The Project Gutenberg EBook of Eighteenth Century Essays on Shakespeare by D. Nichol Smith This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at http://www.gutenberg.org/license Title: Eighteenth Century Essays on Shakespeare Author: D. Nichol Smith Release Date: October 10, 2009 [Ebook 30227] Language: English ***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK EIGHTEENTH CENTURY ESSAYS ON SHAKESPEARE*** Eighteenth Century Essays on Shakespeare Edited by D. Nichol Smith, M.A. Glasgow James MacLehose and Sons Publishers to the University 1903 Contents Preface. .2 Introduction. Shakespearian Criticism in the Eighteenth Century. .4 Nicholas Rowe: Some Account of the Life &c. of Mr. William Shakespear. 1709. 59 John Dennis: On the Genius and Writings of Shakespeare. 1711. 83 Alexander Pope: Preface to Edition of Shakespeare. 1725. 106 Lewis Theobald: Preface to Edition of Shakespeare. 1733. 122 Sir Thomas Hanmer: Preface to Edition of Shakespeare. 1744. 150 William Warburton: Preface to Edition of Shakespeare. 1747. 154 Samuel Johnson: Preface to Edition of Shakespeare. 1765. 170 Richard Farmer: An Essay on the Learning of Shakespeare: Addressed to Joseph Cradock, Esq. 1767. 220 Maurice Morgann: An Essay on the Dramatic Character of Sir John Falstaff. 1777. 278 Notes. 365 Nicholas Rowe. 365 John Dennis. 371 Alexander Pope. 374 Lewis Theobald. 378 Sir Thomas Hanmer. 383 William Warburton. 385 Samuel Johnson. 389 Richard Farmer. 396 Maurice Morgann. 426 Index. 429 iv Eighteenth Century Essays on Shakespeare Footnotes . 461 [v] Preface. The purpose of this book is to give an account of Shakespeare's reputation during the eighteenth century, and to suggest that there are grounds for reconsidering the common opinion that the century did not give him his due. The nine Essays or Prefaces here reprinted may claim to represent the chief phases of Shakespearian study from the days of Dryden to those of Coleridge. It is one of the evils following in the train of the romantic revival that the judgments of the older school have been discredited or forgotten. The present volume shows that the eighteenth century knew many things which the nineteenth has rediscovered for itself. It is at least eighty years since most of these essays were reprinted. Rowe's Account of Shakespeare is given in its original and complete form for the first time, it is believed, since 1714; what was printed in the early Variorum editions, and previously in almost every edition since 1725, was Pope's version of Rowe's Account. Dennis's Essay has not appeared since the author republished it in 1721. In all cases the texts have been collated with the originals; and the more important changes in the editions published in the lifetime of the author are indicated in the [vi] Introduction or Notes. The Introduction has been planned to show the main lines in the development of Shakespeare's reputation, and to prove that the new criticism, which is said to begin with Coleridge, takes its rise as early as the third quarter of the eighteenth century. On the question of Theobald's qualifications as an editor, it would appear that we must subscribe to the deliberate verdict of Johnson. We require strong evidence before we may disregard contemporary opinion, and in Theobald's case there is abundant evidence to Preface. 3 confirm Johnson's view. Johnson's own edition, on the other hand, has not received justice during the last century. It is a pleasure to the Editor to record his obligations to Professor Raleigh, Mr. Gregory Smith, and Mr. J. H. Lobban. EDINBURGH, October, 1903. [ix] Introduction. Shakespearian Criticism in the Eighteenth Century. The early nineteenth century was too readily convinced by Coleridge and Hazlitt that they were the first to recognise and to explain the greatness of Shakespeare. If amends have recently been made to the literary ideals of Pope and Johnson, the reaction has not yet extended to Shakespearian criticism. Are we not still inclined to hold the verdicts of Hume and Chesterfield as representative of eighteenth-century opinion, and to find proof of a lack of appreciation in the editorial travesties of the playhouse? To this century, as much as to the nineteenth, Shakespeare was the glory of English letters. So Pope and Johnson had stated in unequivocal language, which should not have been forgotten. “He is not so much an imitator as an instrument of Nature,” said Pope, “and 'tis not so just to say that he speaks from her as that she speaks through him”; and Johnson declared that “the stream of time, which is continually washing the dissoluble fabrics of other poets, passes without injury by the adamant of Shakespeare.” But Pope and Johnson had ventured to point out, in the honesty of their criticism, that Shakespeare was not free from faults; and it was this which the nineteenth century chose to remark. Johnson's Preface in particular was remembered only to be despised. It is [x] not rash to say that at the present time the majority of those who chance to speak of it pronounce it a discreditable performance. This false attitude to the eighteenth century had its nemesis in the belief that we were awakened by foreigners to the greatness of Shakespeare. Even one so eminently sane as Hazlitt lent support to this opinion. “We will confess,” says the Preface to the Characters of Shakespeare's Plays, “that some little jealousy 5 of the character of the national understanding was not without its share in producing the following undertaking, for we were piqued that it should be reserved for a foreign critic to give reasons for the faith which we English have in Shakespeare”; and the whole Preface resolves itself, however reluctantly, into praise of Schlegel and censure of Johnson. When a thorough Englishman writes thus, it is not surprising that Germany should have claimed to be the first to give Shakespeare his true place. The heresy has been exposed; but even the slightest investigation of eighteenth- century opinion, or the mere recollection of what Dryden had said, should have prevented its rise. Though Hazlitt took upon himself the defence of the national intelligence, he incorporated in his Preface a long passage from Schlegel, because, in his opinion, no English critic had shown like enthusiasm or philosophical acuteness. We cannot regret the delusion if we owe to it the Characters of Shakespeare's Plays, but his patriotic task would have been easier, and might even have appeared unnecessary, had he known that many of Schlegel's acute and enthusiastic observations had been anticipated at home. Even those who are willing to give the eighteenth century its due have not recognised how it appreciated Shakespeare. At no time in this century was he not popular. The author of Esmond tells us that Shakespeare was quite out of fashion until Steele brought him back into the mode.1 Theatrical records would alone be sufficient to show that the ascription of this honour to [xi] Steele is an injustice to his contemporaries. In the year that the Tatler was begun, Rowe brought out his edition of the “best of our poets”; and a reissue was called for five years later. It is said by Johnson2 that Pope's edition drew the public attention to Shakespeare's works, which, though often mentioned, had been little read. Henceforward there was certainly an increase in the 1 Esmond, ii. 10. Thackeray was probably recalling a passage in the eighth Tatler. 2 In the Life of Pope. 6 Eighteenth Century Essays on Shakespeare number of critical investigations, but if Shakespeare had been little read, how are we to explain the coffee-house discussions of which we seem to catch echoes in the periodical literature? The allusions in the Spectator, or the essays in the Censor, must have been addressed to a public which knew him. Dennis, who “read him over and over and still remained unsatiated,” tells how he was accused, by blind admirers of the poet, of lack of veneration, because he had ventured to criticise, and how he had appealed from a private discussion to the judgment of the public. “Above all I am pleased,” says the Guardian, “in observing that the Tragedies of Shakespeare, which in my youthful days have so frequently filled my eyes with tears, hold their rank still, and are the great support of our theatre.”3 Theobald could say that “this author is grown so universal a book that there are very few studies or collections of books, though small, amongst which it does not hold a place”; and he could add that “there is scarce a poet that our English tongue boasts of who is more the subject of the Ladies' reading.”4 It would be difficult to explain away these statements. The critical interest in Shakespeare occasioned by Pope's edition may have increased the knowledge of him, but he had been regularly cited, long before Pope's day, as England's [xii] representative genius. To argue that he had ever been out of favour we must rely on later statements, and they are presumably less trustworthy than those which are contemporary. Lyttelton remarked that a veneration for Shakespeare seems to be a part of the national religion, and the only part in which even men of sense are fanatics;5 and Gibbon spoke of the “idolatry for the gigantic genius of Shakespeare, which is inculcated from our infancy as 3 Guardian, No. 37 (23rd April, 1713).