52. Pope's references to the early editions of the Merry Wives and other plays do not prove his assertions. Though an imperfect edition of the Merry Wives appeared in 1602, it does not follow that this was ' entirely new writ' and transformed into the play in the Folio of 1623. The same criticism applies to what he says of Henry V., of which pirated copies appeared in 1600, 1602, and 1608. And he is apparently under the impression that the Contention of York and Lancaster and the early play of Hamlet were Shakespeare's own work.

53. Coriolanus and Julius Caesar. Pope replies tacitly to Dennis's criticism of these plays.

those Poems which pass for his. The seventh or supplementary volume of Rowe's and Pope's editions contained, in addition to some poems by Marlowe, translations of Ovid by Thomas Heywood. Like Rowe, Pope has some doubt as to the authorship of the poems, but on the score of the dedications he attributes to him Venus and Adonis and the Rape of Lucrece. Both editors ignored the Sonnets. It is doubtful how far Shakespeare was indebted to Ovid in his Venus and Adonis. He knew Golding's translation of the Metamorphoses (1565-67); but Venus and Adonis has many points in common with Lodge's Scillaes Metamorphosis which appeared in 1589. See, however, J. P. Reardon's paper in the "Shakespeare Society's Papers," 1847, iii. 143-6, where it is held that Lodge is indebted to Shakespeare.

Plautus. Cf. Rowe, p. 9. Gildon had claimed for Shakespeare greater acquaintance with the Ancients than Rowe had admitted, and Pope had both opinions in view when he wrote the present passage. "I think there are many arguments to prove," says Gildon, “that he knew at least some of the Latin poets, particularly Ovid; two of his Epistles being translated by him: His motto to Venus and Adonis is another proof. But that he had read Plautus himself, is plain from his Comedy of Errors, which is taken visibly from the Menæchmi of that poet. . . . The characters he has in his plays drawn of the Romans is a proof that he was acquainted with their historians. . . . I contend not here to prove that he was a perfect master of either the Latin or Greek authors; but all that I aim at, is to shew that as he was capable of reading some of the Romans, so he had actually read Ovid and Plautus, without spoiling or confining his fancy or genius" (1710, p. vi). Dares Phrygius. The reference is to the prologue of Troilus and See the note in Theobald's edition, and Farmer, p. 187. Chaucer. See Gildon's remarks on Troilus and Cressida, 1710,

Cressida.

P. 358.

54. Ben Johnson. Pope is here indebted to Betterton. Cf. his remark as recorded by Spence, Anecdotes, 1820, p. 5. "It was a general opinion that Ben Jonson and Shakespeare lived in enmity against one another. Betterton has assured me often that there was nothing in it; and that such a supposition was founded only on the two parties, which in their lifetime listed under one, and endeavoured to lessen the character of the

other mutually. Dryden used to think that the verses Jonson made on Shakespeare's death had something of satire at the bottom; for my part, I can't discover any thing like it in them."

55. Dryden. Discourse concerning Satire, ad init. (ed. W. P. Ker, ii., p. 18).

Enter three Witches solus. "This blunder appears to be of Mr. Pope's own invention. It is not to be found in any one of the four folio copies of Macbeth, and there is no quarto edition of it extant” (Steevens).

56. Hector's quoting Aristotle. Troilus and Cressida, ii. 2. 166.

57. those who play the Clowns. "Act iii., Sc. 4" in Pope's edition, but Act iii., Sc. 2 in modern editions.

58. Procrustes. Cf. Spectator, No. 58.

Note 2. In the edition of 1728, Pope added to this note "which last words are not in the first quarto edition.'

59. led into the Buttery of the Steward. "Mr. Pope probably recollected the following lines in The Taming of the Shrew, spoken by a Lord, who is giving directions to his servant concerning some players : Go, Sirrah, take them to the buttery,

And give them friendly welcome every one.

But he seems not to have observed that the players here introduced were strollers; and there is no reason to suppose that our author, Heminge, Burbage, Lowin, etc., who were licensed by King James, were treated in this manner" (Malone).

London Prodigal. After these seven plays Pope added in the edition of 1728 "and a thing call'd the Double Falshood" (see Introduction, p. xlv). It will be noted that he speaks incorrectly of eight" plays. In the same edition he also inserted The Comedy of Errors between The Winter's Tale and Titus Andronicus (top of p. 60).

60. tho' they were then printed in his name.

His name was given on the title-page of Pericles, Sir John Oldcastle, the Yorkshire Tragedy, and the London Prodigal.

LEWIS THEOBALD

64. above the Direction of their Tailors. Cf. Pope, p. 51. The succeeding remarks on the individuality of Shakespeare's characters also appear to have been suggested by Pope.

66. Judith was Shakespeare's younger daughter (cf. Rowe, p. 21). It is now known that Shakespeare was married at the end of 1582. See Mr. Sidney Lee's Life of Shakespeare, pp. 18-24.

68. Spenser's Thalia. Cf. Rowe, pp. 6, 7. The original editions read Tears of his Muses.'

69. Rymer's Fadera, vol. xvi., p. 505. Fletcher.

Fletcher, i.e. Lawrence

the Bermuda Islands. Cf. Theobald's note on the still-vext Bermoothes,' vol. i., p. 13 (1733). Though Shakespeare is probably indebted to the account of Sir George Somers's shipwreck on the Bermudas, Theobald is wrong, as Farmer pointed out, in saying that the Bermudas were not discovered till 1609. A description of the islands by Henry May, who was shipwrecked on them in 1593, is given in Hakluyt, 1600, iii., pp. 573-4.

70. Mr. Pope, or his Graver. So the quotation appears in the full-page illustration facing p. xxxi of Rowe's Account in Pope's edition; but the illustration was not included in all the copies, perhaps because of the error. The quotation appears correctly in the engraving in

Rowe's edition.

72. New-place. Queen Henrietta Maria's visit was from 11th to 13th July, 1643. Theobald's "three weeks" should read "three days." See Halliwell-Phillips, Outlines, 1886, ii., p. 108.

We have been told in print, in An Answer to Mr. Pope's Preface to Shakespear. . . . By a Stroling Player [John Roberts], 1729, p. 45.

73. Complaisance to a bad Taste. Cf. Rowe, p. 6, Dennis p. 46, and Theobald's dedication to Shakespeare Restored; yet Theobald himself had complied to the bad taste in several pantomimes.

Nullum sine venia. Seneca, Epistles, 114. 12.

74. Speret idem. Horace, Ars Poetica, 241.

Indeed to point out, etc. In the first edition of the Preface, Theobald had given explanations of those beauties that are less obvious to common readers.' He has unadvisably retained the remark that such explanations should deservedly have a share in a general critic upon the author.' The "explanations" were omitted probably because they were inspired by Warburton.

75. And therefore the Passages . . . from the Classics. Cf. the following passage with Theobald's letter to Warburton of 17th March, 1729-30 (see Nichols, Illustrations, ii., pp. 564, etc.). The letter throws strong light on Theobald's indecision on the question of Shakespeare's learning.

"The very learned critic of our nation" is Warburton himself. See his letter to Concanen of 2nd January, 1726 (Malone's Shakespeare, 1821, xii.,. p. 158). Cf. Theobald's Preface to Richard II., 1720, and Whalley's Enquiry, 1748, p. 51.

76. Effusion of Latin Words. Theobald has omitted a striking passage in the original preface It was shown that Shakespeare's writings, in contrast with Milton's, contain few or no Latin phrases, though they have many Latin words made English; and this fact was advanced as the truest criterion of his knowledge of Latin.

The passage is referred to by Hurd in his Letter to Mr. Mason on the Marks of Imitation (1757, p. 74). Hurd thinks that the observation is too good to have come from Theobald. His opinion is confirmed by the entire omission of the passage in the second edition. Warburton himself claimed it as his own. Though the passage was condensed by Theobald, Warburton's claim is still represented by the passage from For I shall find (p. 76, l. 7) to Royal Taste (1. 36).

77. Shakespeare . . . astonishing force and splendor. Cf. Pope, p. 50. Had Homer, etc. Cf. Pope, p. 56.

78. Indulging his private sense. See P. 61.

Lipsius,-Satyra Menippaa (Opera, 1611, p. 640).

79. Sive homo, etc. Quintus Serenus, De Medicina, xlvi., "Hominis ac simiae morsui."

80. Nature of any Distemper.

Restored, pp. iv, v.

corrupt Classic.

Cf. Shakespeare

81. Bentley's edition of Paradise Lost had appeared in 1732.

the true Duty of an Editor. A shy hit at Pope's "dull duty of an editor," Preface, p. 61.

82. as I have formerly observ'd, in the Introduction to Shakespeare Restored, pp. ii and iv. The paragraph is quoted almost verbatim.

83. labour'd under flat Nonsense. Here again Theobald incorporates a passage from the Introduction to Shakespeare Restored, p. vi.

Corrections and conjectures. Yet another passage appropriated from his earlier work. The French quotation, however, is new.

Edition of our author's Poems. Theobald did not carry out his intention of editing the Poems. References to the proposed edition will be found in Warburton's letters to him of 17th May and 14th October, 1734 (see Nichols, Illustrations, ii., pp. 634, 654).

The only attempt as yet towards a Shakespearian Glossary is to be found in the supplementary volumes of Rowe's and Pope's editions. It is far from copious and complete.'

84. The English are observ'd to produce more Humourists. See Congreve's letter to Dennis Concerning Humour in Comedy, 1695.

The

Wit lying mostly in the Assemblage of Ideas, etc. So Locke, Essay concerning the Human Understanding, Book II., Ch. xi., § 2. passage had been popularised by Addison, Spectator, No. 62.

85. Donne. Cf. Dryden's criticism of Donne.

86. a celebrated Writer. Addison, Spectator, No. 297.

Bossu. René le Bossu (1631-1680), author of the Traité du poème épique (1675). An English translation by "W. J." was printed in 1695, and again in 1719.

Dacier. See note, p. 18.

Gildon showed himself to be of the same school as Rymer in his Essay on the Art, Rise, and Progress of the Stage (1710) and his Art of Poetry (1718); yet his earliest piece of criticism was a vigorous attack on Rymer. The title reads curiously in the light of his later pronouncements Some Reflections on Mr. Rymer's Short View of Tragedy, and an Attempt at a Vindication of Shakespear. It was printed in a volume of Miscellaneous Letters and Essays (1694).

87. Anachronisms. The passage referred to occurs on pp. 134, 135 of Shakespeare Restored.

this Restorer. See the Dunciad (1729), i. 106, note.

it not being at all credible, etc.

See p. 56.

Sir Francis Drake. Pope had suggested in a note that the imperfect line in 1 Henry VI., i. 1. 56, might have been completed with the words "Francis Drake." He had not, however, incorporated the words in the text. "I can't guess," he says, "the occasion of the Hemystic, and imperfect sense, in this place; 'tis not impossible it might have been fill'd up with-Francis Drake-tho' that were a terrible Anachronism (as bad as Hector's quoting Aristotle in Troil. and Cress.); yet perhaps, at the time that brave Englishman was in his glory, to an English-hearted audience, and pronounced by some favourite Actor, the thing might be popular, though not judicious; and therefore by some Critick, in favour of the author, afterwards struck out. But this is a meer slight conjecture." Theobald has a lengthy note on this in his edition. He does not allude to the suggestion which he had submitted to Warburton. See Introduction, p. xlvi.

88. Odyssey. This passage, to the end of the paragraph, appears in Theobald's letter to Warburton of March 17, 1729-30 (Nichols, ii., p. 566). In the same letter he had expressed his doubts as to whether he should include this passage in his proposed pamphlet against Pope, as the notes to the Odyssey were written by Broome. He had cast aside these scruples now. The preface does not bear out his profession to Warburton that he was indifferent to Pope's treatment.

89. David Mallet had just brought out his poem Of Verbal Criticism (1733) anonymously. It is simply a paraphrase and expansion of Pope's statements. "As the design of the following poem is to rally the abuse of Verbal Criticism, the author could not, without manifest partiality, overlook the Editor of Milton and the Restorer of Shakespear" (introductory note).

Boswell attributed this "contemptuous mention of Mallet" to Warburton (Boswell's Malone, 1821, i., p. 42, n). But it was not