Some Account of the Life of Mr. William Shakespear (1709) | Page 9

he would produce any one Topick finely treated by any of them, he
would undertake to shew something upon the same Subject at least as
well written by_ Shakespear. Johnson did indeed take a large liberty,
even to the transcribing and translating of whole Scenes together; and
sometimes, with all Deference to so great a Name as his, not altogether
for the advantage of the Authors of whom he borrow'd. And if
Augustus and Virgil were really what he has made _'em_ in a Scene of
his Poetaster, they are as odd an Emperor and a Poet as ever met.
Shakespear, on the other Hand, was beholding to no body farther than
the Foundation of the Tale, the Incidents were often his own, and the
Writing intirely so. There is one Play of his, indeed, The Comedy of
Errors, in a great measure taken from the Menoechmi of Plautus. How
that happen'd, I cannot easily Divine, since, as I hinted before, I do not
take him to have been Master of Latin enough to read it in the Original,
and I know of no Translation of Plautus so Old as his Time.

As I have not propos'd to my self to enter into a Large and Compleat
Criticism upon Mr. _Shakespear_'s Works, so I suppose it will neither
be expected that I should take notice of the severe Remarks that have
been formerly made upon him by Mr. Rhymer. I must confess, I can't
very well see what could be the Reason of his animadverting with so
much Sharpness, upon the Faults of a Man Excellent on most
Occasions, and whom all the World ever was and will be inclin'd to
have an Esteem and Veneration for. If it was to shew his own
Knowledge in the Art of Poetry, besides that there is a Vanity in
making that only his Design, I question if there be not many
Imperfections as well in those Schemes and Precepts he has given for
the Direction of others, as well as in that Sample of Tragedy which he
has written to shew the Excellency of his own Genius. If he had a Pique
against the Man, and wrote on purpose to ruin a Reputation so well
establish'd, he has had the Mortification to fail altogether in his Attempt,
and to see the World at least as fond of Shakespear as of his Critique.
But I won't believe a Gentleman, and a good-natur'd Man, capable of
the last Intention. Whatever may have been his Meaning, finding fault
is certainly the easiest Task of Knowledge, and commonly those Men
of good Judgment, who are likewise of good and gentle Dispositions,
abandon this ungrateful Province to the Tyranny of Pedants. If one
would enter into the Beauties of Shakespear, there is a much larger, as
well as a more delightful Field; but as I won't prescribe to the Tastes of
other People, so I will only take the liberty, with all due Submission to
the Judgment of others, to observe some of those Things I have been
pleas'd with in looking him over.
His Plays are properly to be distinguish'd only into Comedies and
Tragedies. Those which are called Histories, and even some of his
Comedies, are really Tragedies, with a run or mixture of Comedy
amongst 'em. That way of Trage-Comedy was the common Mistake of
that Age, and is indeed become so agreeable to the English Tast, that
tho' the severer Critiques among us cannot bear it, yet the generality of
our Audiences seem to be better pleas'd with it than with an exact
Tragedy. The Merry Wives of Windsor, The Comedy of Errors, and The
Taming of the Shrew, are all pure Comedy; the rest, however they are
call'd, have something of both Kinds. 'Tis not very easie to determine

which way of Writing he was most Excellent in. There is certainly a
great deal of Entertainment in his Comical Humours; and tho' they did
not then strike at all Ranks of People, as the Satyr of the present Age
has taken the Liberty to do, yet there is a pleasing and a
well-distinguish'd Variety in those Characters which he thought fit to
meddle with. Falstaff is allow'd by every body to be a Master-piece; the
Character is always well-sustain'd, tho' drawn out into the length of
three Plays; and even the Account of his Death, given by his Old
Landlady Mrs. Quickly, in the first Act of Henry V. tho' it be extremely
Natural, is yet as diverting as any Part of his Life. If there be any Fault
in the Draught he has made of this lewd old Fellow, it is, that tho' he
has made him a Thief, Lying, Cowardly, Vain-glorious, and in short
every way Vicious, yet he has given him