Some Account of the Life of Mr. William Shakespear (1709) | Page 8

to admire him. Amongst these was the
incomparable Mr. Edmond Spencer, who speaks of him in his Tears of
the Muses, not only with the Praises due to a good Poet, but even
lamenting his Absence with the tenderness of a Friend. The Passage is
in _Thalia's_ Complaint for the Decay of Dramatick Poetry, and the
Contempt the Stage then lay under, amongst his Miscellaneous Works,
_p._ 147.
_And he the Man, whom Nature's self had made To mock her self, and
Truth to imitate With kindly Counter under mimick Shade, Our
pleasant Willy, ah! is dead of late: With whom all Joy and jolly
Merriment Is also deaded, and in Dolour drent._

_Instead thereof, scoffing Scurrility And scorning Folly with Contempt
is crept, Rolling in Rhimes of shameless Ribaudry, Without Regard or
due Decorum kept; Each idle Wit at will presumes to make, And doth
the Learned's Task upon him take._
_But that same gentle Spirit, from whose Pen Large Streams of Honey
and sweet Nectar flow, Scorning the Boldness such base-born Men,
Which dare their Follies forth so rashly throw; Doth rather choose to sit
in idle Cell, Than so himself to Mockery to sell._
I know some People have been of Opinion, that Shakespear is not
meant by Willy in the first Stanza of these Verses, because _Spencer's_
Death happen'd twenty Years before _Shakespear's_. But, besides that
the Character is not applicable to any Man of that time but himself, it is
plain by the last Stanza that Mr. Spencer does not mean that he was
then really Dead, but only that he had with-drawn himself from the
Publick, or at least with-held his Hand from Writing, out of a disgust he
had taken at the then ill taste of the Town, and the mean Condition of
the Stage. Mr. Dryden was always of Opinion these Verses were meant
of _Shakespear_; and 'tis highly probable they were so, since he was
three and thirty Years old at _Spencer's_ Death; and his Reputation in
Poetry must have been great enough before that Time to have deserv'd
what is here said of him. His Acquaintance with Ben Johnson began
with a remarkable piece of Humanity and good Nature; Mr. Johnson,
who was at that Time altogether unknown to the World, had offer'd one
of his Plays to the Players, in order to have it Acted; and the Persons
into whose Hands it was put, after having turn'd it carelessly and
superciliously over, were just upon returning it to him with an
ill-natur'd Answer, that it would be of no service to their Company,
when Shakespear luckily cast his Eye upon it, and found something so
well in it as to engage him first to read it through, and afterwards to
recommend Mr. Johnson and his Writings to the Publick. After this
they were profess'd Friends; tho' I don't know whether the other ever
made him an equal return of Gentleness and Sincerity. Ben was
naturally Proud and Insolent, and in the Days of his Reputation did so
far take upon him the Supremacy in Wit, that he could not but look
with an evil Eye upon any one that seem'd to stand in Competition with

him. And if at times he has affected to commend him, it has always
been with some Reserve, insinuating his Uncorrectness, a careless
manner of Writing, and want of Judgment; the Praise of seldom altering
or blotting out what he writ, which was given him by the Players who
were the first Publishers of his Works after his Death, was what
Johnson could not bear; he thought it impossible, perhaps, for another
Man to strike out the greatest Thoughts in the finest Expression, and to
reach those Excellencies of Poetry with the Ease of a first Imagination,
which himself with infinite Labour and Study could but hardly attain to.
Johnson was certainly a very good Scholar, and in that had the
advantage of _Shakespear_; tho' at the same time I believe it must be
allow'd, that what Nature gave the latter, was more than a Ballance for
what Books had given the former; and the Judgment of a great Man
upon this occasion was, I think, very just and proper. In a Conversation
between Sir John Suckling, Sir _William D'Avenant_, Endymion Porter,
Mr. Hales of Eaton, and _Ben Johnson_; Sir John Suckling, who was a
profess'd Admirer of Shakespear, had undertaken his Defence against
Ben Johnson with some warmth; Mr. Hales, who had sat still for some
time, hearing Ben frequently reproaching him with the want of
Learning, and Ignorance of the Antients, told him at last, _That if Mr.
Shakespear had not read the Antients, he had likewise not stollen any
thing from 'em;_ (a Fault the other made no Confidence of) _and that if