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Page 9
_Difficile est proprie communia Dicere,_
'Twill be a hard Task for any one to go beyond him in the Description
of the several Degrees and Ages of Man's Life, tho' the Thought be old,
and common enough.
_--All the World's a Stage,
And all the Men and Women meerly Players;
They have their Exits and their Entrances,
And one Man in his time plays many Parts,
His Acts being seven Ages. At first the Infant
Mewling and puking in the Nurse's Arms:
And then, the whining School-boy with his Satchel,
And shining Morning-face, creeping like Snail
Unwillingly to School. And then the Lover
Sighing like Furnace, with a woful Ballad
Made to his Mistress' Eye-brow. Then a Soldier
Full of strange Oaths, and bearded like the Pard,
Jealous in Honour, sudden and quick in Quarrel,
Seeking the bubble Reputation
Ev'n in the Cannon's Mouth. And then the Justice
In fair round Belly, with good Capon lin'd,
With Eyes severe, and Beard of formal Cut,
Full of wise Saws and modern Instances;
And so he plays his Part. The sixth Age shifts
Into the lean and slipper'd Pantaloon,
With Spectacles on Nose, and Pouch on Side;
His youthful Hose, well sav'd, a world too wide
For his shrunk Shank; and his big manly Voice
Turning again tow'rd childish treble Pipes,
And Whistles in his Sound. Last Scene of all,
That ends this strange eventful History,
Is second Childishness and meer Oblivion,
Sans Teeth, sans Eyes, sans Tast, sans ev'rything._
p. 625.
His Images are indeed ev'ry where so lively, that the Thing he would
represent stands full before you, and you possess ev'ry Part of it. I
will venture to point out one more, which is, I think, as strong and as
uncommon as any thing I ever saw; 'tis an Image of Patience. Speaking of
a Maid in Love, he says,
_--She never told her Love,
But let Concealment, like a Worm i' th' Bud
Feed on her Damask Cheek: She pin'd in Thought,
And sate like _Patience_ on a Monument,
Smiling at_ Grief.
What an Image is here given! and what a Task would it have been for the
greatest Masters of _Greece_ and _Rome_ to have express'd the Passions
design'd by this Sketch of Statuary? The Stile of his Comedy is, in
general, Natural to the Characters, and easie in it self; and the Wit
most commonly sprightly and pleasing, except in those places where he
runs into Dogrel Rhymes, as in _The Comedy of Errors_, and a Passage or
two in some other Plays. As for his Jingling sometimes, and playing upon
Words, it was the common Vice of the Age he liv'd in: And if we find it
in the Pulpit, made use of as an Ornament to the Sermons of some of the
Gravest Divines of those Times; perhaps it may not be thought too light
for the Stage.
But certainly the greatness of this Author's Genius do's no where so
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.
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