fomewhat to blame in his fecond choice; fince it is certain, that Sir John Falstaff, who was a Knight of the Garter, and a Lieutenant-General, was a name of distinguished merit in the wars in France in Henry V. and Henry VI.'s times. What grace foever the Queen conferred upon him, it was not to her only he owed 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 South, ampton, famous in the hiftories of that time for his friendship to the unfortunate Earl of Effex. It was to that Noble Lord that he dedicated his poem of Venus and Adonis. There is one inftance fo fingular in the magnificence of this patron of Shakespear's, that if I had not been affured that the story was handed down by Sir William d'Avenant, who was probably very well acquainted with his affairs, I fhould not have ventured to have inferted, 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 almoft equal to that profufe generofity the prefent age has fhewn to French dancers and Italian fingers. 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 diftinguish men, had generally a juft value and esteem for him. His exceeding candour and good-nature, must certainly have inclined all the gentler part of the world to love him, as the power of his wit obliged the men of the most delicate knowledge and polite learning to admire him. His acquaintance with Ben Johnson began with a remarkable piece of humanity and good-nature. Mr. Johnton, who was at that time altogether unknown to the world, had offered one of his plays to the players, in order to have it acted; and the perfons into whofe hands it was put, after having turned it carelessly and fupercilioufly over, were juft upon returning it to him, with an ill-natured anfwer, That it would be of no fervice to their company; when Shakespear luckily caft his eye upon it, and found fomething fo well in it as to engage him firft to read it through, and afterwards to recommend Mr. Johnfon and his writings to the public. Johnfon was certainly a very good scholar, and in that had the advantage of Shakespear; though at the fame time I believe it must be allowed, that what Nature gave the latter, was more than a balance for what books had given the former; and the judgment of a great man upon this occafion was, I think, very juft and proper. In a converfation between Sir John Suckling, Sir Wilham d'Avenant, Endymion Porter, Mr. Hales of Eaton, and Ben Johnson, Sir John Suckling, who was a profeffed admirer of Shakespear, had undertaken his defence against Ben Johnson with some warmth; Mr. Hales, who had fat still for fome time, told them, That if Mr. Shakespear had not read the ancients, he had likewife not ftoln any thing from them; and that if he would produce any one topic finely treated by any of them, he would undertake to flew fomething upon the fame fubject, at least as well written by Shakespear. The latter part of his life was spent, as all men of good fenfe will with theirs may be, in ease, retirement, and the conversation of his friends. He had the good fortune to gather an eftate equal to his occafion, and, in that, to his wifh; and is faid to have spent fome years before his death at his native Stratford. His pleafurable wit and good-nature engaged him in the acquaintance, and intitled him to the friendship of the gentlemen of the neighbourhood. Amongst them, it is a ftory almost fill remembered in that country, that he had a particular intimacy with Mr. Combe, an old gentleman noted thereabouts for his wealth and ufury. It happened, that in a pleasant converfation amongst their common friends, Mr. Combe told Shakespear in a laughing manner, that he fancied he intended to write his epitaph, if he happened to outlive him; and fince he could not know what might be faid of him when he was dead, he defired it might be done immediately. Upon which Shakespear gave him thefe four verfes. Ten in the hundred lies here ingrav'd, 2 If any man afk, Who lies in this tomb ? Oh! ho! quoth the devil, 'tis my John-a-Combe. But the sharpness of the fatyr is faid to have ftung thè man fo feverely, that he never forgave it. He died in the fifty-third year of his and was age, buried on the north fide of the chancel, in the great church at Stratford; where a monument is placed in the wall. On his grave-ftone underneath is, Good friend, for Jefus fake forbear Blefs'd be the man that spares thefe ftones, He had three daughters, of which two lived to be married; Judith, the elder, to one Mr. Thomas Qui ney, by whom fhe had three fons, who all died without children; and Sufannah, who was his favourite, to Dr. John Hall, a phyfician of good reputation in that country. She left one child only, a daughter, who was married firit to Thomas Nash, Efq; and afterwards to Sir John Bernard of Abbington, but died likewife without iffue. This is what I could learn of any note, either relating to himself or family. The character of the man is best feen in his writings. But fince Ben Johnson has made a fort of an effay towards it in his Discoveries, I will give it in his words. 86 "I remember the players have often mentioned it as "an honour to Shakefpear, that in writing, whatsoever he penned, he never blotted out a line. My "anfwer hath been, Would he had blotted a thousand! "which they thought a malevolent fpeech. I had not told pofterity this, but for their ignorance, who chose "that circumftance to commend their friend by, wherein he most faulted; and to justify mine own candour; for I loved the man, and do honour his memory, on "this fide idolatry, as much as any. He was indeed "honest, and of an open and free nature; had an excellent fancy, brave notions, and gentle expreffions; "wherein he flowed with that facility, that fometimes it was neceffary he fhould be ftopped: Sufflaminandus VOL. I. e " erat, 66 "erat, as Auguftus faid of Haterius. His wit was in "his own power, would the rule of it had been so too. Many times he fell into thofe things which could not efcape laughter; as when he said in the person of "Cæfar, one fpeaking to him, "Cafar did never wrong, but with just cause *. " and fuch like, which were ridiculous. But he re"deemed his vices with his virtues: there was ever more in him to be praised than to be pardoned." As for the paffage which he mentions out of Shakefpear, there is fomewhat like it in Julius Cæfar, but without the abfurdity; nor did I ever meet with it in any edition that I have feen, as quoted by Mr. Johnson. Befides his plays in this edition, there are two or three ascribed to him by Mr. Langbain, which I have never feen, and know nothing of. He writ likewife Venus and Adonis, and Tarquin and Lucrece, in ftanzas, which have been printed in a late collection of poems. As to the character given of him by Ben Johnson, there is a good deal true in it; but I believe it may be as well expreffed by what Horace fays of the first Romans, who wrote tragedy upon the Greek models, (or indeed tranflated them), in his epiftle to Auguftus. * If ever there was fuch a line written by Shakespear, I should fancy it might have its place vol. 7. p. 44. after line 32. thus: Cæfar bas bad great wrong. 3 Pleb. Cæfar had never wrong, but with just cause. One might be and very humouroufly in the cha acter of a Plebeian. Know, afar dith not wrong; nor without caufe But the verfe, as cited by Ben Johnson, does not connect with will be fatisfied. Perhaps this play was never printed in Ben Johnson's time, and fo he had nothing to judge by but as the actor pleased to fpeak it. Mr. Pope. -Natura Natura fublimis & acer, Nam fpirat tragicum fatis & feliciter audet, As I have not propofed to myself to enter into a large and compleat collection upon Shakespear's works, fo I will only take the liberty, with all due fubmiffion to the judgment of others, to obferve fome of those things I have been pleased with in looking him over. His plays are properly to be diftinguished only into comedies and tragedies. Those which are called histories, and even fome of his comedies, are really tragedies, with a run or mixture of comedy amongst them. That way of tragi-comedy was the common mistake of that age; and is indeed become fo agreeable to the English tafte, that though the feverer critics among us cannot bear it, yet the generality of our audiences feem to be better pleafed with it than with an exact tragedy. The merry wives of Windfor, The comedy of errors, and The taming of the fhrew, are all pure comedy; the reft, however they are called, have fomething of both kinds. 'Tis not very easy to determine which way of writing he was most excellent in. There is certainly a great deal of entertainment in his comical humours; and though they did not then strike at all ranks of people, as the fatyr of the prefent age has taken the liberty to do; yet there is a pleafing and a well-diftinguished variety in those characters which he thought fit to meddle with. Falstaff is allowed by every body to be a masterpiece. The character is always well fuftained, though 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. though 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 though he has made him a thief, lying cowardly, vain-glorious, and in fhort every way vicious, yet he has given him fo much wit as to make him almost too agreeable; and I do not know whether fome people have not, in remembrance of the diverfion he had formerly afforded them, been forry to fee his friend Hal ufe him fo fcurvily, when he comes to the |