...assertion can be more egregiously wrong than one which Johnson makes in his preface to Shakspeare; that, " in the writings of other poets, a character is too often an individual; in those of Shakspeare, it is commonly a species." The reverse of this is the fact; other poets are able,...

...in those * of Shakespeare it is commonly a species. It is from this wide extension of design that so much instruction is derived. It is this which fills the plays of Shakespeare with practical axioms and domestic wisdom. It was said of Euripides, that every verse was...

...influence of those general passions and principles by which all minds are agitated, and the whole system of life is continued in motion. In the writings of...poets, a character is too often an individual; in those of Shaskspeare, it is commonly a species. It is from this wide extension of design that so much...

...influence of those ¡relierai passions and principles by which all minds are agitated, and the whole system of life is continued in motion. In the writings of...poets a character is too often an individual ; in those of Shakspeare it is commonly a species. It is from this wide extension ofdesigii so much instruction...

...influence of those general passions and principles by which all minds arc agitated, and the whole system of life is continued in motion. In the writings of...poets a character is too often an individual ; in those of Shakspeare it is commonly a species. It is from this wide extension of design that so much...

...Johnson has remarked, that Shakspeare's characters " are tho genuine progeny of common humanity; that in the writings of other poets a character is too often an individual ; in those of Shakspeare it is commonly a species." The truth of this opinion must strike every reader of...

...influence of those general passions and principles by which all minds are agitated, and the whole system of life is continued in motion. In the writings of other poets a character is too often au individual ; in those of Shakspeare it is commonly a species. It is from this wide extension of...

...influence of those general passions and principles by which all minds are agitated, and the whole system of life is continued in motion. In the writings of...poets, a character is too often an individual; in those of Shakspeare, it is commonly a species." He displays an ahuost unlimited comprehensiveness of...

...influence of those general passions and principles by which all minds are agitated, and the whole system of life is continued in motion. In the writings of...poets a character is too often an individual ; in those of Shakspeare it is commonly a species. " It is from this wide extension of design that so much...

...influence of those general passions and principles by which all minds are agitated, and the whole system of life is continued in motion. In the writings of...poets, a character is too often an individual^ in those of Shakspere it is commonly a species." To embody the descriptions of such a writer, so as to...