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Page 13
[Sidenote: Praise sometimes an Injury.]
When this is found to be the Fact, how absurd must appear the
Praises of such an Editor? It seems a moot Point, whether Mr. _Pope_
has done most Injury to _Shakespeare_ as his Editor and Encomiast;
or Mr. _Rymer_ done him Service as his Rival and Censurer. Were it
every where the true Text, which That Editor in his late pompous
Edition gave us, the Poet deserv'd not the large Encomiums bestow'd
by him: nor, in that Case, is _Rymer_'s Censure of the Barbarity of
his Thoughts, and the Impropriety of his Expressions, groundless.
They have Both shewn themselves in an equal _Impuissance_ of
suspecting or amending the corrupted Passages: and tho' it be
neither Prudence to censure, or commend, what one does not
understand; yet if a Man must do one when he plays the Critick,
the latter is the more ridiculous Office. And by That _Shakespeare_
suffers most. For the natural Veneration, which we have for him,
makes us apt to swallow whatever is given us as _his_, and let off
with Encomiums; and hence we quit all Suspicions of Depravity: On
the contrary, the Censure of so divine an Author sets us upon his
Defence; and this produces an exact Scrutiny and Examination, which
ends in finding out and discriminating the true from the spurious.
It is not with any secret Pleasure, that I so frequently animadvert
on Mr. _Pope_ as a Critick; but there are Provocations, which a Man
can never quite forget. His Libels have been thrown out with so much
Inveteracy, that, not to dispute whether they _should_ come from a
_Christian_, they leave it a Question whether they _could_ come from
a _Man_. I should be loth to doubt, as _Quintus Serenus_ did in a
like Case,
Sive homo, seu similis turpissima bestia nobis,
Vulnera dente dedit.
The Indignation, perhaps, for being represented a _Blockhead_, may
be as strong in Us as it is in the Ladies for a Reflexion on their
_Beauties_. It is certain, I am indebted to Him for some _flagrant
Civilities_; and I shall willingly devote a part of my Life to the
honest Endeavour of quitting Scores: with this Exception however,
that I will not return those Civilities in his _peculiar_ Strain,
but confine myself, at lead, to the Limits of _common Decency_.
I shall ever think it better to want _Wit_, than to want _Humanity_:
and impartial Posterity may, perhaps, be of my Opinion.
[Sidenote: The old Editions faulty, whence.]
But, to return to my Subject; which now calls upon me to inquire
into those Causes, to which the Depravations of my Author originally
may be assign'd. We are to consider him as a Writer, of whom no
authentic Manuscript was extant; as a Writer, whose Pieces were
dispersedly perform'd on the several _Stages_ then in Being. And it
was the Custom of those Days for the Poets to take a Price of the
_Players_ for the Pieces They from time to time furnish'd; and
thereupon it was suppos'd, they had no farther Right to print them
without the Consent of the _Players_. As it was the Interest of the
_Companies_ to keep their Plays unpublish'd, when any one succeeded,
there was a Contest betwixt the Curiosity of the Town, who demanded
to see it in Print, and the Policy of the _Stagers_, who wish'd
to secrete it within their own Walls. Hence, many Pieces were
taken down in Short-hand, and imperfectly copied by Ear, from
a _Representation_: Others were printed from piece-meal Parts,
surreptitiously obtain'd from the Theatres, uncorrect, and without
the Poet's Knowledge. To some of these Causes we owe the train of
Blemishes, that deform those Pieces which stole singly into the
World in our Author's Life-time.
There are still other Reasons, which may be suppos'd to have
affected the whole Set. When the _Players_ took upon them to publish
his Works intire, every Theatre was ransack'd to supply the Copy;
and _Parts_ collected which had gone thro' as many Changes as
Performers, either from Mutilations or Additions made to them. Hence
we derive many Chasms and Incoherences in the Sense and Matter.
Scenes were frequently transposed, and shuffled out of their true
Place, to humour the Caprice or suppos'd Convenience of some
particular Actor. Hence much Confusion and Impropriety has attended,
and embarras'd, the Business and Fable. For there ever have been,
and ever will be in Playhouses, a Set of assuming Directors, who
know better than the Poet himself the Connexion and Dependance of
his Scenes; where Matter is defective, or Superfluities to be
retrench'd; Persons, that have the Fountain of _Inspiration_ as
peremptorily in them, as Kings have That of _Honour_. To these
obvious Causes of Corruption it must be added, that our Author has
lain under the Disadvantage of having his Errors propagated and
multiplied by Time: because, for near a Century; his Works were
republish'd from the faulty Copies without the assistance of any
intelligent Editor: which has been the Case likewise of many a
_Classic_ Writer.
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