph. nub. -jr, 29$. f5 cxu^-p, fujJi ro'<rjjf, 
 
 7TE 01 T^f/C^aifAOKJ tiTOI. 
 
 Schol. of Tt>/G^:ttf/coii, ot iOQH)1aii' [lege s xufAixoi ro>j1arj 
 
 .<n ystuflctt, XTU "tot 
 
 THTO St iwomv ok xufAixoi aromlai. From this paflage of 
 Ariflophanes and the fcholiafl, a mod certain correction 
 offers itfelf, of a corrupted place in Xenophon's memoirs 
 of Socrates, where the young man complains to his father 
 cf his mother Xanthippe's crofs temper, " What, (fays 
 
 ' Socrates)
 
 122 Critical Obfervations^ .Book L; 
 
 prize. Such l6 Epicharmus found comedy, when 
 he preferred it's original name, but altered the 
 form and nature of it ; and took, for the fubject 
 of his I7 imitation, thofe follies and vices of 
 
 mankind, 
 
 " Socrates) do you think it more difficult for you to hear 
 " what your mother fays, than for the players when they 
 *' abufe one another \v Toi? rsv!u^a.n;.^ So I would un- 
 doubtedly read, not rga/w&aK, as the prefent copies have 
 it. Xen. aVoju,. &. '. x=p. '. 
 
 1 6. To OB ftt/os; 9ro6(v, ETn^aff*.^ xj tyogfus vi^av, Epi- 
 charmus and Phormis nuere the firft nvho made a fable or 
 plot in their comedies. 
 
 17. Ariftot. chap. 2. fpeaking of the fubjedts of imitation, 
 obferves, that men mult be reprefented, either as they are, 
 or better, or worfe ; and inftances of painters, then of 
 poets. Homer, he fays, has made men better, other poets 
 worfe, others again as they are. In this very thing lies the 
 difference between tragedy and comedy ; for comedy endeavours 
 to reprefent men vjorfe, and tragedy better than they are. 
 'E aJri? ['eg. 'Ev ia.vTy~] $t TJ; htx.$ogx, % j 
 
 ruv vvv. Again in chap. v. 'H$l 
 
 Ta ai<r 
 T x} a 
 
 To ytXoof 7|o'ffft)7ro 
 Comedy is, as I have faid, an imitation of the worft, but not 
 luorft in all fort of vice, [for fome vices raife indignation, 
 horror, or pity, which are tragic paffions] but only what 
 has a ridiculous jbare ofivhat is bafe : for the ridiculous is a 
 fart of defeft and bafenefs, neither cattfing pain nor deftruSion 
 
 t
 
 Set. 14. on SHAKESPEARE. 123 
 
 mankind, which render them ridiculous. Theo- 
 critus fays of his l8 countryman, . 
 
 A T6 
 
 And prefently after, 
 
 dtv TBH? ITAISIN 
 
 There is a fmall corruption in the laft line but 
 one, riAlUN, children^ inftead of ruSIN, all 
 mankind. The philofophic comedian fpoke what 
 
 was 
 
 ts the fubjfft in which it tx'tjls. As for example [.-uflyf, ex. 
 gr.] deformed and dijtortcd countenance, without any pain 
 to the perfon, is a ridiculous countenance. Proper fubjefts of 
 comic mirth are the vices which make men mean, con- 
 temptible and ridiculous ; fuch are lovers, drunkards, the 
 vain-glorious, the covetous, the coward, fops, fine ladies, 
 and fine gentlemen, &c. &c. Thefe have no feeling of 
 their own bafenefs ; their deformity is r4/cvo, as the 
 philofopher fays ; and they are therefore ridiculous cha- 
 rafters. 
 
 1 8. He came to Sicily when an infant from the ifland 
 Cos, and is therefore called a Sicilian. Laert. VIII, 78. 
 Cicero in epift. ad Attic. I. 19. Ut crebro mihi wafer Hit 
 Siculus infufurrat Epitharmus cantilenam illamfuam, 
 
 And in his Tufculan queftions, J, 8. Sed tu mihi videris E pi - 
 char mi, acuti nee infuljjhominis, ut Siculi/entgntiam/equi. * * 
 
 Emori
 
 124 Critical Obfervathns Book I, 
 
 was ufeful for all mankind to know, and fitting 
 For common life. 'Twas ufual for him to make 
 one perfon enter into a dialogue with himfelf, 
 and fuflain the parts of two perfons. So ' 9 Plato 
 teaches us in his Gorgias, I'v* ^ TO tS 
 yivtjlau, <x Wo7 /Jo /$ tAe/or, tig uv 
 y,w t ueu. An inftance of this Plato gives * foon 
 
 Emari no/a, fed me ejfe mortuum nibil aeflumo. 
 
 The Greek trochaic we have in fome fort, but very cor- 
 rupted, remaining in Sextus Empiricus, p. 54. a^cOa^r* >J 
 TsOaat (x,oi titutysfiH. Omitting the guefies of others, J 
 think it may eafily be thus reftored, 
 
 Miti y d-Ttrt So-mtv' opus Tf8a' B^J hottpsgtt. 
 
 which exaftly anfwers to Cicero's verfion. The philofo- 
 phers Plato and Xenophon were very fond of Epicharmus. 
 The latter cites him in his Socratic memoirs, L. II. c. I. 
 \vhere the verfes are thus to be ordered, 
 
 Tuv IEJMVV 'ZcwXifj'ij afjutv Travla T|a6' 01 Ssat. 
 
 n*wei cv, 
 
 'Twas ufual for him to inculcate the precepts of Pythagoras, 
 as Jamblicus tells us, c. 36. So Theodoret Therap. J. p. 15. 
 
 NBJ ogS, x) tf? x.au' TMas x*,^* T^^Xat. 
 
 From thefe and many other inftances, the reader may fee 
 the propriety of the change in Theocritus of FIAIEIN into 
 HAXIN. 
 
 19. Plato in Gorg. p. 505. edit. Steph. 
 
 20. Ibid. p. 506. 
 
 after,
 
 Sett. 14. e># SHAKESPEARE. 
 after, according to his elegant manner. The 
 Stoic philofophers were highly fond of this way 
 t)f writing , and thus the difcourfes of Epictetus 
 are for the moft part written. Neither are in- 
 ftances of this kind wanting in Shakefpeare. As. 
 in the firft part of K. Hen. IV. Act V. juft before 
 the battle Falftaffhas this dialogue with himfelf. 
 
 " What need I be fo forward with him that calls 
 '* not on me ? Well, 'tis no matter, honour pricks 
 " me on : but how if honour pricks me off, 
 " .when I come on ? How then ? Can honour 
 " fet to a leg ! No. Or an arm ? No. 
 " Or take away the grief of a wound ? No. 
 " Honour hath no fkill in furgery then ? No. 
 " What is honour ? A word. What is 
 " that word honour ? Air. A trim reckon- 
 " ing ! Who hath it ? He that dyed a wed- 
 " nefday. Doth he feel it ? No. Doth 
 " he hear it? No. Is it infenfible then ? 
 " Yea, to the dead. But will it not live with 
 " the living ? No. Why ? Detraction, 
 " will not fuffer it. Therefore, Til none of it : 
 " honour is a meer fcutcheon, and fo ends my 
 " catechifm." 
 
 I will mention one inflance more of this old 
 comedian's manner, which was fometimes to 
 repeat the fame thing in almoft the fame words - t 
 and this in proper characters feems to have an 
 air of wit : you expect fomething, and you find 
 ^nothing. I H Tc*
 
 126 Critical Obfervationt Book f. 
 
 1 Tcx pv iv TJJWJ ly v, 
 Fmcquidem interillos egoeram, tuncautemapudillos. 
 
 Plautus was a great imitator of Epicharmus, as 
 Horace informs us in that well-known verfe, 
 
 Plautus ad exemplar Siculi properare Epicharmi 
 Dicitur. 
 
 In his Curculio, Adi V. Scene IV. He has this 
 imitation of his Sicilian mafter, 
 
 uoi homini dii funt propitii^ ei non effe iratos puto. 
 Again in his Stichus, 
 
 E mails mukis, mdum quod minimum eft^ id mini- 
 mum eft malum. 
 
 Sir Hugh Evans, in the merry wives of Wind- 
 for, is full of thefe elegant tautologies fo proper 
 to his character -, in Aft I. Sc. I. Ev. " Shall 
 " I tell you a lie ? I do defpife a liar as I do 
 " defpife one that is falfej or as I defpife one 
 " that is not true." 
 
 So Hamlet, in a jocofe vein, fays, 
 
 For if the king like not tie comedy ; 
 Wby then, belike, be likes it not, perdy. 
 
 21. Ariflot. rhet. 1. 3. c. ix. Demetrius ng 'E 5 -/*. 
 
 X^. X^'. 
 
 There
 
 14. on SHAKESPEARE. 127 
 
 There is no reafon to tire the reader with more 
 inftances, for a hint of this nature is fufficient. 
 
 Xenophon in his treatife of the Athenian re- 
 public takes notice of the exceflive fcurrilities of 
 the old comedians. But the emperor Marcus 
 Antoninus fpeaks more favourable of them ; 
 and fays this freedom of fpeech had an air of dif- 
 cipline and inftrudlion, and by inveighing againft 
 perfonal vices was of ufe to humble the pride and 
 arrogance of the great. What a reflection to 
 come from a great man! 
 
 The " old comedy, without any fcruple, ex- 
 pofed real perfons, and brought real ftories on 
 the ftage, fparing neither magiftrates or philo- 
 fophers, a Cleo, Hyperbolus, or Socrates. 
 Eupolis, atqus Cratinus^ Ariftopbanefquepoetae^ 
 Atque alii quorum comoedia prifca virorum eft, 
 Si quis erat dlgnus defcribi, quod malus acfur, 
 Quod moechus fore t, autjicarius, aut alioquin 
 Famofus ; multa cum libertate notabant. - 
 While the people kept the power in their own 
 hands, they had full fcope of indulging this li- 
 
 22. Concerning the difference of comedy, fee Platoniu c , 
 and the other writers of comedy prefixed to Kuiler's edition 
 of Ariftophanes. Of the old comedy were written in all 
 365 plays j of the middle^ 617 ; Athenaeus fays he had 
 red above 800 : of the new, there were 64 poets. Menan- 
 <ler alone wrote 108 plays. We have only now preferved 
 a few of the plays of Ariftophanes ; and thefe perhaps 
 chiefly by the care of St Chryfoftom. 
 
 I centious
 
 128 Critical Obfervations Book I. 
 
 centious fpirit j but when the tyranny of a few 
 at Athens prevailed, the poets were obliged to 
 be more circumfped. Socrates might laugh 
 with the laughers ; but a jeft upon a corrupt 
 magiftrate was felt to the quick. Hence arofe 
 another fpecies of comedy, called the middle co- 
 medy , in which the names were feigned, but the 
 ftory was real : the chorus too was dropped, be- 
 caufe here the poet more particularly indulged his 
 ridiculing vein. 
 
 23 Sed in vitium lihrtas excidif^ et vim 
 Dignam lege regi : lex eft accepta : cborufque 
 Furpiter obtuuit, fullato jure nocendi. 
 
 23. Horat. art. poet. #. 282. 'Twas likewife no uncommon 
 thing in the chorus of the old comedy for the poet to fpeak 
 to the audience in his own proper perfon. This was called 
 5. So the fcholiaft on the clouds of Ariftophanes, 
 518. informs US, H <nra^an$ SoXf? f*w I* T %opa 
 eJcra/ei ^t TO satvlS ifffoffUTTot o CTODJTIJJ. Tjra^abao'if 
 * Erif, 01 aa ix TrJS 4&Po]fgot$ T(i.ciu$ o %o'? f*/Iafea?, aTay/t'Xr) 
 
 isn TCV Sypov eiq>o%3*. This fame fort of ^a.^a.^y,a-n; Shake- 
 
 fpeare ufes at the end of every aft in his Henry the Fifth. 
 
 In the fourth, he pays a handfome complement to queen. 
 
 Elizabeth and the earl of Eflex. 
 
 Wert now the general tfour gratious emfre/i 
 (As in good time he may) from Ireland coming, 
 Bringing rebellion broached on his Jkuord ; 
 How many would the peaceful city quit 
 To we/come hint ? 
 
 After the fame manner the conclufion of As you like it, and 
 
 f Troilas and Creffida, is to be considered, 
 
 When
 
 Sect. 14. on SHAKESPEARE. 129 
 
 When the middle comedy took place, and the 
 chorus was reprefied, and the posts not allowed 
 to name the perfons ; yet by relating of real 
 facts, the dulled of the audience could not be 
 ignorant at whom the jeft was pointed. All the. 
 writers of the middle comedy are loft, We have 
 among the comedies of our own country, the 
 Rehearfal, written after this model : for here Bays 
 Hands for Dry den -, the two kings, for Charles 
 and his brother James , and the 14 parodies have 
 all the caft of this ancient humour. But we can 
 
 now 
 
 24. Parodies were invented by Hegemon of Thafos, as 
 Ariftotle Jays ; or at leaft he highly excelled in them, and 
 brought them on the flage. Horace has an elegant parody 
 on a verfe of Furius, who in a poem wrote, 
 
 Jupiter hybtrnas cana ni-ve confpuit Afycs. 
 He turns it thus, 
 
 Farms hjbernas cdna ni*ve confpuit Alpet. 
 
 Ariftophanes is full of thefe parodies, the bombaft tragedians, 
 and Euripides, being the conllant objefts of his ridicule. So 
 Piflol in our poet talks in a fuftian ftyle, in fcraps of verfes 
 from the older tragedians : and the whole play introduced 
 in Hamlet, is to be confidered in this light. Sometimes 
 parodies are ufed not to ridicule the veifes thus charged, 
 but they have an air of pleafantry and imitation ; fuch are 
 many paffages from Homer and Euripides parodized by 
 Plato : and by Julian in his Caefars. I wonder the follow- 
 ing ihould efcape the commentators, where Silenus applies 
 
 K *
 
 130 Critical Obfervations Book I. 
 
 now have no more fuch inftances ; the govern- 
 ment here, as formerly at Athens, putting a flop 
 to this licentious fpirit. And to their thus inter- 
 fering was owing the rife of the new comedy, 
 and of a Menander. Happy for us, would the 
 fame caufes produce the faTne effects, and new 
 Menanders arife ! But I am afraid we want fome 
 Attic manners. We attempt to paint the cha- 
 racters of others, without having any character 
 ourfelves : and our men of wit have been fo loft 
 to whatever is decent and grave, that their vici- 
 ous principles appear thro' all the cobweb fo- 
 phiftry, in which they try to invelope them. 
 What Menander was, may be partly guefled 
 from fome few remaining fragments of his plays, 
 
 the verfe uied by Homer concerning a gay Trojan to Gal- 
 licnus. 
 
 Horn. II. 6. 872. 
 
 ''~ '/^^" =/O v trairj! rpfx, r'vr= xa'jj. 
 
 Julian. 
 
 There are parodies ftill more elegant, when adifcourfe has 
 3 quite different turn given it ; as in the Adtlphi, where 
 Demea full of his own praifes tell* Syrus, how he educates 
 his fon ; and Syrus afterwards repeats Demea's own words, 
 giving him an account how he inftru&s his inferior fervants, 
 Adelp. Aft III. fc. 4. and in the firft part of K. Henry the 
 fourth, Aft 2. where Hal humouroufly imitating Falftaff's 
 manner, turns his own fpeech againlt him. 
 
 and
 
 Seci. 14. &n SHAKESPEARE; 
 
 and from his tranflator Terence. But does it not 
 look like want of invention in Terence, that he 
 made ufe of Athenian manners and characters, 
 when he brought Menander's plays upon the 
 Roman ftage ? 'Tis the humours and cuftoms of 
 their own times, that people love to fee repre- 
 fented ; not being over follicitous or interefted 
 in what is tranfaded in other countries. Hence 
 'twas wifely judged by Steele, in his imitation 
 of the Andria, to work it into an Englifh ftory. 
 And 'twas barrennefs of invention that made the 
 Latin ftage-writers meerly translators. Indeed 
 the Romans had few authors that can be called 
 originals. Their government was military, and 
 the foldier had the chief praife ; the fcholar flood 
 only in a fecond rank. And juft as Virgil and 
 Horace began to flourifh, a young tyrant fprung 
 up, and riveted on the Romans by degrees fuch 
 ihackles of fervitude,. that they have never even 
 to this day been able to make them off. . And 
 mould it ever be the misfortune of this ifland to 
 feel the effects of tyranny, we muft bid farewell 
 to our Miltons and Shakefpeares, and take up 
 contentedly again with popifh myfteries and mo- 
 ralities. 
 
 K 2 SECT,
 
 132 Critical Objer"vations Book I. 
 
 SECT. XV. 
 
 IT was finely and truly obferved by a certain 
 philofopher, whom the rhetorician ' Longinus 
 praifes, that popular government (where the 
 publick good alone, in contradiftinc"lion to all 
 private intereft and felfifh fyftems, prevails) is 
 the only nurfe of great genius's. For while the 
 laws, wliich know no foolifh companion, cor- 
 rect the greater vices, men are left to be either 
 perfuaded or laughed out of their leffer follies. 
 Hence will neceffarily arife orators, poets, philo- 
 fophers, critics, &c. Wit will polifh and refine 
 wit ; and he, whom nature has marked for a 
 flave, will ever continue in his proper fphere. 
 In tyrannic forms of government, the whole is 
 reverfed ; the people are well dealt with, if they 
 are amufed with even mock-virtues and mock- 
 fciences. This is vifible in a neighbouring na- 
 tion, where modern honor is fubftituted in the 
 room of ancient honefty > hypocritical addrefs, 
 inilead of morals and manners -, flattery and 
 fubordinate homage is introduced, and eafily 
 fwallowed, that every one in his turn might play 
 the petty tyrant on his inferior. 
 
 In fuch a ftate, where nature is fo diftorted 
 and debafed, what poet, if he dared, can imitate 
 i. Longin. n ? tty. fett. XLIV. 
 
 naturally
 
 Setfl. 15. on SHAKESPEARE. 133 
 
 naturally men and manners? And fhould acciden- 
 tally a genius arife, yet he'll foon find it necef- 
 fary to flatter defpotic power. For perfect wri- 
 ters we muft therefore go to Athens ; not even 
 to Rome -, nor feek it in Virgil or Horace. For 
 who, I would afk, can bear the reading fuch a 
 blafphemous piece of flattery as this ? 
 
 Melibaee, Deus nobis baec otia fecit. 
 Namque erit ille mibi * femper-deus, 
 
 All the beautiful lines in that eclogue, cannot 
 atone for the vilenefs of thefe. Or what can 
 we think of the following ? 
 
 Sive mutata jwventm 
 Ales in terris itnitaris almae 
 Filium Majae, PATIENS VOCARI 
 CAESARIS ULTOR. 
 
 Horace certainly had forgotten his patron J Bru- 
 tus, and all the dodtrines he learnt at Athens, 
 
 when 
 
 2. Semptr-Jeuty a perpetual deity : ufi/, as the gramma- 
 rians fay. So Callimachus in his hymn to Jupiter, 
 
 Qtlv aorlv, 
 For fo th verfe is to be written. 
 
 3 . Horace was early patronized by Brutus. When he 
 
 was at Athens he imbibed the principles of the Stoic phi- 
 
 Jofophy : at the breaking out of the civil wars he joined 
 
 K 3 himfelf
 
 1 3 4 Critical Obfervatiom Book I, 
 
 when he praifed this young tyrant for his bloody 
 profecutions of the Romans, who attempted the 
 recovery of their ancient liberties and free con- 
 ftitution. But you have none of thefe abandoned 
 principles in the Athenian writers ; none in old 
 Homer, or in our modern Milton. One could 
 wifh that Shakefpeare was as free from flattery, 
 as Sophocles and Euripides. But our liberty 
 was then in it's dawn; fo that fome pieces ot 
 flattery, which we find in Shakefpeare, muft be 
 afcribed to the times. To omit fome of his 
 rants about kings, which border on 4 blafphemy -, 
 
 how 
 
 hjmfelf to Brutus, who gave him the command of a Roman 
 legion. His fortune being ruin'd, he went to the court 
 of Augultus, turned rake, athcift, and poet. Afterwards 
 he grew fober, and a Stoic philofopher again. Virgil had 
 pot thofe private obligations to Brutus : his ruin'd circum- 
 ffances fent him to court. An emperor, and fuch a minifter 
 as Maecenas could eafily debauch a poor poet. But at 
 length Virgil, as well as Horace, was willing to retreat : 
 and at laft he ordered his divine poem to be burnt, not be- 
 caufe it wanted perfection as an epic poem, but becaufe it 
 flattered the fub\ r erter of the conftitution. 
 
 4. In Macbeth Aft II. 
 
 Macd. Moft facrileghus murtker bath broke ofe 
 The Lord's anointed temple, and ftole thence 
 The life oW building. 
 
 Jn K. John Adi V. Hubert is fpeaking of the monk who 
 poifon'd K. John. 
 
 Are-
 
 15. on SHAKESPEARE. 135 
 
 haw abruptly has he introduced, in his Macbeth, 
 a phyfician giving Malcolm an account of Ed- 
 ward's touching for the king's evil ? And this, 
 to pay a fervile homage to king James, who 
 highly valued himfelf for a miraculous power, 
 (as he and his credulous fubje&s really believed,) 
 of curing a kind of fcrophulous humours, which 
 frequently are known to go away of themfelves 
 in either fex, when they arrive at a certain age. 
 In his K. Henry VIII. the ftory which Ihould 
 have ended at the marriage of Anna Bullen, is 
 lengthened out on purpofe to make a chriftening 
 of Elizabeth j and to introduce by way of pro- 
 phecy a complement to her royal perfon and dig- 
 nity : and what is ftill worfe, when the play was 
 ibme time after acted before K. James, another 
 prophetical patch of flattery was tacked to it. 
 If a fubjeft is taken from the Roman hiftory, 
 he feems afraid to do juftice to the citizens. 
 The patricians were the few in confpiracy againft 
 the many. And the ftruggles of the people were 
 an honeft flruggle for that mare of power, which 
 
 A refolded villain 
 Wbofe Ixnw/j fudctenly bur ft out. 
 
 So 'tis written of Judas, Als I, 18. He fell headlong and, 
 burjt afunder : ihdx-ncrt pi(r<&. You fee lie has Chrift in 
 view whenever he fpeaks of kings, and this was the court- 
 language : I wiih it never went farther. 
 
 K 4 was
 
 136 Critical Objervation* Book I. 
 
 was kept unjuftly from them. No wonder the 
 hiftorians have reprefented the tribunes factious, 
 and the people rebellious, when moft of that 
 fort now remaining wrote after the fubverfion of 
 their conftitution, and under the fear or favour 
 of the Caefars. One would think our poet had 
 been bred in the court of Nero, when we fee in 
 what colours he paints the tribunes, or the 
 people : he . feems to have no other , idea of 
 them, than as a mob of Wat Tylers and Jack 
 Cades. Hence he has fpoiled, one of the fineft 
 fubjects of tragedy from the Roman hiftory, 
 his Coriolanus. But if this be the fault of 
 Shakefpeare, 'twas no lefs the fault of Virgil 
 and Horace ; he errs in good company. Yet 
 this is a poor apology, for the poet ought never 
 to fubmit his art to wrong opinions, and pre- 
 vailing faftiion. 
 
 AND now I am confidering the faulty fide of 
 our poet, I cannot pafs over his ever and anon 
 confounding the manners of the age which he is 
 defcribing, with thofe in which he lived : for 
 if thefe are at all introduced, it mould be done 
 with great art and delicacy , and with fuch an 
 antique caft, as Virgil has given to his Roman 
 cuftoms and manners. Much lefs can many oF 
 his anacronifms be defended. Other kind of 
 errors (if they may be fp called) are properly 
 
 the
 
 Sed. 15. on SHAKESPEARE. 137 
 
 the errors of great genius's ; fuch are inaccura- 
 cies of language, and a faulty fublime, which is 
 furely preferable to a faultlefs mediocrity. Shake^ 
 fpeare labouring with a multiplicity of fublime 
 ideas often gives himfelf not time to be delivered 
 of them by the rules of flow-endeavouring art : 
 hence he J crowds various figures together, and 
 metaphor upon metaphor-, and runs the hazard 
 of far-fetched expreffions, whilft intent on nobler 
 
 5. The crouding and mixing together heterogeneous 
 metaphors is doing a fort of violence to the mind ; for > v*s 
 each new metaphor calls it too foon oft" from the idea which 
 the former has rais'd : 'tis a fault doubtlefs, and not to be 
 apologized for ; and inftances are very numerous in Shake- 
 fpeare. The poet is to take his fhare of the faults, and the 
 critic is to keep his hands from the context. Yet 'tis 
 ilrange to fee how many pafiuges the editors have corrected, 
 tneerly for the fake of confonance of metaphor : breaking 
 thro' that golden rule of criticifm ; mend only tbt faults of 
 tranfcrilers. Bentley Ihew'd the way to critics, and gave 
 a fpecimen, in his notes on Cullimachus, of his emendations 
 of Horace by correcting the following verfe, 
 
 Et malt tornatos ineudi rtddere verfus. 
 
 Hor. art. poet. 441. 
 
 where he reads ter natot, for confonance of metaphor. 
 But pray take notice, ter nafos, is a metaphorical expreffion ; 
 for nafcor, natus, fignifies to be born : and are things born 
 brought to the anvil ? Is not here diffonance of metaphor 
 with a witness ? 
 
 ideas
 
 138 Critical Qbfer*vations Book I. 
 
 ideas he condefcends not to grammatical nice- 
 ties: here the audience are to accompany the 
 poet in his conceptions, and to fupply what he 
 has fketched out for them. I will mention an 
 inftance or two of this fort. Hamlet is fpeaking 
 to his father's ghoft, 
 
 Ob ! anfwer me, 
 
 Let me not burft in ignorance ; but tell 
 Why thy canonized bones , 6 hear fed in death, 
 Have burft their cearments ? &c. 
 
 Again, Macbeth in a foliloquy before he murders 
 
 Duncan, 
 
 Bejides, this Duncan 
 
 Hath born his faculties fo meek, hath been 
 So clear in his great office, that his virtues 
 Will plead, like angels, trumpet -tongi? d againft 
 The deep damnation of his taking of: 
 And Pity, like a naked new-born babe, 
 Striding the blaft, or heav'ns cherubim hors'd 
 Upon thefightlefs couriers of the air, 
 Shall blow the horrid deed in every eye ; 
 Ibat tears Jhall drown the wind. 
 
 Many other paflages of this kind might be men- 
 tion'd, which pafs off tolerably well in the 
 
 6. Such expreflions, Longinus fed. 32. calls prettily 
 enough, rafMFtftmK/Ti{, 
 
 mouth
 
 Sect. 15. w SHAKESPEARE. 
 
 jnouth of the actor, whik the imagination of 
 the fpectator helps and fupplies every feeming 
 inaccuracy ; but tliey will by no means bear a 
 clofe view, more than fome designedly unfinifhed 
 and rough fketches of a mafterly hand. 
 
 JUST after I had tranfcribed for the prefs 
 the above remarks, a circumftance fovery ftrange 
 in itfelf happened to me, that I cannot help 
 acquainting the reader with it. There is a vanity, 
 we too often indulge, in relating trifles, which 
 we ourfelves are concerned in, not confidering 
 how little the reft of the world intereft them- 
 felves in our affairs. And fome there are, who, 
 rather than not talk of themfelves, will relate 
 their reveries and idleft dreams. If our dreams 
 came from Jove, as the 7 poet has it, perhaps 
 they might be worth relating; but when our 
 waking ideas are little better than fumes and va- 
 pors, what can be expected when we revert to a 
 world of our own forming, but there that mimic 
 fancy will produce the moft monftrous and ill- 
 joined refemblances ? After this frank declaration, 
 what regard or credit may I expect to my own 
 vifion ? which, however, as it has a particular 
 relation to the fubject in hand, and from the 
 ufual liberty allowed to us mifcellaneous authors, 
 
 7. Horn. II. . 63. K y' ? T' of IK Ao's i r . 
 Milton XII, 6 1 1. TorGsdisalfginJletp. 
 
 I cannot
 
 140 Critic al Obfervations Book I. 
 
 I cannot help introducing ; and, as Herodotus 
 adds after relating any ftrange or fabulous ac- 
 count, the candid reader may believe juft as 
 much as likes him beft. 
 
 Methought Apollo appeared to me , in his 
 left hand he held his filver bow, and on his re- 
 fplendent moulders hung his graceful quiver ; and 
 taking me in his right hand, which felt colder 
 than fnow on mount Caucafus, he led me (as 
 Milton exprefies it) fmootb Jliding without ft ep, to 
 the fummit of a high hill, and there gracioufly 
 prefented me with a glafs of a moft miraculous 
 nature ; for it would Ihew every object in it's 
 proper light, and difcover it's beauty or defor- 
 mity, however gloried over by fubtlety or fo- 
 phiftry. But to my misfortune, thro' my con- 
 fufion and furprife, down it dropped, and brake 
 in ten thoufand pieces. Being ten times more 
 afraid of the anger of the god, than regretting 
 my lofs, I was about making my apologies, 
 when Apollo fmiling interrupted me, " Know, 
 ** faid he, that the gods are never angry with 
 " mankind ; their own follies are to them pu- 
 *' nilhments fufficient." 
 
 I fancied to myfelf that I rejoiced extremely, 
 that this affair was fo well ended i tho' I could 
 not but perceive I was bewildered in a multi- 
 plicity of various objects, which furrounded me. 
 The god feeing my confufion anointed my 
 
 vifuaj
 
 Sect 15. on SHAKESPEARE. 141 
 
 vifual nerve with a balfam of fovereign virtue 
 to remove all films and mortal mifts. Imme- 
 diately the high hill and extended profpects va- 
 nifhed ; and I found myfelf on a plain together 
 with my celeftial guide. We were methought 
 entering a large court, which was terminated 
 with a moft magnificent gate, built after the mo- 
 del of a triumphal arch, on the top of which 
 was infcribed in letters of gold ETAAIMONftN 
 OIKHTHPION. 
 
 At the approach of the god, the folding doors 
 of burniflied Corinthian brafs flew fpontaneouQy 
 open, and difcovered a profpect beautiful be- 
 yond even a poet's imagination. The firft object, 
 that ftruck my admiring eyes, was a verdant 
 hilloc, whofe fides were covered with flowering 
 Ihrubs and myrtles ; thro' thefe there ran down 
 in a rapid current a filver ftream, and watered 
 all the valleys beneath. This was the chief man- 
 fion of the mufes with Hercules, who was ac- 
 coutred with his all-fubduing club and lion's 
 ikin. I was fomewhat furprifed to find one of 
 thefe divine perfonages abfent \ but foon learnt 
 that Melpomene was gone to be umpire between 
 Sophocles and Euripides : for Homer, it feems, 
 had given a golden tripod, as a prize to the 
 poet who mould be declared conqueror. My 
 impatience glowed in my face to be prefent at 
 this trial of fkiUj which the god perceiving 
 1 Complied
 
 142 Critical Obfervafiom Book & 
 
 complied with my curiofity, but at the fame 
 time hinted, how much better it were for fuch 
 an earthly being to fubmit every concern to hea- 
 venly direction. 
 
 Sooner than he fpake I arrived at a fpacious 
 fquare inhabited by tragic poets ; where dired> 
 ly fronting the entrance ftood a moft fuperb 
 ftrufture fupported by a hundred pillars of the 
 Corinthian order. This was the palace of So- 
 phocles. After patting thro* the moft fump- 
 nions apartments, we arrived at the theatre, 
 which was of a femicircular form, and capable 
 of holding ten thoufand fpectators. Apollo 
 took his feat on the right hand of the ftage, and 
 Melpomene fat on the left : for the gods never 
 give the upper hand to the goddeffes. The~ 
 play to be acred was king Oedipus: I was ad- 
 miring all around the elegant profufion of or- 
 naments, when the fcene opening difcovered in 
 the moft beautiful painting a wide court before a 
 royal palace ; in the center was placed an altar 
 fmoaking with incenfe, and at proper diftances 
 temples and groves. Around the altar the The- 
 ban youth proftrated themfelves ; and the chief 
 prieft ftood eminently confpicuous in his ponti- 
 fical robes. Immediately comes out of the pa- 
 lace king Oedipus, and moft majeftically ftalked" 
 acrofs the ftage to the proftrate Thebans. Had' 
 not Apollo affiftcd- me, I mould never have 
 i underftood
 
 15. on SHAKESPEARE. 143 
 
 underftood a tenth part of any one icene , for 
 it feem'd to me a language I never heard be- 
 fore : I am certain 'twas not the leaft adapted 
 to our barbarous and northern mouths. The 
 pronunciation was both according to quantity 
 and accent, which makes the language naturally 
 a lefs kind of recitative. The reader may have 
 fome notion of what a Grecian play was, if 
 ever he heard the famous Italian Senefmo, in 
 recitative mufic, pronounce any of Mr. Handel's 
 fineft operas ; for queen Jocafta had exactly his 
 tone and accent. But the voice of Oedipus was 
 fuller and more malculine : his mafk did not 
 offend me in the leaft ; it affifted his voice, and 
 feem'd to give a. dignity to the character. 'Tis 
 impoffible for me to exprefs, the propriety, the 
 folemnity and graceful mufic of the chorus-, 
 whether they fung alternately, or together, the 
 lyric poetry, which was worthy to be heard with 
 the moft facred filence. 'Twas an entertainment 
 religioufly folemn: for the Grecians to their moft 
 chearful amufements allways joined religion, 
 which they thought was given them by the gods 
 to exhilarate mankind, not to add to their com- 
 mon calamities of life new difquietude and de- 
 fpair. 
 
 When the play was over, the audience went 
 directly to the palace of Euripides. The fronc 
 was raifed on Ionic pillars, and the whole ftruc* 
 
 ture
 
 144 Critical Obfervations Book I. 
 
 ture appeared elegantly plain in the exacteft 
 neatnefs. The tranfition of dreams is fudden 
 and unaccountable j and fo it happened to me* 
 for I found myfelf at once in the theatre of Eu- 
 ripides , where the play to be acted was Oreftes, 
 and the chief part was performed by the poet 
 himfelf, who appeared without a mafk. Nor 
 was the mafk, as 1 was informed, allways ufed 
 either by the comic or tragic poets* I remem- 
 ber particularly that fcene, which paft between 
 Electra and her brother, where he is difcovered 
 reclining on a couch, and juft awaked. The 
 care of the fifter to her diftempered brother was 
 pathetically moving : upon her mentioning the 
 name of Helen, Oreftes ftarted, and feemed to 
 recollect a thoufand difmal ideas, and his mur- 
 thered mother came into his thoughts : his face 
 grew paler, and his voice hollow and trembling ; 
 at the fame time the accompanying mufic chang- 
 ed to the cromatic ftyle. What muft the effect 
 be of the united force of mufic and poetry! 
 However upon the whole I liked the Oedipus of 
 Sophocles better ; and was not a little furprifed 
 to find that Euripides made choice of his Oreftes j 
 for furely it does not exceed the reft of his plays. 
 The moft furprifing of all was, that Melpomene 
 adjudged the Prize to Euripides : but upon en- 
 quiry I found, that Socrates was feen in private 
 that very morning with this tragic mufe , and 
 
 'twas
 
 Se<ft. 15. on, SHAKESPEARE. 145 
 
 'twas whifpered, that he had influenced her de- 
 termination. But this I looked upon entirely 
 as a fcandalous reflection ; for who can imagine 
 fuch an ugly old fellow mould have any influence 
 on a beautiful female ? Homer did not feem well 
 pleafcd with this determination -, for he fent to 
 Sophocles a golden tripod of double value, the ' 
 workmanfhip of which far furpaffed the rich 
 materials. 
 
 While I was mufing on thefe things I caft my 
 eyes forward, and beheld, at fome diftance, a 
 caftle on the top of a hill built pretty much after 
 the Gothic model, which I found was the manfion 
 of Shakefpeare. I went immediately in compa- 
 ny with my celeftial guide to vifit this magnifi- 
 cent palace. When I had afcended the hill, I 
 Hopped and looked around to take a view of the 
 extenfive country ; and feeing from afar the pret- 
 tieft feat imaginable in ruins, I could not help 
 inquiring the caufes of fuch deftruction. " That 
 " was, faid Apollo, once the feat of Menander. 
 " But thefe happy regions are not entirely free 
 " from havoc and fpoil. Two moft ravaging 
 " monfters are here ever and anon making de- 
 " predations , one of them is called ZEAL ; a 
 " monfter that has neither ears nor eyes, but a 
 " thoufand tongues and ten thoufand hands; 
 *' and every hand is armed with a poniard be-? 
 *' fmeared with gore : the other is a Gothic 
 L * form
 
 146 Critical Obftrvattotu Book I. 
 
 " form of a man, with a regal crown on his 
 " head, and in his hands he carrieth fhackles of 
 * iron -, in himfelf alone is the ftrength of a 
 ^ whole army, but what is wonderful, if you 
 " ftrip him of the charm, which furrounds his 
 brows, he is fcarce a match for a fingle perr 
 * fon : his name is TYRANNY, but his flatterers 
 * call him KINGLY POWER. Nought could with- 
 " ftand thefe wide- wafting monfters, were it not 
 " that Hercules guards the eaftern gate, and a 
 " certain Amazonian nymph with her attendants 
 " marches round the plain in warlike parade.'' 
 
 Soon as the god had fpoken I beheld at a diftance 
 a beautiful virgin ; in her right hand me grafped 
 a fpear ; a prefent from Pallas of that 8 fpear, 
 which is the terror of tyrants, and ofthofe, who 
 bely the facred name of heroes-, in her left me 
 held a cap. Among the attendants of the god- 
 defs LIBERTY (for fo me was named) I perceived 
 ARTS and SCIENCES, with the emblems and en- 
 figns of their virtues : here I faw ELOQUENCE i 
 in her right me carried a three-forked 9 thun- 
 derbolt with wings, and in her left a fcroll : and 
 
 8. Horn. Jl. /. 745. 
 
 9. In allufion tq what the comedian faid of Periclci. 
 A X*f- JK S3 ' 
 
 See Cicer, in oral, ad Brut. 29. 
 
 PUBLIC
 
 Sett, i r. on SHAKESPEARE. 147 
 
 PUBLIC LAWS with engraven tab!.- " ' is irt 
 one hand, and a curb in the other : nor was 
 TLENTY wanting with her inverted horn , nor 
 the GRACES, who virtue-proof needed no veiL" 
 The guardians of this iacred place being now 
 marched out of fight, I turned to contemplate 
 the magnificent palace of Shakefpear : when on 
 afudden my ears werepeal'd with a confufed and 
 hideous noife. Juft as if a flock of frighted geefe 
 mould interrupt a man in attention to the melodi- 
 ous voice of a nightingale : fuch, and even worfe, 
 feem'd to me, after the Grecian afiemblies, the hub- 
 bub of a riotous mob of Goths and Vandals, who 
 were afcending the hill in a tumultuous manner. 
 Some were decorated with ribbons, others fcarce 
 covered their nakednefs with rags ; thefe had 
 wreaths of withered bays round their brows, 
 others were dreffed in fable robes, or fcarlet 
 coats. They all came refolved to deftroy the 
 edifice, and to build the poet another ; but upon 
 what model not one of them was agreed. Apollo 
 called aloud, " Rafh mortals, faid he, "forbear, 
 " nor daringly tempt your fate.'* When the 
 heavenly power perceived thefe illftarr'd poets 
 and critics to dilbbey his celeflial voice, he bent 
 his brandifhed bow, and let fly full at the fore- 
 moft his founding fhaft. Nought availed the 
 embroider* d ftar that cover'd his bread, or the 
 azure ribbon that crofted his moulders j fwift 
 L 2 thro'
 
 148 Critical Obfervations Book I. 
 
 thro' his hollow heart flew the whizzing arrow, 
 and forcing it's way thro* his back, ftruck full in 
 the forehead the mifcreant who fculked behind 
 him, and firft blafphemed the god : home 
 to the very feathers entered the fatal maft ; 
 tho* his forehead was armed with triple-fold 
 brafs, and furrounded with bays, and his fkull 
 only not impenetrably thick. Down the fteep 
 afcent the mifcreated bards together tumble, and 
 their bodies remain a prey to ravenous dogs, 
 and the fowls of the air. The reft prefied for- 
 ward not difmaid by the death of thefe chieftans : 
 which Apollo difcerning took from his quiver 
 another arrow, and fitting it to the ftretched 
 ftring, drew the bending filver to an arch, till 
 the two ends almofl joined : away flies the fea- 
 thered mifchief impatient and thirfting after re- 
 venge, and dreadful was the clangor of the 
 filver bow. I flarted at the found, and awaked. 
 When to my no fmall regret I found, that from 
 talking with gods and heroes I was returning 
 again to the common intercourfes of meer 
 mortals. 
 
 BOOK
 
 i. m SHAKESPEARE, 149 
 
 BOOK II. 
 
 SECT. I. 
 
 HAVING fpoken of the poet's province, 
 I return to the fubjed of critics and 
 criticifm ; and fhall confider not what 
 they have been^ but what their afTumed character 
 requires them to be. If a critic, as the original 
 word imports, can truly judge of authors, he 
 muft have formed his judgment from the per- 
 fe&eft models. ' Horace fends you to Grecian 
 writers to gain a right relifh of literature. 
 
 I. Hor. art. poet. 323. and 268. Horace does not feem 
 to have any great opinion of his countrymen, as to their 
 learned capacity. Plautus and Terence are copies of the 
 Grecian itage ; the latter, Caefar called, dimidiate Menan- 
 der. If their tragic poets were no better than Seneca, 'tis 
 no great lofs that they are all perifhed. It might not be 
 difpleafing to the reader to know Virgil's opinion ; and 
 he might be pretty certain 'twas the fame as Horace's, had 
 not he left us his teftimony, which is as follows, even 
 where he is celebrating the Roman worthies : Aen. VI, 842. 
 Excudent alii fpirantia mollius aera, 
 Credo equidem, et vi-vos ducent de marmore i-ujtut, 
 Orabunt caufas meliui, &c. 
 
 'Tis truly obferved by Mr. Afcham in his Scholemafter, 
 p. 55. That Athens within the memory of one man's 
 life bred greater men, than Rome in the compafs of thofe 
 fven hundred years when it flourished moil. 
 
 L 3 " Grails
 
 150 Critical Obfervations Book II. 
 
 " Graiis ingenium, Graiis dedit ore rotundo 
 " Mufa loqui. 
 
 " Vos exemplaria Graeca 
 " Nofturna verfate manu, verfate diurna. 
 
 When a tafte and relifh is well modeled and 
 formed, and our general fcience of what is fair 
 and good improved ; 'tis no very difficult mat- 
 ter to apply this knowledge to particulars. But 
 if I have no ftandard of right and wrong, no 
 criterion of foul and fair -, if I cannot give a 
 reafon for my liking or difliking, how much 
 more becoming is modefty and filence ? 
 
 I would beg leave to know, what ideas can 
 he be fuppofed to have of a real fublime in man- 
 ners and fentiments, who has never gone further 
 for his inftruction, than what a puffy rhetorician, 
 who wrote in a barbarous age, can teach ? Or 
 what admirer of monkilh fophifts and cafuifts, 
 can ever have any re>im at all ? 
 
 The human mind naturally and neceflarily 
 perfues truth, it's fecond felf ; and, if not rightly 
 fet to work, will foon fix on fome falfe appearance 
 and borrowed reprefentations of what is fair and 
 good : here it will endeavour to acquiefce, dif- 
 ingenuouily impofing on itfelf, and maintaining 
 it's ground with deceitful arguments. This will 
 account for that feeming contradiction in many 
 critical characters, who fo acutely can fee the 
 i faults
 
 Sect, i. on SHAKESPEARE. 151 
 
 faults of others, but at the fame time are blind 
 to the follies of their own efponfed fentiments 
 and opinions. 
 
 There is moreover in every perfon a particular 
 bent and turn of mind, which, whenever forced 
 a different way than what nature intended, grows 
 aukward. Thus Bentley, the greateft fcholar 
 of the age, took a ftrange kind of refolution 
 to follow the mufes : but whatever fkill and fa- 
 gacity he might difcover in other authors, yet 
 his Horace and Milton will teflify to the world 
 as much his want of elegance and a poetic taft, 
 as his epiflle to Dr. Mills and his diflertations on 
 Phalaris will witnefsfor his being, in other refpects, 
 the beft critic that ever appeared in the learned 
 world. 
 
 Ariftarchus feem'd very much to refemble 
 Bentley. * Cicero tells us in his epiftles, that 
 whatever difpleafed him he would by no means 
 believe was Homer's : and I don't doubt but he 
 found editors, whofe backs were broad enough 
 to bear whatever loads of reproaches he was 
 pleafed to lay on them. J The old rhapfodifts, 
 
 2. Cicer. epift. ad famil. Ill, 2. Sedjl, ut fcribis, eat 
 literae non fuerunt dlfertat, fcito meat non fuffi. Ut enim 
 Ariftarcbus Homeri iierfum negat qutm non probat ; fee tu 
 (libet enim mibi jocari) quod difertum non erit, ne pvtetit 
 mtum. 
 
 3. Aelian. Var. Hift. XIII, 14. 
 
 L 4 the
 
 Critical Objervations Book II. 
 
 the Spartan lawgiver, or Athenian tyrant, might 
 have ferved his turn much better than fuch a 
 ghoft of an editor, the very coinage of his brain, 
 as was lately raifed up by the Dr. when he fo 
 miferably mangled Milton. 
 
 However this unbridled fpirit of criticifm 
 iliould by all means be reftrained. For thefe 
 trifles, as they appear, will lead to things of a 
 more lerious confequence. By thefe means even 
 the credit of all books muft fink in proportion 
 to the number of critical, as well as uncritical 
 hands thro' which they pafs. 
 
 There is one thing, I think, mould always be 
 remember'd in fettling and adjufting the context 
 of authors ; and that is, if they are worthy of 
 criticifm, they are worthy of fo much regard 
 as to be prefumed to be in the right, 'till there 
 ire very good grounds to fuppofe them wrong. 
 A critic fhould. come with abilities to defend, not 
 with arrogance at once to ftart up a corrector. 
 Is this lefs rimmed ? Is it not fo intended to fet 
 off what is principal, and requires a higher fi- 
 niming ? Is this lefs numerous ? Periiaps the 
 poet fo defigned it, to raife the imagination flill 
 higher, when we come to fublimer and more 
 fonorous fubjects. Does not even variety, which 
 goes fo far to constitute what is beautiful, carry 
 with it afuppofal of inferiority and fubordination? 
 Nay, where no other confideration can be pre- 
 fumed,
 
 Set. i. on SHAKESPEARE. 
 
 fumed, fome allowances furely are to be given 
 
 to the infirmity of human nature. 
 
 'Tis the artift of a lower clafs who finifhes all 
 alike. If you examine the defigns of a mafterly 
 hand, you'll perceive how rough thefe colours 
 are laid on, how flightly that is touched, in order 
 to carry on your view to what is principal, and 
 deferves the chief attention: for by this cor- 
 refpondence and relation, and by thus making 
 each part fubfervient to the other, a whole is 
 formed. 
 
 And were it not a degree of prophanation, I 
 might here mention the great Defigner, who has 
 flung fome things into fuch ftrong lhades, that 
 'tis no wonder fo much gloominefs arfd melan- 
 choly is raifed in rude and undifciplined minds : 
 the fublime Maker, 4 who has fet this univerfe 
 before us as a book ; yet what fuperficial readers 
 are we in this volume of nature ? Here I am cer- 
 tain we muft become good men, before we be- 
 come good critics, and the firft ftep to wifdom 
 is humility. 
 
 In a word, the moft judicious critics, as well 
 as the moft approved authors are fallible -, the 
 former therefore mould have fome modefty, the 
 latter fome allowances. But modefty is of the 
 higheft importance, when a critical inquirer is 
 examining writings which are truly originals ; 
 
 4. Milton VIII, 67. 
 
 fuch
 
 1 54 Critical Otfervaftons Book II. 
 
 fuch as Homer among the ancients, Milton and 
 Shakefpeare among the moderns. Here we are 
 to proceed with caution, with doubt and hefita- 
 tion. Such authors are really * Makers, as the 
 original word Poet imports. In their extenfive 
 minds the forms and fpecies of things lie in em- 
 bryo, 'till call'd forth into being by expreflions 
 aniwering their great idea. 
 
 6 " The poet's eye in a fine frenzy rowling, 
 * Doth glance from heav'n to earth, from earth 
 " to heav'n : 
 
 5. Sir Philip Sydney in his defence of poefie, " The 
 " Greekes named him IIOIHTHN", which name hath, as the 
 " moft excdlent, gone through other languages : it com- 
 ' meth of this word FIOIEIN, which is tO niflfec : wherein 
 I know not whether by luckeor wifdome wee Engliflimen 
 " have met \Vith the Greekes in calling him a JJiafiCC." 
 Johnfon in his Difcoveries, " A poet is that which by the 
 Greeks is called r' Ifo^y, O-IIOIHTHE, a maker, or 
 " a feigner, &c." So Spencer ufes the word in his Fairy 
 Queen, B. 3. c. 2. ft. 3. 
 
 " But ah! my rhimes too rude and rugged are, 
 ' When in fo high an Objeft they do light, 
 And ftriving fit tO mafic, I fear do mar. 
 
 Floury, verfui facer t. Julian in his Caefars, "flj-Tr^ "O^^^ 
 i$u<; noiftN i'^r. Xenophon. in Sympof. "ire y $ymt 
 on o "O/ATif 1 ^ o fftQuTetfo' riF.riOIHK.E <r%i ov vai^l iKxtrar 
 Ti> 9^w7rtw. Plato in lone, 'AXXa Siia ftoi^a TTO f*oi'o 
 ar- riOIEIN xaXa;?, ifi o *j fiMfftt avTM Uf(M^9VUt* 
 
 6. A Midfummer- Night's Dr$am, Aft. V. 
 
 " And,
 
 Sect, i. on SHAKESPEARE. 155 
 
 " And, as imagination bodies forth 
 " The forms of things unknown, the poet's pen 
 " Turns them to fhape, and gives to aiery nothing 
 " A local habitation, and a name." 
 
 'Twere well therefore if a careful and critical 
 reader would firft form to himfelf fome plan, 
 when he' enters upon an author deferving a 
 drifter inquiry : if he would confider that origi- 
 nals have a manner allways peculiar to them- 
 felves , and not only a manner, but a language : 
 if he would compare one pafTage with another; 
 for fuch authors are the beft interpreters of their 
 own meaning : and would reflect, not only what 
 allowances may be given for obfolete modes of 
 fpeech, but what a venerable caft this alone often 
 gives a writer. I omit the previous knowledge 
 in ancient cuftoms and manners, in grammar and 
 conftruction , the knowledge of thefe is prefup- 
 pofed , to be caught tripping here is an ominous 
 (tumble at the very threfhold and entrance upon 
 criticifm ; 'tis ignorance, which no giiefs-work, 
 no divining faculty, however ingenious, can 
 atone and commute for. 
 
 A learned 7 wit of France mentions a certain 
 giant, who could eafily fwallow windmills, but 
 was at laft choak'd with a lump of frefh butter. 
 Was not this exactly the cafe of Bentley, that 
 giant in criticifm, who having at one mouthful 
 7. Rabelais B. IV. c. xvii. 
 
 fwaliowed
 
 156 Critical Obferuations Book II. 
 
 fwallowed his learned antagonifts, yet could not 
 digeft an Englifli author, but expofed himfelf to 
 the cenfure of boys and girls ? Indeed 'tis but a 
 filly figure the beft make, when they get beyond 
 their fphere ; or when with no fettled fcheme in 
 view, with no compafs or card to direct their little 
 fkiff, they launch forth on the immenfe ocean of 
 criticifm. 
 
 SECT. II. 
 
 OF all the various tribes of critics and com- 
 mentators, there are none who are fo apt 
 to be led into errors, as thofe who, quitting the 
 plain road of common fenfe, will be continually 
 hunting after paradoxes, and fpinning cobwebs 
 out of their own brains. To pafs over the caba- 
 liftic doctors, and the profound Jacob Behmen 
 with his fucceflbrs -, how in a trivial inftance did 
 both Scaliger and Voffius fling away a deal of 
 pains in mifmterpreting a line of Martial, that 
 would not puzzle a fchool-boy tolerably taught ? 
 Among the ancients 'twas cuftomary to fwear by 
 what they efteemed moft dear ; to this cuftom 
 the poet alludes, not without fome malicious 
 .wit, in an epigram, where a Jew fwears by the 
 temple of the Thunderer ; (the word Jehovah 
 did not fuit a Roman mouth ; ) "I don't believe 
 " you, fays Martial, fwear by your pathic, your 
 i < boy
 
 Sed. 2. o?2 SHAKESPEARE. 
 
 " boy Anchialus, who is dearer to you, than the 
 " God you pretend to adore." 
 
 " * Ecce negas, jurafque mihi pertempla tonantis : 
 " Non credo : jura, verpe, per Anchialum. 
 
 I knew an ingenious man who, having thorough- 
 ly perfuaded himfelf that Virgil's Aeneid was a 
 hiftory of the times, apply 'd the feveral characters 
 there drawn to perfons of the Auguftan age. Who 
 could Drances reprefent but Cicero ? 
 
 " * Lingua melior, fed frigida bello 
 u Dextera. 
 
 cc Genus huic materna fuperbum 
 " Nobilitas dabat, incertum de patre ferebat. 
 
 Nor could any thing be more like, than Ser- 
 gefthus and Catiline of the Sergian family. In 
 the defcription of the games, he dafhes his fhip 
 thro' over eagernefs againft the rock. And the 
 rock that Catiline fplit on was his unbridled, 
 licentious temper. 
 
 1. Mart. ep. XI, 95. vid. Scalig. in prolegom. ad libros 
 de emendatione temporum. Et VofT. in notis ad Catullum. 
 And our learned Spencer, who has examin'd the corre&ions 
 of thefe critics. 
 
 2. Virg. Aen. XI, 358. &c. What he adds incertum de 
 patre ferebat, is exaftly agreable to what Plutarch relates of 
 the accounts of Cicero's father. His mother's name was 
 ftelvia, one of the moft honorable families of Rome. 
 
 Thefe
 
 j j 8 Critical Obfervations Book II. 
 
 Thefe and fome other obfervations, too nu- 
 merous to be mention* d here, pafled off very 
 well j they carried an air of ingenuity with them, 
 if not of truth. But when lopas was Virgil, 
 Dido Cleopatra, Achates Maecenas or Agrippa, 
 lapis Antonius Mufa, &c. what was this but 
 playing the Procruftes with hiftorical facts ? 
 
 SUPPOSE, in like manner, one had a 
 mind to try the fame experiment on Milton, 
 and to imagine that frequently he hinted at thofe 
 times, in which he himfelf had fo great a mare 
 both as a writer, and an actor. Thus, for in- 
 ftance, Abdiel may be the poet himfelf : 
 
 " Nor number nor example with him wrought 
 " To fwerve from truth, or change his conftant 
 
 " mind 
 " Tho' fmgle ? 
 
 " This was all thy care, 
 " To ftand approv'd in fight of God, tho' 
 
 " worlds 
 " Judg'd thee perverfe. 
 
 'Tis not to be fuppofed that the common- 
 wealthfman Milton could bear to fee an earthly 
 monarch idolized, deified, called the lord, the 
 anointed, the reprefentative of God : no, that 
 Tight he endured not -, he drew his pen, and 
 anfwer'd himfelf the royal writer,
 
 Se#. 2. on SHAKESPEARE. 15. 
 
 J nz, EinaN npos ON MEFAAHTOPA TMON, 
 
 thus exploring his own undaunted heart, 
 
 " O heav'n, that fuch refemblance of the higheft 
 " Should yet remain, where faith and realty 
 " Remain not ! " 
 
 Who cannot fee whom he meant, and what 
 particular facts he pointed at in thefe lines ? 
 
 " So fpake the fiend, and with Necejfity 
 
 " The Tyrant's plea, excus'd his deviliih deeds. 
 
 Nor can any one want an interpretation for Nim- 
 rod, on whofe character he dwells fo long. 
 
 " Till one fhall rife 
 
 " Of proud ambitious heart, who (not content 
 " With fair equality, fraternal Hate) 
 " Will arrogate dominion undeferv'd 
 " Over his brethren, and quite difpofiefs 
 " Concord, and law of nature from the earth : 
 ' c Hunting, (and men, not beafts mall be his game) 
 " With war and hoftile fnare, fuch as refufe 
 " Subjection to his empire tyrannous. 
 " A mighty hunter thence he mall be ftil'd 
 " Before the Lord, as in defpite of heav'n 
 M Or of heav'n claiming fecond fov'reignty : 
 *' And from rebellion mail derive his name, 
 *' Tko' of rebellion others be accufe. 
 3. Horn. II. x 403.
 
 160 Critical Obfervation* Book II. 
 
 Could the character of Charles the fecond, 
 with his rabble rout of riotous courtiers, or the 
 cavalier fpirit and party juft after the reftoration 
 be mark'd ftronger and plainer, than in the 
 beginning of the feventh book ? 
 
 " But drive far off the barbarous difibnance 
 " Of Bacchus and bis revellers , &c. 
 
 It needs not be told what nation he points at 
 in the twelfth book. 
 
 " Yet fometimes nations will decline fo low 
 " From virtue (which is reafon) that no wrong, 
 " But juftice, and fome fatal curfe annex'd, 
 " Deprives them of their outward liberty, 
 " Their inward loft. 
 
 Again, how plain are the civil wars imagined 
 in the fixth book ? The Michaels and Gabriels, 
 &c. would have lengthen'd out the battles 
 endlefs, nor would any folution been found j 
 had not Cromwell, putting on celeftial armour, 
 THN nANOHAIAN TOT EOT, for this was 
 4 Milton's opinion) like the Mefliah all armed 
 
 in 
 
 4. Milton points out this allegory himfelf, in his defence 
 of Smeftym. p. 180. fol. edit. " Then (that I may have 
 " leave to foare awhile as the poetfc ufe) then ZEAL, 
 whofe fubftance is ethereal, arming in compleat diamond, 
 ^* afcends his fiery chariot drawn with two blazing meteors, 
 
 V figured
 
 Se#. 2, on SHAKESPEARE." 16 f 
 
 in heavenly panoply, and afcending his fiery 
 chariot, driven over the malignant heads of thofe 
 who would maintain tyrannic fway. 
 
 " figured like beafts, but of a higher breed, than any the 
 " zodiack yields, refembling two of thofe four which 
 " Ezechiel and St. John faw, the dfie vifaged like a lion, to 
 " exprefs a power, high autority and indignation ; the 
 " other of count'nance like a man, to caftderifion and fcorn 
 " upon perverfe and fraudulent feducers : with thefe the 
 " invincible warriour ZE A i. fhaking loofely the flack reins 
 " drives over the heads of fcarlet prelats and fuch as are 
 " infolent to maintain traditions, brufing their ftifF necks 
 " under his flaming wheels." I have often thought that 
 Milton plan'd his poem long before he was blind, and had 
 written many paflages. There is now extant the firft book 
 written in his own hand. He let the world know he was 
 about an epic poem ; but defjgnedly kept the fubjecl a fecret. 
 In his cffay on church government, p. 222. fol. edit, fpeata- 
 ing of epic poems, " If to the inftinft of nature and the 
 " imboldning of art ought may be fruited, and that there 
 " be nothing advers In our climat or the fate of this age, it 
 " haply would be no rafhnefs from an equal diligence and 
 " inclination, to prefent the like offer in our ancient flories." 
 How near is this to what he writes ? IX, 44. 
 
 Unlefs an age too late, or cold 
 Climate, or yean, damp my intended iving 
 Depreft. 
 
 'Tis eafy to fhew from other places in his profe works 
 many the like allufions to his epic poem j which in his 
 blindnefs and retreat from the noifie world, he compleated 
 and brought to a perfection perhaps equal with Homer'* 
 or Virgil's. 
 
 M Let
 
 162 Critical Obfervatiom Book II. 
 
 Let us confider his tragedy in this allegorical 
 view. Sampibn imprifon'd and blind, and the 
 captive ftate of Ifrael, lively reprefents our blind 
 poet with the republican party after the reftora- 
 tion, afflicted and perfecuted. But thefe revel- 
 ling idolaters will foon pull an old houfe on their 
 heads ; and God will fend his people a deliverer. 
 How would it have rejoiced the heart of the 
 blind feer, had he lived to have feen, with 
 his mind's eye, the accomplimment of his pro- 
 phetic predictions ? when a deliverer came 
 and refcued us from the Philiftine oppreffors. 
 And had he known the fobriety, the tolera- 
 tion and decency of the church, with a Til- 
 lotfon at it's head ; our laws, our liberties, and 
 our conftitution afcertain'd , and had confidered 
 too the wildnefs of fanaticifm and enthufiafm -, 
 doubtlefs he would never have been an enemy 
 to fuch a church, and fuch a king. 
 
 However thefe myftical and allegorical reve- 
 ries have more amufement in them, than folid 
 truth ; and favour but little of cool criticifm, 
 where the head is required to be free from fumes 
 and vapours, and rather iceptical than dogma- 
 tical. 
 
 5 Verifpetiem dlgncfcere calks > 
 Ne qua fubawato twudofum tinniat auro ? 
 5, Pcrfeus. V, 105. 
 
 SECT.
 
 on SHAKESPEARE* 163 
 
 SECT. III. 
 
 TH E editors of Shakefpeare are not with- 
 out many inftances of this over-refining 
 humour upon very plain pafikges. In the co- 
 medy of Errors, Act III. (the plot of which play 
 is taken from the Menaechmi of PlautusjDromio 
 of Syracufe is giving his mafter a ludicrous 
 defcription of an ugly woman, that laid claim 
 to him as his wife. 
 
 " S, Dro. I could find out countries in her. 
 
 " S. Ant. In what part of her body ftands 
 " Ireland ? 
 
 ** S. Dro. Marry, Sir, in her buttocks j I 
 " found it out by the bogs. 
 
 " S. Ant. Where Scotland ? 
 
 " S. Dro* I found it out by the barrennefs^ 
 *' hard in the palm of her hand* 
 
 " S. Ant. Where France ? 
 
 " S. Dro. In her forehead*, arm* d and reverted^ 
 " making war againft her l hair. 
 
 Shakefpeare had the hint from * Rabelaisj where 
 friar John is humouroufly mapping, as it were, 
 Panurge : 
 
 1 . The editors would have it, making war againft he* 
 heir: i.e. making war againft Henry IV. of Navarre ; 
 whom the French refitted, on account of his being a pro* 
 teitant. 
 
 2. Rabelais B. III. chap. 28. 
 
 Mi " Behold
 
 164 Critical Obf equations Book II. 
 
 " Behold there Afia, here are Tygris and 
 " Euprates; lo here Afric on this fide lieth 
 ' Europe." 
 
 But our poet improves every hint, and with 
 comic fatyre ridicules the countries, as he goes 
 along; Ireland for it's bogs, Scotland for it's 
 barren foil, and France for a 4iieafe that is well 
 known there* 
 
 " J Nomenque a gente recepit.'* 
 
 In her forehead, making war againft her hair, is art 
 allufion to a certain flage of the diftemper, 
 when it breaks out in crufty fcabs in the forehead 
 and hairy fcalp ; hence called corona veneris, the 
 venereal crown : armed and reverted* are terms 
 borrowed from heraldry. And this allufion* 
 obvious to the audience, frequently occurs in 
 Johnfbn, as well as elfewhefe In our author, 
 upon mentioning a French crown. 
 
 Mercutio likewife in Romeo and Juliet Act II. 
 ridiculing the frenchified coxcombs, has an allu- 
 fion to another ftage of this difeafe, when it gets 
 into the bones. u Why is not this a lamentable 
 " thing, grandfire, that we mould be thus 
 <s afflicted with thefe ftrange flies, thefe fafhion- 
 " mongers, thefe pardonnez-moy's, who ftand fo 
 " much on their new forms* that they cannot 
 
 3. Fracaflorii Siphylis. I, 6. 
 
 " fit
 
 Sedl. 3. on SHAKESPEARE. 165 
 
 " fit at eafe on the old bench ? * O their bones! 
 ** their bones!" 
 
 In 
 
 4. They have altered this into, O their bans f their bom! 
 Put the fame allufion Pandarus makes, or rather (in the 
 IIapaa<rK) the poet in the conclufion of Troilus and 
 Creflida. 
 
 As many as be here of Pan Jar 1 s kail, 
 Your eyes half out, iueep out at Pandarus fall ; 
 Or if you cannot weep, yet give fame groans, 
 'Though not for me, yet for your aking bones. 
 Brethren andjifters of the hold-door trade, 
 Some tiuo months hence my nuilljhall here be made : 
 Itjhould he nonv ; but that my fear is this, 
 Some galled goofe of Winchefter would hifs j 
 Jill then, FH fweat, and feek about for eafes, 
 And at that time bequeath you my dif eafes. 
 
 In the firft part of King Henry VI. Aft I. The Duke of 
 Glocefter upbraiding the bifhop of Winchefter fays, 
 
 Thou that giifji ivhores indulgencies to Jin. 
 And prefently after calls him, Winchefter goofe. There is 
 now extant an old manufcript (formerly the office-book of 
 the court-leet held under the jurifdiftion of the bifhop of 
 Winchefter in Southwark) in which are mention'd the feveral 
 fees arifmg from the brothel-houfes allow 'd to be kept in 
 the bifhop' s manour, with the cuftoms and regulations of 
 them. One of the articles is, 
 
 De his, qui cujlodiunt mulieres, habentes nefandam infrmitatem. 
 
 Item, C^at no ffetoljototr ficep anp tooman tottljin fji^ 
 ijoufe, t[)at fjatf) an? ficfenef? of banning, but tfjat flje 
 6e put out upon pam of mafting a feme unto tfje %*& 
 of c fljiHing!-?. 
 
 M 3 ThU
 
 1 66 Critical Obf equations Book II. 
 
 In Henry V. Ad III. The French king and 
 his nobles are fpeaking contemptibly of Henry 
 the fifth and the Englifh army. 
 
 " Duke of Bourb. If thus they march along 
 ee Unfought withal, but I will fell my dukedom, 
 " To buy a foggy and a dirty farm 
 * ' In thaty/for/ nooky ijle of Albion. 
 There is a figure in rhetoric named melofis^ which 
 is not unelegantly ufed when we extenuate and 
 undervalue any thing. The Frenchman therefore 
 calls our ifland^r/ nooky, according to the * fi- 
 gure it made in the maps, and according to the 
 comparifon of it to the great ideas, which 
 Frenchman-like he conceived of his own country. 
 How much more poetical is this, than the altera- 
 tion of the editors into nock-Jhotten ifle? 
 
 This ficknefs of brenning, and the antiquity of the 
 difeafe is mentioned in two letters printed in the philofophi- 
 cal tranfaftions, No. 357 and 365. This might vindicate 
 Shakefpeare from an anacronifm, in mentioning a difeafe in 
 the reign of K. Henry VI. which fome think never exifted 
 in the world till the reign of Henry VII. about the year 
 1494. after Columbus and his crew returned from the 
 "famous expedition to the Indies. And the fwelling in the 
 groin occafion'd by this filthy difeafe was call'd a Winckefter 
 goojt. But Shakefpeare, as a poet might claJm priviledges 
 which a hiflorian cannot, he the ftate of the controverfie 
 how it will. 
 
 Famamfiquere et fibi convenientiafnge. 
 5. hfula aatura triytttra. Caef. de bell. Gall. L. V. 
 
 In
 
 Sed. 3. on SHAKESPEARE. 167 
 
 In the firft part of K. Henry VI. Aft I. 
 
 " Daup. Thy promifes are like Adonis' garden, 
 ** That one day bloom'd and fruitful were the 
 " next. 
 
 A poet can create : what fignifies it then if the 
 grotto of Calypfo, or the gardens of Alcinous 
 and Adonis, had not any exiftence but in poetical 
 imagination? 6 Pliny fays, lhat antiquity had 
 nothing in greater admiration than the gardens of 
 the Hefperides and of the kings Adonis and Alcinous. 
 i. e. as they exifted in the defcriptions of the 
 poets. Spencer defcribes the gardens of Adonis 
 in his Fairy Queen B. III. c. 6. f. 42. and co 
 pies 7 Homer's defcription of the gardens of Al- 
 cinous. Shakefpeare had his eye on both thefe 
 poets. To omit what Johnibn writes, in Every 
 man out of his humour, A<5t IV. fc. 8. I fhall 
 cite Milton. IX, 439. 
 
 " Spot more delicious than thofe gardens feign' d 
 " Or of 8 reviv'd Adonis, or renown* d 
 " Alcinous, hoft of old Laertes* fon, 
 
 6. Pliny L. XIX. c. iv. 
 
 7. Horn. Od. -ft. 117. 
 
 8. The ftory is frequently alluded to. See Sandys' tra- 
 vels p. 209. Maundrell p. 34, 35. Milton himfelf I, 446. 
 &c. Dr. Bentley has taken notice of this \Jeetning\ miftake 
 of Milton ; but never gave himfelf any trouble to examine 
 into the meaning of it. Ibofe gardens feigiC d t i, e. by the 
 
 M 4 poets:
 
 1 68 Critical Objervatlons Book II. 
 
 If this place of Milton is not underftood with 
 great latitude, there will be a confufion of the 
 poetical defcriptions of Adonis* gardens, with 
 thof& little portable gardens in earthen pots 
 xvhich they exhibited at the feftival of revived 
 Adonis. Arfinoe in Theocritus Idyl. XV. in 
 honor of Adonis has thefe gardens in fylver 
 bafketsj but this feftival was celebrated by a 
 queen. 
 
 HAP A' AHAAOI KAHOI nEfcTAArMENOI EN 
 
 TAAAPI2KOI2 
 APrrPEOIS. 
 
 However the gardens of revived Adonis became 
 a proverb for things of fliew without fubftance, 
 as well as for what was of little value and perifh- 
 fible. 9 Jn the Caefars of Julian, Conftantine, 
 having fpoken his fpeech, is thus taken up Ihort 
 by Silenus, 4< But would you then, Conftantine, 
 
 poets : fo that he diftinguifhes them from thofe earthen 
 pots planted with herbs and flowers, and exhibited at his 
 feftival. 
 
 9- K* o XeiXiiw;, 'AXX* 55 TJ)$ 'A$uin$&> xyirat; w? i^yie. 
 
 *'/*'fj w Kw>rair, lt.T izo<r$ifn/; ; [lege cum Voff. cod. 
 wpopipeK J ] T Jt, tTTrw, V<> $? X;'/j? 'A&iw J- xVaj ; [Ot<5 
 repone, abforpt. a prior. Syllab.] a. yvi*, <?"?, T^ T 
 
 i crpcf cXi/oy avrtxct aVo/Afai);1aj. 
 
 put
 
 Sect, 3. on SHAKESPEARE. 169 
 
 "'put off your gardens of Adonis upon us for 
 " things of worth and fubftance ? " " What, 
 " replys Conftantinc, do you mean by Adonis' 
 " gardens ? " *' Thofe (fays Silenus) which 
 " the women plant with herbs in honor of that 
 " minion of Venus in little earthen pots filled 
 " with dirt, which as foon allmoft as they .begin 
 " to flourim immediately wither and decay 
 " away." Thefe are properly the gardens of re- 
 vived Adonis ; Milton therefore might have 
 avoided this ambiguity by leaving out revived, 
 as thus. 
 
 " Spot more delicious than thofe gardens feign'd 
 
 " Or of Adonis, or Alcinous 
 
 " Renowned hoft of old Laertes' fon. 
 
 Our Shakefpeare's expreflion is beyond all ex- 
 ception and cenfure. 
 
 In Macbeth Aft III. Macbeth having mur- 
 dered Duncan, refolves now not to Hop fhort, 
 but to deftroy, root and branch, all thofe whom 
 he imagined to (land in his way, or his pofterity*s 
 to the crown. 
 
 We have I0 fcor&d the fnake, not kill'd it, 
 " She'll clofe and be herfelf. 
 
 10, They have changed this reading \nto, fcotcfrd the 
 fnake. 
 
 Tha
 
 170 Critical Obfervations Book II. 
 
 The allufion is to the ftory of the Hydra. We 
 have fcorcb'd tbe fnake, we have indeed Hercules- 
 like cut off one of it's heads, and fcorch'd it, 
 as it were, as he did affifled by lolaus, hinder- 
 ing that one head thus fcorch'd from fprouting 
 again : but fuch a wound will clofe and cure ; 
 our Hydra-Snake has other heads ft ill, which 
 to me are as dangerous as Duncan's ; particularly 
 that of Banquo, Fleance, &c. The allufion is 
 learned and elegant. 
 
 In Macbeth Aft IV. 
 
 " i. Witch. Thrice the brinded Cat has mew'd. 
 '* 2. Witch. ttrice and once thehedge-pigvfhm'd. 
 " 3. Witch. " Harper cryes 'tis time, 'tis time. 
 " i . Witch. Round about the cauldron go, 
 " In the poifon'd entrails throw. 
 
 Thrice 
 
 i T . Harper, a dog'j name ; one of their familiars. So 
 one of Afteon's hounds was named. Ovid. Met. Ill, 222. 
 Harpaloi, ab df>rce.^u rapia. Our poet fliews his great 
 knowledge in antiquity in making the dog give the fignal. 
 Hecate's dogs are mention'd in all the poets 
 Virg. Aen. VI, 257. 
 
 Vifaeque canes ululare per urbem 
 Adwtntante dea. 
 
 Theoc. II, 35. 
 
 Hecattm
 
 Set 3. on SHAKESPEARE. 
 
 Thrice the cat four times the hedge-hog, &c. 
 have given fignals for us to begin our incantatipni. 
 Thrice and four times, i. e. frequently ; terque 
 quaterque, As yet no incantation is begun ; nor 
 is there any reafon to alter the context into twice 
 and onee^ (which fome have done,) tho* three 
 be a magical number, as Virgil lays, 
 
 c u Numero deus impare gaudet. 
 
 But fuppofe the incantatipn was begun, the 
 numbers three and nine are not always ufed. 
 The witch Circe, in Ovid, in her magical opera- 
 tions is thus defcribed, 
 
 'j feconvertitadortus." 
 And Statins in the infernal facrifice. 
 
 Theb. IV, 545- 
 
 * Lafte quater fparfas. 
 
 Hecaten voeat altera, fawam 
 dltera Tijtpbonen. Serpentes atque widem 
 INFERNAS errare CANES. Hor. f. i. 8. 
 
 Apollon. 1. 3. 1216. 
 
 *O|iij> **;? X0ONIOI KYNEE ifo/yfe^o. 
 
 It ftiould be ^8&'ai XL'?, in the feminine gender, as Horace 
 has it : and fo Homei^ when fpeaking of any thing infamous, 
 contemptible, &c. 
 
 12. Virg. eel. VII J, 75. 
 
 13. Ovid. Met. XIV, 386. 
 
 i la
 
 172 Critical Obfervations Book II. 
 
 In Julius Cae'far Aft II. Porcia fays to Brutus, 
 * To keep with you at meals, ccmfort your bed 
 " And talk to' you fometimes ? 
 
 " This is but an odd phrafe, and gives as odd 
 " an idea," fays Mr. Theobald. He therefore 
 fubftitutes, confort. But this good old word, 
 however difufed thro* modern refinement, was 
 not fo difcarded by Shakefpeare. Henry VIII. 
 as we read in Cavendiih's life of Woolfey, in 
 commendation of queen Katherine, in public 
 faid, " She hath beene to me a true obedient 
 " wife, and as comfortable as I could wifh." 
 And our marriage fervice Mr. Theobald might 
 as well quarrel with, as ufmg as odd a phrafe, 
 and giving as odd an idea. 
 
 In the Midfummer-Night's Dream, Ad IV, 
 " Oberon. Then, my queen, in I4 filence fad, 
 " Trip we after the night's made. 
 In filence fad, i. e. ftill, fober. As Milton de- 
 fcribes the evening, IV, 598. 
 " Now camey?/// evening on, and twilight gray 
 " Had in her fober livery all 'things clad. 
 " Silence aecompany*d. 
 
 That fad and fober are fynonimous words, and fo 
 ufed formerly, is plain from many paflages in our 
 author. 
 
 14. They have printed it, Infilenitfade. 
 
 In
 
 Sett 4* on SHAKESPEARE. 
 
 In Much ado about Nothing, Act II. 
 
 " Benedick. This can be no trick, the con- 
 " ference was fadly born. 
 
 And in Milton VI, 540. 
 
 " He comes, and fettled in his face I fee 
 
 " Sad refolution and fecure. 
 Sad 9 i. e. fober, fedate. 
 
 Spencer in his Fairy Queen. B. I. c. 10. ft. 7. 
 
 " Right cleanly clad in comely fad attire. 
 i. e. fober, grave. 
 
 And B. 2. c. 2. ft. 14. 
 
 " A fober fad and comely courteous dame. 
 
 Thefe few inftances, among many others that 
 may eafily be given, are fufficient to mew how in- 
 genious commentators may be led into miftakes, 
 when once they indulge their over-refining taft, 
 and pay greater complements to their own 
 guefies, than to the exprefiions of the . author. 
 
 SECT. IV. 
 
 THERE is no fmall elegance in the ufe of 
 a figure which the rhetoricians call the 
 apofiope/is ; when in threatening, or in the ex- 
 preflion of any other paflion, the fentence is 
 broken, and fomething is left to be fupplied. 
 
 'Tis
 
 174 Critical Obfervations Book II. 
 
 'Tis a figure well known from that common 
 paffage in Virg. Aen. I, 138. 
 * c Quos ego fed motos praeftat componerc 
 " fluftus. 
 
 And Aen. Ill, 34- 
 
 " Quid puer Afcanius ? fuperatne et vefcitur aura ? 
 
 " Quern tibi jam Troja 
 
 So in king Lear, Aft II. 
 
 " Lear. No, you unnatural hags, 
 " I will have fuch revenges on you both, 
 " That all the world fliall I will do fuch things, 
 " What they are yet I know not. 
 
 I mention thefe well-known places to introduce 
 others lefs known. And here I beg leave to 
 explain a paflage in Horace, who ufes this figure 
 with the utmoft elegance in his ode to Galatea, 
 Venus is introduced jetting on Europe, 
 
 Max ubi luftt fatisy Abftineto 
 Dixit irarum calidaeque rixae : 
 * Cum tibi invifus laceranda reddet 
 Cornua taurus ..... 
 
 i. Hor. L. II. Od. 27. The Dr. would thus alter the 
 
 JAM tit* INJC-SSUS laceranda reddtt 
 Cornua taurus. 
 
 What
 
 Sad, 4- on SHAKESPEARE. 17$ 
 
 What then ? Why then treat this odious creature 
 as cruelly or as kindly as you pleafe. 'Tis an 
 elegance not to be fupplied in words. Immediately 
 Venus begins foothing her vanity with the dignity 
 of her lover, and with her giving a name to a 
 part of the world. Whether any commentator 
 has taken notice of this beauty in Horace, I don't 
 know : Dr. Bentley is at his old work, altering 
 what he could not tafle. 
 
 This figure has a very near refemblance to 
 another called by the Greeks, CMP* &* 
 vTro'voiav, figura praeter expettationem : when the 
 fentence is in fome meafure broken, and fome- 
 what added otherwife than you expected. Arifto- 
 phanes in Plut. $. 26. 
 
 <rs 
 
 9 Til not conceal it from tbee : for of all my 
 dcmeftics 
 
 1 think thee to be the moft trufty and the great eft 
 knave. 
 
 'Twas expected he mould have added, and the, 
 bonejtejt. 
 
 I come now to our author, and mall cite a 
 few places, which, as far as I find, have efcaped 
 notice, and on that account, have been mended 
 or mangled. 
 
 In
 
 176 Critical Obferuations Book II. 
 
 In the Merry Wives of Windfor, Ad II. 
 
 " Ford. Tho'Pagebeafecurefool,andftand 
 
 " fb firmly on his wife's * Frailty ; yet I 
 
 " cannot put off my opinion fo eafily." He was 
 going to fay honefty j but corrects himfelf, and 
 adds unexpectedly, frailty, with an emphafis, 
 as in Hamlet, Act I. 
 
 Frailty, thy name is woman. 
 This well fpoken gives furprife to the audience ; 
 and furprife is no fmall part of wit. 
 
 In Othello, Act I. 
 
 " Brab. Thou art a villain. 
 
 " lago. Thou art a fenator. 
 
 A fenator is added beyond expectation ; any one 
 would think lago was going to call him as bad 
 names, as he himfelf was called by the fenator 
 Brabantio. 
 
 Firft part of Henry IV. Act I. 
 
 " Hotfp. Revolted Mortimer! 
 " He never did fall off, my.fovereign liege. 
 " But by the chance of war To prove that true, 
 " Needs no more but one tongue. 
 
 So this paffage mould be pointed ; but not a fyl- 
 lable altered. Hotfpur is going to fpeak only 
 not treafon , but corrects himfelf by a beautiful 
 apofiopefis. 
 
 2. They would read, Fealty. 
 
 In
 
 Sc&. 4. on SHAKESPEARE. 177 
 
 In Coriolanus, Ad II. Menenius fpeaking of 
 Coriolanus, 
 
 " Where is he wounded ? Vol. I'th' fhoulder, 
 " and i'th' left arm : there will be large cicatrices 
 " to mew the people, when he lhall {land for 
 " his place. He received in the repulfe cf 
 " Tarquin feven hurts i'th' body. Men. One 
 
 " i'th' neck, and 4 two i'th' thigh there's 
 
 " nine that I know. 
 
 The old man, agreable to his character, is mi- 
 nutely particular: Seven wounds? let me fee ; one 
 
 in the neck^ two in tbe thigh Nay I am furs 
 
 there are more *, there are nine thaf I know of. 
 
 In Macbeth, Aft II. 
 
 " Macb. To know my deed 'twere beft 
 
 " not know myfelf. 
 
 To know my deed! No, rather thanfo, 'twere btfl 
 not know myfelf. 
 
 In Othello, Aft V. 
 
 " Put out the light, and then put out the light ! 
 " If I quench thee, &c. 
 
 Othello enters with a taper (not with a fword, 
 for he intended all along to ftrangle his wife in 
 her bed) and in the utmoft agony of mind fays, 
 he has a caufe for his cruelty, a caufe not to be 
 named to the chad ftars : 'tis fit therefore Defde- 
 
 4. They have pn'nted it, And one too ;"'/&' tkigh. 
 
 N mona
 
 178 Critical Obfervat ions Book II. 
 
 mona mould die. Pll put out the light and then 
 ftrangle her, he was going to fay : but this recalls 
 a thoufand tender ideas in his troubled foul : he 
 
 flops fhort If 1 quench the taper , bow eafy 'tis 
 
 to reftore its former light -, but, o Defdemom^ if 
 once I put out thy light, &c. 
 
 SECT. V. 
 
 1H AVE often thought, in examining the vari- 
 ous corrections of critics, that if they had taken 
 more care of commas and points, and had been 
 lels fond of their own whims and conceits, they 
 might oftener have retrieved the author's words 
 and fenfe. As trifling as this may appear, yet 
 trifles Ihould not be always over-look'd. Sup- 
 pofing fome paffages in Horace and Milton had 
 been better pointed and lefs changed, would Dr. 
 Berkley's editions have been lels learned ? For 
 inftance, the lyric poet in ridicule of the vulgar 
 opinion of the tranfmigration of fouls, as well 
 as to mew the inhumanity of failors, feigns a 
 dialogue between the ghoft of Archytas and a 
 mariner, who finds Archytas' body on the more. 
 The mariner tauntingly afks him what availed 
 all his aftrology and geometry, fmce he was to 
 die fo ftiortly , [MORITURO : on this word de- 
 pends moft of what follows] The ghoft replies, 
 
 " Occidir
 
 Seel. 5. on SHAKESPEARE. 179 
 
 " Occidit & Pelopis genitor, &c. What wonder, 
 fmce demigods and heroes have died ? Ay, anfwers 
 the mariner quickly, and your Pythagoras too, for 
 all bis ridiculous talk of the trufifinigraficn cffculs. 
 " Naut. Habentque 
 
 " Tartara Panthoiden, &c. 
 Archytas takes him up with great gravity, 
 
 " Judice te, non fordidus auctor 
 " Naturae verique. 
 
 Then he goes on, letting him know how all 
 mankind muftcome to their long home by various 
 ways , and gives his trade a touch of fatyre, 
 
 " Exitio eft avidis mare nautis. 
 Dr. Bentley here by reading avidum deftroys the 
 poinancy. However the inhuman failor leaves 
 the body unburied on the more, deaf to the in- 
 treaties of Archytas. 
 
 Of all the odes in Horace the thirteenth of 
 the fecond book feems to be written in the trueft 
 fpirit. It muft be fuppofed to be uttered im- 
 mediately, when he juft efcaped the fall of a 
 tree : he fcarcely recovers himfelf, but pours 
 out this imprecation, 
 " ' Ille et nefafto te pofuit die, 
 
 I . Ilium, o, nefafto te pofuit die 
 QuicuHque primtmi) &c. 
 Ille 'vencna Colcha, 
 
 Et quit quid, & c . So Dr. Bentley corre&s. 
 N 2 " (Quicun-
 
 180 Critical tibfervatiom Book II. 
 
 " (Quicunque primum) et facrilega manu 
 " Produxit, Arbos, &c. 
 
 " Ille venena colchica, 
 " Et quicquid ufquam concipitur nefas 
 " Tractavit. 
 
 The fentence is defignedly embarraffed, and the 
 verfes are broken, and run one into the other 
 with great art, Ille venena colchica et quicquid^ &c. 
 All is contrived to fhew the hurry and confufion 
 of the poet. As foon as he gets breath, the firft 
 reflection is very natural upon the dangers con- 
 ftantly threatning human life. 
 
 " Quid quifque vitet, nunquam homini fatis 
 " Cautum eft in horas. Navita Bofphorum 
 " Poenas perhorrefcit ; neque ultra 
 " Caeca timent aliunde fata. 
 
 I fhould like this reading timent better, if autho- 
 rized by any book : for the tranfition, from the 
 fingular to the plural, is not only an elegant 
 variety, but even the verfe feems to require it. 
 The poet next begins to think how near he was 
 vifiting the regions below, and feeing his lyric 
 friends ; at the very mentioning of whom, he 
 ftarts out into enthufiaflic rapture, and forgets 
 every misfortune of human life. This is the 
 true fpirit and genius of lyric poetry. 
 
 In
 
 Sed. 5. on SHAKESPEARE. 181 
 
 In the feventh epode a flight pointing fets to 
 right the following verfes, 
 
 * Fugit juventas, ft verecundus color 
 Reliquit ; offa pelle amifta lurida. 
 
 My youth is fed, and my blooming colour basforfaken me : 
 my bones are covered witbjkin all wan and pale. 
 
 And in the fecular poem : 
 
 3 Vofque veraces ceciniffe, Parcae, 
 (Quod femel diflum eft ftabilifque rerum 
 Terminus fervet!} bcnajam peraftis 
 Jungite fata. 
 
 And ye, Q weird Jjfters, ever true in your prophe- 
 tic verfis, (and, oh, may a Jiable period of thefe 
 
 2. Fugit ytrventas, et verecundus color 
 
 Reliqult ojja pelle amifia lurida. 
 
 " Quibus verbis olim offenfus vir magnus Julius Scaliger, 
 " gift's, inquit, die at color em. reliquij/e oj/a ? non igitur debuit 
 " dicer e offa amitta pelle, fed reliquijfi pellem amicientem oj/a. 
 " Nihil hac cenfura juftius clariufve dici poteft." So far 
 Bentley ; he alters therefore the pafTage thus ; 
 Fugit juventat ; et verccundttj color 
 Riliquit ORA, pellt amieia lurida. 
 
 3. Thus printed in Dr. Bentley's edition, 
 Vofque <veraces cecinij/e Parcae, 
 Quod femd difium STABILIS PER AEVUM 
 Terminus fer vet, bonajam pcraflis 
 Jungite fata. 
 
 N 3 things
 
 1 82 Critical Obfervatiom Book II. 
 
 things prcferve what ye have once declared ! ) add 
 happy deftinies to thofe already paft. 
 
 'T I S time now to return to our dramatic 
 poet ; and I IhalJ here lay before the reader fome 
 few paffages, where not a word is changed, but 
 only the pointing , and mail fubmit to his judg- 
 ment whether or no any further alteration is 
 required. 
 
 In Meafure for Meafure, Act IV. 
 
 " Aug. But. that her tender fhame 
 " Will not proclaim againft her maiden lofs, 
 " How might me tongue me? 4 Yet reafon 
 
 " dares her. No : 
 
 " For my authority bears a credent bulk, 
 " That no particular fcandal once can touch , 
 " But it confounds the breather. 
 Iff ere it not for her maiden modefty^ how might the 
 Lady proclaim my guilt ? Tet (you'll fay) Jhe has 
 reafon on herftde, and that will make her dare to do 
 it. I think not ; for my authority is offucb weigh f, 
 &c. 
 
 In Cymbeline, Aft V. 
 
 " Pofthumus. Muft I repent? 
 " I cannot do it better than in gyves, 
 
 4. Tit reafsn darci her : 
 
 " The old folio impreffions read, yet reafon dares her no : 
 " perhaps, dares her note: i. e. ftifles her voice: frights 
 " her from fpeaking." Mr. Theobald. 
 
 << Defir'd,
 
 5. on SHAKESPEARE. 183 
 
 " Defir'd, more than conilrain'd. s To fatisfie, 
 " (If of my freedom 'tis the main part) take 
 * c No ftricter tender of me, than my all. 
 
 Muft I repent? (fays Pofthumus in prifon) lean- 
 not repent better than now in gyves; defer' 'd, more 
 than con/train* d. To make what fatisfaftion I can 
 for my offences, (if this be, as really 'tis, the main 
 part left of my freedom,) take no Jlrifter fttrrender 
 of me than my all, my life and fortune. 
 
 In Othello, Act I. 
 
 The Moor is afking leave for Defdemona to 
 go with him to Cyprus, 
 
 " I therefore beg it not, 
 " To pleafe the palate of my appetite, 
 ec Nor to comply with heat, ("the young aflfets,J 
 " In my 6 defunct and proper fatisfaction : 
 " But to be free and bounteous to her mind. 
 
 / don't beg it meerly to pleafe my appetite, nor to 
 comply with lujtful heat, (which are youthful affetti- 
 ons) in my own fatisfaftion, which is, as it were, 
 defunft, and proper to my age y being declined into 
 
 5. 'Tis printed in Mr. Theobald's edition, by conje&ure, 
 
 Tofathfe, 
 1 (Toff my freedom. 
 
 6. They read, tfJKttff. 
 
 N T 4 tie
 
 184 Critical Obfervattons Book II. 
 
 the vale of years : But I beg it in compliance to 
 Defdemcna's mind. The word defuntt is not to 
 be taken ftri&ly here as fignifying abfolutely 
 dead ; but almoft fo ; or from the lat. dcfunftm^ 
 it might mean, difcharged from youthful appe- 
 tite, and proper to his age and character. So 
 afterwards, Aft II. lago fays, " When the blood 
 " is made dull with the aft of fport, there fhould 
 " be (again to inflame it, and to' give fatiety a 
 " frelh appetite) lovelinefs in favour, fympathy 
 *' in years, manners and beauties : all which the 
 " Moor is defeftive in." Now if any alteration 
 were to be propofed, inftead of defunft the pro- 
 pereft word feems defecJ* 
 
 " In my defect and proper fatisfadtion. 
 
 In which fenfe the Latins ufe defeffus ; and 'tis 
 well known how frequently in Shakefpeare's 
 time they made Latin words Englifh. Tacitus 
 in Annal. L. IV. c. 29. Lentulus feneRutis 
 extremae, Tubero defedto corf ore. And Martial, 
 L. 13. Ep. 77. 
 
 " Dulcia defecJd modulatur carmina lingua 
 *' Cantator cygnus funeris ipfe fui. 
 
 Or what if, with a (lighter variation ftill, we read ? 
 
 " I therefore beg it not 
 " To pleafe the palate of my appetite, 
 
 " NOT
 
 Sect. 5- on SHAKESPEARE. 185 
 
 " Nor to comply with heat, (the young affects 
 " In me defunct) and proper fatisfaction : 
 " But to be free and bounteous to her mind. 
 
 i. e. The youthful affections being in me defunct, 
 &c. 
 
 In K. John,. Act I. Philip Faulconbridge has 
 been juft knighted. 
 " Phil. James Gurney, wilt thou give us leave a 
 
 " while? 
 
 " Gurn. Good leave, good Philip. 
 " Phil. Philip, Sparrow^ James. 
 There's toys abroad ; anon I'll tell thee more. 
 
 Mr. Pope thus explains it, " Call me Philip ? 
 " You may as well call me fparrow, Philip being 
 " a common name for a tame 7 fparrow." 'Tis 
 not to be wonder* d that Mr. Theobald mould 
 turn a deaf ear to whatever Mr. Pope offers by 
 way of criticifm : he therefore alters the place 
 thus. Philip! fpare mejc.mes. Without changing 
 a word, why mould we not read, taking the 
 whole in Mr. Pope's fenfe ? 
 
 " Gurn. Good leave, good Philip. 
 " Phil. Philip? Sparrow I James," 
 " There's toys abroad ; anon I'll tell thee more. 
 
 7. So Prior in his poem intitled, The Sparrow and Dove : 
 S. 1 woo '4 my ecu/in PHILLY Sfqrrow. 
 
 SECT.
 
 j-86 Critical Obfervations Book II. 
 
 S E C T. VI. 
 
 BU T are there no errors at all crept into the. 
 copies of Shakefpeare ? Perhaps more than 
 into any one book, publifhed fmce the invention 
 of printing. But theie errors may often be ac- 
 counted for, and the caufe once known, the cure 
 will follow of courfe. 
 
 Not only the words in all languages are ever 
 fleeting, but likewife the manner of fpelling thole 
 words is fo very vague and indeterminate, tjiat? 
 almofl every one varies it according to his own 
 whim and fancy. This is not only true of the 
 more barbarous countries, but was likewife the 
 cafe of the more polite languages of the Greeks 
 and Romans. The fpelling of Virgil differ' d 
 from that of Ennius j and later Romans ven- 
 tured to vary from even the r Auguftan age : 
 Nor were the * alterations lefs in the Grecian 
 
 language - 3 
 
 1 . Auguftus himfelf had little regard to ftricT. orthography, 
 as appears in Suetonius's life of Aug. feel. 88. 
 
 2. Some letters were added by Epicharmus and Simonidcs. 
 A fpecimen of the manner in which Homer's earlieft copies 
 were written, is as follows : 
 
 MENIN AEAE THEA IIEAEIAAEO AKHIAEOS 
 OAOMENEN E MYPI AKHEOIS AAFEA THEKEN 
 HOAAAS AIFIHTHIMOE I1IYKHAS AIAI nPOIAFISEN 
 
 EPOOtf
 
 Seft. 6. on SHAKESPEARE. 187 
 
 language -, and every country followed their own 
 pronunciation, and fpelt in a great meafure ac- 
 cordingly. 
 
 It may be proper, in order to afcertain fome 
 
 readings in our author, juft to obferve, that in 
 
 the reign of queen Elizabeth the fcholars wrote 
 
 auncient* taulk y cbaunce 9 &c. keeping to the. 
 
 broader manner of pronunciation ; and added a, 
 
 letter often to the end of words, zsfunne, reftleffe y 
 
 &c. fometimes to give them a ftronger tone as, 
 
 doo> wee^ mee y &c. the y they exprefied by it* 
 
 as, ante, bodie, &c, Tho* many other inftances 
 
 may be given, yet the generality of thofe writers 
 
 paid very little regard either to etymology or 
 
 pronunciation, or the peculiar genius of our 
 
 language , all which ought to be conjured. As 
 
 to Shakefpeare, he did not feem to take much 
 
 care about the printing of thofe plays, which 
 
 were publifhed in his life, but left it to the 
 
 printers and players j and thofe plays, which 
 
 were publifhed after his death, were liable to 
 
 even more blunders. So that his fpelling being 
 
 often faulty, he mould thence be explained by 
 
 fome happy gueffing or divining faculty. This 
 
 EPOON AYTOS AE FEAOPIA TEYKHE KLTXESS1N 
 OIONOISI TE DAS! AID? AE TEAEETO BOAE 
 EK2 O AE TATIPOTA AIA2TETEN EPISANTE 
 ATPEAE2 TE FANAK^ AN'APON KI AIO? AKHIAAEYS 
 
 feems
 
 I 8 8 Critical Obfervations Book II. 
 
 Teems one of the eafieft pieces ofcriticifm ; and 
 what Englifli reader thinks himfelf not matter 
 of fo trifling a fcience ? When he receives a 
 letter from his friend, errors of this kind are no 
 impediment to his reading : and the reafon is, 
 becaufe he generally knows his friend's drift and 
 defign, and accompanies him in his thoughts and 
 cxpreflions. And could we thus accompany the 
 diviner poets and philofophers, we mould com- 
 mence criticks of courfe. However I will men- 
 tion an inftance or two of wrong fpelling in our 
 poet, and leave it to the reader to judge, whether 
 fuch trifling blunders have been fufficiently 
 reftored. 
 
 In Hamlet, Ad III. in Mr. Theobald's edi- 
 tion, p. 301. the place is thus printed : 
 
 " Hamlet. For thou doft know, oh Damon 
 
 " dear, 
 
 " This realm difmantled was 
 " Of Jove himfelf, and now reigns here 
 " A very, very Paddock. 
 
 " Hor. You might have rhim'd. 
 
 The old copies read, Paicock, Paiocke and 
 Pajocke. Mr. Theobald fubftitutes Paddock* as 
 nearefl the traces of the corrupt fpelling : Mr. 
 Pope, Peacock ; (much nearer furely to Pat cock, 
 than Mr. Theobald's Paddock) thinking a fable is 
 
 alludecj
 
 Scdt. 6. on SHAKESPEARE. 189 
 
 alluded to, of the birds chufing a king, inilead 
 of the eagle, the peacock. And this reading 
 of Mr. Pope's feems to me exceding right. 
 Hamlet, very elegantly alluding to the friendmip 
 between Pythias and his fchool-fellow Damon, 
 calls Horatio, his fchool-fellow, Damon dear ; and 
 fays, this realm was difmantled of Jove himfelf, 
 (he does not fay of Jove's bird, but heightning 
 the compliment to his father, of Jove bimfelf^) 
 and now reigns here, a 'very Peacock \ meer mew, 
 but no worth and fubftance. Horatio anfwers, 
 
 " You might have rhim'd : 
 i. e. you might have very juftly faid, 
 
 " A very, very Afs. 
 
 Now Horatio's reply would have loft it's poi- 
 nancy, had Hamlet called his uncle, a paddock; 
 for furely a toad or paddock is a much viler 
 animal than an afs. 
 
 Again, in that well-known place where the 
 ghoft fpeaks to Hamlet, nothing, as it feems to 
 me, mould be altered but a trifling fpelling : 
 " 3 Cut off even in the bloffoms of my fin, 
 " Unhouzzled, difappointed, unaneal'd. 
 
 3. Mr. Theobald has very rightly explair/d this pnfTage ; 
 but why initead of difappointed he fubititutes unappointed, 
 I can't find any reafon ; nor does he himfelf give any. In 
 fome editions, without any authority or critical {kill, they 
 have printed, 
 
 UnltufeTd, ttwnoitted} K^anrfaTt/. 
 
 UN-
 
 190 Critical Obfervations Book II. 
 
 UNHOUSEL'D, i. e. not having received the 
 facrament. ^Oltfel, is the eucharift or facrament. 
 Sax. ljufl* Lat. bqftiola : to Ijoufe!, is to give 
 the facrament to one on his death-bed : nd cer- 
 tes ones a year at left it is lawful to be houfeled. Chau- 
 cer in the parfon's tale, p. 212. DISAPPOINTED, 
 having miffed of my appointment by the prieft ; 
 not confeffed and been abfolved. Appointment 
 is fo ufed in Meafure for Meafure, Act. III. 
 Tour beft appointment make with fpeed^ i. e. what 
 reconciliation for your fins, what penance is ap- 
 pointed you. UNANNEIL'D, not having the 
 laft aitncth>ngC, extreme unction : andeD, anoyled, 
 from the Lat. oho inunftus. 
 
 In Othello, AftV. 
 
 " I'verubb'd this young Qua! almoft to thefenfe 
 *' And he grows angry. 
 
 lago is fpeaking of Roderigo, a quarrelfome and 
 lewd young fellow. Now of ail birds a Quail 
 is the moft quarrelfome and lewd, a fit emblem 
 of this rake. The Romans fought them as we 
 fight our cocks. Ovid. Amor. L. II. eleg. VI. 
 
 EC ce coiurnices inter fua praelia vivunt. 
 
 In Antony and Cleopatra, Act. II. Antony fays 
 of Octavius, His quails ever beat mine. The 
 lewdnefs of this bird is mention'd by Xenophon 
 in his memoirs of Socrates, L. II. c. i.
 
 Sect. 6. on SHAKESPEARE. 191 
 
 Tov oJVe OPTTFE2 
 
 TJ T? ^A? <paJjv -r tpA x^ TJJ 
 
 ^S -rot 
 
 , TOMT 
 
 0; o/^^r creatures that by reafon of their wan tonne /r, 
 
 ^ j quails ^W par fridges, which thro* a lafcivious 
 
 dejire of their females run to their call, void of all 
 
 fenfe of danger, and thus fall into the fportfmen's 
 
 fnares? Hence it feems no bad etymology 
 
 which fome give of this word qtiail, deriving 
 
 it from the Greek XAV, in allufion to it's calling 
 
 for it's mate. In Troilus and Creflida, Act V. 
 
 young wanton wenches are metaphorically named 
 
 quails. Therfites calls Agamemnon, An honefl 
 
 fellow and one that loves quails. The quail there- 
 
 fore, male or female, is a juft emblem of the 
 
 followers of Venus in either fex. But confider- 
 
 ing it too as a fighting bird, how properly is it 
 
 apply'd to Roderigo, who foolifhly followed 
 
 Defdemona, and at laft, quarreling with CafTio, 
 
 was killed in the fray ? Can we doubt then, but 
 
 that Shakefpeare originally intended to write, 
 
 " I've rubb'd this young quail almoft to the fenfe, 
 " And he grows angry ? 
 
 He intended, I fay, to write, as he perhaps then 
 fpelt it, quale, and omitting the laft letter, the 
 tranfcriber gave us a ftrange kind of word, 
 which fome of the editors have alter'd into 
 
 'kmt
 
 192 Critical Obfervations Book II. 
 
 knot and <[udb : the meaning of which words, as 
 applicable to this place, is not in my power to 
 explain. 
 
 In Antony and Cleopatra, Act II. 
 
 " Antony. Say to me, whofe fortune mall 
 
 " rife higher, 
 " Caefar's or mine ? 
 
 Soothfayer. Caefar's* Therefore, O Antony, 
 
 " flay not by his fide. 
 " Thy Daemon (that's thy fpirit which keeps 
 
 " theej is 
 
 " Noble, couragious, high, unmatchable, 
 " Where Caefar's is not. But near him thy 
 
 " Angel 
 " Becomes A FEAR, as being o'erpower'd ; and 
 
 " therefore 
 " Make fpace enough between you. 
 
 A letter is here omitted, and we muft read afeard. 
 So the word is fpelt in Spencer, B. VI. c. i . ft. 19. 
 
 " Againft him ftoutly ran, as nought AFEARD. 
 
 'Tis often ufed by Shakefpeare. Merry Wives 
 ofWindfor, Ad III. Slend. 1 'care not for that ', 
 but that I am affeard. Macbeth, A6t IV, Wear 
 thou thy wrongs, His title is affeard. And elfe- 
 where. There is indeed a paffage in Spencer's 
 Fairy Queen. B. V. c. 3. ft. 22. That may 
 feem to vindicate the received reading, which is 
 as follows. i As
 
 Se6t. 6. t>n SHAKESPEARE." 
 
 As for this lady which be Jheweth bere^ 
 Is not (I wager] Florimel at all ; 
 But few: fair /ranion, fit for fetch a fear 
 That by misfortune in his band did fall. 
 
 Fit for (ucb a fear i i. e. fit for fuch a fearful per- 
 Ton, fuch a coward ; as perhaps fome might think 
 it fhould be interpreted. But this place in Spen- 
 cer is wrongly fpelt, and it fhould be thus writ* 
 ten, 
 
 But fome fair frannion^ fit for fuch a fere. 
 
 But fome loofe creature fit for fuch a companion. 
 Fere is fo ufed by Spencer and Chaucer. So that 
 Spencer and Shakefpeare mould both be correct- 
 ed. The ftory is taken from Plutarch in his life 
 
 of Antony, htywv TJJV TU'^>P *WT, AjU7r^oTatT)jy 
 Xffotv ^ p^V?v, JTTO T>J? KouVa^o? cipeuigSfftiou. The 
 
 Latin tranflator is wrong here, TU^>J is his Genius, 
 not chance or fortune. o y% cos 
 
 <f)oTou ^ youJ^3f uv x, uv^jjAof orxv jj 
 vV xV ybdeu TAIIEINOTEPOS 
 ATENNE2TEP02. Plut. p. 930. E. Which paflage 
 ftrongly confirms my emendation. The allufion 
 is to that belief of the ancients, which Menander 
 fo finely expreffes, 
 
 The
 
 Critical Obfervations Book II. 
 
 The philofophical meaning the emperor Marcus 
 
 Antoninus lets us into. L. V. f. 27. o 
 
 waist? irf>Q?oiiw KJ jytpovot o Zivs tioxtv 
 
 louuv* ' ST- $k if <y exas-tf vSs K, AO^-. And our 
 
 learned Spencer. B. 2. c. 12. ft. 47. 
 
 $T&?y zw that f lace him GENIUS did call: 
 
 Not that celeftial power, to whom the care 
 
 Of life, and generation of all 
 
 That lives, pertains, in charge particular ; 
 
 Who wondrous things concerning our welfare, 
 
 And grange phantoms doth let us oft forefee, 
 
 And oft of fecret ills bids us beware : 
 
 'That is our SELF ; who [r. whom] tho* we do not 
 
 fr, 
 Vet each doth in himfelfit well perceive to be. 
 
 The fame ftory is alluded to in Macbeth, Aft III. 
 
 There is none but he 
 Wlofe being I do fear : and under him 
 My genius is rebuk'd; as it is faid, 
 Antony's was by Caefar. 
 
 Thefe pafiages a little confidered will mew in a 
 fine light that dialogue between Oclavius and An- 
 tony, in Julius Caefar, Aft V. where Octavius 
 ufes his controuling and checking genius : 
 
 " Ant. Octavius, leac! your battle foftly on, 
 " Upon the left hand of the even field. 
 
 Oft.
 
 Seft. 6. SHAKESPEARE. 
 
 " Oft. Upon the right hand 7, keep ibou the left. 
 " Ant. Why do you crofs me in this exigent ? 
 " Oct. I do not crofs you, but livill do fo. 
 
 *Twas a common opinion likewife among the an- 
 cients, that, when any great evil befel them, 
 they were forfaken by their guardian Gods. How 
 beautiful is this reprefented in Homer and Virgil ? 
 The heavenly power, that ufually protected the 
 hero, deferts him juft before his ruin. Plutarch 
 tells us in his life of Antony, that, before he kill- 
 ed himfelf, a great noife of all manner of inftru- 
 ments were heard in the air, fuch as was ufually 
 made at the feafts of Bacchus ; it feemed to enter 
 at one gate of the city, and, traverfmg it quite 
 throughj to go out at the gate which the enemy 
 lay before : this fignified, as 'twas interpreted, 
 that Bacchus his guardian God had forfaken him. 
 This circumftance our poet has introduced in 
 Antony and Cleopatra, A6b IV. 
 
 " 2. Sold. Peace, what noife? 
 " i. Sold. Liftj lift! 
 2. Sold. Hark! 
 " i . Sold. Mufick i'th' air 
 " 3. Sold. Under the earth 
 " It fignes well, do's it not ? 
 " 2. Sold. No. 
 
 " i. Sold. Peace, I fay : what mould this mean? 
 Oz "2. Sold.
 
 1 0,6 Critical Obfervations Book II. 
 
 " 2. Sold. *Tis the God Hercules, who loved 
 
 Antony. 
 " Now leaves him. 
 
 Here is, Hercules^ inftead of Bacchus. There was 
 a tradition that the Antonies were defcended from 
 Hercules, by afon of his called Anteon; and of 
 this defcent Antony was not a little vain. This 
 might be the reafon why Shakefpeare varied from 
 Plutarch. But ' Bacchus was his tutelary God ; 
 and he made choice ofhim,perhaps, following the 
 example of his mailer Julius Caefar ; who, had 
 he not been killed, defigned, as Suetonius informs 
 us, Partbis inferrs bellum per Armenian minor em^ 
 &c. c. 44. and to imitate Bacchus, who had for- 
 merly conquered thefe parts, taking him for his 
 tutelary^God. Which pafTage of Suetonius and 
 the above comment will mew in no bad light, 
 what Virgil in Eel. V. fays of Daphnis, by whom 
 he plainly means Julius Caefar. 
 
 Dapbnis & Armenias curru fubjungere tigres 
 Inftituit ; Dapbnis tbiafos indue ere BACCHO, 
 Et foliis kntas intexere tnollibits baftas. 
 
 Not only heroes, but cities and ftates had their 
 tutelar deities, who removed likewife before their 
 deftruction. Virg. II. 351. 
 
 i. He was called the new Bacchus. A*oWo$ i ? . Plut. 
 p. 944. A. and fo Veileius Patercalus, L. II. c. 82. and 
 Stneca fuafor, 1. i . 
 
 ExceJJert
 
 Sect. 6. on SHAKESPEARE. 197 
 
 ExceJJere omnes adytis arifque reliftis 
 D//, quibm imperium hocfteterat. 
 
 What a fine turn has Milton given this in his fa- 
 credpoem? B. XII. 106. 
 
 Wearied with their iniquities , withdraw 
 His prefence from among them, and avert 
 His boly eyes. 
 
 But I am commencing commentator, when my 
 province is only criticifm : to return therefore 
 If the omifllon of a fingle letter occafions fuch 
 confufion in modern languages, what will it not 
 do in the Greek and Latin ? I will juft mention an 
 inftance of this fort. In Ovid. Amor. III. XII. 21. 
 
 " Per nos Scylla, patri canos furata capillos, 
 " Pube premit rabidos inguinibufque canes. 
 
 But fome copies read cares, from which word a 
 letter is omitted, -and it mould be written claros. 
 
 " - Patri claros furata capillos. 
 
 For thus the hair of Nifus is defcribed in Ovid 
 Met. VIII, 8. 
 
 " - Cui SPLENDIDUS oftro 
 
 " Inter honoratos medio de vertice canos 
 " CRiNisinhaerebat, magni fiducia regni. 
 
 Virg. Georg. 1. 405. 
 
 Et
 
 i 9 8 Critical Obfervations Book II, 
 
 Et pro PURPUREO poems datScylla capillo. 
 
 Tibullus, I, 4. 
 
 Carmine PURPUREA eft Ntfi coma. 
 
 Ovid. art. amat. 1. i. 
 
 Filia PURPUREOS Nififurata capilles. 
 
 Here purpureos caplllos is exactly the fame as the 
 doGvtdaroscapillos: i. e. fplendid, fhining bright, 
 &c. It follows therefore according to all critical 
 rules, that inftead of canos or caros y we fhould 
 read, 
 
 Patri CLAROS fur at a caplllos. 
 
 Again : Plutarch in the life of Caefar, p. 717. E. 
 tells us that the Belgae, a people of old Gaul, 
 were conquered by the Romans, and that they 
 fought like cowards, AI2XPn2 #yow<r<x^tW. But 
 Caefar himfelf, from whom Plutarch has the fto- 
 ry, fays quite otherwife, L. II. c. x. ACRI- 
 TER in eo loco pugnatum eft. Hoftes impeditos no- 
 ftri in flumine aggrefli^ magnum eorum numerum oc- 
 ciderunt : per eorum corpora reliqiws AUDACIS- 
 SIME travjire conantes^ muUitudine telorum repule- 
 runt. Who can doubt then but fome of the old- 
 eft books having ISXPHI, a carelefs tranfcriber, 
 trufting to his conjectures, wrote AISXPns,where- 
 as he ought to have written IIXTPfiS, a letter 
 only being negligently omitted : l<rx. v ^ s *'y- 
 , audaci/ime^ naviter praeli^ntes. By this, 
 
 which
 
 7. on SHAKESPEARE. 199 
 
 which fcarce deferves the name of an alteration 
 in words, but a very great one as to the fenfe, is 
 * Plutarch and Caefar reconciled. 
 
 SECT. VII. 
 
 IN tranfcribing not only fmgle letters are omit- 
 ted, but often parts of words, and fometimes 
 whole words. A letter is omitted in the follow- 
 ing paffages of Spencer. In the Fairy Queen, 
 B. i. c. i. ft, 43. 
 
 Hither (quoth hi) me Archimago SENT 
 He that theftubborn fyrites can wifely tame, 
 He bids thee to him fend ', for his intent , 
 
 i. In the fame life, p. 718. A. Plutarch attributes that 
 to the twelfth legion, which Caefar gives to the tenth. Cae- 
 far fays, L. II. c. xxvi. 7. Labienus, caftris hoftium fofifus 
 tt ex loco fuperiore, qutf res in noftris caftris gererentur, con- 
 fpicatus, DECIMAM LEGIONEM fubidio nojlris mijlt. But 
 between &u &xaJo and TO J*o]o, how flight is the change ? 
 Again to reconcile Plutarch to himfelf, in Julius Caefar, in- 
 ftead of Brutus Albinus we nluft read Trebonius, for it was 
 he detained Antony without, whilft they afTaffinated Caefar 
 in the Senate. So Plutarch relates the ftory in the life 
 of Brutus, and Cicero in his fecond Philippic j cum in- 
 ttrjiceretur Caefar, turn te a TREBONIO vidimus fevocetri. 
 Shakefpeare in Jul. Caef. Aft III. 
 Caff. Trebonius knows his time ; for look you, Brutus, 
 He draws Mark Antony out of the way, 
 
 O 4 A,fl
 
 200 Critical Objervations Book II. 
 
 A fit falfe dream, that can delude the SLEEPERS 
 
 SENT, 
 
 read, the Jleepers Jhent, i. e. ill treated, brought to 
 mame. A word commonly ufed by Spencer ; 
 and by our poet, in Hamlet, Act III. 
 
 " Ham. How in my words foevcr flic be Jbent. 
 
 And a whole word is omitted in the following 
 pafiage of Shakefpeare. 
 
 Othello, Aft HI. 
 
 * lago. Let him command, 
 
 " And to obey mail be in me rcmorfe, 
 
 * 6 What bloody bufmefs ever. 
 
 A negative particle has flipt out here, which 
 
 might be as well owing to the printer's ignorance 
 
 of the metre, as to hafty tranfcribing. For we 
 
 muft read, 
 
 1 And to obeyjballbe* in me no remorfe, 
 In Milton B. VI. 68 1. 
 
 Son ! in ivbofe face invifible is beheld 
 ^ what by Deity I am. 
 
 \. Mr. Theobald reads with greater variation, 
 Not, to obey, Jhall be in me remorfe. 
 
 How came the tranfcriber to change nor into and? but to 
 pmit a particle in hafty writing is no unufual miftake. 
 
 I It
 
 ' cn SHAKESPEARE. 201 
 
 Itfhould be/# mvifibk: TO AOPATON, K*T 
 i&M*. Coloff. I, 15. Who is the image of THE 
 INVISIBLE God. So inB. III. 385. 
 
 In whofe confpicuous counfnance y without cloud 
 Made vifible> TH* ALMIGHTY FATHER SHINES. 
 
 Several pafiages in Shakefpeare are corrupted 
 
 thro* thefe fort of omifiions. 
 
 In Macbeth, Aft I. 
 
 Lady Macbeth reading a letter," And re- 
 
 " ferred me to the coming on of time, with, 
 
 " Hail king that malt be ! 
 
 Tis very plain it mould be, Hail king that 
 ft) alt be HEREAFTER ! for this word me ufes em- 
 phatically, when (he greets Macbeth at firft meet- 
 ing him, 
 
 " Greater than both by fa. All-bail hereafter! 
 Being the words of the witch, 
 " All-hail, Macbeth ! that lhalt be king hereafter. 
 
 Inftances of parts of words omitted we have 
 in Timon, Act IV. Sc. IV. Timon is fpeaking 
 to the two courtefans, 
 
 " Crack the lawyer's voice, 
 " That he may never more falfe title plead, 
 ** Nor found his quillets fhrilly. HOAR the 
 * Flamen, 
 
 A That
 
 202 Critical Obfervatiom Book II. 
 
 * ThatfaMs againft the quality of flefli, 
 " And not believes himfelf; 
 
 Read , HOARSE, i. e. make hoarfe. For to be 
 hoary is a mark of dignity. We read of reve- 
 rence due to the hoary head, not only in poets, 
 but in fcripture, Levit.-xix, 32. Tboujbali rife 
 up before the HOARY bead. Add to this,, that 
 HOARSE is here moft proper, as oppofed to 
 SCOLDS. 
 
 In King Lear, AdV. 
 
 " Lear. Ha! Gonerill! hah, Regan! they 
 
 " flattered me when the rain came to wet 
 
 " me There I found 'em. Go to, they 
 
 " are not MEN o' their words; they told me 
 " I was every thing , 'tis a lie, I am not ague 
 " proof. 
 
 Read, they are not WOMEN 0' their words. 
 
 And to add one inftance more. In the Tempeft, 
 Ad II. 
 
 " Ten confciences, that ftand 'twixt me and 
 
 " Milan 
 " Canfyd be they, and melt, e'er they moleft ! 
 
 We muft read, 
 
 Difcandy'd It they, and melt e'er they moleft ! 
 
 tyfcandfd. i. e. difiblved. Difeandy and melt 
 $ are
 
 Sed. 6. en SHAKESPEARE. 203 
 
 are ufed as fynonomous terms in Antony and 
 Cleopatra, Aft IV. 
 
 " The hearts 
 
 " That pannell'd me at heels, to whom I gave 
 " Their wifhes, do difcandy, melt their fweets 
 " On blofibming Caefar. 
 
 By the bye, what a ftrange phrafe is this, tte 
 hearts that pannell'd me at heels ? And how juftly 
 has Mr. Theobald flung it out of the context ? 
 But whether he has placed in it's room a Shake- 
 fpearean expreflion, may admit of a doubt. 
 
 " The hearts 
 " That pantler'd me at heels. 
 
 Now 'tis contrary to all rules of criticifm to coin 
 a word for an author, which word, fuppofing it 
 to have been the author's own, would appear 
 far fetched and improper. In fuch a cafe therefore 
 we mould feek for remedy from the author him- 
 felf: and here opportunely a paflage occurs in 
 Timon, Ad IV. 
 
 " Apem. Will thefe moift trees 
 ** That have outliv'd the eagle, page thy heels 
 " And flap when thou point'ft out ? 
 
 From hence I would in the above-mention'd 
 verfes correcl, 
 
 . The
 
 204 Critical Observations Book II. 
 
 " The hearts 
 
 " That/wffV me at the heels, to whom I gave 
 " Their wifhes, &c. 
 
 But to return to the place in the Tempeft : The 
 verfe is to be flurr'd in fcanfion, thus : 
 
 Vifeandy'd be tbef and melt \ e'er they \ molfft. 
 
 The printers thought the verfe too long, and 
 gave it, 
 
 Candfd be tbey and melt. 
 
 But candy 3 d, is that which is grown into a con- 
 fiftency, as fome forts of confectionary ware: 
 Fr. candir. Ital. candire. Hence us'd for con- 
 geal'd, fixt as in a froft. So in Timon. 
 
 Wdltbe cold broo^ CANDIED with ice, &c. 
 "Difcandfd therefore feems our poet's own word. 
 
 We have many inftances of words omit- 
 ted in the books of the ancients. In the laft 
 verfe of Ariphro the Sicyonian, in a poem upon 
 health cited by * Stobaeus j the prefent reading 
 is, 
 
 Which is thus to be filled up, 
 
 a. InStobaei excerpt, p. 117. 
 
 Marcus
 
 Scd. 8. on SHAKESPEARE. 205. 
 
 Marcus Antoninus, B, IV. feft. 23. cites a piece 
 of a verfe from J Ariftophanes, T il WO'AI (piXij 
 Ktxpojr-. But the modern books are a Uttle 
 defective. With this paffage tranflated I mall 
 end this fection. 
 
 " Every thing is expedient to me, which to 
 " thee is expedient, 6 World : Nothing to me 
 " comes or before, or after it's rime, which to 
 " thee is feafonable. Every thing to me is fruit, 
 <c which thy feafons bear. 6 Nature, from thee 
 " are all things, in thee they fubfift, and to 
 " thee they tend. The comedian fays, 6 lovely 
 " city of Cecrops ! And wilt not thou fay, 6 lovely 
 " city of Jove? 
 
 SECT. VIII. 
 
 IF any one will confider how nearly. alike in 
 found the folio wing words are, Wreake^Wreak- 
 lefs, Recklefs^ Rack, Wrack, &c. and at the fame 
 time that the meaning of fome of thefe words 
 is fcarcely afcertain'd and fixed, he will not 
 wonder that hence fome confufion mould necef- 
 farily arife. I will examine fome paflages in 
 which thefe words are ufed. 
 
 3. Ariftophanes l rH^foiV, as cited by Hephaeftion in 
 his Enchirid. de metris. 
 
 In
 
 Critical Obfervattons Book II* 
 
 In Coriolanus, Ad IV. 
 
 " Cor. If thou haft 
 
 " A heart of wreake in thee, thou wilt revenge 
 " Thine own particular wrongs. 
 
 i. e. any refentment, revenge. A Saxon word 
 ufed by Chaucer and Spencer. 
 
 In Coriolanus, Ad. III. 
 
 " Cor. You grave but wreakkfs fenators. 
 
 I. e. without any notions of revenge or refent* 
 ment. But if the context be examined, you'll 
 plainly perceive it mould be, ' reckkfs, i. e. 
 thoughtlefs, carelefs. 
 
 In Hamlet, Ad I. 
 
 " Whilft like a puft and recklefs libertine 
 " Himfelf the primrofe path of dalliance treads, 
 " And recks not his own reed. 
 
 i. e. And minds not bis own doEtrim : From the 
 Sax. Keoc, cura. H0CCan curare. 
 
 In As you like it, Ad II. 
 
 Conn. My matter is of churlilh difpofition, 
 And little wrecks to find the way to heaven. 
 
 Read, recks, i. e. takes care : little recks , little 
 heeds. 
 
 i. And thus I found, upon examination, 'twas corrected 
 in the elegant edition priced at Oxford. 
 
 In 
 
 cc 
 
 It
 
 Se#. : .;. on SHAKESPEARE. 207 
 
 |p the Two Gentlemen of Verona, Act IV. 
 " Egl. Recking as little what betideth me. 
 i. e. reckoning, regarding. So Milton II, 50. 
 
 Of God, or Hell, or worfe, 
 He reck'd not. 
 IX, 173. Let it; I reck not. 
 
 In the Third part of Henry VI. Aft II. 
 " Rich. Three glorious funs, each one a perfect 
 
 " fun; 
 
 " Not feparated with the racking clouds, 
 " But fever' d in a pale clear-mining fky. 
 I once red, wracking clouds : Met. toffing them 
 like waves of the fea, and, as it were, fhip- 
 wracking them. From the Greek word pijar, 
 PJJ'IW, frango : comes to break, and to vuracke. 
 For the letters b and w are prefixed to words by 
 us, as the * ^iolians formerly prefix'd the ', 
 
 2. Euftath. p. 222. nfcx/lMao-it 01 'AoXE<j TO ' T* f, 
 f,i\Hz. *] t!pi%rs; avhfat : n i%ti n Tax, eior ctx<&> ^%^ * T. X. 
 
 See too Paufanias p. 149. u'Jt), aJJ, &*&;. And Hefychius, 
 in B. B*J-. ^'XXJT>J?, fXix&/r?jf. x. T. X. Inftances in 
 Englifli of the B prefixed, are '{-, 25?QmtJlC : ^vera-u, 
 
 j'f, to beafe: xxa ? , a {juthe or bulfee: raiuia, a 
 
 tJ^atoUc: ra/raw, a foufl): r///aj, b^t I &c. Con- 
 cerning the JEol. digamma fee Dionys. Antiq. p. 16. 
 Inftances from hence of the W prefixed, are vbug, FvSvf, 
 
 taatcc: A'9^, Fe} ? , tocat{)cr : o;-, FoZv-, toine : 
 
 "Epyoc, Ftpyoy, toCUli J aT, FsJajr, fO ttJOUHD. Hinnitus, 
 
 inljinnping : y?, [in Plaut. & Terence] ^/, tariff, a 
 
 of cards, to be plaid <vjith filence and attention, &tc, &c.
 
 2o8 Critical Obfervations Book II. 
 
 and the digamma F. But Milton ufes the fame 
 exprefiion: II, 182. 
 
 " The fport and prey of racking whirlwinds. 
 
 Our author in Hamlet, Aft II. 
 " The rack ftand ftill. 
 
 In Antony and Cleopatra, Aft. IV. 
 " That which is now a horfe, &c. The rack 
 " diflimns. 
 
 Milton in Par. regain'd, IV, 451. 
 " I heard the rack, 
 . As earth and fky would mingle. 
 
 Douglafs in his tranflation of Virgil fpells it rafe J 
 the gloffary thus explains it : " ItaS, a mift or 
 " fog, or rain, Scot, and /%. Bar. ftacfe, or 
 " Katofe : ab AS. Kacu, Cimbris Itocbia, 
 " plievia, unda, humor. Ang. Bor. fyt cacfe rtDCIP, 
 " i. e. nimbus venio pellirur : aetberis omen fere- 
 " niori;** 
 
 Again, to tacke, is to torture and torment : 
 from the Teutonic ftacben, Anglo-Sax, itaccan, 
 extender?, a Gr. c^sTv, or p'q'arav, frangere. And 
 hence the inftrument of punifliment is named a 
 racfc : or from T^oV, rc/^z poenalis, qua in 
 quaejlionibus et fontibus torqiiendis utebantur : the 
 T omitted, as in the Latin word, rota.
 
 Seft. 8. on SHAKESPEARE.' 209 
 
 In Hamlet, Aft II. Polonias fpeaks to Ophelia, 
 " I fear'd he trifled, 
 
 " And meant to wrack thee* 
 
 Read, rack tbee, i. e. vex and grieve thee. So 
 
 Milton in Par. regained, III, 203. 
 
 " To whom the tempter inly rack'd reply'd. 
 
 Again in Coriolanus, Aft V. 
 
 " Men. A pair of Tribunes, that have rack'd 
 " for Rome 
 
 ' To make coals cheap. 
 
 i. e. have ftretched things to the utmoft, and 
 
 all for meer trifles. 
 
 In Much Adoe about Nothing, Aft IV. 
 
 " Friar. Being lack'd and loft, 
 
 " Why then we rack the value. 
 
 i. e. over-ftretch its Value. So we fay, to rarfe 
 
 a tenant, and rack rent, &c. when it is ftrain'd 
 
 to the utmoft. 
 
 In the Tempeft, the word has another fignifi- 
 
 cation, Act IV. 
 
 " The great globe itfelf 
 
 " Yea, all which it inhabits mail diflblve 
 
 " And like this infubftantial pageant J faded 
 
 " Leave not a rack behind. 
 
 3. Tadtd, i. e. vanijhed, a Lat. wadtre. Hamlet Adi I. 
 
 // faded on the croicing of tbt cock. 
 Spencer, B. I. c. 5.1!. 15. 
 
 Ht /lands amazed hoiv be thenct Jkould fade. 
 
 P i.e.
 
 2 1 o Critical Obfervatiom Book II. 
 
 i. e. no track, -or path. So ufed in the northern 
 parts ; a Graec. r^ia, rotae vejligium ; item, via 
 femita, unde a track el abjefta lit. t. a tacfe. The 
 learned glofiary at the end of Douglafs's tranfla- 
 tion of Virgil, has " Katfc, fwift pace, much way. 
 Thus Scot, we fay, a long raifc, i. e. a great 
 " journey : to ratfe Ijome, i. e. go home fpeedily. 
 V Kafeattp, Scot, raking, making much way, 
 " going at large : ab AS. Kectl), incedit, recone, 
 tc reran c, ccnfe/ltw, cito. 
 
 SECT. IX. 
 
 TTT^ I S a common expreflion in the weftern 
 JL counties to call an ill-natured, four per- 
 fon, VINNID. For vinevaed^ vino'tved^ vinny or 
 ujnew (the word -is varioufly writtenj figniftes 
 mouldy.. In Troilus and Creffida, Aft II. Ajax 
 ipeaks to Therfites, thou vinnidft leaven, i. e. thou 
 moft mouldy four dough. Let this phrafe be 
 tranfplahted* from the weft into Kent, and they 
 will pronounce it, L Whinidft leaven. So that it 
 feems to me 'twas fome Kentim perfon who oc- 
 cafioned this miftake, either player or tranfcriber, 
 who* could not bring his mouth to pronounce the 
 V confonant j as 'tis remarkable the Kentim men 
 cannot at this day. And this accounts for many 
 
 i. Mr. Theobald reads, pu umvinnow'd'ft leaven. O- 
 then, you unfalted Marvin. 
 
 of
 
 - ** SHAKESPEARE. 211 
 
 of the Latin words, which begin with V, being 
 turned intow, z&Vidua^ widua, UUtlDolU; Ven- 
 tas, wetttus, SSltnU ; Vattwn^ WaUvm^ S2laU, Via % 
 Wia, mw, &c. &c. In the fame play, ActV. 
 Therfites is called by Achilles, tbeu crufty z batch of 
 nature^ i. e. thou crufty batch of bread of na- 
 ture's baking : the very fame ludicrous image, 
 as when elfewhere he is nick-named, from his 
 deformity, Cobloaf. The word Le&ven above- 
 mentioned is a fcriptural expreflion. Leaven is 
 four and faked dough, prepared to ferment a 
 whole mafs and to give it a relifh: and in this 
 fenfe ufed in Meafure for Meafure, Act I. 
 
 Duke. Come no more eva/ton : 
 
 We have with a prepared and leavened choice 
 
 Proceded to you. 
 
 i. e. before hand prepared and rightly feafon'd, 
 as they prepare leaven. But in Scripture 'tis fi- 
 gu'rately ufed for the pharifaical doctrines and 
 manners, being like leaven, of a four, corrupt- 
 ing and infectious nature : fo the Apoftle, a lit- 
 tle leaven leavenetb the lump, i Cor. v. 6. 
 
 This explains the paffage above, and another 
 in Cymbeline, Act III. 
 
 '"*' , 
 
 " So thou, Pbfthumus, 
 " Wilt lay the leaven tq all proper men ; 
 
 2. Mr. Theob. fubftitutes, thou crufty botch of nature. 
 
 P 2 " Goodly
 
 2 1 2 Critical Qbfervatlom Book II. 
 
 " Goodly and gallant fhall be falfe and perjur'd 
 " From thy great fail. 
 
 i. e. will infect and corrupt their good names, 
 like four dough that leaveneth the whole mafs, 
 and will render them fufpected. The laft line I 
 would read, 
 
 " From thy great/0//. 
 
 Becaufe this reading is more poetical and fcriptu- 
 ral -, and more agreeable to our author's manner. 
 So in a fimilar place. K. Henry V. Act II. 
 
 " And thus thy fall hath left a kind of blot, 
 " To make the full-fraught man, thebeft, en- 
 
 ' dued 
 
 " With fome fufpicion. I will weep for thee : 
 " For this revolt of thine, methinks is like 
 " Another /<?// of man. 
 
 Shakefpeare was a great reader of the fcrip* 
 tures, and from the bold figures and metaphors 
 he found there J enriched his own elfewhere un- 
 matched 
 
 3. I could eafily fliew in many places of Milton, how fine- 
 ly he has enriched his veries with fcriptural exprefiions and 
 thoughts, even where he feems moft clolely to have copied 
 V ; yil or Homer. For example, B. I, 84. 
 l^bou beeft ^But o how fallen ? how changed 
 From him, who in the happy f tains of light 
 Cloth' d with tranfcendent brigktnefi, didjl ouijhine 
 Jtfyriadf tb<? bright ! 
 
 Tho'
 
 9. on SHAKESPEARE. 213 
 
 matched ideas. If a pafiage or two of this fort 
 is pointed out, the hint may eafily be improved. 
 
 In 
 
 Tho' this feems clofely followed from Virgil, Aen. II. 274. 
 
 Hei mihi quails erat, quantum mutatus ab illo 
 Hefiore, qui, &C. 
 
 Yet what additional beauty dpes it receive from Ifaiah xiv, 
 12. Ho<w art thou fallen from heaven, o Lucifer, fan of the 
 morning! &c. 
 
 Neither the mythological account of Pallas being born 
 from the brain of Jupiter, nor the poetical defcription of 
 Error by Spencer in his fairy Queen, would have been fuf- 
 ficient authority for our divine poet's epifode in his fecond 
 book of SIN and DEATH : had not fcripture told us, James 
 i, 14. Then luben LUST hath conceived, it bringeth forth 
 SIN ; and SIN ivktn it isfnijhed, bringe th forth DEATH. 
 
 In B. IV, 996, &c. Tho' it is plain the poet had flrongly 
 in his mind the golden fcales of Jupiter, mentioned both by 
 Homer and Virgil i yet he is entirely governed by fcripture } 
 for Satan only is weigh'd, viz. his parting and ' his fight, 
 Dan. v, 27. TEKEL, THOU art weigh* d in the balances t 
 and art found wanting. And before, jfr 998. His ftature 
 reach V the Jky. Our poet has better authorities to follow 
 than Homer's defcription of Difcord, II. IV, 440. and Vir- 
 gil's of Fame, IV, 177. For fo the deftroying angel is de- 
 fcribed in the Wifdom of Solomon, xviii, 16. // touched 
 the heaven, but it flood upon ths earth, 
 
 In B. V, 254. 
 
 The gate f elf open" 
 Ox goldtn hinges turning. 
 
 P 3 So
 
 214 Critical Observations Book II. 
 
 In the firft part of Henry VI. Aft V. 
 
 <c You fpeedy helpers, that are fubftitutes 
 " Under the lordly monarch of the North. 
 
 Ths monarch of the North, i. e. Satan. In allufion 
 to Ifaiah xiv, 13. I will Jit alfo upon the mount 
 of the congregation in the fides of the NORTH. Jer. 
 i, 15. Out of the NORTH an eviljhatt break forth, 
 &c. iv, i. Evil appear etb out of the NORTH. Hence 
 Milton, V, 688. 
 
 " Where we pofiefs 
 < The quarters of the North. 
 
 And B. V, 754. 
 
 At length into the limits of the North 
 
 So again, B. VII, 205. This has its fandlion more from 
 Pf. xxiv, 7. than from Horn. II. i. 749. An-j^xlm as 
 
 In B. XII, 370. 
 
 He Jhall afcend 
 
 The throne hereditary, and bound his reign 
 With earth" 1 * wide bounds, his glory tvith the heavens ! 
 Virgil fays Aen. I. 291. 
 
 Imperium oceano famam qui terminat aftris. 
 But the prophets ought rather here to be cited. Pfal. ii. 8. 
 Ifai. ix, 7. Zech. ix, 9. The like inftances I conld give 
 from Spencer : which mews how minutely the fcriptures 
 were formerly (ludied by our belt poets. 
 
 " They
 
 9. on SHAKESPEARE. 215 
 
 " They came ; and Satan to his royal feat 
 " High on a hill, &c. 
 
 But this was a notion of the Perfians. To which 
 learnedly alludes the author of Leonidas, III, 36! 
 
 " When ftreight beyond the golden verge of day 
 " Night fhew'd the horrours of her diftant reign, 
 " Whence black and hateful Arimanius fprung, 
 " The author foul of evil. 
 
 In Meafure for Meafure, Aft III. 
 
 ** Claud. Ay, but to die, and go we know not 
 
 " where: 
 
 " To lye in cold obftrudtion, and to rot : 
 " This fenfible warm motion to become 
 " A kneaded clod ; and the delighted fpirit 
 < To bathe in fiery floods, or to refide 
 " In thrilling regions ofthick-ribb'd ice, 
 " To be imprifon'd in the viewlefs winds 
 " And blown with reftlefs violence round about 
 46 The pendant world , or to be worfe than worft 
 ' Of thofe, that lawlefs and incertain thoughts 
 " Imagine howling :- 'tis too horrible ! 
 
 Inftead of the delighted fpirit^ I would read the 
 delinquent Jpirit : the unheeding printer did not 
 fee the impropriety of a fpirit delighted in fiery 
 floods, &c. So he gave a word he was acquaint- 
 ed with, and omTtted a moil proper one which 
 P 4 he
 
 2 1 6 Critical Objections Book II. 
 
 he lefs underftood, delinquent. Milton hasfome- 
 thing very like this, B. IJ, 596. 
 
 ' Thither by harpy-footed furies haPd 
 '* At certain revolutions all the damn'd 
 * Are brought ; and feel by turns the bitter 
 
 " change 
 * Of fierce extremes, extremes by change more 
 
 * fierce ! 
 
 ' From beds of raging fire to ftarve in ice 
 " Their foft ethereal warmth, &c. 
 
 J-Iierom in his comment on Matt, x, 28, writes, 
 Duplicem effe gebennam, nimirum ignis et frigoris 
 in Job plenijjime legimus. viz. 4 Job xxiv, 19. But 
 let us hear our Milton again, B. II, 180. 
 
 " While we perhaps, 
 " Defigning or exhorting glorious war, 
 " Caught in a fiery tempeft fhall be hurPd 
 " Each on his rock transfix' d, the fport and 
 
 " prey 
 *' Of racking whirlwinds, &c. 
 
 Thefe paffages of Shakefpeare and Milton will 
 bear comparifon with whatVirgil has written of the 
 punilhment of the damned, from Plato's Phaedo, 
 
 4. SoEede on Matt. c. xxiv. Quod Jtcit illic effe fietun et 
 flriJor em gentium, duplicem foenam gebennae exprimit, ignis 
 et frigtris : and afterwards cites the words of Job as ren? 
 dercd by the ancient interpreter, Adcqlorem ignis tranjtt ab 
 
 and
 
 Seft.9- on SHAKESPEARE. 217 
 
 and from the verfes of Orpheus, who brought 
 thefe do&rines from s Aegypt. That part of 
 
 the 
 
 5. And from hence Empedocles in Plutarch's Ifis and 
 Ofiris j which I fliall cite from the late learned editor, and 
 his tranflation. 'Efr*oGxXrij SI xj &*a$ Qua} oa raj 
 
 yap 
 
 Xf' * e^^6iIf? BTW icj 
 Xw^ax xj ra'| a'TrcXa'Cwcrj. " It was moreover the opinion 
 " of Empedocles, that thefe Genii are obnoxious to punifh-r 
 " ment for whatever offences they may commit, for what- 
 " ever crimes they may be guilty of, 
 
 " One while the air purfues them to the (ea, 
 
 The fea again toffes them upon land, 
 
 *' The land propels them on the fcorching fun, 
 
 ' The fun returns them to the whirling air : 
 
 " Thus are they toffed about objedls of common hate, 
 
 'till having undergone the deftin'd punifhment, and 
 ' thereby become pure, they are again placed in their pri- 
 44 mitive fituation, in that region where nature originally 
 " defigned them." I cannot help propofing a correftion 
 of thefe verfes of Empedocles ; infteadof 2 AYFAZ, moft 
 of the editions have E AYeiE ; which with a trifling 
 alteration I would read ES AN00Z. And this is an ex- 
 preffion ufed by old Homer and Aefchylus.
 
 2 1 8 Critical Obfervations Book II. 
 
 the punimment of being blown with reftlefs -vio- 
 lence round about the pendant world, the fport and 
 prey of racking whirlwinds, is more poetical than 
 Virgil's, Inanes fufpenfae ad ventos. Befide St. 
 Hierome in his comment on the epiftle to the 
 Ephefians mentions it as the opinion of the 
 Jewifh and Chriftian divines, that evil fpirits 
 have their refidence in the fpace between the 
 firmament and the earth; to which Jewifh 
 opinion St. Paul alludes, calling Satan the prince 
 of the air. This is fufficient for a poet to give 
 what allegorical turn he pleafes to fuch opinions. 
 
 In king Lear, Act V. 
 
 " He that parts us, mall bring a brand from 
 
 " heav'n, 
 " And fire us hence, like foxes. 
 
 Alluding to the fcriptural account of Samfon's 
 .tying foxes, two and two together by the tail, 
 Tind fattening a firebrand to the cord, thus letting 
 them loofe among the (landing corn of the Phi- 
 liitines. Judges xv, 4. 
 
 To ffcx ya,% AN0OZ, 
 >flor<7 xXtiJ'*? avct<ri. Prom. 
 HYPOS AN00S a 
 
 So Homer as cited by the Scholiaft. and Lucretius : I, 899. 
 Donee fammai fitlfgrwtt FLO RE coorto. 
 
 In
 
 Se<St. 9. on SHAKESP*itE. 219 
 
 In th fecond part of K. Henry IV. Ad IV. 
 
 " And therefore will he wipe his 6 tables clean. 
 In Hamlet, Aft I. 
 
 " Yea from the table of my memory 
 " I'll wipe away all trivial fond records. 
 
 Prov. iii, 3. Write them upon the table of thine 
 heart. So Aefchylus in fuppl. 187. Abu <pwA- 
 |ow roip tTTtj JMptvot. 1 advife thee 'to keep my 
 words written on the tables of thy memory. And 
 in Prometh. 788. >/<*$ <fc'X7oi? $*, which 
 Mr. Theobald has cited. 
 
 In Othello, Aft IV. 
 
 *< If to preferve this veffel for my Lord. 
 
 I Theff. iv. 4. Topoffefs his veflfel in fanftifaation. 
 
 SoLucret. V, 138. 
 
 Tandem in eodem famine, atqtie in eodem vzkmaneret. 
 
 6. The Pugillares of the ancients were made of wood, 
 ivory, and fkins, and covered over with wax. They con- 
 fifted fometimes of two, three, five or more pages, and, 
 thence were called duplices, triplices, quintupliccs, and 
 multiplied : and by the Greeks ^iTz-lwpga, rf'uflvx, &c. 
 The initrument, with which they wrote, they called Jlilus ; 
 at firft made of iron, but afterwards that was forbidden at 
 Rome, and they ufed ftyles of bone : it was fharp at one 
 end to cut the letters, and flat at the other to deface them j 
 from whence the phrafe, ftylum vertere. 
 
 In
 
 no Critical Obfervattons Book II. 
 
 In Cymbeline, Aft I. 
 " He fits 'mongft men, like a defcended God. 
 
 There is no lefs learning than elegance in this 
 expreflion. The Greeks call thefe defcended Gods, 
 KATAIBATAS, and Jupiter was peculiarly wor- 
 Ihipped as fuch, as more frequently defcending 
 in thunder and lightning to punifh guilty mortals : 
 among whofe titles and infcriptions you frequent- 
 ly meet with, AJO2 KATAIBATOT. Agreeable 
 to this opinion Paul and Barnabas were thought 
 by the people of Lycaonia to be defcended Gods. 
 Oi f 9-w) o'xofuOcifcf avSwTroi? 7 KATEBH2AN wo 
 
 In 
 
 6. Afts xiv. 2. And here give me leave to fet in a better 
 light a paffage in the difcourfes of Epi&etus. L. I. c. 29. 
 
 ti) x -076v(^' TT, ^wpj TXT^V, oystys. /n.et TOV Kao-afa, x 
 TTi-v EAH, fifovlu* cj 
 ri XXo *i Iwiyfwx* T6 
 
 9* f iff i w? o Jf 7r/Tj? ; " A/a w o/ /^ majier of man, but 
 *' /r/i 1 and death, pleafure and pain ; far, exclujive of tbefe, 
 " irif j# Caefar, and you Jhall fee how I frefer<ve my tran- 
 ' quillity : but when he, with th(fe, comes like A DESCENDED 
 *' GOD in thunder and lightening, and 1 too fear fuch things 
 *' as thefe ; <what do I, but, like a fugitive Jlawe, recognife 
 " my majier ? " Nor can I pafs over another of the like 
 nature in Homer. II. w'. 668. Jupiter fpeaks to Apollo, 
 
 i at tvv, iAi (> *t, 
 EAOflN e* ^CX/M af7r i^va. 
 
 Eia
 
 8e&. 9. on SHAKESPEARE. 221 
 
 In the Temped, Aft IV. 
 
 " Profp- The cloud- capt towers, the gorgeous 
 
 " palaces, 
 
 " The folemn temples, the great globe itfelf, 
 " Yea, all, which it inherit, fhall dijjolve. 
 
 This is exactly from Scripture. Pet. ep. 2. iii, 10. 
 reiser* AT0HZONTAI. and tf. 1 1. TBTftiv v TXVM- 
 TV ATOMENHN. Seeing then that all thefe things 
 Jhall be DISSOLVED, and jf. 12. Ou^v) ZB-U^'JUSVOI 
 AT0H20NTAI % wrf* K*v<r*p&# THKETAI. 
 The heavens being on fire Jhall be DISSOLVED, and 
 the elements Jhall melt with fervent heat. Ifaiah 
 xxxiv, 4. And all the hoji of heaven Jhall be 
 DISSOLVED. TAKH2ONTAI -ateou ; Tu*^g<f 
 tuv vggtvuv. LXX. 
 
 The fcripture ufes frequently HAND, for power 
 and might: and the HAND OF GOD fignifies his 
 power and providence. 
 
 In K. Henry V. Aft I. 
 
 " Let us deliver 
 " Our puiflance into the hand of God. 
 
 Eia age nunc, dikfte Plaebe, nigro fanguint purga 
 Profeftus e t thrum acervo fublatum farpedanem. 
 
 This is the Latin tranflation : but prafeQus, is jejune and 
 poor, in comparison to the force of the Greek ; EA0JiN r , 
 dsfeending as a 'god* 
 
 i In
 
 222 Critical Qbfervations Book II* 
 
 In Macbeth, Aft II. 
 " In the -.great hand of God I ftand. 
 And in other pafiages. Pindar Ol. 10. 25. has 
 the .lame expreffion, &*S <r wcthxptx. In the 
 Ajax of Sophocles #e* fignifies power and 
 Jtrengtb: $. 130. 
 
 i. e. <fo*aft, according to the interpretation of 
 the fcholiaft. 
 
 And thus the verfe, as it feems to me, in Ho* 
 mer II. '. mould be underflood. 
 
 OW cy ityx Aai ( uaro &$& XEIPAS '$!. 
 JVor w/// ^ refrain the violent force andftrengtb of 
 the plague be fore > See. the common tranilation is, 
 
 Neqiie hie prius a pefte graves manus abftincbit^ 
 which has neither the fenfe nor beauty of the 
 former interpretation. 
 
 In the Tempeft, Adi. 
 " To run upon the fharp wind of the north* 
 
 I would rather read, ; 
 
 " To ride upon the marp wind of the north. 
 
 This is the fcripture expreflioh,. "Thou caufeft me 
 to ride upon 'the wind, Job xxx. 22. 'The Lord 
 rideth on thefwift cloud, If. xix. i. Extol him that 
 rideth upon the heavens*. Pf. Ixviii. 4. 
 
 So
 
 SecVio. on SHAKESPEARE. 223 
 
 So Milton II, 540. 
 
 " And ride the air 
 * In whirlwind, 
 
 And again, X, 475. 
 
 " Forc'd to rids . 
 " Th* untradlable abyfs. 
 
 And II, 930. 
 
 " As in a cloudy chair, afcending rides 
 " Audacious. 
 
 And Shakefpeare himfelf in Macbeth, A<5t IV. 
 
 " Infected be the air whereon they ride. 
 
 ' 
 
 But perhaps that expreflion of the pfalmift, civ. 3. 
 Who walketh upon the wings of the wind : will vin- 
 dicate Shakefpeare in faying, 
 ct To run upon the fharp wind of the north. 
 
 SECT. X. 
 
 TH E editors often change the author's 
 words, (if they happen, which may often 
 be the cafe, not to underftand them) into others 
 more frequently ufed. In the foregoing fection 
 I have fhewed how delinquent was changed into 
 delighted: and here I fhall add fome other in- 
 ftances. Mr. Theobald has very learnedly proved 
 that Shakefpeare ufes the word netion^ in the 
 
 fame
 
 324 Critical Obfervations Book II, 
 
 fame fenfe as Cicero does, for idea, conception of 
 things, &c. See his note in Antony and Cleo- 
 patra, Vol. VI. p. 244. and in Othello, Vol. VII. 
 p. 384. Methinks he mould have alter'd fome 
 other paflages : as in Julius Caefar, Ad III. 
 
 " Yet in the number, I do know but one, 
 " That unafiailable holds on his rank 
 " Unfhak'd of motion. 
 
 Read, Unjhatfd of notion, i. e. animi et propojtti 
 tenax. 
 
 In All's well that ends well, Aft II. 
 
 " 2. Lord. The reaibns of our ftate I cannot 
 
 " yield, 
 
 " But like a common and an outward man, 
 " That the great figure of a council frames 
 " By felf unable motion. 
 
 Read, notion, i. e. from his own ideas, and 
 conception of things.. 
 
 In Meafure for Meafure, Act III. Lucio is 
 fpeaking of Angelo to the Duke. 
 
 " He is a motion generative. 
 
 Read, notion: " though he has the organs of 
 " generation, yet he is meer ideaj all fpirit, 
 " no fiefh and blood.'* The fame word I would 
 reftore to Milton. B. II, 151. 
 
 Who
 
 Sect. 10. on SHAKESPEARE. 225 
 
 " Who would lofe 
 
 " Tho' full of pain, this intellectual being ; 
 " Thofe thoughts that wander thro* eternity ; 
 " To periih, rather, fwallow'd up and loft 
 " In the wide womb of uncreated night, 
 
 " Devoid of fenfe and ' motion ? 
 
 .. 
 
 Read, notion, i. e. devoid of all external and in- 
 ternal fenfe. 
 
 In King Lear, Aft III. 
 
 " Edg. Fraterretto calls me and tells me 
 " that Nero is an angler in the lake of darknefs. 
 
 Nero was a fidler in hell, as Rabelais tells us, 
 B. 2. c. 30. And Trajan was an angler, Shake- 
 fpeare was a reader of Rabelais, as may be proved 
 from many imitations of him ; and here plainly 
 he has that facetious Frenchman in his view. 
 Trajan might have this office given him in hell, 
 
 I. Who, fays he, would be annihilated, lofe his Intel - 
 " leftual being and all his thoughts ? Motion therefore is 
 " an improper word here, that's no part of thought, nor 
 " abftra&ed has any excellence in it. I am perfuaded, he 
 " gave it, 
 
 Devoid of fenfe and ACTION. 
 
 *' Deprived of our faculties, to perceive and to aft." 
 Dr. Bentley. A printer might eafily miitake motion, for 
 notion ; but hardly for afiion. 
 
 Q not
 
 226 Critical Qbfervatiom Book II. 
 
 not only becaufe he was a perfecutor of the 
 Chriftians, but as he was a great drinker, and 
 that he might have liquor enough in the next 
 world, he was made a fifherman : Rabelais has 
 as trifling reafons as this, for many of his witti- 
 cifms : but whatever was Rabelais' reafon is ano- 
 ther queftion : this however was not Nero's 
 office. But the players and editors, not willing 
 that fo good a prince as Trajan mould have 
 fuch a vile employment, fubftituted Nero in his 
 room, without any fenfe or allufion at all. 
 From Rabelais therefore the pafiage mould 
 be thus corrected, Trajan is an angler in the 
 lake of darknefs. For one cannot fay with any 
 propriety, 
 
 Nero is ajidler in the lake of darknefs. 
 
 I cannot pals over a moft true correction, 
 printed in the Oxford edition, of a faulty paflage 
 in Antony and Cleopatra, Ad III. which was 
 originally corrupted by this change of the firft 
 editors. 
 
 " Cleop. What (hall we do, Enobwbus ? 
 " Eno. Think, and die. 
 
 Drink and die , This emendation is undoubtedly 
 true. 'Tis ipoken by Enobarbus, in allufion 
 to the fociety of the 2TNAnoANOTMENOI, 
 mention'd in Plutarch, p. 949. D. The hint was 
 i taken
 
 Se&. 10. on SHAKESPEARE. 227 
 
 taken from a comedy of Diphilus, mention'd 
 by Terence in his prologue to the Adelphi, 
 
 " ZTNAII00NH2KONTEI Diphili comoedia eft: 
 " Earn commorientes Plautus fecit fabulam. 
 
 The fame kind of blunders we have frequent 
 in ancient books : I will mention one in thofe 
 verfes of Tyrtaeus, which Stobaeus has pre- 
 ferved. 
 
 Huvoy J 1 ' te^Ac* TTO wcAijt -n isotvli re tPty-tar, 
 
 "()$<? ANHP JtetGote iv 
 
 The old reading, inftead of ANHP, was AN E3T, 
 which the tranfcriber changed into ANHP. 
 
 "OfK otv tu h<x*$ kv 7rj>o/*6i%OKri p-ivy- 
 This was an expreflion that Tyrtaeus was fond of^ 
 and he repeats it again, 
 
 'AAA ^^g 
 
 af, ft aiding firm i one leg advanced before the 
 other: the legs being fevered and fet afunder, each 
 from the other. But he took the expreflion from 
 Homer, II. p. 458. 
 
 SrJJ ft [4<ji\' ffuj /w>, 
 
 Which the tranflator renders, Jirmiter dlvaricatis 
 cruribus ftans : and the fcholiaft interprets by
 
 2 8 Critical Obfervations Book II, 
 
 Vfcv^wf ?*V which interpretation Milton fol- 
 lows: 
 
 " * Stand frm, for in his look defiance lours. 
 
 Notwithftanding Tyrtaeus borrowed this from 
 Homer, yet by laying fo much ftrefs on this po- 
 fture of fighting, and by his often repeating it, 
 Plato in his firft book of laws makes no fcruple 
 of calling it Tyrtaeus' own exprefiion. Aa7g 9 
 3* u 
 
 " There are many mercenaries, who firmly ftand- 
 
 " ing their ground with one foot boldly advanc- 
 
 " ed before the other, (for fo Tyrtaeus expreflfes 
 
 ** it) would gladly die fighting in battle." 
 
 SECT. XI. 
 
 NOTHING is more common than for 
 words to be tranfpofed in hafty writing, 
 and to change their places. This has happen'd in 
 Timon, Adi III. 
 
 2. Par. L. IV, 873. Milton, in this whole epifode, keeps 
 dofe to his mafter Homer, who fends out Ulyfles and Dio- 
 mede into the Trojan camp as fpies. II. *'. 533. T ft <pXo, 
 
 ITTKXI p utfjirojan oip$\ xlviroi; iixl 
 Ofriendt! 1 Ixar the tread of nimble feet, ^.866. 
 
 Qvnu veil ti^rjlo IWof, or' ' favQov avroi. II. *. 540. 
 tie fear ce had ended -when theft two approach" d. if. 874. 
 
 " i. Strang.
 
 Sedt. ii. on SHAKESPEARE. 229 
 
 " i. Strang. Why this is the world's^/ j 
 " Of the fame piece is every flatterer's fport. 
 Let thefe two words foul and fport change places, 
 and we have this very good reading, 
 " i. Strang. Why, this is the world's fport; 
 *' Of the fame piece is every flatterer's ' foul. 
 In the II part of K. Henry IV, Aft II. 
 
 P. Henry. " From a God to a bull ? a heavy 
 " declenfion ; it was Jove's cafe. From a prince 
 " to a prentice, a low transformation ; that mail 
 be mine : for in every thing, the purpofe muft 
 weigh with the folly.'* 
 
 It would be more accurate if the words were tranf- 
 pofed, and we mould read, 
 
 P. Henry. " From a God to a bull ? a heavy 
 " transformation ; it was Jove's cafe. From a 
 " prince to a prentice a low declenfion ; that mail 
 " be mine. &c. 
 
 In Cymbeline, Act II. Jachimo is defcribing to 
 the hufband his wife's bedchamber : 
 Jach. The roof o' th' chamber 
 u With golden cherubims is fretted, &c. 
 Pofthumus replies : 
 
 " This is her honour : 
 " Let it be granted you have feen all this, &c. 
 
 i . Mr. Theobald reads fpirit. But in my change not one 
 word is altered. 
 
 0.3 Mr -
 
 230 Critical ObfsrvatiQns Book II. 
 
 Mr. Theobald faw the abfurdity of the reading 
 and corrects 
 
 this /' her honour. 
 
 But why may it not be red, without altering 
 one word, only by an eafy tranfpofition, 
 Is this her honour ? 
 
 Is this any way relating to the honor of my wife, 
 which is the thing in queftion ? or perhaps he 
 fpeaks ironically, 
 
 " This is her honour ! 
 
 There is a paflage in * Marcus Antoninus, the 
 
 fenfe of which is quite perverted by a word being 
 
 got out of its proper place. The paflage requires 
 
 a little explanation. The Stoics by no means 
 
 admitted prayers for external goods : this prayer 
 
 therefore of the Athenians, " Rain, rain, O Ju- 
 
 piter, upon the Athenian fields", is condemned 
 
 by the emperor : for inftead of #TO< <f gu- 
 
 %eo9-*, 4 *T? <*TT\W j eAeuOl^wf, we muft undoubt- 
 
 edly read r,ioi * f 7015 tu^;o9-^, j AIIAJ12 ^ i- 
 
 AsvQiW. " This is the Athenian prayer, Rain y 
 
 * 6 rain, 6 propitious Jupiter , upon the tilled grounds 
 
 < andpvfturesof the Athenians. Indeed we mould 
 
 u not pray thus ; or if we pray at all, it mould 
 
 < c be with fimplicity and liberality." Of this 
 
 2. Anton. L. 5. feft. 7. 
 
 Athenian
 
 Sed. ii. on SHAKESPEARE. 231 
 
 Athenian prayer there is a fly ridicule in Arifto- 
 phanes* clouds, $. 1 1 1 6. 
 
 vpu, To 
 
 Plato did not dare openly to blame his country- 
 men for their ill-directed and ill-compofed pray- 
 ers ; but yet in his fecond Alcibiades he plainly 
 intimates his own opinion, and there praifes thefc 
 verfes of an anonymous poet, 
 
 Zew /3tf<rAev, T* pi* EO^A* 
 
 "AjWUI tTlJV, 7 <^ ^HVOS >t, 
 
 And the Lacedemonian form of prayer, T xA* 
 67ri icr? oiFa.Qo~s TV 9"sV &$ovou, which words Mr. 
 Addifon in his fpeclator, Vol. III. No. 207. 
 renders, to give them all good things as long as they 
 are virtuous. But this is neither the conftruction, 
 nor the meaning : for T< XA in} -reiv <*fa0oV, is 
 the fame as T* xAaxr6<, whatever things are 
 fair, boneft, good, and becoming : as oppofed, to 
 the fervile, deformed, dilhoneft. Xenophon, 
 in his memoirs of Socrates, has an allufion to 
 this prayer of the Lacedemonians -, fpeaking of 
 Socrates, he fays, Ev^elo arpo? ? 9-f AFIAflS 
 T*T*9* ^* JoVi. And our Milton in his moft di- 
 vine hymn, where the only petition is jf. 205, 
 B. V. 
 
 " Be bounteous ftill 
 " To give us only good. 
 
 0.4 The
 
 232 .Critical Objervations Book II. 
 
 The compilers of our liturgy did not forget this 
 beautiful prayer. We fpimblg befeecl) fljee to 
 put atoav from us all fjurtful things, ana to gifce 
 us tljofe things tolncf) be profitable for us. Trin. 
 Sund. Coll. 8. And in that truly divine prayer 
 in the communion fervice, &Umgl)tv CoD, tl)e 
 fountain of aUteifoom, &c. &c. The fecond 
 Alcibiades of Plato Shakefpeare feems to have 
 red ; for in his Antony and Cleopatra, Act II. 
 he has the following plain allufion, to what the 
 philofopher endeavours fo much to inculcate, 
 viz. How little we know of our real good , 
 and that filly mortals would be ruin'd by their 
 petitions, did the Gods but hearken to them : 
 
 " Men. We, ignorant of our felves, 
 * c Beg often our own harms, which the wife 
 
 " powers 
 
 " Deny us for our good -, fo find we profit 
 '' By lofing of our prayers. 
 
 Mr. Theobald has very pertinently cited here 
 thefe lines of Juvenal 
 
 " Quid enim ratione timemus 
 * c Aut cupimus ? quid tam dextro pede concipis 
 
 " utte 
 
 " Conatus non poeniteat, votique peracli ? 
 " Evertere domus totas optantibus ipfis 
 " Dii faciles, 
 
 " Nam
 
 Soft. 12. on SHAKESPEARE. 233 
 
 " Nam pro jucundis aptifllma quaeque dabimt 
 
 " dii: 
 tc Carior eft illis homo, quam fibi. Nos animo- 
 
 " rum 
 " Impulfu, et caeca magnaque cupidine ducti, &c. 
 
 I cannot help propofmg a moft certain correction, 
 as I think, of this laft cited verfe of Juvenal : 
 for the poet, following his mafter Plato, is con- 
 demning what is done by the blind impulfe of 
 the mind and the covetous fancy ; befide the 
 verfe will be more harmonious if we read, 
 
 " Nos animorum 
 
 " Impulfu eaeco, magnaque cupidine dudi, 
 " Conjugium petimus. 
 
 SECT. XII. 
 
 AUTHORS are not careful enough of 
 their copies, when they give them into 
 the printer's hand ; which, often being blotted 
 or ill written, muft be help'd out by meer guefs- 
 work. Printers are not the beft calculated for 
 this critical work, I think, fmce the times of 
 Aldus and the Stephens's. What wonder there- 
 fore if in fuch a cafe we meet, now and then, 
 with ftrange and monftrous words, or highly 
 improper expreffions, and often contradictory to 
 the author's defign and meaning ? We have 
 
 taken
 
 234 Critical Obfervations Book II. 
 
 taken notice in a former fection of pannelled be r 
 ing placed in the context inftead of paged. Of 
 the like fort is the following paflage in Romeo 
 and Juliet, Ad II. 
 
 " Young Abraham Cupid, he that mot fo true, 
 " When king Cophetua lov*d the beggar maid. 
 
 Shakefpeare wrote, Young Adam Cupid, &c. 
 The printer or tranfcriber, gave us this Abram^ 
 miftaking the ' d for br : and thus made a paffage 
 
 dired 
 
 i. A letter blotted, or a ftroke of the pen, might eafily 
 occafion the corruption. And hence many blunders arife. 
 In Spencer, B. I. c. 7. ft. 33. 
 
 " His warlike fhield, &c. 
 
 '* But all of diamond perfect pure and clean : 
 
 We mult read, Jbeen. See B. z. c. i. ft. 10. and B. 4. 
 c. 5. ft. ii. Again, B. 3. 0.4. ft. 49. 
 
 " Like as a fearful dove, which thro' the rain 
 " Of the wide air her way does cut amain. 
 
 Read, reign: i. e. realm, or region : in which fenfe Spencer 
 often ufes it, and Milton, B. I. 543. The reign of chaos. 
 
 In 8.5. 0.7. ft. 31. 
 
 " Full fiercely laid the Amazon about, 
 " And dealt her blows, &c. 
 " Which Britomart withftood with courage ftout, 
 " And them repaid again with double more. 
 Read, ft ore : Sec c. 8. ft. 34.
 
 Se&. 12. on SHAKESPEARE. 235 
 
 direft nonfenfe, which was underftood in Shake- 
 fpeare's time by all his audience : for this Adam 
 was a moft notable archer ; and for his fkill be- 
 came a proverb. In Much Ado about Nothing, 
 Act I. " And he that hits me, let him be clapt 
 " on the moulder, and called ADAM." Where 
 Mr. Theobald's ingenious note is worth reading. 
 
 His 
 
 In B. 6. c. 5. ft. 4. 
 
 " Now wringing both his wretched hands in one. 
 Read, atone : i. e. together : frequently fo ufed by Spencer. 
 Thefe blunders feem entirely owing to the wrong guefies of 
 the printer, or tranfcriber. Some ftrokc of the pen occa- 
 fion'd the following corrupt reading in the Medaea of 
 Euripides, if. 459. 
 
 KO.X. ruvS' a* uTrnpnttui; <J>IA01 
 w, TO <7o y *rpo 
 
 " Ego tamen ne propter haec quidem defeffus amicorum 
 " gratia venio, profpedlurus tibi, o mulier." What con- 
 ftruc~Uon is this? <&Xo? r,xa" befide dirncnxivtm is, ammo 
 concidij/e, animum defpondijje, Sec. I imagine the poet gave 
 it, <J>iX^. vxu, I come your friend: as we fay in Englifh. 
 But printers can blunder, as well as tranfcribers in copy 
 after copy. In Milton's Samfon Agoniftes, jr. 1650. the 
 Meffenger is defcribing Samfon's pulling the temple on the 
 Philiftins. 
 
 " Thofe two maffie pillars 
 
 " With horrible confufion to and fro 
 
 " He tugg'd, he took, 'till down they came, and drew 
 
 " The whole roof after them. 
 
 We
 
 23-6 Critical Obfervations Book II. 
 
 His name was Adam Bell. So that here, Young 
 Adam Cupid, &c. is the fame as, Young Cupid 
 that notable archer, &c. The ilory of king 
 Cophetua and the beggar maid is elfe.where al- 
 luded to by Shakefpeare ; and by Johnfon, in 
 Every Man in his Humour, Act III. fc. IV. 
 " I have not the heart to devoure you, an' I 
 " might be made as rich as king Cophetua." 
 
 In Julius Caefar, Act. 1. 
 
 " CaiTius. Tell me, good Brutus, can you 
 " fee your face ? 
 
 " Brutus. No, Caffius -, for the eye fees not 
 
 " it/eft 
 * c But by reflection from fome other things. 
 
 Caff. 'Tisjuft 
 
 " And it is very much lamented, Brutus, 
 " That you have no fuch mirrors, as will turn 
 " Your hidden worthinefs into your eye, 
 " That you might fee your fhadow. 
 
 We muft con-eft, he Jhoak. Again, in his elegant fonnet to 
 the foldier to fpare his houfe : 
 
 " The great Emathian conqueror did fpare 
 
 " The houfe of Pindarus. 
 
 We muft read, lid fpare. As Mr. Theobald and Dr. Bentley 
 often tells us, that they had the happinefs to make many 
 corrections, which they find afterwards fupported by the 
 authority of better copies ; fo with the fame vanity, I can 
 afiure the reader, I made the above emendations in Milton, 
 and found, after all, the paflages corrupted by one J.Tonfon. 
 
 'Tis
 
 Sedl. 12. on SHAREWARE. 237 
 
 'Tis plain from the reply of Brutus, and the 
 whole tenor of the reafoning, that Caflius fhould 
 fay, 
 
 *' Tell me, good Brutus, can you fee your eye? 
 
 The analogy is no lefs beautiful, than philofo- 
 phical, of the rational faculty (the internal eye) 
 to the corporeal organ of fight : and in the firft 
 Alcibiades of Plato, p. 132, 133. of Stephens' 
 edition, there is exactly a parallel inftance. 
 Caffius tells Brutus that he will be his mirror, 
 and mew him to himfelf. 
 
 In Julius Caefar, Ad IV. 
 
 Antony. Thefe many then/hall die 9 their names 
 are frickt. 
 
 Octavius. Tour brother too muft die : confentyou 
 Lepidus ? 
 
 Lepidus. / do confent. 
 
 Octavius. Prick him down^ Antony. 
 
 Lepidus . Upon condition , Pu B L i u sjbatt not live ; 
 Who is your fitter's fon, Mark Antony. 
 
 The triumvirs, A. U. 7 1 o. met at a fmall ifland 
 formed by the river Labinius, (now Lavino,) near 
 Mantua ; as Appian de bell, civil, writes. Others 
 fay in an ifland formed by the river Rhenus, 
 now Reno : and there came to a refolution of cut- 
 ting off all their enemies, in which number they 
 I included
 
 238 Critical Obferuations Book II. 
 
 included the old republican party. Antony fet 
 down Cicero's name in the lift of the profcribed : 
 Octavius infifted on Antony's facrificing Lucius, 
 bis uncle by the mother 1 s fide : And Lepidus gave 
 up his own brother, L. yEmilius Paulus. As 
 'tis not uncommon to blunder in proper names, 
 I make no doubt but in the room of-Publius 
 we mould place Lucius, Antony's uncle by his 
 mother's fide : and then a trifling correction 
 fets right the other line. 
 
 Lepidus. Upon condition Lucius /hall not live. 
 Ton are hisjifter's /?, Mark Antony. 
 
 In Antony and Cleopatra Act III. Caefar is 
 fpeaking of the vaflal kings, who attended An- 
 tony in his expedition againft him, 
 
 " He hath affembled 
 " Bocchus the king of Lybia, Archelaus 
 " Of Cappadocia, Philadelphos king 
 " Of Paphlagonia ; theThracian king '- 
 " King * Malchus of Arabia, king of Pont., 
 " Herod of Jewry, Mithridates king 
 " Of Comagene, Polemon and Amintas, 
 " The king of Mede, and Lycaonia, 
 M Witb a more larger lift of feeders. 
 
 2. Plut. p. 944. B. ' 
 
 3- Plut. ibid. MaT^fc. || *ApC. Shakefpeare very 
 rightly writes, Ma/ { fa, : and fo Hirtius de bell. Alex. 
 
 This
 
 Se&. 12. on SHAKESPEARE. 239 
 
 This mufter-roll is taken from Plutarch in his 
 life of Antony: the tranflation is as follows, 
 " His land-forces were compofed of a hundred- 
 " thoufand foot, and twelve thoufand horfe. 
 " He had of vaffal kings attending, Bocchus of 
 " Libya, [Tarcondemus of the upper Cilicia,] 
 " Archelaus of Cappadocia, Philadelphus of 
 " Paphlagonia, Mithridates of Commagena, and 
 " Adallas king of Thracia ; all thefe attended 
 " him in the war. Many others who could not 
 " ferve in perfon, fent him their contributions 
 of forces, Polemon of Pontus^ Malchus of Ara- 
 " bia, Herod of Jury, and Atnyntas * ftill king 
 " of Lycaonia and Galatia ; and even the king 
 " of Media fent him a very confiderable rein- 
 " forcement." To omit Adullas, for Adallas, 
 who is the king of Font, but Polemo ? and who 
 of Lycaonia, but Amintas ? Firft then the king 
 of Pont is to be ftricken off the lift. And I make 
 no doubt but in the original writing it was fo : 
 and what the poet blotted out, the printer gave 
 us, because he faw it filled up the verfe : 
 
 4. "Krt Si 'Aftv/laf o Avxxotut x^ FaXoU*. And moreover^ 
 &c. The words in Plutarch fhould be tranfpofed, for 
 Amyntas was not king both of Lycaonia, and Galatia:, 
 
 thus, m oi 'Ap-'JiTa? o Avxawuv, x^ o tacrtXii.^ Ta.\sC\^i. 
 And moreover, Amyntas of Lycaonia , and the king of Galatia. 
 And 'tis remarkable, this blunder of the tranilator's is 
 avoided by the eafy change I make of Shakefpeare's words. 
 
 " King
 
 240 Critical Obferuatiom Book II. 
 
 " King Malchus of Arabia. 
 
 Having gotten rid of the king of Pont : how 
 lhall we reconcile to Plutarch ? 
 
 " Polemon and Amintas, 
 " The king of Mede, and Lycaonia. 
 
 This may be done by an eafy tranfpofition of 
 the words, 
 
 " Polemon, and Amintas 
 " Of Lycaonia ; and the king of Mede. 
 
 In Antony and Cleopatra, Act. IV. 
 
 " Caefar. My mefienger, 
 " He* hath whipt with rods, dares me toperfonal 
 
 " combat^ 
 
 " Caefar to Antony. Let the old ruffian know, 
 <c I have many other ways to die : mean time 
 " Laugh at his challenge. 
 
 What a reply is this to Antony's challenge ? 'tis 
 acknowledging he mould fall under the unequal 
 combat. But if we read, 
 
 " Let the old ruffian know, 
 " He' hath many other ways to die : mean time 
 " 1 laugh at his challenge. 
 
 By this reading we have poinancy, and the very 
 repartee of Caefar. Let us hear Plutarch. " After 
 " this Antony fent a challenge to Caefar to fight 
 
 " him
 
 Se6t. 12. on SHAKESPEARE. 241 
 
 "him hand to hand, and received for anfwer, 
 " That HE [viz. Antony] might find feveral other 
 " ways to end HIS LIFE." 
 
 To thefe may be added feveral other correcti- 
 ons of faulty paflages, which feem to have pro- 
 ceded from the fame caufe. 
 
 In the Tempeft, Aft I. 
 
 " Alon. Good boatfwain, have care : where's 
 <c the mailer ? Play the men. 
 It mould be ply the men : keep them to their bu* 
 fmefs. Ply your oars> is a feaman's phrafe. 
 
 In a Midfummer Night's-Dream, A6t IV. 
 
 " Queen. Sleep thou, and I will wind thee 
 
 " in my arms. 
 
 " Fairies, begone, and be J always away. 
 Read, * e Fairies begone and be away. Away, 
 [Seeing them loiter. 
 
 The fairies being gone, the queen turns to her 
 
 new lover, 
 
 " So doth the 6 woodbine the fweet honey-fuckk 
 
 " Gently 
 
 5. Mr. Theobald thinks the poet meant 
 
 and be all ways away. 
 
 i. e. difperfe yourfelves, and fcout out feverally, - in your 
 watch. 
 
 6. Mr. Theobald has printed it, 
 
 " So doth the woodbine, the fweet honey-fuckle, 
 " Gently entwift the maple ; Ivy fo, &c. 
 
 R This
 
 242 Critical Obferuations Book II. 
 
 " Gently entwift , the female Ivy fo 
 " Enrings the barky fingers of the elm. 
 
 Read, wood rim, i. e. the honey-fuckle entwifts 
 the rind or bark of the trees : 
 
 " So doth the wood rim the fweet honey-fuckle 
 " Gently entwift. 
 
 In Shakefpeare's time this was the manner of 
 fpelling ; fo Spencer in the Shepherd's Calendar, 
 eclog. 2. 
 " But now the gray mofs marred his rine. 
 
 In Troilus and Creffida, Ad IV. 
 
 " Par. You told, howDiomede a whole week, 
 
 " by days, 
 " Did haunt you in the field. 
 
 Prefently after Diomede fays to Aeneas, 
 
 " By Jove I'll play the hunter for thy life. 
 " Aen. And thou fhalt hunt a 7 lion that will 
 
 " fiie 
 With his face back. 
 
 How 
 
 This is too great a variation from the received reading : and 
 how jejune is it to tell us, that the woodbine and the honey- 
 fuckle is the fame thing i 
 
 7. Homer has the fame companion of Ajax retreating 
 from the Trojans. II. A'. 547. and of Menelaus. II. ^'. 109. 
 And Virgil of Turnus, Aen, IX, 792. 
 
 Ce*
 
 Soft. 12. on SHAKESPEARE. 243 
 
 How can we doubt then but Paris fays, 
 
 Did bunt you in the field ? 
 In Antony and Cleopatra, Act III. 
 
 " Caefar. Unto her 8 
 " He gave the 'ftablifhment of Egypt, made 
 
 " her 
 
 " Of lower Syria, Cyprus, Lydia 
 " Abfolute queen. 
 
 Ceufaevum turba leonem 
 Cum telis premit infenfes t at territui Hie, 
 4/per, acerba tuens, retro redit ; et xeque tergA 
 Ira dare out virtus patitur, &c. 
 
 8. He is fpeaking of Cleopatra, whom prefently after 
 he defcribes (following the hiftorian) drefled in the habit 
 of the Aegyptian Goddefs Ifis : whofe name fhe took, /<* 
 "laij i%fnfAarnrt. Plut in Anton, p. 941. Which is thus 
 rendered, novae Ifedii nomine rejponfa dabatpopulii : it fhould 
 be, novae Ifidii nomen fibl atquirebat. The poet has too 
 faithfully followed the tranflators. 
 
 "She 
 
 " In the habiliments of the goddefs Ifis 
 " That day appear'd, and oft before gave audience^ 
 " As 'tis reported, fo. 
 
 This circumflance is prettily alluded to by Virgil. Aen. 
 VIII, 696. defcribing Cleopatra in the naval fight at 
 Adium. 
 
 Regina in medi'n patrio vocat agmlna fiflro. 
 
 R 2 Read
 
 244 Critical Obfervations Book II. 
 
 Read Lybia : as is plain from Plutarch in his life 
 of Antony. npalTn* piv cintQyvt KAtcT^-r^v fiotfff- 
 AiATflCv 'AJvnlx KJ KUJT x, AIBTH2, *, xo/Aj? Sue/'*?> 
 X. T. A. Plut. p. 941- B. 
 
 'TIS pleafant enough to confider, how the 
 change of one fingle letter has often led learned 
 commentators into miftakes. And a n being 
 accidentally altered into B, in a Greek rheto- 
 rician, gave occafion to one of the belt pieces of 
 fatyre, that was ever written in the Englifh 
 language, viz. HEPI BA0OY2, a treatife concern- 
 ing the art cf finking in poetry. The blunder I 
 mean is in the fecond fection of Longinus, El 
 ESTIN TOT! Til H BA0OT2 TEXNH, inftead 
 of IIAeOYS. A moft ridiculous blunder, which 
 has occafion'd as ridiculous criticifms. 
 
 That the A mould be written for a n is no 
 wonder, fince Dionyfius in his Roman antiqui- 
 ties, p. 54. lias the following remark, KglvJou 
 
 TWV TpWIXWV SlUV etXSVtf XTTtX.O'tV Oj>V AENAS 
 
 tyyv *%VGJU S^KZca* T\ I1ENATA2. $OK&yci(> 
 II jU>/7rw j-p^wiua^^- tv^nkvx tw A J?Av TJ 
 Mvatpiv V arAtsV. The old Greek word for 
 Urine, they wrote AEAOS, but when the Greek 
 alphabet was compleated, RHAO2 : this word 
 grown antiquated, they ufed OINOZ. In Theo- 
 critus, Id. . $. 13. we muft read, 
 'Ex sr/ta oiy]Aj HHAON* ej/w <T t%<a aJ 1 ' Af o|f. 
 
 Where
 
 Sect. 12. on SHAKESPEARE." 245 
 
 Where thus the fchol. npop' inl iuv 
 
 ^ OINOT KE9WV|U$'(@-' TTpOf 
 
 T dtytot, <rvwv o Jl prf' OHOTS 
 wo'vw |n;o'fJ{Q-, *** ^P^* The copies 
 of Theocritus have AHAON, which the editors 
 render fcilicet. But the fcholiaft gives an eafy 
 interpretation, and helps forward the correction. 
 
 I T feems that fome puns, and quibbling wit, 
 have been changed in our author, thro* fome 
 fuch caufes, as mention'd in the beginning of 
 this fection. For inftance, in As you like it, 
 Ad II. 
 
 " Rofalind. Well, this is the foreft of Arden. 
 
 " Clown. Ay ; now I am in Arden j the more 
 *' fool I : when I was at home, I was in a better 
 *' place. 
 
 The Clown, agreeable to his character, is in a 
 punning vein, and replys thus, 
 
 " Ay ; now I am in a den ; the more fool I : 
 " when I was at home, I was in a better place. 
 
 He is full of this quibbling wit through the whole 
 play. In Ad III. he fays, 
 
 " I am here with thee, and thy goats ; as the 
 " moft capricious honeft Ovid was among the 
 K Goths. 
 
 R 3 Jaq.
 
 246 Critical Obf stations Book II. 
 
 " Jaq. O knowledge ill-inhabited, worfe than 
 " Jove in a thatch'd houfe. 
 
 Capricious, is not here humourfome, fantaftical, 
 &c. but lafcivious : Hor. Epod. 10. Libidinofus 
 immolabiwr caper. The Goths, are the Getae: 
 Ovid. Trift. V, 7. The tbatctfdhoufe, is that of 
 Baucis and Philemon, Ovid. Met. VIII, 630. 
 
 Stipulis et canna tefta paluftri. 
 But to explain puns is allmoft as unpardonable 
 as to make them : however I will venture to 
 correct one pafTage more : which is in Julius 
 Caefar, Aft III. 
 
 " Ant. Here is a mourning Rome, a dan- 
 
 " gerous Rome : 
 ' No Rome of fafety for Oclavius yet. 
 
 I make no queftion, but Shakefpeare intended it, 
 " No room pf fafety for Octavius yet. 
 
 So in Aft I. 
 
 " Now is it Rome indeed ; and room enough 
 
 " When there is in it but one only man. 
 
 To play with words which have an allufion to 
 proper names, is common with Shakefpeare and 
 the 9 ancients. Ajax in Sophocles, applying his 
 name to his misfortunes, fays, 
 
 9. Sec Ariitot. Rhet. L. 2. c. 25. "Ate<& Vo Tpvofu7d* 
 *. r. X. 
 
 AL
 
 Sett. 12. on SHAKESPEARE. 247 
 
 AI, AP tig BTOT* wtd <?' gT 
 |woi'(rcfy ovojUce -rer? 
 
 Philoctetes, fpeaking to Pyrrhus, has this quibble 
 not inferior to any in Shakefpeare forbadnefs. 
 
 fl Ilvp <rw 3 HJ ar< 
 
 In the Oreftes of Euripides there is a pun on the 
 name Eleftra ; a very unfortunate name for a 
 young woman. 
 
 And Aefchylus, in Agam. ^. 1089. the father 
 of tragedy, gives this kind of wit a fandtion. 
 
 , "ATToAAcv, 
 T' 7roAAv ijUOf^ 
 
 TO* 
 
 Ovid has many of thefe : I don't find the fol- 
 lowing taken any notice of in Burman's edition. 
 
 " RettulitetferroRhefumqueD(?/(?naque caefos, 
 " Utque fit hie fomno proditus, ille dole. 
 
 " Aufus es, o nimium, nimiumque oblite tuorum, 
 " Thracia nodturno tangere caftra dok. 
 
 That there is a play upon the words Dolona and 
 
 dolo 9 is not to be queftion'd, I think ; but the 
 
 dok in the fourth verfe is the tranfcriber's blunder, 
 
 R 4 which
 
 248 Critical Objervations Book II. 
 
 which was occafion'd by his cafting his eyes on 
 the line above. Perhaps the poet gave it with 
 an interrogation, 
 
 " Aufus es, 6 nimium, nimiumque oblite tuorum, 
 " Thracia nocturne tangere caftxupede ? 
 
 Thofe who read the Socratic authors know 
 that Socrates did not difdain to pun, when 
 proper occafions offered : a corrupted pafiage 
 of this nature, in fo pure and elegant a writer as 
 Xenophon, I fhall take occafion here to illuftrate 
 and correct. The Clouds of Ariflophanes were 
 acted a very confiderable time before Socrates 
 was condemned. According to the manner of 
 the old comedy the real Socrates is there intro- 
 duced, and his philofophy burlefqued. Thus 
 he addreffes the Clouds, tf. 2.65. 
 
 my goddeffes^ be ye lifted />, and appear 
 fill fublhnly fufpended to your contemplating fcholar. 
 In another place, f. 94. The fchool of Socrates 
 is called 4fov?s-i'e>o, the fchool of careful contempla- 
 tion. And themfelves, >?-. 101. are called, pi- 
 /juvc<f>c'v7/f<, the fad and folemn contemplators. 
 Plato in his apology alludes to thefe pafTages of 
 Ariflophanes, and fpeaks of this buffoonery, 
 
 eat f -n? Swx^Tijf eoQos f it pl1iwp Qpovltsw. 
 
 ?Tis frequently hinted too, that he taught his 
 
 fcholars
 
 Se. 12. on SHAKESPEARE. 492 
 
 fcholars direft atheifm, and a contempt for the 
 religion of his country. And in the fecond 
 fcene Socrates and his fcholars, like a fociety of 
 natural philofophers, are employed about many 
 curious enquiries, as whether a gnat fings thro* 
 it's mouth or fundament, with others of the like 
 important nature. 
 
 ETT T>JV 
 
 Srpsi]/. riwf ^TA TT' iptrgnri ; MA. Ai^u-rotla. 
 
 ** Socrates lately inquired of Chaerepho concern- 
 " ing the nature of fleas, for infhmce, how many 
 " of it's own feet a flea could go at one leap : 
 " for having bitten the eyebrow of Chaerepho, it 
 " leaped upon the bald pate of Socrates. Strep- 
 " Well, and how did he meafure it ? Schol. 
 " Moft dextroufly." Thefe paflfages of Ari- 
 flophanes will be fufEcient to make way for my 
 correction of Xenophon in his Banquet, p. 176, 
 177, edit. Oxon. which I would thus read, 
 
 , tAA>jAotf 
 
 o 4>PONTI!TH 
 , n A^PONTISTOS 
 TliN METEIZPHN
 
 250 Critical Obfervations Book II. 
 
 wett. Ow-0* sr, e<p> o Swx^W, METEJiPOTE- 
 PON T( TWU twv ; 'AAA' * pa A/', V<p?, T'TWV 
 Ai/kw l7TijugAo9-*<, a'AAa T* ANH^EAESTA- 
 
 THN. OVXKV ^ TOFf V, <pJ, 9-S 
 
 aft.$v pv 76 cm* ANfl H<i>E2\OTIIN, 
 
 yd% fft tyaur) ytce(Atl(}v. As puns cannot be 
 tranflated, fo I fliall not attempt to tranflate this. 
 I have ventured to infert ANH before n<[)EAOT- 
 2IN, to compleat the pun on the preceding word 
 ANHflEAESTATATflN. And have likewife cor- 
 reftcd iJ/uAAflw and a7r^? s inftead of \]/VAA< 
 and Airtyft. For the fenfe is, " tell me how 
 " many feet of a flea you are diftant from me : " 
 as is plain from Ariftophanes : not as the words 
 now are printed, void of all allufion and turn, 
 " tell me how many feet a flea is diftant from 
 " me." 
 
 There is a kind of pun in repeating pretty 
 near the fame letters with the preceding word, 
 to which the rhetoricians have given a particular 
 name, and in making a fort of a jingling found 
 of words. Of this the fophifts of old were fond, 
 and they are ridiculed ingenioufly in Plato's 
 Banquet for this affectation. I0 nATSANIOT tl 
 
 io. Plat. Symp. p. 185, edit. Steph. 
 
 I HAT2A-'
 
 Set 12. on SHAKESPEARE. 
 
 nAYSAMENOT, Moiffxxfft ydf pt ISA Afv &?) 
 oi $e'i. And again in his Gorgias " fl AftSTE 
 II-flAE, I'rflc zrfofftiiru r x7 . i. e. to addrefs 
 you. in your own manner. Which I mention be- 
 caufe the interpreters feem to mifimderftand him, 
 So in Terence. Andria, Act I. 
 
 " Inceptio eft amentium, haud amantium. 
 Nor is Homer without inftances of this kind. 
 II. . 201. 
 
 *AAj'iioV 
 
 II. 
 
 And Virgil, Aen.VII, 295. Imitating oldEnnius, 
 
 Num captipotuere capi ? Num incenfa cremavit 
 Troja viros ? 
 
 Aen. VI, 32. 
 
 Bis conatus erat cafus effingere in auro^ 
 Bis patriae cecidere manus. 
 
 And Milton frequently, as B. I. jf, 433. 
 
 " And unfrequented left 
 " His righteous altar, bowing lowly down 
 " To beftial Gods ; for which their heads as low 
 " Bow'd down in battel. 
 
 1 1. Plat. Gorg. p. 467. See Ariftot. Rhet. 1. 3. c. 9. 
 
 I, 642,
 
 252 Critical Obferuations Book II. 
 
 I, 642. 
 
 " Which tempted our attempt, and wrought our 
 fall. 
 
 VI, 868. 
 
 " And to begird th' almighty throne 
 " Befeeching or fafieging. 
 
 IX, 647. 
 
 " Serpent! we might have fpar'd our coming 
 
 " hither, 
 " Fruitkfe to me, though fruit be here t* excefs. 
 
 Inftances in Shakefpeare are without number - y 
 however I will mention one or two. 
 
 Macbeth, Aft I. 
 
 " What thou wouldft highly^ 
 " That thou wouldft holily. 
 
 " And catch 
 '* With itsfurceafe, fuccefs. 
 
 Hamlet, Ad I. 
 
 " A little more than 1Z kin, and lefs than kind. 
 
 Of this jingling kind are the following verfes, 
 where the letters are repeated. 
 
 Homer II. $. 526. 
 
 12. He fcems to have taken this from Gorboduc, Aft J. 
 In kinde a father, t>ut ntt in kindelynefs. 
 
 IKad
 
 Se<St. 12. on SHAKESPEARE. 253 
 
 Iliad I'. 307. 
 
 n^tjnot Sos Utffinv ffKauSv n^elltfp 
 
 Iliad '. 162. 
 
 AoAjxo* Aey AijfcpoE- Ae. 
 
 Iliad q>'. 407. 
 
 Our countryman Dryden was fo fond of this 
 repetition, that he thought it one of the greateft 
 beauties in poetry , and ufed to repeat this verfe 
 of his own as an inftance, 
 
 When MAN on MAN? Multiplied bis kind. 
 
 It cannot be denied that Virgil abounds with 
 many examples of this fort, which his commen- 
 tator Erythraeus terms alliteratio, allufio verborum^ 
 and ajfonantia fyllabarum. And the ingenious 
 Mr. Benfon, the editor and admirer of Johnfton's 
 tranflation of the pfalms, lays the higheft ftrefs on 
 this alliteration. Milton, who knew the whole 
 art and myftery of verification, has fometimes 
 almoft every word with the fame letter repeated, 
 as VI, 840. 
 
 " Oer fields, and &*lms, and Mmed ^ads fa 
 
 " rode. 
 IX, 901. 
 
 " Drfac'd, <&flower'd, and now to dfath ^vote. 
 
 And
 
 254 Critical Obferuations Book II. 
 
 And fo in other places, not fo frequent as Virgil, 
 or Spencer. This will appear in giving an inftance 
 from Spencer, B. I. 39. 
 " And through the world of waters wide and 
 
 " deep. 
 
 This line Milton has borrowed, III, n. 
 " The rifing world of waters | dark and </eep. 
 Where you fee that Milton has changed a word, 
 and chufes to make this alliteration on the two 
 laft words, dark and deep : rather than, following 
 Spencer, to alliterate three words together, and 
 drop it on the laft. But whatever beauty this 
 alliteration might have, yet the affectation of it 
 mult appear ridiculous ; for poets are not made 
 by mechanical rules : and k was ridiculed as long 
 ago as the times of old Ennius. 
 
 IJ Tile tute Tati tibi tinte wanne tulifti. 
 And by Shakefpeare in his Midfummer-Night*s 
 dream, Act. V. 
 " Whereat with ^/ade, with bloody /ameful 
 
 " He bravely roach'd his foiling bloody freaft. 
 
 1 3. noo'/*oic, eft cum verba omnia fimiliter incipiunt, ut, 
 
 o Tlte tute lati tibi tante tyranne tulifli. 
 Sofip. Charis. inltit. gram. L. IV. p. 251. nafoft s o, 
 cum verba fimiliter incipiunt, 
 
 Maclina multa mifiax minatur maxima muris. 
 
 Diomedes L. 2. 
 
 SECT.
 
 Se&. 13. on SHAKESPEARE. 255 
 
 SECT. XIII. 
 
 THERE are many blunders that creep 
 into books from a compendious manner 
 of writing ; and if this happen to be blotted, the 
 tranfcriber has a hard tafk to trace the author's 
 words. This feems to have occafion'd a very 
 extraordinary confufion in a pafTage in Othello. 
 But before I mention my emendation, I beg 
 leave to cite a mort ftory from the firft book of 
 the Ethiopian romance of Heliodorus. Thyamis, 
 an Aegyptian robber, fell in love with Chariclea i 
 flung with jealoufie, and defpairing to enjoy her 
 himfelf, he refolves to murder her : and think- 
 ing he had killed her, (but it happened to be 
 another,) he cries out, Alas poor maid^ tbefe are 
 the nuptial gifts I prefent tbee. This ftory is 
 alluded to in the Twelfth-Night, Aft V. Nor 
 did the ailufion efcape the notice of Mr. Theo- 
 bald. 
 
 " Duke. Why fhould I not, had I the heart to 
 
 " do't, 
 
 " Like the Egyptian thief \ at point of death 
 " Kill what I love ? A favage jealoufie 
 " That fometimes favours nobly. 
 And tliis fame ftory feems to me hinted at in 
 Othello, Act. V. where the Moor, fpeaking of 
 his favage jealoufie, adds, 
 
 "Of
 
 256 Critical Obferuations Book II. 
 
 " Of one whofe hand 
 
 " Like th' baft Egyptian, threw a pearl away 
 " Richer than all his tribe. 
 
 Now this exaclly agre-es with the romance. *Twas 
 Thyamis* own hand, and he too in a ftrong fit 
 of love and jealoufie, that committed this mur- 
 der. When Othello robbed Brabantio of his 
 daughter, the old man calls him in the begin- 
 ning of the play, 
 
 " Othou foul thief! 
 
 Thefe circumftances all croud into Othello's 
 mind to increafe his horror : for this reafon, as 
 well as for feveral others, with great propriety 
 he calls himfelf, the bafe Egyptian. 
 
 In Mr. Pope's edition 'tis 
 
 " Like the bafe Indian^ &c. 
 
 which he thus interprets : " In the firft edition it is 
 " Judian^ occafion'd probably by the word tribe 
 " juft after, but the common reading is better ; 
 " as the word tribe is applicable to any race of 
 " people, and the thought of an ignorant Indian's 
 " cafting away a pearl very natural in itfelf ; 
 " whereas to make fenfe of the other, we muft 
 " prefuppofe fome particular ftory of a Jew al- 
 " luded to, which is much lefs obvious." Mr. 
 Theobald in his edition has painly overthrown 
 i Mr.
 
 Seft. 13. on SHAKESPEARE. 257 
 
 Mr. Pope's explanation and reading, but whether 
 he has eftablilhed his own may be doubted j he 
 
 reads, 
 
 Like the bafe Judian, &c. 
 
 " i. e. (fays he) the bafe Jew Herod, who 
 " threw away fuch a jewel of a wife as Mari- 
 " amne." But firft of all there is no fuch word 
 as Judian, which muft certainly occafion a fufpi~ 
 cion of it's not being genuine. Again, if any 
 one will confider the hiftory of Mariamne from 
 Jofephus, he will find, 'tis very little applicable 
 to Defdemona's cafe. Mariamne had an aver- 
 fion to Herod, and always treated him with 
 fcorn and contempt ; me was publicly, tho* 
 falfely, accufed of an attempt to poifon him, 
 and accordingly put to death. In the prefent 
 circumftances, with which Othello is furrounded, 
 he would never apply Herod's cafe to himfelf : 
 he was a private murderer, Herod brought his 
 wife to public juftice , Defdemona was fond of 
 the moor, the Jewefs hated her hufband. On 
 the other hand, the ftory of the Egyptian thief 
 is very minutely applicable > and the verfes, cited 
 from the Twelfth Night, mew that our author 
 was pleafed with the allufion. It feems the cor- 
 ruption was owing to fome fort of ill-written, 
 abbreviation, that might be in the original, as 
 Egp att , and which could not eafily be underftood 
 by printer or player. 
 
 S From
 
 2 5 8 Critical Obfervatiom Book II. 
 
 From fuch like abbreviations arife no fmall 
 blunders in ancient books. In the Greek ma- 
 nufcripts we often find a*0pjr-, OpV, thus 
 abbreviated, A~ ? , 'A,. This abbreviation has 
 occafion'd fome confufion in many printed books. 
 As for example, in a difiertation of Maximus 
 Tyrius, T o Qtos x*7a nhoiruva, what Deity is 
 according to Plato. We find Plato is there called, 
 o u<pvoT<*7(g^ TWV ONTUN, the moft eloquent of 
 BEINGS. But o ftN, as ufed by Plato and his 
 followers, is a word of facred import, Truth, 
 Deity itfelfy that which really is Being, in con- 
 tradiftin&ion to ever-fleeting and changing mat- 
 ter. A Platonift therefore, enquiring what Deity 
 is, would never fay even of his mafter Plato, 
 o ev<pa>voT7- TWV ONTHN. It would be compli- 
 ment fufficient to fay, o cvcpwvoTa?- TWV ANUN 5 
 i. e. oivfycanw. There is very little difference 
 between ONTHN and ANHN, if it be confidered 
 how eafily the ftroke over oivav might be mif- 
 taken for a t by a tranfcriber : Plato 9 the mojl 
 eloquent of 'mortals? feems the compliment intend- 
 ed by Maximus Tyrius. 
 
 ANUN is changed into ATTHN in our prefent 
 printed copies of Marcus Antoninus, B. IV. f. 38. 
 T ii/ip0vix' ATTON fAT8 x. T. A. It mould 
 be T >jy. arm : i. e. wfyuTtew &#G\t7ft x. T. A. 
 
 In
 
 Seft. 14. on SHAKESPEARE. 
 
 In St. Matthew's gofpel, xxvii, 9. it has been 
 very rightly obferved, that the tranfcriber of 
 thisverfe miftook ZPIOT for IPIOT -, but as fome 
 MSS. are extant without either reading, I ftiould 
 print .it, .Tote tTTA^oiOtf TO p'jjSb <T* T*.aro<Jj'TX, 
 A>o7- x. T. A. So that 1^ or Z^ was a glofs, 
 and from the margin received into the text. 
 
 SECT. XIV. 
 
 IT is not at all furprifing that the perfons in 
 the drama Ihould be changed, either thro* 
 the blunders, or wrong judgment of the tran- 
 fcribers and players. 
 
 In the Tempeft, Aft I. 
 
 " Profpero. What is the time o* th* day ? 
 
 " Ariel. Paft the mid feafon. 
 
 " Profp. At leaft two glafles ; the time twixt 
 
 " fix and now 
 " Muft by us both be fpent mod precioufly. 
 
 Who can imagine that Profpero would afk a 
 queftion, and anfwer it himfelf? But a trifling 
 diftinclion will make all right. 
 
 " Prof. What is the time o'th' day? 
 " Ar. Paft the mid feafon, 
 " At leaft two glafles. 
 
 S 2 " Profp.
 
 26 o Critical Obfer nations Book II. 
 
 " Profp. The time twixt fix and now 
 ee Muft by us both be fpent moft precioufly. 
 
 In As you like it, Ad II. The Duke is fpeak- 
 ing of the happinefs of his retirement. 
 
 " And this our life, exempt from publick haunt, 
 " Finds tongues in trees, books in the running 
 
 " brooks, 
 
 " Sermons in ftones, and good in every thing : 
 " I would not change it. 
 
 " Am. Happy is your Grace, &c. 
 
 How much more in character is it for the Duke 
 to fay, " I would not change it," than for 
 Amiens ? 
 
 InK. Henry V. Aft IV. 
 
 K. Henry. But, hark, what new alarum is this 
 
 fame? 
 
 The French have reinforced their fcatter'd men. 
 Iben every foldier kill his prifoners. 
 Give the word through. 
 
 Enter Fluellen and Cower. 
 Flu. Kill the poyes and the luggage ! 'tis exprefslj 
 againft the law of arms, &c. 
 
 How fhould the King know the French had 
 reinforced their men ? It fhould thus be printed, 
 
 K. Henry. But, hark, what new alarum is this 
 fame ? 
 
 Enter
 
 Se<5h 15. on SHAKESPEARE. 261 
 
 Enter a Meffenger. 
 Meff. The French have reinforced their fcatter'd 
 
 men. 
 
 K. Hen. Then every foldier kill his prifoners : 
 Give the word through. [Exeunt. 
 
 In Antony and Cleopatra, Ad I. 
 
 " Cleopatra. Excellent falfhood ! 
 " Why did he marry Fulvia, and not love her ? 
 " I'll feem the fool, I am not. Antony 
 " Will be himfelf. 
 
 " Ant. But ftirr'd by Cleopatra. 
 " Now for the love of love, and his foft hours, 
 
 efe 
 
 I make no queftion but the author thus gave it, 
 
 " Cleo. Excellent fallhood ! 
 " Why did he marry Fulvia, and not love her ? 
 41 I'll feem the fool, I am not. Antony 
 " Will be himfelf, but ftirr'd by Cleopatra. [Aftde. 
 
 * Ant. Now for the love of love, and his foft 
 " hours, &c. 
 
 SECT. XV. 
 
 THERE are no ancient books now re- 
 maining, but what, more or lefs, have 
 fuffered from the ignorance of tranfcribers foift- 
 ing into the text fome marginal note, or glofs. 
 S 3 One
 
 262 Critical Obfer vat ions Book II. 
 
 One would have imagined, that printing mould 
 have put an end to thefe fort of blunders ; yet 
 Mr. Theobald has with great judgment difco- 
 vered a marginal direction, printed from the 
 prompter's books, in As you like it, A6t IV. 
 where a fong is inferted, 
 
 ' Then fmg him home, 
 
 [ " The rejlfoatt bear this burthen."} 
 
 This being written in the prompter's copy, by 
 way of direction to the players, the unattending 
 printer mixed them with the poet's own words. 
 
 Again, in Richard II. Aft III. 
 
 " Bol. Thanks, gentle uncle -, come, my lords, 
 
 " away, 
 
 " [Tofgbl with Glendower and bis complies] 
 " A while to work and after holiday. 
 
 The intermediate verfe he has rightly flung out 
 for the fame reafon. 
 
 In the Merry Wives of Windfor, Aft V. 
 
 " Mrs. Ford. Where is Nan now, and her 
 " troop of fairies, and the Welch devil Herne? 
 
 There was a plot carrying on againft Falftaff, 
 which was to be afted near Herne's oak, in 
 Windfor-Park. Mr. Theobald has printed, the 
 Welcb devil Evans. Thinking, Herns got into 
 
 the
 
 Sett. 15. on SHAKESPEARE. 263 
 
 the text by the inadvertent tranfcriber's calling 
 his eyes too haftily on the fucceding line, where 
 the word again occurs. But perhaps the occafion 
 of the blunder might be more accurately traced. 
 There was fome little machinery neceflary to be 
 furnifhed out in the acting of this plot, with 
 fairy dancing, &c. The management of this 
 was left to Mr. Herne, then belonging to the 
 houfe, who is mention'd by Johnfon in 
 his Mafque at Whitehall, February 2, 1609. 
 where fpeaking of the magical dances of the 
 witches, he fays, " All which were excellently 
 " imitated by the maker of the dance, M. 
 " Hierome Herne, whofe right it is here to be 
 <c named." In the prompter's copy therefore the 
 words feem to have been written after this manner, 
 
 Mrs. Ford. Where is Nan now, and her troop 
 of fairies, and the Welch Devil '? Herne. 
 
 i. e. Herne was to be called to order the fairy- 
 dance, and the machinery going forward. 
 
 I cannot think I have fpoken too perempto- 
 rily, in faying that there is no ancient book not 
 corrupted, more or lefs, with marginal notes 
 and gloffes, unwarily often admitted into the 
 text. For not even the facred fcriptures have 
 cfcaped thefe blemiihes. In Bentley's learned 
 letter to Mills may be feen an inftance how 
 84 a ' palTage
 
 264 Critical Objervations BookIL 
 
 a ' paflage in SL Paul's epiftle to the Galatians, 
 came hence to be corrupted. It would indeed 
 be very hard for authors to be anfwerable for their 
 tranfcribers : yet have the fcriptures been on 
 thefe very accounts abufed, to which abufe their 
 weak defenders have not a little contributed. 
 Among the corrupted paflages of this nature is 
 the following in St. Luke, chap. ii. 
 
 -rout 
 
 \_tujfvt tj ctn 
 
 Some one in the early ages of.Chriftianity (Tor 
 the error is of a long date) who had red Jofephus, 
 
 1. Ep. Galat. iv. 25. 
 
 2. 'Tis frequently mention'd in Roman authors that 
 Auguftus was very curious and exaft about a furvey of all 
 the dependant provinces of the empire. And this is not 
 improperly called by St. Luke 7ro/^(pfa6a. See Sueton. 
 in Oftav. c. 101. et c. 27. Dio Caflius, L. LVI. p. 591. 
 Tacit, an. 1. i . c. 1 1 . We know from Julian, in his Caefars, 
 thai Auguftus made the Danube and Euphrates the boun- 
 daries of the Roman empire, % ?s Ma, VKO TK Qvo-tus 
 VoJiJeaira, "ir^or xj Evf^cirr,! taolau^^ &EfC.r, faysAuguftus 
 himfelf. - Happy had it been for other emperors, if they 
 never had entertained ambitio.ift thoughts of extending their 
 victories beyond them. 
 
 but
 
 Seft. 15. on SHAKESPEARE. 265 
 
 but not attended to the chronology, wrote thefe 
 words, ounq n d-n^^o/i^n ar^Tj iytvtlo tjyspQ.vdjotllQ' 
 TMf 2ue/W Kv^v.*, in the margin of his copy, 
 which fome tranfcriber inferted into the text : and 
 the error was propagated from copy to copy, as 
 it feem'd to be a more accurate account, and to 
 point out the particular time. 'Tis ridiculous 
 enough to fee, how the commentators difagree 
 among themfelves, and how perplext they are 
 in their interpretations : never confidering the 
 perfpicuity of the Greek language ; and that 
 here particularly, from the adjacent words, the 
 conftruction and meaning is fo afcertain'd, that 
 the paffage will admit no other fenfe, than what 
 our tranflators, (men of no mean learning,) have 
 given it. " And this taxing was 3 firfl made 
 
 3. This is plain from the pofition of the words. But in 
 St. John, i. 15. isUTo<; [M, is firjl of me, i. e. before me, 
 for the conftru&ion is different. I cannot but here mention 
 that Milton has borrowed this phrafe from the Greeks. 
 B. Ill, 383- 
 
 Thee next they fung of all creation firfr, 
 
 Begotten Son. 
 
 firjl of all creation, i. e. before all worlds, begotten not 
 made. But if Milton didated, 
 
 Tbee next they fung of all creation firft- 
 Begotten Son. 
 
 Then he alludes to St. Paul's words, Colbff. i. 15. iifIoro- 
 
 X& C7V>K TIC-|W$. 
 
 ' when
 
 266 Critical Obfer nations Book II. 
 
 " when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.'* But 
 Cyrenius was not governor of Judea, 'rill it 
 became a Roman province and /Vrchelaus was 
 
 depofed. 
 
 The author of the Epiftle to the Hebrews, 
 fpeaking of the effects of faith, has thefe words, 
 chap. xi. it. 36, 37. *ETOI 
 pccstfen IIEIPAN EAABON, e & 
 
 tv, EIIEIPA20HZAN, i 
 x. T. A. And others HAD 
 -rtti ALL of cruel mac kings andfcoiirgings^ yea more- 
 over of bonds and imprifonment : they were ftoncd y 
 they were fawn afunder, WERE TEMPTED, were 
 Jlain with the fiwrd, &c. It has been very rightly 
 inquired, how came here among thefe punifh- 
 ments and torments, EnEIPA20H2AN. And 
 this enquiry has fet the critics a guefllng, to find 
 fome word, near the traces of the original, which 
 will tally with the fenfe. However I cannot but 
 think that ivMQgtrtiqrav was a marginal interpre- 
 tation of arv !Xoy, i. e. they were tempted to 
 forjake the faith : which the fcribe removed out 
 of it's proper place, among thofe verbs which 
 feem'd to be formed moft like it. After I had 
 made this correction, I found, upon a minuter 
 examination, the word omitted in fome ancient 
 copies. 
 
 When lately a certain gentleman who had 
 more ingenuity than truth on his fide, putting 
 
 on
 
 Sed. 15. on SHAKESPEARE. 267 
 
 on the mafk of a Jew, began to call in queftion 
 the application of fome prophecies in the Gofpel, 
 the propereft anfwerer had been Dr. Bentley , 
 who forc'd this fophift once before to quit the 
 critical ftage. But the Dr. piqued at what he 
 thought the negleft of his merit, left all theolo- 
 gical controverfies, and even ordered his half- 
 finifhed Remarks to be broken off in the middle 
 of a fentence. Had our critic taken in hand this 
 perfonated Hebrew, how finely would he have 
 mingled his fcience of antiquity with his fkill in 
 languages ? How well would he have known what 
 to defend, how far, and where to flop ? 
 
 ITT) iJjf 
 
 x. tASwv 
 
 Thus far the evangelift. Then comes a ca- 
 baliflical annotator, and in imitation of the reft 
 of the prophecies, adds, in a marginal note, 
 the following words, 
 
 But where is it faid that the Mefiiah mould be 
 called a Nazarene ? Muft not a poor pun, or 
 
 play
 
 268 Critical Obfervations Book II. 
 
 play upon a word be forced on us, even to give 
 a diftant hint of fuch an 4 appellation ; a quibble, 
 in this place, unworthy the gravity of an evan- 
 gelift ? And to wire-draw what is faid of s Samp- 
 Ion into a prediction of the Meffiah's being born 
 at Nazareth, is the laft effort of commentators 
 driven to their utmoft fhifts. 
 
 Non tali auxiliff, non defenforibus iftis 
 Tempus eget. 
 
 Sometimes authors add interpretations of dif- 
 ficult words for the fake of perfpicuity, and 
 thefe we find in Cicero, Caefar, and the correcteft 
 writers. Nor are the following any other glofles, 
 but what were added by the evangelift himfelf. 
 Mark vii, 2. Kovo<f #"' TT' t$n avfaloif. 
 Xli, A2. tioseAE AsTrla Ju'o, o i?t xo^^'v7>)f. xiv, 36. 
 arolj'^. XV, 42. E5T ^v zsct^offfy.^^ o If* 
 
 But it is objected, that we muft take all the 
 fcripture together juft as we find it. What, 
 writers for hire, and ignorant fcribes to be placed 
 in equal regard and authority with the evangelifts! 
 Weak and wicked as this objection is, yet I have 
 heard it from foolim friends, as well as evil- 
 minded enemies. Thefe marginal notes carry 
 with them no air of fraud or ill defign -, they 
 are fuch as moft critics fcribble in their books, 
 
 4. Ifaiah xi. i. 5. Judg. xiii. 5. 
 
 and
 
 Sed. 15. on SHAKESPEARE. 269 
 
 and which printing generally hinders from being 
 ingrafted into the body of the original work. 
 However even the invention of printing has not 
 kept them from getting into Shakefpeare. 
 
 I don't fee, without recurring to the above- 
 mention'd expediency of emendation, what to- 
 lerable fenfe can be made of the following paflage 
 in Julian's Caefars, which I will cite from the folio 
 edition of Spanheim. p. 310. T 
 
 cc^en dvl) rS A^oc-Sjuij?, jcoAflOcdUri* JJJflsv * 
 <r* srpos TO* 
 
 Claudia 
 
 introeunte^Silenus principium ccmoediaeAriftophanis y 
 quae equites infcribitur, canere incepit, kco Demofte- 
 nis, fcilicet ipji Claudia gratificans. Deinde converfus 
 ad gtutrinum, Injurius es, inquit, o ^uirine^ qui 
 hunc tuum nepotem in hoc convivium, inducas fine 
 libertis NarciJJo & Pallante. 'Tis not eafy to 
 find the tranflator's meaning, KoAx<5Cw> o^g T 
 KA<5ty'<Tov, fcilicet ipfi Qaudio gratificans - y it feems 
 as if he meant ironically, making as if he would 
 flatter him, but really ridiculing him: fuppofing 
 the Greek would admit this interpretation, how 
 heavily comes in, civil AJJJU*?. Befide Silenus 
 is faid to recite the words of Ariftophanes, or 
 rather as the 6 original word fignifies, to recite 
 6. daur, cantare, the proper word for the tragedian ; as 
 faltare, for the comedian 
 
 i them
 
 270 Critical Obfervations Book It. 
 
 them with a tragic voice and accent, to make the 
 ridicule appear ftill the ftronger. But where are 
 the verfes of Ariftophane^ ? In other places we 
 have the citations themfelves , and indeed one 
 piece of wit, that runs thro* this treatife, confifts 
 in the parodies, In a word, I mould make no 
 fcruple of altering after the following manner, 
 
 T* 
 
 Tiff Ae/904>flW?f \7I7rias 
 
 T vw'rij7ov 
 
 ol 
 
 of T 
 
 X. 7. T 
 
 Some one had written in the margin of his book, 
 #'vTi T A>j|wsf KoAocxdO'oiv J^S-EV T KAw^ov, this heavy 
 interpretation was admitted, and, to make room 
 for it, the tranfcriber removed thofe well applied 
 verfes of Ariftophanes. The meaning of which 
 the reader will underftand, if he turns to a fati- 
 rical treatife of Seneca written to ridicule Clau- 
 dius and to flatter Nero -, but not to be compared 
 in philofophical wit and humour to this fatyr of 
 Julian. 
 
 Indeed
 
 15. on SHAKESPEARE. 271 
 
 Indeed when thefe glofies are abfolutely falfe, 
 or very ridiculous, 'tis eafy to difcover them. 
 So in Plato's laws, L. I. p. 630. edit Steph. 
 
 TWV iv 2<xeAu* Me/a^v,] os Qnci. x. T. A. 
 
 Now this glofs is not true, for Theognis was of 
 Megara in Attica, not Sicily , as is too well 
 known to need any proof. And therefore with- 
 out further ceremony, this glofs might be re- 
 proved. 
 
 In Cicero, de nat. D. I, 34. 
 
 Zeno quidem non eos folum^ qui turn erant fed 
 Socratem ipfum, parentem pbilofophiae^ [Latino 
 verbo utens] SCURRAM Ailicum fuiffe dicebat. 
 
 As the falfehood difcover'd the glofs in Plato, fo 
 the ridiculoufnefs mews it here. 
 
 There are other kind of glofles, being verbal 
 interpretations of the more obfolete and difficult 
 words, which have been taken into the text, to 
 the utter extirpation of the old pofleflbrs. The 
 Ionic dialed in Herodotus, the Attic in Plato, 
 the Doric in Theocritus, are changed oftentimes 
 into the more ordinary ways of writing and 
 fpeaking. The true readings therefore of ancient 
 books can never be retrieved without the affiftance 
 of manufcriptSr If our modern Homers had
 
 272 Critical Qbfervatiom Book IL 
 
 0, inftead of M? & 0s. And, 
 srgeeTn^*, inftead of 4/u^otf Atfi 
 I don't fee without the citations of 
 the ancients, or without the aid of old copies, 
 how we fhould ever be able to retrieve the origi- 
 nal words ; but muft have been contented with 
 the interpretation of a fcholiaft. Nay perhaps 
 half the readers of Homer would have liked the 
 one as well as the other. 
 
 But what mall we fay if Shakefpeare's words 
 have been thus altered ? If the original has been 
 removed to make room for the glofs ? How 
 fhall our author be reftored Co his priftine ftate, 
 but by having recourfe to the oldeft books, and 
 efteeming thefe alone of weight and authority ? 
 A fhort fpecimen of thefe gloffes, which might 
 be greatly inlarged, is as follows, Hamlet Act I. 
 the fwaggering upfpring reels : Glofs, upftart. 
 Act II. Tbcycutbyou breath of: Glofs, fpeak of t 
 Othello, Act I. 1 take this , that you call lew to 
 le a feet or fyen: Glofs, ajlip or fey on. Act IIL 
 A Sybill that bad numbered in the world The fun to 
 courfe two hundred compares : Glofs, of tbe fun's 
 courfe. Macbeth, Act I. which fate and meta- 
 phyfical aid: Glofs, Metapbyfic. Ad II. For 
 far thy very Jtones prati of my wherc-about : 
 Glofs, of thin we're about. Julius Caefar, Aft JI. 
 Ligarius doth bear Caefar hard : Glofs, bear 
 be bad. Antony and Cleopatra. Act IV.
 
 Se&. 1 6. on SHAKESPEARE. 273 
 
 72* band of death has raught him : Glofs, caught 
 him. 
 
 This may be fufficient to fhew how, in a mo- 
 dern book, the fcholiaft has routed the author 
 of his ancient poffeflion. Thefe errors are of the 
 word kind j they have a refemblance of truth 
 without being the thing itfelf, and muft necefia- 
 rily impofe on all, but the true critic, who will 
 be at the trouble of going to the firft exemplars. 
 
 SECT. XVI. 
 
 BU T there are greater alterations, than any 
 yet mention'd, ftill to be made. For the 
 whole play intitled Titus Andronicus mould be 
 flung out the lift of Shakefpeare's works. What 
 tho* a purple patch might here and there ap- 
 pear, is that fufficient reafon to make our poet's 
 name father this, or other anonymous producti- 
 ons of the ftage ? But Mr. Theobald has put the 
 matter out of all queftion j for he informs us* 
 " that Ben Johnfon in the induction to his 
 " Bartlemew-Fair (which made its firft appear- 
 " ance in the year 1614} couples ' leronimo and 
 
 " Andronicus 
 
 i . Hieronymo, or the Spanifh Tragedy. This play was 
 
 the conftant objeft of ridicule in Shakefpeare's time. See 
 
 Mr. Theobald's note, vol. 2. p. 271, 272. B. Jonf. 
 
 T Every
 
 274 Critical Obferuatiom Book II. 
 
 " Andronicus together in reputation, and fpeaks 
 of them as plays then of 25 or 30 years ftand- 
 >' ing. Confequently Andronicus muft have 
 " been on the ftage, before Shakefpeare left 
 " Warwickfhire to come and refide in London." 
 So that we have all the evidence, both internal 
 and external, to vindicate our poet from this 
 baftard ifiue j nor mould his editors have printed 
 it among his genuine works. There are not 
 fuch ftrong external reafons for rejecting two 
 other plays, called Love*s Labour's loft, and 
 the Two Gentlemen of Verona : but if any proof 
 can be formed from manner and ftyle, then 
 
 Every Man in his Humour, Aft I. fc. 5. What nen.u book 
 ha you there? W*hat ! Go by Hieroxjmo ! Cynthia's Revels> 
 in the indu&ion. Another prunes his mujiaccio, lifps and 
 fiuears That the old Hieronimo (as it ijJbs firjl afied) was 
 the only be/I and jadicioujly pen* d play of Europe. Alchymift, 
 Adi V. Subt. Here's your Hieronymo's cloake and hat. Yet 
 how much this play was dleemed among many, will appear 
 by the following ftory : " A young gentlewoman within 
 " thefe few yeares, who being accuitomed in her health 
 " every day to fee one play or other, was at laft ftrucke 
 " with a grievous ficknefie even unto death : during which 
 " time of her fickneiie being exhorted by fuch Divines as 
 " were there prefent to cll upon God, that hee would in 
 " mercy look upon her, as one deafe to their exhortation 
 " continued ever crying, Oh HieroKjrtu, tiieronymo t methinks 
 " I fee the, brave Hieronymo! " Briithwait's Englifh 
 Gentleman, p. 19-. 
 
 fhould
 
 Sect. 16. on SHAKESPEARE, 275 
 
 Ihould thefe be fent packing, and feek For their 
 parent elfewhere. How otherwife does the pain- 
 ter diftinguilh copies from originals ? And have 
 not authors their peculiar flyle and manner, from 
 which a true critic can form as unerring a judg- 
 ment as a painter ? External proofs leave no room 
 for doubt. I dare fay there is not any one fcho- 
 lar, that now believes Phalaris* epiflles to be ge- 
 nuine. But what if there had been no external 
 proofs, if the fophift had been a more able chro- 
 nologer, would the work have been more ge- 
 nuine ? Hardly, I believe ; tho' the fcholar of 
 taft had been equally fatisfied. The beft of cri- 
 tics might be impofed on as to half a dozen 
 verfes, or fo, as * Scaliger himfelf was, but never 
 as to a whole piece : in this refpect the critic 
 and the connoiffeur are upon a level. 
 
 That 
 
 2. Scaliger's cafe was this; Muretus, having translated 
 fome verfes from Philemon, fent them in a jocular vein to 
 Scaliger, telling him at the fame time they were a choice 
 fragment of Trabeas, an ancient comic poet : and Scaliger 
 in his commentary on Varro (p. 212.) cites them as Tra* 
 beas 1 own, and as found in fomc old manufcript. Th 
 verfes are ingenious and worth mentioning, 
 
 Here , fe querelis, eju/atu, fietibus, 
 Medicina feret tniftriis mortalium, 
 Aitro parantiae lacrimae contra farent. 
 Nunc hate ad minutnda mala non magis va/inf, 
 
 T Summ
 
 276 Critical Obfcrvation* Book II. 
 
 That Anacreon was deftroyed by the Greek 
 priefts we have the teftimony of a learned Gre- 
 cian, and this poet is mention'd as a loft author 
 by J Petrus Alcyonius : fo that we have nothing 
 now remaining of Anacreon's, but fome frag- 
 ments, quite of a different caft and manner from 
 thofe modern compofitions, fo much admired by 
 minute fcholars. 
 
 ^uam nenia fraeficae ad excitandas mortuos. 
 Res turbidae conjilium, uon Jletumexpctunt. 
 
 Philemon's verfes want fomc little corre&ion, and thus, as 
 I think, they Ihould be red, 
 
 Ei to, oaxft/ jjftZy tut xuHuv 
 'Ati S' 
 
 Ni;r y a 'ETgoai^u ra w^ajftar', vS" * 
 EJf rctvra, Siffvor', AX Tr) aJrijn o 
 'Ea' TI xXair?, a' TI /xr), <sro^V<r/Iat. 
 T wr wXso ootaf*r ; tSw. >j Xvw?} 
 "E^JEt yaf, <!We ^ir^p* xa^7ro>, ra 
 
 3. See what is cited from him above, p. 34, 35^ n. 
 Several other proofs may be added ; ^ Od. XXXI. 
 
 X' o Xti/*7r8{ O/;'r};. 
 
 o XvxcVs Ofi'ri?, >^^ white-footed Oreftes : i. e. treading 
 the ftage in white bufldns. TJie mentioning the name of 
 Oreftes puts the poets in mind of the ftage : fo Virgil, 
 Scenis agitattu Qrejles* 
 
 If
 
 Sed:. 1 6. on SHAKESPEARE. 277 
 
 *A?f &*S 
 
 X. T. A. 
 
 *<>? S-OT* Iv 
 
 T. A. 
 
 Imitated, much for the worfe, from the 
 of Theocritus. 
 
 <? 
 
 If .Virgil did not rather write />/. But it happens 
 very unluckily, that Sophocles had no play afled fo early as 
 Anacreon's writing his odes, and Sophocles was the inven- 
 ter of the white fhoe; as the compiler of his life informs 
 us. So that here is an additional proof of this ode's not 
 being genuine. I fuppofe Sophocles' white (hoe was what 
 Shakefpeare in Hamlet, Aft III. calls rayc d Jboes : i.e. 
 with rays of fylver, or tinfel. Homer's epithet of Thetis, 
 is K^V^TTS^X, which Milton hints at in his Mafe, 
 
 By Tfatis tinfel-JIippeSdfeet. 
 
 T 3 u A rnaa
 
 278 Critical Obfervations Book II. 
 
 " A man may rime you fo (as the clown fays 
 " in Shakefpeare) eight years together, dinners 
 " and fuppers and deeping hours excepted : 'tis 
 " the right butterwomen's rank to market." 
 
 Tho* a few lines may pafs often unfufpe&ed, 
 as thofe of Muretus's did with Scaliger , yet when 
 they happen to be inferted into the body of a 
 work, and when their very features betray their 
 baftardy, one may venture not only to mark 
 them for not being genuine, but entirely to re- 
 move them. In K. Henry the fifth, there is a 
 fcene between Katharine and an old woman, 
 where Mr. Pope has this remark, " I have left 
 *' this ridiculous fcene as I found it , and am 
 tl forry to have no colour left, from any of the 
 * c editions, to imagine it interpolated." But with 
 much lefs colour Mr. Pope has made many grea- 
 ter alterations ; and this fcene is rightly omitted 
 in the late elegant edition printed at Oxford. 
 But 'tis a hard matter to fix bounds to criticifm. 
 
 However I will venture to make one afiay on 
 a pafTage of Horace, which has flood unmolefled 
 many ages. The poet, after dedicating his 
 works to his patron Maecenas, addrefies in a 
 flattering ode the emperor. The fubject is grave, 
 and treated accordingly both with dignity and 
 gravity. The prodigies, he fays, which hap- 
 c pen'd at the death of Caefar feem'd to be fore- 
 runners'
 
 Sect. 1 6. on SHAKESPEARE;, 279 
 runners of no lefs evils thanthofe which threatned 
 the world in the times of Deucalion : 
 
 " Omne cum Proteus pecus egit altos 
 " Vifere montes. 
 
 Horace knew where to leave off, which is a 
 difficult matter for a lefs cultivated genius. Had 
 the poet a defign to burlefque Deucalion's flood, 
 he could not do it more effectually than by the 
 choice of fuch trivial circumftances as follow, 
 
 ' Pifcium et fumma genus haefit ulmo, 
 " Nota quae fedes fuerat columbis : 
 " Et fuperjecto pavidae natarunt 
 " Aequore damae. 
 
 The fifhes were caught intangled on the boughs of 
 high elm^ the ufeial habitations of doves (but rather 
 of crows and mag-pies, &c.J and the fearful hinds 
 foam in the fea : what is fuperjcflo ? covering the 
 face of the earth^ the commentators tell us : but 
 here, covering the backs of the hinds. But a more 
 trifling ftanza I never red , and the author, fome 
 monk or other, made it out of the following 
 verfes of Ovid Met. I. 
 
 w Sylvafque tenent delphines, et aids 
 " Incurfant ramis, agitataque robora pulfant : 
 '' Nat lupus inter oves, &c. 
 
 T * Th*
 
 2 o Critical QbJeroMlons Book II. 
 
 The monk having murdered Ovid> and rifled 
 his luxuriant thoughts, placed them in the mar- 
 gin of his Horace ; and the corruption, once 
 made, was foon propagated. But how well do 
 the verfes run without this ridiculous patch ? 
 
 " Jam fatis terris nivis atque dirae 
 " Grandinis mifit Pater ; et rubente 
 " Dextera facras jaculatus arces 
 
 " Terruit Urbem : 
 " Terruit gentes -, grave ne rediret 
 ** Seculum Pyrrhae nova monftra quaeftae, 
 " Omne quum Proteus pecus egit altos 
 
 " Vifere montes. 
 
 " Vidimus flavum Tiberim, retortis 
 " Litore Etrufco, &c. &c. 
 
 Ovid himfelf has fuffered much by thefe monkilK 
 interpolations and additions, nor has even Virgil 
 efcaped them. The players have in fome places 
 interpolated Shakefpeare , and thefe interpola- 
 tions, with other faults of his tranfcribers, are 
 with great caution to be taken away ; but if 
 every critic will have a pull at him, and if this is 
 left to meer unreftrained will and fancy, we may, 
 in time, be in danger of lofmg the original itfelf ; 
 and the following fable may be but tpo juftly ap- 
 ply'd to our critics. 
 
 Once upon a time a middle-aged man had 
 ^courage to marry two wives together, the one 
 
 young,
 
 Sett. 16. on SHAKESPEARE. 281 
 
 young, the other advanc'd in years. They were 
 both great admirers of their hu (band, and no little 
 admirers of themfelves and their own dexterity : 
 The hufband, a good-natur'd man, left himfelf 
 to be drefifed and comb'd by thefe two women, 
 who ambitioufly ftrove, each of them, to make 
 him as much as poflible like themfelves. The 
 elder lady thought nothing fo becoming as grey 
 hairs, which fhe term'd filver hairs, all which fhe 
 was very careful to preferve, but the black hairs 
 me plucked out by handfuls. On the other hand, 
 the young lady, thinking an old man the moft 
 unhappy thing that could befal her, was refolved 
 the world mould think fhe had married a young 
 hufband , with this view therefore fhe comb'd 
 her hufband's head, and on her part, pulled out 
 all the grey hairs me could find. But the unfor- 
 tunate hufband, too late, found the ill effects of 
 trtifting thefc CORRECTORS ; for by their means 
 he foon became almoft entirely bald. 
 
 BOOK
 
 282 Critical Observations Book III. 
 
 BOOK III. 
 
 'HEN one confiders the various tribes 
 of rhetoricians, grammarians, ety- 
 mologifts, &c. &c. of ancient Greece : 
 and here find the wifeft and beft of * philofophers 
 inculcating grammatical niceties to his fcholars j 
 not fo foreign to his grand defign of bettering 
 mankind, as we now perhaps may imagine : when 
 again we confider that the Romans followed the 
 Grecian fteps -, and here fee a Scipio and Laelius 
 joining with an African (lave in polifhing the 
 Latin language, and tranflating the politeft of 
 the Attic authors ; and fome time after read of 
 z Cicero himfelf, that he, when his country was 
 diffracted with civil commotions, mould trouble 
 his head with fuch pedantic accuracies, as whether 
 he Ihould write ad Piraeea^ Piraeeum^ or in 
 Piraeeum. When, I fay, all this is confidered, 
 and then turn our eyes home-ward, and behold 
 every thing the reverfe i can we wonder that the 
 ancients mould have a polite language, and that 
 we fliould hardly emerge out ot our priftine and 
 Gothic barbarity ? 
 
 i. See Plato inCrityl and Xen. eV.f*. L. III. c. 13. and 
 L. IV. c. 6. 
 
 --. Cicer. in Epifl ad Att. VII. 3. - 
 
 Amongft
 
 on SHAKESPEARE. 283 
 
 Amongft many other things we want a good 
 grammar and dictionary : we muft know what 
 is proper, before we can know what is elegant 
 and polite : by the ufe of thefe, the meaning of 
 words might be fixed, the Proteus-nature, if 
 poffible, of ever-iriifting language might in fome 
 meafure be afcertained, and vague phrafes and 
 ambiguous fentences brought under fome rule 
 and regulation. But a piece of idle wit mall 
 laugh all fuch learning out of doors : and the no- 
 tion of being thought a dull and pedantic fellow, 
 has made many a man continue a blockhead all 
 his life. Neither words nor grammar are fuch 
 arbitrary and whimfical things, as fome imagine: 
 and for my own part, as I have been taught from 
 other kind of philofophe'rs, fo I believe, that 
 right and wrong, in the minuteft fubjects, have 
 their ftandard in nature, not in whim, caprice or 
 arbitrary will : fo that if our grammarian or 
 lexicographer, mould by chance be a difciple 
 of modern philofophy ; mould he glean from 
 France and the court his refinements of our 
 tongue, he would render the whole affair, bad 
 as it is, much worfe by his ill management. 
 No one can write without fome kind of rules : 
 and for want of rules of authority, many learned 
 men have drawn them up for themfelves. Ben 
 Johnfon printed his Englifh Grammar. If 
 v $hakefpeare a pd Milton never puhlilhed their 
 
 rules,
 
 Critical Obfervations Book III. 
 
 rules, yet they are not difficult to be traced from 
 a more accurate consideration of their writings. 
 Milton's rules I mail omit at prefent ; but fome 
 of Shakefpeare's, which favour of peculiarity, 
 I mall here mention : becaufe when thefe are 
 known, we mall be lefs liable to give a loofe to 
 fancy, in indulging the licentious fpirit of criti- 
 cifm ; nor mail we then fo much prefume to 
 judge what Shakefpeare ought to have written, as 
 endeavour to difcover and retrieve what he did 
 write. 
 
 RULE I. 
 
 &ljafcefpeate alters proper names according 
 to tlje (Sngliflj pronunciation. 
 
 Concerning this liberty of altering proper names, 
 Milton thus apologizes in Smectymnuus, " If 
 " in dealing with an out-landifh name, they 
 " thought it beft not to fcrew the Englifh mouth 
 " to a harfh foreign termination, fo they kept 
 " the radical word, they did no more than the 
 " elegant authors among the Greeks, Romans, 
 " and at this day the Italians in fcorn of fuch a 
 " fervility ufe to do. Remember how they 
 " mangle our Britifh names abroad ; what tref- 
 " pafs were it if we in requital ihould as much 
 " neglect theirs ? And our learned Chaucer did 
 " not flick to do fo ? writing Scmyramus for
 
 lil : . CM SHAKESPEARE. 285, 
 
 " Semiramis^ Ampbiorax for dmpbiaraus, K. Betes 
 " for K. Cyx the hulband of Alcyone, with many 
 " other names ftrangely metamorphis*d from 
 " true orthography, if he had made any account 
 " of that in thefe kind of words.'* Milton's 
 obfervatiori is exceeding true -, and to this affecta- 
 tion of the Romans is owing the difficulty of 
 antiquarians tracing the original names and places. 
 Our Cafwell, Bowdicb and Cotes, in a Roman 
 mouth are Cqflivellanus, Boadicia and Cotifo. The 
 Portus Itius mention'd in Caefar was a port below 
 Calais called * Vitfan or Whitfan. The old Ger- 
 man words Qlat 8te ; i. e. fat or fruitful earth, 
 the Romans called Batavia. When the north- 
 eaft part of Scotland was pronounced by the 
 natives Cai Dim, i. e. a hill of hazel, the Ro- 
 mans foon gave it their Latin termination, and 
 called it Caledonia. Many other names of places 
 our antiquarians and etymologifts eafily trace, if 
 they can get but the radical word. This rule 
 then is univerally true, that all nations make 
 foreign words fubmit to their manner of pronun- 
 ciation. However our Shakefpeare does not 
 abufe proper names like Chaucer or Spencer, 
 tho' he has elegantly fuited many of them to thi 
 Englifh mouth. 
 
 In his Midfummer-Night's Dream, Act II. 
 he hints at a ftory told by Plutarch in the life of 
 
 2 Caniden's Brit. p. 254. 
 
 Thefeus,
 
 286 Critical Qbf equations Book III. 
 Thefeus, of one ntg/yxw, daughter of the famous 
 robber Sinis, whom Thefeus flew: he true 
 hero-like, killed the father and then debauched 
 the daughter. Her he calls very poetically 
 Perigenia. 
 
 Cleopatra had a fon by Julius Caefar, whom 
 Plutarch tells us was called Kaao-ag/'av, Shakefpeare 
 in Antony and Cleopatra very properly writes it 
 Ceferic, not Cefarion : n\diuv y does not make in 
 Latin or Englifh Platan, but Plato. And J Prif- 
 cian the Grammarian obferves that the Latins 
 .omit the n at the latter end of proper names. 
 So * Cicero in his Tufculan difputations : Hinc 
 ilk Agamemno Homcricus. And Virgil. Aen. 
 VIII, 603. 
 
 " Haud procul hinc Tarcbo, et Tyrrheni tuta 
 " tenebant. 
 
 From whence Aen. X, 290. Inftead of 
 
 " Speculatus litora Tarcbon, 
 
 we muft write larcbo. 
 
 The Jews name in the Merchant of Venice 
 Scialac, he makes. Englilh and calls Sbylock. 
 In Romeo and Juliet, Mcntecchi and Capello, are 
 Montague and Capukt. And Amleth^ he writes 
 Hamlet \ and Cunobeline or Kymbeline^ he calls 
 Gywbeline. 
 
 3. Prifc. 1. 6, p. 690. 4. Cic. Tufc. difp. Ill, 26. 
 
 Macbeth's
 
 on SHAKESPEARE. 287 
 
 Macbeth's father is varioufly written in the 
 Scotifh chronicles. Macbeth fil. Findleg : Innes 
 of Scotland p. 791. Macbeth Mac~Fin!eg : Ibid, 
 p. 803. Machabcus Filius Finele : Johan. de Fordin 
 Scot. L. IV. c. 44. Salve, Maccabaee Thane Glam- 
 mis , nam eum magiftratum defuntto paulo ante 
 patre Synele acceperat. Hector Boeth. Scot. hift. 
 L.XII. 
 
 Sinell thane of Gammis : Holinfli. p. 168. 
 " By SineFs death, I know, I'm thane of Glamis. 
 So our author, in Macbeth, Act I. 
 
 In Cicero's offices B. II. c. ix. is the following 
 paflage, Itaque proptcr aequabilem praedae partitio- 
 nem, et BARGULUS ILLYRIUS LATRO, de quo eft 
 apud Tbeopcmpum, magnas opes habuit. Thus the 
 editions in Shakefpeare's time -, and thus I found 
 it in two manufcripts. In the fecond part of 
 K. Henry VI. Aft IV. Suffolk fays, 
 
 " This villain here, 
 
 " Being captain of a pinnance, threatens more 
 " Than Bargulus thejtrong Illyrian pirate. 
 
 In fome later editions 'tis printed in Cicero, 
 Bardylis Illyrius latro. For my own part, I really 
 imagine that Cicero gave this lilyrian name -a 
 Roman pronunciation and turn : but why the 
 editors of Cicero print it Bardylis^ I don't know; 
 Plutarch in the life of Pyrrhus writes it B'^wAA<f. 
 
 In
 
 288 Critical Obfervations Book III. 
 
 In Coriolanus, Shakefpeare has not kept 
 ftrictly to the orthography of Plutarch, whom 
 he chiefly follows in this hiftory. Plytarch, 
 XuuVw^ BlAA*?-. Shakefpeare, Sicinius Velutus. 
 Plut. OuipyiAia. Shak. Virgilia : other hiftorians 
 fay, Volumnia was wife of Coriolanus, whom 
 Plutarch calls his mother. 
 
 In Julius Caefar, he has fome variations in 
 proper names : Plutarch, M'^UAA@-. Shake- 
 ipeare, Murellus : And Decimus Brutus Albinus, 
 he calls Decius Brutus. Plut. 0V-, viz. an 
 ifland near Philippi : Shak. Tbarfus. Plut. 
 &aitatv&. Shak. Dardanius. 
 
 In Antony and Cleopatra. Plut. As^xsku-. 
 Shak. Dercetas. 
 
 The late Lord Shaftefbury, in his * Advice 
 to an Author, fell into a miftake concerning the 
 name of the unfortunate Defdemona : " But why 
 ** (fays he) amongil his Greek names, he mould 
 " have chofen one which denoted the Lady fu- 
 *' perjliticus, I can't imagine : unlefs, &c." Her 
 name is not derived from buffdoupuv, but Au<r- 
 Soupuv : i. e. THE UNFORTUNATE i and Giraldi 
 Cinthio, in his novels, making the word femi- 
 nine, calls her Difdemona^ from whom Shakefpeare 
 took the name and ftory. 
 
 Thus 
 
 5. Charaa. vol. I. p. 348. 
 
 i. Novella VII. Dec* terza. Aijetie, cbe una virtuo/a
 
 on SHAKESPEARE.' 289 
 
 Thus the reader may fee with what elegance, 
 as well as learning, Shakefpeare familiarizes 
 ftrange names to our tongue and pronunciation. 
 
 RULE II. 
 
 $e makes lUtin toorDs Cnsltffj, and ufcs 
 t!)cm according to tljctc original ioiom ana iafi* 
 
 In Hamlet, Act I. Horatio is fpeaking of the 
 prodigies, which happened before Caefar's death, 
 
 " As harbingers preceding ftill the fates 
 " And prologue to the l omen coming on. 
 
 The omen coming <?, i. e. the event, which hap- 
 pened in confequence of the omens. In the 
 very fame manner Virgil, Aen. I, 349. 
 
 Dona, <//' maraiiigliofa bellezza, Dlfdfmona chiamata, &c.' 
 He calls her afterwards, in allufion to her name, la infelice 
 DifJemona. And I make no queftion but Othello in his 
 r apturous admiration, with fome allufion to hcf name, 
 exclaims, in Aft 1 1 1. 
 
 " Excellent luretcb! perdition catch my foul, 
 " But I do love thee - 
 
 The ancient tragedians are full of thefe allufions ; fome in- 
 ftances I have mention'd above, p. 247. 
 
 I. They re id, tie cmeiid. 
 
 U Cui
 
 290 Critical Obfervations Book III. 
 
 " Cui pater inta&am de(&rat,;primifque jugdret 
 " O mini bus. 
 
 Ominibus, i. e. nuptils : viz. the event which was 
 the confequence of the omens. 
 
 In the Taming of a Shrew, A<51 1. 
 
 " Sir, I mail not be flack, in fign whereof, 
 *' Pleafe you, we may * contrive this afternoon ; 
 " And quaff caroufes to our miftrefs' health. 
 
 Contrive this afternoon, i. e. fpend this afternoon 
 together. Terence has, coniri'vi diem. Thence 
 'tis made Englilh, and fo ufed by Spencer in 
 his Fairy Queen, B. II. c. 9, ft. 48, 
 
 " Nor that fage Pylian fire, which did furvive 
 " Three ages, fuch as mortal men contrive. 
 
 Contrive, i. e. fpend. 
 
 In K. Richard II. Adi. 
 
 " Or any other ground ? inhabitable, 
 
 " Where never Englifhman durft fet his foot. 
 
 Inhabitable, Lat. inhabitabilis, that cannot be in- 
 habited. Cicero de Nat. Deor. I. Regiones in 
 habitabiles et incultae. 
 
 2. They have correfted, convive. 
 
 3. In the late editions, unhabitable. 
 
 In
 
 071 SHAKESPEARE. 29 I 
 
 In Othello, Aft IV. 
 
 ** If I court more wbmen, you'll touch with more 
 " men. 
 
 In the fame naught fenfe Propertius II, 25. 
 " Lynceu, tune meam potuifti taxgere curam ? 
 
 Epiftetus in Enchirid. xxxiii. ITeg/ 
 
 jv ar^o ^'tt x0#?u?ov AriTOMENUI Je, wj 
 es-t fc7*A.jj7r7flv. Mr. Theobald's edition 
 reads, C0<:# w///& w<rr^ OT^W. In Meafure for 
 Meafure, A6t III. In the fame fenfe we have 
 their beaftly touches. And in Antony and 
 Cleopatra, Ad III. 'The neer-touctfd vejlal So 
 Horace calls Pallas, L. I. Od. 7. Intaffa. 
 
 In Othello, Ad III. 
 
 " But in a man that's juft, 
 44 They're cold dilations^working from the heart, 
 " That paflion cannot rule. 
 
 Dilations,, a Lat. dilationes, delayings, paufes, a 
 differendo. .But in Aft I. That 1 would all my 
 pilgrimage dilate, i. e. a dilatando^ enlarge upon, 
 exfpatiate, &c. 
 
 In K. Lear, Aft II. 
 " I tax not you, you elements 
 " You owe me no ftbfcription. 
 
 is a writing underneath, a rcgiftcring 
 ur names fo as to rake part in any caufe, fuit 
 U 2 or
 
 292 Critical Observations Book III. 
 
 or fervice. Hence it fignifies, allegiance, fub- 
 mifiion, &c. And the verb fubfcribere is not 
 only to write under, but to aid and help, to abet 
 and approve, &c. 
 
 OvidTrift. L.I. El. ii. 
 " Dii maris et caeli (quid enim nifi vota fuper- 
 " funt) 
 
 <c Solvere quafiatae parcite membra ratis : 
 u Neve precor magni fubfcribite Caefaris irae. 
 
 In Meafure for Meaiure, Aft II. 
 ** Admit no other way to fave his life, 
 " As \fubfcribt not that. 
 
 Milton, B.XI, 1 8 1. 
 
 " So fpoke, fo wifh'd much-humbled Eve i but 
 " fate 
 
 That is, affented not, took not her part. But 
 Milton abounds with words thus taken from the 
 4 Latin ; and ufes them according to that idiom. 
 
 In 
 
 4 Such are, religions, i. e. fuperilitious ornaments : I, 372. 
 And thus Shakefp. in Jul. Caef. Aft I. ufes ceremonies. 
 If you do find them decKd with ceremonies, 
 Difrobe bis images. 
 
 hftintl, i. e . moved forward, pufh'd on : II, 937. XI, 562. 
 Emblem, pkt ure-work of wood, ftone, or metal, inlaid in 
 
 diverfe
 
 on SHAKESPEARE. 293 
 
 In Julius Caefar, Aft I. 
 
 " Brutus. If it be aught toward the general 
 
 good, 
 
 " Set honour in one eye, and death i' th* other, 
 " And I will look on both indifferently. 
 " For let the Gods fo fpeed me, as 1 love 
 " The name of honour, more than I fear death. 
 
 How agreeable to his Stoic character does Shake- 
 fpeare make Brutus here fpeak ? Cicero de Fin. 
 Ill, 1 6. Quod enim illi AAIA4XDPON dicunt, id 
 mibi it a occurrit, ut INDIFFERENS dicer em. One 
 of the great divifion of things, among the Stoics, 
 was into good, bad, indifferent \ virtue, and what- 
 ever partook of virtue, was good; vice, bad\ 
 but what partook neither of virtue nor vice, 
 being not in our power, was indifferent : fuch as 
 honor, wealth, death, &c. But of thefe in- 
 different things, fome might be efteemed more 
 than others ; as here Brutus fays, / love the name 
 of honor more than I fear death. See Cicero de 
 
 diverfe colours, as in pavements, &c. IV, 703. Divine, 
 i. foreboding: IX, 845. Per/on, i. e. character, quality, 
 or ftate, part to aft in : X, ij6. and many more too nu- 
 merous to be mention'd here ; but thefe may fuffice to vin- 
 dicate our author. I ought not to fay vindicate: for words 
 thus ufed out of the common and vulgar track, add a pecu- 
 liar digni ty and grace to the diftion of a poet. 
 
 U 3 Fin v
 
 294 Critical Obfervations Book III, 
 
 Fin. Ill, i, 1 6. The Stoics never deftroy'd 
 choice among indifferent things. Their ar^JJ-esv* 
 were indifferentia cum mediocri aeftimatione. 
 Chryfippus us'd to fay, 5 Mt^^s <** /IJA<* psi 
 
 y Tflt e|i)<r, Taf 6t'$ug?^6iv tyji^au. Whilft I 
 
 continue ignorant of conferences, I allways hold to 
 thofe things which are agreeable to my difpofition. 
 Which faying of Chryfippus is thus further ex- 
 plained by Epictetus, A<TTO x*Awf Asf*<nv o'i <p- 
 
 v^frt v )tj TW voareTfj -^ T w ciTroQvr.ffxeiv, ^ TW 
 
 'f, OTJ OSTTO T?f TW 
 
 ^tpf, KJ tj waA/f T woAi'ry. Nuv t^' on a s 
 pv, xadifxei TWV OrOS EKAOFHN ^'(pugsre 
 CTI x<w srpoj TTB ytyovctLtfy. Hence the -philofophers 
 fay finely and truly,, that if the real good and honeft 
 man knew future events, he would cooperate with 
 Jtcknefs, death, and lofs of limbs : in as much as he 
 would befenjible that this happened to him from the 
 crdtr and conftitution cf the Whole : (for the Whole 
 is principally to be preferred before the part, and 
 the city, to the citizen : ) but now. as we are 
 ignorant cf future events, we Jhould by a right 
 election hold to what is agreeable to our difpojitions. 
 And this doctrine, of right election and rejection, 
 they are full of, in all their writings. This being 
 premifed, let us fee Brutus-' fpeech. 
 
 5. 'A ? 'jiv^ bib. '. xip. r'. 
 
 " Brutus.
 
 on SHAKESPEARE. 295 
 
 " Brutus.. I do fear the people, 
 " Chufe Caefar for their king. 
 
 " Caflius. Ay, do you fear it ? 
 " Then muft I think, you would not have it fo. 
 
 " Brut. I would not Caflius ; yet I love him 
 
 " well : 
 
 " But wherefore do you hold me here fo long ? 
 " "What is it, that you would impart to me? 
 " If it be aught toward the general good 
 " Set honour, &c. &c. 
 
 " If it be ought toward the general good, 
 " (ar^of TB oAcx, zrgos -r,v STO'AJV) as I am a part 
 " of that whole, a citizen of that city , my prin- 
 " ciples lead me to purfue it-, this is my end, 
 " my good : whatever comes in competition 
 " with the general good, will weigh nothing -, 
 " death and honor are to me things of an in- 
 " different nature : but however I freely acknow- 
 " ledge that, of thefe indifferent things, honor 
 " has my greateft efteem, my choice and love ; 
 " the very name of honor I love, more than I 
 " fear even death." 
 
 In Antony and Cleopatra, Aft V. 
 
 " Cleop. Why that's the way 
 *' To fool their preparation, and to conquer 
 " Their moil 6 abfurd intents. 
 
 6. They correffc, affur'd. 
 
 U 4
 
 296 Critical Objervations Book III. 
 Abfurd, harfh, grating. Lat. dbfurdus^ ex ab et 
 furdus, a quo aures et animum avertas. Cicer. 
 pro Rofc. f. 7. Fraudavit Rofcius. Eft boc quidem 
 auribus animifque abfurdum. Abfurdum eft, i. e. 
 founds harfh, grating, unpleafant. 
 
 There is a paflage in this play which I cannot 
 here pafs over. Antony is fpeaking of Oclavius 
 Caefar, Aft. III. 
 
 " He at Philippi kept 
 
 " His fword e'en like a dancer, while I (hook 
 " The lean and wrinkled Caflius j and 'twas I 
 " That the 7 mad Brutus ended. 
 
 I omit the epithets given to Caflius, as they are 
 well known from Plutarch, and other pafiages 
 of our poet. But why does Antony call Brutus 
 Mad? Plato feeing how extravagantly Dio- 
 genes afted the philofopher, faid of him, on 
 MAINOMENOS *T<gh lax^'r^f istv. That he was 
 Socrates run mad. There is likewife an obferva- 
 tion drawn from the depth of philofophy by 
 Horace, Ep. I, 6. 
 
 " Infant fapiens nomen ferat, aequus iniqui ; 
 & Ultra quam fatis eft, virtutem fi petat ipfam. 
 
 Now if this be the opinion of philofophers them- 
 felves concerning philofophy, that it may be 
 
 7. In fome late editions, fad. 
 
 perfued
 
 on SHAKESPEARE. 297 
 
 perfued with fo much ardor and enthufiafm, 
 that even the over-ftrain*d perfuit may border 
 on madnefs 5 how ageeable is it to the character 
 of the wild, undifciplin'd Antony, to call even 
 Brutus Mad, the fober Brutus, the philofopher 
 and patriot ? Such as Antony look on all virtue 
 and patriotifm, as enthufiafm and madnefs. 
 
 I will here add an inftance or two of words 
 and manners of expreffion from other languages, 
 which Shakefpeare has introduced into his plays. 
 
 In Hamlet, Aft III. 
 
 " That he, as 'twere by accident, may here 
 " Affront Ophelia. 
 
 i. e. meet her face to face. Ital. affrontare. 
 In Macbeth, Aft II. 
 
 " No, this my hand will rather 
 " Thy multitudinous fea incarnadine^ 
 " Making the green one red. 
 
 i. e. make it red, (as Shakefpeare himfelf ex- 
 plains it) of the carnation colour. Ital. color e 
 incarnatino. 
 
 In Henry V. Aft IV. 
 
 " And newly move 
 " With cafted flough and frelh legerity.
 
 298 Critical Obfervations Book III. 
 
 I: e. alacrity, lightncfs. Fr. legerete. Ital. leg- 
 gerezza. He feems to allude to that fine image 
 in Virgil, Aen. II, 471. of Pyrrhus. 
 
 Qualis ubi in lucem coluber, mala gramina paftus, 
 Frigida fub terra tumid um quern bruma tcgebat j 
 Nunc fofitis wutts cxuviis, nitidufque juventa, 
 Lubrica fublato convolvit pectore terga, 
 Arduus ad folem, et linguis micat ore trifulcis. 
 
 In the Tempeft, A<5b II. Gonzalo is giving 
 an account of his imaginary commonwealth. 
 
 " No name of magiftrate ; 
 " Letters mould not be known ; wealth, poverty, 
 " And ule of fervice, none j contract, fucceflion, 
 " Boarn 9 bound of land, tilth, vineyard, none. 
 
 iSourn, from the French word, Borne 9 abound 
 or limit : which was not known, as the poets 
 fing, in the golden age. Perhaps from Bxv&\, 
 colliSy tumulus : thefe being the original boundarys. 
 Again, in Antony and Cleopatra, Act I. 
 
 " I'll fet a hum how far to be belov'd. 
 
 i. e. a boundary, a limit. H llooumc, fignifies 
 with us, a head of a fountaine j and towns, 
 whofe names end in bourn, are fituated upon 
 fprings qf water : perhaps from the Greek word 
 B$y'*, fcaturire. I cannot help obferving that 
 Shakefpeare in the former paflage, 
 
 " Bourn,
 
 en SHAKESPEARE. 
 
 * c Bourn, bound of land, 
 
 299 
 
 adds an explanation of the word, which is no 
 unufual thing with the beft writers. In K. Lear, 
 ActFV. he ufes it in it's original fignification r 
 according to the Greek etymology, 
 
 " Edg. From the dread fummit of this chalky 
 *' bourn. 
 
 I don't remember any one paffage, wherein he 
 ufes bourn for a fpring-head. 
 
 In Hamlet, Act II. The 8 mobled queen : this 
 defignedly affected exprefiion feems to be formed 
 from Virg. Aen.II, 40. Magna comitante caterva. 
 
 But Shakefpeare has fome Greek expreflions. 
 In Coriolanus, A6t II. 
 
 " It is held 
 
 " That valour is the chiefeft virtue, and 
 " Moft dignifies the haver, 
 
 i. e. the poffeflbr. So having fignifies fortune 
 and riches. Macbeth, Act. I. 
 
 " My noble partner 
 
 8. I once thought itfliould be mabled, i. carelefly drefled. 
 The word is ufed in the northern parts of England ; and by 
 Sandys in his travels, p. 148, The elder mabble their heads 
 in linneri) &c. 
 
 You
 
 300 Critical Obfervationr Book III. 
 
 " You greet with prefent grace and great pre- 
 
 " diftion 
 " Of noble having. 
 
 Having, Gr. t^. Lat. habsntia. In Sophocles, 
 Aj. jfr. 157. 
 
 Ilof ^ isf EXON' o $M-j<& ep7T. 
 
 - C. / / HAVER. 
 
 In Hamlet, Aft V. 
 " Clown. Ay, tell me that and unyoke. 
 
 i. e. put an end to your labors : alluding to, 
 what the Greeks called by one word, 
 the time for unyoking. Horn. II. 6'. 779. 
 
 Schol. rl T 
 
 7roAvo'5 TWV ^fw. From this one word Horace 
 
 has made a whole ftanza. L. III. Od. 6. 
 
 " Sol ubi montium 
 * c Mutaret umbras, et juga demeret 
 " Bobus fatigatis, amicum 
 '* Tempus agens abeunte curru. 
 
 Hence too our Milton in his Mafk. 
 
 " Two fuch I faw, what time the labour'd oxe 
 ? In his loofe traces from the furrow came. 
 
 Our
 
 on SHAKESPEARE. 301 
 
 Our Englifh word jSDrpfjan comes from o' 
 ab oftpvof being as it were left in darknefs, left 
 void of their greateft bleiTmg their parents, the 
 light and guide of their fteps. 'O^<pvoj is fpoken 
 of one in the dark and obfcurity : c'{4>*voV, 
 o acrjjju- KOU ^ojxtT* i|u$av)jf, lays an ancient gram- 
 marian -on the Ajax of Sophocles. Now allow- 
 ing Shakefpeare to ufe the word orphan, as a 
 Grecian would have ufed it, and how elegantly 
 does he call the fairies, the orphan heirs ofdeftiny: 
 who adminifter in her works, acting in darknefs 
 and obfcurity ? The whole pafiage runs thus : 
 In the Merry Wives of Windfor, Act V. 
 
 " Fairies, black, gray, green and white, 
 " You moon-mine revellers, and Ihades of night, 
 " You Orphan- heirs of fixed deftiny, 
 " Attend your office and your quality. 
 
 Had the poet written ouphen-heirs, he would have 
 repeated the fame thing. Thefe oupbs'I find in 
 modern editions have routed the owls out of their 
 old pofiefiions : but I mall beg leave to reinftate 
 them again, in the Comedy of Errours, Act II. 
 
 " This is the fairy land : oh fpight of fpights ! 
 " We talk with goblins, owls and elvifh fprights! 
 " If we obey them not, this will enfue, 
 " They'll fuck our breath, and pinch us black 
 " and blue. 
 
 Thefe
 
 302 Critical Obfervations Book III. 
 
 Thefe owls which the Latins called ftriges, ac- 
 cording to vulgar fuperftition had power to fuck 
 children's breath and blood, Ovid. Faft. L. VI. 
 
 '35- 
 
 " Nocte volant, puerofque petuntnutricisegentes* 
 " Et vitiant cunis corpora rapta fuis. 
 
 " Carpere dicuntur lactantia vifcera roftris, 
 " Et plenum poto fanguine guttur habent. 
 
 Plin. XI, 39. 
 
 " Fabulofum puto de ftrigibus, ubera infanthirri 
 " eas labris immulgere. 
 
 NOR is Shakefpeare's peculiarity in ufing 
 words to be paffed over. 
 
 In Richard II. Aft II. 
 
 " Why have thofe banilh*d and forbidden legs, 
 " Dar'd once' to touch a duft of England's 
 " ground? 
 
 i. e. mterditted. As the pope's legate told K. John, 
 " He [the pope] hath wholly interditted and 
 " curfed you, for the wrongs you have done 
 " unto the holy church." Fox. Vol. I. p. 285. 
 
 So in Macbeth, Aft I. 
 
 " He fhall live a manfork'd. 
 
 In
 
 on SHAKESPEARE. 303, 
 
 In Macbeth, Aft III. 
 " And put a barren fcepter in my gripe, 
 " Thence to be wrench'd with an unlikeal hand, 
 
 i. e. not of my line, or defcent, 
 In Macbeth, Aft V. 
 
 " For their dear caufes 
 vt Would to the bleeding and the grim alarm 
 " Excite the mortified man. 
 
 dear caufes, i. e. dreadful. 
 
 So in Hamlet. 
 " Would I had met my dear eft foe in heav'n. 
 
 Perhaps from the Latin dirus, &IC0, Uear. In the 
 tranflation of Virgil by Douglafs 'tis fpelt Dere, 
 which theGloflary thus explains, ** &?erc, to hurt, 
 " trouble: Belg. S>ecren, H>wreil. F. Theut. 
 " 2)eran. AS. S>ertaiT, nocere. It. hurt, injury." 
 And mould it not be thus fpelt in Shakefpeare ? 
 But inltances of our poet's ufing words contrary 
 to the modern acceptation of them are number- 
 Jefs. 
 
 RULE
 
 304 Critical Qbfervations Book III. 
 
 RULE III. 
 
 ^e fometime* omits ffje primary ano proper 
 fenfe, anD ufe tooroa in tljeir feconoarn ano im* 
 proper 0gmfication 
 
 Changes of garments, for different drefles, is a 
 common exprefiion : and we fay, to change, for 
 to drefs : properly to change one drefs and put 
 on another. But Shakefpeare ufes to change^ 
 only for to new drefs and adorn. 
 
 In Antony and Cleopatra, A& I. 
 
 " Charm. Oh ! that I knew this hufband, which 
 " you fay muft ' change his horns with garlands. 
 i. e. new drefs and adorn. 
 
 In Coriolanus, Aft II. 
 
 " Cor. From whom I have received not only 
 
 " greetings, 
 " But with them, * change of honours. 
 
 i. e. been newly adorned with honors i received 
 new ornaments of honors. 
 
 Again, becaufe the popifh and heathenim 
 myfteries are vain and whimfical, he therefore 
 ufes myfteries, for vanities, or whiwfies. 
 
 1 . They have printed it, charge. 
 
 2. They have likewife printed it here, charge. 
 
 In
 
 on SHAKESPEARE. 305 
 
 In Henry VIII. Aft I. 
 " Cham. Is'tpoffible the fpells of France mould 
 
 " juggle 
 " Men into fuch ftrange J myjleries. 
 
 i. e. vanities* and whimfies. He is fpeaking of 
 court fafhions. 
 
 RULE IV. 
 loc ufcs one part of fpeeclj fo; anotfje;. 
 
 For inftance, be makes verbs of adjettives^ 
 as, toftale^ i. e. to make ftale and familiar. <?Q 
 fafe, to make fafe and fecure, &c. &c. Antony 
 and Cleopatra, Adi I. 
 
 " Ant. My more particular 
 " And that which moft with you *Jhouldfafe my 
 
 " going, 
 
 " Is Fulvia's death. 
 Jhouldfafe, i. e. mould make fafe and fecure. 
 
 So again, be ufes verbs for fubftantfaes. Accufe^ 
 for accufation : AffeR^ for affection : Dttm^ for 
 a deeming, an opinion : Difyofe, for difpofition : 
 Prepare, for preparation : Varj y for variation : 
 &c. &c. And, adjcffives for fubftantives. As 
 Mean, for mediocrity or mean eftate. In K. 
 Lear, Aft IV. 
 
 3. They correft, mockeries. 
 I. They correct, faive. 
 
 X Glo.
 
 306 Critical Obfervaihns Book III. 
 
 Glo. Full oft 'tis feen 
 Our mean fecures us. 
 
 So Private* for privacy &c. Nothing is more 
 frequent among the Latins than to ufe fubftan- 
 tively, * ardua, invia, avia, fapera^ acuta &c. &c, 
 In imitation of whom our poet in Coriolanus, 
 Aft I. 
 
 " As if I lov'd wy little mould be dieted 
 
 " In praifes fauc'd with lies. 
 
 Again, be makes verbs of fubftantives. As, to 
 lencby to voic^ to paper , to progrefs^ toftage, to 
 eftate, to Mm &c. &c. fojcale, i. e. to weigh 
 and examine : In Coriolanus, A6t I. 
 
 " Men. I will venture 
 " J Tofcak it a little more. 
 
 i. e. to confider it, to examine it. 
 
 Again, he ufes fubftantives adjeftroely ; or, by 
 way of apportion. So the Greeks fay, C EAA7* <T*a- 
 A7o. 2xu'0iv oTjuov. and Homer II. u. 58. ruva?x 
 t- ( ^5<rlc jwa^ov. Virgil Aen. XI, 405. Amms Aufi- 
 dus. Horace Epifl:. I, 12. jf. 20. Stertinitim acu- 
 men. Propertius L. 2. Eleg. 31. Femina turba. 
 
 z. Milton very frequently ufes adje&ives in this manner, 
 if the reader thinks proper, he may turn to the following in 
 Paradife loft. B. II, 97. and 278. B. IV. 927. B. VL 78. 
 B VII. 368. B. XI. 4. 
 
 3. They have printed, To jlale it. 
 
 And
 
 on SHAKESPEARE. 307 
 
 And the Apoftle in his firft epiftle to the Corin- 
 thians, II, 4. lv -aft 9oiV AO/OK, in perfwafible^ or, in- 
 ticing words, i. e. v> &A<uo7<; AC/OK. Shakefpeare in 
 Julius Caefar, Aft I. Vyber bank. And Aft V. 
 Philippi fields. In Coriolanus Aft II. Corioli gates. 
 In Hamlet, mufic vows, neighbour room &c. &c. 
 And fometimes, the fubftantive is to be conftrucd 
 adjeftivcly when pit into the genitive cafe. Lucret. 
 IV, 339- 
 
 " Quia cum propior caliginis aer 
 " Ater init oculos prior. 
 
 i. e. the air ofdarknefs, for the dark air. Euripi- 
 des in Hippol. ^. 1368. 
 
 have lexercifcd towards mankind the labors 
 of piety : i. e. pious labors. St. Luke XVIII. 6 
 e xoilnV T^ a7x'af, the judge of injuftice, i. e. Afo 
 /^ y'*4?^ ^^ r P n ^ip Sidney's Arcadia p. 2. 
 evening the cherry of her lips : i.e. her cherry lips. 
 Ariftophancs in Plat. 268. Tn ^-jc-cv a^fe/Xa,- iTrwr. 
 ^ //&(? tc/^o /^//<2/? /f a gold cf words : i. e. golden 
 words. Milton V. 212. 
 
 " Over head the cifmal lift 
 " Of fiery darts in flaming vollies flew. 
 
 the hi fs of dart .^ i.e. the hiffing darts. In the 
 firft part of K, Henry IV. Aft I. 
 
 X 2 NO
 
 308 Critical Obfervations Book III. 
 
 " No more thethirfty entrance of this foil 
 ." Shall dawb her lips with her own children's 
 " blood. 
 
 %hc entrance of tbisfoil, i. e. this thirfty and po- 
 Tons foil, eafily to be enter'd, and gaping to re- 
 ceive whatever is poured into it. 
 
 Hefometimes expreffes one thing by two fubftan- 
 tives ; which the rhetoricians call rt v Snx, $\x>~v. 
 As Virgil. 
 
 " Patera libamus et auro, 
 
 i. e. pateris aureis. In Antony and Cleopatra, 
 Ad IV. 
 
 " I hope well of to morrow, and will lead you 
 " Where rather I'll expect victorious life 
 * 6 Than death and honour. 
 
 i. e. than honourable death. So Spencer B. 2. 
 c. 7. ft. 42. 
 
 " Soon as thofe^r//Y/ir and arms he did efpy. 
 i.e. tbofe glittering arms. 
 
 Again, be ufes adjectives adverbially. So Vir- 
 gil. " Magnumque fluentem Nilum. Sole re- 
 ic cens orto. Se matutinus agebat. Arduus in- 
 tc furgens, &c. And Homer II. j3'. 147. 
 
 AABPOS iirJM>w. 
 
 And
 
 \ 
 on SHAKESPEARE. 309 
 
 And Milton, VII, 305. 
 
 " All but within thofe banks where rivers now 
 " Stream, and perpetual draw their humid train. 
 
 In Henry VIII. Aft i. 
 " He is equal rav'nous, as he is fubtle. 
 
 In Hamlet, Aft III. 
 " I am myfelf indifferent honeft. 
 
 In Henry IV. AftV. P.Henry fpeaking of 
 Percy, 
 
 " I do not know a braver gentleman, 
 
 " More active valiant, or more valiant young. 
 
 i. e. more actively valiant, or more valiantly 
 young : or, one more valiant with activity, and 
 young with valour. 
 
 In Macbeth, Aft I. 
 
 tc Your highnefs' part 
 " Is to receive our duties ; and our duties 
 '* Are to your throne and ftate, children and 
 
 " fervants ; 
 " Which do but what they mould, by doing 
 
 " every thing 
 44 4 Safe toward your love and honour. 
 
 Safe, i. e. with fafety, fecurity and furetimip. 
 4. 'Tis correaed, Fiefs. 
 
 X 3 RULE
 
 3 i o Critical Obfervation* Book IIL 
 
 RULE V. 
 l^e ufe0 tye artifcc participle paffitjefo, 
 
 In King Lear. 
 
 e Who by the art of known, and feeling forrows, 
 tc Am pregnant to good pity. 
 
 ing^ i. e. caufmg tbemfehss to be felt. 
 In Antony and Cleopatra, Aft IV. 
 
 " Cleop. Rather on Nilus' mud 
 tc Lay me Hark naked, and let the water-flies* 
 ic Blow me into Mcrring. 
 
 i. e. into being abhorred and loathed. 
 In Macbeth, Aft V. 
 
 tc As eafie mayfl thou the intrenchant air 
 " With thy keen fword imprefs. 
 
 Intrenchant, \. e. not furTering itfelf to be cut. 
 Fr. trenchant^ cutting. The woundlefs, the in- 
 vulnerable air, as he expreffes it in Hamlet. 
 
 This manner of expreflion the Latins ufe. 
 Virgil. Sifttmt amnes : i. e. fe fiftunt. Accmgunt 
 ofcri, i. e. fe accingunt. 
 
 Dives inacceffos ubifolisflia facos 
 JJ/iduo refonat cantu. 
 
 i. e.
 
 on SHAKESPEARE; 311 
 
 i. e. t efonare faciti as Servius explains it. And 
 Aen. I. 565. 
 
 Turn breviter Dido vultum demifla profatw. 
 i. c. demiffo vultu. 
 
 In King Lear, Aft III. 
 " This night wherein the cub-drawn bear would 
 
 " couch. 
 
 the cub-drawn, i. e. having her cubs drawn from 
 her ; being robbed of her cubs ; the bear then is 
 moft reftlefs and furious. Prov. XVII, 12. Let 
 a bear robbed of her whelps meet a mcm^ rather than 
 a f col in bis folly. Spencer B. 6. c. n. ft. 25. 
 
 " And fared like a furious wild bear 
 " Whofe whelps are ftol'n away. 
 I will mention one paffage from the Ac"ls XXVII. 
 15. where the active participle is ufed paflively, 
 or elleptically, viz. iViJoJIis' for tWoi/lt? aJ-r\, or 
 iTriSo'jlts TO -nrXoroy TW aysjw-w. when the foip could not 
 bear up into the wind, we let her drive : Mi} jwupivx 
 
 [zrAot's] dvlofflx,\t*t7v TW av/AM, tTTiSo-jlig t!pff o^*9. Our 
 
 failors now fay, to fail in the wind's eye^ literally 
 tranflating the Greek phrafe, aw1o(p9aAjt*l TW <cvt/u. 
 
 And the adjeffive paffive attivsly. 
 In the Twelfth-Night, Ad I. 
 ** Viol. Hollow your name to the f reverberate 
 " hiUs 
 
 i. 'Tit correfted, rrvirberant, 
 
 X 4 " And
 
 2 1 2 Critical Obfervattons Book III. 
 
 << And make the babling goflip of the air 
 
 " Cry out, Olivia ! 
 
 reverberate, i. e. canfmg it to be ftricken back 
 
 again. 
 
 In Macbeth, Aft I. 
 " Or have we eaten of the infant root, 
 " That takes the reafon prifoner ? 
 
 Infane, \. e. caufing rnadnefs. ab effettu, as the 
 grammarians fay. 
 
 RULE VI. 
 
 ^e ufcs tfje tl)iitg tione, fo; tfje intention nno 
 
 tcfirc to Do it 
 
 In Meafure forMeafure, Aft UI. 
 
 " Reafon thus with life ; 
 <c If I do love thee, I do love a thing 
 u That none but fools ' would keep. 
 
 i. e. would be defirous and eager to keep. 
 In the fame manner Milton IV. 175. 
 
 u The undergrowth 
 
 *' Of Ihrubs, and tangling bu (lies, had perplex'd 
 " All path of man, or beaft, * that pafe'd f ^ af 
 " way. 
 
 i. e. 
 
 l. They print, nvouttreck. 
 
 z. " Here our poet's attention was wanting. There was
 
 on SHAKESPEARE, 313 
 
 i. e. that fhould now or hereafter endeavour to 
 pafs that way. So Euripides in lo, ^. 1326. 
 *Hxu<rtK wj p Jf ww. Audivifti quomodo me interfe- 
 cit, i. e. interfcere voluit. 
 
 RULE VII. 
 
 1e often atop* to aajertifces in tljetr compara* 
 f tfcc ano fuperlatitoe Degrees, ttje figns marking 
 tlje Degrce0. 
 
 In King Lear, Aft II. 
 Corn. " Thefe kind of knaves I know, which in 
 
 " this plainnefs 
 
 * c Harbour more craft and more corrupter ends 
 ' Than twenty filly &c. 
 
 In Henry VIII. Aft I. 
 
 " There is no Englifh foul 
 *' More Jlronger to direct you than yourfelf. 
 
 Nor is this kind of pleonafm unufual among 
 the Latins and Grecians. Virgil in Ciris. 
 " Quis magis optato queat effe beaticr aevo ? 
 
 Plautus in Aulul. 
 * c Ita mollior fum magis^ quam ullus cinaedus. 
 
 " no MAN yet to endeavour to pafs that way &c" Dr. 
 Bentley. N. B. Many of the paffages which I have above 
 cited from Milton, tho' not taken notice of in the notes, 
 have been altered or mifunderftood. 
 
 Euripides
 
 3 1 4 Critical Qlfervation* Book III. 
 Euripides in Hecuba, j?. 377. 
 
 6Miv f w n MAAAON ETTTXEStEPOS 
 Hw. 
 
 RULE VIII, 
 
 ^0 frequently omits t^e anriliarp tierb, am, 
 is, are ft, atiD lifcetoife federal particles, as to, 
 that, a, as f c 
 
 In Macbeth, Aft I. 
 
 ' King. Is execution done on Cawdor yet ? 
 u Or o/ thofe in commiffion yet return'd ? 
 
 i. e. Or are not &c. 
 
 In Hamlet, Aft III. 
 
 " But 'tis not fo above, 
 " There is no fhuffling, there the action lies 
 *' In his true nature -, and -we curfelves compelled 
 " Even to the teeth and forehead of our faults 
 " To give in evidence. 
 
 In Macbeth, Ad IV. 
 
 " Male. I'm young, but fomething 
 " You may * difcern of him through me : and 
 
 * c wifdom 
 14 To offer up a weak, poor, innocent lamb, 
 
 i. You may fee fomething to your advantage by betray- 
 .rg me. Mr. Theobald reads, inilead ofcfifcern, dejerve. 
 
 " T'ap-
 
 en 
 
 < e T* appeafe an angry God. 
 i. e. and 'tis wifdom. 
 
 The particle that is omitted, in Macbeth Act IT. 
 
 " Go bid thy miftrefs, when my drink is ready 
 " Sbejlrikt upon the bell. 
 
 Remitted, in King Lear, Aft III. 
 *' Be fimple anfwerer, for we know the truth. 
 i. e. Be a fimple anfwerer : anfwer directly. 
 
 70, the fign of the infinitive mood, omitted, 
 in Macbeth, Ad HI. 
 
 " I am in blood 
 
 *' Stept in fo far, that mould I wade no more, 
 4C Returning were as tedious as go o'er 
 
 i. e. as to go o'er. 
 
 To, the fign of the dative cafe, omitted, in Ju- 
 lius Caefar, Aft IV. 
 
 " And now, Octavius, 
 " Liften great things. 
 
 As omitted, in like manner as the Latins omit 
 ut and the Greeks V. Shakefpeare in Cymbe- 
 Une, AdV. 
 
 ** Forthwith they fiie 
 ?t Chickens, the way which they ftoop'd eagles. 
 
 So
 
 3 1 6 Critical Obfervations Book III. 
 
 So Horace, L. 2. Ep. 2. tf. 28. 
 
 Poft hoc vehement lupus, et fibi et hofti 
 Iratus pariter. 
 
 And in his poetics, 
 
 " Nee verbum verbo curabis reddere, fdus 
 " Interpret. 
 
 \. c. like a fervile tranflator. And Sophocles in 
 Oedip.Col. 138. 
 
 Mn>' ixilevw t^exri'ftT ANOMON. 
 Schol. toiVci ro ilS, IV ri, wj 
 
 RULE IX. 
 
 He ufes, H5ut, for otherwife than : $r, for ^^> 
 /<?r^: j2Dnc0, once for all, peremptorily : jffrom, o 
 account of: j^of, for o/ w/y : Nor do two ne- 
 gatives allways make an affirmative, but deny 
 more ftrongly, as is well known from the Greek, 
 and modern French languages. 
 
 In the Temped, Ad L 
 
 u Mir. I mould fin, 
 
 ** To think but nobly of my grand-mother. 
 i. e. otherwife than nobly. See Mr. Theobald's 
 note. Spencer B. III. c. 3. ft. 16. 
 " But this I read, that but if remedy 
 " Thou her afford, full fhortly I her dead mail fee. 
 i. c. unlefs you afford her &c. 
 
 In
 
 on SHAKESPEARE. 317 
 
 In Cymbeline. Aft II. 
 
 44 Phi. And I think, 
 
 " He'll grant the tribute, fend the arrearages, 
 " Or look upon our Romans, whoferemem- 
 
 44 brance 
 
 " Is yet frefh in their grief. 
 Or hok, i. e. before he look. So Douglafs in his 
 tranflation of Virgil. Aen. I, 9. 
 
 " Multa quoque et bello paflus, dum conderet 
 
 " urbem 
 
 " Inferretque decs Latio. 
 ccce papne in battdlcs fuffcnt tje alfo 
 Or he tys gowns br.ocl)t in llatto, 
 
 Daniel VI, 14. And the lions - brake all their 
 lones in pieces or ever they came at the bottom of the 
 den. 
 
 In Much ado about nothing, Aft I. 
 
 " Pedro. Look what will ferve, is fit ; 'tis oncf y 
 
 44 thou lov'ft ; 
 " And I will fit thee with the remedy. 
 
 In Coriolanus, Aft II. 
 
 44 i Cit. Once, if he do require our voices, 
 " we ought not to deny him. 
 
 So the Greeks ufe "h-ny.^ certb, omnino, plane et 
 From whence our tranflators : Pfalm 
 LXXXIX, 35. 0/whave'lfworn. LXX. &rog
 
 3 1 8 Critical Obfervations Book III. 
 Pf. LXII. ii. God hath fpoken once. 
 *aAti<r> o 9-wV, i. e. as Suidas interprets it, 
 7w? 11 owls**?. i. e. once for ail, perempto- 
 rily. And thus the paflfage in the epiille to the 
 Hebrews, VI. 4. is to be explained, Tou\ AUAZ 
 (pw1w8I? , qai vere et omninofunt illuminati. And 
 fine! is ufed fometimes in this fenfe by the pureft 
 Latin authors. Milton, III, 233. 
 
 " He her aid 
 
 cc Can never feek, once dead in fins, and loft. 
 i. e. once for all, thoroughly. Homer ufes AIIAST 
 in the fame fenfe OJ. /*'. 
 
 * AI1AH -ar^os xu/xa p^avwv oi-rro Svpov oX& 
 
 From, on account of. In Coriolanus, Acl III. 
 <6 Com. \ have been conful, and can 
 
 " Her enemies marks upon me. 
 
 From Rome, on account of Rome, in her fervice. 
 
 So Milton in Samfon Agoniftes, >'-. 8. 
 
 u O wherefore was my birth from heav'n foretold 
 
 " Twice by an angel - 
 
 " And from fome great act 
 " Or benefit reveal'd to Abraham's race ? 
 i. e. on account of fome great aft or benefit &c. 
 
 AV, for not only. In Coriolanus, Aft III. 
 
 *' Sic. As now at laft 
 
 " Giv'n
 
 en SHAKESPEARE. 319 
 
 Giv'n hoftile ftroaks, and that not in the 
 
 " prefence 
 
 " Of dreaded juftice, but on the minifters 
 " That do diftribute it. 
 
 not in the prefence^ i. e. not only in the prefence 
 &c. So the Latins ufe non, for non modo : and 
 the Greeks OT for OT MONON. In Theocritus 
 Idyll. X, 19. 
 
 TupAof <T OTK auroV IlASr*, 
 'AAAcc ^ p{ov1tf&' l 'E{wff. 
 
 OTK i. e. /xouow. So Longinus TWO 3-y J* OT -w 
 (fu(r*y, aAAa TV aru^i'av* * iirowrtv alwviov. Homer 
 has poetically feigned not only //fo nature of the 
 Gods, but likewife their misfortunes eternal And 
 thus ought to be interpreted St. John VII, 22. 
 Aa TTO MwtriJj StSuxsv VIMV TW 7c-i70jtxjiv, OTX er* Ix 
 T Mw<TWj lryj <siAA' tx T&jy Tyotliouv. where p^ IS 
 
 for /Aovov, and it fhould thus be tranflated, Not 
 that it is of Mofes only^ but likewife of the fathers. 
 
 In Julius Caefar, Ad III. 
 *' Brut. There is no harm intended to your 
 
 " perfon, 
 *' Nor to no Roman elfe. 
 
 In Macbeth, Ad II. 
 
 ** Nor tongue, nor heart, cannot conceive nsr 
 4 * name thee. 
 
 i. See cw;iV above p. 154. 
 
 RULE
 
 320 Critical Qbfervations Book III. 
 
 RULE X. 
 
 ^cufes tlje abffrart fo? tlje concrete, viz. M- 
 panics > for companions: jwrf, for young perfons : 
 reports, for people who made the reports. 
 
 In Anthony and Cleopatra, Aft II. 
 Ant. And have my learning from fome true 
 
 ' reports 
 " That drew their fwords with me. 
 
 In King Richard II. Aft I. 
 " Mowb. O let my foveraign turn away his face, 
 " And bid his ears a little while be deaf, 
 " Till I have told thisjlander of his blood, 
 " How God and good men hate fo foul a liar. 
 this Jlander, i. e. this flanderer. So Terence ufes 
 Jcelus for fceleftus. Andria A6t V. Scelus quern 
 hie lattdaL And Virgil has this figure in a feenv 
 ing intricate paffage. Aen. V, 541. 
 
 " Nee bonus Eurytio prarlato invidit honori. 
 
 Nor did the good Eurytio envy him the preemi- 
 nence of honor. So 'twill be conftrued : but bo- 
 ncri^ is, the honorable perfon^ prtlaio^ ^hich was 
 prefer* d before him. As Milton, III, 664. 
 
 I. Some read, reporters. N. B. Moft of the readings, 
 which are brought as examples, have been altered in fome 
 editions or other, of our poet. 
 
 " But
 
 on SHAKESPEARE. 321 
 
 " But chiefly man 
 <c His chief delight and favour. 
 i. e. his favourite. In Othello Act I. perfe^ion^ 
 1. 1. one fo perfect. 
 
 It is a judgment maim'd, and moft imperfect, 
 That will confefs ' perfection fo could err 
 Againft all rules of nature. 
 i. e. one fo perfect as Defdemona. 
 
 RULE XL 
 
 SCo complcat tlje ronff ruction, tfjerc is, in tfje 
 tatter part of tlje fcntcncc fomctimcs to be top* 
 pliea fome tooro, o; pfjrafe from t!)e former pact> 
 either erpreflfeo, or tacitl? 
 
 In Homer, II. -|'. 579. 
 Ei i' y iyuv au'rcV AIKA2H, 
 "AAAo iirnrtietv Avv I0EIA ^ ?f. 
 The adjective ifi, in the latter part of the fen 
 tence, agrees with <T/xij tacidy fignified i 
 And thus F.uftathius, vVx.s-o if Jiwr, $ 
 
 In the Temped Act IV. 
 
 tc The ftrongeft foggeftion 
 " Our worfer genius <W7. 
 i. e. can fugged. 
 
 i. They kave correftcd, afeffioa. 
 
 Y In
 
 22. Critical Obfirvattons Book III. 
 
 In Macbeth Aft IV. 
 v I dare not fpeak much further, 
 " But cruel are the times, when we are traitors, 
 " And do not know ourfehes. 
 viz. to be traitors. 
 
 RULE XII. 
 
 ^e nfe0 t!jc $omiuatit)e .cafe abfolitfc ; 03, 
 ratyer elliptical. 
 
 The grammarians term this oivatKoteQw. In- 
 ftances from the ancients are humberlefs, but it 
 may be neceflary to mention one or two. In 
 Terence. Hec. Ad III. 
 
 " Nam nos omnes, quibus eft alicunde aliens ob- 
 
 jeftus labos, 
 * c Omne quod eft interea tempus, priufquam id 
 
 refcitum eft, lucre eft. 
 
 Terence begins the fentence with a nominative 
 cafe, as if he mould finifh it with lucre habemus: 
 but yet does finifh it, as if he in the begin- 
 ning had written Nobis omnibus. Left any one 
 mould think the fentence is to be thus fupplied, 
 uod attinet ad nos omnes y or with x7, I will 
 add a fimilar place from Plautus in Poen. Ad; 
 III. Sc. III. 
 
 r//,
 
 on SHAKESPEARE, 323 
 
 " 2#, fi te dii ament, agere tuam rem occafio eft. 
 
 The fentence begins as if he would end it with 
 occajionem naffus es ; but it ends, as if in the 
 beginning he had faid Tibi. And Hirtius Bell. 
 Afr. C. 25. " Rex Juba> cognitis Caefaris diffi- 
 " cultatibus, copiarumque paucitatei non eft vi- 
 " fum dare fpatium convalefcendi." 
 
 In Hamlet Ad III. 
 
 " Tour majejly and we, that have free fouls, it 
 " touches us not. 
 
 He begins with a nominative cafe, as if he would 
 fay, what care we, it touches us not : but cutting 
 fhort his fpeech makes a folecifm. Many kinds 
 of thefe embarraffed fentences there are in Shake- 
 fpeare. And have not the beft authors their 
 *M%Q\QytoU) as the grammarians call them, feem- 
 ing inaccuracies, and departure from the com- 
 mon and trite grammar ? 
 
 RULE XIII. 
 
 i^e mafce0 a fu&Dcn ftranftttsn from f!)e plural 
 number to ti;c 0su!ar. 
 
 And fo likewife do the moft approved writers 
 of antiquity.
 
 324 Critical Obfervatiins Book III. 
 
 Terence in Eunuc. Ad: II. 
 '< Dii boni! quid hoc morbi eft? adeon* homi- 
 
 " nes immutarier 
 
 " x amore, ut non cognofcas eundem efle ? 
 On which paffage thusDonatusj More fuo aplu- 
 rali numero adfingularem fe convertit. Here eun- 
 dcm agrees with bominem included and underftood 
 in the plural homines* Sophocles in Elect, tf. 1415. 
 
 ii 4>/X7*I TTNAIKES, wtytt aviix* 
 AA *l& I1PO2MENE. 
 
 for vpfffuvilt. As the fpeech is directed 
 to the chorus, he confiders them as one or ma- 
 ny. Euripides in Phaen. >-. 403. 
 
 Flo. "EW jugy piywv, *'x EXEI 
 
 In the fecond verfe o <pwyf is to be fupplied. St. 
 
 Paul in his epiftle to the Galatians vi, i. YMEIS 
 
 i nNETMATlKOi n*ltt$i$r 
 
 trgflWTij?', IKOIIHN <reu7or 
 
 So Milton in a remarkable paflage, IX, 1182. 
 
 " Thus it mall befall 
 
 " Him, who to worth in women over-trufting, 
 " Lets her will rule -, reftraint/&<? will not brook. 
 Cicero abounds with fuch tranfitions ; I will 
 mention one, becaufe Shakefpeare has exactly 
 its parallel. " Deciuscum fe devoveret, et equo 
 
 " ad-
 
 on SHAKESPEARE. 325 
 
 M admiflb in mediam aciem Latinorum irruebat, 
 " aliquid de voluptatibus fuiscogitabat ? nam ubi 
 " earn caperet. De Fin. II, 1 9. Here the relative earn 
 agrees with voluptatew, to be fupplied from volup- 
 tatibus : juft as in Antony and Cleopatra Act II. 
 " My powers are crefcent, and my auguring hope 
 *' Says // will come to th* full. 
 The relative it agrees, and is to be referred to 
 power underftood in the plural powers. By the 
 by, when Shakefpeare put thefe words in An- 
 tony's mouth, he had a view to what Maho- 
 met faid in a fort of prophetic rapture, That 
 he would make his crefcent a full moon. 
 
 In Timon Aft III. 
 
 " Who ftuck and fpangled you with flatteries^ 
 " Wafhes *'/ off, and fprinkles in your faces 
 " Your reaking villany. 
 
 In Macbeth Aft HI. 
 
 " And keep the natural ruby of your cheeks, 
 1* When mine is blanch'd with fear. 
 
 In Antony and Cleopatra Aft III. 
 
 " You are abus'd 
 ' Beyond the mark of thought ; and the bigb 
 
 " Gods 
 
 *' To do you juftice, make bis minifters 
 Of us, and thofe that love you. 
 
 Y 3 This 
 
 "
 
 326 Critical Qbfervatiom Book III. 
 
 This tranfition is very frequent among the anci- 
 ents, from fmgular to plural, and plural to ftn- 
 gular, when the deity is mentioned : and one 
 reafon may be becaufe they confidered Deity, as 
 one or many. 
 
 RULE XIV. 
 
 Ipe ffjorfens toojug b? ffrifetng off fljje firff oj 
 lad pliable : anB fowtfimcs lengthens t!;cm by 
 a JLntin ternunation. 
 
 'Tis very cuftomary in our language to ftrike 
 off the firft fyllable. Hence we fay, fatttpU, 
 for example: fpittlc, for bofpital &c. &c. In 
 Shakefpeare among many others, mcn&S, for 
 amends: file, for defile : fenD, for defend: fojce, 
 for infarcC) reinforce: jjoinf, for appointments; 
 fconre, for enfconce &c. &c. Uaiiful, for wailful: 
 In Meafure for Meafure Adi IV. 
 
 *' He fays to wailful purpofe, 
 
 i. e. to a purpofe which will fully avail, ^crtjtng, 
 for obferviKg : In Timon of Athens Adi. I. 
 
 " Apem. What a coil's here, 
 
 *' Serving of becks and jutting out of bums ? 
 
 i. e. obferving one another's nods and bows. 
 Sofervans for obfervans, among the Latins. 
 
 Nor
 
 en SHAKESPEARE, ^j 
 
 Nor is it unufual with Shakefpeare to ftrike 
 off a fyllable, or more, from the latter part of 
 words. So he ufes offettf, for oftentation : itttnittr, 
 for intrin/icate 9 or intricate : in K. Lear Act II, 
 " Like rats oft bite the holy cords atwaine, 
 " Which are too' intrince t' unloofe. 
 i. e. too intrinficate, too perplext. Mr. Theo- 
 bald prints it thus, 
 
 " Like rats oft bite the holy cords in twain 
 " < Too t intrinficate t* unloofe. 
 And lets us fairly know the old books of autho- 
 rity read, 
 
 " Like rats oft bite the holy cords atwaine 
 " Which are /' intrince^ to unloofe. 
 How came Mr. Theobald, who valued himfelf 
 for being a critic, to give us the glofs, for 
 the original word ? Aiwain^ is an old word ufed 
 by Chaucer, for in two^ afunder^ in twain. And 
 then his other correction is too bold : he comes 
 like an unfkilful furgeon to cut and flam, when 
 he mould heal. This mortening of words is too 
 much the genius of our language : and from 
 hence the etymologifts know how eafy 'tis to 
 trace por JJCtfe from pcrcus pifcis : off ricl?, from 
 ypxOotos^AfS^ : to rap, from PT^V &c. &c. and 
 many more of the like fort, too numerous here 
 to be mention'd. 
 
 Y 4 , On
 
 328 Critical Obfervations Book III. 
 
 On the other hand he lengthens words by 
 giving them a Latin termination. Iri Hamlet 
 Aft III. 
 
 " Oh, iuch a deed, 
 
 " As from the body of contraction plucks 
 *' The very foul, and fweet religion makes 
 A rhapfody of words. 
 
 contraftion, i. e. contract. 
 
 This lengthening of words, and giving them 
 terminations, was the firft improvement of lan- 
 guages, which originally, perhaps chiefly, con- 
 fifted of undeclined monofyliables. This feems 
 to be the cafe of the politeft language in the 
 world, the" Greek language. The old Greek 
 word for a houfc was AO, afterwards they added 
 the termination, and called it $up*. Barky was 
 KPT, afterwards x%&y andx^vsv : in vain, MAII2-, 
 afterwards jua^iJiW : again ^ or backwards ^ AITS 
 i. e. ivtffu : eafily PA i. e. pVJiov. BPI, afterwards 
 |3^6u and fyidifov. AAHHI i. e. aA$*7v. And fo 
 of many other words, which are not by any ab- 
 breviations Shortened, as the grammarians tell us ; 
 but were the old original words, brought again 
 into fafliion and ufc by the poets, juft as our 
 Shakefpeare and Milton often chofe the Saxon 
 and obfolete words, 
 
 T O
 
 on SHAKESPEARE. 329 
 
 T O thefe rules many others may eafily be 
 added; but what has already been faid, may 
 lead the way to a right reading of our author. 
 Concerning the ftrift propriety of all thefe rules, 
 as being exactly fuitable to the genius of our 
 language, I am not at all concerned : -'tis fuffici- 
 ent for my purpofe if they are Shakefpeare's 
 rules. But one thing more ftill remains of no 
 little confequence to our poet's honor, and that 
 is the fettling and adjuftinghis metre andjrhythm. 
 For the not duly attending to this, has occafi- 
 on'd ftrange alterations in his plays : now profe 
 hobbles into verfe, now again verfe is degraded 
 into profe ; here verfes are broken, where they 
 mould be continued', and there joined where 
 they mould be broken. And the chief reafon 
 of thefe alterations of his verfes feems to pro- 
 ceed from the fame caufe, as the changing his 
 words and exprefilons -, that is, the little regard 
 we pay to our poet's art. 
 
 1 Dryden fays that Milton acknowledged tq 
 him, that Spencer was his original : but his origi- 
 nalinwhat, Mr. Dryden does not tell us : certain- 
 ly he was not his original in throwing afide that 
 Gothic bondage of jingle at the end of every 
 line , 'twas the example of our * BEST ENGLISH 
 
 1. Dryden's preface to his Fables. 
 
 2. Milton's preface to his Paradife loft. 
 
 TRA-
 
 3 3 o Critical Obfervations Book III. 
 
 TRAGEDIES here he followed ; J HIS HONOURED 
 SHAKESPEARE. And from him, as well as from 
 Homer and Virgil, he faw what beauty would 
 refult from variety. 
 
 Our fmootheil verfes run in the iambic foot : 
 pes fitus, as Horace terms it ; becaufe we haften 
 from the firft to the fecond fyllable, that chiefly 
 linking the ear. And our epic verfe confifts of 
 five feet or meafures, according to common 
 fcanfion. 
 
 it fa ded on'the crowjing of the cock 
 i 2 I 3 I 4 5 
 
 Verfes all of this meafure would foon tire the 
 ear, for want of variety : he therefore mixes the 
 trochaic foot. 
 
 Nature-seems deadjand wlc'ked dreams'abufe 
 1 I 2 I 3 I 4 | 5 
 
 And how beautifully are trochees intermixed in 
 die following, where lady Macbeth fpeaks in a 
 hurry and agitation of mind ? 
 
 Which gives jthe fterneft;gucd night! -He's a bout it 
 
 ' 2 I 3 I i 4 S 
 
 The tribrac is likewife ufed by our poets, as 
 equivalent in time and meafure to the iambic, 
 So Milton II, 302. 
 
 3. Milton's poem on Shakefpeare, ann. 1630.
 
 on SHAKESPEARE. 331 
 
 a pillariof ftatejdeep on'his front engrav'n 
 i ' 2 3 4 ' 5 
 
 And Shakefpeare very poetically in K. Lear, 
 Ad IV. 
 
 Edg. So ma'ny fa.thSm down'precipvtntlng. 
 which has the fame effect as that in Virgil. 
 
 " Procumbit humi bos. 
 
 And 
 
 " Ruit oceano nox. 
 
 But the great art in Milton, of placing a fpon- 
 dee in the fifth place, ought not here to be omit- 
 ed ; thk occafions panfe and delay, and calls for 
 the reader's attention : fo in the feventh book, 
 where God fpeaks to Chaos, 
 
 Silencejye troubled wavesland thou Deep, peace 
 i 2 ' 3 I 4 5 
 
 No fpondee in the fifth place in Greek or Latin 
 verfes can equal this beauty ; and no poet did 
 ever equal it, but Shakefpeare. In MacbetH. 
 
 What hathjquench'd themjhath glv'nlme firei-Hark .'peace! 
 i I 2 I 3 I 4 I 5 
 
 If the fpondaic foot, then the anapeft, as of equal 
 time, may likewife be admitted. 
 
 Othello. And givelthy word. 
 
 tf
 
 332 Critical Obfervations Book III. 
 
 ofthoughtsjtheworft!6fw5rds]Iag.Goodmy Lordjpardon me. 
 
 i I 2 I 3 ' 4 15 
 
 Speak to me! what thou art! thy ejvill fpiritjBrtitus 
 i I * I 3 I 4 I 5 
 
 This pafiage is in Julius Caefar, where Brutus 
 fpeaks to the ghoft : thofe anapefts ^&z to m^ 
 what tbou art, have a beautiful effect, as they 
 fhew a certain confufion on a furprife. Spirit is 
 a monofyiiabie, and fo conftantly ufed in Milton. 
 
 SHAKESPEARE has feveral hemi- 
 fliques > a poetical licence that Virgil introduced 
 into the Latin poetry : but there have not been 
 wanting hands, to fill thefe broken verfes up for 
 both the poets. It may not be difpleafmg to 
 the reader to point out fuch Kind of workman- 
 fhip in Virgil. In the fixth Aeneid, the hero 
 fpeaks to the Sybil. 
 
 " Foliis tantum ne carmina manda, 
 " Ne turbata volent, rapidis ludibria vends : 
 ** Ipfa canas, oro. Fmem dedit ore loquendi. 
 
 The river God Tyber is fpeaking of himfelf. 
 Aen. 
 
 ** Ego fum, pleno quern flumine cernis 
 Stringentem ripas, et pinguia culta fecantem 
 Coeruleus Tybris. Coelo gratiffimus amnis. 
 
 Some
 
 on SHAKESPEARE. 333 
 
 Some other fufpe&ed places may be pointed 
 out : but I fubmit to the judgment of the rea- 
 der, whether he can think thefe additions, any 
 other than botches in poetry : and how much 
 more virgilian would thefe verfes appear, were 
 they left as I have here marked them ? 
 
 I T ought not to be forgotten that Shake- 
 fpcare has many words, either of admiration or 
 exclamation, &c. out of the verfe. Nor is 
 this without example in the Greek tragedies. 
 In the Hecuba of Euripides tf. 863. 
 
 Ow'x ef * 
 
 Sophocles in Aj. ^. 748. 
 
 {> TtjWs T)J\ 
 
 And again ^. 1021. 
 
 OijUOl 
 
 r, w? i* TO ar 
 In Hamlet Acl I. 
 
 " Gh. So art thou to revenge, when thou fhalt 
 
 *' hear. 
 
 " Ham. What? 
 " Gh. I am thy father's fpirit. 
 
 And
 
 334 Critical Observations Book III. 
 
 And prefently after, 
 
 " Gh. If thou didft ever thy dear father love 
 " Ham. Ohheav'n! 
 " Gh. Revenge his foul and moft unnatural 
 
 " murther ! 
 " Ham. Murther! 
 " Gh. Murther moft foul> as in the beft it is. 
 
 In Othello Aft HI. 
 
 " Oth. Oh, yes, and went between us very oft. 
 " lago. Indeed! 
 
 " Oth. Indeed ! ay, indeed. Difcern'ft thou ought 
 " in that? 
 
 And in many other places exactly after the caft 
 of the ancient plays. There are fome poetic 
 liberties that our author takes, fuch as length- 
 ening words in fcanfion, as ixitensfs, fideier, an- 
 gery, Hinerj, sarjeant, captain, fiat fa, desire, 
 villain, firs, hour, grace, great, &c. &c. 
 
 V OSS I US fpoke very ignorantly of our lan- 
 guage when he afferted that our verfes run all, 
 as it were, in one meafure, without diftindion 
 of members or parts, or any regard to the natu- 
 ral quantities of fyllables. For are not thefe 
 fubftantives as much trochees, conduci, confort, 
 conttji, &c. and die verbs from thefe fubftantives, 
 as much iambics, ccndiicf, confori, contcjl, &c. 
 
 as
 
 .Ill en SHAKESPEARE. 
 
 as any Latin or Greek words whatever ? Again, 
 sin/tilt faithful, nature, venture, &c. have all the 
 fkft pliable long. However our pofition in the 
 main determines the, quantity, and a great deal 
 is left to the ear. 
 
 But let us take any verfe in Milton or Shake- 
 
 fpeare, for example, 
 r 
 
 Say ftrft.fcr heav'njhides nothing fromjthy view. 
 
 i 2 3 4 5 
 
 And tranfpofe the words, 
 Say firftjfor heav'n'nothing'from thyjview hides. 
 
 i I 2 1 3 ! 4 5 
 
 . 
 
 who cannot feel the difference, even fuppofmg 
 he could not give a reafon for it ? 
 
 THE greateft beauty in diction is, when k. 
 correfponds to the fenfe. This beauty our lan- 
 guage, with all its difadvantages, carr attain ; as 
 I could eafily inftance from Shakefpeare and 
 Milton. We have hariri, rough conibnants, a s 
 well as the foft and melting, and thefe fhould 
 found in the fame mufical key. This rule is 
 moft religioufly obfervcd by Virgil -, as is like- 
 wife that of varying the paufc and cefura, or as 
 Milton expreffes it, tbejenfe b:l'-:- ^srloujh dra i sor t 
 cut from one verfe into anstber. For it is variety 
 and uniformity that makes beauty ; and, for 
 want of this, our riming poets foon tire the ear: 
 
 for
 
 336 Critical Obfervations Book III. 
 for rime neceflarily hinders the fenfe from being 
 uarioujly drawn out from one verfe to another. They 
 who avoid this Gothic bondage, are unpardona- 
 ble, if they don't ftudy this variety , when 
 Shakefpeare and Milton have fo finely led them 
 the way. 
 
 But to treat this matter, concerning his metre, 
 fomewhat more exactly : 'tis obferved that when 
 the iambic verfe has its juft number of fyllables, 
 'tis called acataleftic ; when deficient in a fyllable 
 eataktic\ when a foot is wanting to compleat 
 the dipod, according to the Greek fcanfion, bra- 
 chycataleftic - y when exceeding in a fyllable, by- 
 fercataleftic. 
 
 The iambic monometer acataledic, of two 
 feet. 
 
 I 2 
 
 Bea | tus !l 
 
 I 2 
 
 No It | is ftruck 
 
 I 2 
 
 Laft night 1 of all 
 
 I 2 
 
 For Hec | iiba Haml. 
 I Z 
 
 Two
 
 on SHAKESPEARE, 337 
 
 Two truths | are told Macb. 
 i 2 
 
 Iambic monometer hypercatalectic, of two 
 feet and a femiped. 
 
 , plv I zrxt 
 I 2 
 
 Bea | tus il | le 
 
 I 2 
 
 and more | i beg | not 
 
 I 2 
 
 Then yield | thee cow | ard 
 
 i 2 Macb. 
 
 and prey [ on gar | bage 
 
 i 2 Ham. 
 
 The Iambic dimeter brachycatalectic of three 
 feet. 
 
 OH, ulv u ] zseu Ap, 
 I 2 3 
 
 Bea | tus II | le qui 
 
 1 2 3 
 
 Till then [ enough | come friends 
 
 i 2 3 
 
 So pry | thee go [ with me Macb, 
 
 if sight | and fhape | be true 
 why then | my love | adieu. As you like it. 
 i 2 3 
 
 Z The
 
 33$ Critical Obfervations Book III. 
 
 The lambick dimeter cataleftic ; better known 
 by the anacreontic ; of three feet and one femiped. 
 
 i 2 3 
 
 Pater | narii | ra bo j bus 
 
 i 2 3 i 
 
 Nay come | let's go | toge | ther 
 
 i 2 3 
 
 a king | of flireds | and pat | ches 
 
 i 2 34 Harrh 
 
 it is | a peer [lefskinfj man 
 
 123 i 
 
 and all | things un | be come | ing 
 
 12 3 i 
 
 Had i [ three ears | i'd hear | thee 
 
 j 2 3 i Macbeth. 
 
 The iambic dimeter acatalectic, of four feet. 
 
 a, ju=v w | 
 12 34 
 
 iit prif | ca gens j mSrta | lium 
 
 1234 Hor. 
 
 in thun | der light | nmg and | in rain 
 
 12 34 Macb. 
 
 The iambic dimeter hypercatalectic, the third 
 meafure in the alcaic verfe, of four feet and a 
 femiped. ,
 
 on SHAKESPEARE. 339 
 
 , jUty u THOU. 
 
 Non ru | ra quae | Lirls | quie | ta 
 
 12 34 Hot; 
 
 Hamlet Aft III. 
 a bro | ther's mur | ther. Pray | i can | not 
 
 12 34 
 
 Othello Aft III. 
 
 Damn her, I leud minx ! I Sh ! dimn | her,damn | her! 
 1234 
 
 Timon of Athens Aft II. 
 But yet ] they could | havewlmt|they knew] not- 
 
 The iambic trimeter brachycataleftic, of five 
 feet, which is our common heroic verfe. 
 
 Suis [ et ip | fa R6 | ma vi | ribus 
 
 123 45 
 
 if thou | haft a j ny found ( or ufe [ of voice 
 
 12345 Ham. 
 
 The iambic trimeter cataleftic* of five feet 
 and a femiped. 
 
 'A, |UV u \ zseu A<X^,T< | Sifofrxat 
 
 12 345 
 
 Mea | reni | det in | domo | Iku | nar 
 123 45 Hor. 
 
 Z 2 But
 
 340 Critical Obff Nations Book III. 
 
 But to | befafe | lythus | our fears | inBan [ quo 
 123 4 5 
 
 Stick deep 1 and in | hisroy | alty | of na ] ture 
 i 2 3 4 5 i 
 
 Verfes of this meafure are very frequent, both 
 in Milton and Shakefpeare. 
 
 The iambic trimeter acatalectic, or fenarian 
 of fix feet. 
 
 att t fjitv u { THOU, \xfy-its \ ^op,X ci 
 
 12 3 456 
 
 Bea 1 tus il | le qul | procul | nego | tils 
 
 123 456 Hor. 
 
 Othello. 
 
 That canlthy llght]relu|mine. Whenji've pluck'djthe rofe 
 123 4 5 6 
 
 Antony and Cleopatra. 
 
 The 6s | tenta I tion of 1 our love | which left .iinfliewn 
 1234 5 6 
 
 Hamlet. 
 
 that fa 1 ther loft 1 16ft his I and the 1 furvi | vcr bound 
 12 3 4 5 6 
 
 SHAKESPEARE ufesnot only the iam- 
 bic, but the trochaic meafure. As for example, 
 the trochaic dimeter brachycatalectic, common-
 
 on SHAKESPEARE. 341 
 
 ly called the ithyphallic, confiding of three 
 trochees. 
 
 Bacche | Bacche | Bacche 
 where haft | thou been | sifter. Macb. 
 The trochaic dimeter catalectic ; a fort of 
 verfe Ariftophanes was fond of, when he ridi- 
 cul'd Euripides, confiding of three trochees and 
 a femiped. 
 
 Non e [ bur neq* | aure | um 
 
 i 2 3 i Hor. 
 
 When the | hurly | burly's | done 
 
 i 2 3 
 
 When the [ battle's | 16ft and | won. Much. 
 
 i 2 3 
 
 Softly | fweet in | Lydf .'n | meafure 
 Soon he | footh'd his [ foul to | pleafure. Dryd. 
 
 The trochaic tetrameter cataleftic of fix feet, 
 and clofing with a trochee and a femiped, what 
 the Greeks call 
 
 Ariftoph. 
 Tyfi, -ry arc JA &o<r,fivcu ] TVT, [Atv ro7| T; ^,f, 
 
 12 3 4 5 6 7 f 
 
 Ay or 1 drinking | fencing | fwearing | quarrelling 
 
 1 2 3 4 5 
 
 drabbing | you may go 
 
 6 7 t 
 
 Z 3 This
 
 Critical Obfervattons Book III. 
 
 This dancing meafure is very proper to the 
 character of Polonius, a droll humourous old 
 courtier , and the mixture of the trochaic has 
 no bad effect The verfes are thus to be or- 
 dered. In Hamlet, Act. II. 
 
 As are companions noted and moft known 
 
 To youth and liberty. R. As gaming my Lord. 
 
 P. Ay or drinking, fencing, /wearing, quarrelling, 
 
 drabbing, you may go 
 So far. R. My Lord, that would dijhonour him. 
 
 Nor is Shakefpeare without inftances of the 
 anapeftic verfe , which verfes confift of anapefts, 
 fpondees, dactyls ; and fometimes is intermixed 
 the pes procekufmaticus ; as 
 
 uv. Eurip. Oreft. 
 
 The anapeftic monometer acataledic, of two 
 feet. 
 
 fa* KaA 
 
 i 2 Jul. in Cacf 
 
 over hill over dale 
 
 Through
 
 on SHAKESPEARE. 343 
 
 Through bulh | through briar. 
 
 I 2 
 
 over park ] over pale 
 
 i 2 
 
 Through flood | through fire 
 j do winder | ev'ry where. 
 
 I 2 
 
 Midfummer's Night's Dream Ad HI. 
 
 on the ground ( fleep found, 
 ii'll apply | to your eye 
 Gentle lover | remedy 
 When thfiu wakft | thou takft 
 Triie delight | in the sight 
 of thy former j lady's eye. 
 
 Thefe verfes are in the Midfummer Night's 
 dream Aft III. and ought to have been printed 
 according to this meafure. 
 
 Thefe meafures are all fo agreeable to the geni- 
 us of our language, that Shakefpeare's fine ear 
 and fkill are feen in what he gives us, as well 
 as in what he omits. Sir Philip Sydney, who 
 was a fcholar (as nobleman were in queen Eli- 
 zabeth's reign) but wanted Shakefpeare's ear, has 
 dragged into our language verfes, that are enough 
 to fet one's ear an edge : thus for inftancc the ele~ 
 giac verfes, 
 
 Z 4 For-
 
 344 Critical Observations Book III. 
 
 F6rtune|nature|love longjhave contended ajbout me 
 Which fhouldjmoft mise|ries]caft on a|worme that i |am. 
 
 Sir Philip Sydney thought, like Voflius, that fuch 
 a number of fyllables was the only thing want- 
 ing, and that we had no long or Ihort words in 
 our language ; but he was much miftaken. His 
 faphics arc worfe, if poffible, than his elegiacs : 
 
 If mine eys can fpeak to do hearty errand. 
 So much miftaken oftentimes are learned men, 
 when they don't fufficiently confider the peculi- 
 ar genius, and diftinguifhing features, as it were, 
 of one language from another. 
 
 THE reader has now a plan exhibited before 
 him, partly intended to fix, if poflible, the vo- 
 latil fpirit of criticifm ; and partly to do juftice 
 to Shakefpeare, as an artift in dramatic poetry. 
 How far I have fucceded in this attempt muft 
 be left to his judgment. But it is to be remem- 
 ber'd, that things are not as we judge of them, 
 but as they exift in their own natures, indepen- 
 dent of whim and caprice. So that I except 
 againft all fuch judges, as talk only from com- 
 mon vogue and fafhion , " why, really 'tis juft 
 " as people like we have different taftes now, 
 " and things muft be accommodated to them." 
 They who are advanced to this pitch of barba- 
 
 rifm,
 
 en SHAKESPEARE. 345 
 
 rifm, have much to unlearn, before they can 
 have ears to hear. Again, I can hardly allow 
 thofe for judges, who ridicule all rules in poetry ; 
 for whatever is beautiful and proper is agreeable 
 to rule : nor thofe, who are for fetting at vari- 
 ance art and nature. And here I have Shake- 
 fpeare's authority, who, in the Winter's Tale, 
 fays very finely, The art itfelf is nature : for what 
 is the office of art, but to fliew nature in its 
 perfection ? Thofe only therefore feem to me to 
 be judges, who knowing what is truly beauti- 
 ful in general, have fcience and art fufficient to 
 apply this knowledge to particulars. 
 
 If the plan likewife here propofed were follow- 
 ed, the world might expect a much better, at 
 leaft a lefs altered edition from Shakefpeare's 
 own words, than has yet been publifhed. In 
 order for this, all the various readings of autho- 
 rity mould faithfully and fairly be collated, 
 and exhibited before the reader's eyes ; and, with 
 fome little ingenuity, the beft of thefe mould 
 be chofen, and placed in the text. As to con- 
 jectural emendations, I have faid enough of thefe 
 already. Nor can I but think, that a fhort in- 
 terpretation would be not amifs, when the con- 
 ftruction is a little embarraffed, or where words 
 are ufed not flrictly according to the com- 
 mon acceptation, or fetched from other lanr 
 
 guages:
 
 346 Critical Observations Book III. 
 guages : and fome remarks could not but appear 
 requifite, to explain the poet's allufions to the 
 various cuftoms and manners, either of our own, 
 or foreign countries ; or to point out, now and 
 then, a hidden beauty : but this mould be done 
 fparingly -, for fome compliment is to be paid 
 to the reader's judgment : and furely, if any cri- 
 tics are contemptible, 'tis fuch as, with a foolifh 
 admiration, ever and anon are crying out; 
 " How fine ! what a beautiful fentiment I what 
 " ordonnance of figures, &c !" For to admire, 
 without a reafon for admiration, tho s in a fub- 
 je<5t truly admirable, is a kind of madnefs ; and 
 pot to admire at all, downright ftupidity. 
 
 1 N D E. X.
 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 [N. B. The figures fiiew the page : the letter , the note.] 
 
 ACTORS (ftage, ) their original, in, &c. 
 ADD is ON, noted. 84, n. 231. 
 Admiration, hovj thepajfionis to beraifed. 58, 59. n. 64, 
 
 n. 97. 
 
 ADONIS, his gardens. 167, Sec. 
 AESCHYLUS, bis improvement of the ftage. 1 1 z, 1 1 3 , &c. 
 
 Affront. 297. 
 
 ALCYONIVS, Petrus, cited and cor re fled, 34, 35, n. 
 
 Alliteratio. 253, 254. 
 
 Ambition, its effefti. 42, 43, &c. 
 
 ANACREON, /furious. 276, 277. 
 
 ANTONINUS, Marcus, explained. 32, n. correfled. 258. 
 
 explained and correfied. 205, 230, &C. 
 ANTONY, Mark, bis cbarafier. 87, 100. 
 APOLLONIUS, Rhodius, correfted. 171, n. 
 Apofiopefis, a figure in rhetoric ufcd by Staff/bear*. B. II. 
 
 Seft. IV. 
 
 Arbitrary power, fee Tyranny. 
 
 ARIPHRO, a 1'erfe of bis, cited by Stobaeus, cor re fled. 204. 
 ARISTARCHUS. 151. 
 
 ARISTOPHANES,fJf/>/a/>^. 173, 230, 231, 248, 249, 307. 
 
 kisfcbohaji corrected. 121, n. 
 ARISTOTLE, in his poetics explained, paffim. explained and 
 
 torrefied. 12, n. 40, n. 42, n. 59, n. 69, n. 91, n. 1 13, 
 
 114, n. 122, 123, n. 
 
 AR.RIAN, his difeourfes of Epifletits, explained. 202, n. 294. 
 Arts and fciences, perfonated. 146. fiourijb in popular go- 
 
 vernmenf, and why. 132, 133. 
 
 Arm-
 
 INDEX. 
 
 ATHENIANS, rife and progrefs of dramatic poetry amitg 
 
 them, in, &c. 
 
 Attic writers, fee Greek authors. 
 AUGUSTUS CAESAR, fee OCTAVIUS. 
 
 B 
 
 BATAVIA, its etymology. 285. 
 
 Mr. BAYS. 15, n. fee DRYDEN. 
 
 'Beauty, in <wkat itconfijts, 67, 68, n. 3. Beauty of character* 
 91. Of diBion, 335, 336. fee character. In what the chief 
 beauty in poetry confifts, 95, 96, 97, 98. The mind necef- 
 farily in love with beauty. 150. fee Truth. Htnu confti- 
 tuted in variety. 152, 153. 
 
 BEWTIEY, his critical rules examined. B. I. S. I. His correc- 
 tion of a paJjTage of Firgil examined and refuted. 4, &c. n. 
 Of fe f f ral pajfages in Horace, refuted. 99, and n. Jig. 
 n. 137, n. 178, &c. A paj/age in his differtatien on Pha- 
 leris, examined. 117, 1 18. 
 
 BXv1o'?. 300. 
 
 25ourn. 298, 299. 
 207. n. 
 207. 
 
 /Breeding, modern good-breeding. 14. 88. 13?. 
 
 SBcatolec. 207. n. 
 23, n. 
 -207. 
 
 BRITONS,^ Engliihmen. 
 BRUTUS, bis cbarafier. 86. 90. 
 
 SBuftoon. n, n. 
 
 Buffoonery, all t or all formality. 107, 1 08. 
 BURNET, bijbop, wrongly judges of Milton. 1 8, 19. 
 Burning of the Palatine library. 34. and n. 3. of the Gretk 
 autborj. 34, 35. and n. 4, 
 
 C.
 
 I N D E X. 
 
 c. 
 
 CALIDONIA, its etymology. 285. 
 
 CALLIMACHVS, corrected. 133, n. 
 
 CASSIUS, his cbaraQer. 87. 
 
 CATILINE, characterized in Firgil. 157, 158. 
 
 Characters poetic. 78, 79, &c. Cbarafter vf man. 80, Sl 
 /ro/^r tbaraSerfor tragedy, what ? 46. 81, %z.fuitablenefi 
 of character , 82, 83. characters of women, 83, 84, and 
 n. /fooiuw characters, how to be drawn, 85, 86. canfijieti- 
 cy of character ) 88, 89. /^# mind pleafed *with this con* 
 fiftency, and why, 9 1 . konejl ckaraSer of poets t whether 
 nece/ary. B. I. Seft. XI. bonefy of Shake/ptarSt (hanK- 
 ter, 93, 94. 
 
 CHARLES, firft, king. 158. 159. 
 
 CHARLES, fecond, king. 14. 160. 
 
 Chivalry, a picture of ancient chivalry in Shake fpeare. 36,&c. 
 
 CICERO, his opinion of mujic, 32. correQed^ 271. 287. bit 
 accuracy, 282. explained, 324, 325. /> chara8er y 8/ 
 characterized in Virgil. 157. 
 
 Comedy, /Af original and improvement, I2O, &c. proper fut^ 
 jecJs for it. 122, 123, n. 
 
 Confiftency of chara&er, ^ charadler. 
 
 Courtier, a ridiculous charafler in Shekefpeare. 101. 
 
 Critics, /^V whim/teal rules. B. I. Seel. I. a very good cri 
 tical rule, 3, n. the province of critics, B. II. Se&. I. 
 
 Cruelty ,ivitboxt necejjity not allowable in tragedy. 45, and n. 80. 
 
 Daemon. 193, 
 
 <>ear* 303. 
 
 Devil, his char after in Milt an, 79. called fy Shakefpearf 
 Monarch of th North, 214, 
 
 Pic-
 
 INDEX. 
 
 n, poetic, 102, 103. its chief beauty, 
 Digamma, Aeolic. 207, n. 57, n. 
 Dignity of char-offer. 97. 
 D IOG E N E s LA E RT i us, explained. 1 1 9, n. 
 DIOMEDES, the grammarian, explained. H2, fl. 
 Diverfions, public. 29, &c. 
 DRYDEN. 15, n. 18, 19,11. 106. 129. 253. 
 Dunces, their pride andpertnefs. 12. 28. 283* 
 
 E 
 
 - 
 
 E^wfcoiroifa, a fine injlnnce of that figure. 51, and tt. 
 ELIZABETH, $>ueen, her learning, 1 3, n. Shakefpeare 'wrote 
 
 a comedy at her requeft, 101 . complemented by Shakefpeare. 
 
 128, n. 135. 
 Eloquence, perforated, \ 46. fiourijhes in popular government. 
 
 112, 133- 
 
 EMFEDOCLES, correSed. 217. 
 Englifhmen, /-&> taftef 14, 15, 28, 29. 39, 40. 130. 
 
 282. ancient Britons. 35, 36. 
 EPICHARMUS, ^/j improvement of comedy, 1 22, &c. /everal 
 
 cf his verfes correQed. 1 2 3 , n. 
 
 EPICURUS, his doSnne to be found in Ho/Mr. 104, n. 
 Eiriyuvpetlet TUV Xcthut. 67, n. 
 
 EPIMENIDES, correSed. 30, n. 
 
 Ew^.aCa?. 227,228. 
 
 Iviviypwivlw. 68, n. 
 
 EURIPIDES, his cy clops, 105, n. in, 1 1 2, n. bis Ore/Its, 
 
 144. Io explained, 313. Pbaen. explained, 324. a njtrft in 
 
 hi: Medaea cor re Sled. 235, n, 
 Evc-t>c7rl. 68, n. 
 
 F.
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Fable, of the man and bit two wives, applied to Critics on 
 Shakefpeare. 280. 
 
 3?aDe. 209, n. 
 
 Fanaticifm, its influence on arts and fciences t 14. 29, &c. n." 
 Fafhion, vicious in pastry, 97. folly of judging from mode and 
 
 fajbion. 39. 344, 345. 
 Fathers, of the church, deftroyed the Greek writers, 34, 
 
 35, and n. 
 
 Flattery, how defpicable. 133, &c. 
 Fool, a character in our old plays, \ 6. 
 Formal authors. 107, 108. all formality, or all buffbontry. 
 
 ibid. 
 FRANCE, its influence on EngHJb toft and manners. 14, 132^ 
 
 G. 
 
 Genius, fee Daemon. 
 
 Gorboducke, a play. 75, n. 
 
 Gothic chivalry. 36, &c. fee Englimmen. 
 
 Government, popular, its influence on arts and fciencef. B. I. 
 
 5eft. XV. fee Liberty. Tyranny. 
 Grave writers, 107, 108. Gravity and humour, how they 
 
 may be blended, ibid. 
 Greek writers, their excellency, 134. the only models for 
 
 improvement of toft, 149, &c. how fo many came to be 
 
 deftroyed, 34, 35, and n. ancient Greek language, what? 
 
 328. its pronunciation, 143, how Written itt Homer*/ 
 
 time. 1 86, n. 
 GREGORY the great. 34.
 
 INDEX. 
 
 H. 
 
 Hand, for power. 221. 
 
 Hebrews, author of the epiftle, corrected. 266. 
 
 Hell, variety of torment* there. 215, &C. 
 
 HERCULES, Mso-ayim. 141. 
 
 Hieronymo, or the Spanijh tragedy, a, play ridiculed by 
 
 Sbakefpeare and Jobnfon. 273, 274, n. 
 High and low life. 97, 98. 
 HOBBES, noted. 95, 96, 
 HOMER, afpecimen of writing in his time. 1 86, n. an account 
 
 of his editor Ariftarchus. 151. explained, 6l> n. 22O, 221, 
 
 n. 222, 321. correSed. 57, n. 
 
 \j Honefty, whether requijite in a poet. B. I. Seft. XI. 130. 
 HORACE, bis character, 132, n. a flatterer of OEla<vius, 
 
 133, 134. dwells too long on the fatyric drama, 1 12, n. 
 
 paffages explained and defended, 99, and n. 1 19, I2O, and 
 
 n. 1 74. fame of the odes explained and corrected. \ 78, 1 79, 
 
 180, 181, 182. 278, 279, 280. 
 Hofpitality, facred. 46, n. 
 Human nature. 80, 81. 
 /Humour and gravity, feldom found mixed in the fame cbtt* 
 
 ra3er. 107, 108. 
 
 JAMES, fuft, king, 13, 14. complemented by Shakefpeare. 54, 
 
 135. 
 
 Jealoufy, 64, 66. 
 
 Inchantmeuts of witches. 51, 52, &c. 
 Infpiration, poetical, u, 12, and n. 
 Interefting Jubjefls ofpaetry, what? 8 1, 82. 46. 
 JOHN, St. explained. 319. 
 
 JotW-
 
 INDEX. 
 
 JOHNSOS, Ben. 75, &c. 92, &c. 273, 274,% 
 
 JUDE, St. explained. 29, n. 
 
 JULIAN, bisCaefars explettned, 129, 130, n. torretftt, l6, 
 
 n. explained and correSed. 269, 270, 
 JUVENAL, corrtffed. 232, 233. 
 
 k*1CaTa? Se*'?. 22O. 
 
 K'f' U7TO*>!4/?. 47' 
 
 Knight-errantry. Sw chivalry. 
 
 LABERIUS, /&;> wz'w^y, 1 12, n. 
 
 Ladys, 16. 83, 84. 
 
 Latin ftage writen. 131. Latin authors. 133. 1 49, h . 
 
 Liberty, perforiateJ. 146. its influence on literature. B, I, 
 
 Seft. XV. on dramatic poetry. 109, HO, III. 131. 
 Liturgy, Englijh. 232. 
 LONGINUS, noted, 94, n. 97. correQtd. 244. 
 tove, fow/V /^o. 15, and n. 5. Zbve end" ktmr* 
 
 ibid. 33. 
 
 Ludere, meaning of the ivord, 26, n. 
 LUKE, St. corretted, 264, 265. Afts of the Apoftles, il- 
 
 lujt rated and explained. 31, 32, n. 311. 
 Xyes, boiu neceffary in poetry, 40, 41, and n. 42, 43, n- 
 
 frobable lye; tetter than improbable truths. 43, n. 
 
 M. 
 
 Machines, poetic. 58, 59, n. 
 Mgic. ptetic. 107. 
 
 Co mafte. 154, n. 
 
 Man, character of man in Central, 80, 8 1 - 
 Man-fcience. 8u 
 
 A a Man-
 
 I N D E X. 
 
 Manners futic. B. I. Sea X. 
 
 MARTIAL, explained. 156, 157. 
 
 Marvellous, fee admiration. 
 
 Mafk, &n axsuKt of the ancient. 114, 115, and n. 
 
 MATTHEW, St. torreSed. 259. 267, 268. 
 
 MAXJMCS TYRIU^, explained and correfted. 258. 
 
 Meiofis,, a figure ttjedby Shake/fear e. 166. 
 
 Menofwk. o8. 
 
 MEN A NDE R, bis rife and cbarafier, 133. farm bis plays carm 
 
 tube dfjiroyedj 34, 3 5, and n. cited by St. Past!. 29, n. 
 Metaphors, mixed. 137, and n. 
 MILTCS. His paradife loft, hew far a picture of bis won 
 
 times, 458, &c. His tragedy conjidered in tbis light, 162. 
 
 explained, paflim. corr tiled I, n. a better reading propoftd^ 
 A 2, n. 167. 162, tepl&iatd and carr(8cd t 2OO, 201. 224, 
 
 225- 265, n. 
 Mr&nttrope. So, 81. 
 
 c fliocftec. 11,11. 
 
 Models, for taji. 149, 150. 
 
 Monofyllables, frequent i the ancient Greek language. 328. 
 
 Monilrous chara&ers, bvtu far allowable in poetry. 80. 
 
 Moral painting in poetry. 95, 96. 
 
 Moralities. 109, no, and n. 
 
 MURITUS, bm far be impofed on Scafigtr. 275, n, 
 
 Muficai entertainments, 32, 33, and n, 
 
 Myfleries. 109, no, and n. 
 
 N. 
 
 t/ttature and truth to be flufaed, not fajhion and (nflom. 97. 
 
 283. 344, 345. buman nature. 80, l. 
 w/ Natural charafter. 46. 8r, 82, 
 Nepenthe. 56, n. 
 
 224, 225. 
 
 O.
 
 INDEX. 
 
 o. 
 
 OCTAVIUS, bit c haraSer, 87, 88. 131. 
 . 20, 21. fee 
 
 327. 
 
 OVID, Amor : explained and corre3ed, 197, 198. Efijt, ter- 
 retted. 247, 248. 
 
 P. 
 
 Palatine library, burnt. 34, n. 
 
 ITfKfaa<7K. 128, n. 
 
 Parodies. 129, n. 
 
 IlagoftoK*, a figurf ridiculed in Shakefpeare. 254. 
 
 PAUL, St. explained and illuftrated. 29, &c. n. 307. 
 
 Phallic, 1 20, and n. 
 
 *Wia, _/? inftance of that figure. 51, and n. 
 
 PHILEMON, corrected. 276, n. 
 
 PLATO, rf /a the fuitablenefs of charafter, 82, 83, 
 
 and n. Aw Gorgias explained and cited. 124, 125. 251- 
 
 Itit Minos explained, 117, 118. his Sympojium, 1 08. r. 
 
 plained, 250, 251. Aw To cited, iz.de leg. corrected 31. 
 , n. 271. explained, 227, 228. Phtedo cited, 80, 81. /)r 
 
 r^. te 812. Aldbiades, illitft rated. 231. 
 PLATONIUS, corrected, 114, n. 
 PLAUTUS, illuflrated. 126. 322, 323. 
 Pleafure arijir.gfrom fcene of diftrefs. 66, 67, and n. 
 PLUTARCH, paj/ages explained, 193. 243, n. 226, 427. 
 
 torrefied. 198, 199, n. 217, n. 239, n. 
 t, meaning and force of the word. 154. and n. 
 
 3 2 7- 
 
 IIouIV. 154, n. 
 
 Probability, poetic. 42, and n. a probable lye. ibid. 
 
 PROPEBTIUS, explained. 26, n. 
 
 A a 2 ne
 
 I N D E 
 
 beatetj oftkefgurt. < 
 Pugillares. 219, n. ^ ;., 
 
 Puns, i* Shakefteare and in the ancient writers. 245, &c. 
 Puritans, their toft, and bairtd ef Uttr**** 2$ t ia 
 
 Or. 
 
 iof- Tf 
 191. 
 
 R. 
 
 . zo8, 209, 1 10. 
 
 . 206, 207. 
 
 Rehearfal, ^w^; 129. 
 
 Refolution, 47. 
 
 Ridicule, proper ful>je2s for it. 122, 123, n. 
 
 Rimes, whether avoided by Htmer t Pirgi!, MiltoK t 5, 6j n. 
 
 20, 21, n. 
 Ramans, Jmu their government influenced their manners and 
 
 homing. 131. their fall and barbarity. $$, $^. Rotnmc 
 135. Roman Authors. 149, 150, and n. 
 
 Satyric drama, x 1 1, 112, and n. 
 
 SCALICER impofed on by Muretui. 275, n. 
 
 Self-love. 45. 
 
 Seatiments, peetic. 99, &c. 
 
 SnAFTESBURY, ar/, wangfy criticizes ShakcfpeAre, 17. 
 nijlaken in hit etjmolgy of DeJ&mona, 288. 
 
 SHAKESPEARE, his learning, n, 12, paflim. nuberein faul- 
 ty. 40, 41. 80. 134, 135. bithonejl character. 93, 94. 
 ajlriS obferver of decorum. 107. hi i gravity and humour. 
 107, 108. Hii plays explained, defended, corre8e& 
 
 All's
 
 I N D E X. 
 
 AB's weH that ends well, nrrtfled, 224. 
 
 Antony and Cleopatra. The charaSer of Mark 
 
 l"6o. dramatis perfonae varied from Plutarch, 288. 
 fa/ages explained, 195, 196. 310. defended, 286, 295. 
 296,297. 304, 305. 320. 325, 326. correStd and ex- 
 plained, 192, 193. 203, 204. 226, 227. 238, 239, 240, 
 241. 243, 244. 261. 
 
 ^ As you like it. fa/agu explained, 245, 246. correfied, 245. 
 260. 262. 
 
 Comedy of errors, pa/agts explained and defended, 163, 
 164. 301, 302. 
 
 Corioknus. charafler ofCoriolanus, 89, 90. pajfages e 
 
 ed, 299. 317, 318. defended, 177. 288. 304. 306. cor- 
 reSed and explained, 206. 'wherein faulty. 135, 136. 
 
 Cymbeline. pajfizges explained. 211, 212. defended and ex- 
 plained, 182, 183. 317. correQed, 212. 220. 229, 230. 
 
 Hamlet, the play criticized, 57, 58, Sec. in iabat light tkt 
 play introduced before the King, is to be confidered, 129, n. 
 paj/ages explained, 9, 10. n. 126. 219. 297. 299^ 
 300. 303. 323. 326. defended, 289. explained and carrel- 
 td, 188, 189, 190, 209. 342. 
 
 I ft Part of K. Henry IV. ivrongly fo called, 70, 71. ex- 
 plained, 9. n. 125. 309. explained and defended, 176. 
 
 ad part of K. Henry IV. wrongly, fa called, 70, 71. 
 paj/agei explained, 219. corrected, 229. 
 
 Henry V. Plutllin'i cbar offer, 85. pafogn explained, 
 9. D. 221. 297. 238. correSed, 260, 261. 278. 
 
 A a 3 K. Hen-
 
 IN D E X. 
 
 K. Henry VI. the jpory faulty, 4- an 4 n < ?- 7*- 
 
 I in the firjl part, explained, 214. 2^. part, explained. 287. 
 
 K. Henry VIII. wrongly calted the life ofK. Henry nil. 
 70. 'wherein faulty, 70. 135. pajjages explained, &* de- 
 fended. 305. 
 
 K. John, wrongly called, Tbe life and death of K. John, "JO. 
 pajfages explained and defended, iSjj, 186. 
 
 Julius Caefar. The pht vindicated, "jl, 72. its length of 
 time, 72, n. the charaSen, 86, 87, 88. 90. pajfages ex- 
 plained, 90, 91. 194, 195. defended, 172. 293, 294, 295, 
 'explained and torrefied, 224. 236, 237, 238, 246. dta- 
 mat is pe rjon<e varied from Plutarch, 288. x 
 
 K. Lear, explained and corrected, 22$, 226. 327. defended, 
 291, 292. corretted, 202. paj/agei explained, 218. 299. 
 
 Love's kbour's loft, fyurlous. 274. 
 
 Macbeth. T^ //<zy eritized. 42, 43, &c. fcc. paJTages ex- 
 plained, 194. 297. 302, 303. 310. 312. defended, 177- 
 169, 170. 180. 309. 314, 315. 322. 325. correfted, 
 49, n. 55, n. 201. wherein faulty. 135. 
 
 Meafure for Meafure. Pajfages explained, 190. 211. its u- 
 nity and moral, 72. explained and defended, 182. 312. 
 326. explained and correSied, 212. 215, 216. 224. 
 
 Merchant of Venice. The Jeiu't charafler not proper for 
 the fiage, 80. 
 
 Merry Wives of Windfor. Pafages explained and defended 
 176, 301, torrefied. 262, 263. 
 
 The
 
 IN D EX. 
 
 The Midfummer Night's Dream, paj/ages defended, 172." 
 285, 286. explained and correcJed, 25. n. 343. ridi- 
 cules the affectation of repeating the fame letters, 254. 
 
 Much ado about nothing, paffages explained, 209. 
 
 Othello. The play criticized, 64,65, &c. paffages explained f 
 219. 176. 291. explained and defended, 177, 178. 183, 
 184. 289, n. 321. correfiions propofed, 184, 185. cor- 
 re8ed t 2OQ. explained and corrected, 190, 191, 192. 2$6 
 257. 291. meaning of the word Defdemtna, 288. 
 
 K. Richard II. paffages explained, 36, &c. 302. defended^ 
 290. corrected. 262. 
 
 K.. Richard III. The char after improper for the ftage, 80. 
 explained and defended, 9. n. 
 
 Romeo and Juliet. A play founded upon hi/lory, 86. Mer- 
 cutio's character, 101. pajfages explained and defended, 
 164, 165. cor re fled t 234, 235. 
 
 Taming of a Shrew. Paffagss defended. 290. 
 
 The Tempeft. The unity of its aftion, 72. Caliban's charac- 
 ter t KJ2. explained and correQed, 202, 203, 204. 222, 
 223. 241, 242. 259, 260. 
 
 Timon of Athens, paffages defended, 325, 326. corrected, 
 201, 202. 228, 229. 
 
 Titus Andronicus,^j/r/'0j. 273, 274. 
 
 Troilus and Creffida. Paffages explained and torrefied^ 210, 
 211. 242, 243. explained, 165, n. 
 
 A a 4 Twelfth
 
 i N.I i> ; E : x; 
 
 aT 
 Tweifth-Nigjit, wWhat you tvill, tttptxitmF, 7. n. 25-$. 
 
 Two Gentlemen .of Verona, furious. 274, 
 Winter's tale. 7B* flory faulty t 40, 41. n. 
 
 SOCRATBS. 107. 28*. 
 
 SOPHOCLIS, bit improvement ef the Jta,ge, 115, and n. 116, 
 
 n. M Eleftra, 63. Oedipus, 71. ^fr y 71, 72. 30. 
 
 Pbi/offetes explained, 247. defencttd. 45, n. 
 SPENCER, pajjages explained, 39, n. 154, n. 316. explain- 
 
 ed And corrected, 193, 194. 199. ZOO. 2*34, 235, n. 
 Stage, y? tragedy, comedy. 
 STRABO, cited and illuftrated. 93. 
 Sublime, un. 98. 
 
 ^ubfcrilje, fubfcription, 291, 292. 
 
 Saperftition </ ivickednefs united. 5 1 . 
 
 Swearing on the (word. 61, n. 
 
 SYDNEY, Sir Philip, bis Remarks on our tragedies ad eotttt 
 
 dies, 75, 76. bis bad metre, 343, 344. charafterixed in 
 
 Spencer. 39. 
 2%flfx, ' v7rooif, a Jigurt in rhetoric ufed bj Shake- 
 
 fteare. 173. 
 
 T. 
 
 Tangere, mtanlug of the ivard. 291. 
 Taft, modern, 16. 28. tafi corrupted introduces depravity of 
 
 morals , 33, 34. critical t aft, how to be acquired. 149, 
 
 150. 344, 345. 
 TERENCE, 130, 131.282. 322,323, 324. bisartin draiv- 
 
 ing the character of Demea. 88, 89. 
 THEOCRITUS, corre3ed. 123. 224, 245. 
 THESPIS, tbe inventor of ftage plays, in. 
 
 Ti-
 
 I N D E X. 
 
 , corrected. ui,n. 
 COUClj, tOUCf)^, 291. 
 
 r rr*&fy, its rife and progrefs. B. I. Sett. XIV. defined. 42. 7J* 
 Tragic charafter, 46. 81, 82. tragical pajjions. 66, 67. 
 Tragi-comedy. B. L Scdl. XIII. 
 
 121. 
 
 10, n. 
 
 Truth, /orfw 1 , 99. neceffarlly ferfued. 150. 
 
 Tutelar deitks. 196, 197. yfe Daemon. 
 
 T^. 193- 
 
 Tyranny, perfonated, 145, 146. to influence max* mt 
 
 /eiences. 109. 1IO. B. I. Setf. XV. 
 Tyrannic paflions, 49, 50. 
 TYRTAEUS, explained and correSed. tzj t 228. 
 
 V. 
 
 V coftfonant in Latin changed into W fytb Englijh. 21 t fi 
 
 Verbs, applied properly to one /ufytanti<ve t and improperly ft 
 the other. 6, n. 
 
 Verfes, treated 'of ; 329, &c. ^;c. 
 
 Veffel, /sr ^5^. 219. 
 
 The Vice, a droll ckarafier in o*r oU plfjs. 7, &C &. 
 
 VIROIL, ArV charafler, 134. n. a flatterer ofOtfsviitt, 135, 
 e/#/, ibid. Romans characterized in bis poem^ 157, 158. 
 whether be errs in bis chief char after. 65, n. character of 
 Camilla t 84, 85. of Dido, 64, 65, n. pajflages explained^ 
 196. 243. 251. 320. explained and defended, 4, &C. a. 
 rrffftf. 86. 332, 333. 
 
 U. 
 
 ^ Unity, y^f Whole. Unities of time and place, 73, 74, and XL 
 aw'/y of char after. ()t-/ti Character.
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Vossius, Mted, 334. 
 
 Utterance, 45. s> 
 
 w. 
 
 C. 207, n. 
 ). 43, 44, n. 
 
 207, n. 
 Whole. 67, 68, and n. 74. 153, 
 
 e. 206. 
 
 . Women. 33. 84, n. 
 Wonder, fee Admiration. 
 
 X. 
 
 XENOPHON, kit Aw/*. explained, 231. torrefied. 121, 122,, 
 n. ^V 2t/f*w. explained and corrtSed. 249^ 250. 
 
 Z. 
 
 i. ii, n. 
 
 Zeal, perfonated. 145. ?>j influence on arts andfciencej, 20, 
 n. 34, 35. 
 
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