Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
A Brief Enquiry Into The Learning Of Shakspeare.
A BRIEF ENQUIRY INTO THE LEARNING OF SHAKSPEARE .
A CCORDING to the biographical plan we originally proposed to ¦ *• •*¦ ourselves , this would be the proper place to give some accountof the life of our inimitable Shakspeare ; but , on examiningwhat materials > ve were possessed of for this purpose , we found them so very scanty and unsati . factory , that we were piesently induced to lay aside all thoughts of such an attempt . Whatever material circumstances could
be got together , in relation to this matter , Mr . Rowe has already collected ; and , to give an abridgment of a work that is in every body ' s hands , we thought would be impertinent and superfluous . We have been at a good deal of pains to acquire some anecdotes concerning this great genius , but tradition has failed us ; and we have applied to our friends at both theatres , aud elsewhere , in vain . The very few
particulars that are handed down to us about Shakspeare are a strong confirmation of Mr . Pope ' s assertion , viz . that ' Shakspeare and Ben Johnson may truly be said not much to have thought on immortality . ' ' Shakspeare ( whom you and every play-house bill j Style the divine , the matchless , what you will ) For gain , not glory , wing'd his roving flight ,
And grew immortal in his own despight . " Shakspeare was very far from having an immoderate share of reputation amongst his contemporaries , who f left the extolling his works , and the erecting of statues to him , as a legacy for posterity . The English , who have ever been famous for ill-timed gratitude and posthumous generosity , have at length done that justice to his memory ,
which their forefathers would n ..-t do to his merit . But , alas ! what is a man the better for the tributes that are paid to his ashes ? The writers of lives , erectors of monuments , and other favourers of defunct excellence , are rather the oppressors than encouragers of living worth . But this by the bye . Amongst allShakspeare ' s innumerable admirers , there has not been , perhaps , one but has given into that
extreme vulgar error of his being a man of no letters , and absolutely unindebted to any of the antients even for a single thought . That nothing is more remote from truth than this notion , will fully appear from the specimens annexed ; and it is beyond measure amazing , that such manifest imitations should have escaped the attention of so many critics and scholars . It may be fairly said of our Shakspeare , as it was of an eminent Roman , Contemnebai litems potius quam nes-
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
A Brief Enquiry Into The Learning Of Shakspeare.
A BRIEF ENQUIRY INTO THE LEARNING OF SHAKSPEARE .
A CCORDING to the biographical plan we originally proposed to ¦ *• •*¦ ourselves , this would be the proper place to give some accountof the life of our inimitable Shakspeare ; but , on examiningwhat materials > ve were possessed of for this purpose , we found them so very scanty and unsati . factory , that we were piesently induced to lay aside all thoughts of such an attempt . Whatever material circumstances could
be got together , in relation to this matter , Mr . Rowe has already collected ; and , to give an abridgment of a work that is in every body ' s hands , we thought would be impertinent and superfluous . We have been at a good deal of pains to acquire some anecdotes concerning this great genius , but tradition has failed us ; and we have applied to our friends at both theatres , aud elsewhere , in vain . The very few
particulars that are handed down to us about Shakspeare are a strong confirmation of Mr . Pope ' s assertion , viz . that ' Shakspeare and Ben Johnson may truly be said not much to have thought on immortality . ' ' Shakspeare ( whom you and every play-house bill j Style the divine , the matchless , what you will ) For gain , not glory , wing'd his roving flight ,
And grew immortal in his own despight . " Shakspeare was very far from having an immoderate share of reputation amongst his contemporaries , who f left the extolling his works , and the erecting of statues to him , as a legacy for posterity . The English , who have ever been famous for ill-timed gratitude and posthumous generosity , have at length done that justice to his memory ,
which their forefathers would n ..-t do to his merit . But , alas ! what is a man the better for the tributes that are paid to his ashes ? The writers of lives , erectors of monuments , and other favourers of defunct excellence , are rather the oppressors than encouragers of living worth . But this by the bye . Amongst allShakspeare ' s innumerable admirers , there has not been , perhaps , one but has given into that
extreme vulgar error of his being a man of no letters , and absolutely unindebted to any of the antients even for a single thought . That nothing is more remote from truth than this notion , will fully appear from the specimens annexed ; and it is beyond measure amazing , that such manifest imitations should have escaped the attention of so many critics and scholars . It may be fairly said of our Shakspeare , as it was of an eminent Roman , Contemnebai litems potius quam nes-