A second Edition of Mr. Theobald's Shakespeare, "revised and corrected," in eight volumes, 12mo, was published in 1740; after which period I know nothing more of him, except that his latter days were embittered by severe disease.

He died, aged about 52, Sept. 18, 1744, leaving a son, named also Lewis Theobald, who, by the pacorrupted by the other, he wanted sufficient knowledge of the progress and various stages of the English tongue, as well as acquaintance with the peculiarity of Shakespeare's language, to understand what was right; nor had he either common judgment to see, or critical sagacity to amend, what was manifestly faulty. Hence he generally exerts his conjectural talent in the wrong place he tampers with what is sound in the common books; and, in the old ones, omits all notice of variations, the sense of which he did not understand. - How the Oxford Editor came to think himself qualified for this office, from which his whole course of life had been so remote, is still more difficult to conceive; for, whatever parts he might have either of genius or erudition, he was absolutely ignorant of the art of Criticism, as well as the Poetry of that time, and the language of his Author. And so far from a thought of examining the first Editions, that he even neglected to compare Mr. Pope's, from which he printed his own, with Mr. Theobald's; whereby he lost the advantage of many fine lines, which the other had recovered from the old quartos. Where he trusts to his own sagacity, in what affects the sense, his conjectures are generally absurd and extravagant, and violating every rule of criticism. Though, in this rage of correcting, he was not absolutely destitute of all art; for, having a number of my conjectures before him, he took as many of them as he saw fit, to work upon; and by changing them to something, he thought, synonymous or similar, he made them his own; and so became a Critic at a cheap expence. But how well he hath succeeded in this, as likewise in his conjectures, which are properly his own, will be seen in the course of my remarks; though, as he hath declined to give the reasons for his interpolations, he hath not afforded me so fair a hold of him as Mr. Theobald has done, who was less cautious. But his principal object was to reform his Author's numbers; and this, which he hath done, on every occasion, by the insertion or omission of a set of harmless unconcerning expletives, makes up the gross body of his innocent corrections. And so, in spite of that extreme negligence in numbers, which distinguishes the first Dramatic Writers, he hath tricked up the old Bard, from head to foot, in all the finical exactness of a modern measurer of syllables." *For the following memorandum respecting his death, written by Mr. Stede, of Covent Garden Theatre, who lived in Duke'scourt, Bow-street, I am indebted to the kindness of Mr. Bindley:

Sep

tronage of Sir Edward Walpole, was appointed a Clerk in the Annuity Pell-office; and died young.

There is no Portrait, it is believed, preserved of Mr. Theobald; but this desideratum the late Mr. George Steevens very ingeniously contrived to supply, by the invention of a fancied one, or perhaps even by a fortunate conjecture, to complete the series

"September 18, 1744, about 10 A. M. died Mr. Lewis Theohald, well known in the polite part of the town for his Edition of Shakespeare, and several other poetical pieces, as Poems, Translations, Tragedies, &c. He had laboured under a jaundice for some months, which, after several changes of amendment and relapses, terminated in a dropsy; which, about two days after his being tapped, carried him off. His death was very remarkable, not only in that he went off quietly without agonies, but also that he was so composed as not to alter the disposition of his body, being in an easy indolent posture, one foot out of bed, and his head gently supported by one hand. He was a man well versed in the learned languages, and tolerably well acquainted with the modern. How great a Philologist he was, his notes upon, and emendation of, Shakespeare will inform Posterity. He was of a generous spirit, too generous for his circumstances; and none knew how to do a handsome thing, or confer a benefit, when in his power, with a better grace than himself. He was my antient friend of near 30 years acquaintance. Interred at Pancras the 20th, 6 o'clock P. M. I only attended him."

"A Portrait," Mr. Steevens observes, "of this useful Critick, is among the desiderata of those Gentlemen who cultivate the fermes ornées of Literature, and embellish the Plays of Shakespeare with a series of characteristic Prints, engraved and published by the ingenious Mr. S. Harding, of Pall Mall.-An acknowledged Painting, however, of Mr. THEOBALD has hitherto escaped research. His Son, indeed, has been heard to say, that no resemblance of him had been preserved. This deficiency may therefore prove a lasting one, unless conjecture, fortified by coincidence, be allowed to fill a vacant Picture-frame in our Gallery of Editors. Where the appropriate drug is wanting, the most scrupulous Physicians will not refuse to employ a succedaneum ; and I have been told of a Peer, in whose Library all the lost Authors of Greece and Rome have their representatives in wood backed with leather -The necessities of Mr. Theobald (who was a prolific Dramatist, and yet always poor) are sufficiently understood from Advertisements issued out by himself, at different periods, in the Newspapers, soliciting his friends, in conse quence of his misfortunes, to take tickets for his benefit. His last Address to the Publick was delivered in a most humble strain of supplication, and appeared in the London Daily Post, May 13, 1741. It is dated from Wyman's (or Wyan's)-court,

Great

of Shakesperian Commentators, published by Mr. Samuel Harding and Mr. William Richardson, in their "Illustrations" of the great Dramatic Bard.

The industry and the literary talents of Theobald are evidently proved by the preceding correspondence with his learned Friend Mr. Warburton.

Great Russel-street, Bloomsbury; but this place having been since built over, it is impossible to ascertain the precise situation of the Egerian grot,

Where, nobly pensive, Theobald sat and thought ;'

where he sometimes collated his wishes for a good dinner with his slender means to procure it, while his wife was employed in restoring a lost button to his breeches, or producing a neat emendation in his worsted stockings.

"But a few years before, the inimitable Hogarth, who peopled his scenes with real as well as fictitious personages, had produced his celebrated Print, entitled, "The Distressed Poet;" and in it the following circumstances indicative of Mr. Theobald (at least more immediately applicable to him than any other person) could not fail to have attracted notice. To the first impressions of this plate, the annexed passage from The Dunciad is subjoined as a

motto:

Studious he sat, with all his books around,

Sinking from thought to thought, a vast profound!
Plung'd for his sense, but found no bottom there,
And writ, and flounder'd on in mere despair.'

And it is well known, that these lines, though since applied to Cibber, were originally part of Mr. Pope's very severe and exag. gerated description of Theobald.-Our unfortunate Bard (I continue my reference to the first impressions from the Plate) is likewise engaged in writing a Poem, entitled Poverty.' Now, it is remarkable, that one of the earliest of Mr. Theobald's productions was 'The Cave of Poverty, a Poem.'

"Over the head of the Distressed Poet (in the first impressions also) is stuck up a representation of Mr. Pope in the act of beating Curll the Bookseller, who had offended him not only by the publication of his Letters, but by personal abuse. This occurrence, therefore, might have been introduced as an admonition to Theobald, who had persisted in taking equal liberties with the Translator of Homer*. It is obvious also, that the instrument

"When Hogarth re-published this Plate in 1740, he effaced the lines already quoted, converted the Triumphs of Pope' into the Gold Mines of Peru,' and the Poem on Poverty' into an Eulogium on Riches. [See the 'Anecdotes of Hogarth,' 4to, vol. II. p. 144 ] Why these changes should have been made, I cannot easily guess, unless the circumstances already pointed out were considered as personal reflections, and as such were resented by our Hero, whose second Edition of Shakespeare, in that very year, had confirmed his victory over Pope as a Commentator. The known distress of poor Theobald might, indeed, have proved his best advocate on this occasion, and inclined Hogarth to obliterate the chiefly offensive traits he had introduced in his representation of an indigent rhymer. W. R.”

of

But it was not with that eminent Divine orly that he was honoured by a liberal intimacy: Dr. Thirlby, Dr. John Frend, Martin Folkes, esq. Dr. Mead, Mr. Jortin, Dr. Birch, Mr. Nicholas Hardinge, Mr. Hawley Bishop, Mr. Coxeter, Mr. Roome, and many others, distinguished him by their friendly notice and correspondence.

of Mr. Pope's retaliation on our Hero, the Grub-street Journal, appears on the floor of the Distressed Poet's aerial citadel. — Hogarth, though at that time a powerful Satirist, had not yet attained the summit of his reputation, and consequently might have thought it no impolitic measure, to join the interests of the Inquisitor-general of the day; a practice familiar enough to other Wits, viz. Bramston, Mallet, &c. who were always ready to adopt the enmities of Pope. and return a servile echo to his invectives against Cibber, Theobald, and other objects of his poetical resentment.

"But, not to dwell too long on such inferences, a degree of respect is always due to conjecture, where no certainty can be obtained. Till, therefore, what I am now offering to the publick as a probable resemblance of Mr. Theobald, can be displaced by an indisputable and authentic Portrait of him †, let me hope that a copy from Hogarth may be allowed to fill a place in the train of Shakesperian Satellites. Such a plea, perhaps, will not be charged with presumption by those who reflect how often they have admitted heads of exalted rank, on authority less decisive than is here brought forward to identify an humble Portrait. At the same time, let me avow my belief that many of our modern Collectors (to whose liberality of conduct I am bound in gratitude to express my sincerest obligations) will not merely confess that they have now and then submitted to receive ideal likenesses, but will voluntarily add, like Falstaff, that they are happy in entertaining a number of such shadows to fill up their musterbooks; and had rather enlist a Recruit of questionable pretensions, than, by discharging him, create a vacancy in the Regiment they are ambitious to complète. W. RICHARDSON.'

* In 1731, Theobald was an associate with Pearce, Masson, Dr. Taylor, Wasse, Dr Robinson, Upton, Thirlby, and others, in the "Miscellaneous Observations upon Authors, Antient and Modern," under the superintendance of Mr. Jortin.

"But a few years ago, a Plate by Vandergucht, exhibiting an unpublished Portrait of the famous John Dennis, was discovered. It may be supposed, that in the year 1718, he had agreed for this Plate as a fashionable adjunct to his Works in two volumes octavo; but that, being unable to pay for it, it was withheld, and by mere accident escaped from being hammered out, or otherwise disposed of as a piece of antiquated copper. It is not, therefore, impossible that some head of Mr. Theobald, which had been engraved and suppressed for similar reasons, may hereafter be found, and instead of overthrowing my conjecture, may only serve to confirm it. W. R."

With the character of Mr. Theobald in private life I am wholly unacquainted; but, as nothing has been alledged against him except his controversy with Mestayer*, which occurred many years before the establishment of the Concanen Club, and his sarcasms on Pope, it is fair to presume little could be said against him-Requiescat in pace.

ORIGIN AND PROGRESS OF THE DUNCIAD.

This admirable but cruel Satire has been so tortured and twisted in its various Editions, that some slight investigation of the changes may be acceptable †.

In 1726, and again in 1727, the celebrated Dean of St. Patrick's spent some months, in and near Lon

* See p. 709.

+ "The object of this celebrated Satire was, to crush all his adversaries in a mass, by one strong and decisive blow. His own account of this attempt is very minutely related by Pope himself, in a Dedication which he wrote to Lord Middlesex, under the name of Savage the Poet, who assisted Pope in finding out many particulars of these adversaries. If we may credit this narrative, Pope contemplated his victory over the Dunces with great exuitation; and such, says Dr. Johnson, was his delight in the tumult he had raised, that for a while bis natural sensibility was suspended, and he read reproaches and invectives without emotion, considering them only as the necessary effects of that pain which he rejoiced in having given. He would not however have long indulged this reflection, if all the persons he classed among the Dunces had possessed the spirit which animated some of them. Ducket demanded and obtained satisfaction for a scandalous imputation on his moral character; and Aaron Hill expostulated with Pope in a manner so much superior to all mean solicitation, that Pope was reduced to sneak and shuffle, sometimes to deny, and sometimes to apologize: he first endeavours to wound, and is then afraid to own that he meant a blow.' There are likewise some names introduced in this Poem with dise respect which could receive no injury from such an attack. His placing the learned Bentley among Dunces, could have occurred to Pope only in the moment of his maddest revenge: Bentley had spoken truth of the Translation of the Iliad: he said it was a fine Poem, but not Homer.' This, which has ever since been the opinion of the learned world, was not to be refuted by the contemptuous lines in which Bentley is mentioned in The Dunciad.

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