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His Plays are properly to be distinguish'd only into Comedies and Tragedies. Those which are call'd Histories, and even fome of his Comedies, are really Tragedies, with a run or mixture of Comedy amongst 'em. That way of Trage-Comedy was the common Miftake of that Age, and is indeed become fo agreeable to the English Tast, that tho' the feverer Critiques among us cannot bear it, yet the generality of our Audiences seem to be better pleas'd with it than with an exact Tragedy. The Merry Wives of Windfor, The Comedy of Errors, and The Taming of the Shrew, are all pure Comedy; the reft, however they are call'd, have fomething of both Kinds. 'Tis not very eafie to determine which way of Writing he was most Excellent in. There is certainly a great deal of Entertainment in his Comical Humours; and tho' they did not then strike at all Ranks of People, as the Satyr of the prefent Age has taken the Liberty to do, yet there is a pleafing and a well-distinguish'd Variety in thofe Characters which he thought fit to meddle with. Falstaff is allow'd by every body to be a Master-piece; the Character is always well-fuftain'd, tho' drawn out into the length of three Plays; and even the Account of his Death, given by his Old Landlady

VOL. I.

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Landlady Mrs. Quickly, in the first Act of Henry V. tho' it be extremely Natural, is yet as diverting as any Part of his Life. If there be any Fault in the Draught he has made of this lewd old Fellow, it is, that tho' he has made him a Thief, Lying, Cowardly, Vainglorious, and in fhort every way Vicious, yet he has given him fo much Wit as to make him almost too agreeable; and I don't know whether fome People have not, in remembrance of the Diverfion he had formerly afforded 'em, been forry to fee his Friend Hal ufe him fo fcurvily, when he comes to the Crown in the End of the Second Part of Henthe Fourth. Amongst other Extravagances, in The Merry Wives of Windfor, he has made him a Dear-stealer, that he might at the fame time remember his Warwickshire Prosecutor, under the Name of Justice Shallow; he has given him very near the fame Coat of Arms which Dugdale, in his Antiquities of that County, defcribes for a Family there, and makes the Welsh Parfon defcant very pleafantly upon 'em. That whole Play is admirable; the Humours are various and well oppos'd; the main Design, which is to cure Ford of his unrcafonable Jealoufie, is extreme

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ly well conducted. Falstaff's Billet-Doux, and Mafter Slender's

Ab! Sweet Ann Page!

are very good Expreffions of Love in their Way. In Twelfth-Night there is fomething fingularly Ridiculous and Pleasant in the fantaftical Steward Malvolio. The Parafite and the Vain-glorious in Parolles, in All's Well that ends Well, is as good as any thing of that Kind in Plautus or Terence. Petruchio, in The Taming of the Shrew, is an uncommon Piece of Humour. The Converfation of Benedick and Beatrice, in Much ado about Nothing, and of Rofalind in As you like it, have much Wit and Sprightliness all along. His Clowns, without which Character there was hardly any Play writ in that Time, are all very entertaining: And, I believe, Therfites in Troilus and Creffida,and Apemantus in Timon,will be allow'd to be Master-Pieces of ill Nature, and fatyrical Snarling. To thefe I might add, that incomparable Character of Shylock the Jew, in The Merchant of Venice; but tho' we have seen that Play Receiv'd and Acted as a Comedy, and the Part of the Jew perform'd by an Excellent Comedian, yet I cannot but think it

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was defign'd Tragically by the Author. There appears in it fuch a deadly Spirit of Revenge, fuch a favage Fiercenefs and Fellness, and fuch a bloody defignation of Cruelty and Mischief, as cannot agree either with the Stile or Characters of Comedy. The Play it felf, take it all together, feems to me to be one of the most finish'd of any of Shakespear's. The Tale indeed, in that Part relating to the Caskets, and the extravagant and unusual kind of Bond given by Antonio, is a little too much remov?d from the Rules of Probability: But taking the Fact for granted, we must allow it to be very beautifully written. There is fomething in the Friendship of Antonio to Bassanio very Great, Generous and Tender. The whole fourth Act, fuppofing, as I faid, the Fact to be probable, is extremely Fine. But there are two Paffages that deferve a particular Notice. The first is, what Portia fays in praise of Mercy, pag. 577; and the other on the Power of Mufick, pag. 587. The Melancholy of Jaques, in As you like it, is as fingular and odd as it is diverting. And if what Horace fays,

Difficile eft proprie communia Dicere,

"Twill be a hard Task for any one to go be

yond

yond him in the Description of the several Degrees and Ages of Man's Life, tho' the Thought be old, and common enough.

All the World's a Stage,

And all the Men and Women meerly Players;
They have their Exits and their Entrances,
And one Man in his time plays many Parts,
His Acts being feven Ages. At first the Infant
Mewling and puking in the Nurse's Arms:
And then,the whining School-boy with his Satchel,
And fhining Morning-face, creeping like Snail
Unwillingly to School. And then the Lover
Sighing like Furnace, with a woful Ballad
Made to his Miftrefs' Eye-brow. Then a Soldier
Full of frange Oaths, and bearded like the Pard,
Jealous in Honour, fudden and quick in Quarrel,
Seeking the bubble Reputation

Ev'n in the Cannon's Mouth. And then the Justice
In fair round Belly, with good Capon lin'd,
With Eyes fevere, and Beard of formal Cut,
Full of wife Saws and modern Inftances;
And fo he plays his Part. The fixth Age fhifts
Into the lean and flipper'd Pantaloon,
With Spectacles on Nofe, and Pouch on Side;
His youthful House, well fav'd, a world too wide
For his fhrunk Shank; and his big manly Voice
Turning again tow'rd childish treble Pipes,
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And

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