Chapter XVII: Letter III: Sir, Feb. 8 (11)

_In a conversation_, etc. The authority for this conversation is Dryden, who had recorded it as early as 1668 in his _Essay of Dramatic Poesy_, at the conclusion of the magnificent eulogy of Shakespeare. He had also spoken of it to Charles Gildon, who, in his _Reflections on Mr. Rymer’s Short View of Tragedy_ (1694), had given it with greater fulness of detail. Each of the three accounts contains certain particulars lacking in the other two, but they have unmistakably a common source. Dryden probably told the story to Rowe, as he had already told it to Gildon. The chief difficulty is the source, not of Rowe’s information, but of Dryden’s. As Jonson was present at the discussion, it must have taken place by 1637. It is such a discussion as prompted Suckling’s _Session of the Poets_ (1637), wherein Hales and Falkland figure. It cannot be dated “before 1633” (as in Ingleby’s _Centurie of Prayse_, pp. 198-9). The Lord Falkland mentioned in Gildon’s account is undoubtedly the _second_ lord, who succeeded in 1633, and died in 1643. Dryden may have got his information from Davenant.

8. Pope condensed the passage thus: “Mr. _Hales_, who had sat still for some time, told ’em, That if _Shakespear_ had not read the Ancients, he had likewise not stollen anything from ’em; and that if he would produce,” etc.

9. _Johnson did indeed take a large liberty._ The concluding portion of this paragraph from these words is omitted by Pope.

The _Menaechmi_ was translated by “W. W.,” probably William Warner. It was licensed in June, 1594, and published in 1595, but, as the preface states, it had been circulated in manuscript before it was printed. The _Comedy of Errors_, which was acted by 1594, may have been founded on the _Historie of Error_, which was given at Hampton Court in 1576-7, and probably also at Windsor in 1582-3. See Farmer’s _Essay_, p. 200,

This passage dealing with Rymer is omitted by Pope. He retains of this paragraph only the first two lines ( ... “Shakespear’s Works”) and the last three (“so I will only take,” etc.).

Thomas Rymer, the editor of the _Fœdera_, published his _Short View of Tragedy_ in 1693. The criticism of _Othello_ and _Julius Caesar_ contained therein he had promised as early as 1678 in his _Tragedies of the Last Age_. His “sample of Tragedy,” _Edgar or the British Monarch_, appeared in 1678.

11. _Falstaff’s Billet-Doux ... expressions of love in their way_, omitted by Pope.

12. _The Merchant of Venice_ was turned into a comedy, with the title the _Jew of Venice_, by George Granville, Pope’s “Granville the polite,” afterwards Lord Lansdowne. It was acted at Lincoln’s Inn Fields in 1701. The part of the Jew was performed by Dogget. Betterton played Bassanio. See Genest’s _English Stage_, ii. 243, etc.

_is a little too much_ (line 13). Pope reads _is too much_.

_Difficile est_, etc. Horace, _Ars poetica_, 128.

_All the world_, etc. _As you like it_, ii. 7. 139.

13. _She never told her love_, etc. _Twelfth Night_, ii. 4. 113-118: line 116, “And with a green and yellow melancholy” is omitted.

Pope omits _a passage or two in_ (line 34).

_ornament to the Sermons_. Cf. Addison, _Spectator_, No. 61: “The greatest authors, in their most serious works, made frequent use of punns. The Sermons of Bishop Andrews, and the Tragedies of Shakespear, are full of them.”

14. Pope omits _former_ (line 5).

_Caliban._ Cf. Dryden’s Preface to _Troilus and Cressida_ (ed. W. P. Ker., i., p. 219) and the _Spectator_, Nos. 279 and 419. Johnson criticised the remark in his notes on the _Tempest_ (ed. 1765, i., p. 21).

Note. _Ld. Falkland_, Lucius Gary (1610-1643), second Viscount Falkland; _Ld. C. J. Vaughan_, Sir John Vaughan (1603-1674), Lord Chief Justice of the Common Pleas; _John Selden_ (1584-1654), the jurist.

_Among the particular beauties_, etc. This passage, to the end of the quotation from Dryden’s Prologue, is omitted by Pope.

16. _Dorastus and Faunia_, the alternative title of Robert Greene’s _Pandosto, or the Triumph of Time_, 1588.

17. Pope omits _tyrannical, cruel, and_ (line 36).

18. _Plutarch._ Rowe’s statement that Shakespeare “copied” his Roman characters from Plutarch is—as it stands—inconsistent with the previous argument as to his want of learning. His use of North’s translation was not established till the days of Johnson and Farmer.

_André Dacier_ (1651-1722) was best known in England by his _Essay on Satire_, which was included in his edition of Horace (1681, etc.), and by his edition of the _Poetics_ of Aristotle (1692). The former was used by Dryden in his _Discourse concerning Satire_, and appeared in English in 1692 and 1695; the latter was translated in 1705. In 1692 he brought out a prose translation, “with remarks,” of the _Oedipus_ and _Electra_ of Sophocles. Rowe’s reference is to Dacier’s preface to the latter play, pp. 253, 254. Cf. his _Poetics_, notes to ch. xv., and the _Spectator_, No. 44.

19. _But howsoever_, etc. _Hamlet_, i. 5. 84.

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.

22. Pope omits _tho’ as I ... friendship_ and _venture to_ (lines 10-12).

_Caesar did never wrong_, etc. Cf. _Julius Caesar_, iii. 1. 47, 48, when the lines read:

Know, Caesar doth not wrong, nor without cause
Will he be satisfied.

23. Gerard Langbaine in his _Account of the English Dramatick Poets_ (1691) ascribes to Shakespeare “about forty-six plays, all which except three are bound in one volume in Fol., printed London, 1685” (p. 454). The three plays not printed in the fourth folio are the _Birth of Merlin, or the Child has lost his Father_, a tragi-comedy, said by Langbaine to be by Shakespeare and Rowley; _John King of England his troublesome Reign_; and the _Death of King John at Swinstead Abbey_. Langbaine thinks that the last two “were first writ by our Author, and afterwards revised and reduced into one Play by him: that in the Folio being far the better.” He mentions also the _Arraignment of Paris_, but does not ascribe it to Shakespeare, as he has not seen it.

_a late collection of poems_,—_Poems on Affairs of State, from the year 1620 to the year 1707_, vol. iv.

_Natura sublimis_, etc. Horace, _Epistles_, ii. 1. 165.

The concluding paragraph is omitted by Pope.

John Dennis.

24. _Shakespear ... Tragick Stage._ Contrast Rymer’s _Short View_, p. 156: “Shakespear’s genius lay for Comedy and Humour. In Tragedy he appears quite out of his element.” Cf. Dennis’s later statement, p. 40.

25. _the very Original of our English Tragical Harmony._ Cf. Dryden, Epistle Dedicatory of the _Rival Ladies_, ed. W. P. Ker, i., p. 6, and Bysshe, _Art of English Poetry_, 1702, p. 36. See Johnson’s criticism of this passage, Preface, p. 140.

_Such verse we make_, etc. Dennis makes these two lines illustrate themselves.

26. _Jack-Pudding._ See the _Spectator_, No. 47. The term was very common at this time for a “merry wag.” It had also the more special sense of “one attending on a mountebank,” as in Etherege’s _Comical Revenge_, iii. 4.

_Coriolanus._ Contrast Dennis’s opinion of _Coriolanus_ in his letter to Steele of 26th March, 1719: “Mr. Dryden has more than once declared to me that there was something in this very tragedy of _Coriolanus_, as it was writ by Shakespear, that is truly great and truly Roman; and I more than once answered him that it had always been my own opinion.”

29. _Poetical Justice._ Dennis defended the doctrine of poetical justice in the first of the two additional letters published with the letters on Shakespeare. Addison had examined this “ridiculous doctrine in modern criticism” in the _Spectator_, No. 40 (April 16, 1711). Cf. Pope’s account of Dennis’s “deplorable frenzy” in the _Narrative of Dr. Robert Norris_ (Pope’s _Works_, ed. Elwin and Courthope, x. 459).

30. _Natura fieret._ Horace, _Ars poetica_, 408.

_a circular poet_, _i.e._ a cyclic poet. This is the only example of this sense of _circular_ in the _New English Dictionary_.

32. _Hector speaking of Aristotle_,—_Troilis and Cressida_, ii. 2. 166; _Milo_, _id._ ii. 3. 258; _Alexander_, _Coriolanus_ v. 4. 23.

_Plutarch._ Though Dennis is right in his conjecture that Shakespeare used a translation, the absence of any allusion to North’s Plutarch would show that he did not know of it. He is in error about Livy. Philemon Holland’s translation had appeared in 1600.

33. _Offenduntur enim_, etc. _Ars poetica_, 248.

34. _Caesar._ Cf. the criticism of _Julius Caesar_ in Sewell’s preface to the seventh volume of Pope’s Shakespeare, 1725.

36. _Haec igitur_, etc. Cicero, _Pro M. Marcello_, ix.

38. _Julius Caesar._ Dennis alludes to the version of _Julius Caesar_ by John Sheffield, Duke of Buckinghamshire, published in 1722. In the altered form a chorus is introduced between the acts, and the “play begins the day before Caesar’s death, and ends within an hour after it.” Buckinghamshire wrote also the _Tragedy of Marcus Brutus_.

39. _Dryden_, Preface to the Translation of Ovid’s _Epistles_ (1680) _ad fin._: “That of _Œnone to Paris_ is in Mr. Cowley’s way of imitation only. I was desired to say that the author, who is of the fair sex, understood not Latin. But if she does not, I am afraid she has given us occasion to be ashamed who do” (Ed. W. P. Ker, i., p. 243). The author was Mrs. Behn.

_Hudibras_, i. 1, 661. But _Hudibras_ has it slightly differently,—“Though out of languages in which,” etc.

39. _a Version of two Epistles of Ovid._ The poems in the seventh volume of Rowe’s edition of Shakespeare include Thomas Heywood’s _Amorous Epistle of Paris to Helen_ and _Helen to Paris_. They were attributed to Shakespeare, till Farmer proved their authorship (p. 203). Cf. Gildon, _Essay on the Stage_, 1710, p. vi.

40. _Scriptor_, etc. _Ars poetica_, 120.

41. _The Menechmi._ Dennis’s “vehement suspicion” is justified. See above, note on p. 9.

_Ben Johnson_, “small Latin and less Greek” (_Verses to the Memory of Shakespeare_).

_Milton_, _L’Allegro_, 133: “Or sweetest Shakespeare, Fancy’s child.” The same misquotation occurs in Sewell’s preface, 1725.

_Dryden_, _Essay of Dramatic Poesy_: “Those who accuse him to have wanted learning give him the greater commendation” (ed. W. P. Ker, i., p. 80).

42. _Colchus_, etc. _Ars poetica_, 118.

_Siquid tamen_, etc. _Id._ 386. The form _Maeci_ was restored about this time by Bentley.

43. _Companies of Players._ See Mr. Sidney Lee’s _Life of Shakespeare_, p. 34.

_we are told by Ben Johnson._ See p. 22. But Heminge and Condell tell us so themselves in the preface to the Folio: “His mind and hand went together: and what he thought he uttered with that easinesse, that wee have scarce received from him a blot in his papers.”

_Vos, O._ _Ars poetica_, 291.

_Poets lose half the Praise_, etc. These lines are not by the Earl of Roscommon, but by Edmund Waller. They occur in Waller’s prefatory verses to Roscommon’s translation of Horace’s _Ars poetica_.

Dennis’s criticism of Jonson is apparently inspired by Rymer’s remarks on _Catiline_ (_Short View_, pp. 159-163). “In short,” says Rymer, “it is strange that Ben, who understood the turn of Comedy so well, and had found the success, should thus grope in the dark and jumble things together without head or tail, without rule or proportion, without any reason or design.”

44. _Vir bonus_, etc. Horace, _Ars poetica_, 445.

45. _ad Populum Phalerae._ Persius, iii. 30.

_Milton._ See Milton’s prefatory note to _Samson Agonistes_.

46. _Veneration for Shakespear._ Cf. Dennis’s letter to Steele, 26th March, 1719: “Ever since I was capable of reading Shakespear, I have always had, and have always expressed, that veneration for him which is justly his due; of which I believe no one can doubt who has read the Essay which I published some years ago upon his Genius and Writings.”

_Italian Ballad._ Cf. Dennis’s _Essay on the Operas after the Italian Manner_, 1706.

Alexander Pope.

48. _His Characters._ The same idea had been expressed by Gildon in his _Essay on the Stage_, 1710, p. li.: “He has not only distinguish’d his principal persons, but there is scarce a messenger comes in but is visibly different from all the rest of the persons in the play. So that you need not to mention the name of the person that speaks, when you read the play, the manners of the persons will sufficiently inform you who it is speaks.” Cf. also Addison’s criticism of Homer, _Spectator_, No. 273: “There is scarce a speech or action in the _Iliad_, which the reader may not ascribe to the person that speaks or acts, without seeing his name at the head of it.”

50. _To judge of Shakespear by Aristotle’s rules._ This comparison had appeared in Farquhar’s _Discourse upon Comedy_: “The rules of English Comedy don’t lie in the compass of Aristotle, or his followers, but in the Pit, Box, and Galleries. And to examine into the humour of an English audience, let us see by what means our own English poets have succeeded in this point. To determine a suit at law we don’t look into the archives of Greece or Rome, but inspect the reports of our own lawyers, and the acts and statutes of our Parliaments; and by the same rule we have nothing to do with the models of Menander or Plautus, but must consult Shakespear, Johnson, Fletcher, and others, who by methods much different from the Ancients have supported the English Stage, and made themselves famous to posterity.” Cf. also Rowe, p. 15: “it would be hard to judge him by a law he knew nothing of.”—Is it unnecessary to point out that there are no “rules” in Aristotle? The term “Aristotle’s rules” was commonly used to denote the “rules of the classical drama,” which, though based on the _Poetics_, were formulated by Italian and French critics of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.

51. _The Dates of his plays._ Pope here controverts Rowe’s statement, p. 4.

_blotted a line._ See note, p. 43. Though Pope here controverts the traditional opinion, he found it to his purpose to accept it in the _Epistle to Augustus_, ll. 279-281:

And fluent Shakespear scarce effac’d a line.
Ev’n copious Dryden wanted, or forgot,
The last and greatest art, the art to blot.

52. Pope’s references to the early editions of the _Merry Wives_ and other plays do not prove his assertions. Though an imperfect edition of the _Merry Wives_ appeared in 1602, it does not follow that this was “entirely new writ” and transformed into the play in the Folio of 1623. The same criticism applies to what he says of _Henry V._, of which pirated copies appeared in 1600, 1602, and 1608. And he is apparently under the impression that the _Contention of York and Lancaster_ and the early play of _Hamlet_ were Shakespeare’s own work.

53. _Coriolanus and Julius Caesar._ Pope replies tacitly to Dennis’s criticism of these plays.

_those Poems which pass for his._ The seventh or supplementary volume of Rowe’s and Pope’s editions contained, in addition to some poems by Marlowe, translations of Ovid by Thomas Heywood. Like Rowe, Pope has some doubt as to the authorship of the poems, but on the score of the dedications he attributes to him _Venus and Adonis_ and the _Rape of Lucrece_. Both editors ignored the Sonnets. It is doubtful how far Shakespeare was indebted to Ovid in his _Venus and Adonis_. He knew Golding’s translation of the _Metamorphoses_ (1565-67); but _Venus and Adonis_ has many points in common with Lodge’s _Scillaes Metamorphosis_ which appeared in 1589. See, however, J. P. Reardon’s paper in the “Shakespeare Society’s Papers,” 1847, iii. 143-6, where it is held that Lodge is indebted to Shakespeare.

_Plautus._ Cf. Rowe, p. 9. Gildon had claimed for Shakespeare greater acquaintance with the Ancients than Rowe had admitted, and Pope had both opinions in view when he wrote the present passage. “I think there are many arguments to prove,” says Gildon, “that he knew at least some of the Latin poets, particularly Ovid; two of his Epistles being translated by him: His motto to _Venus and Adonis_ is another proof. But that he had read Plautus himself, is plain from his _Comedy of Errors_, which is taken visibly from the _Menæchmi_ of that poet.... The characters he has in his plays drawn of the Romans is a proof that he was acquainted with their historians.... I contend not here to prove that he was a perfect master of either the Latin or Greek authors; but all that I aim at, is to shew that as he was capable of reading some of the Romans, so he had actually read Ovid and Plautus, without spoiling or confining his fancy or genius” (1710, p. vi).

_Dares Phrygius._ The reference is to the prologue of _Troilus and Cressida_. See the note in Theobald’s edition, and Farmer, p. 187.

_Chaucer._ See Gildon’s remarks on _Troilus and Cressida_, 1710, p. 358.

54. _Ben Johnson._ Pope is here indebted to Betterton. Cf. his remark as recorded by Spence, _Anecdotes_, 1820, p. 5. “It was a general opinion that Ben Jonson and Shakespeare lived in enmity against one another. Betterton has assured me often that there was nothing in it; and that such a supposition was founded only on the two parties, which in their lifetime listed under one, and endeavoured to lessen the character of the other mutually. Dryden used to think that the verses Jonson made on Shakespeare’s death had something of satire at the bottom; for my part, I can’t discover any thing like it in them.”

_Pessimum genus_, etc. Tacitus, _Agricola_, 41.

_Si ultra placitum_, etc. Virgil, _Eclogues_, vii. 27, 28.

55. _Dryden._ _Discourse concerning Satire, ad init._ (ed. W. P. Ker, ii., p. 18).

_Enter three Witches solus._ “This blunder appears to be of Mr. Pope’s own invention. It is not to be found in any one of the four folio copies of _Macbeth_, and there is no quarto edition of it extant” (Steevens).

56. _Hector’s quoting Aristotle._ _Troilus and Cressida_, ii. 2. 166.

57. _those who play the Clowns._ “Act iii., Sc. 4” in Pope’s edition, but Act iii., Sc. 2 in modern editions.

58. _Procrustes._ Cf. _Spectator_, No. 58.

_Note 2._ In the edition of 1728, Pope added to this note “which last words are not in the first quarto edition.”

59. _led into the Buttery of the Steward._ “Mr. Pope probably recollected the following lines in _The Taming of the Shrew_, spoken by a Lord, who is giving directions to his servant concerning some players:

Go, Sirrah, take them to the _buttery_,
And give them friendly welcome every one.

But he seems not to have observed that the players here introduced were _strollers_; and there is no reason to suppose that our author, Heminge, Burbage, Lowin, etc., who were licensed by King James, were treated in this manner” (Malone).

_London Prodigal._ After these seven plays Pope added in the edition of 1728 “and a thing call’d the _Double Falshood_” (see Introduction, p. xlv). It will be noted that he speaks incorrectly of “eight” plays. In the same edition he also inserted _The Comedy of Errors_ between _The Winter’s Tale_ and _Titus Andronicus_ (top of p. 60).

60. _tho’ they were then printed in his name._ His name was given on the title-page of _Pericles_, _Sir John Oldcastle_, the _Yorkshire Tragedy_, and the _London Prodigal_.

Lewis Theobald.

64. _above the Direction of their Tailors._ Cf. Pope, p. 51. The succeeding remarks on the individuality of Shakespeare’s characters also appear to have been suggested by Pope.

65. _wanted a Comment._ Contrast Rowe, p. 1.

66. _Judith_ was Shakespeare’s younger daughter (cf. Rowe, p. 21). It is now known that Shakespeare was married at the end of 1582. See Mr. Sidney Lee’s _Life of Shakespeare_, pp. 18-24.

68. _Spenser’s Thalia._ Cf. Rowe, pp. 6, 7. The original editions read “_Tears of his Muses_.”

69. _Rymers Fœdera_, vol. xvi., p. 505. _Fletcher_, _i.e._ Lawrence Fletcher.

_the Bermuda Islands._ Cf. Theobald’s note on “the still-vext Bermoothes,” vol. i., p. 13 (1733). Though Shakespeare is probably indebted to the account of Sir George Somers’s shipwreck on the Bermudas, Theobald is wrong, as Farmer pointed out, in saying that the Bermudas were not discovered till 1609. A description of the islands by Henry May, who was shipwrecked on them in 1593, is given in Hakluyt, 1600, iii., pp. 573-4.

70. _Mr. Pope, or his Graver._ So the quotation appears in the full-page illustration facing p. xxxi of Rowe’s Account in Pope’s edition; but the illustration was not included in all the copies, perhaps because of the error. The quotation appears correctly in the engraving in Rowe’s edition.

72. _New-place._ Queen Henrietta Maria’s visit was from 11th to 13th July, 1643. Theobald’s “three weeks” should read “three days.” See Halliwell-Phillips, _Outlines_, 1886, ii., p. 108.

_We have been told in print_, in _An Answer to Mr. Popes Preface to Shakespear.... By a Stroling Player_ [John Roberts], 1729, p. 45.

73. _Complaisance to a bad Taste._ Cf. Rowe, p. 6, Dennis p. 46, and Theobald’s dedication to _Shakespeare Restored_; yet Theobald himself had complied to the bad taste in several pantomimes.

_Nullum sine venia._ Seneca, _Epistles_, 114. 12.

74. _Speret idem._ Horace, _Ars Poetica_, 241.

_Indeed to point out_, etc. In the first edition of the Preface, Theobald had given “explanations of those beauties that are less obvious to common readers.” He has unadvisably retained the remark that such explanations “should deservedly have a share in a general critic upon the author.” The “explanations” were omitted probably because they were inspired by Warburton.

75. _And therefore the Passages ... from the Classics._ Cf. the following passage with Theobald’s letter to Warburton of 17th March, 1729-30 (see Nichols, _Illustrations_, ii., pp. 564, etc.). The letter throws strong light on Theobald’s indecision on the question of Shakespeare’s learning.

“The very learned critic of our nation” is Warburton himself. See his letter to Concanen of 2nd January, 1726 (Malone’s _Shakespeare_, 1821, xii., p. 158). Cf. Theobald’s Preface to _Richard II._, 1720, and Whalley’s _Enquiry_, 1748, p. 51.

76. _Effusion of Latin Words._ Theobald has omitted a striking passage in the original preface. It was shown that Shakespeare’s writings, in contrast with Milton’s, contain few or no Latin phrases, though they have many Latin words made English; and this fact was advanced as the truest criterion of his knowledge of Latin.

The passage is referred to by Hurd in his _Letter to Mr. Mason on the Marks of Imitation_ (1757, p. 74). Hurd thinks that the observation is too good to have come from Theobald. His opinion is confirmed by the entire omission of the passage in the second edition. Warburton himself claimed it as his own. Though the passage was condensed by Theobald, Warburton’s claim is still represented by the passage from _For I shall find_ (p. 76, l. 7) to _Royal Taste_ (l. 36).

77. _Shakespeare ... astonishing force and splendor._ Cf. Pope, p. 50.

_Had Homer_, etc. Cf. Pope, p. 56.

78. _Indulging his private sense._ See p. 61.

_Lipsius_,—_Satyra Menippæa_ (_Opera_, 1611, p. 640).

79. _Sive homo_, etc. Quintus Serenus, _De Medicina_, xlvi., “Hominis ac simiae morsui.”

80. _Nature of any Distemper ... corrupt Classic._ Cf. _Shakespeare Restored_, pp. iv, v.

81. Bentley’s edition of _Paradise Lost_ had appeared in 1732.

_the true Duty of an Editor._ A shy hit at Pope’s “dull duty of an editor,” Preface, p. 61.

82. _as I have formerly observ’d_, in the Introduction to _Shakespeare Restored_, pp. ii and iv. The paragraph is quoted almost verbatim.

83. _labour’d under flat Nonsense._ Here again Theobald incorporates a passage from the Introduction to _Shakespeare Restored_, p. vi.

_Corrections and conjectures._ Yet another passage appropriated from his earlier work. The French quotation, however, is new.

_Edition of our author’s Poems._ Theobald did not carry out his intention of editing the _Poems_. References to the proposed edition will be found in Warburton’s letters to him of 17th May and 14th October, 1734 (see Nichols, _Illustrations_, ii., pp. 634, 654).

The only attempt as yet towards a Shakespearian Glossary is to be found in the supplementary volumes of Rowe’s and Pope’s editions. It is far from “copious and complete.”

84. _The English are observ’d to produce more Humourists._ See Congreve’s letter to Dennis _Concerning Humour in Comedy_, 1695.

_Wit lying mostly in the Assemblage of Ideas_, etc. So Locke, _Essay concerning the Human Understanding_, Book II., Ch. xi., § 2. The passage had been popularised by Addison, _Spectator_, No. 62.

85. _Donne._ Cf. Dryden’s criticism of Donne.

86. _a celebrated Writer._ Addison, _Spectator_, No. 297.

_Bossu._ René le Bossu (1631-1680), author of the _Traité du poème épique_ (1675). An English translation by “W. J.” was printed in 1695, and again in 1719.

_Dacier._ See note, p. 18.

_Gildon_ showed himself to be of the same school as Rymer in his _Essay on the Art, Rise, and Progress of the Stage_ (1710) and his _Art of Poetry_ (1718); yet his earliest piece of criticism was a vigorous attack on Rymer. The title reads curiously in the light of his later pronouncements: _Some Reflections on Mr. Rymer’s Short View of Tragedy, and an Attempt at a Vindication of Shakespear_. It was printed in a volume of _Miscellaneous Letters and Essays_ (1694).

87. _Anachronisms._ The passage referred to occurs on pp. 134, 135 of _Shakespeare Restored_.

_this Restorer._ See the _Dunciad_ (1729), i. 106, note.

_it not being at all credible_, etc. See p. 56.

_Sir Francis Drake._ Pope had suggested in a note that the imperfect line in _1 Henry VI._, i. 1. 56, might have been completed with the words “Francis Drake.” He had not, however, incorporated the words in the text. “I can’t guess,” he says, “the occasion of the Hemystic, and imperfect sense, in this place; ’tis not impossible it might have been fill’d up with—Francis Drake—tho’ that were a terrible Anachronism (as bad as Hector’s quoting Aristotle in Troil. and Cress.); yet perhaps, at the time that brave Englishman was in his glory, to an English-hearted audience, and pronounced by some favourite Actor, the thing might be popular, though not judicious; and therefore by some Critick, in favour of the author, afterwards struck out. But this is a meer slight conjecture.” Theobald has a lengthy note on this in his edition. He does not allude to the suggestion which he had submitted to Warburton. See Introduction, p. xlvi.

88. _Odyssey._ This passage, to the end of the paragraph, appears in Theobald’s letter to Warburton of March 17, 1729-30 (Nichols, ii., p. 566). In the same letter he had expressed his doubts as to whether he should include this passage in his proposed pamphlet against Pope, as the notes to the _Odyssey_ were written by Broome. He had cast aside these scruples now. The preface does not bear out his profession to Warburton that he was indifferent to Pope’s treatment.

89. David Mallet had just brought out his poem _Of Verbal Criticism_ (1733) anonymously. It is simply a paraphrase and expansion of Pope’s statements. “As the design of the following poem is to rally the abuse of _Verbal Criticism_, the author could not, without manifest partiality, overlook the Editor of Milton and the Restorer of Shakespear” (introductory note).

Boswell attributed this “contemptuous mention of Mallet” to Warburton (Boswell’s Malone, 1821, i., p. 42, n). But it was not claimed by Warburton, and there is nothing, except perhaps the vigour of the passage, to support Boswell’s contention. In the same note Boswell points out that the comparison of Shakespeare and Jonson in Theobald’s Preface reappears in Warburton’s note on _Love’s Labour’s Lost_, Act i., Sc. 1.

_Hang him, Baboon_, etc. _2 Henry IV._, ii. 4. 261.

_Longinus_, _On the Sublime_, vi.

90. _Noble Writer_,—the Earl of Shaftesbury, in his _Characteristicks_: “The British Muses, in this Dinn of Arms, may well lie abject and obscure; especially being as yet in their mere Infant-State. They have hitherto scarce arriv’d to any thing of Shapeliness or Person. They lisp as in their Cradles: and their stammering Tongues, which nothing but their Youth and Rawness can excuse, have hitherto spoken in wretched Pun and Quibble” (1711, i., p. 217).

_Complaints of its Barbarity_, as in Dryden’s _Discourse concerning Satire, ad fin_ (ed. W. P. Ker, ii., pp. 110, 113).

Sir Thomas Hanmer.

92. The “other Gentlemen” who communicated their observations to Hanmer include Warburton (see Introduction), the “Rev. Mr. Smith of Harlestone in Norfolk” (see Zachary Grey, _Notes on Shakespeare_, Preface), and probably Thomas Cooke, the editor of Plautus (see _Correspondence of Hanmer_, ed. Bunbury, p. 229).

93. _much obliged to them._ Amid the quarrels of Pope, Theobald, and Warburton, it is pleasant to find an editor admitting some merit in his predecessors.

_what Shakespeare ought to have written._ Cf. the following passage in the _Remarks on the Tragedy of Hamlet_ attributed to Hanmer: “The former [Theobald] endeavours to give us an author as he is: the latter [Pope], by the correctness and excellency of his own genius, is often tempted to give us an author as he thinks he ought to be.” Theobald, it is said, is “generally thought to have understood our author best” (p. 4).

_Henry V._, iii. 4.

94. _Merchant of Venice_, iii. 5. 48.

Hanmer’s Glossary, given at the end of vol. vi., shows a distinct advance in every way on the earlier glossary in the supplementary volume to Rowe’s and to Pope’s edition. It is much fuller, though it runs only to a dozen pages, and more scholarly.

95. _fairest impressions_, etc. The edition is indeed a beautiful piece of printing. Each play is preceded by a full-page plate engraved by Gravelot from designs by Francis Hayman, or, as in vol. iv., by himself. (See _Correspondence of Hanmer_, pp. 83-4.)

95. _his Statue._ The statue in the Poet’s Corner in Westminster Abbey, erected by public subscription in 1741. See the _Gentleman’s Magazine_ for February, 1741, p. 105: “A fine Monument is erected in _Westminster Abbey_ to the Memory of _Shakespear_, by the Direction of the Earl of _Burlington_, Dr. _Mead_, Mr. _Pope_, and Mr. _Martin_. Mr. _Fleetwood_, Master of _Drury-Lane_ Theatre, and Mr. _Rich_, of that of _Covent-Garden_, gave each a Benefit, arising from one of his own Plays, towards it, and the Dean and Chapter made a present of the Ground. The Design, by Mr. _Kent_, was executed by Mr. _Scheemaker_.”

William Warburton.

96. _the excellent Discourse which follows_, _i.e._ Pope’s Preface, which was reprinted by Warburton along with Rowe’s Account of Shakespeare.

101. _Essays, Remarks, Observations_, etc. Warburton apparently refers to the following works:

_Some Remarks on the Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, written by Mr. William Shakespeare._ London, 1736. Perhaps by Sir Thomas Hanmer.

_An Essay towards fixing the true Standards of Wit, Humour, Raillery, Satire, and Ridicule. To which is added an Analysis of the Characters of an Humourist, Sir John Falstaff, Sir Roger de Coverley, and Don Quixote._ London, 1744. By Corbyn Morris, who signs the Dedication.

_Miscellaneous Observations on the Tragedy of Macbeth: with Remarks on Sir Thomas Hanmer’s Edition of Shakespeare. To which is affixed Proposals for a new Edition of Skakespear, with a Specimen._ London, 1745. By Samuel Johnson, though anonymous.

_Critical Observations on Shakespeare._ By John Upton, Prebendary of Rochester. London, 1746. Second edition, with a preface replying to Warburton, 1748.

_An Essay upon English Tragedy. With Remarks upon the Abbé de Blanc’s Observations on the English Stage._ By William Guthrie, Esq. [1747.]

The last of these may not have appeared, however, till after Warburton’s edition.

Johnson is said by Boswell to have ever entertained a grateful remembrance of this allusion to him “at a time when praise was of value.” But though the criticism is merited, is it too sinister a suggestion that it was prompted partly by the reference in Johnson’s pamphlet to “the learned Mr. Warburton”? When Johnson’s edition appeared in 1765, Warburton expressed a very different opinion (see Nichols, _Anecdotes_, v., p. 595).

101-105. _whole Compass of Criticism._ Cf. Theobald’s account of the “Science of Criticism,” pp. 81, etc., which Warburton appears to have suggested.

101. _Canons of literal Criticism._ This phrase suggested the title of the ablest and most damaging attack on Warburton’s edition,—_The Canons of Criticism, and Glossary, being a Supplement to Mr. Warburton’s Edition of Shakespear._ The author was Thomas Edwards (1699-1757), a “gentleman of Lincoln’s Inn,” who accordingly figures in the notes to the _Dunciad_, iv. 568. When the book first appeared in 1748 it was called _A Supplement_, etc.... _Being the Canons of Criticism_. It reached a seventh edition in 1765.

103. _Rymer_, _Short View of Tragedy_ (1693), pp. 95, 6.

105. _as Mr. Pope hath observed._ Preface, p. 47.

_Dacier_, _Bossu._ See notes, pp. 18 and 86.

_René Rapin_ (1621-1687). His fame as a critic rests on his _Réflexions sur la Poétique d’ Aristote et sur les Ouvrages des Poètes anciens et modernes_ (1674), which was Englished by Rymer immediately on its publication. His treatise _De Carmine Pastorali_, of which a translation is included in Creech’s _Idylliums of Theocritus_ (1684), was used by Pope for the preface to his _Pastorals_. An edition of _The Whole Critical Works of Monsieur Rapin ... newly translated into English by several Hands_, 2 vols., appeared in 1706; it is not, however, complete.

_John Oldmixon_ (1673-1742), who, like Dennis and Gildon, has a place in the _Dunciad_, was the author of _An Essay on Criticism, as it regards Design, Thought, and Expression in Prose and Verse_ (1728) and _The Arts of Logick and Rhetorick, illustrated by examples taken out of the best authors_ (1728). The latter is based on the _Manière de bien penser_ of Bouhours.

_A certain celebrated Paper_,—_The Spectator_.

_semper acerbum_, etc. Virgil, _Aeneid_, v. 49.

106. _Note_, “See his Letters to me.” These letters are not extant.

108. _Saint Chrysostom ... Aristophanes._ This had been a commonplace in the discussions at the end of the seventeenth century, in England and France, on the morality of the drama.

_Ludolf Kuster_ (1670-1716) appears also in the _Dunciad_, iv., l. 237. His edition of Suidas was published, through Bentley’s influence, by the University of Cambridge in 1705. He also edited Aristophanes (1710), and wrote _De vero usu Verborum Mediorum apud Graecos_. Cf. Farmer’s _Essay_, p. 176.

_who thrust himself into the employment._ Hanmer’s letters to the University of Oxford do not bear out Warburton’s statement.

109. Gilles Ménage (1613-1692). _Les Poésies de M. de Malherbe avec les Observations de M. Ménage_ appeared in 1666.

Selden’s “Illustrations” or notes appeared with the first part of _Polyolbion_ in 1612. This allusion was suggested by a passage in a letter from Pope of 27th November, 1742: “I have a particular reason to make you interest yourself in me and my writings. It will cause both them and me to make the better figure to posterity. A very mediocre poet, one Drayton, is yet taken some notice of, because Selden writ a few notes on one of his poems” (ed. Elwin and Courthope, ix., p. 225).

110. _Verborum proprietas_, etc. Quintilian, _Institut. Orat._, Prooem. 16.

Warburton alludes to the edition of Beaumont and Fletcher “by the late Mr. Theobald, Mr. Seward of Eyam in Derbyshire, and Mr. Sympson of Gainsborough,” which appeared in ten volumes in 1750. The long and interesting preface is by Seward. Warburton’s reference would not have been so favourable could he have known Seward’s opinion of his Shakespeare. See the letter printed in the _Correspondence of Hanmer_, ed. Bunbury, pp. 352, etc.

The edition of _Paradise Lost_ is that by Thomas Newton (1704-1782), afterwards Bishop of Bristol. It appeared in 1749, and a second volume containing the other poems was added in 1752. In the preface Newton gratefully acknowledges this recommendation, and alludes with pride to the assistance he had received from Warburton, who had proved himself to be “the best editor of Shakespeare.”

_Some dull northern Chronicles_, etc. Cf. the _Dunciad_, iii. 185-194.

111. _a certain satyric Poet._ The reference is to Zachary Grey’s edition of _Hudibras_ (1744). Yet Warburton had contributed to it. In the preface “the Rev. and learned Mr. William Warburton” is thanked for his “curious and critical observations.”

Grey’s “coadjutor” was “the reverend Mr. Smith of Harleston in Norfolk,” as Grey explains in the preface to the _Notes on Shakespeare_. In his preface to _Hudibras_, Grey had given Smith no prominence in his long list of helpers. Smith had also assisted Hanmer.

In 1754 Grey brought out his _Critical, Historical, and Explanatory Notes on Shakespeare_, and in 1755 retaliated on Warburton in his _Remarks upon a late edition of Shakespear ... to which is prefixed a defence of the late Sir Thomas Hanmer_. Grey appears to be the author also of _A word or two of advice to William Warburton, a dealer in many words_, 1746.

_our great Philosopher_, Sir Isaac Newton. His remark is recorded by William Whiston in the _Historical Memoirs of the Life of Dr. Samuel Clarke_ (1730), p. 143: “To observe such laymen as _Grotius_, and _Newton_, and _Lock_, laying out their noblest Talents in sacred Studies; while such Clergymen as Dr. _Bentley_ and Bishop _Hare_, to name no others at present, have been, in the Words of Sir _Isaac Newton_, fighting with one another _about a Playback_ [_Terence_]: This is a Reproach upon them, their holy Religion, and holy Function plainly intolerable.” Warburton’s defence of himself in the previous pages must have been inspired partly by the “fanatical turn” of this “wild writer.” Whiston would hardly excuse Clarke for editing Homer till he “perceived that the pains he had taken about Homer were when he was much younger, and the notes rather transcrib’d than made new”; and Warburton is careful to state that his Shakespearian studies were amongst his “younger amusements.” _Francis Hare_ (1671-1740), successively Dean of Worcester, Dean of St. Paul’s, Bishop of St. Asaph, and Bishop of Chichester. For his quarrel with Bentley, see Monk’s _Life of Bentley_, ii., pp. 217, etc. Hare is referred to favourably in the _Dunciad_ (iii. 204), and was a friend of Warburton.

_Words are the money_, etc. Hobbes, _Leviathan_, Part I., ch. iv.: “For words are wise men’s counters, they do but reckon by them; but they are the money of fools.”

Samuel Johnson.

113. _the poems of Homer._ Cf. Johnson’s remark recorded in the _Diary of the Right Hon. William Windham_, August, 1784 (ed. 1866, p. 17): “The source of everything in or out of nature that can serve the purpose of poetry to be found in Homer.”

114. _his century._ Cf. Horace, _Epistles_, ii. 1. 39, and Pope, _Epistle to Augustus_, 55, 56.

_Nothing can please many_, etc. This had been the theme of the 59th number of the _Idler_.

115. _Hierocles._ See the _Asteia_ attributed to Hierocles, No. 9 (_Hieroclis Commentarius in Aurea Carmina_, ed. Needham, 1709, p. 462).

116. _Pope._ Preface, p. 48.

117. _Dennis._ See pp. 26, etc. In replying to Voltaire, Johnson has in view, throughout the whole preface, the essay _Du Théâtre anglais, par Jerome Carré_, 1761 (_Oeuvres_, 1785, vol. 61). He apparently ignores the earlier _Discours sur la tragédie à Milord Bolingbroke_, 1730, and _Lettres Philosophiques_ (dix-huitième lettre, “Sur la tragédie”), 1734. Voltaire replied thus to Johnson in the passage “Du Théâtre anglais” in the _Dictionnaire philosophique_: “J’ai jeté les yeux sur une édition de Shakespeare, donnée par le sieur Samuel Johnson. J’y ai vu qu’on y traite de _petits esprits_ les étrangers qui sont étonnés que, dans les pièces de ce grand Shakespeare, ‘un senateur romain fasse le bouffon, et qu’un roi paraisse sur le théâtre en ivrogne.’ Je ne veux point soupçonner le sieur Johnson d’être un mauvais plaisant, et d’aimer trop le vin; mais je trouve un peu extraordinaire qu’il compte la bouffonnerie et l’ivrognerie parmi les beautés du théâtre tragique; la raison qu’il en donne n’est pas moins singulière. ‘Le poète, dit il, dédaigne ces distinctions accidentelles de conditions et de pays, comme un peintre qui, content d’avoir peint la figure, néglige la draperie.’ La comparaison serait plus juste s’il parlait d’un peintre qui, dans un sujet noble, introduirait des grotesques ridicules, peindrait dans la bataille d’Arbelles Alexandre-le-Grand monté sur un âne, et la femme de Darius buvant avec des goujats dans un cabaret,” etc. (1785, vol. 48, p. 205). On the question of Voltaire’s attitude to Shakespeare, see Monsieur Jusserand’s _Shakespeare en France_, 1898, and Mr. Lounsbury’s _Shakespeare and Voltaire_, 1902.

118. _comic and tragic scenes._ The ensuing passage gives stronger expression to what Johnson had said in the _Rambler_, No. 156.

_I do not recollect_, etc. Johnson forgets the _Cyclops_ of Euripides. Steevens compares the passage in the _Essay of Dramatic Poesy_, where Dryden says that “Aeschylus, Euripides, Sophocles, and Seneca never meddled with comedy.”

119. _instruct by pleasing._ Cf. Horace, _Ars poetica_, 343-4.

_alternations_ (line 15). The original reads _alterations_.

120. _tragedies to-day and comedies to-morrow._ As the _Aglaura_ of Suckling and the _Vestal Virgin_ of Sir Robert Howard, which have a double fifth act. Downes records that about 1662 _Romeo and Juliet_ “was made into a tragi-comedy by Mr. James Howard, he preserving Romeo and Juliet alive; so that when the tragedy was reviv’d again, ’twas play’d alternately, tragically one day and tragi-comical another” (_Roscius Anglicanus_, ed. 1789, p. 31: cf. Genest, _English Stage_, i., p. 42).

120-1. _Rhymer and Voltaire._ See _Du Théâtre anglais_, _passim_, and _Short View_, pp. 96, etc. The passage is aimed more directly at Voltaire than at Rymer. Like Rowe, Johnson misspells Rymer’s name.

122. _Shakespeare has likewise faults._ Cf. Johnson’s letter of 16th October, 1765, to Charles Burney, quoted by Boswell: “We must confess the faults of our favourite to gain credit to our praise of his excellences. He that claims, either in himself or for another, the honours of perfection, will surely injure the reputation which he designs to assist.”

124. _Pope._ Preface, p. 56.

_In tragedy_, etc. Cf. Pope (Spence’s _Anecdotes_, 1820, p. 173): “Shakespeare generally used to stiffen his style with high words and metaphors for the speeches of his kings and great men: he mistook it for a mark of greatness.”

125. _What he does best, he soon ceases to do._ This sentence first appears in the edition of 1778.

126. _the unities._ Johnson’s discussion of the three unities is perhaps the most brilliant passage in the whole preface. Cf. the _Rambler_, No. 156; Farquhar, _Discourse upon Comedy_ (1702); _Some Remarks on the Tragedy of Hamlet_ (1736); Upton, _Critical Observations_ (1746), 1. ix.; Fielding, _Tom Jones_, prefatory chapter of Book V.; Alexander Gerard, _Essay on Taste_ (1758); Daniel Webb, _Remarks on the Beauties of Poetry_ (1762); and Kames, _Elements of Criticism_ (1762). “Attic” Hurd had defended Gothic “unity of design” in his _Letters on Chivalry_ (1762).

127. _Corneille_ published his _Discours dramatiques_, the second of which dealt with the three unities, in 1660; but he had observed the unities since the publication of the _Sentiments de l’Académie sur le Cid_ (1638).

130. _Venice ... Cyprus._ See Voltaire, _Du Théâtre anglais_, vol. 61, p. 377 (ed. 1785), and cf. Rymer’s _Short View_.

131. _Non usque_, etc. Lucan, _Pharsalia_, iii. 138-140.

132. _Every man’s performances_, etc. Cf. Johnson, _Life of Dryden_: “To judge rightly of an author, we must transport ourselves to his time, and examine what were the wants of his contemporaries, and what were his means of supplying them.”

_Nations have their infancy_, etc. Cf. Johnson’s Dedication to Mrs. Lennox’s _Shakespear Illustrated_, 1753, pp. viii, ix. See note, p. 175.

133. _As you like it._ Theobald, Upton, and Zachary Grey were satisfied that _As you like it_ was founded on “the _Coke’s Tale of Gamelyn in Chaucer_.” But Johnson knows that the immediate source of the play is Thomas Lodge’s _Rosalynde, Euphues Golden Legacie_. The presence of the _Tale of Gamelyn_ in several MSS. of the _Canterbury Tales_ accounted for its erroneous ascription to Chaucer. It was still in MS. in Shakespeare’s days. Cf. Farmer’s _Essay_, p. 178.

_old Mr. Cibber_,—Colley Cibber (1671-1757), actor and poet-laureate.

_English ballads._ Johnson refers to the ballad of _King Leire and his Three Daughters_. But the ballad is of later date than the play. Cf. p. 178.

134. _Voltaire_, _Du Théâtre anglais_, vol. 61, p. 366 (ed. 1785). Cf. _Lettres philosophiques, Sur la Tragédie, ad fin._, and _Le Siècle de Louis XIV._, ch. xxxiv.

Similar comparisons of Shakespeare and Addison occur in William Guthrie’s _Essay upon English Tragedy_ (1747) and Edward Young’s _Conjectures on Original Composition_ (1759). The former may have been inspired by Johnson’s conversation. Cf. also Warburton’s comparison incorporated in Theobald’s preface of 1733.

135. _A correct and regular writer_, etc. Cf. the comparison of Dryden and Pope in Johnson’s life of the latter: “Dryden’s page is a natural field, rising into inequalities and diversified by the varied exuberance of abundant vegetation; Pope’s is a velvet lawn, shaven by the scythe and levelled by the roller.” The “garden-and-forest” comparison had already appeared, in a versified form, in the _Connoisseur_, No. 125 (17th June, 1756). Cf. also Mrs. Piozzi’s _Anecdotes of Johnson_, p. 59, “Corneille is to Shakespeare as a clipped hedge is to a forest.”

135. _small Latin and less Greek._ Ben Jonson’s poem _To the Memory of Mr. William Shakespeare_, l. 31. The first edition of the Preface read by mistake _no Greek_. Cf. Kenrick’s _Review_, 1765, p. 106, the _London Magazine_, October, 1765, p. 536, and Farmer’s _Essay_, p. 166, note.

136. _Go before, I’ll follow._ This remark was made by Zachary Grey in his _Notes on Shakespeare_, vol. ii., p. 53. He says that “Go you before and I will follow you,” _Richard III._, i. 1. 144, is “in imitation of _Terence_, ‘I prae, sequar.’ _Terentii Andr._, i., l. 144.”

_The Menaechmi of Plautus._ See note on p. 9, and cf. Farmer, p. 200.

137. _Pope._ Pp. 52, 53.

_Rowe._ P. 4.

138. _Chaucer._ Johnson has probably his eye on Pope’s statement, p. 53.

139. _Boyle._ See Birch’s _Life of Robert Boyle_, 1744, pp. 18, 19.

_Dewdrops from a lion’s mane._ _Troilus and Cressida_, iii. 3. 224.

140. _Dennis._ P. 25.

_Hieronymo._ See Farmer’s _Essay_, p. 210.

_there being no theatrical piece_, etc. “Dr. Johnson said of these writers generally that ‘they were sought after because they were scarce, and would not have been scarce had they been much esteemed.’ His decision is neither true history nor sound criticism. They were esteemed, and they deserved to be so” (Hazlitt, _Lectures on the Age of Elizabeth_, i.).

141. _the book of some modern critick._ Upton’s _Critical Observations on Shakespeare_, Book iii. (ed. 1748, pp. 294-365).

_present profit._ Cf. Pope, _Epistle to Augustus_, 69-73.

142. _declined into the vale of years._ _Othello_, iii. 3. 265.

143. _as Dr. Warburton supposes._ P. 96.

_Not because a poet was to be published by a poet_, as Warburton had said. P. 97.

_As of the other editor’s_, etc. In the first edition of the Preface, this sentence had read thus: “Of _Rowe_, as of all the editors, I have preserved the preface, and have likewise retained the authour’s life, though not written with much elegance or spirit.” This criticism is passed on Rowe’s Account as emended by Pope, but is more applicable to it in its original form.

144. The spurious plays were added to the third Folio (1663) when it was reissued in 1664.

_the dull duty of an editor._ P. 61. Cf. the condensed criticism of Pope’s edition in the _Life of Pope_.

146. Johnson’s appreciation of Hanmer was shared by Zachary Grey. “Sir Thomas Hanmer,” says Grey, “has certainly done more towards the emendation of the text than any one, and as a fine gentleman, good scholar, and (what was best of all) a good Christian, who has treated every editor with decency, I think his memory should have been exempt from ill treatment of every kind, after his death.” Johnson’s earliest criticism of Hanmer’s edition was unfavourable.

147. Warburton was incensed by this passage and the many criticisms throughout the edition, but Johnson’s prediction that “he’ll not come out, he’ll only growl in his den” proved correct. He was content to show his annoyance in private letters. See note, p. 101.

148. _Homer’s hero._ “Achilles” in the first edition.

149. _The Canons of Criticism._ See note, p. 101. Cf. Johnson’s criticism of Edwards as recorded by Boswell: “Nay (said Johnson) he has given him some sharp hits to be sure; but there is no proportion between the two men; they must not be named together. A fly, Sir, may sting a stately horse, and make him wince; but one is but an insect, and the other is a horse still” (ed. Birkbeck Hill, i. 263).

_The Revisal of Shakespear’s text_ was published anonymously by Benjamin Heath (1704-1766) in 1765. According to the preface it had been written about 1759 and was intended as “a kind of supplement to the _Canons of Criticism_.” The announcement of Johnson’s edition induced Heath to publish it: “Notwithstanding the very high opinion the author had ever, and very deservedly, entertained of the understanding, genius, and very extensive knowledge of this distinguished writer, he thought he saw sufficient reason to collect, from the specimen already given on _Macbeth_, that their critical sentiments on the text of Shakespear would very frequently, and very widely, differ.” In the first three editions of the Preface the title is given incorrectly as _The Review_, etc. See note, p. 171.

_girls with spits._ _Coriolanus_, iv. 4. 5 (iv. 3. 5 in Johnson’s own edition): “lest that thy wives with spits, and boys with stones, In puny battle slay me.”

_A falcon tow’ring._ _Macbeth_, ii. 4. 12. The first edition read, “An eagle tow’ring,” etc.

150. _small things make mean men proud._ _2 Henry VI._, iv. 1. 106.

154. _collectors of these rarities._ This passage is said to have been aimed specially at Garrick. At least Garrick took offence at it. On 22nd January, 1766, Joseph Warton writes to his brother that “Garrick is intirely off from Johnson, and cannot, he says, forgive him his insinuating that he withheld his old editions, which always were open to him” (Wooll’s _Biographical Memoirs of Joseph Warton_, 1806, p. 313). Cf. the _London Magazine_, October, 1765, p. 538.

155. _Huetius._ Pierre Daniel Huet (1630-1721), bishop of Avranches, author of _De Interpretation libri duo: quorum prior est de optimo genere interpretandi, alter de claris interpretibus_, 1661. The best known of his French works is the _Traité de l’origine de romans_. See _Huetiana_, 1722, and _Memoirs of Huet_, translated by John Aikin, 1810.

_four intervals in the play._ Cf. _Rambler_, No. 156.

157. _by railing at the stupidity_, etc. Johnson has Warburton in his mind here, though the description is applicable to others.

158. _Criticks, I saw_, etc. Pope, _Temple of Fame_, 37-40.

_the Bishop of Aleria._ Giovanni Antonio Andrea (Joannes Andreas), 1417-c. 1480, successively bishop of Accia and Aleria, librarian and secretary to Pope Sixtus IV., and editor of Herodotus, Livy, Lucan, Ovid, Quintilian, etc.

160. _Dryden_, in the _Essay of Dramatic Poesy_. In the _Life of Dryden_ Johnson refers to this passage as a “perpetual model of encomiastic criticism,” adding that the editors and admirers of Shakespeare, in all their emulation of reverence, cannot “boast of much more than of having diffused and paraphrased this epitome of excellence.”

_should want a commentary._ Contrast Rowe, Account, _ad init._ In the editions of 1773 and 1778 Johnson ended the preface with the following paragraph: “Of what has been performed in this revisal, an account is given in the following pages by Mr. Steevens, who might have spoken both of his own diligence and sagacity, in terms of greater self-approbation, without deviating from modesty or truth.”

Richard Farmer.

_Joseph Cradock_ (1742-1826) had been a student at Emmanuel College, Cambridge. He left the University without a degree, but in 1765 was granted the honorary degree of M.A. by the Chancellor, the Duke of Newcastle. His _Literary and Miscellaneous Memoirs_ appeared in 1828.

162. “_Were it shewn_” _says some one._ See the review of Farmer’s _Essay_ in the _Critical Review_ of January, 1767 (vol. xxiii., p. 50).

163. _Peter Burman_ (1668-1741), Professor at Utrecht and at Leyden; editor of Horace, Ovid, Lucan, Quintilian, and other Latin classics.

“_Truly_,” _as Mr. Dogberry says._ _Much Ado_, iii. 5. 22.

_Burgersdicius_,—Franco Burgersdijck (1590-1629), Dutch logician, Professor at Leyden. His _Institutionum logicarum libri duo_ was for long a standard text-book. Cf. Goldsmith, _Life of Parnell, ad init._: “His progress through the college course of study was probably marked with but little splendour; his imagination might have been too warm to relish the cold logic of Burgersdicius.” See also the _Dunciad_, iv. 198.