Preface to Shakespeare | Page 9

to pass, and that no
more account of space or duration is to be taken by the auditor of a
drama, than by the reader of a narrative, before whom may pass in an
hour the life of a hero, or the revolutions of an empire.
Whether Shakespeare knew the unities, and rejected them by design, or
deviated from them by happy ignorance, it is, I think, impossible to
decide, and useless to inquire. We may reasonably suppose, that, when
he rose to notice, he did not want the counsels and admonitions of
scholars and criticks, and that he at last deliberately persisted in a
practice, which he might have begun by chance. As nothing is essential
to the fable, but unity of action, and as the unities of time and place
arise evidently from false assumptions, and, by circumscribing the
extent of the drama, lessen its variety, I cannot think it much to be
lamented, that they were not known by him, or not observed: Nor, if
such another poet could arise, should I very vehemently reproach him,
that his first act passed at Venice, and his next in Cyprus. Such
violations of rules merely positive, become the comprehensive genius
of Shakespeare, and such censures are suitable to the minute and
slender criticism of Voltaire:
Non usque adeo permiscuit imis Longus summa dies, ut non, si voce
Metelli Serventur leges, malint a Caesare tolli.
Yet when I speak thus slightly of dramatick rules, I cannot but recollect
how much wit and learning may be produced against me; before such
authorities I am afraid to stand, not that I think the present question one
of those that are to be decided by mere authority, but because it is to be
suspected, that these precepts have not been so easily received but for

better reasons than I have yet been able to find. The result of my
enquiries, in which it would be ludicrous to boast of impartiality, is,
that the unities of time and place are not essential to a just drama, that
though they may sometimes conduce to pleasure, they are always to be
sacrificed to the nobler beauties of variety and instruction; and that a
play, written with nice observation of critical rules, is to be
contemplated as an elaborate curiosity, as the product of superfluous
and ostentatious art, by which is shewn, rather what is possible, than
what is necessary.
He that, without diminution of any other excellence, shall preserve all
the unities unbroken, deserves the like applause with the architect, who
shall display all the orders of architecture in a citadel, without any
deduction from its strength; but the principal beauty of a citadel is to
exclude the enemy; and the greatest graces of a play, are to copy nature
and instruct life.
Perhaps, what I have here not dogmatically but deliberately written,
may recal the principles of the drama to a new examination. I am
almost frighted at my own temerity; and when I estimate the fame and
the strength of those that maintain the contrary opinion, am ready to
sink down in reverential silence; as Aeneas withdrew from the defence
of Troy, when he saw Neptune shaking the wall, and Juno heading the
besiegers.
Those whom my arguments cannot persuade to give their approbation
to the judgment of Shakespeare, will easily, if they consider the
condition of his life, make some allowance for his ignorance.
Every man's performances, to be rightly estimated, must be compared
with the state of the age in which he lived, and with his own particular
opportunities; and though to the reader a book be not worse or better
for the circumstances of the authour, yet as there is always a silent
reference of human works to human abilities, and as the enquiry, how
far man may extend his designs, or how high he may rate his native
force, is of far greater dignity than in what rank we shall place any
particular performance, curiosity is always busy to discover the
instruments, as well as to survey the workmanship, to know how much
is to be ascribed to original powers, and how much to casual and
adventitious help. The palaces of Peru or Mexico were certainly mean
and incommodious habitations, if compared to the houses of European

monarchs; yet who could forbear to view them with astonishment, who
remembered that they were built without the use of iron?
The English nation, in the time of Shakespeare, was yet struggling to
emerge from barbarity. The philology of Italy had been transplanted
hither in the reign of Henry the Eighth; and the learned languages had
been successfully cultivated by Lilly and More; by Pole, Cheke, and
Gardiner; and afterwards by Smith, Clerk, Haddon, and Ascham. Greek
was now taught to boys in the principal