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Play, are very movingly touch'd; and tho' the art of the Poet has fcreen'd King Henry from any grofs imputation of injustice, yet one is inclin'd to wifh, the Queen had met with a fortune more worthy of her birth and virtue. Nor are the Manners, proper to the perfons represented, less justly obferv'd, in thofe characters taken from the Roman Hiftory; and of this, the fiercenefs and impatience of Coriolanus, his courage and difdain of the common people, the virtue and philofophical temper of Brutus, and the irregular greatnefs of mind in M. Antony, are beautiful proofs. For the two laft efpecially, you find 'em exactly as they are defcrib'd by Plutarch, from whom certainly Shakespear copy'd 'em. He has indeed follow'd his original pretty clofe, and taken in several little incidents that might have been fpar'd in a Play. But, as I hinted before, his defign feems most commonly rather to defcribe thofe great men in the feveral fortunes and accidents of their lives, than to take any fingle great action, and form his work fimply upon that. However, there are fome of his pieces, where the Fable is founded upon one action only. Such are more efpecially, Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, and Othello. The defign in Romeo and Juliet, is plainly the punishment of their two families, for the unreasonable feuds and animofities that had been fo long kept up between 'em, and cccafion'd the effufion of so much blood. In the management of this ftory, he has fhewn fomething wonderfully tender and paffionate in the love-part, and very pitiful in the diftrefs. Hamlet is founded on much the fame Tale with the Electra of Sophocles. In each of 'em a young Prince is engaged to revenge the death of his father, their mothers are equally guilty, are both concern'd in the murder of their husbands, and are afterwards married to the murderers. There is in the first part of the Greek Tragedy, fomething very moving in the grief of Electra; but as Mr. D'Acier has obferv'd, there is fomething very unnatural and fhocking in the Manners he has given that Princefs and Oreftes in the latter part. Oreftes embrues his hands in the blood of his own mother; and that barbarous action is perform'd, tho' not immediately upon the ftage, yet fo near, that the audience hear Clytemnestra crying out to Agyfthus for help, and to her fon for mercy: While Electra her daughter, and a Princefs (both of them characters that ought to have appear'd with more decency) ftands upon the stage and encourages her brother in the Parricide. What horror does this not raife! Clytemnestra was a wicked woman, and had deserv❜d to die; nay, in the truth of the ftory, fhe was kill'd by her own fon; but to represent an action of this kind on the ftage, is certainly an offence against thofe rules of manners proper to the perfons, that ought to be obferv'd there. On the contrary, let us only look a little on the conduct of Shakespear. Hamlet is reprefented with the

fame

fame piety towards his father, and refolution to revenge his death, as Oreftes; he has the fame abhorrence for his mother's guilt, which, to provoke him the more, is heighten'd by inceft: But 'tis with wonderful art and juftness of judgment, that the Poet restrains him from doing violence to his mother. To prevent any thing of that kind, he makes his father's Ghost forbid that part of his vengeance.

But howsoever thou purfu'ft this Act,

Taint not thy mind, nor let thy foul contrive
Against thy mother ought; leave her to heav'n,
And to thofe thorns that in her befem lodge,
To prick and fting her.

This is to diftinguish rightly between Horror and Terror. The latter is a proper paffion of Tragedy, but the former ought always to be carefully avoided. And certainly no dramatick Writer ever fucceeded better in raifing Terror in the minds of an audience than Shakespear has done. The whole Tragedy of Macbeth, but more especially the scene where the King is murder'd, in the second act, as well as this Play, is a noble proof of that manly fpirit with which he writ; and both fhew how powerful he was, in giving the strongest motions to our fouls that they are capable of. I cannot leave Hamlet, without taking notice of the advantage with which we have seen this Mafter-piece of Shakespear diftinguish it self upon the stage, by Mr. Betterton's fine performance of that part. A man, who tho' he had no other good qualities, as he has a great many, must have made his way into the esteem of all men of letters, by this only excellency. No man is better acquainted with Shakespear's manner of expreffion, and indeed he has study'd him fo well, and is fo much a mafter of him, that whatever part of his he performs, he does it as if it had been written on purpose for him, and that the Author had exactly conceiv'd it as he plays it. I must own a particular obligation to him, for the moft confiderable part of the paffages relating to this life, which I have here tranfmitted to the publick; his veneration for the memory of Shakefpear having engaged him to make a journey into Warwickshire, on purpose to gather up what remains he could, of a name for which he had fo great a veneration.

The

John Anftis, Efq; Garter King at Arms: It is mark'd, G. 13. P. 349.

[There is also a Manufcript in the Herald's Office, marked W. 2. p. 276; where notice is taken of this Coat, and that the Perfon to whom it was granted, had born Magiftracy at Stratford upon Avon.]

T O all and fingular Noble and Gentlemen of all Eftates and Degrees, bearing Arms, to whom these Presents fhall come: William Dethick, Garter Principal King of Arms of England, and William Camden, alias Clarencieulx, King of Arms for the South, Eaft, and Weft Parts of this Realm, fend Greetings. Know ye, that in all Nations and Kingdoms the Record and Remembrance of the valiant Facts and virtuous Difpofitions of worthy Men have been made known and divulged by certain Shields of Arms and Tokens of Chivalrie; the Grant or Teftimony whereof apperteineth unto us, by virtue of our offices from the Queen's most Excellent Majefty, and her Highness's moft noble and victorious Progenitors: Wherefore being follicited, and by credible Report informed, that John Shakespere, now of Stratford upon Avon in the County of Warwick, Gentleman, whofe Great Grandfather for his faithful and approved Service to the late moft prudent Prince, King Henry VII. of famous Memory, was advanced and rewarded with Lands and Tenements, given to him in thofe Parts of Warwickshire, where they have continued by fome Defcents in good Reputation and Credit; And for that the said John Shakepere having married the Daughter and one of the Heirs of Robert Arden of Wellingcote in the faid County, and also produced this his ancient Coat of Arms, heretofore affigned to him whilft he was her Majesty's Officer and Bailiff of that Town. In confi-. deration of the Premifes, and for the Encouragement of his Pofterity, unto whom fuch Blazon of Arms and Atchievements of Inheritance from their faid Mother, by the ancient Cuftom and Laws of Arms, may lawfully defcend; We the faid Garter and Clarencieulx have affigned, granted, and confirmed, and by these Prefents exemplified unto the faid John Shakefpere, and to his Pofterity, that Shield and Coat of Arms, viz. În a Field of Gold upon a Bend Sables a Spear of the firft, the Point upward, headed Argent; and for his Creft or Cognifance, A Falcon, Or, with his Wings displayed, standing on a Wreathe of his Colours, fupporting a Spear armed headed, or fteeled Silver, fixed upon an Helmet with Mantles and Taffels, as more plainly may appear depicted

in

in this Margent; And we have likewife impaled the fame with the ancient Arms of the faid Arden of Wellingcote; fignifying thereby, that it may and fhall be lawful for the faid John Shakefpere, Gent. to bear and ufe the fame Shield of Arms, fingle or impaled, as aforefaid, during his natural Life; and that it shall be lawful for his Children, Iffue, and Pofterity, lawfully begotten, to bear, ufe, and quarter, and fhew forth the fame, with their due Differences, in all lawful warlike Feats and civil Ufe or Exercifes, according to the Laws of Arms, and Custom that to Gentlemen belongeth, without Let or Interruption of any Person or Persons, for ufe or bearing the fame. In Witness and Teftimony whereof we have fubfcribed our Names, and faftned the Seals of our Offices. Given at the Office of Arms, London, the Day of in the Forty fecond Year of the Reign of our moft Gracious Sovereign Lady Elizabeth, by the Grace of God, Queen of England, France, and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, &c. 1599.

TO THE

MEMORY of my beloved the AUTHOR, Mr. WILLIAM SHAKESPEAR,

And what he hath left us.

O 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 wayes
Were not the paths I meant unto thy praise:
For feelieft Ignorance on thefe may light,
Which, when it founds at best, but ecchoes right;
Or blind Affection, which doth ne're advance
The truth, but gropes, and urgeth all by chance;
Or crafty Malice might pretend this praife,
And think to ruine, where it feem'd to raife.
Thefe are, as fome infamous Baud, 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

The applaufe! delight! the wonder of our Stage!
My Shakespear rife; I will not lodge thee by
Chaucer, or Spenfer, or bid Beaumont lye
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 Muses:
For if I thought my judgment were of years,
Ifhould commit thee furely with thy Peers,
And tell how far thou didst our Lily out-fhine,
Or fporting 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 Eschylus,
Euripides, and Sophocles to us,

Pacuvius, Accius, him of Cordova dead,
To live again, to hear thy Buskin tread,
And Jhake a Stage: Or, when thy Socks were on,
Leave thee alone for the comparison

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 Scenes of Europe homage owe.
He was not of an age, but for all time!
And all the Mufes, ftill were in their prime,
When like Apollo he came forth to warm
Our ears, or like a Mercury to charm!
Nature her felf was proud of his defignes,
And joy'd to wear the dreffing of his Lines!
Which were fo richly fpun, and woven so fit,
As, fince, he will vouchfafe no other wit.
The merry Greek, tart Ariftophanes,
Neat Terence, witty Plautus, now not please;
But antiquated, and deferted lye,
As they were not of Nature's family.
Yet must I not give Nature all: Thy Art,
My gentle Shakespear, muft 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 frike the fecond heat
Upon the Mufes Anvile; turn the fame,
(And himself with it) that he thinks to frame;

Or

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