20. _Betterton’s_ contemporaries unite in praise of his performance of
Hamlet. Downes has an interesting note in his _Roscius Anglicanus_ showing
how, in the acting of this part, Betterton benefited by Shakespeare’s
coaching: “Sir William _Davenant_ (having seen Mr. Taylor, of the Black
Fryars Company, act it; who being instructed by the author, Mr.
Shakespear) taught Mr. Betterton in every particle of it, gained him
esteem and reputation superlative to all other plays” (1789, p. 29). But
cf. the _Rise and Progress of the English Theatre_, appended to Colley
Cibber’s _Apology_, 1750, p. 516.
The epilogue for Betterton’s “benefit” in 1709 was written by Rowe.
Betterton died in 1710.
_Since I had at first resolv’d ... said of him made good._ This second
criticism of Rymer is also omitted by Pope.
21. _Ten in the hundred_, etc. Reed, Steevens, and Malone have proved
conclusively, if somewhat laboriously, that these wretched verses are not
by Shakespeare. See also Halliwell-Phillips’s _Outlines_, i., p. 326. It
may be noted that ten per cent. was the regular rate of interest at this
time.
21. _as engrav’d in the plate._ A poor full-page engraving of the
Stratford monument faces this statement in Rowe’s edition.
_He had three daughters._ Rowe is in error. Shakespeare had two daughters,
and a son named Hamnet. Susannah was the _elder_ daughter.