: grace or deformity of his perfon. The colour of the hair, the device of a thield, or beauty of the crest, and a hundred other minutiæ, mark and diversify his characters. "He resembles our bard like wife in giving, occafionally, fome little characteristic trait or anecdote, generally communicated in familiar converfation, not always indeed effential to the ftory, but which, from that very circumftance, is often more interesting. When Diomede starts afide from the natural tenor of his difcourfe to boaft of his horfe's pedigree or of his own; or when Neftor as unfeafonably expatiates on his former exploits, we, at once, become acquainted with them. In fuch kind of mannerspainting converfation (particularly ftriking in the latter part of the Odyfley) we lofe fight of the poet. It feems to be the genuine effufion of nature, and its inartificial appearance ftrengthens the decep tion. Richard. What, not an oath! nay, ther the world goes hard 'When Clifford cannot spare his friends 'oath I know by that he's dead.” Hen. 6th, 3d part, A. 2. S 9. "If we fuppofe fuch reprefenta tions are merely drawn from images, formed in his creative mind, ftill they live to us; and, through his happy mode of introduction, we become as well acquainted with them as with our own cotemporaries. I am, however, inclined to fufpect, that Shakspeare, where he does not fol low the beaten path of hiftory, drew his characters and incidents from traditionary ftories and family anecdotes;-fometimes, probably, from preceding dramas in which they were preferved, and other fhort-lived publications that have long fince perifhed in the tide of time. "The reflexion thrown out ty Surrey to cardinal Wolfey, from its being fo circumftantial in point of time and defcription of perfon, appears to have been founded on fome well-known story in Shakfpeare's time. 1 No more than potsherdes,' And the story poffibly was invent Warwick, They mock thee, Clifford, ed, by means of thofe powerful fwear as thou was wont,' enemies. Yet it must not be dif guifed that this lord Cardinal' was notorious for his incontinency: and the laureat, in numbers no lefs fublime than thofe already cited, and we may fufpect equally true, ironically obferves, that To kepe his fleshe chafte 'Spareth neither maide ne wyfe→ We cannot but smile at this wretched doggrel of Skelton; yet there is little doubt, but that it was preferred by our illuftrious defender of the faith, and his obfequious courtiers, to the genuine humour and characteristic rhymes of Chau cer. "I once thought, likewife, that the more creditable anecdote of Cranmer, given by Hen. 8th, was merely a traditionary story. The common voice, I fce, is verified Of thee, which fays thus, Do my lord of • Canterbury But one read turn, and he's your friend 'for ever? A fimilar fpeech, however, is attributed in Strype's Memorials, (B. 3, C. xxx.) not to the king, but to Dr. Hethe, archbishop of York. We have often reafon to fuppofe, that many incidents, now unknown, are alluded to, and fome real characters fhadowed under fictitious names, not only in ShakSpeare's comedies, but also in his hiftoric dramas. The old lady,' for example, in that laft quoted, and which may not be improperly filed an anonymous defignation, the friend of Anne Bullen, who lls the turbulent monarch, that his daughter was as like him as cherry is to cherry,' (A.,. S. 1.) appears to me no ideal perfonage. Mr. Walpole has ingenioufly obferved, that Leontes and Her mione, in The Winter's Tale,' were the typical reprefentatives of Henry 8th and Anne Bullen; and the character of Paulina feems to be that of this identical old lady, placed in a more confpicuous and advantageous point of view. The fame officious zeal to ferve her mistress, and the fame kind of gar. rulous intrepidity towards an irafcible monarch, is apparent in both characters. The child,' fays Paulina, is yours,' only on only on conjecture.' Again, The Winter's Tale' was not entered at Stationers' Hall, [neither does it appear that the other comedy was] nor printed till 1623; but probably is the play mentioned by Meres under the title of Love's Labour won.' Thefe conjectures carry no conviction with them; and the probability feems to reût on the other fide of the question, namely, that we ought to number thofe plays among the latter productions of Shakspeare; particularly if the perfonal allufions are admitted. "I mentioned that feveral real characters and incidents are alluded to in our poet's comedies. Some have been pointed out, but, doubtlefs, in refpect to the greater part, no clue remains to guide our steps and direct us to the original. I am fully convinced, that mafter Slender fat for his picture to our unrivalled portrait-painter, as well as his coufin Shallow. His little wee face,' his little yellow cain-coloured has been questioned and ridiculed by Voltaire, but it has been fupported with ability and fuccefs by Walpole. At any rate it appears to have been a popular story; of courfe fufficient for Shakspeare's purpose, and for mine.-This opinion, I confefs, cannot be fupported, if we allow thofe dates to be accurate, which are prefixed to Shakspeare's dramas by Mr. Malone in Johnfon and Steevens's edition. He fuppofes that All's well that ends well,' was reprefented in 1598. As Effex was not dead at that time; and as it cannot be imagined, even had he been fo, that any thing allufive to fuch an inftance of the queen's partiality for him, would have been brought forward on the ftage during her lifetime, we muft either rank this play among Shakspeare's latter productions, or my conjecture must be given up as deftitute of any foundation. Mr. Malone fuppofes likewife, that The Winter's Tale' came out in 1594; and if fo, it could not have been intended, ac-beard,' his having fought with a cording to Mr. Walpole's opinion, as a fequel to Hen. 8, for that drama appears not to have been written till 1601. I am, however, unwilling to give up either Mr. Walpole's conjecture or my own; and it is obfervable that Mr. Malone, who has fatisfactorily afcertained the dates of Shakspeare's other plays, expreffes fome diffidence in regard to The Winter's Tale' and All's well that ends 'well.' He obferves that, if they • did come out in 1594 and 1598, they came out under different 'titles from thofe they now bear. -Though supposed to have been early productions, they were not published, it must be acknowledged, in Shakspeare's life-time, but for the dates of them we rely 6 warrener, been intoxicated and robbed by his knavifh compani ons, and other exploits, equally memorable, feem to mark a real character, and to record real facts: circumftances, probably, that excited no little mirth at the time of reprefentation. But we are not to wonder at thofe allufions being now totally loft and forgotten, if we reflect with what rapidity the perfonal fatire of Foote, which fo often in our own days fat the play-house in a roar, is pofting on towards the oblivious gulf.-The greater part of the first scene in The Merry Wives of Windfor,' may have been copied from the life, and have paffed in Sir Thomas Lucy's judicial hall. Even the breaking open the lodge and kiffing the keeper's daughter daughter, which Falstaff (a character, it is faid, partly drawn for an inhabitant of Stratford) humoroufly difavows, may have been charges there feriously urged againft Shakspeare and his riotous affociates. "As our bard is univerfally allowed to be a copyift of nature, it induces us to place an almost unlimited confidence in him. We cannot but fuppofe in his hiftoric dramas, even where we are unable to trace him, that he dwells on real, not imaginary tranfactions; and bas preferved many genuine anecdotes, not of weight fufficient to have gained admittance into the page of hiftory, or taken from authors, whofe writings fcarcely furvived their own existence. The following remarkable incident, attending cardinal Beaufort's death, is fo forcibly characteristic, that we cannot eafily fufpect it to be invention, though no history mentions the circumftance. Lord Cardinal, if thou think'ft on heaven's • blift, Hold up thy hand, make fignal of thy hope.He dies, and makes no tign!' Hen. 6th, 2d part, A. 3. S. 3. The defcription of his anguifh and defpair occurs in Hall's chronicle, but the additional circumstances thrown in by Shakspeare, wonderfully increase the horror of the fcene. The addrefs to the cardinal may be illuftrated by a little devotional book, intitled, The Key of • Paradife opening the Gate to eter'nal Salvation,' republifhed at St. Omer's in 1675, but when first printed I know not, in which is the following MEDITATION. Imagine thyfelf lying in thy death-bed, with a hallowed candle in thy hand, a crucifix on thy breaft, and thy ghoftly father calling on thee, that if thou canst not speak, yet at least to hold up thy hand in token of thy hope, and affiance in 'the mercies of Chrift.' "The death of Glofter, in the fame drama, (A. 3. S. 3.) though, according to hiftory, its manner was uncertain, is marked with fo many minute and appropriate circumftances, that Shakspeare most probably heard it thus particularly defcribed, or took his defcription from actual obfervation, on a fimilar event. "The interview between Henry 5th and Williams the foldier (Hen. 5th, A. 4. S. 4.) the night preceding the battle of Agincourt, with their interchange of gloves, and the trick in confequence played on Fluellin, appears to have been founded on fome traditionary fory. Our hearts, at leaft, will not allow it to be a fiction, but feel delighted at fuch an unexpected, though by no means unnatural, recurrence of Hal's original humour. "There are many other little incidents, like the foregoing, which we ought not to confider as invention, because we cannot trace them to their fource. Had the ftory of Simpcox of St. Alban's, and the combat between the armourer and his apprentice Peter (Hen. 6th, 2d part,) been no where recorded but in Shakspeare, they would probably have been confidered merely as ludicrous fictions, introduced to put the upper gallery in good humour. Each of thofe incidents, however, is noticed in different chronicles of the times. The numerous circumftances relative to the death of lord Haftings, form a kind of epifode in the tragedy of Richard 3d, and they are adopted from hiftory:-even the compliment which the fubtle tyrant pays to the bishop of Ely's ftrawberries, and the unimportant errand on which he fends the courtly courtly prelate. Catefby obferves, the king is angry, fee he gnaws his lip: and Margaret, in her imprecations on him, exclaims, No fleep clofe up that deadly eye of thine, Unless it be while fome tormenting dream Affrights thee with a hell of ugly devils.' Rich. 3d, A. 1. S. 3. We are not to confider either of thefe expreffions as cafual, but ftrictly appropriate and hiftorically true. Different authors relate, that his fleep was (generally) filled with ⚫ perturbations, and particularly that night previous to the engage. ment in which he perished. "When Falstaff ridicules the flender form of prince Henry, and fays that he would give a thoufand pounds if he was able to run as faft as he could, &c. we must not fuppofe that thofe words are thrown out accidentally. Hiftorians agree in defcribing him as tall, thin, and active. Like Achilles he was no lefs confpicuous for fwiftnefs than for perfonal courage. The former is reprefented by Pindar as Κτείνοντ' ελάφους ανευ κυ Пosol yag ngaTEJKEY. Nem. Od. 3. And we might be almoft tempted to fuppofe that our old annalift copied from the Grecian bard, but for the words inclofed in a paren thefs. He was pafling fwift in running, infomuch that he (with two other of his lords) without hounds, bow, or other engine, would take a wild buck or doe, in a large park. (Store.) Omnes 'Coatancos,' fays Thomas de Elmham, faliendo præceffit, curfu veloci fimul currentes prævenit.' We fee from thefe quotations, the propriety of Hotfpur's ftyling him the nimble mad cap prince of • Wales;' and the peculiar juftice of the following comparifon, drawa by Vernon, a friend of Hotfpur's. I faw young Harry with his beaver on, His cuiffes on his thighs, gallantly armed, Rife from the ground like feathered Mercury; And vaulted with fuch eafe into his feat, As if au angel dropt down from the cloud To turn and wind a fiery Pegafus, And witch the world with noble horse'manship.' Hen. 1th, 1 part. A. 4. S. 1. A variety of beautiful and happy allufions occur likwife in the former part of the fame fpeech. An attention to much minutie, though not hiftorically true, must have a won. derful effect in realizing the dramatis perfona.-Even in refpect to animals, as well as men, Shakspeare will not deal in generals. The tragedy hero of a modern dramatift would call for his barbed steed,” or his fiery courfer:' but a Richard orders his groom to "Saddle white Surrey for the field to-mor◄ 6 row.' And hiftorians fay, that when he entered the town of Leicester,• he was mounted on a great white courfer. May we not reafonably fuppofe, that this was the identical Surrey? The gallant earl, whose name he bore, was warmly attached to Richard, and had probably, as a proof of his regard, bestowed on him this acceptable prefent. "The impetuous Hotspur impatiently enquires after his cropear Roan,' and exclaims, in equef trian tranfport, that roan fall be my throne. His fondnefs for his horfe (of which he appears to be no lefs proud than Diomede, a congenial character, was of the fteeds of Tros), is one of his marking features, and humouroufly ridiculed by his rival in fame, prince Henry. (Hen. 4th, 1ft part, A. 2. S. 8.). When Vernon, therefore, expatiates with more candour than difcretion, |