Eighteenth Century Essays on Shakespeare Part 28

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 Pa.s.sages ... from the Cla.s.sics._ Cf. the following pa.s.sage with Theobald's letter to Warburton of 17th March, 1729-30 (see Nichols, _Ill.u.s.trations_, 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 pa.s.sage 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 pa.s.sage 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 pa.s.sage in the second edition. Warburton himself claimed it as his own. Though the pa.s.sage was condensed by Theobald, Warburton's claim is still represented by the pa.s.sage from _For I shall find_ (p. 76, l. 7) to _Royal Taste_ (l. 36).

77. _Shakespeare ... astonis.h.i.+ng force and splendor._ Cf. Pope, p. 50.

_Had Homer_, etc. Cf. Pope, p. 56.

78. _Indulging his private sense._ See p. 61.

_Lipsius_,-_Satyra Menippaea_ (_Opera_, 1611, p. 640).

79. _Sive h.o.m.o_, etc. Quintus Serenus, _De Medicina_, xlvi., "Hominis ac simiae morsui."

80. _Nature of any Distemper ... corrupt Cla.s.sic._ Cf. _Shakespeare Restored_, pp. iv, v.

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 pa.s.sage from the Introduction to _Shakespeare Restored_, p. vi.

_Corrections and conjectures._ Yet another pa.s.sage 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, _Ill.u.s.trations_, 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.

_Wit lying mostly in the a.s.semblage of Ideas_, etc. So Locke, _Essay concerning the Human Understanding_, Book II., Ch. xi., -- 2. The pa.s.sage 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._ Rene le Bossu (1631-1680), author of the _Traite du poeme epique_ (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 t.i.tle reads curiously in the light of his later p.r.o.nouncements: _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 pa.s.sage 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 p.r.o.nounced 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 pa.s.sage, 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 pa.s.sage 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 claimed by Warburton, and there is nothing, except perhaps the vigour of the pa.s.sage, to support Boswell's contention. In the same note Boswell points out that the comparison of Shakespeare and Jonson in Theobald's Preface reappears in Warburton's note on _Love's Labour's Lost_, Act i., Sc. 1.

_Hang him, Baboon_, etc. _2 Henry IV._, ii. 4. 261.

_Longinus_, _On the Sublime_, vi.

90. _n.o.ble Writer_,-the Earl of Shaftesbury, in his _Characteristicks_: "The British Muses, in this Dinn of Arms, may well lie abject and obscure; especially being as yet in their mere Infant-State. They have hitherto scarce arriv'd to any thing of Shapeliness or Person. They lisp as in their Cradles: and their stammering Tongues, which nothing but their Youth and Rawness can excuse, have hitherto spoken in wretched Pun and Quibble"

(1711, i., p. 217).

_Complaints of its Barbarity_, as in Dryden's _Discourse concerning Satire, ad fin_ (ed. W. P. Ker, ii., pp. 110, 113).

Sir Thomas Hanmer.

92. The "other Gentlemen" who communicated their observations to Hanmer include Warburton (see Introduction), the "Rev. Mr. Smith of Harlestone in Norfolk" (see Zachary Grey, _Notes on Shakespeare_, Preface), and probably Thomas Cooke, the editor of Plautus (see _Correspondence of Hanmer_, ed.

Bunbury, p. 229).

93. _much obliged to them._ Amid the quarrels of Pope, Theobald, and Warburton, it is pleasant to find an editor admitting some merit in his predecessors.

_what Shakespeare ought to have written._ Cf. the following pa.s.sage in the _Remarks on the Tragedy of Hamlet_ attributed to Hanmer: "The former [Theobald] endeavours to give us an author as he is: the latter [Pope], by the correctness and excellency of his own genius, is often tempted to give us an author as he thinks he ought to be." Theobald, it is said, is "generally thought to have understood our author best" (p. 4).

_Henry V._, iii. 4.

94. _Merchant of Venice_, iii. 5. 48.

Hanmer's Glossary, given at the end of vol. vi., shows a distinct advance in every way on the earlier glossary in the supplementary volume to Rowe's and to Pope's edition. It is much fuller, though it runs only to a dozen pages, and more scholarly.

95. _fairest impressions_, etc. The edition is indeed a beautiful piece of printing. Each play is preceded by a full-page plate engraved by Gravelot from designs by Francis Hayman, or, as in vol. iv., by himself. (See _Correspondence of Hanmer_, pp. 83-4.)

95. _his Statue._ The statue in the Poet's Corner in Westminster Abbey, erected by public subscription in 1741. See the _Gentleman's Magazine_ for February, 1741, p. 105: "A fine Monument is erected in _Westminster Abbey_ to the Memory of _Shakespear_, by the Direction of the Earl of _Burlington_, Dr. _Mead_, Mr. _Pope_, and Mr. _Martin_. Mr. _Fleetwood_, Master of _Drury-Lane_ Theatre, and Mr. _Rich_, of that of _Covent-Garden_, gave each a Benefit, arising from one of his own Plays, towards it, and the Dean and Chapter made a present of the Ground. The Design, by Mr. _Kent_, was executed by Mr. _Scheemaker_."