much appear, as where he gives his Imagination an entire Loose, and
raises his Fancy to a flight above Mankind and the Limits of the visible
World. Such are his Attempts in _The Tempest_, _Midsummer-Night's
Dream_, _Macbeth_ and _Hamlet_. Of these, _The Tempest_, however it
comes to be plac'd the first by the former Publishers of his Works, can
never have been the first written by him: It seems to me as perfect in
its Kind, as almost any thing we have of his. One may observe, that the
Unities are kept here with an Exactness uncommon to the Liberties of his
Writing: Tho' that was what, I suppose, he valu'd himself least upon,
since his Excellencies were all of another Kind. I am very sensible that
he do's, in this Play, depart too much from that likeness to Truth which
ought to be observ'd in these sort of Writings; yet he do's it so very
finely, that one is easily drawn in to have more Faith for his sake,
than Reason does well allow of. His Magick has something in it very
Solemn and very Poetical: And that extravagant Character of _Caliban_ is
mighty well sustain'd, shews a wonderful Invention in the Author, who
could strike out such a particular wild Image, and is certainly one of
the finest and most uncommon Grotesques that was ever seen. The
Observation, which I have been inform'd[A] three very great Men
concurr'd in making upon this Part, was extremely just. _That
_Shakespear_ had not only found out a new Character in his _Caliban_, but
had also devis'd and adapted a new manner of Language for that
Character._ Among the particular Beauties of this Piece, I think one may
be allow'd to point out the Tale of _Prospero_ in the First Act; his
Speech to _Ferdinand_ in the Fourth, upon the breaking up the Masque of
_Juno_ and _Ceres_; and that in the Fifth, where he dissolves his
Charms, and resolves to break his Magick Rod. This Play has been alter'd
by Sir _William D'Avenant_ and Mr. _Dryden_; and tho' I won't Arraign
the Judgment of those two great Men, yet I think I may be allow'd to
say, that there are some things left out by them, that might, and even
ought to have been kept in. Mr. _Dryden_ was an Admirer of our Author,
and, indeed, he owed him a great deal, as those who have read them both
may very easily observe. And, I think, in Justice to 'em both, I should
not on this Occasion omit what Mr. _Dryden_ has said of him.
Shakespear, _who, taught by none, did first impart
To _Fletcher_ Wit, to lab'ring _Johnson_ Art.
He, Monarch-like, gave those his Subjects Law,
And is that Nature which they Paint and Draw.
_Fletcher_ reach'd that which on his heights did grow,
Whilst _Johnson_ crept and gather'd all below:
This did his Love, and this his Mirth digest,
One imitates him most, the other best.
If they have since out-writ all other Men,
'Tis with the Drops which fell from _Shakespear_'s Pen.
The[B]Storm which vanish'd on the neighb'ring Shoar,
Was taught by _Shakespear_'s Tempest to roar.
That Innocence and Beauty which did smile
In _Fletcher_, grew on this _Enchanted Isle_.
But _Shakespear_'s Magick could not copied be,
Within that Circle none durst walk but he._
_I must confess 'twas bold, nor would you now
That Liberty to vulgar Wits allow,
Which works by Magick supernatural things:
But _Shakespear_'s Pow'r is Sacred as A King's._
Prologue to _The Tempest_, as it
is alter'd by Mr. _Dryden_.
It is the same Magick that raises the Fairies in _Midsummer Night's
Dream_, the Witches in _Macbeth_, and the Ghost in _Hamlet_, with
Thoughts and Language so proper to the Parts they sustain, and so
peculiar to the Talent of this Writer. But of the two last of these
Plays I shall have occasion to take notice, among the Tragedies of Mr.
_Shakespear_. If one undertook to examine the greatest part of these by
those Rules which are establish'd by _Aristotle_, and taken from the
Model of the _Grecian_ Stage, it would be no very hard Task to find a
great many Faults: But as _Shakespear_ liv'd under a kind of mere Light
of Nature, and had never been made acquainted with the Regularity of
those written Precepts, so it would be hard to judge him by a Law he
knew nothing of. We are to consider him as a Man that liv'd in a State
of almost universal License and Ignorance: There was no establish'd
Judge, but every one took the liberty to Write according to the Dictates
of his own Fancy. When one considers, that there is not one Play before
him of a Reputation good enough to entitle it to an Appearance on the
present Stage, it cannot but be a Matter of great Wonder that he should
advance Dramatick Poetry so far as he did. The Fable is what is
generally plac'd the first, among those that are reckon'd the
constituent Parts of a Tragick or Heroick Poem; not, perhaps, as it is
the most Difficult or Beautiful, but as it is the first properly to be
thought of in the Contrivance and Course of the whole; and with the
Fable ought to be consider'd, the fit Disposition, Order and Conduct of
its several Parts. As it is not in this Province of the _Drama_ that the
Strength and Mastery of _Shakespear_ lay, so I shall not undertake the
tedious and ill-natur'd Trouble to point out the several Faults he was
guilty of in it. His Tales were seldom invented, but rather taken either
from true History, or Novels and Romances: And he commonly made use of
'em in that Order, with those Incidents, and that extent of Time in
which he found 'em in the Authors from whence he borrow'd them. So _The
Winter's Tale_, which is taken from an old Book, call'd, _The Delectable
History of_ Dorastus _and_ Faunia, contains the space of sixteen or
seventeen Years, and the Scene is sometimes laid in _Bohemia_, and
sometimes in _Sicily_, according to the original Order of the Story.
Almost all his Historical Plays comprehend a great length of Time, and
very different and distinct Places: And in his _Antony_ and _Cleopatra_,
the Scene travels over the greatest Part of the _Roman_ Empire. But in
Recompence for his Carelessness in this Point, when he comes to another
Part of the _Drama_, _The Manners of his Characters, in Acting or
Speaking what is proper for them, and fit to be shown by the Poet_, he
may be generally justify'd, and in very many places greatly commended.
For those Plays which he has taken from the _English_ or _Roman_
History, let any Man compare 'em, and he will find the Character as
exact in the Poet as the Historian. He seems indeed so far from
proposing to himself any one Action for a Subject, that the Title very
often tells you, 'tis _The Life of King_ John, _King_ Richard, _&c._
What can be more agreeable to the Idea our Historians give of _Henry_
the Sixth, than the Picture _Shakespear_ has drawn of him! His Manners
are every where exactly the same with the Story; one finds him still
describ'd with Simplicity, passive Sanctity, want of Courage, weakness
of Mind, and easie Submission to the Governance of an imperious Wife,
or prevailing Faction: Tho' at the same time the Poet do's Justice to
his good Qualities, and moves the Pity of his Audience for him, by
showing him Pious, Disinterested, a Contemner of the Things of this
World, and wholly resign'd to the severest Dispensations of God's
Providence. There is a short Scene in the Second Part of _Henry_ VI.
_Vol. III. pag._ 1504. which I cannot but think admirable in its Kind.
Cardinal _Beaufort_, who had murder'd the Duke of _Gloucester_, is shewn
in the last Agonies on his Death-Bed, with the good King praying over
him. There is so much Terror in one, so much Tenderness and moving Piety
in the other, as must touch any one who is capable either of Fear or
Pity. In his _Henry_ VIII. that Prince is drawn with that Greatness of
Mind, and all those good Qualities which are attributed to him in any
Account of his Reign. If his Faults are not shewn in an equal degree,
and the Shades in this Picture do not bear a just Proportion to the
Lights, it is not that the Artist wanted either Colours or Skill in the
Disposition of 'em; but the truth, I believe, might be, that he forbore
doing it out of regard to Queen _Elizabeth_, since it could have been no
very great Respect to the Memory of his Mistress, to have expos'd some
certain Parts of her Father's Life upon the Stage. He has dealt much
more freely with the Minister of that Great King, and certainly nothing
was ever more justly written, than the Character of Cardinal _Wolsey_.
He has shewn him Tyrannical, Cruel, and Insolent in his Prosperity; and
yet, by a wonderful Address, he makes his Fall and Ruin the Subject of
general Compassion. The whole Man, with his Vices and Virtues, is finely
and exactly describ'd in the second Scene of the fourth Act. The
Distresses likewise of Queen _Katherine_, in this Play, are very
movingly touch'd: and tho' the Art of the Poet has skreen'd King _Henry_
from any gross Imputation of Injustice, yet one is inclin'd to wish, the
Queen had met with a Fortune more worthy of her Birth and Virtue. Nor
are the Manners, proper to the Persons represented, less justly
observ'd, in those Characters taken from the _Roman_ History; and of
this, the Fierceness and Impatience of _Coriolanus_, his Courage and
Disdain of the common People, the Virtue and Philosophical Temper of
_Brutus_, and the irregular Greatness of Mind in _M. Antony_, are
beautiful Proofs. For the two last especially, you find 'em exactly as
they are describ'd by _Plutarch_, from whom certainly _Shakespear_
copy'd 'em. He has indeed follow'd his Original pretty close, and taken
in several little Incidents that might have been spar'd in a Play. But,
as I hinted before, his Design seems most commonly rather to describe
those great Men in the several Fortunes and Accidents of their Lives,
than to take any single great Action, and form his Work simply upon
that. However, there are some of his Pieces, where the Fable is founded
upon one Action only. Such are more especially, _Romeo_ and _Juliet_,
_Hamlet_, and _Othello_. The Design in _Romeo_ and _Juliet_, is plainly
the Punishment of their two Families, for the unreasonable Feuds and
Animosities that had been so long kept up between 'em, and occasion'd
the Effusion of so much Blood. In the management of this Story, he has
shewn something wonderfully Tender and Passionate in the Love-part, and
vary Pitiful in the Distress. _Hamlet_ is founded on much the same Tale
with the _Electra_ of _Sophocles_. In each of 'em a young Prince is
engag'd to Revenge the Death of his Father, their Mothers are equally
Guilty, are both concern'd in the Murder of their Husbands, and are
afterwards married to the Murderers. There is in the first Part of the
_Greek_ Trajedy, something very moving in the Grief of _Electra_; but as
Mr. _D'Acier_ has observ'd, there is something very unnatural and
shocking in the Manners he has given that Princess and _Orestes_ in the
latter Part. _Orestes_ embrues his Hands in the Blood of his own Mother;
and that barbarous Action is perform'd, tho' not immediately upon the
Stage, yet so near, that the Audience hear _Clytemnestra_ crying out to
_Æghystus_ for Help, and to her Son for Mercy: While _Electra_, her
Daughter, and a Princess, both of them Characters that ought to have
appear'd with more Decency, stands upon the Stage and encourages her
Brother in the Parricide. What Horror does this not raise!
_Clytemnestra_ was a wicked Woman, and had deserv'd to Die; nay, in the
truth of the Story, she was kill'd by her own Son; but to represent an
Action of this Kind on the Stage, is certainly an Offence against those
Rules of Manners proper to the Persons that ought to be observ'd there.
On the contrary, let us only look a little on the Conduct of
_Shakespear_. _Hamlet_ is represented with the same Piety towards his
Father, and Resolution to Revenge his Death, as _Orestes_; he has the
same Abhorrence for his Mother's Guilt, which, to provoke him the more,
is heighten'd by Incest: But 'tis with wonderful Art and Justness of
Judgment, that the Poet restrains him from doing Violence to his Mother.
To prevent any thing of that Kind, he makes his Father's Ghost forbid
that part of his Vengeance.
_But howsoever thou pursu'st this Act,
Taint not thy Mind; nor let thy Soul contrive
Against thy Mother ought; leave her to Heav'n,
And to those Thorns that in her Bosom lodge,
To prick and sting her._ Vol. V. p. 2386.
This is to distinguish rightly between _Horror_ and _Terror_. The latter
is a proper Passion of Tragedy, but the former ought always to be
carefully avoided. And certainly no Dramatick Writer ever succeeded
better in raising _Terror_ in the Minds of an Audience than _Shakespear_
has done. The whole Tragedy of _Macbeth_, but more especially the Scene
where the King is murder'd, in the second Act, as well as this Play, is
a noble Proof of that manly Spirit with which he writ; and both shew how
powerful he was, in giving the strongest Motions to our Souls that they
are capable of. I cannot leave _Hamlet_, without taking notice of the
Advantage with which we have seen this Master-piece of _Shakespear_
distinguish it self upon the Stage, by Mr. _Betterton_'s fine
Performance of that Part. A Man, who tho' he had no other good
Qualities, as he has a great many, must have made his way into the
Esteem of all Men of Letters, by this only Excellency. No Man is better
acquainted with _Shakespear_'s manner of Expression, and indeed he has
study'd him so well, and is so much a Master of him, that whatever Part
of his he performs he does it as if it had been written on purpose for
him, and that the Author had exactly conceiv'd it as he plays it. I must
own a particular Obligation to him, for the most considerable part of
the Passages relating to his Life, which I have here transmitted to the
Publick; his Veneration for the Memory of _Shakespear_ having engag'd
him to make a Journey into _Warwickshire_, on purpose to gather up what
Remains he could of a Name for which he had so great a Value. Since I
had at first resolv'd not to enter into any Critical Controversie, I
won't pretend to enquire into the Justness of Mr. _Rhymer_'s Remarks on
_Othello_; he has certainly pointed out some Faults very judiciously;
and indeed they are such as most People will agree, with him, to be
Faults: But I wish he would likewise have observ'd some of the Beauties
too; as I think it became an Exact and Equal Critique to do. It seems
strange that he should allow nothing Good in the whole: If the Fable and
Incidents are not to his Taste, yet the Thoughts are almost every where
very Noble, and the Diction manly and proper. These last, indeed, are
Parts of _Shakespear_'s Praise, which it would be very hard to Dispute
with him. His Sentiments and Images of Things are Great and Natural; and
his Expression (tho' perhaps in some Instances a little Irregular) just,
and rais'd in Proportion to his Subject and Occasion. It would be even
endless to mention the particular Instances that might be given of this
Kind: But his Book is in the Possession of the Publick, and 'twill be
hard to dip into any Part of it, without finding what I have said of him
made good.
The latter Part of his Life was spent, as all Men of good Sense will
wish theirs may be, in Ease, Retirement, and the Conversation of his
Friends. He had the good Fortune to gather an Estate equal to his
Occasion, and, in that, to his Wish; and is said to have spent some
Years before his Death at his native _Stratford_. His pleasurable Wit,
and good Nature, engag'd him in the Acquaintance, and entitled him to
the Friendship of the Gentlemen of the Neighbourhood. Amongst them, it
is a Story almost still remember'd in that Country, that he had a
particular Intimacy with Mr. _Combe_, an old Gentleman noted thereabouts
for his Wealth and Usury: It happen'd, that in a pleasant Conversation
amongst their common Friends, Mr. _Combe_ told _Shakespear_ in a
laughing manner, that he fancy'd, he intended to write his Epitaph, if
he happen'd to out-live him; and since he could not know what might be
said of him when he was dead, he desir'd it might be done immediately:
Upon which _Shakespear_ gave him these four Verses.
_Ten in the Hundred lies here ingrav'd,
'Tis a Hundred to Ten, his Soul is not sav'd:
If any Man ask, Who lies in this Tomb?
Oh! ho! quoth the Devil, 'tis my_ John-a-Combe.
But the Sharpness of the Satyr is said to have stung the Man so
severely, that he never forgave it.
He Dy'd in the 53d Year of his Age, and was bury'd on the North side of
the Chancel, in the Great Church at _Stratford_, where a Monument, as
engrav'd in the Plate, is plac'd in the Wall. On his Grave-Stone
underneath is,
_Good Friend, for Jesus sake, forbear
To dig the Dust inclosed here.
Blest be the Man that spares these Stones,
And Curst be he that moves my Bones._
He had three Daughters, of which two liv'd to be marry'd; _Judith_, the
Elder, to one Mr. _Thomas Quiney_, by whom she had three Sons, who all
dy'd without Children; and _Susannah_, who was his Favourite, to Dr.
_John Hall_, a Physician of good Reputation in that Country. She left
one Child only, a Daughter, who was marry'd first to _Thomas Nash_, Esq;
and afterwards to Sir _John Bernard_ of _Abbington_, but dy'd likewise
without Issue.
This is what I could learn of any Note, either relating to himself or
Family: The Character of the Man is best seen in his Writings. But since
_Ben Johnson_ has made a sort of an Essay towards it in his
_Discoveries_, tho', as I have before hinted, he was not very Cordial in
his Friendship, I will venture to give it in his Words.
"I remember the Players have often mention'd it as an Honour to
_Shakespear_, that in Writing (whatsoever he penn'd) he never blotted
out a Line. My Answer hath been, _Would he had blotted a thousand_,
which they thought a malevolent Speech. I had not told Posterity this,
but for their Ignorance, who chose that Circumstance to commend their
Friend by, wherein he most faulted. And to justifie mine own Candor,
(for I lov'd the Man, and do honour his Memory, on this side Idolatry,
as much as any.) He was, indeed, Honest, and of an open and free Nature,
had an Excellent Fancy, brave Notions, and gentle Expressions, wherein
he flow'd with that Facility, that sometimes it was necessary he should
be stopp'd: _Sufflaminandus erat_, as _Augustus_ said of _Haterius_. His
Wit was in his own Power, would the Rule of it had been so too. Many
times he fell into those things could not escape Laughter; as when he
said in the Person of _Cæsar_, one speaking to him,
"Cæsar _thou dost me Wrong_.
"He reply'd:
"Cæsar _did never Wrong, but with just Cause._
and such like, which were ridiculous. But he redeem'd his Vices with
his Virtues: There was ever more in him to be Prais'd than to be
Pardon'd."
As for the Passage which he mentions out of _Shakespear_, there is
somewhat like it _Julius Cæsar_, Vol. V. p. 2260. but without the
Absurdity; nor did I ever meet with it in any Edition that I have seen,
as quoted by Mr. _Johnson_. Besides his Plays in this Edition, there are
two or three ascrib'd to him by Mr. _Langbain_, which I have never seen,
and know nothing of. He writ likewise, _Venus_ and _Adonis_, and
_Tarquin_ and _Lucrece_, in Stanza's, which have been printed in a late
Collection of Poems. As to the Character given of him by _Ben Johnson_,
there is a good deal true in it: But I believe it may be as well
express'd by what _Horace_ says of the first _Romans_, who wrote Tragedy
upon the _Greek_ Models, (or indeed translated 'em) in his Epistle to
_Augustus_.
_--Naturâ sublimis & Acer
Nam spirat Tragicum satis & fæliciter Audet,
Sed turpem putat in Chartis metuitq; Lituram._
There is a Book of Poems, publish'd in 1640, under the Name of Mr.
_William Shakespear_, but as I have but very lately seen it, without an
Opportunity of making any Judgment upon it, I won't pretend to
determine, whether it be his or no.
[Illustration: Decorative motif]
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote A: _Ld._ Falkland, _Ld. C.J._ Vaughan, _and Mr._ Selden.]
[Footnote B: Alluding to the Sea-Voyage of _Fletcher_.]
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