general compaffion. The whole man, with his vices and virtues, is finely and exactly defcrib'd in the fecond scene of the fourth act. The diftreffes likewife of Queen Catharine, in this Play, are very movingly touch'd; and tho' the art of the Poet has screen'd King Henry from any grofs imputation of injustice, yet one is inclin'd to with, the Queen had met with a fortune more worthy of her birth and virtue. Nor are the Manners, proper to the perfons reprefented, lefs juftly obferv'd, in those characters taken from the Roman Hiftory; and of this, the fiercenefs and impatience of Coriolanus, his courage and difdain of the common people, the virtue and philofophical temper of Brutus, and the irregular greatnefs of mind in M. Antony, are beautiful proofs. For the two last especially, you find 'em exactly as they are defcrib'd by Plutarch, from whom certainly ShakeSpear copy'd 'em. He has indeed follow'd his original pretty close, and taken in feveral little incidents that might have been fpar'd in a Play. But, as I hinted before, his design seems moft commonly rather to defcribe those great men in the feveral fortunes and accidents of their lives, than to take any fingle great action, and form his work fimply upon that. However, there are fome of his pieces, where the Fable is founded upon one action only. Such are more efpecially, Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, and Othello. The defign in Romeo and Juliet, is plainly the punishment of their two families, for the unreafonable feuds and animofities that had been fo long kept up between 'em, and occafion'd the effufion of fo much blood. In the management of this ftory, he has fhewn fomething wonderfully tender and paffionate in the lovepart, and very pitiful in the diftrefs. Hamlet is founded on much the fame Tale with the Elettra of Sophocles. In each of 'em a young Prince is engaged to revenge the death of his father, their mothers are equally equally guilty, are both concern'd in the murder of their husbands, and, are afterwards married to the murderers. There is in the first part of the Greek Tragedy, fomething very moving in the grief of Electra ; but as Mr. Dacier has obferv'd, there is fomething very unnatural and fhocking in the Manners he has given that Princefs and Oreftes in the latter part. Oreftes embrues his hands in the blood of his own mother; and that barbarous action is perform'd, tho' not immediately upon the ftage, yet fo near, that the audience hear Clytemnestra crying out to Egyfthus for help, and to her fon for mercy: While Electra her daughter, and a Princefs (both of them characters that ought to have appear'd with more decency) ftands upon the stage and encourages her brother in the Parricide. What horror does this not raife! Clytemnestra was a wicked woman, and had deferv'd to die; nay, in the truth of the ftory, fhe was kill'd by her own fon; but to represent an action of this kind on the stage, is certainly an offence against those rules of manners proper to the perfons, that ought to be obferv'd there. On the contrary, let us only look a little on the conduct of Shakespear. Hamlet is reprefentedwith the fame piety towards his father, and refolution to revenge his death, as Oreftes; he has the fame abhorrence for his mother's guilt, which, to provoke him the more, is heighten'd by inceft: But 'tis with wonderful art and juftness of judgment, that the Poet reftrains him from doing violence to his mother. To prevent any thing of that kind, he makes his father's Ghoft forbid that part of his vengeance. But bowfoever thou purfu'ft this Act, This is to diftinguish rightly between Horror and Terror. The latter is a proper paffion of Tragedy, but the former ought always to be carefully avoided. And certainly no dramatick Writer ever fucceeded better in raifing Terror in the minds of an audience than ShakeSpear has done. The whole Tragedy of Macbeth, but more especially the scene where the King is murder'd, in the fecond act, as well as this Play, is a noble proof of that manly fpirit with which he writ; and both fhew how powerful he was, in giving the strongest motions to our fouls that they are capable of. I cannot leave Hamlet, without taking notice of the advantage with which we have seen this Mafter-piece of Shakespear diftinguish itself upon the stage, by Mr. Betterton's fine performance of that part. A man, who tho' he had no other good qualities, as he has a great many, must have made his way into the efteem of all men of letters, by this only excellency. No man is better acquainted with Shakespear's manner of expreffion, and indeed he has ftudy'd him fo well, and is fo much a mafter of him, that whatever part of his he performs, he does it as if it had been written on purpose for him, and that the Author had exactly conceiv'd it as he plays it. I must own a particular obligation to him, for the most confiderable part of the paffages relating to this life, which I have here tranfmitted to the publick; his veneration for the memory of Shakespear having engaged him to make a journey into Warwickshire, on purpose to gather up what remains he could, of a name for which he had fo great a veneration. The The following Inftrument was tranfmitted to us by John Anftis, Efq; Garter King at Arms: It is mark'd, G. 13. P. 349. [There is alfo a Manufcript in the Heralds Office, mark'd W. 2. p. 276; where notice is taken of this Coat, and that the Perfon to whom it was granted, had born Magiftracy at Stratford upon Avon.] O all and fingular Noble and Gentlemen of all Eftates and Degrees, bearing Arms, to whom thefe Prefents fhall come; William Dethick, Garter Principal King of Arms of England, and William Camden, alias Clarencieulx, King of Arms for the South, East, and Weft Parts of this Realm, fend Greetings. Know ye, that in all Nations and Kingdoms the Record and Remembrance of the valiant Facts and virtuous Difpofitions of worthy Men have been made known and divulged by certain Shields of Arms and tokens of Chivalrie; the Grant or Teftimony whereof apperteineth unto us, by virtue of our offices from the Queen's moft Excellent Majefty, and her Highness's most noble and victorious Progenitors: Wherefore being follicited, and by credible Report informed, that John Shakefpere, now of Stratford upon Avon in the County of Warwick, Gentleman, whofe Great Grandfather for his faithful and approved Service to the late moft prudent Prince, King Henry VII. of famous Memory, was advanced and rewarded with Lands and Tenements, given to him in those Parts of Warwickshire, where they have continued by fome Descents in good Reputation and Credit; And for that the faid John Shakespere having married the Daughter and one of the Heirs of Robert Arden of VOL. I. d Wellingcote Wellingcote in the faid County, and alfo produced this his ancient Coat of Arms, heretofore aligned to him whilft he was her Majefty's Officer and Bailiff of that Town. In confideration of the Premifes, and for the Encouragement of his Pofterity, unto whom fuch Blazon of Arms and Atchievements of Inheritance from their faid Mother, by the ancient Custom and Laws of Arms, may lawfully defcend; We the faid Garter and Clarencieulx have affigned, granted, and confirmed, and by these Presents exemplified unto the faid John Shakespere, and to his Pofterity, that Shield and Coat of Arms, viz. In a Field of Gold upon a Bend Sables a Spear of the first, the Point upward, headed Argent; and for his Creft or Cognifance, A Falcon, Or, with his Wings displayed, standing on a Wreathe of bis Colours, fupporting a Spear armed headed, or feeled Silver, fixed upon an Helmet with Mantles and Taffels, as more plainly may appear depicted in this Margent; And we have likewife impaled the fame with the ancient Arms of the faid Arden of Wellingcote; fignifying thereby, that it may and fhall be lawful for the faid John Shakefpere, Gent. to bear and use the fame Shield of Arms, fingle or impaled, as aforefaid, during his natural Life; and that it fhall be lawful for his Children, Iffue, and Pofterity, lawfully begotten, to bear, ufe, and quarter, and fhew forth the fame, with their due Differences, in all lawful warlike Feats and civil Ufe or Exercifes, according to the Laws of Arms, and Custom that to Gentlemen belongeth, without Let or Interruption of any Perfon or Perfons, for ufe or bearing the fame. In Witness and Teftimony whereof we have fubfcribed our Names, and faftned the Seals of our Offices. Given at the Office of Arms, London, the in the Forty fecond Year of the Reign of our most Gracious Sovereign Lady Elizabeth, by the Grace of God, Queen of England, France, and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, &c. 1599. Day of то |