ferent inftances. Yet all along, there is feen no labour, no pains to raise them; no preparation to guide our guess to the effect, or be perceiv'd to lead toward it: But the heart fwells, and the tears burst out, just at the proper places: We are furprized the moment we weep; and yet upon reflection find the paffion so just, that we should be furprized if we had not wept, and wept at that very moment.

How astonishing is it again, that the Paffions directly oppofite to thefe, Laughter and Spleen, are no lefs at his command! that he is not more a mafter of the great than of the ridiculous in human nature; of our nobleft tendernesses, than of our vaineft foibles; of our ftrongest emotions, than of our idleft fenfations!

Nor does he only excel in the Paffions in the coolness of Reflection and Reasoning he is full as admirable. His Sentiments are not only in general the most pertinent and judicious upon every fubject; but by a talent very peculiar, fomething between penetration and felicity, he hits upon that particular point on which the bent of each argument turns, or the force of each motive depends. This is perfectly amazing, from a man of no education or experience in thofe great and publick fcenes of life which are usually the fubject of his thoughts: So that he feems to have known the world by intuition, to have looked thro' human nature at one glance, and to be the only author that gives ground for a very new opinion, That the philofopher and even the man of the world, may be born, as well as the poet.

It must be owned that with all thefe great excellencies, he has almost as great defects; and that as he has certainly written better, fo he has perhaps written worse, than any other. But I think

I

I can in fome measure account for these defects, from several caufes and accidents; without which it is hard to imagine that fo large and fo enlightened a mind could ever have been fufceptible of them. That all thefe contingencies fhould unite to his difadvantage feems to me almost as fingularly unlucky, as that so many various (nay contrary) talents fhould meet in one man, was happy and extraordinary.

It must be allowed that Stage-poetry of all other, is more particularly levelled to please the populace, and its fuccefs more immediately depending upon the common fuffrage. One cannot therefore wonder, if Shakespear, having at his firft appearance no other aim in his writings than to procure a fubfiftence, directed his endeavours folely to hit the taste and humour that then prevailed. The audience was generally compofed of the meaner fort of people; and therefore the images of life were to be drawn from those of their own rank accordingly we find, that not our author's only, but almost all the old comedies have their fcene among Tradefmen and Mechanicks: And even their hiftorical plays ftrictly follow the common old flories or vulgar traditions of that kind of people. In Tragedy, nothing was fo fure to furprize and caufe admiration, as the moft ftrange, unexpected, and confequently moft unnatural, events and incidents; the most exaggerated thoughts; the most verbose and bombast expreffion; the mosft pompous rhymes, and thundering verfification. In Comedy, nothing was fo fure to please, as mean buffoonry, vile ribaldry, and unmannerly jefts of fools and clowns. Yet even in these, our author's wit buoys up, and is born above his fubject: his genius in those low parts is like fome prince of a romance in the difguife of a fhepherd or peasant ;

a certain greatness and spirit now and then break out, which manifeft his higher extraction and qualities.

It may be added, that not only the common audience had no notion of the rules of writing, but few even of the better fort piqued themselves upon any great degree of knowledge or nicety that way; 'till Ben Johnson, getting poffeffion of the ftage, brought critical learning into vogue: And that this was not done without difficulty, may appear from those frequent leffons (and indeed almoft declamations) which he was forced to prefix to his first plays, and put into the mouth of his actors, the Grex, Chorus, etc. to remove the prejudices, and inform the judgment of his hearers. 'Till then, our authors had no thoughts of writing on the model of the ancients: their Tragedies were only hiftories in dialogue; and their comedies followed the thread of any novel as they found it, no less implicitly than if it had been true hiftory.

To judge therefore of Shakespear by Aristotle's rules, is like trying a man by the laws of one country, who acted under thofe of another. He writ to the people; and writ at first without patronage from the better fort, and therefore without aims of pleafing them: without affiftance or advice from the learned, as without the advantage of education or acquaintance among them: without that knowledge of the beft models, the ancients, to infpire him with an emulation of them: in a word, without any views of reputation, and of what poets are pleased to call immortality: Some or all of which have encouraged the vanity, or animated the ambition, of other writers.

Yet it must be obferved, that when his performances had merited the protection of his prince,

4.

and

and when the encouragement of the court had fuc ceeded to that of the town; the works of his riper years are manifeftly raifed above thofe of his for-. mer. The dates of his plays fufficiently evidence that his productions improved, in proportion to the respect he had for his auditors. And I make no doubt this obfervation would be found true in every inftance, were but editions extant from which we might learn the exact time when every piece was compofed, and whether writ for the town, or the court.

Another caufe (and no less strong than the fórmer) may be deduced from our Author's being a player, and forming himself firft upon the judgments of that body of men whereof he was a member. They have ever had a standard to themselves, upon other principles than thofe of Ariftotle. As they live by the majority, they know no rule but that of pleafing the prefent humour, and complying with the wit in fashion; a confideration which brings all their judgment to a fhort point. Players are juft fuch judges of what is right, as taylors are of what is graceful. And in this view it will be but fair to allow, that most of our Author's faults are lefs to be afcribed to his wrong judgment as a Poet, than to his right judgment as a Player.

By thefe men it was thought a praise to Shakefpear, that he fcarce ever blotted a line. This they induftriously propagated, as appears from what we are told by Ben Johnfon in his Difcoveries, and from the preface of Heminges and Condell to the firft folio edition But in reality (however it has prevailed) there never was a more groundless report, or to the contrary of which there are more undeniable evidences. As the Comedy of the Merry Wives of Windor, which he entirely new writ; the Hiftory of Henry VI. which was firft published

3

published under the title of the Contention of York and Lancaster and that of Henry V. extremely improved; that of Ham et enlarged to almoft as much again as at first, and many others. I believe the common opinion of his want of learning proceeded from no better ground. This too might be thought a praise by fome, and to this his errors have as injudicioufly been afcribed by others. For 'tis certain, were it true, it could concern but a small part of them; the moft are fuch as are not properly defects; but fuperfœtations; and arife not from want of learning or reading, but from want of thinking or judging: or rather (to be more just to our Author) from a compliance to thofe wants in others. As to a wrong choice of the fubject, a wrong conduct of the incidents, falfe thoughts, forced expreffions, etc. if these are not to be afcribed to the forefaid accidental reafons, they must be charged upon the poet himself, and there is no help for it. But I think the two disadvantages which I have mentioned (to be oblig ed to please the lowest of people, and to keep the worft of company) if the confideration be extended as far as it reafonably may, will appear fufficient to mislead and deprefs the greatest Genius upon earth. Nay the more modesty with which fuch a one is endued, the more he is in danger of fub-. mitting and conforming to others, againit his own better judgment.

But as to his want of learning, it may be necef fary to fay fomething more: There is certainly a vaft difference between learning and languages. How far he was ignorant of the latter, I cannot determine; but 'tis plain he had much reading at leaft, if they will not call it learning. Nor is it any great matter, if a man has knowledge, whe ther he has it from one language or from another.

Nothing