:

understood. The Nonsense, now, by confent, received for his own, was held in a kind of Reverence for its Age and Author: and thus it continued, till another great Poet broke the Charm; by shewing us, that the higher we went, the less of it was still to be found.

For the Proprietors, not discouraged by their first unsuccessful Effort, in due time, made a second; and, tho' they still stuck to their Poets, with infinitely more Success in their Choice of Mr. POPE. Who by the mere force of an uncommon Genius, without any particular Study or Profeffion of this Art, discharged the great Parts of it so well as to make his Edition the best Foundation for all further Improvements. He separated the genuine from the spurious Plays : And, with equal Judgment, tho' not always with the fame Success, attempted to clear the genuine Plays from the interpolated Scenes : He then consulted the old Editions; and, by a careful Collation of them, rectified the faulty, and supplied the imperfect Reading, in a great number of Places: And lastly, in an admirable Preface, hath drawn a general, but very lively, Sketch of ShakeSpear's poetic Character; and, in the corrected Text, marked out those peculiar Strokes of Genius which were most proper to support and illustrate that Character. Thus far Mr. POPE. And altho' much more was to be done before Shakespear could be restored to himself, (such as amending the corrupted Text where the printed Books afford no Assistance; plaining his licentious Phraseology and obscure Allufions; and illustrating the Beauties

ex

of

of his Poetry;) yet, with great Modesty and Prudence, our illustrious Editor left this to the Critic by Profession.

But nothing will give the common Reader a better Idea of the Value of Mr. Pope's Edition, than the two Attempts which have been fince made, by Mr. Theobald and Sir Thomas Hanmer, in Opposition to it. Who, altho' they concerned themselves only in the first of these three Parts of Criticism, the restoring the Text, (without any Conception of the fecond, or venturing even to touch upon the third) yet succeeded so very ill in it, that they left their Author in ten times a worse Condition than they found him. But, as it was my ill Fortune to have fome accidental Connexions with these two Gentlemen, it will be incumbent on me to be a little more particular concerning them.

The One was recommended to me as a poor Man; the Other as a poor Critic: and to each of them, at different times, I communicated a great number of Observations, which they managed, as they saw fit, to the Relief of their several Distresses. As to Mr. Theobald, who wanted Money, I allowed him to print what I gave him for his own Advantage: and he allowed himself in the Liberty of taking one Part for his own, and fequestering another for the Benefit, as I fuppofed, of fome future Edition. But, as to the Oxford Editor, who wanted nothing, but what he might very well be without, the Reputation of a Critic, I could not so eafily forgive him for trafficking with my Papers without

my

my Knowledge; and, when that Project fail'd, for employing a number of my Conjectures in his Edition against my express Defire not to have that Honour done unto me.

Mr. Theobald was naturally turned to Industry and Labour. What he read he could transcribe: but, as what he thought, if ever he did think, he could but ill express, fo he read on; and, by that means got a Character of Learning, without risquing, to every Observer, the Imputation of wanting a better Talent. By a punctilious Collation of the old Books, he corrected what was manifestly wrong in the latter Editions, by what was manifestly right in the earlier. And this is his real Merit; and the whole of it. For where the Phrase was very obsolete or licentious in the common Books, or only flightly corrupted in the other, he wanted sufficient Knowledge of the Progress and various Stages of the English Tongue, as well as Acquaintance with the Peculiarity of Shakespear's Language to understand what was right; nor had he either common Judgment to fee, 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 found 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

was absolutely ignorant of the Art of Criticifin,
as well as of 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 loft the Advantage of many fine
Lines which the other had recovered from
the old Quartos. Where he trufts to his own
Sagacity, in what affects the Sense, his Conjec-
tures are generally absurd and extravagant, and
violating every Rule of Criticism. Tho', in this
Rage of Correcting, he was not absolutely defti-
tute of all Art. For, having a number of my
Conjectures before him, he took as many of them
as he faw fit, to work upon; and by changing
them to something, he thought, synonimous 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: Tho', as he hath de-
clined to give the Reasons for his Interpolations,
he hath not afforded me fo fair a hold of him as Mr.
Theobald hath done, who was less cautious. But
his principal Object was to reform his Author's
Numbers; and this, which he hath done, on
every Occafion, by the Insertion or Omission
of a fet of harmless unconcerning Expletives,
makes up the gross Body of his innocent Correc-
tions. And so, in spite of that extreme Negligence
in Numbers, which diftinguithes the first Dra-
matic Writers, he hath tricked up the old Bard,
from

১

from Head to Foot, in all the finical Exactness of a modern Measurer of Syllables.

For the rest, all the Corrections which these two Editors have made on any reasonable Foundation, are here admitted into the Text; and carefully affigned to their respective Authors. A piece of Justice which the Oxford Editor never did; and which the Other was not always scrupulous in observing towards me. To conclude with them in a word, They separately possessed those two Qualities which, more than any other, have contributed to bring the Art of Criticism into difrepute, Dulness of Apprehension, and Extravagance of Conjecture.

I am now to give some Account of the prefent Undertaking. For as to all those Things, which have been published under the titles of Essays, Remarks, Obfervations, &c. on Shakespear, (if you except some critical Notes on Macbeth, given as a Specimen of a projected Edition, and written, as appears, by a Man of Parts and Genius) the rest are absolutely below a ferious Notice.

The whole a Critic can do for an Author who deferves his Service, is to correct the faulty Text; to remark the Peculiarities of Language; to illustrate the obscure Allusions; and to explain the Beauties and Defects of Sentiment or Composition. And surely, if ever Author had a Claim to this Service, it was our Shakespear: Who, widely excelling in the Knowledge of Human Nature, hath given to his infinitely varied Pictures of it, such Truth of Design, such Force of Drawing, such Beauty of Colouring, as was hardly