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Page 7
_Midsummer Night's Dream_,
Vol. 2. p. 480.
And that whole Passage is a Compliment very properly brought in, and
very handsomly apply'd to her. She was so well pleas'd with that
admirable Character of _Falstaff_, in the two Parts of _Henry_ the
Fourth, that she commanded him to continue it for one Play more, and to
shew him in Love. This is said to be the Occasion of his Writing _The
Merry Wives of_ Windsor. How well she was obey'd, the Play it self is an
admirable Proof. Upon this Occasion it may not be improper to observe,
that this Part of _Falstaff_ is said to have been written originally
under the Name of _Oldcastle_; some of that Family being then remaining,
the Queen was pleas'd to command him to alter it; upon which he made use
of _Falstaff_. The present Offence was indeed avoided; but I don't know
whether the Author may not have been somewhat to blame in his second
Choice, since it is certain that Sir _John Falstaff_, who was a Knight
of the Garter, and a Lieutenant-General, was a Name of distinguish'd
Merit in the Wars in _France_ in _Henry_ the Fifth's and _Henry_ the
Sixth's Times. What Grace soever the Queen confer'd upon him, it was not
to her only he ow'd the Fortune which the Reputation of his Wit made. He
had the Honour to meet with many great and uncommon Marks of Favour and
Friendship from the Earl of _Southampton_, famous in the Histories of
that Time for his Friendship to the unfortunate Earl of _Essex_. It was
to that Noble Lord that he Dedicated his _Venus_ and _Adonis_, the only
Piece of his Poetry which he ever publish'd himself, tho' many of his
Plays were surrepticiously and lamely Printed in his Lifetime. There is
one Instance so singular in the Magnificence of this Patron of
_Shakespear_'s, that if I had not been assur'd that the Story was handed
down by Sir _William D'Avenant_, who was probably very well acquainted
with his Affairs, I should not have ventur'd to have inserted, that my
Lord _Southampton_, at one time, gave him a thousand Pounds, to enable
him to go through with a Purchase which he heard he had a mind to. A
Bounty very great, and very rare at any time, and almost equal to that
profuse Generosity the present Age has shewn to _French_ Dancers and
_Italian_ Eunuchs.
What particular Habitude or Friendships he contracted with private Men,
I have not been able to learn, more than that every one who had a true
Taste of Merit, and could distinguish Men, had generally a just Value
and Esteem for him. His exceeding Candor and good Nature must certainly
have inclin'd all the gentler Part of the World to love him, as the
power of his Wit oblig'd the Men of the most delicate Knowledge and
polite Learning to admire him. Amongst these was the incomparable Mr.
_Edmond Spencer_, who speaks of him in his _Tears of the Muses_, not
only with the Praises due to a good Poet, but even lamenting his Absence
with the tenderness of a Friend. The Passage is in _Thalia's_ Complaint
for the Decay of Dramatick Poetry, and the Contempt the Stage then lay
under, amongst his Miscellaneous Works, _p._ 147.
_And he the Man, whom Nature's self had made
To mock her self, and Truth to imitate
With kindly Counter under mimick Shade,
Our pleasant _Willy_, ah! is dead of late:
With whom all Joy and jolly Merriment
Is also deaded, and in Dolour drent._
_Instead thereof, scoffing Scurrility
And scorning Folly with Contempt is crept,
Rolling in Rhimes of shameless Ribaudry,
Without Regard or due _Decorum_ kept;
Each idle Wit at will presumes to make,
And doth the Learned's Task upon him take._
_But that same gentle Spirit, from whose Pen
Large Streams of Honey and sweet _Nectar_ flow,
Scorning the Boldness such base-born Men,
Which dare their Follies forth so rashly throw;
Doth rather choose to sit in idle Cell,
Than so himself to Mockery to sell._
I know some People have been of Opinion, that _Shakespear_ is not meant
by _Willy_ in the first _Stanza_ of these Verses, because _Spencer's_
Death happen'd twenty Years before _Shakespear's_. But, besides that the
Character is not applicable to any Man of that time but himself, it is
plain by the last _Stanza_ that Mr. _Spencer_ does not mean that he was
then really Dead, but only that he had with-drawn himself from the
Publick, or at least with-held his Hand from Writing, out of a disgust
he had taken at the then ill taste of the Town, and the mean Condition
of the Stage. Mr. _Dryden_ was always of Opinion these Verses were meant
of _Shakespear_; and 'tis highly probable they were so, since he was
three and thirty Years old at _Spencer's_ Death; and his Reputation in
Poetry must have been great enough before that Time to have deserv'd
what is here said of him. His Acquaintance with _Ben Johnson_ began with
a remarkable piece of Humanity and good Nature; Mr. _Johnson_, who was
at that Time altogether unknown to the World, had offer'd one of his
Plays to the Players, in order to have it Acted; and the Persons into
whose Hands it was put, after having turn'd it carelessly and
superciliously over, were just upon returning it to him with an
ill-natur'd Answer, that it would be of no service to their Company,
when _Shakespear_ luckily cast his Eye upon it, and found something so
well in it as to engage him first to read it through, and afterwards to
recommend Mr. _Johnson_ and his Writings to the Publick. After this they
were profess'd Friends; tho' I don't know whether the other ever made
him an equal return of Gentleness and Sincerity. _Ben_ was naturally
Proud and Insolent, and in the Days of his Reputation did so far take
upon him the Supremacy in Wit, that he could not but look with an evil
Eye upon any one that seem'd to stand in Competition with him. And if at
times he has affected to commend him, it has always been with some
Reserve, insinuating his Uncorrectness, a careless manner of Writing,
and want of Judgment; the Praise of seldom altering or blotting out what
he writ, which was given him by the Players who were the first
Publishers of his Works after his Death, was what _Johnson_ could not
bear; he thought it impossible, perhaps, for another Man to strike out
the greatest Thoughts in the finest Expression, and to reach those
Excellencies of Poetry with the Ease of a first Imagination, which
himself with infinite Labour and Study could but hardly attain to.
_Johnson_ was certainly a very good Scholar, and in that had the
advantage of _Shakespear_; tho' at the same time I believe it must be
allow'd, that what Nature gave the latter, was more than a Ballance for
what Books had given the former; and the Judgment of a great Man upon
this occasion was, I think, very just and proper. In a Conversation
between Sir _John Suckling_, Sir _William D'Avenant_, _Endymion Porter_,
Mr. _Hales_ of _Eaton_, and _Ben Johnson_; Sir _John Suckling_, who was
a profess'd Admirer of _Shakespear_, had undertaken his Defence against
_Ben Johnson_ with some warmth; Mr. _Hales_, who had sat still for some
time, hearing _Ben_ frequently reproaching him with the want of
Learning, and Ignorance of the Antients, told him at last, _That if Mr.
_Shakespear_ had not read the Antients, he had likewise not stollen any
thing from 'em;_ (a Fault the other made no Confidence of) _and that if
he would produce any one Topick finely treated by any of them, he would
undertake to shew something upon the same Subject at least as well
written by_ Shakespear. _Johnson_ did indeed take a large liberty, even
to the transcribing and translating of whole Scenes together; and
sometimes, with all Deference to so great a Name as his, not altogether
for the advantage of the Authors of whom he borrow'd. And if _Augustus_
and _Virgil_ were really what he has made _'em_ in a Scene of his
_Poetaster_, they are as odd an Emperor and a Poet as ever met.
_Shakespear_, on the other Hand, was beholding to no body farther than
the Foundation of the Tale, the Incidents were often his own, and the
Writing intirely so. There is one Play of his, indeed, _The Comedy of
Errors_, in a great measure taken from the _Menoechmi_ of _Plautus_.
How that happen'd, I cannot easily Divine, since, as I hinted before, I
do not take him to have been Master of _Latin_ enough to read it in the
Original, and I know of no Translation of _Plautus_ so Old as his Time.
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