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Part of the Greek Trajedy, fomething very ving in the Grief of Electra; but as Mr. D'Acier has obferv'd, there is something very unnatural and shocking 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 Stage, yet so near, that the Audience hear Clytemnestra crying out to Æghyftus for Help, and to her Son for Mercy: While Electra, her Daughter, and a Princess, 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 deferv'd to Die; nay, in the truth of the Story, fhe was kill'd by her own Son; but to represent an Action of this Kind on the Stage, is certainly an Offence against those Rules of Manners proper to the Perfons that ought to be observ'd there. On the contrary, let us only look a little on the Conduct of Shakespear. Hamlet is represented with the 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 pro

voke him the more, is heighten'd by Inceft: But 'tis with wonderful Art and Juftnefs of Judgment, that the Poet reftrains 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 how foever thou purfu'ft this Act,
Taint not thy Mind; nor let thy Soul contrive
Against thy Mother ought; leave her to Heav'n,
And to thofe Thorns that in her Bofom lodge,
To prick and fting her.
Vol. V. p. 2386.

This is to distinguish 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 raising 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 fecond Act, as well as this Play, is a noble Proof of that manly Spirit with which he writ; and both fhew how powerful he was, in 'giving the strongest Motions to our Souls that they are capable of. I cannot leave Hamlet, without taking notice of the Advantage with which we have seen VOL. I.

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this Master-piece of Shakespear distinguish it felf 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 Efteem of all Men of Letters, by this only Excellency. No Man is better acquainted with Shakespear's manner of Expreffion, and indeed he has ftudy'd him fo well, and is fo much à Master 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 muft own a particular Obligation to him, for the most confiderable part of the Paffages relating to his Life, which I have here tranfmitted to the Publick ; his Veneration for the Memory of Shakespear having engag'd 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 Value. Since I had at first resolv'd not to enter into any Critical Controversie, I won't pretend to enquire into the Juftness of Mr. Rhymer's Remarks on Othello; he has certainly pointed out fome Faults very judicioufly; and indeed they are fuch as most People will agree, with him, to be Faults: But I wish he would likewife have obferv'd fome of the

Beauties

Beauties too; as I think it became an Exact and Equal Critique to do. It feems strange that he should allow nothing Good in the whole: If the Fable and Incidents are not to his Tafte, yet the Thoughts are almost every where very Noble, and the Diction manly and proper. These last, indeed, are Parts of Shakespear's Praife, which it would be very hard to Difpute with him. His Sentiments and Images of Things are Great and Natural; and his Expression (tho' perhaps in fome Instances a little Irregular) just, and rais'd in Proportion to his Subject and Occafion. It would be even endless to mention the particular Inftances that might be given of this Kind: But his Book is in the Poffeffion of the Publick, and 'twill be hard to dip into any Part of it, without finding what I have said of him made good,

The latter Part of his Life was spent, as all Men of good Sense will wish theirs may be, in Eafe, Retirement, and the Conversation of his Friends. He had the good Fortune to gather an Estate equal to his Occafion, and, in that, to his Wifh; and is faid to have spent fome Years before his Death at his native Stratford, His pleafurable Wit, and good Nature, engag'd him in the Acquain

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tance, and entitled him to the Friendship of the Gentlemen of the Neighbourhood. Amongst them, it is à Story almost still remember'd in that Country, that he had a particular Intimacy with Mr. Combe, an old Gentleman noted thereabouts for his Wealth and Ufury It happen'd, that in a pleasant Conversation amongst their common Friends, Mr. Combe told Shakespear in a laughing manner, that he fancy'd, he intended to write his Epitaph, if he happen'd to out-live him; and fince he could not know what might be said of him when he was dead, he defir'd it might be done immediately: Upon which Shakespear gave him these four Verfes.

Ten in the Hundred lies here ingrav'd,
'Tis a Hundred to Ten, his Soul is not fav'd:
If any Man ask, Who lies in this Tomb?
Oh! ho! quoth the Devil,'tis my John-a-Combe.

But the Sharpness of the Satyr is faid to have ftung the Man fo feverely, that he never forgave it.

He Dy'd in the 53d Year of his Age, and was bury'd on the North fide of the Chancel, in the Great Church at Stratford, where

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