xlvi

To the memory of my beloved, the author, Mr. WILLIAM SHAKESPEAR, and what he hath left

us.

T draw no envy, Shakespear, on thy name,

Am I thus ample to thy book, and fame;
While I confefs thy writings to be fuch,

As neither man nor mufe can praife too much.
'Tis true, and all mens' fuffrage. But thefe ways
Were not the paths I meant unto thy praife:
For feelieft Ignorance on thefe may light,

Which, when it founds at best, but echoes right;
Or blind Affection, which doth ne'er advance
The truth, but gropes, and urgeth all by chance ;
Or crafty Malice might pretend this praife,
And think to ruin where it feem'd to raise.
Thefe are, as fome infamous bawd or whore
Should praife a matron. What could hurt her more &
But thou art proof against them, and indeed
Above th' ill fortune of them, or the need.
I therefore will begin. Soul of the age!
Th' applaufe! delight! the wonder of our stage!
My Shakespear, rife. I will not lodge thee by
Chaucer or Spencer, or bid Beaumont lie
A little further to make thee a room:
Thou art a monument without a tomb;
And art alive ftill, while thy book doth live,
And we have wits to read, and praife to give.
That I not mix thee fo, my brain excufes ;
I mean with great, but difproportion'd mufes:
For if I thought my judgment were of years,
I fhould commit thee furely with thy peers,
And tell how far thou didst our Lily outshine,
Or Sporting Kid, or Marlow's mighty line.
And though thou hadst fmall Latin, and lefs Greek,
From thence to honour thee, I would not feek
For names; but call forth thund'ring Æfchylus,
Euripides, and Sophocles to us,

Pacuvius, Accius, him of Cordova dead,
To live again, to hear thy bufkin tread,
And shake a stage: or, when thy locks were on,
Leave thee alone for the comparifon

Of

Of all that infolent Greece or haughty Rome
Sent forth, or fince did from their afhes come.
Triumph, my Britain, thou haft one to show,
To whom all fcenes of Europe homage owe.
He was not of an age, but for all time!
And all the mufes fill were in their prime,
When like Apollo he came forth to warm
Our ears, or like a Mercury to charm!
Nature herself was proud of his designs,
And joy'd to wear the dreffing of his lines!
Which were fo richly fpun, and woven fo fit,
As, fince, he will vouchfafe no other wit.
The merry Greek, tart Aristophanes,
Neat Terence, witty Plautus, now not please ;
But antiquated, and deferted lie,

As they were not of Nature's family.
Yet muft I not give Nature all: thy Art,
My gentle Shakespear, must enjoy a part.
For though the poet's matter Nature be,
His Art doth give the fashion. And, that he
Who cafts to write a living line, muft fweat,
(Such as thine are), and strike the second heat
Upon the mufes anvile; turn the fame,

And himself with it, that he thinks to frame;
Or for the laurel, he may gain a Scorn,
For a good poet's made, as well as born.
And fuch wert thou. Look how the father's face
Lives in his iffue, even fo the race

Of Shakespear's mind and manners brightly fhines
In his well turned and true filed lines:
In each of which he feems to shake a lance,
As brandifh'd at the eyes of Ignorance.
Sweet fwan of Avon! what a fight it were
To fee thee in our water yet appear,

And make thofe flights upon the banks of Thames,
That fo did take Eliza, and our Fames!
But ftay, Ifee thee in the hemisphere

Advanc'd, and made a conftellation there!
Shine forth, thou ftar of poets, and with rage,
Or influence, chide, or chear the drooping stage;
Which, fince thy flight from hence, hath mourn'd like night,
And defpairs day, but for thy volume's light.
BEN. JOHNSON.

A

A general criticifn on SHAKESPEAR's dramatic works, by dividing them into four claffes, and so giving an eftimate of each play reduced to its proper clafs. By Mr. Warburton.

The comedies and tragedies in the last class are certainly not of Shakespear The most that can be faid of them is, that he has, here and there, corrected the dialogue, and now and then added a fcene. It may be juft worth while to obferve, in this place, that the whole first act of Fletcher's Two noble kinfmen was wrote by Shakespear, but in his worft manner.

The BEAUTIES of SHAKESPEAR, regularly felected from each Play.

A

By WILLIAM DODD, B. A.

VOLUME
The Tempest.

I.

N ufurping fubftitute compared to ivy, p. 6. l. 7. 8. 9. Ariel's defcription of his managing the storm, p. 9. l. 12. to 22. 26. to 32.

Ariel's expreffion a little above is very fine and picturesque, l. 6. 7. As is the following of Profpero, p. 11.

7. to II.

Caliban's curfes, p. 13. l. 10. to 13. 20. to 36.

Caliban's exultation after Profpero tells him, he fought to violate the honour of his child, has fomething in it very strikingly in character, p. 14. 1. 2. 3. 4.

A lover's fpeech, p. 18. l. 13. to 20.

A defcription of Ferdinand's fwimming afhore, p. 21. l. 34. to 42. Sleep, a comforter to forrow, p. 24. l. 1. 2. 3.

A fine apofiopefis, p. 24. l. 15, 10 21.

Caliban's curfes, p. 28. l. 12. to 30.

A fatyr on the English curiofity, p. 29. l. 1. to 7.

Caliban's promifes, p. 32. l. 11. to 16. 19. to 25.

There perhaps cannot be conceived any thing more beautiful and natural than scene 1. of act 3. Ferdinand's fpeech bearing a log, is expreffive of true and unbiaffed affection, p. 33. l. 4 to 19. Miranda's offering to carry the logs for him, is peculiarly elegant, p. 33. l. 35. 32. 33.

And afterwards, how innocent, p. 35. l. 23. to 25.

Guilty confcience, p. 43. l. 13. 14. 15.

Continence before marriage, p. 44. 1. 10. to 17.
Paffion too ftrong for vows, p. 45. l. 10. to 13.
Vanity of human nature, p. 48. l. 14. 10 24.
Drunkards inchanted by Ariel, p. 49. l. 1.
Light of foot, p. 49. l. 30. 31.

Tears, p. 52. 1. 12. 13.

to 13.

Compaffion and clemency fuperior to revenge, p. 52. 1. 20. to 25. Fairies and magic, p. 52. l. 34. to 41. p. 53. 1. 1. to 11.

Senfes returning, p. 53. l. 31. to 35. p. 54. l. 6. to 9.

A Midfummer-night's Dream.

Father's authority, p. 63. l. 40. 41. p. 64. l. 1. 2. 3.
Nun, p. 64. 1. 20. 19 33.

True love ever crofled, p. 66. 1. 4. 5. 6. 7. 19. 12. 14. to 22.
Affignation, p. 67. l. 1. 10 10.

VOL. I.

Moon,

Moon, p. 68. 1. 2. 3. 4.

Love defcribed, p. 68. 1. 26. to 35.

Puck, or Robin Good Fellow, p. 72. l. 39. 40. 41. p. 73. l. 1.

to 12.*

Fairy jealoufy, and the effects of it. p. 74. l. 1. to 34.

Love in idleness, p. 75. l. 28. to 34. 36. to 39. p. 76. l. 1. to 10.
A Fairy bank, p. 78. l. 15. 16 20.

Fairy courtefies, p. 87. l. 30. to 40.

Female friendship, p. 93. 1. 30. to 41. p. 94. l. 1. to 10.

Day-break, p. 98. l. 24. to 27.

Dew in flowers, p. 102. l. 26. 10 29.

Hunting, p. 104. l. 9. to 18.

Hounds, p. 104. l. 19. to 25.

The power of imagination, p. 108. 1. 24. to 34.

Simpleness and duty, p. 110. 1. 27. 28. 31. 32.

Modeft duty always acceptable, p. 110. l. 39. to 42. p. 111. l. 1.

to 7.

Clock, p. 117. l. 21.

Night, p. 117. l. 30. to 39. p. 118. l. 1. 2.

The Two Gentlemen of Verona.

OVE commended and difpraifed, p. 121. 1. 25. to 32. p. 122.

Lov. 1.

Love froward and dissembling, p. 126. l. 4. to 8.

The advantage of travel, p. 128. l. 37. 38. 39. p. 129. l. 1.
Love compared to an April day, p. 130. l. 24. to 27.

A comical defcription of a man in love, p. 131. l. 17. 10 30.
An accomplished young gentleman, p. 139. l. 16. to 21.
Contempt of love punished, p. 141. l. 6. to 19.

Love compared to a waxen image, p. 142. l. 38. 39. 40.
Oppofition in love increafes it, p. 146. 1. 9. to 30.
A faithful and conftant lover, p. 147. l. 28. to 31.
Gifts prevalent with women, p. 150. l. 18. 19. 20.
A lover's banishment, p. 152. l. 17. to 28.

A beautiful perfon petitioning in vain, p. 153. 7. 30. to 39.
Hope, the lover's staff, p. 154. 1. 13. 14.

Love compared to a figure on ice, p. 157. l. 30. 31. 32.
Three things hated of women, p. 158. l. 16. 17. 18.
The power of poetry with women, p. 159. 1. 15. 10 23.
The power of action, p. 171. 7. 24. to 31.

A lover in folitude, p. 175. l. 9. to 20.
Love unreturned, p. 176. l. 12. to 15.
Infidelity in a friend, p. 177. l. 1. to 5.
Repentance, p. 177. l. 14. 15.
Inconftancy in man, p. 178. l. 9. to 12.

We cannot (fays Mr. Dodd) help admiring Shakespear's excellence in thofe fictitious characters. No man ever equalled him in defcriptions of ghosts and fairies; no man ever like him.