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to be so easy to change Rapiers in a Scuffle, without knowing it at the Time.

THE Death of the Queen is particularly according to the strictest Rules of Justice, for she lofes her Life by the Villany of the very Person, who had been the Cause of all her Crimes.

Page 3.64.

SINCE the Poet deferred so long the U. furper's Death, we must own, that he has very naturally effected it, and still added fresh Crimes to those the Murderer had already committed.

UPON Laertes's Repentance for contriving the Death of Hamlet, one cannot but feel some Sentiments of Pity for him; but who can fee or read the Death of the young Prince without melting into Tears and Compassion? Horatio's earnest Desire to die with the Prince, (p. 365, and Sequel,) thus not to furvive his Friend, gives a stronger Idea of his Friendship for Hamlet in the few Lines on that Occasion, than many Actions or Expressions could possibly have done. And Hamlet's begging him to draw his Breath in this Harsh World a little longer, to clear his Reputation and manifest his Innocence, is very fuitable to his virtuous Character, and the honest Regard that all Men should have not to be mifrepresented to Posterity; that they may not fet a bad Example, when in reality they have fet a good one; which is the only Motive that can, in Reason, recommend the Love of Fame and Glory. When Page 366.

When the Ambassadors from England say,

Where shall we have our Thanks?

And Horatio answers,

Not from his Mouth,
He never gave, &c.

I WONDER that Mr. Theobalds should fee any Difficulty in this; for it is but applying to the King what Horatio says, who knew the whole Affair, and then his Answer is just and true; and indeed, I think it cannot well be understood in any other Senfe from the whole Tenour of the Passage.

HORATIO'S Defire of having the Bodies carried to a Stage, &c. is very well imagined, and was the best way of fatisfying the Request of his deceased Friend. And he acts in this, and in all Points, fuitably to the manly, honest Character under which he is drawn throughout the whole Piece. Besides, it gives a fort of Content to the Audience, that tho' their Favourite (which must be Hamlet) did not escape with Life, yet the greatest amends will be made him, which can be in this World, viz. Justice done to his Memory.

FORTINBRASS comes in very naturally at the Close of this Play, and lays a very just Claim to the Throne of Denmark, as he had the dying Voice of the Prince. He in few Words

H

Words gives a noble Character of Hamlet, and serves to carry off the deceased Hero from the Stage with the Honours due to his Birth and Merit.

I SHALL close these Remarks with fome general Observations, and shall avoid (as I have hitherto done) repeating any Thing which has been faid by others, at least as much as I possibly can: Nor do I think it necessary to make an oftentatious Shew of Learning, or to draw quaint Parallels between our Author and the great Tragick Writers of Antiquity; for in Truth, this is very little to the Purpose in reviewing Shakespeare's Dramatick Works; fince most Men are I believe convinced, that he is very little indebted to any of them; and a remarkable Instance of this is to be observed in his Tragedy of Troilus and Cressida, wherein it appears (as Mr. Theobalds has evidently demonftrated it,) that he has chofen an old English Romance concerning the Trojan War, as a worthier Guide than even Homer himself. Nature was our great Poet's Mistress; her alone has he followed as his Conductress; and therefore it has been with regard to her only, that I have confidered this Tragedy. It is not to be denied, but that Shakespeare's Dramatick Works are in general very much mix'd; his Gold is strangely mingled with Dross in most of his Pieces. He fell too much into the low Taste of the Age he liv'd in, which delighted in miferable Punns, low Wit, and affected fententious Maxims; and what is most unpardonable donable in him, he has interspersed his noblest Productions with this Poorness of Thought. This I have shewn in my Remarks on this Play. Yet, notwithstanding the Defects I have pointed out, it is, I think, beyond Difpute, that there is much less of this in Hamlet than in any of his Plays; and that the Language in the Whole, is much more pure, and much more free from Obscurity or Bombast, than any of our Author's Tragedies; for sometimes Shakespeare may be justly tax'd with that Fault. And we may moreover take Notice, that the Conduct of this Piece is far from being bad; it is fuperior in that respect (in my Opinion) to many of those Performances in which the Rules are faid to be exactly kept to. The Subject, which is of the nicest Kind, is managed with great Delicacy, much beyond that Piece wherein Agamemnon's Death is revenged by his Son Orestes, so much admired by all the Lovers of Antiquity; for the Punishment of the Murderer alone by the Son of the murdered Person, is sufficient; there is something too shocking in a Mother's being put to Death by her Son, although the be never so guilty. Shakespeare's Management in this Particular, has been much admired by one of our greatest Writers, who takes Notice of the beautiful Caution given by the Ghost. to Hamlet,

But howsoever thou pursuest this Act, &c.

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THE making the Whole to turn upon the Appearance of a Spectre, is a great Improvement of the Plan he work'd upon; especially as he has conducted it in so fublime a Manner, and accompanied it with all the Circumstances that could make it most perfect in its kind.

I HAVE observed in my Remarks, that the Poet has, with great Art, brought about the Punishment of the guilty Queen by the very Person who caused her Guilt, and this without Staining her Son's Hands with her Blood.

THERE is less Time employ'd in this Tragedy, as I observed else where, than in most of our Author's Pieces, and the Unity of Place is not much disturbed. But here give me leave to say, that the Critick's Rules, in respect to these two Things, if they prove any Thing, prove too much; for if our Imagination will not bear a strong Imposition, surely no Play ought to be supposed to take more Time than is really employ'd in the Acting; nor should there be any Change of Place in the least. This shews the Absurdity of fuch Arbitrary Rules. For how would fuch a Genius as Shakespeare's have been cramped had he thus fettered himself! But there is (in Truth) no Necessity for it. No Rules are of any Service in Poetry, of any kind, unless they add Beauties, which confift (in Tragedy) in an exact Conformity to Nature in the Conduct of the Characters, and in a fublimity of Sentiments and nobleness of Diction. If these

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