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Page 11
Comparing the Mind of a Conspirator to an Anarchy, is just and
beautiful; but the _Interim_ to a _hideous Dream_ has something in
it so wonderfully natural, and lays the human Soul so open, that one
cannot but be surpriz'd, that any Poet, who had not himself been,
some time or other, engaged in a Conspiracy, could ever have given
such Force of Colouring to Truth and Nature.
[Sidenote: The Question on _Shakespeare_'s Learning handled.]
It has been allow'd on all hands, far our Author was indebted to
_Nature_; it is not so well agreed, how much he ow'd to _Languages_
and acquir'd _Learning_. The Decisions on this Subject were
certainly set on Foot by the Hint from _Ben Jonson_, that he had
small _Latin_ and less _Greek_: And from this Tradition, as it were,
Mr. _Rowe_ has thought fit peremptorily to declare, that, "It is
without Controversy, he had no Knowledge of the Writings of the
ancient Poets, for that in his Works we find no Traces of any thing
which looks like an Imitation of the Ancients. For the Delicacy of
his Taste (_continues He_,) and the natural Bent of his own great
Genius (equal, if not superior, to some of the Best of theirs;)
would certainly have led him to read and study them with so much
Pleasure, that some of their fine Images would naturally have
insinuated themselves into, and been mix'd with, his own Writings:
so that his not copying, at least, something from them, may be an
Argument of his never having read them." I shall leave it to the
Determination of my Learned Readers, from the numerous Passages,
which I have occasionally quoted in my Notes, in which our Poet
seems closely to have imitated the Classics, whether Mr. _Rowe_'s
Assertion be so absolutely to be depended on. The Result of the
Controversy must certainly, either way, terminate to our Author's
Honour: how happily he could imitate them, if that Point be allow'd;
or how gloriously he could think like them, without owing any thing
to Imitation.
Tho' I should be very unwilling to allow _Shakespeare_ so poor a
Scholar, as Many have labour'd to represent him, yet I shall be
very cautious of declaring too positively on the other side of the
Question: that is, with regard to my Opinion of his Knowledge in the
dead Languages. And therefore the Passages, that I occasionally
quote from the _Classics_, shall not be urged as Proofs that he
knowingly imitated those Originals; but brought to shew how happily
he has express'd himself upon the same Topicks. A very learned
Critick of our own Nation has declar'd, that a Sameness of Thought
and Sameness of Expression too, in Two Writers of a different Age,
can hardly happen, without a violent Suspicion of the Latter copying
from his Predecessor. I shall not therefore run any great Risque
of a Censure, tho' I should venture to hint, that the Resemblance,
in Thought and Expression, of our Author and an Ancient (which
we should allow to be Imitation in One, whose Learning was not
question'd) may sometimes take its Rise from Strength of Memory, and
those Impressions which he ow'd to the School. And if we may allow a
Possibility of This, considering that, when he quitted the School,
he gave into his Father's Profession and way of Living, and had,
'tis likely, but a slender Library of Classical Learning; and
considering what a Number of Translations, Romances, and Legends,
started about his Time, and a little before; (most of which,'tis
very evident, he read;) I think, it may easily be reconcil'd, why he
rather schemed his _Plots_ and _Charaters_ from these more latter
Informations, than went back to those Fountains, for which he might
entertain a sincere Veneration, but to which he could not have so
ready a Recourse.
In touching on another Part of his Learning, as it related to the
Knowledge of _History_ and _Books_, I shall advance something, that,
at first sight, will very much wear the Appearance of a Paradox.
For I shall find it no hard Matter to prove, that from the grossest
Blunders in History, we are not to infer his real Ignorance of it:
Nor from a greater Use of _Latin_ Words, than ever any other
_English_ Author used, must we infer his Knowledge of that Language.
A Reader of Taste may easily observe, that tho' _Shakespeare_,
almost in every Scene of his historical Plays, commits the grossest
Offences against Chronology, History, and Antient Politicks; yet
This was not thro' Ignorance, as is generally supposed, but thro'
the too powerful Blaze of his Imagination; which, when once raised,
made all acquired Knowledge vanish and disappear before it. For
Instance, in his _Timon_, he turns _Athens_, which was a perfect
Democracy, into an Aristocracy; while he ridiculously gives a
Senator the Power of banishing _Alcibiades_. On the contrary, in
_Coriolanus_, he makes _Rome_, which at that time was a perfect
Aristocracy, a Democracy full as ridiculously, by making the People
choose _Coriolanus_ Consul: Whereas, in Fact, it was not till the
Time of _Manlius_ _Torquatus_, that the People had a Right of
choosing one Consul. But this Licence in him, as I have said, must
not be imputed to Ignorance: since as often we may find him, when
Occasion serves, reasoning up to the Truth of History; and throwing
out Sentiments as justly adapted to the Circumstances of his
Subject, as to the Dignity of his Characters, or Dictates of Nature
in general.
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