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Page 6
_Integer vit� scelerisque purus
Non eget Mauri jaculis nec arcu--_
says, _'Tis a Verse in_ Horace, _but he remembers it out of his_
Grammar: Which, I suppose, was the Author's Case. Whatever _Latin_ he
had, 'tis certain he understood _French_, as may be observ'd from many
Words and Sentences scatter'd up and down his Plays in that Language;
and especially from one Scene in _Henry_ the Fifth written wholly in it.
Upon his leaving School, he seems to have given intirely into that way
of Living which his Father propos'd to him; and in order to settle in
the World after a Family manner, he thought fit to marry while he was
yet very Young. His Wife was the Daughter of one _Hathaway_, said to
have been a substantial Yeoman in the Neighbourhood of _Stratford_. In
this kind of Settlement he continu'd for some time, 'till an
Extravagance that he was guilty of, forc'd him both out of his Country
and that way of Living which he had taken up; and tho' it seem'd at
first to be a Blemish upon his good Manners, and a Misfortune to him,
yet it afterwards happily prov'd the occasion of exerting one of the
greatest _Genius's_ that ever was known in Dramatick Poetry. He had, by
a Misfortune common enough to young Fellows, fallen into ill Company;
and amongst them, some that made a frequent practice of Deer-stealing,
engag'd him with them more than once in robbing a Park that belong'd to
Sir _Thomas Lucy_ of _Cherlecot_, near _Stratford_. For this he was
prosecuted by that Gentleman, as he thought somewhat too severely; and
in order to revenge that ill Usage, he made a Ballad upon him. And tho'
this, probably the first Essay of his Poetry, be lost, yet it is said to
have been so very bitter, that it redoubled the Prosecution against him
to that degree, that he was oblig'd to leave his Business and Family in
_Warwickshire_, for some time, and shelter himself in _London_.
It is at this Time, and upon this Accident, that he is said to have
made his first Acquaintance in the Play-house. He was receiv'd into the
Company then in being, at first in a very mean Rank; But his admirable
Wit, and the natural Turn of it to the Stage, soon distinguish'd him, if
not as an extraordinary Actor, yet as an excellent Writer. His Name is
Printed, as the Custom was in those Times, amongst those of the other
Players, before some old Plays, but without any particular Account of
what sort of Parts he us'd to play; and tho' I have inquir'd, I could
never meet with any further Account of him this way, than that the top
of his Performance was the Ghost in his own _Hamlet_. I should have been
much more pleas'd, to have learn'd from some certain Authority, which
was the first Play he wrote; it would be without doubt a pleasure to any
Man, curious in Things of this Kind, to see and know what was the first
Essay of a Fancy like _Shakespear's_. Perhaps we are not to look for his
Beginnings, like those of other Authors, among their least perfect
Writings; Art had so little, and Nature so large a Share in what he did,
that, for ought I know, the Performances of his Youth, as they were the
most vigorous, and had the most fire and strength of Imagination in 'em,
were the best. I would not be thought by this to mean, that his Fancy
was so loose and extravagant, as to be Independent on the Rule and
Government of Judgment; but that what he thought, was commonly so Great,
so justly and rightly Conceiv'd in it self, that it wanted little or no
Correction, and was immediately approv'd by an impartial Judgment at the
first sight. Mr. _Dryden_ seems to think that _Pericles_ is one of his
first Plays; but there is no judgment to be form'd on that, since there
is good Reason to believe that the greatest part of that Play was not
written by him; tho' it is own'd, some part of it certainly was,
particularly the last Act. But tho' the order of Time in which the
several Pieces were written be generally uncertain, yet there are
Passages in some few of them which seem to fix their Dates. So the
_Chorus_ in the beginning of the fifth Act of _Henry_ V. by a Compliment
very handsomly turn'd to the Earl of _Essex_, shews the Play to have
been written when that Lord was General for the Queen in _Ireland_: And
his Elogy upon Q. _Elizabeth_, and her Successor K. _James_, in the
latter end of his _Henry_ VII, is a Proof of that Play's being written
after the Accession of the latter of those two Princes to the Crown of
_England_. Whatever the particular Times of his Writing were, the People
of his Age, who began to grow wonderfully fond of Diversions of this
kind, could not but be highly pleas'd to see a _Genius_ arise amongst
'em of so pleasurable, so rich a Vein, and so plentifully capable of
furnishing their favourite Entertainments. Besides the advantages of his
Wit, he was in himself a good-natur'd Man, of great sweetness in his
Manners, and a most agreeable Companion; so that it is no wonder if with
so many good Qualities he made himself acquainted with the best
Conversations of those Times. Queen _Elizabeth_ had several of his Plays
Acted before her, and without doubt gave him many gracious Marks of her
Favour: It is that Maiden Princess plainly, whom he intends by
_--A fair Vestal, Throned by the West._
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