Letter I.
_Sir_, Feb. 1. 1710/11.
I here send you the Tragedy of _Coriolanus_, which I have alter’d from the
Original of _Shakespear_, and with it a short Account of the Genius and
Writings of that Author, both which you desired me to send to you the last
time I had the good Fortune to see you. But I send them both upon this
condition, that you will with your usual Sincerity tell me your Sentiments
both of the Poem and of the Criticism.
_Shakespear_ was one of the greatest Genius’s that the World e’er saw for
the Tragick Stage. Tho’ he lay under greater Disadvantages than any of his
Successors, yet had he greater and more genuine Beauties than the best and
greatest of them. And what makes the brightest Glory of his Character,
those Beauties were entirely his own, and owing to the Force of his own
Nature; whereas his Faults were owing to his Education, and to the Age
that he liv’d in. One may say of him as they did of _Homer_, that he had
none to imitate, and is himself inimitable. His Imaginations were often as
just, as they were bold and strong. He had a natural Discretion which
never cou’d have been taught him, and his Judgment was strong and
penetrating. He seems to have wanted nothing but Time and Leisure for
Thought, to have found out those Rules of which he appears so ignorant.
His Characters are always drawn justly, exactly, graphically, except where
he fail’d by not knowing History or the Poetical Art. He has for the most
part more fairly distinguish’d them than any of his Successors have done,
who have falsified them, or confounded them, by making Love the
predominant Quality in all. He had so fine a Talent for touching the
Passions, and they are so lively in him, and so truly in Nature, that they
often touch us more without their due Preparations, than those of other
Tragick Poets, who have all the Beauty of Design and all the Advantage of
Incidents. His Master-Passion was Terror, which he has often mov’d so
powerfully and so wonderfully, that we may justly conclude, that if he had
had the Advantage of Art and Learning, he wou’d have surpass’d the very
best and strongest of the Ancients. His Paintings are often so beautiful
and so lively, so graceful and so powerful, especially where he uses them
in order to move Terror, that there is nothing perhaps more accomplish’d
in our _English_ Poetry. His Sentiments for the most part in his best
Tragedies, are noble, generous, easie, and natural, and adapted to the
Persons who use them. His Expression is in many Places good and pure after
a hundred Years; simple tho’ elevated, graceful tho’ bold, and easie tho’
strong. He seems to have been the very Original of our _English_ Tragical
Harmony; that is the Harmony of Blank Verse, diversifyed often by
Dissyllable and Trissyllable Terminations. For that Diversity
distinguishes it from Heroick Harmony, and, bringing it nearer to common
Use, makes it more proper to gain Attention, and more fit for Action and
Dialogue. Such Verse we make when we are writing Prose; we make such Verse
in common Conversation.
If _Shakespear_ had these great Qualities by Nature, what would he not
have been, if he had join’d to so happy a Genius Learning and the Poetical
Art? For want of the latter, our Author has sometimes made gross Mistakes
in the Characters which he has drawn from History, against the Equality
and Conveniency of Manners of his Dramatical Persons. Witness _Menenius_
in the following Tragedy, whom he has made an errant Buffoon, which is a
great Absurdity. For he might as well have imagin’d a grave majestick
_Jack-Pudding_, as a Buffoon in a _Roman_ Senator. _Aufidius_ the General
of the _Volscians_ is shewn a base and a profligate Villain. He has
offended against the Equality of the Manners even in his Hero himself. For
_Coriolanus_ who in the first part of the Tragedy is shewn so open, so
frank, so violent, and so magnanimous, is represented in the latter part
by _Aufidius_, which is contradicted by no one, a flattering, fawning,
cringing, insinuating Traytor.
For want of this Poetical Art, _Shakespear_ has introduced things into his
Tragedies, which are against the Dignity of that noble Poem, as the Rabble
in _Julius Cæsar_, and that in _Coriolanus_; tho’ that in _Coriolanus_
offends not only against the Dignity of Tragedy, but against the Truth of
History likewise, and the Customs of Ancient _Rome_, and the Majesty of
the _Roman_ People, as we shall have occasion to shew anon.
For want of this Art, he has made his Incidents less moving, less
surprizing, and less wonderful. He has been so far from seeking those fine
Occasions to move with which an Action furnish’d according to Art would
have furnish’d him, that he seems rather to have industriously avoided
them. He makes _Coriolanus_, upon his Sentence of Banishment, take his
leave of his Wife and his Mother out of sight of the Audience, and so has
purposely as it were avoided a great occasion to move.
If we are willing to allow that _Shakespear_, by sticking to the bare
Events of History, has mov’d more than any of his Successors, yet his just
Admirers must confess, that if he had had the Poetical Art, he would have
mov’d ten times more. For ’tis impossible that by a bare Historical Play
he could move so much as he would have done by a Fable.
We find that a Romance entertains the generality of Mankind with more
Satisfaction than History, if they read only to be entertain’d; but if
they read History thro’ Pride or Ambition, they bring their Passions along
with them, and that alters the case. Nothing is more plain than that even
in an Historical Relation some Parts of it, and some Events, please more
than others. And therefore a Man of Judgment, who sees why they do so, may
in forming a Fable, and disposing an Action, please more than an Historian
can do. For the just Fiction of a Fable moves us more than an Historical
Relation can do, for the two following Reasons: First, by reason of the
Communication and mutual Dependence of its Parts. For if Passion springs
from Motion, then the Obstruction of that Motion or a counter Motion must
obstruct and check the Passion: And therefore an Historian and a Writer of
Historical Plays, passing from Events of one nature to Events of another
nature without a due Preparation, must of necessity stifle and confound
one Passion by another. The second Reason why the Fiction of a Fable
pleases us more than an Historical Relation can do, is, because in an
Historical Relation we seldom are acquainted with the true Causes of
Events, whereas in a feign’d Action which is duly constituted, that is,
which has a just beginning, those Causes always appear. For ’tis
observable, that, both in a Poetical Fiction and an Historical Relation,
those Events are the most entertaining, the most surprizing, and the most
wonderful, in which Providence most plainly appears. And ’tis for this
Reason that the Author of a just Fable must please more than the Writer of
an Historical Relation. The Good must never fail to prosper, and the Bad
must be always punish’d: Otherwise the Incidents, and particularly the
Catastrophe which is the grand Incident, are liable to be imputed rather
to Chance, than to Almighty Conduct and to Sovereign Justice. The want of
this impartial Distribution of Justice makes the _Coriolanus_ of
_Shakespear_ to be without Moral. ’Tis true indeed _Coriolanus_ is kill’d
by those Foreign Enemies with whom he had openly sided against his
Country, which seems to be an Event worthy of Providence, and would look
as if it were contriv’d by infinite Wisdom, and executed by supreme
Justice, to make _Coriolanus_ a dreadful Example to all who lead on
Foreign Enemies to the Invasion of their native Country; if there were not
something in the Fate of the other Characters, which gives occasion to
doubt of it, and which suggests to the Sceptical Reader that this might
happen by accident. For _Aufidius_ the principal Murderer of _Coriolanus_,
who in cold Blood gets him assassinated by Ruffians, instead of leaving
him to the Law of the Country, and the Justice of the _Volscian_ Senate,
and who commits so black a Crime, not by any erroneous Zeal, or a mistaken
publick Spirit, but thro’ Jealousy, Envy, and inveterate Malice; this
Assassinator not only survives, and survives unpunish’d, but seems to be
rewarded for so detestable an Action, by engrossing all those Honours to
himself which _Coriolanus_ before had shar’d with him. But not only
_Aufidius_, but the _Roman_ Tribunes, _Sicinius_ and _Brutus_, appear to
me to cry aloud for Poetick Vengeance. For they are guilty of two Faults,
neither of which ought to go unpunish’d: The first in procuring the
Banishment of _Coriolanus_. If they were really jealous that _Coriolanus_
had a Design on their Liberties, when he stood for the Consulship, it was
but just that they should give him a Repulse; but to get the Champion and
Defender of their Country banish’d upon a pretended Jealousy was a great
deal too much, and could proceed from nothing but that Hatred and Malice
which they had conceiv’d against him, for opposing their Institution.
Their second Fault lay in procuring this Sentence by indirect Methods, by
exasperating and inflaming the People by Artifices and Insinuations, by
taking a base Advantage of the Open-heartedness and Violence of
_Coriolanus_, and by oppressing him with a Sophistical Argument, that he
aim’d at Sovereignty, because he had not delivered into the Publick
Treasury the Spoils which he had taken from the _Antiates_. As if a Design
of Sovereignty could be reasonably concluded from any one Act; or any one
could think of bringing to pass such a Design, by eternally favouring the
Patricians, and disobliging the Populace. For we need make no doubt but
that it was among the young Patricians that _Coriolanus_ distributed the
Spoils which were taken from the _Antiates_; whereas nothing but caressing
the Populace could enslave the _Roman_ People, as _Cæsar_ afterwards very
well saw and experienc’d. So that this Injustice of the Tribunes was the
original Cause of the Calamity which afterwards befel their Country, by
the Invasion of the _Volscians_, under the Conduct of _Coriolanus_. And
yet these Tribunes at the end of the Play, like _Aufidius_, remain
unpunish’d. But indeed _Shakespear_ has been wanting in the exact
Distribution of Poetical Justice not only in his _Coriolanus_, but in most
of his best Tragedies, in which the Guilty and the Innocent perish
promiscuously; as _Duncan_ and _Banquo_ in _Mackbeth_, as likewise Lady
_Macduffe_ and her Children; _Desdemona_ in _Othello_; _Cordelia_, _Kent_,
and King _Lear_, in the Tragedy that bears his Name; _Brutus_ and _Porcia_
in _Julius Cæsar_; and young _Hamlet_ in the Tragedy of _Hamlet_. For tho’
it may be said in Defence of the last, that _Hamlet_ had a Design to kill
his Uncle who then reign’d; yet this is justify’d by no less than a Call
from Heaven, and raising up one from the Dead to urge him to it. The Good
and the Bad then perishing promiscuously in the best of _Shakespear_’s
Tragedies, there can be either none or very weak Instruction in them: For
such promiscuous Events call the Government of Providence into Question,
and by Scepticks and Libertines are resolv’d into Chance. I humbly
conceive therefore that this want of Dramatical Justice in the Tragedy of
_Coriolanus_ gave occasion for a just Alteration, and that I was oblig’d
to sacrifice to that Justice _Aufidius_ and the Tribunes, as well as
_Coriolanus_.
Thus have we endeavour’d to shew that, for want of the Poetical Art,
_Shakespear_ lay under very great Disadvantages. At the same time we must
own to his Honour, that he has often perform’d Wonders without it, in
spight of the Judgment of so great a Man as _Horace_.
Natura fieret laudabile carmen, an arte,
Quæsitum est: ego nec studium sine divite vena,
Nec rude quid prosit video ingenium; alterius sic
Altera poscit opem res, & conjurat amice.
But from this very Judgment of _Horace_ we may justly conclude that
_Shakespear_ would have wonderfully surpass’d himself, if Art had been
join’d to Nature. There never was a greater Genius in the World than
_Virgil_: He was one who seems to have been born for this glorious End,
that the _Roman_ Muse might exert in him the utmost Force of her Poetry:
And his admirable and divine Beauties are manifestly owing to the happy
Confederacy of Art and Nature. It was Art that contriv’d that incomparable
Design of the _Æneis_, and it was Nature that executed it. Could the
greatest Genius that ever was infus’d into Earthly Mold by Heaven, if it
had been unguided and unassisted by Art, have taught him to make that
noble and wonderful Use of the _Pythagorean_ Transmigration, which he
makes in the Sixth Book of his Poem? Had _Virgil_ been a circular Poet,
and closely adher’d to History, how could the _Romans_ have been
transported with that inimitable Episode of _Dido_, which brought a-fresh
into their Minds the _Carthaginian_ War, and the dreadful _Hannibal_? When
’tis evident that that admirable Episode is so little owing to a faithful
observance of History, and the exact order of Time, that ’tis deriv’d from
a very bold but judicious Violation of these; it being undeniable that
_Dido_ liv’d almost 300 Years after _Æneas_. Yet is it that charming
Episode that makes the chief Beauties of a third Part of the Poem. For the
Destruction of _Troy_ it self, which is so divinely related, is still more
admirable by the Effect it produces, which is the Passion of _Dido_.
I should now proceed to shew under what Disadvantages _Shakespear_ lay for
want of being conversant with the Ancients. But I have already writ a long
Letter, and am desirous to know how you relish what has been already said
before I go any farther: For I am unwilling to take more Pains before I am
sure of giving you some Pleasure. I am,
_Sir_,
_Your most humble, faithful Servant_.
Letter II.
_Sir_, Feb. 6. 1710/11.
Upon the Encouragement I have receiv’d from you, I shall proceed to shew
under what Disadvantages _Shakespear_ lay for want of being conversant
with the Ancients. But because I have lately been in some Conversation,
where they would not allow but that he was acquainted with the Ancients, I
shall endeavour to make it appear that he was not; and the shewing that in
the Method in which I pretend to convince the Reader of it, will
sufficiently prove what Inconveniencies he lay under, and what Errors he
committed for want of being conversant with them. But here we must
distinguish between the several kinds of Acquaintance: A Man may be said
to be acquainted with another who never was but twice in his Company; but
that is at the best a superficial Acquaintance, from which neither very
great Pleasure nor Profit can be deriv’d. Our Business is here to shew
that _Shakespear_ had no familiar Acquaintance with the _Græcian_ and
_Roman_ Authors. For if he was familiarly conversant with them, how comes
it to pass that he wants Art? Is it that he studied to know them in other
things, and neglected that only in them, which chiefly tends to the
Advancement of the Art of the Stage? Or is it that he wanted Discernment
to see the Justness, and the Greatness, and the Harmony of their Designs,
and the Reasonableness of those Rules upon which those Designs are
founded? Or how come his Successors to have that Discernment which he
wanted, when they fall so much below him in other things? How comes he to
have been guilty of the grossest Faults in Chronology, and how come we to
find out those Faults? In his Tragedy of _Troylus_ and _Cressida_, he
introduces _Hector_ speaking of _Aristotle_, who was born a thousand Years
after the Death of _Hector_. In the same Play mention is made of _Milo_,
which is another very great Fault in Chronology. _Alexander_ is mention’d
in _Coriolanus_, tho’ that Conqueror of the Orient liv’d about two hundred
Years after him. In this last Tragedy he has mistaken the very Names of
his Dramatick Persons, if we give Credit to _Livy_. For the Mother of
_Coriolanus_ in the _Roman_ Historian is _Vetturia_, and the Wife is
_Volumnia_. Whereas in _Shakespear_ the Wife is _Virgilia_, and the Mother
_Volumnia_. And the _Volscian_ General in _Shakespear_ is _Tullus
Aufidius_, and _Tullus Attius_ in _Livy_. How comes it that he takes
_Plutarch_’s Word, who was by Birth a _Græcian_, for the Affairs of
_Rome_, rather than that of the _Roman_ Historian, if so be that he had
read the latter? Or what Reason can be given for his not reading him, when
he wrote upon a _Roman_ Story, but that in _Shakespear_’s time there was a
Translation of _Plutarch_, and there was none of _Livy_? If _Shakespear_
was familiarly conversant with the _Roman_ Authors, how came he to
introduce a Rabble into _Coriolanus_, in which he offended not only
against the Dignity of Tragedy, but the Truth of Fact, the Authority of
all the _Roman_ Writers, the Customs of Ancient _Rome_, and the Majesty of
the _Roman_ People? By introducing a Rabble into _Julius Cæsar_, he only
offended against the Dignity of Tragedy. For that part of the People who
ran about the Streets upon great Festivals, or publick Calamities, or
publick Rejoicings, or Revolutions in Government, are certainly the Scum
of the Populace. But the Persons who in the Time of _Coriolanus_ rose in
Vindication of their just Rights, and extorted from the Patricians the
Institution of the Tribunes of the People, and the Persons by whom
afterwards _Coriolanus_ was tried, were the whole Body of the _Roman_
People to the Reserve of the Patricians, which Body included the _Roman_
Knights, and the wealthy substantial Citizens, who were as different from
the Rabble as the Patricians themselves, as qualify’d as the latter to
form a right Judgment of Things, and to contemn the vain Opinions of the
Rabble. So at least _Horace_ esteems them, who very well knew his
Countrymen.
Offenduntur enim, quibus est equus, aut pater, aut res,
Nec, siquid fricti ciceris probat aut nucis emptor,
Æquis accipiunt animis donantve Corona.
Where we see the Knights and the substantial Citizens are rank’d in an
equal Degree of Capacity with the _Roman_ Senators, and are equally
distinguish’d from the Rabble.
If _Shakespear_ was so conversant with the Ancients, how comes he to have
introduc’d some Characters into his Plays so unlike what they are to be
found in History? In the Character of _Menenius_ in the following Tragedy,
he has doubly offended against that Historical Resemblance. For first
whereas _Menenius_ was an eloquent Person, _Shakespear_ has made him a
downright Buffoon. And how is it possible for any Man to conceive a
_Ciceronian Jack-pudding_? Never was any Buffoon eloquent, or wise, or
witty, or virtuous. All the good and ill Qualities of a Buffoon are summ’d
up in one Word, and that is a Buffoon. And secondly, whereas _Shakespear_
has made him a Hater and Contemner and Villifier of the People, we are
assur’d by the _Roman_ Historian that _Menenius_ was extremely popular. He
was so very far from opposing the Institution of the Tribunes, as he is
represented in _Shakespear_, that he was chiefly instrumental in it. After
the People had deserted the City, and sat down upon the sacred Mountain,
he was the chief of the Delegates whom the Senate deputed to them, as
being look’d upon to be the Person who would be most agreeable to them. In
short, this very _Menenius_ both liv’d and dy’d so very much their
Favourite, that dying poor he had pompous Funerals at the Expence of the
_Roman_ People.
Had _Shakespear_ read either _Sallust_ or _Cicero_, how could he have made
so very little of the first and greatest of Men, as that _Cæsar_ should be
but a Fourth-rate Actor in his own Tragedy? How could it have been that,
seeing _Cæsar_, we should ask for _Cæsar_? That we should ask, where is
his unequall’d Greatness of Mind, his unbounded Thirst of Glory, and that
victorious Eloquence, with which he triumph’d over the Souls of both
Friends and Enemies, and with which he rivall’d _Cicero_ in Genius as he
did _Pompey_ in Power? How fair an Occasion was there to open the
Character of _Cæsar_ in the first Scene between _Brutus_ and _Cassius_?
For when _Cassius_ tells _Brutus_ that _Cæsar_ was but a Man like them,
and had the same natural Imperfections which they had, how natural had it
been for _Brutus_ to reply, that _Cæsar_ indeed had their Imperfections of
Nature, but neither he nor _Cassius_ had by any means the great Qualities
of _Cæsar_: neither his Military Virtue, nor Science, nor his matchless
Renown, nor his unparallell’d Victories, his unwearied Bounty to his
Friends, nor his Godlike Clemency to his Foes, his Beneficence, his
Munificence, his Easiness of Access to the meanest _Roman_, his
indefatigable Labours, his incredible Celerity, the Plausibleness if not
Justness of his Ambition, that knowing himself to be the greatest of Men,
he only sought occasion to make the World confess him such. In short, if
_Brutus_, after enumerating all the wonderful Qualities of _Cæsar_, had
resolv’d in spight of them all to sacrifice him to publick Liberty, how
had such a Proceeding heighten’d the Virtue and the Character of _Brutus_?
But then indeed it would have been requisite that _Cæsar_ upon his
Appearance should have made all this good. And as we know no Principle of
human Action but human Sentiment only, _Cæsar_, who did greater Things,
and had greater Designs than the rest of the _Romans_, ought certainly to
have outshin’d by many Degrees all the other Characters of his Tragedy.
_Cæsar_ ought particularly to have justified his Actions, and to have
heighten’d his Character, by shewing that what he had done, he had done by
Necessity; that the _Romans_ had lost their _Agrarian_, lost their
Rotation of Magistracy, and that consequently nothing but an empty Shadow
of publick Liberty remain’d; that the _Gracchi_ had made the last noble
but unsuccessful Efforts for the restoring the Commonwealth, that they had
fail’d for want of arbitrary irresistible Power, the Restoration of the
_Agrarian_ requiring too vast a Retrospect to be done without it; that the
Government, when _Cæsar_ came to publick Affairs, was got into the Hands
of a few, and that those few were factious, and were contending among
themselves, and, if you will pardon so mean an Expression, scrambling as
it were for Power; that _Cæsar_ was reduc’d to the Necessity of ruling, or
himself obeying a Master; and that apprehending that another would
exercise the supreme Command without that Clemency and Moderation which he
did, he had rather chosen to rule than to obey. So that _Cæsar_ was faulty
not so much in seizing upon the Sovereignty, which was become in a manner
necessary, as in not re-establishing the Commonwealth, by restoring the
_Agrarian_ and the Rotation of Magistracies, after he had got absolute and
uncontroulable Power. And if _Cæsar_ had seiz’d upon the Sovereignty only
with a View of re-establishing Liberty, he had surpass’d all Mortals in
Godlike Goodness as much as he did in the rest of his astonishing
Qualities. I must confess, I do not remember that we have any Authority
from the _Roman_ Historians which may induce us to believe that _Cæsar_
had any such Design. Nor if he had had any such View, could he, who was
the most secret, the most prudent, and the most discerning of Men, have
discover’d it before his _Parthian_ Expedition was over, for fear of
utterly disobliging his Veterans. And _Cæsar_ believ’d that Expedition
necessary for the Honour and Interest of the State, and for his own Glory.
But of this we may be sure, that two of the most discerning of all the
_Romans_, and who had the deepest Insight into the Soul of _Cæsar_,
_Sallust_ and _Cicero_, were not without Hopes that _Cæsar_ would really
re-establish Liberty, or else they would not have attack’d him upon it;
the one in his Oration for _Marcus Marcellus_, the other in the Second
Part of that little Treatise _De Republica ordinanda_, which is address’d
to _Cæsar_. _Hæc igitur tibi reliqua pars, says Cicero, Hic restat Actus,
in hoc elaborandum est, ut Rempublicam constituas, eaque tu in primis
composita, summa Tranquillitate & otio perfruare. Cicero_ therefore was
not without Hope that _Cæsar_ would re-establish the Commonwealth; and any
one who attentively peruses that Oration of _Cicero_, will find that that
Hope was reasonably grounded upon his knowledge of the great Qualities of
_Cæsar_, his Clemency, his Beneficence, his admirable Discernment; and
that avoidless Ruine in which the whole Empire would be soon involv’d, if
_Cæsar_ did not effect this. _Sallust_ urges it still more home to him and
with greater vehemence; he has recourse to every Motive that may be
thought to be powerful over so great a Soul. He exhorts him by the Memory
of his matchless Conquests, not to suffer the invincible Empire of the
_Roman_ People to be devour’d by Time, or to be torn in pieces by Discord;
one of which would soon and infallibly happen, if Liberty was not
restor’d.
He introduces his Country and his Progenitors urging him in a noble
Prosopopeia, by all the mighty Benefits which they had conferr’d upon him,
with so little Pains of his own, not to deny them that just and easy
Request of the Restoration of Liberty. He adjures him by those Furies
which will eternally haunt his Soul upon his impious Refusal: He implores
him by the foresight of those dismal Calamities, that horrible Slaughter,
those endless Wars, and that unbounded Devastation, which will certainly
fall upon Mankind, if the Restoration of Liberty is prevented by his
Death, or his incurable Sickness: And lastly, he entreats him by his
Thirst of immortal Glory, that Glory in which he now has Rivals, if he has
not Equals; but which, if he re-establishes Liberty, will be acknowledg’d
by consenting Nations to have neither Equal nor Second.
I am apt to believe that if _Shakespear_ had been acquainted with all
this, we had had from him quite another Character of _Cæsar_ than that
which we now find in him. He might then have given us a Scene something
like that which _Corneille_ has so happily us’d in his Cinna; something
like that which really happen’d between _Augustus_, _Mecænas_, and
_Agrippa_. He might then have introduc’d _Cæsar_ consulting _Cicero_ on
the one side, and on the other _Anthony_, whether he should retain that
absolute Sovereignty which he had acquir’d by his Victory, or whether he
should re-establish and immortalize Liberty. That would have been a Scene
which might have employ’d the finest Art and the utmost force of a Writer.
That had been a Scene in which all the great Qualities of _Cæsar_ might
have been display’d. I will not pretend to determine here how that Scene
might have been turn’d; and what I have already said on this Subject, has
been spoke with the utmost Caution and Diffidence. But this I will venture
to say, that if that Scene had been manag’d so, as, by the powerful
Motives employ’d in it, to have shaken the Soul of _Cæsar_, and to have
left room for the least Hope, for the least Doubt, that _Cæsar_ would have
re-establish’d Liberty, after his _Parthian_ Expedition; and if this
Conversation had been kept secret till the Death of _Cæsar_, and then had
been discover’d by _Anthony_; then had _Cæsar_ fall’n, so belov’d and
lamented by the _Roman_ People, so pitied and so bewail’d even by the
Conspirators themselves, as never Man fell. Then there would have been a
Catastrophe the most dreadful and the most deplorable that ever was beheld
upon the Tragick Stage. Then had we seen the noblest of the Conspirators
cursing their temerarious Act, and the most apprehensive of them in
dreadful expectation of those horrible Calamities which fell upon the
_Romans_ after the Death of _Cæsar_. But, Sir, when I write this to you, I
write it with the utmost Deference to the extraordinary Judgment of that
great Man who some Years ago, I hear, alter’d the _Julius Cæsar_. And I
make no doubt but that his fine Discernment and the rest of his great
Qualities have amply supply’d the Defects which are found in the Character
of _Shakespear_’s _Cæsar_.
I should here answer an Argument, by which some People pretend to prove,
and especially those with whom I lately convers’d, that _Shakespear_ was
conversant with the Ancients. But besides that the Post is about to be
gone, I am heartily tir’d with what I have already writ, and so doubtless
are you; I shall therefore defer the rest to the next opportunity, and
remain
Your, _&c_.
Letter III.
_Sir_, Feb. 8.
I come now to the main Argument, which some People urge to prove that
_Shakespear_ was conversant with the Ancients. For there is, say they,
among _Shakespear_’s Plays, one call’d _The Comedy of Errors_, which is
undeniably an Imitation of the _Menechmi_ of _Plautus_. Now _Shakespear_,
say they, being conversant with _Plautus_, it undeniably follows that he
was acquainted with the Ancients; because no _Roman_ Author could be hard
to him who had conquer’d _Plautus_. To which I answer, that the Errors
which we have mention’d above are to be accounted for no other way but by
the want of knowing the Ancients, or by downright want of Capacity. But
nothing can be more absurd or more unjust than to impute it to want of
Capacity. For the very Sentiments of _Shakespear_ alone are sufficient to
shew that he had a great Understanding: And therefore we must account some
other way for his Imitation of the _Menechmi_. I remember to have seen,
among the Translations of _Ovid_’s Epistles printed by Mr. _Tonson_, an
Imitation of that from _Œnone_ to _Paris_, which Mr. _Dryden_ tells us in
his Preface to those Epistles was imitated by one of the Fair Sex who
understood no _Latin_, but that she had done enough to make those blush
who understood it the best. There are at this day several Translators,
who, as _Hudibrass_ has it,
Translate from Languages of which
They understand no part of Speech.
I will not affirm that of _Shakespear_; I believe he was able to do what
Pedants call construe, but that he was able to read _Plautus_ without Pain
and Difficulty I can never believe. Now I appeal to you, Sir, what time he
had between his Writing and his Acting, to read any thing that could not
be read with Ease and Pleasure. We see that our Adversaries themselves
acknowledge, that if _Shakespear_ was able to read _Plautus_ with Ease,
nothing in Latinity could be hard to him. How comes it to pass then, that
he has given us no Proofs of his familiar Acquaintance with the Ancients,
but this Imitation of the _Menechmi_, and a Version of two Epistles of
_Ovid_? How comes it that he had never read _Horace_, of a superiour Merit
to either, and particularly his Epistle to the _Piso’s_, which so much
concern’d his Art? Or if he had read that Epistle, how comes it that in
his _Troylus_ and _Cressida_ [we must observe by the way, that when
_Shakespear_ wrote that Play, _Ben Johnson_ had not as yet translated that
Epistle] he runs counter to the Instructions which _Horace_ has given for
the forming the Character of _Achilles_?
Scriptor: Honoratum si forte reponis Achillem,
Impiger, Iracundus, Inexorabilis, Acer,
Jura neget sibi nata.
Where is the _Impiger_, the _Iracundus_, or the _Acer_, in the Character
of _Shakespear_’s _Achilles_? who is nothing but a drolling, lazy,
conceited, overlooking Coxcomb; so far from being the honoured _Achilles_,
the Epithet that _Homer_ and _Horace_ after him give him, that he is
deservedly the Scorn and the Jest of the rest of the Characters, even to
that Buffoon _Thersites_.
Tho’ _Shakespear_ succeeded very well in Comedy, yet his principal Talent
and his chief Delight was Tragedy. If then _Shakespear_ was qualify’d to
read _Plautus_ with Ease, he could read with a great deal more Ease the
Translations of _Sophocles_ and _Euripides_. And tho’ by these
Translations he would not have been able to have seen the charming
colouring of those great Masters, yet would he have seen all the Harmony
and the Beauty of their great and their just Designs. He would have seen
enough to have stirr’d up a noble Emulation in so exalted a Soul as his.
How comes it then that we hear nothing from him of the _Œdipus_, the
_Electra_, the _Antigone_ of _Sophocles_, of the _Iphigenia_’s, the
_Orestes_, the _Medea_, the _Hecuba_ of _Euripides_? How comes it that we
see nothing in the Conduct of his Pieces, that shews us that he had the
least Acquaintance with any of these great Masterpieces? Did _Shakespear_
appear to be so nearly touch’d with the Affliction of _Hecuba_ for the
Death of _Priam_, which was but daub’d and bungled by one of his
Countrymen, that he could not forbear introducing it as it were by
Violence into his own _Hamlet_, and would he make no Imitation, no
Commendation, not the least Mention of the unparallell’d and inimitable
Grief of the _Hecuba_ of _Euripides_? How comes it that we find no
Imitation of any ancient Play in Him but the _Menechmi_ of _Plautus_? How
came he to chuse a Comick preferably to the Tragick Poets? Or how comes he
to chuse _Plautus_ preferably to _Terence_, who is so much more just, more
graceful, more regular, and more natural? Or how comes he to chuse the
_Menechmi_ of _Plautus_, which is by no means his Master-piece, before all
his other Comedies? I vehemently suspect that this Imitation of the
_Menechmi_ was either from a printed Translation of that Comedy which is
lost, or some Version in Manuscript brought him by a Friend, or sent him
perhaps by a Stranger, or from the original Play it self recommended to
him, and read to him by some learned Friend. In short, I had rather
account for this by what is not absurd than by what is, or by a less
Absurdity than by a greater. For nothing can be more wrong than to
conclude from this that _Shakespear_ was conversant with the Ancients;
which contradicts the Testimony of his Contemporary and his familiar
Acquaintance _Ben Johnson_, and of his Successor _Milton_;
Lo _Shakespear_, Fancy’s sweetest Child,
Warbles his native Wood-notes wild;
and of Mr. _Dryden_ after them both; and which destroys the most glorious
Part of _Shakespear_’s Merit immediately. For how can he be esteem’d equal
by Nature or superior to the Ancients, when he falls so far short of them
in Art, tho’ he had the Advantage of knowing all that they did before him?
Nay it debases him below those of common Capacity, by reason of the Errors
which we mention’d above. Therefore he who allows that _Shakespear_ had
Learning and a familiar Acquaintance with the Ancients, ought to be look’d
upon as a Detractor from his extraordinary Merit, and from the Glory of
_Great Britain_. For whether is it more honourable for this Island to have
produc’d a Man who, without having any Acquaintance with the Ancients, or
any but a slender and a superficial one, appears to be their Equal or
their Superiour by the Force of Genius and Nature, or to have bred one
who, knowing the Ancients, falls infinitely short of them in Art, and
consequently in Nature it self? _Great Britain_ has but little Reason to
boast of its Natives Education, since the same that they had here, they
might have had in another place. But it may justly claim a very great
share in their Nature and Genius, since these depend in a great measure on
the Climate; and therefore _Horace_, in the Instruction which he gives for
the forming the Characters, advises the noble _Romans_ for whose
Instruction he chiefly writes to consider whether the Dramatick Person
whom they introduce is
“ Colchus an Assyrius, Thebis nutritus an Argis. ”
Thus, Sir, I have endeavour’d to shew under what great Disadvantages
_Shakespear_ lay, for want of the Poetical Art, and for want of being
conversant with the Ancients.
But besides this, he lay under other very great Inconveniencies. For he
was neither Master of Time enough to consider, correct, and polish what he
wrote, to alter it, to add to it, and to retrench from it, nor had he
Friends to consult upon whose Capacity and Integrity he could depend. And
tho’ a Person of very good Judgment may succeed very well without
consulting his Friends, if he takes time enough to correct what he writes;
yet even the greatest Man that Nature and Art can conspire to accomplish,
can never attain to Perfection, without either employing a great deal of
time, or taking the Advice of judicious Friends. Nay, ’tis the Opinion of
_Horace_ that he ought to do both.
Siquid tamen olim
Scripseris, in Metii descendat Judicis aures,
Et Patris, & nostras; nonumque prematur in Annum.
Now we know very well that _Shakespear_ was an Actor, at a time when there
were seven or eight Companies of Players in the Town together, who each of
them did their utmost Endeavours to get the Audiences from the rest, and
consequently that our Author was perpetually call’d upon, by those who had
the Direction and Management of the Company to which he belong’d, for new
Pieces which might be able to support them, and give them some Advantage
over the rest. And ’tis easie to judge what Time he was Master of, between
his laborious Employment of Acting and his continual Hurry of Writing. As
for Friends, they whom in all likelihood _Shakespear_ consulted most were
two or three of his Fellow-Actors, because they had the Care of publishing
his Works committed to them. Now they, as we are told by _Ben Johnson_ in
his _Discoveries_, were extremely pleas’d with their Friend for scarce
ever making a Blot; and were very angry with _Ben_ for saying he wish’d
that he had made a thousand. The Misfortune of it is that _Horace_ was
perfectly of _Ben_’s, mind.
——Vos, O
Pompilius sanguis, carmen reprehendite, quod non
Multa dies & multa litura coercuit, atque
Præsectum decies non castigavit ad unguem.
And so was my Lord _Roscommon_.
Poets lose half the Praise they should have got,
Could it be known what they discreetly blot.
These Friends then of _Shakespear_ were not qualify’d to advise him. As
for _Ben Johnson_, besides that _Shakespear_ began to know him late, and
that _Ben_ was not the most communicative Person in the World of the
Secrets of his Art, he seems to me to have had no right Notion of Tragedy.
Nay, so far from it, that he who was indeed a very great Man, and who has
writ Comedies, by which he has born away the Prize of Comedy both from
Ancients and Moderns, and been an Honour to _Great Britain_; and who has
done this without any Rules to guide him, except what his own incomparable
Talent dictated to him; This extraordinary Man has err’d so grossly in
Tragedy, of which there were not only stated Rules, but Rules which he
himself had often read, and had even translated, that he has chosen two
Subjects, which, according to those very Rules, were utterly incapable of
exciting either Compassion or Terror for the principal Characters, which
yet are the chief Passions that a Tragick Poet ought to endeavour to
excite. So that _Shakespear_ having neither had Time to correct, nor
Friends to consult, must necessarily have frequently left such faults in
his Writings, for the Correction of which either a great deal of Time or a
judicious and a well-natur’d Friend is indispensably necessary.
Vir bonus & prudens versus reprehendet inertes,
Culpabit duros, incomptis allinet atrum
Transverso calamo signum, ambitiosa recidet
Ornamenta, parum claris lucem dare coget,
Arguet ambigue dictum, mutanda notabit.
There is more than one Example of every kind of these Faults in the
Tragedies of _Shakespear_, and even in the _Coriolanus_. There are Lines
that are utterly void of that celestial Fire of which _Shakespear_ is
sometimes Master in so great a Degree. And consequently there are Lines
that are stiff and forc’d, and harsh and unmusical, tho’ _Shakespear_ had
naturally an admirable Ear for the Numbers. But no Man ever was very
musical who did not write with Fire, and no Man can always write with
Fire, unless he is so far Master of his Time, as to expect those Hours
when his Spirits are warm and volatile. _Shakespear_ must therefore
sometimes have Lines which are neither strong nor graceful: For who ever
had Force or Grace that had not Spirit? There are in his _Coriolanus_,
among a great many natural and admirable Beauties, three or four of those
Ornaments which _Horace_ would term ambitious; and which we in _English_
are apt to call Fustian or Bombast. There are Lines in some Places which
are very obscure, and whole Scenes which ought to be alter’d.
I have, Sir, employ’d some Time and Pains, and that little Judgment which
I have acquir’d in these Matters by a long and a faithful reading both of
Ancients and Moderns, in adding, retrenching, and altering several Things
in the _Coriolanus_ of _Shakespear_, but with what Success I must leave to
be determin’d by you. I know very well that you will be surpriz’d to find,
that after all that I have said in the former Part of this Letter against
_Shakespear_’s introducing the Rabble into _Coriolanus_, I have not only
retain’d in the second Act of the following Tragedy the Rabble which is in
the Original, but deviated more from the _Roman_ Customs than _Shakespear_
had done before me. I desire you to look upon it as a voluntary Fault and
a Trespass against Conviction: ’Tis one of those Things which are _ad
Populum Phaleræ_, and by no means inserted to please such Men as you.
Thus, Sir, have I laid before you a short but impartial Account of the
Beauties and Defects of _Shakespear_, with an Intention to make these
Letters publick if they are approv’d by you; to teach some People to
distinguish between his Beauties and his Defects, that while they imitate
the one, they may with Caution avoid the other [there being nothing of
more dangerous Contagion to Writers, and especially to young ones, than
the Faults of great Masters], and while with _Milton_ they applaud the
great Qualities which _Shakespear_ had by Nature, they may follow his wise
Example, and form themselves as he assures us that he himself did, upon
the Rules and Writings of the Ancients.
Sir, if so candid and able a Judge as your self shall happen to approve of
this Essay in the main, and to excuse and correct my Errors, that
Indulgence and that Correction will not only encourage me to make these
Letters publick, but will enable me to bear the Reproach of those who
would fix a Brand even upon the justest Criticism, as the Effect of Envy
and Ill-nature; as if there could possibly be any Ill-nature in the doing
Justice, or in the endeavouring to advance a very noble and a very useful
Art, and consequently to prove beneficent to Mankind. As for those who may
accuse me of the want of a due Veneration for the Merit of an Author of so
establish’d a Reputation as _Shakespear_, I shall beg leave to tell them,
that they chuse the wrongest time that they could possibly take for such
an Accusation as that. For I appeal to you, Sir, who shews most Veneration
for the Memory of _Shakespear_, he who loves and admires his Charms and
makes them one of his chief Delights, who sees him and reads him over and
over and still remains unsatiated, and who mentions his Faults for no
other Reason but to make his Excellency the more conspicuous, or he who,
pretending to be his blind Admirer, shews in Effect the utmost Contempt
for him, preferring empty effeminate Sound to his solid Beauties and manly
Graces, and deserting him every Night for an execrable _Italian_ Ballad,
so vile that a Boy who should write such lamentable Dogrel would be turn’d
out of _Westminster_-School for a desperate Blockhead, too stupid to be
corrected and amended by the harshest Discipline of the Place?
_I am_,
_Sir_,
_Yours, &c._