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Page 8
As I have not propos'd to my self to enter into a Large and Compleat
Criticism upon Mr. _Shakespear_'s Works, so I suppose it will neither be
expected that I should take notice of the severe Remarks that have been
formerly made upon him by Mr. _Rhymer_. I must confess, I can't very
well see what could be the Reason of his animadverting with so much
Sharpness, upon the Faults of a Man Excellent on most Occasions, and
whom all the World ever was and will be inclin'd to have an Esteem and
Veneration for. If it was to shew his own Knowledge in the Art of
Poetry, besides that there is a Vanity in making that only his Design, I
question if there be not many Imperfections as well in those Schemes and
Precepts he has given for the Direction of others, as well as in that
Sample of Tragedy which he has written to shew the Excellency of his own
_Genius_. If he had a Pique against the Man, and wrote on purpose to
ruin a Reputation so well establish'd, he has had the Mortification to
fail altogether in his Attempt, and to see the World at least as fond of
_Shakespear_ as of his Critique. But I won't believe a Gentleman, and a
good-natur'd Man, capable of the last Intention. Whatever may have been
his Meaning, finding fault is certainly the easiest Task of Knowledge,
and commonly those Men of good Judgment, who are likewise of good and
gentle Dispositions, abandon this ungrateful Province to the Tyranny of
Pedants. If one would enter into the Beauties of _Shakespear_, there is
a much larger, as well as a more delightful Field; but as I won't
prescribe to the Tastes of other People, so I will only take the
liberty, with all due Submission to the Judgment of others, to observe
some of those Things I have been pleas'd with in looking him over.
His Plays are properly to be distinguish'd only into Comedies and
Tragedies. Those which are called Histories, and even some of his
Comedies, are really Tragedies, with a run or mixture of Comedy amongst
'em. That way of Trage-Comedy was the common Mistake of that Age, and is
indeed become so agreeable to the _English_ Tast, that tho' the severer
Critiques among us cannot bear it, yet the generality of our Audiences
seem to be better pleas'd with it than with an exact Tragedy. _The Merry
Wives of_ Windsor, _The Comedy of Errors_, and _The Taming of the
Shrew_, are all pure Comedy; the rest, however they are call'd, have
something of both Kinds. 'Tis not very easie to determine which way of
Writing he was most Excellent in. There is certainly a great deal of
Entertainment in his Comical Humours; and tho' they did not then strike
at all Ranks of People, as the Satyr of the present Age has taken the
Liberty to do, yet there is a pleasing and a well-distinguish'd Variety
in those Characters which he thought fit to meddle with. _Falstaff_ is
allow'd by every body to be a Master-piece; the Character is always
well-sustain'd, tho' drawn out into the length of three Plays; and even
the Account of his Death, given by his Old Landlady Mrs. _Quickly_, in
the first Act of _Henry_ V. tho' it be extremely Natural, is yet as
diverting as any Part of his Life. If there be any Fault in the Draught
he has made of this lewd old Fellow, it is, that tho' he has made him a
Thief, Lying, Cowardly, Vain-glorious, and in short every way Vicious,
yet he has given him so much Wit as to make him almost too agreeable;
and I don't know whether some People have not, in remembrance of the
Diversion he had formerly afforded 'em, been sorry to see his Friend
_Hal_ use him so scurvily, when he comes to the Crown in the End of the
Second Part of _Henry_ the Fourth. Amongst other Extravagances, in _The
Merry Wives of_ Windsor, he has made him a Dear-stealer, that he might
at the same time remember his _Warwickshire_ Prosecutor, under the Name
of Justice _Shallow_; he has given him very near the same Coat of Arms
which _Dugdale_, in his Antiquities of that County, describes for a
Family there, and makes the _Welsh_ Parson descant very pleasantly upon
'em. That whole Play is admirable; the Humours are various and well
oppos'd; the main Design, which is to cure _Ford_ his unreasonable
Jealousie, is extremely well conducted. _Falstaff's Billet-doux_, and
Master _Slender_'s
_Ah! Sweet_ Ann Page!
are very good Expressions of Love in their Way. In _Twelfth-Night_ there
is something singularly Ridiculous and Pleasant in the fantastical
Steward _Malvolio_. The Parasite and the Vain-glorious in _Parolles_, in
_All's Well that ends Well_ is as good as any thing of that Kind in
_Plautus_ or _Terence_. _Petruchio_, in _The Taming of the Shrew_, is an
uncommon Piece of Humour. The Conversation of _Benedick_ and _Beatrice_
in _Much ado about Nothing_, and of _Rosalind_ in _As you like it_, have
much Wit and Sprightliness all along. His Clowns, without which
Character there was hardly any Play writ in that Time, are all very
entertaining: And, I believe, _Thersites_ in _Troilus_ and _Cressida_,
and _Apemantus_ in _Timon_, will be allow'd to be Master-Pieces of ill
Nature, and satyrical Snarling. To these I might add, that incomparable
Character of _Shylock_ the _Jew_, in _The Merchant of_ Venice; but tho'
we have seen that Play Receiv'd and Acted as a Comedy, and the Part of
the _Jew_ perform'd by an Excellent Comedian, yet I cannot but think it
was design'd Tragically by the Author. There appears in it such a
deadly Spirit of Revenge, such a savage Fierceness and Fellness, and
such a bloody designation of Cruelty and Mischief, as cannot agree
either with the Stile or Characters of Comedy. The Play it self, take it
all together, seems to me to be one of the most finish'd of any of
_Shakespear_'s. The Tale indeed, in that Part relating to the Caskets,
and the extravagant and unusual kind of Bond given by _Antonio_, is a
little too much remov'd from the Rules of Probability: But taking the
Fact for granted, we must allow it to be very beautifully written. There
is something in the Friendship of _Antonio_ to _Bassanio_ very Great,
Generous and Tender. The whole fourth Act, supposing, as I said, the
Fact to be probable, is extremely Fine. But there are two Passages that
deserve a particular Notice. The first is, what _Portia_ says in praise
of Mercy, _pag. 577_; and the other on the Power of Musick, _pag. 587_.
The Melancholy of _Jacques_, in _As you like it_, is as singular and odd
as it is diverting. And if what _Horace_ says
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