2 own Hamlet. I fhould have been much more pleafed, to have learned from certain authority, which was the first play he wrote; it would be without doubt a pleasure to any man, curious in things of this kind, to fee and know what was the firft effay of a fancy like Shakspeare's. Perhaps we are not to look for his beginnings, like thofe of other authors, among their leaft perfect writings; art had fo little, and nature fo large a flare in what he did, that, for aught I know, the performances of his youth, as they were the moft vigorous, and had the moft fire and ftrength of imagination in them, were the best.' I would not be thought by this to mean, that his fancy was fo loofe and extravagant, as to be independent on the rule and government of judgment; but that what he thought, was commonly fo great, fo juftly and rightly conceived in itself, that it wanted little or no correction, and was immediately approved by an impartial judgment at the first fight. But though the order of time in which the feveral pieces were written be generally uncertain, yet there are paffages in fome few of them which feem to fix their dates. So the Chorus at the end of the fourth act of Henry 9 than that the top of his performance was the Ghoft in his own Hamlet.) Seefuch notices as I have been able to collect on this fubject, in the Lift of old English actors, poft. MALONE. 2 to have learned from certain authority, which was the first play he wrote;) The highest date of any I can yet find, is Romeo and Juliet in 1597, when the author was 33 years old; and Richard the Second, and Third, in the next year, viz. the 34th of his age. POPE. Richard II. and III. were both printed in 1597. On the order of time in which Shakspeare's plays were written, fee the Effay in the fecond volume. MALONE. 3 for aught I know, the performances of his youth were the beft) See this notion controverted in An Attempt to ascertain the order of Shakspeare's plays. MALONE. the Fifth, by a compliment very handsomely turned to the earl of Effex, fhows the play to have been written when that lord was general for the queen in Ireland; and his elogy upon queen Elizabeth, and her fucceffor king James, in the latter end of his Henry the Eighth, is a proof of that play's being written after the acceffion of the latter of thofe two princes to the crown of England. Whatever the particular times of his writing were, the people of his age, who began to grow wonderfully fond of diverfions of this kind, could not but be highly pleased to see a genius arise amongst them of so pleasurable, so rich a vein, and fo plentifully capable of furnishing their favorite entertainments. Befides the advantages of his wit, he was in himself a good-natured man, of great fweetnefs in his manners, and a moft agreeable companion; fo that it is no wonder, if, with fo many good qualities, he made himself acquainted with the best conversations of those times. Queen Elizabeth had feveral of his plays acted before her, and without doubt gave him many gracious marks of her favor: it is that maiden princefs plainly, whom he intends by a fair veftal, throned by the west. A Midfummer-Night's Dream. and that whole paffage is a compliment very properly brought in, and very handfomely applied to her. She was fo well pleafed with that admirable character of Falftaff, in The Two Parts of Henry the Fourth, that he commanded him to continue it for one play more, and to fhow him in love. This is faid to be the occafion of his writing The Merry — fhe commanded him to continue it for one play more,) This anecdote was firft given to the publick by Dennis, in the Epiftle Dedicatory to his comedy entitled The Comical Gallant, 4to. 1702, altered from The Merry Wives of Windfor. MALONE. 4 4 Wives of Windfor. How well fhe was obeyed, the play itself is an admirable proof. Upon this occafion it may not be improper to observe, that this part of Falstaff is faid to have been written originally under the name of Oldcastle: some of that family being then remaining, the queen was pleased to command him to alter it; upon which he made use of Falstaff. The prefent offence was indeed avoided; but I do not know whether the author may not have been fomewhat to blame in his fecond choice, fince it is certain that Sir John Falstaff, who was a knight of the garter, and a lieutenant-general, was a name of diftinguished merit in the wars in France in Henry the Fifth's and Henry the Sixth's times. What grace foever the queen conferred upon him, it was not to her only he owed the fortune which the reputation of his wit made. He had the honor to meet with many great and uncommon marks of favor and friendship from the earl of Southampton, famous in the hiftories of that time for his friendship to the unfortunate earl of Effex. It was to that noble lord that he dedicated his poem of Venus and Adonis." this part of Falftaff is faid to have been written originally under the name of Oldcastle;) See the Epilogue to Henry the Fourth. POPE. In a note fubjoined to that epilogue, and more fully in Vol. XIII. p. 184, n. 4, the reader will find this notion overturned, and the origin of this vulgar error pointed out. Mr. Rowe was evidently deceived by a paffage in Fuller's Worthies, mifunderstood. MALONE. 9 from the earl of Southampton, ) Of this amiable nobleman fuch memoirs as I have been able to collect, may be found in the twenty-fourth volume, prefixed to the poem of Venus and Adonis. MALONE. 7 -he dedicated his poem of Venus and Adonis.) To this nobleman alfo he dedicated his Rape of Lucrece, printed in quarto in 1594. MALONE. There is one inftance fo fingular in the magnificence of this patron of Shakspeare's, that if I had not been affured that the ftory was handed down by Sir William D'Avenant, who was probably very well acquainted with his affairs, I fhould not have ventured to have inserted; that my lord Southampton at one time gave him a thousand pounds, to enable him to go through with a purchafe which he heard he had a mind to. A bounty very great, and very rare at any time, and almoft equal to that profuse generofity the prefent age has fhown to French dancers and Italian fingers. What particular habitude or friendships he contracted with private men, I have not been able to learn, more than that every one, who had a true taste of merit, and could diftinguifh men, had generally a juft value and esteem for him. His exceeding candour and good-nature muft certainly have inclined all the gentler part of the world to love him, as the power of his wit obliged the men of the most deliçate knowledge and polite learning to admire him. His acquaintance with Ben Jonfon began with a remarkable piece of humanity and good-nature; Mr. Jonfon, who was at that time altogether unknown to the world, had offered one of his plays to the players, in order to have it acted; and the perfons into whofe hands it was put, after having turned it carelessly and fuperciliously over, were juft upon returning it to him with an ill-natured anfwer, that it would be of no fervice to their company; when Shakspeare luckily caft his eye upon it, and found fomething fo well in it, as to engage him first to read it through, and afterwards to recommend Mr. Jonfon and his writings to the publick. to recommend Mr. Jonfon and his writings to the publick.) Jonfon was certainly a very good fcholar, and in that had the advantage of Shakspeare; though at In Mr. Rowe's firft edition, after these words was inferted the following paffage: After this, they were profeffed friends; though I do not know whether the other ever made him an equal return of gentleness and fincerity. Ben was naturally proud and infolent, and in the days of his reputation did fo far take upon him the fupremacy in wit, that he could not but look with an evil eye upon any one that feemed to ftand in competition with him. And if at times he has affected to commend him, it has always been with some referve; infinuating his uncorrectnefs, a carelefs manner of writing, and want of judgment. The praise of feldom 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 Jonfon could not bear he thought it impoffible, perhaps, for another man to strike out the greatest thoughts in the finest expreffion, and to reach thofe excellencies of poetry with the cafe of a first imagination, which himfelf with infinite labor and ftudy could but hardly attain to. 19 I have preferved this paffage becaufe I believe it ftrictly true, except that in the last line, inftead of but hardly, I would read never. Dryden, we are told by Pope, concurred with Mr. Rowe in thinking Jonfon's pofthumous verfes on our author sparing and invidious. See alfo Mr. Steevens's note on thofe verses. Before Shakspeare's death Ben's envious difpofition is mentioned by one of his own friends; it must therefore have been even then notorious, though the writer denies the truth of the charge: To my well accomplish'd friend, Mr. Ben Jonson, "Such cenfurers must have." Scourge of Folly, by J. Davies, printed about 1611, The following lines by one of Jonfon's admirers will fufficiently fupport Mr. Rowe in what he has faid relative to the flownefs of that writer in his compofitions: Scorn then their cenfures who gave out, thy wit "As long upon a comedy did fit As elephants bring forth, and that thy blots And mendings took more time than FORTUNE-PLOTS; That fuch thy drought was, and fo great thy thirst, « That all thy plays were drawn at the Mermaid first; |