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lain two hundred years in his tomb, he should triumph again on the stage, and have his bones new embalmed, with the tears of ten thousand spectators at least (at several times), who, in the tragedian that represents his person, imagine they behold him fresh bleeding."

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SECOND AND THIRD PARTS OF KING
HENRY VI. 1592.

In a tract already mentioned, entitled Greene's Groatsworth of Witte, &c. which was written before the end of the year 1592, there is, as Mr. Tyrwhitt has observed *, a parody on a line in The Third Part of King Henry VI. and an allusion to the name of Shakspere.

These two historical dramas were entered on the books of the Stationers-Company, March 12, 1593-4, but were not printed till the year 1600. In their second titles they are called-THE FIRST AND SECOND PARTS of the Contention of the two famous Houses of Yorke and Lancaster; but in reality they are THE SECOND and THIRD PARTS of King Henry VI.

In the last chorus of King Henry V. Shakspere alludes to the Second Part, perhaps to all the parts of King Henry VI. as popular performances, that had fre

Again, in A& V. sc. i.

"Is Talbot slain, the Frenchmen's only scourge,

Your kingdom's terror?",

*See vol. VI. p. ult,

quently

quently been exhibited on the stage; and expresses a hope, that King Henry V. may, for their sake, meet with a favourable reception; a plea, which he scarcely would have urged, if he had not been their author.

6. THE TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA, 1593. This comedy was not entered on the books of the Stationers-Company till 1623, at which time it was first printed; but is mentioned by Meres in 1598, and bears strong internal marks of an early composition.

7. THE WINTER's TALE, 1594.

The Winter's Tale was, perhaps, entered on the Stationers' books, May 22, 1594, under the name of A Wynter Nyght's Pastime; which might have been the same play. It is observable that Shakspere has two other similar titles;-Twelfth Night, and A Midsummer Night's Dream: and it appears that the titles of his plays were sometimes changed; thus, All's Well that Ends Well, we have reason to think, was called Love's Labour Won: and Hamlet was sometimes called Hamlet's REVENGE, Sometimes The HISTORY of Hamlet. However, it must not be concealed, that The Winter's Tale is not enumerated among our author's plays, by Meres, in 1598: a circumstance which, yet, is not decisive to shew that it was not then written; for neither is Hamlet nor King Henry VI. mentioned by him.

Greene's Dorastus and Fawnia, from which the plot of this play is borrowed, was published in 1588.

The

The Winter's Tale was acted at court in the beginning of the year 1613*. It was not printed till 1623.

Mr. Walpole thinks, that this play was intended by Shakspere as an indirect apology for Anne Boleyn ; and considers it as a Second Part to K. Henry VIII †. My respect for that very judicious and ingenious writer, the silence of Meres, and the circumstance of there not being one rhyming couplet throughout this piece, except in the chorus, make me doubt whether it ought not to be ascribed to the year 1601, or 1602, rather than that in which it is here placed.

8. A MIDSUMMER NIGHT's DREAM, 1595.

The poetry of this piece, glowing with all the warmth of a youthful and lively imagination, the many scenes that it contains of almost continual rhyme, the poverty of the fable, and want of discrimination among the higher personages, dispose me to believe that it was one of our author's earliest attempts in comedy.

It seems to have been written, while the ridiculous competitions, prevalent amongst the histrionick tribe, were strongly impressed by novelty on his mind. He would naturally copy those manners first, with which he was first acquainted. The ambition of a theatrical candidate for applause he has happily ridiculed in

*MS. of the late Mr. Vertue,

+ Historick Doubts.

Ante, p. 294.

Bottom

Bottom the Weaver.

But among the more dignified persons of the drama we look in vain for any traits of character. The manners of Hippolita, the Amazon, are undistinguished from those of other females. Theseus, the associate of Hercules, is not engaged in any adventure worthy of his rank or reputation, nor is he in reality an agent throughout the play. Like K. Henry VIII. he goes out a Maying. He meets the lovers in perplexity, and makes no effort to promote their happiness; but when supernatural accidents have reconciled them, he joins their company, and concludes his day's entertainment by uttering some miserable puns at an interlude represented by a troop of clowns. Over the fairy part of the drama he cannot be supposed to have any influence. This part of the fable, indeed (at least as much of it as relates to the quarrels of Oberon and Titania), was not of our author's invention *.-Through the whole piece, the

more

*The learned editor of Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, printed in 1775, observes in his introductory discourse (Vol. IV. p. 161.) that Pluto and Proserpine in the Merchant's Tale, appear to have been "the true progenitors of Shakspere's Oberon and Titania." In a tract already quoted,* Greene's Groatsworth of Witte, 1592, a player is introduced, who boasts of having performed the part of The King of Fairies with applause. Greene himself wrote a play, entitled The Scottishe Historie of James the Fourthe, slaine at Floddon, intermixed with a pleasant Comedie presented by Oberon King of the Fairies; which was entered at Stationers

Hall

more exalted characters are subservient to the interest of those beneath them. We laugh with Bottom and his fellows, but is a single passion agitated by the faint and childish solicitudes of Hermia and Demetrius, of Helena and Lysander, those shadows of each other? That a drama, of which the principal personages are thus insignificant, and the fable thus meagre and uninteresting, was one of our author's earliest compositions, does not, therefore, seem a very improbable conjecture; nor are the beauties with which it is embellished, inconsistent with this supposition; for the genius of Shakspere, even in its minority, could embroider the coarsest materials with the brightest and most lasting colours.

A Midsummer Night's Dream was not entered at Stationers-Hall, till October 8, 1600, in which year it was printed; but is mentioned by Meres in 1598.

From the comedy of Dr. Dodipoll Mr. Steevens has quoted a line, which the author seems to have borrowed from Shaks pere:

Hall in 1594, and printed in 1598. Shakspere, however, does not appear to have been indebted to this piece. The plan of it is shortly this, Bohan, a Scot, in consequence of being disgusted with the world, having retired to a tomb where he has fixed his dwelling, is met by Aster Oberon, king of the fairies, who entertains him with an antick or dance by his subjects. These two personages, after some conversation, determine to listen to a tragedy, which is acted before them, and to which they make a kind of chorus, by moralizing at the end of each act,

" 'Twas

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