having, in his Illustrations of Shakspeare and of Ancient Manners, exhibited, in the form of notes and occasional disquisitions, an almost unparalleled wide range of research with a fulness of information, a richness of recondite lore, and an urbanity of manner, which are truly delightful.

I shall close this section with the mention of the highly useful, and, in one instance truly interesting, labours of the glossographers on Shakspeare. The Indices of Ascough and Twiss are copious and correct, and can scarcely be dispensed with by those who wish to study Shakspeare with philological accuracy; whilst the "Glossary" of Archdeacon Nares, adapted not only to the works of our great dramatic bard, but to those of his contemporaries, superadds to the verbal wealth of a dictionary a vast fund of the most entertaining and instructive illustration in relation to the manners, customs, and superstitions of the reigns of Elizabeth and James. It is a work, indeed, which will ever be considered as a necessary companion to the study of the poetical and miscellaneous literature of these periods, and may be deemed, with respect to Shakspeare, as superseding much of the commentary which now so frequently, and often, so inconveniently, loads the pages of our favourite author.

The last division of Detached Publications exclusively appropriated to our poet, comprehends, according to the arrangement which I have adopted, that species of criticism which, from its continuity

and style, may be termed the Dissertative, and which, if not more useful than a well-conducted series of annotation, is, at least, from the extensive field it is capable of embracing, biographical, historical, moral, and philosophical, and the scope which it yields to ingenuity and talent, calculated to be much more pleasing and interesting.

It has accordingly been productive of a large portion of valuable disquisition, and one of the earliest attempts in the department will bear ample testimony to the truth of the affirmation, namely, the "Essay on the Learning of Shakspeare" by the Rev. Dr. Farmer; a work which, from the perspicuity of its arrangement, the liveliness of its style, and the strength and adroit application of the evidence it adduces, has nearly set the question at rest; though it must be allowed, I think, that he has carried his depreciation of the scholarship of the poet somewhat too far.

This was speedily followed by the celebrated "Essay" of Mrs. Montagu, "on the Writings and Genius of Shakspeare, compared with the Greek and French Dramatic Poets," and including a very satisfactory defence of the bard against the misrepresentations of Voltaire; a production which, notwithstanding the sneers of Dr. Johnson, is justly

• Vide Boswell's Life of Johnson, vol. 2. p. 82. As a counterpoise to these sneers, the opinion of Cowper, a very competent judge, may be satisfactorily quoted. Speaking of her Essay" to a correspondent, he says: "the learning, the good sense, the sound judgment, and the wit displayed in it, fully

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entitled to all the praise that has been bestowed upon it. The section, in particular, on the "Præternatural Beings" of our Dramatist, is written not only with great taste, but with great powers of eloquence, and great beauty of expression.

Passing over two or three publications of little moment, our attention becomes fixed by Professor Richardson's "Essays on Shakspeare's Dramatic Characters." Of these the first portion was published in 1774, a second in 1784, and a third in 1788; and the whole were re-printed together in 1797, and again with additions in 1812. The characters commented on are those of Macbeth, Hamlet, Jaques, Imogen, Richard the Third, Falstaff, King Lear, Timon of Athens, and Fluellen. To which are added, "Essays on Shakspeare's Imitation of Female Characters;" "On the Faults of Shakspeare;" "On the chief Objects of Criticism in the Works of Shakspeare;" and "On Shakspeare's Representation of National Characters."

This work, written in that spirit of philosophical criticism for which our northern neighbours are so justly celebrated, is a well-executed attempt to unfold the ruling principles which appear to bias and govern the mind and actions of the principal characters in the dramas of Shakspeare, and to demonstrate that they are in strict conformity with justify not only my compliment, but all compliments that either have been already paid to her talents, or shall be paid hereafter."-Hayley's Life of Cowper.

the laws and constitution of our nature, and, consequently, not only most striking proofs of the consummate skill of the poet, but admirable lessons of moral truth and wisdom. The very ingenious and satisfactory manner in which the critic has thus endeavoured to prove poetry one of the best teachers of philosophy, is entitled to high praise, and has been adequately acknowledged by the public.

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About three years after Professor Richardson's first publication, appeared Mr. Maurice Morgan's Essay on the Dramatic Character of Sir John Falstaff," in which, with singular eloquence and ingenuity, he strives to convince his readers that Shakspeare did not intend to represent the jocular knight as a coward. The experiment, however, for such he confesses it to be, was too paradoxical to succeed; but the work in which it was made had higher and more important objects in view, and includes not only the character of Falstaff, but aims at the developement of the art and genius of Shakspeare, and, through him, of the principles of human nature itself.

Whilst, therefore, we cannot but retain our former opinions as to the courage of Sir John, and must continue to exclaim, in reference to this point, "A plague on all cowards still,"

yet such are the taste, talents, and brilliancy of expression poured out upon the digressionary topics just mentioned, as to render the little volume which includes them one of the most interesting

to which the fertile subject of Shakspeare has given birth.

There is, indeed, in this production of Mr. Morgan so much profundity of remark, and occasionally so much beautifully expressed enthusiasm, that I am irresistibly induced, in this one instance, to deviate from the plan laid down; and although taken from a detached publication expressly on the poet, to insert here, as a precursory portrait to those given in the subsequent part of my volume, what this ingenious critic has said with such philosophical acuteness on the masterly formation of Shakspeare's characters, and with such tasteful fervor on the bard himself, and on the peculiar structure of his genius.

"The reader must be sensible," he remarks, "of something in the composition of Shakspeare's characters, which renders them essentially different from those drawn by other writers. The characters of every drama must, indeed, be grouped; but in the groupes of other poets, the parts which are not seen do not in fact exist. But there is a certain roundness and integrity in the forms of Shakspeare, which give them an independence as well as a relation, insomuch that we often meet with passages which, though perfectly felt, cannot be sufficiently explained in words without unfolding the whole character of the speaker.

"Bodies of all kinds, whether of metals, plants, or animals, are supposed to possess certain first principles of being, and to have an existence in