ANOTHER 
 
 ESSENCE OF MALONE, 
 
 OR, 
 
 The ''BEAUTIES'' 
 
 OF 
 
 SFIAKSPEARE's EDITOR. 
 
 " An prslerZ^r^W^aaualis EssENTiiE lit aliud neceiraimm 
 " quo res acftualiter exiftat r" 
 
 Thomas Aquinas MALo^fIANUs, 
 Martin. Scribl. Mem. chap. 7. 
 
 ILontioii : 
 
 PRINTED FOR T. BECKET, PALL MALL. 
 Price 3s. 6d. 
 
 J. SiMEETON, PRINTER, ST. MARTIN's LANE.
 
 •UNIVERSITY OF c:VLr^ 
 — SANTA BAUB^UiA 
 
 VOLUME THE FIRST, 
 
 IN TWO DIFISIONS, 
 BUT WITH NO SECOND VOLUME TO COME; 
 
 A HINT, 
 
 BORROfFED FROM EDMOND, 
 
 AND, AS IT IS HOPED, WITH AN IMPROVEMENT.
 
 ANOTHER ESSENCE 
 
 M A L O N E, 
 
 0\ C. 0> C. csC. 
 
 PART THE FIRST. 
 
 BOOKING the other day at the Mviutian pe- 
 digree, which is juft imported from the Vatican^ 
 through Sir William Hamilton (by the velTel that has 
 landed the Hero of the Nile J I obferved, in one of 
 it's branches the words : 
 
 " MiNUTius Felix Dramaticus, 
 Flor: A. D. 900." 
 
 It proves that nine centuries ago, one of my 
 lineal anceflors may have been an a^or and zvriter 
 of plays ; — but that he was, perhaps^ a Comment 
 tator, and probably an Editor of dramatic poets, 
 or (as the word equally permits) the Editor of 
 fuch an Editor -, which lad, as ix. fuils me — (a 
 very Editorial principle !) I have adopted (ex 
 cathedra Minutiorum) as the exclufive import of 
 the term. 
 
 Having, to iiluftrate the Hiftorian of Dryden's 
 Life, made a pafling bow to the molt brilliant 
 
 B of
 
 [ ^ 3 
 
 of Shakfpeare'^ editors—" the /j/?," but not " the 
 " leajl in love ;" I added, in myfecondedition of the 
 Biographical EJfcnce^ a re-inforcement of extradls 
 from a Poet and Critic, who are more congenial 
 than Edmond's Dryden compared with Dryden's 
 Edmond', — which is heaucoup dire. 
 
 But prefuming upon this family-name, I have 
 delineated, with more accuracy, the interefting 
 features of Edmond the Editor of Shakfpcare ; and I 
 cannot refift the duty of prefenting them to the 
 world ; who, if they were interefled (as Mr, Becket 
 of Pall Mall, with a ferious countenance, alTures 
 me they were) by the firji Beauties of Malone, will 
 •* hang over me enamoured'' for the attractions of 
 Edmond thtfecond. 
 
 They are Beauties of the fame call, but of fu- 
 perior and more infpired grace. They rife in 
 proportion to thofe of the bard, fly upon his 
 (eagle's) wing, or (to defcend from clouds) are 
 fly dimples of the Abigail, who is often a compe- 
 titor of the Lady fhe has dreil. 
 
 I remember at one of the early mafquerades 
 in this reign, a figure of exquifite mechanifm» 
 which reminds me of the altera et eadem in 
 the comparative attractions of the two Lady^ 
 Edmonds. It was a figure, at firfl: under the middle 
 fize, and bordering upon the Lilliputian, (which 
 is below the Minutian fl:andard,) but with all the 
 accuracy of proportion. It fuddenly rofe above 
 itfelf into a Giant's form, in the fame habit, and 
 fliill manifefting the fame accuracy in its pro- 
 portions.
 
 C 3 1 
 
 portions, though with a difficulty (not unbe- 
 coming) in the movement of the head. 
 This Giant is Edmond the Editor : 
 
 ** Ingrediturqueyi/o et caput inter nub'tla condit." 
 
 Edmond's Preface. 
 
 The firft breath of the Oracle (and very azvful 
 intelligence it is) notifies, that Edmond is deli- 
 vered of a child, in whofe *^ parturition'''' (as 
 John/on would have faid) eight years have been 
 the period. 
 
 ** Carta fave Luclnal tuus jam regnat Apollo:''* 
 
 Another twelvemonth ! and he would have gone 
 (to ufe a Denman-phrafe) '^ nonum in annum'* 
 which is the time oi geftation demanded by Ho^ 
 race^ the accoucheur of legitimate productions in 
 genius and wit. 
 
 As it is, it wants only two years of thofe which 
 Achilles ^ and Co. expended in the liege of Troy, 
 
 Yet fuch is the modefty of little F^dmond^ that 
 his debut as an Editor, is to copy word for word, 
 (in EIGHT PAGES,) Dr. Johnfon's '^ excellent 
 SCHEME," publifhed in 1756 — to copy the zvhole, 
 — for no purpofe but that of afcribing to the 
 minutcj} part of it, imbecility and falfchood. 
 
 Apropos — this reminds me of a peculiar habit 
 
 in Edmondt which deferves a Canon of its own. 
 
 B 2 It
 
 C 4 ] 
 
 It is the politenefs of his demeanour to the Mar-- 
 J^as whom he is going to dilFedl with an air of 
 the Vatic an- Apollo, 
 
 For example— after a light and fuperficial pa- 
 negyric of that " EXCELLENT SCHEME," in fuch 
 parts of it as it may not have fuited him to ar^ 
 raign^ (though it may have fuited his bookfeller 
 to copyx\\tx\-\y) he *^ anatomizes Regan^'' that is, (to 
 meet him in the Fatican) he affirms, " th^t/ome of 
 Do^or Marfyas'^ positions (contained in thofe 
 EIGHT pages) are indubitably not true." 
 
 This alanns the Reader, and creates an intereji ; 
 — which are two exquifite artifices of rhetoric. 
 It unites modefty in the forbearance of eight years, 
 to addrefs, in thofe compliments which grace the 
 knife prepared for the torture, and fpirit, in the 
 attitude. 
 
 We have already feen what a biographer, John- 
 Jon-Marjyas appears in Edmond- Apollo's account 
 of him : we have been told, ** that he was a Giant 
 *^ much too great for his trufl, (though he w-as 
 paid for it in pound, fliilling, and pence ;) *' that 
 " he was above all preparation for his work — a 
 " refearcher into no materials — without a note 
 *' of a {ingle facfl, — and confident in his memory 
 ** alone, of any thing which he might have read 
 *' or might have heard.'' 
 
 We fliall now produce this ocvrozpoiTopoe. as an 
 Editor, (another fphere of his intcllcdual apo- 
 theofis,) — led into the amphitheatre by his de- 
 termined antagonifi, but equally determined ad- 
 mirer j
 
 C 5 3 
 
 mirer ; who, after commending his prowefs, (with 
 all the courtefy of a pugilift before the conteftj 
 reminds him of his negative refpe^ for truths by 
 two or three blows, hard enough to kill any other 
 Ajax in the field. 
 
 To " elevate" and **furprize" the more, (though 
 he is in general the Chejlerf eld of Editors^ and is, 
 by his own account, (page liv.) profelTor of the 
 hypercritical philanthropies,) he imitates the 
 manners of the denounced — ( i) " It is not true 
 (he fays) &c." (2) " It is not true, &c." 
 
 It happens too, that what he calls " posi- 
 tions" are alfertions of an hiftorical fadl, which 
 (according to bimj are abfolutely falfe ; that is, 
 if truth and falfehood are 
 
 Littora littoribus centraria ; 
 
 in other words, if that is falfe, which is the 
 reverfe of truth, or which is true with a negative 
 before it. But we had better Canonize, and exem^ 
 plifyt fo prominent a feature of Edmond's beauty 
 as an Editor. 
 
 B 7 CANON
 
 C 6 ] 
 
 CANON h 
 
 jo[N Editor J]jould prove that what a former 
 Editor ajferts, isfalfe, — and Jhould prove the falfe- 
 hood by a counter-affertion. 
 
 Example I. 
 
 Dr. Johnfon afTerts, and roundly too, (utfolet) 
 " that Shakfpeare's works have been printed more 
 " inaccurately than works of his cotemporaries." 
 
 Edmond (as roundly) controverts, or, in other 
 words, (for it cannot be diflembled) utterly denies 
 the facl. But he fuppofes (becaufe it is conve- 
 nient, and faves time) that his denial is proof. — 
 He does not here (with his accuftomed urbanity) 
 analyze the comparifon by a lift of all the inac- 
 curacies in all the books of that sera, but alludes, 
 in a light and fpirited manner, to authors of 
 Shakfpeare's age, who, as he afTirms, are printed 
 as inaccurately ; — fuch as " Marlozv, Marjlone^ 
 " Fletcher i MaJJinger^ and others." 
 
 " How am I to know (faid the unmannerly 
 Cynic,) ** that Edmond is in the right, and that 
 ♦* Sam (as he calls him playfully) — " is the 
 " lyar ? Muft I read thcfe fellows, through and 
 ** through, to note the errata? fuch as ''paper'* 
 ♦* inftead of "/>^/><frj/"'* 
 
 * Stated by Edmond as an alteration, which, though flight, it 
 would gratify curious readers to fee. — EJjfaice of Matone^ (ad ed.) 
 pag. 53. 
 
 ** I had
 
 C 7 ] 
 
 " I had rsither give in Sit once (as Mendoza would 
 ** fay) ** to any ipfe dixit-ifi in Europe. 
 
 " Befides, — who are the anonymous writers thiit 
 " are menaced under that fweeping claufe of the 
 " two etcetera words " and others f* I am not 
 " young — it would cover the autumn of my life 
 " (though with little better than a parcel of dead 
 " leaves) " to fee which of thefe Editors can prove 
 " himfelf in the right, and the other in the 
 ** wrong." 
 
 I anfwer (and rehabilitate my hero) by telling 
 the bear, " that in this difficulty of detecling 
 *^ Edmond (if inaccurate) is the beauty of his ad- 
 " drefs in the defiance." 
 
 '* Belides, — you forget (faid I) the eight years, 
 " during which, he w///? have collated, and with 
 '* pundlilious accuracy, (to the dot of an /J all 
 '* thefe printed books with all the manufcripts, 
 " (if he could find them,) " or (which is better 
 ** ftill) with his own fl:andard of accuracy in the 
 '* ideal manufcript of his own " perhapfes'"'' and 
 *' probabilities." 
 
 " In fhort, if Edmondh^d produced no other ef- 
 " fed: in the ripe fruit of his eight years, than to 
 " difprove fo confident an aflertion by another 
 " as confident, and which it mud require eight 
 " years more to refute — we may thank Time 
 " for fparing him fo long ! 
 
 *' Nor is it generous to difpute an alTertion 
 " which you have not patience to refute." 
 
 The conclufion is, that Shakfpeare''s> cotem- 
 
 poraries were printed as inaccurately as he was ; 
 
 B 4 and
 
 [ 8 ] 
 
 and that John/on either fuppreiTcd a fadl he knew, 
 or was guilty of ignorance where he gave him- 
 felf credit for knowledge. 
 
 This acquifition to the caufe of truth is one 
 refult oi Edmond's labour. It is the firft in order, 
 and perhaps the inoft interefting. It is perfedly 
 new^ it is unique^ and exclulively his own. 
 
 Example IL 
 
 Blow the Second at Johnfon'^ veracity ! 
 
 '* It is not true that the art of printing was 
 " at no age in fuch unfkilful hands." 
 
 Here no proof is even infinuated, or any other 
 age pointed out — fo that Edmond is in the right, 
 if lince the art of printing was difcovered, there 
 exifled 2ifingle age in which that accompliihed art 
 found the unfkilful hands it experienced in the 
 age of Shakfpeare. 
 
 " Oh Time ! Time!'* (as lachimo faid when he 
 ■was going back into his trunk,) who fhall re- 
 fute the alTertion if it (liould be inaccurate? 
 
 " The " child unborn'* has the only chance for 
 it. 
 
 A dull reafoner would fay, " It is of no con- 
 '' fequence, to debate upon thefe irreconcilable 
 ** propofitions — for if they mean any thing 
 ** (which is an //that is very difputable,) "they 
 ** mean to intimate on the one fide grofs inac- 
 ♦* curacy m Shakfpeare' s, printers, and on the other, 
 " to intimate the reverfe : The victory of this im- 
 *' putation or denial, may be difcovered by a 
 *' iliorter procefs j by examining the oldeji edi-^ 
 
 *' tions
 
 [ 9 ] 
 
 '* tions of Shakfpearey publiflied in his time/* 
 " "without reference to other ages^ or to other 
 " men."') — But then, it would not be the labour of 
 EIGHT YEARS, and it would not be Mimitian — fo 
 that it could not Juit either Edmond or tne ! 
 
 Example III. 
 
 Fil^ 3. 
 Or fib in the latitude of the aflertion. 
 
 " It is not true, in the latitude in which it has 
 '' been ftated," that iS/:?<:z^<f^r<f's Plays vvereprint- 
 " ed from compilations made by chance or by 
 " flealth, out of the feparate parts written for 
 " the theatre." 
 
 Here, (which is a turn of infinite humour,) 
 when Edmond explains what he means by the 
 foftening colours of the charge, he admits the 
 aflertion, which he arraigns, to be accurate as 
 far as it refpeds two plays ! and pronounces it 
 falfe in its application to thirteen ! It is there- 
 fore true in two degrees of the " latitude,'' (as he 
 calls it,) and falfe in thirteen, which makes 
 the aflertion more falfe than true in the difl'er- 
 ence between two and thirteen, (v. Duncan's 
 logic.) 
 
 But he gives no proof that Johnfon was ac- 
 curate, even as to the two plays, any more than 
 he does, that beyond the pale of that extent, he 
 was negatively accurate. 
 
 Here
 
 [ lO ] 
 
 Here let us recapitulate ! 
 
 Three negatives (though in a courteous mode) 
 are ftamped upon three dired: affertions of the 
 Editor preferred — and fuch is the difcovery of 
 
 EIGHT YEARS ! 
 
 1. Shakfpeare\ Plays were not printed more 
 inaccurately than other plays in that age. 
 
 2. Shakfpeare''^ age was not the mojl carelefs 
 oi any in the art of printing. 
 
 3. Thirteen of Shakfpeare^s Plays were not 
 printed out of the feparate parts — written for his 
 theatre. — Two of them were. 
 
 Did not I tell you (in the EJfence of Malone^) 
 that NEGATIVE ILLUSTRATION was Edmond* 5 fort ? 
 — and am I " an idle babbler?'* 
 
 Example IV. 
 
 Edmond proceeds ; — and condemns, for its crimen 
 IteJdE vcritatiSy (though with a little change of 
 the expreflion) another of the oracles delivered in 
 Bolt Courts 
 
 ** He does NOT BELIEVE that words in Shakf^ 
 *' peare^s time, were adopted at pleafure from the 
 ** neighbouring languages ;" or " that an an- 
 *' tiquated didion was then employed, — with an 
 ** exception of Spencer alone :" thus (again J dif- 
 puting the veracity of his favorite. 
 
 Example V. 
 
 Upon the fame line of imputation, he an- 
 nounces the INDISPUTABLE EVIDENCE of his OWU 
 
 edition.
 
 [ " 3 
 
 edition, " that Shakfpeare'% obfervations do not 
 " refult from the paucity of contemporary au- 
 " thors ;" — in dired oppofition to the affirmative 
 afTerted by the author of that " excellent 
 
 ** SCHEME.'* 
 
 Example VI. 
 
 He denies, with equal fpirit, (but witli fupe- 
 rior addrefsj the alTertion (by this excellent 
 SCHEMER,) •' that few oi Sbakfpeare's lines were of 
 difficult accefs to his audience, and that he had 
 expreffions which then were common." 
 
 With infinite beauty of rhetoric, he appeals 
 to Philip againft Philip ; — he puts one of Samuel's 
 own alTertions in battle array againft the 
 other, and leaves them to fight it out as they 
 can. 
 
 " 7/'(fays Edmond) few of thofe lines were to 
 " his audience difficult, and {/"he ufed expreffions 
 '* which then were common, it cannot be alfo true 
 " that his reader is embarraffied with dead and 
 " foreign languages, with obfoletenefs and with 
 " innovation." 
 
 |i^ N. B. I have recommended the rhetoric 
 of this ifi — it is alfo a chef d'ceuvre of fatyrical 
 "wit ; but as to its logic — c'eji un autre pair de 
 manchons i not that /can difpute the fyllogifm, 
 or any other which is the armour of Edmond, 
 —except when he defcends to the anagram. 
 
 But the Cynic's cudgels for ** poor Sam" (as he 
 calls him,) have fome dexterity in them. I Ihall 
 
 again
 
 [ '2 ] 
 
 again be his Editor, as well as that of Edmondi 
 but fliall give the palm to my hero, when I have 
 parted them. 
 
 Says the Cynic — " Jtego confcqiieniiam^^ — " If 
 •* the ^//^/<f«(r<? underftood him, nonfequituTy that 
 " he would be as well underflood by the reader, 
 «* i, e. by the modern reader, who might be " em- 
 " barrafled by dead and foreign languages, by 
 ** obfoletenefs, and by innovation ; which yet, in 
 •' Shakfpeare's age, the common ufe of them, by 
 *' him, and others, in plays, might have rendered 
 *' familiar to their audience." 
 
 But I anfwer, that although in fubftance this 
 argument may have fome potency and weight, 
 the verbal advantage is upon the fide of Ed~ 
 mond's dilemma ; which is alfo the more inge- 
 nious, becaufe it feems to corredb others, and is 
 itfelf inaccurate. This indicates a mafter of his 
 -polemical tools. 
 
 We have thus far in the " achorle,*'* or negative 
 region, deftroyed 7?a; Giants, by difproving that 
 number of confident alTertions made by the ablefl: 
 of all the Editors j and it is to Edtnond alone (that 
 is, to alTertions equally confident on his part) 
 that we owe the difcovery of Jlx negative propo- 
 Jitlons, 
 
 Here they are ! — 
 
 T. Shakfpeare was not worfe printed than his 
 neighbours, 
 
 * EJfence oi Malone^ (ad ed.) pag. 4x* 
 
 2. The
 
 C '3 3 
 
 2. The art of printing was not the mnjl un- 
 ikilfully conduced in his time. 
 
 3. Shakfpeare's Plays were «o/ in general 
 printed by chance or ftealth. 
 
 4. Words in his time were not adopted at plea- 
 fure from the neighbouring languages. 
 
 5. His obfcurities do not arife from the paucity 
 of cotemporary authors. 
 
 6. His lines were not familiar to his audience, 
 or his exprefTions common. 
 
 " But is this all that his eight years have 
 " done for us ?" interrogates Orfino. 
 
 Nothing like it ! we have precious, and affirm- 
 ative truths to come. 
 
 CANON
 
 C H 3 
 
 CANON II. 
 
 x\N Editor fliould be the Columhus of iruifms, 
 or /elf -evident propofitions. 
 
 Example I. 
 
 I perfectly agree with " a Daniel come to 
 *' judgement," when he tells me, in Edmond's 
 name, that becaufe a paflage is anomalous, to 
 tny conception, I am not therefore to eje^^ (as 
 he elegantly expreiFes himfelf;) or to extrude it, 
 (which is John/oil's word,) as an error and 
 corruption which I may alter at pleafure. 
 
 I am alfo happy to find him affert, (though 
 it is a death's blow to fome who have preceded 
 him and * occajionally to himfelf,t) that other 
 EditorSy in the early part of this prefent century, 
 ** Jeem never to have looked behind them^"'' (a figure 
 of infinite humour,) and that alterations of 
 Shakfpeare^ till thirty years before he wrote (but 
 iince the edition by Pope) have been confidered 
 as terms that were fynonymous to rejloration. 
 
 By the "d;ay — 
 
 Happy would it have been for uSy if thofe who 
 rejlored (as it was called) Charles the Second, 
 could, by rejloring him, have altered him too ! 
 
 * This image was prompted by a ne^w member of the /w- 
 ferial Parliament. 
 
 f Edmond (as it will appear by his conduA,) refcrves to tjini' 
 Jdf alone y the liberty oircjlonng or of amendmg'—dii \t/uits him. 
 
 He
 
 [ '5 ] 
 
 He then launches out into an ocean, which, 
 troubled as it is, Joe manages in a very little 
 IkifF, like the filherman's coracle upon the 
 Severn — a comparifon of the ancient copies. 
 
 Example II. 
 
 It is here impoflible to refifl the fagacity of 
 his remark, " that we have no criterion to af- 
 " certain the text before we knew zvhich of the 
 *' ancient copies deferves preference." 
 
 The Ghojl of Denmark rofe, to give us that in- 
 telligence, and *^ I'll take the GhojV^ word for a 
 ** thoufand pound." 
 
 Example III, 
 
 Edmond gives a decided preference to the 
 earlieji editions — which are the jirjl ^artos. 
 
 It is true that others (and all others who had 
 common fenfe) have faid in general the fame 
 thing. But he gives (and with peculiar felicity) 
 illuftrations of that, which 7:^^ calls, in beautifully 
 inflated language, ** gradual progrefs of corruption 
 " in multiplied copies." 
 
 Without prejudice to his numerous quotations, 
 I have feen that fame aphorifm illuftrated with 
 equal brilliancy, at a caricature fhop, in which 
 are delineated the improvements of a lye. 
 
 There is, however, a more appofite as well as 
 livelier analyfis oi Edmond' s remark, — in the late 
 Mr. Fielding's " Journey to the other World." 
 
 They
 
 [ i6 3 
 
 They are difcufTing in the 'Ely s,i Ayi felds^ the 
 legitimate and the only perfedl accent of this line 
 in Othello: 
 
 " Put out the light y and then put out the light." 
 
 The difpute is between Bettcrton and Booth, 
 (whofe lives I mean to give in xnyf^cond edition), 
 
 Shakfpeare was prefent. According to Betterton, 
 the line lliould be read or fpoke with no parti- 
 cular emphalis upon either of the words. 
 
 The other^ — would accent one of 'em thus : 
 
 ** Put out the light! and then put out the light!" 
 
 I could not help (faid the ingenious traveller) 
 prefenting my conjedlure, and fuggefted, that it 
 might perhaps have been written thus : 
 
 " Put out the light, — and then put out thy light." 
 
 Another^ — hinted a reading very fophifticated 
 in, Mr. Fielding'^ opinion : 
 
 ** Put out the light, — and then put out thee^ — light!'* 
 
 Another^ — would have altered one letter of the 
 concluding, and one of the penultimous word : 
 
 " Put out the light, — and then put out thy fight." 
 
 " If the text (faid Betterton) '' is to be dif- 
 " turbed, why may not a word be changed, as 
 " well as a letter P" — 
 
 *' Put out the light, and then put out thy eyes!** 
 
 Shakfpeare
 
 [ '7 ] 
 
 Shakespeare (for fuch was the heterogrophy of 
 the name in Fielding's timej delivered himfelf 
 as follows : 
 
 " It is really fo long fince I wrote the line, that I 
 '* forget what I meant ; but could I have dreamt 
 *^ fo much nonfcnfe would have been talked and 
 ** written upon it, I would have blotted it out 
 " of my works ; for I am fure \i any of thefe are 
 " what / meantt the line does me very little 
 " honour." 
 
 It has been faid that an Editor fliould cut an 
 Editor's throat with a feather. The urbanities of 
 Stanhope — £^wi9;/(iare the moft prominent graces of 
 his literary deportment, except as to Cflpcl, whom 
 he condemns to make the amende honorable for his 
 courtefy to all his other competitors. 
 
 But in his amiable conflidls with Dr. Johnfon, 
 (could any thing from Edmond, ever be ludi- 
 crous,) the compliments he pays to him would 
 fall into burlefque, if he did not favc them — 
 enfunambule. 
 
 For example — upon this afFedling fubjed: of the 
 editions he fays, " that what has been ftated by the 
 *• Dr. is not quite correct," and proceeds to 
 reprefent " that it is a palpable falsehood." 
 
 The words of this Giant in the petites niQrales 
 of literary affertion, arc as follows : 
 
 " The fubfequent folios never differ, but ei- 
 *^ ther by accident^, or negligence, from the 
 " earlier ones." 
 
 C la
 
 C '8 ] 
 
 In oppofition to this D<^//)Z;/V flatemcnt, — having 
 called it *' not qltite accurate," Edmond affirms 
 ^' that Folio they^rij;;^/ frequently differs from the 
 " frji by the Editor's profound ignorance of the 
 ^' poet's phrafeology, and metre ; in confequence 
 ** of which, there is scarce a page in the book 
 ^* that is not disfigured by the capricious al^- 
 ^^ TERATiONS of the pcrfoH to whom the care of 
 f' that iMPRESsiOxV was intruded." 
 
 He then puts this devoted Second-FoUiJi into 
 good company ; for he tells us, " that he, and Mr. 
 ^* Pope, together, have introduced more arbi- 
 *' trary alterations (where they have no quarto 
 '* copies,) than all the corruptions and errors of 
 ** the prefs in the original copies." 
 
 In fourteen pages y he demonftrates, that Second 
 Folio was ignorant of Shakfpeare's phrafeology ; 
 and a finer chain of argument was never linked 
 by a Sergeant in the Common Pleas. 
 
 Under the next head he is (what a Sergeant may 
 fometimes be over his cups after a good circuit,^ 
 a little more playful than folid ; but his whims 
 are bewitching, and like his countryman's mif- 
 iakesy the rhapfodies of too lively an ear. 
 
 But here we muft again, to do him honour, put 
 him into a Canon. 
 
 CANON
 
 C 19 ] 
 
 CANON III. 
 
 ju[N Editor of a Poet who was noted for the 
 *' melody of bis rhithtn, Jhould make the verfe as 
 " har^ as he caUy by art, in preference to the rajh 
 *' expedient y on the one hand^ of making it perfe^ly 
 " mufieal by the infertion of a wordy be it ever fo 
 " minute y — or to the degrading felf-denial of leaving 
 " the verfe tofhift as it can for itfelf confidered as 
 " left in a mutilated fate by the Author's hafte^ or 
 " the negligence of the Copy if . 
 
 " He fjould accomplifj this a& of prowefs (iit 
 " difcord) *' by giving more fyllables to a word than 
 '" are due /o //, or by a new andjirange accent of 
 '^ his own invention,''* 
 
 That Shakfpeare's rhithm is, with all its de- 
 fedls, wonderfully harmonious, cannot be de- 
 nied by thofe to whom nature has not given ears 
 of a defcription that (hall be namelefs. 
 
 I do not appeal to the late accompliflied Lau- 
 reat, Edmond's friend, who difcovered " that 
 ** Milton had no ear." (See Warton's Milton.) 
 
 But I do appeal to Edmond himfelf, who ac- 
 tually dates plays of Shakfpeare, by the improve- 
 ments which he made in the metre that he 
 found. 
 
 • This may be called the argumenlmn tormentinum^ like that 
 which raifed the value of timber in the //owj Queen Mary's 
 time. 
 
 C 2 And
 
 [ 20 3 
 
 And I do appeal to thecomparifon between his 
 " wood-notes wildy' and the rhithm, (fuch as ic 
 is J oi all his cotcmporarics, or fuccelTors in the 
 Englifli Drama. 
 
 ExANfPLE I. 
 
 A more amufing epitome of Edmond's (fanciful) 
 car cannot be found — 
 
 " What wheels, racks, fires? what flaying, boiling, 
 ** In leads or oils?" 
 
 The fecond Folio, (fays EdmondJ ignorant that 
 " fires" was here ufed as a diffyllable^ adds 
 burning at the end of the line. 
 
 *' O ho ! (faid my Cynic to mej then /have the 
 *^ honour to be as criminal ; for /too am igno- 
 " rant that ^* fires'' either ic'^5, or could be,a diffyl- 
 *^ lable here ; nor does it follow, that it was a 
 '' diffyllable here^ though it may have been fo 
 " treated when \X. fitted the Poet^ — as it clearly did 
 *^ in the example next adduced by Edmond. 
 
 " But let me aik the fagacious 'Problemo~ 
 ^* iomijly which is the moft probable ? that 
 *^ Shakfpeare ufed here (as we know that he often 
 " did elfewherej *^ the word fire as a monofylla- 
 *^ bky though it leaves a defed in the meafure, 
 *' (as the verfe now appears,) " or that he ufed it 
 '* 2i's.'xdiffyllablet to give us a line which cannot 
 ?^ be read as a verfe upon Edmond's hypothefi?, 
 *' by man, woman, or child, 
 
 " Let
 
 [ 21 ] 
 
 " Let us try it. 
 
 What wheels! — racks fT j Res what \fay''>!g\ — boiling. 
 
 " In the name of Pegafus^ what is to become 
 " of the two laft words? — Are they Iambics !* or 
 ** trochees ! 
 
 " Let him take his choice !" 
 
 " Oh I they are Iambics to be fure!" 1 an- 
 
 f we red. 
 
 " Are they fo ?" (replied the Cynic,) " then 
 " we muft read 'em you know ; and read 'em 
 " thus : 
 
 " flaying I boiling ;" 
 " So that here the Reader's accent muft be laid 
 ** upon the final fyllable of two diffyllabic par- 
 " ticiples that end in " ing :" — which is of the 
 " firft impreiTion, and is impradicable in its 
 ** effed; — which makes it the livelier infuppo- 
 " fition. 
 
 " Pho ! they are trochees^" I faid, (aware of 
 the dilemma, in which a fuperficial ear would 
 place the genius of Edmond). 
 
 ** They are trochees!'' (he 'anfwered,) ** are 
 ** they ? — give me any two fuch in one other line 
 " of Shakfpcare, (unlefs at your friend's requili- 
 " tion ;) et eris mihi magnus Apollo:" 
 
 * 1 know fome Ladie^; who are miftrefles of the Heterochta, 
 and Propria qua marikus, but are at a lofs in their Profod'ia^ and 
 have defired me to explain what an Iambic is. To oblige 
 them, but in Latin familiar to them as Englifla, I tell them, 
 from Horace, in a mofl elegant hexameter — 
 
 Syllaba knga hrevi Juhjc^a vacatur Iambus. 
 
 2 C 3 The
 
 [ " ] 
 
 The anfwer is, — '* They are trochees here : and 
 «* that's enough." *' Sic ^o/o, — {\cjubeo!"* 
 
 Example II. 
 
 " And (lafird tlie brains out had I To swoRN." 
 
 It was altered in x.\\t/econd folio. — 
 — — — had I \buf\ fo swORN. 
 
 This " biW^ is an impertinence, according to 
 ** Edmond ; and why ? " Becaufe here the word 
 " SWORN is a zvord oftwojyllables //" 
 
 This differs a little from the other example; 
 for here only one trochee or Iambic is made out 
 of a monofy liable, fo as to complete the meafure. 
 
 *' But (fays Morofey) *' a more untoward word 
 '^ in that place for the rhithm, Edmond's bittereft 
 " enemies, and Capel'^ Ghojl^ would never have 
 " been able to put into his way ; — it muft have 
 " been the " idle babbler" that laid it for him 
 " in the road. 
 
 •' htt/worn be an Iambic ! (which is the natu- 
 " ral foot here defideraied^ as Johnfon would have 
 
 * It is like the fubjeft of the verfes in queftion — It is the 
 fjUogtfm of the rack, and xht/crites of the martyr's faggot. 
 
 f It has often ftriirk me that poor Shakfpeare, as the patient 
 qf Dr. Maloneh Reflorative cordials, 
 
 " tegre/cit medench ;" 
 or, at the beft, converts one illnefs into another by a fort of 
 commutation tax. 
 
 \Min, Felix prompted by z political friend, 
 
 " faid,j
 
 C 23 J 
 
 *' faidj and it is not in human power (zvith ears) 
 ** to read it (poetically)— -fo confidered. 
 
 '* If it is the inverted Iambic ^ or trochee^ it is 
 *' equally unparalleled. 
 
 ** The fair way to reafon it (and ftill by the 
 " eaTy (for I demand an eary as 2, fojiulatumy) is 
 *' to put another word> or words, in place of 
 ** fworriy^ and commanding equally the two fyl- 
 " lables imputed here to that word. 
 
 " Let us, for example, fuppofe the line to have 
 " ended with — " fworn it." I fhould then have 
 " denied that it could have been fo written by 
 " Shakfpeare ; and without any fear of Edmond's 
 *' pruderies, have made the little word fo hop to 
 " the end of the line. 
 
 " Obferve, that I am fpeaking of a dilTyllable 
 " conftituting a foot, not of two fyllables repre- 
 " fenting one at the end of a line. Sworn the 
 " diiTyllable — muji here be a foot ; and the line 
 ** muft be accented thus : 
 
 and dafh | the brains ) out had 1 1 so \Jw'or — "/;. 
 Another (flight) objedion to the divilion of 
 fivorn into a couple of fyllables is, that no lips 
 (on our fide of the Channel,) arc equal to it. 
 
 I anfwer, in Edmond's name: *^It zVadiffyllable, 
 " becaufe the rhithm requires that it fliould be fo : 
 *' and I fhall now, once for all, announce (to the 
 ** Univerfities of this land) " a new figure in logicy 
 " or in other words, a new procefs of reafoning, 
 " which has been **fjad&wed" in the inftances be- 
 ** fore us, and was invented by Edmond." 
 
 It will be found as a Canon, eu pafant in the 
 
 next page. 
 
 C 4 CANON
 
 C 24 ] 
 
 CANON 
 
 By way o/" Episode. 
 
 1 ROOFS have the hejl effe& zvhen they look 
 hackwards and forwards ^ and pull both ways. 
 
 Example. 
 
 " Szvorn'isvLdiJJyllable! and the rhithm is com- 
 plete. 
 
 " The/econd Foliijl was ignorant of that circum- 
 ftance in the metre. It is therefore proof that 
 he was ignorant oi Shakfpeare's metre." 
 
 But flill we are not informed what proof there 
 is that "/worn is a diffyllable !" 
 
 " Oh ! here it is," (quoth Edmond.) 
 
 " It is proved by reading the logic backwards ! 
 
 " In other words, the fecond Foliijl was igno- 
 " rant of the metre in general. 
 
 ** Ergo — he was ignorant of this metre. 
 
 " Ergo — Sworn is a diflyllable 1 
 
 Q^ E. D. 
 
 To refume the metre of Shakfpeare \ — (fuch a 
 region as Fancy never trod — before Edmond the 
 Oheron fkipped over it !} 
 
 Example
 
 C 25 3 
 
 Example III. 
 
 I have anticipated this example in a note upon 
 the EJfencey (page 24, 2d ed.) and I do affirm, that 
 in fprightlinefs of invention, it is above allpraifc: 
 Gloria vicit invidiam. 
 " Curft be I that [IJ did fo— all the charmsr 
 T\\t fecond Folio has (it feems,) intruded the fe- 
 cond [I J which (though it looks and reads well,) 
 difpleafes Edmond. 
 
 In his mirror " charms y' are diffyllabic attrac- 
 tions; which, on the other fide of the Channel, I, 
 as well as he, can prove them to be 
 
 *' Et in Arcadia Ego.'^ 
 
 But the * Cynic fays, that zve may be 
 
 — — — — Arcades amboy 
 Et cafjtare pares — — — — 
 
 " that he has ears differently conftituted, and 
 " that he begs to be excufed reading the line 
 *' as a verfe, unlefs we give him the fecond /, 
 " whether charms be a diffyllable or no — 
 
 Ciirft be I I thilt ] dTd so | all the j char rums. 
 
 ** Thefe, quoth Cynic, are trocheeSy every foot of 
 " 'em. But as Edmond has a pafTion for diJJyllabiZ" 
 " i7ig ; and as I dare not propofe any innovation of 
 ** the text in the earliefl: Folio, to give Edmond 
 ** a verfe that may be ready — I would propofe, to 
 " read ciirjl as a diffyllable, and I fee no reafon 
 ** why it fliould Jiot be fo read, as well as charms — 
 CUr-uJ} — I be I I that did | so all | the charms | 
 * Edmond thinks '"'• critick" means a Cynic, if lie is but ftub- 
 born, rSee one of his notes. 
 
 This
 
 [ 26 ] 
 
 This illiberal and fimulated candour is nothing 
 but fnecr ; and Cynics are to be feared w hen they 
 are *' dovaferentes:"^ wit is the bane of credit; — as 
 IVhi taker, the Sergeant y found when he offered 
 himfelf a candidate for the County of Middlcfex. 
 
 The beauty, and fublimity of Edmond's anger 
 againfl the ufurper [/,] is, that Edmond himfelf 
 has introduced that very ufurper, when it fid ted 
 him\ and has abufed the other Editors (in- 
 cluding the earlieft,} for dropping it. 
 
 This hedge-bet of amhi-dexterous criticifm is 
 very familiar to him ; and Hudibras alludes to it : 
 
 ** So politic, as if one eye 
 •* Upon the other was a fpy." 
 
 Another beauty of " Prince Prettyman in a 
 ragey^ arifes from the fa(5l, that although Ed- 
 mond is good enough to inform us that charms 
 are diffyllahles (at lead occafionally) in Shakf- 
 peare, he does not give a fingle inftance; " and 
 *' I dare him to it," (fays the churl.) 
 
 Another beauty of the fame anathema is^ 
 that he himfelf, in the note upon the very next 
 page, truly, fays ; — " that omijfwns are the chief 
 errors of the prefs ;" — which is an odd reafon 
 for not filling them up, when it can be done 
 fo naturally, as by adding, to the line above 
 quoted, the w^ord, and letter, /." 
 
 A fourth beauty is, that Edmond is in a rage 
 \v\x.\\fecond Folio , for putting in the word O in a 
 paflage, which he admits to be the cafe of an 
 omiffion ; a cafe too in which I cannot help thinking 
 it a mod happy thought, and much in Shakfpeare's 
 
 manner
 
 r C 27 ] 
 
 rhanAcr to infert the O; but I am furc it is 
 more probable than his key, which, not giv- 
 ing to us any word at all, fuppofes it was^ 
 (though it is now loft,) an epithet of the myrtle^ 
 which had one epithet before.* Mihon, it is 
 true, has the double epithet with a fubftantive 
 interpofed as in the ''fad occafion dear" of 
 Lycidas ', but I do not agree that Shakfpeare is 
 equally fond of it. 
 
 Per contra — O versCis O — 
 
 ** [O] Buckingham, I prithee pardon me." 
 [O] which is not in the authentic copy, was 
 added by the Editor of the fecond Folio, to fup- 
 ply the metre. Malone, 
 
 f^ The worft of your friend Edmond is, that 
 he runs away with a good thing, *' till, egad ! (as 
 Faddy would fay,) *' it runs azvay a little with /'/;«." 
 
 Example IV. 
 
 " For example : he is perfedly right in difTyl- 
 " labizing the word hour where it is a part of the. 
 ** following line — 
 
 I'll meet you in that place fome h'o-Yir lience. 
 " But he is equally in the wrong, when hefuppofes 
 " that fame word a dilTyllable (as he does) in 
 
 i/o-«rj, (minutes, I noon, mid|nTght, and | all eyts. 
 " A verfe that no Bellman could venture to lay be- 
 *' fore the Churchwardens at Puddle Dock, 
 
 * I have not the palTage before me, and have ioft my note 
 of the reference to its page, Sec.— What can I do ? M. F. 
 
 " I agree.
 
 [ .8 ] 
 
 '* I agree, that Second Folio is here equally ab- 
 '• furd ; but I differ from both, and pace Ma^ 
 ** loniami would recommend, (as the fupply of an 
 " omijjhn) that we Ihall write and read as follows: 
 
 Hours mT[nuies — noon | [the] mTd|niight and | all e)cs. 
 Example V. 
 
 But as if monoJyllahUs dijyllahized were inade- 
 quate oblations to the Oracle in ^leen-Ann 
 Street Eajl we arc coming to a dijfyllable iri^ 
 fyllabizcd. 
 
 ** Refcucd is Orlearn from the EngUJ})^* 
 
 ** EngliJJj is A WORD of three syllables !'* 
 " The d — 1 it is !" replies the Cynic ; *' yes, it is, 
 *' and (which is more curious,) Charles a diflyl- 
 lable! " is Edmond's triumphant anfwer : — and 
 who fhall refute him ? 
 
 Example VI. 
 
 But in what is to come, I fhall prove, to de- 
 monflration, that Edmond fuppofes jive to be 
 ihreey and three to be t'wo \ — which is the poetry of 
 arithmetic, 
 
 *' Divineft creature [bright] AJJraas daughter." 
 " This is iht fecond Folio^ and [bright] is the 
 " fuperfluous interpolation of that iilly Editor, 
 " who was not aware that AJlnea is a word of 
 " three fyllables ;" — which, as it happens, is jufl 
 the number that he^ that very Editor, gives to the 
 word in the peccant line, with his interpolatioa 
 confidered as part of it. 
 
 Edmond
 
 [ 29 ] 
 
 Edmond then rcjlores * (his favourite occupa- 
 tion !j the frjl Editor, by reading 
 
 " DivincH: creature, ^r^^'s daughter ;" 
 which, to make it a complete verfe, gives not 
 three hut/our fyllables to AJlnea ; and this muft 
 be what he means upon his own principles.! 
 
 One pleafant feature of this new, and poetical 
 Wingate is, that in the very next inftance, Edmond 
 parts with it, and relapfes into the old ftyle oi 
 numbers and their denominations, but is equally 
 fanciful in other views. 
 
 *' Whereas the contrary bringcth blifs." 
 *' Contrary" is a word, not o^ three y hut four fyl- 
 lables. It muji be, I admit, if the line is cor- 
 red ; — but that, is a pctitio principiiy which a 
 logician of his accuracy will never, if I know 
 him, deign to adopt. *' Let him produce another, 
 and an undifputed quadriJIyllable in the word 
 
 * A lively illuftration of this paflage occurs in a IMS. of Ge^ 
 neral Monk, which may be found in the Mufeum. — " At the 
 " Mount Cotfee Houfe, of the day, the young men of the ton 
 " Republicain ufed to call for a Rejioratinje. — It was compofed of 
 " brandy and Madeira, — of eggs, — of fpice and fugar, &c. 
 *' made fo as Xo fink, burn and defiroy the natural conftitution." 
 
 ftd^ I am told, fuch a compolition is now ufed at a coffee- 
 houfe of that name, which is not a thoufand miles from New 
 ]3ond Street. 
 
 ^uch is the nature and the Eflence of Edmond's Rejlorativcs, 
 
 M.F. 
 
 -)■ Twice 2 Is 4, 
 3 times r— 3, 
 
 Multiplication table \ 
 or negati'vely, 4 is ;/o/ 3, 
 nor 3 — 2, 
 
 ^' contrary V^
 
 C 30 ] 
 
 *' contrary!'' and he (hall inherit my cftate," — 
 fays the bold Cynic. 
 
 Example VII. 
 
 ♦' Sur'i is a difTyllable." Mdlone. 
 
 " I don't fay it is /zc//' replies the Cynic— but 
 is it a difTyllable here ? " yes, it is," 
 
 " Now then for the line !** 
 
 GUJTer I will incct | to thy" 1 coil be | sii-re. 
 
 " I fay again, the Bellman could not venture 
 *' upon/acb rhithm ; — it would be more than his 
 place could be worth ; — it may do for Edmond, — 
 He has ears of his own ; — but the pari/b clerk of 
 no village at the Land's-End, would receive it 
 as genuine from Slernhold and Co. 
 
 He would condemn the poetical blackfmith 
 
 Male formal OS incud'i reddere verfus. 
 
 Example VIII. 
 
 *• And fo to arms, viflorious father." 
 *' Arms a difTyllable 1" Edmonds 
 
 " No, my dear Mr. Edmond, (fays the Bellman,) 
 " it is not fo in that line, — unlefs victorious can be 
 ** accented thus : 
 
 v'i£uifious. 
 " which is more than I could have the courage 
 ^^ to do" — fays the Bellman. 
 
 Example
 
 [ 3t ] 
 
 Example IX. 
 
 " Prove it Henry, and thou flialt be king.'* 
 " Henry" is a word oi three fyllables !" — quoth 
 Edmond. 
 
 Look at the line ! fays the Parilh Clerk, and 
 then fay, or ling it if you dare ! 
 
 Prove It I H7n e\ry', and ) thou flialt | be King. 
 Befides — where is //(fKryfelfewherej in three fylld" 
 hies? 
 
 Example X. 
 PoNf's I Into I captains | wounds ba\nljhnunt. 
 Here is a line full of trochees in verfe of Iambic 
 meafure; and the lafl: of thefe trochees made of 
 -nljlimnty as two fyllables of the word haniJJjmentll 
 N. B. ** I wonder, fays the Parifh Clerk, (who 
 is growing very pert,) that he did not make a 
 diliyllable in zvounds,'^ 
 
 Example XI, 
 She's tickled now ; her fume needs no fpurs. 
 ** Tickled is a word of three fyllables!" 
 
 She's fic\kcl£d 1 now her | flime needs | no fpurs. 
 
 Example XII. 
 
 *' The body of city, country, court." 
 
 >* Country, is a word of three fyllables ! 
 
 MalonC" 
 " I dare * not meddle with it." 
 
 Min;it;us Felix, 
 * Though in general 
 
 " Me pedihcs deleftat claudcre verba" 
 it would be dangerous here. INI. 5". 
 
 Example
 
 C 3^ ] 
 
 Example XIII. 
 
 Should lofc a hair thro' BaJ]'muo\ fault. 
 Here Edmond gives a fair choice: "Either/' fays 
 he, " hair is a word of /wo fyllablcs, or Bajfanio's 
 arc four fyllables." 
 
 *' I am loth to difoblige him, (faid the Churl) 
 *' but I cannot accept either of thcfe quantities. — 
 
 ** The firfl: goes againft me, and the fecond will 
 *^ not help us out, unlefs you give us another fo- 
 *' lution, which is to lay the accent upon the letter 
 *' / in " Baffanio^'' which is not only in general 
 *' anomalous, but has no authority in Shakfpeare 
 " himfelf, unlefs by the Malonian argument y which, 
 " to eflablilh a dilfonant rhithm, alTumes a per- 
 '^ fed; line without an omiflion, (though he ad- 
 " mits that nothing is more common than fuch 
 ** omiflions,) and then proceeds to abufe they?- 
 " cond Folio ! 
 
 Example XIV. 
 
 ** Burn better than my faith ; oh but Sir." 
 *' Burn is a word of two fyllables !" — " not here ! 
 " (quoth Cynic,) becaufe it will make (dear Sir,) 
 *' a couple of jumping trochees begin the line; 
 " which is a licence that I would not allow to 
 " the dancing dogs, or the tumblers at Sadler's 
 
 *' JVells. 
 
 " Ton have compared him (addrefling jnej 
 *' to one Lady in Tibnlliis. I'll compare him to 
 " the interpreters of another Lady (and of a 
 " Lady in Shakfpeare) the interefling Ophelia : 
 
 " They aim at it, and botch the zvsrds." 
 
 Episode
 
 [ 33 ] 
 
 Episode. 
 
 Yet fuch is the dignity of Edmond's difTylla- 
 bizing* machine, that it can benumb all its ener- 
 gies by the wi inertice; and that, although in the 
 examples above ftated, he can make the rhithm 
 perfe6i by difmembcring its notes, he can (with 
 equal facility,) be an antidijfyllabijl \ and can abufe 
 his favorite (the firji copyijiy) for omitting a 
 word of two fyllables, when the machine aforc- 
 faid would give it him. Out of many inftances 
 I felecl only two, and will fall upon him, (biiC 
 flill in play,) with as little mercy as he falls upon 
 the fecond Foliift, 
 
 Example I, 
 
 But from their arties fhall be reard. ifl pt. Hen. vi* 
 *' The DEFECT of the metre fliows that fome 
 " word of two fyllables was inadvertently 
 " omitted." Malone. 
 
 §3" " Not knowing that in Shakfpeare's time 
 " their\ and reard were diflyllables, the Editor 
 
 * "Which, like an engine, wrench'd [his] frame of nature 
 " From the fixed place." Lear, 
 
 f " Toward Calais grant him there there {ten." 
 " If io^vard be not abbreviated our Author with his ac- 
 cuftomed licenfe ufes one of the two thcres for a diflyllable. 
 
 [Malone. 
 " Toiuard" certainly is abbreviated, and confequently the 
 inverted fyllogifm requires that both of the two there'^ are to 
 be dilfyllables ! 
 
 '^ Tow'rd Caljais grant j htm lh7-\rt., ihT--\7-e se7/i." 
 
 So he infinuates that " here'" and " ^jubere" are diffyllables in 
 
 the fame verfe. [Winter's Tale, pag. 243. 
 
 3 D " has
 
 [ 34 ] 
 
 *' has been induced by this ignorance of the metre 
 " to fuppofc a word of two fyllables omitted." 
 
 Miniitius Felix 
 
 Malonlacus. 
 
 Qu. if the M'ords fire, Jivorn, charms, arms, 
 •work. Jure, pours, and hmi, have better claims than 
 veard and their to the merit of producing difcord 
 out of melody. 
 
 Example II. 
 
 " Disjecli membra poetse." 
 
 Another occurs in Richard the Second : 
 
 *' Yea, look'fl thou pale? let me fee the writing!" 
 
 " Such harjij and defe£iive lines as this, pro- 
 *' bably, are corrupt, and might be ealily fup- 
 " plied ; but it would be dangerous to let con- 
 " jedlure loofc." [John/on — adopted by Malovie, 
 
 Edmond confefTing the defeB, propofes to read 
 [Boy] " let me fee the writing." 
 
 Fye, Edmond ! you forget the engine of diflyl- 
 labizing torture. 
 
 Here are/oz/r words at hand ; — either of them, 
 by means of that engine, will remedy the defedl 
 imputed ; and I cannot allow you to degrade 
 yourfelf by thcfe fits of compallion for the 
 reader's ear. 
 
 Yea — look"st — thou — pale \ 
 Adopt any one of thefe accents, and we have 
 a line (it is true,) which cannot be read, but, 
 which in ftricT:nefs of number, as to feet, is 
 per fed. 
 
 Q^E. D. 
 
 CANON
 
 I 
 
 [ 35 ] 
 
 CANON IIL 
 
 Example XV. 
 N Richard III.— 
 
 Antho|ny Wood|evTlle | her brojther thTre \ 
 The divifions, here noted, alTume WoodevTlle to 
 be a word of three fyllables ; — but no fuch ar- 
 rangement occurs to Edmonds and he would re- 
 ject: the liberty which my daughter has taken, as 
 a mere frolic. He is more chafte and more dig- 
 nified. 
 
 According to himy " there," is a dissyllable ! 
 to which it is no objecTcion that it cannot be readt 
 any more than it recommends my daughter's 
 plan, that her line may not only be read^ (as a 
 verfe,) but with melody of cadence. 
 
 Example XVI. 
 
 Farewell j [my"] gen(tlemTftlrefs, fare j well Anne! 
 
 Merry Wives, ilfc. 
 
 [^My"] is interpolated by Mtfs Felix, and I fupport 
 it (as one of the Giants played with little Gul- 
 liver in his hand,) by telling Edmond, in her name, 
 (and from himfelf,) that omifTions are the moil: 
 common errors of the carlieft printers, [vol. i. 
 pt. 2. 220.] an alTertion, which he forgets, or 
 jealoufly aflerts, according to the exigencies of 
 the moment, with political addrefs. 
 
 D 2 But
 
 [ 36 ] 
 
 But Edmond, l\\t Syllable -engine er^ fays, " le Rot 
 " ne le vent pas."* He affirms, that *' it is right as 
 *' it is, — without me or my daughter ; — for that 
 MISTRESS happens to be a word of three fyllables ! 
 
 Read it ! — I anfwer, — with a momentary cou- 
 rage (like that oi Sneak in the " Mayor of Garret f 
 with Bruin at his elbow), read ity in Iambic verfe ! 
 Farewell | gentle j mlft — ejrefs, fare | well — Ann. 
 
 Oh Ears ! Ears !* 
 
 Apropos of Ears. 
 
 In Venus and Adonis, 
 
 Vol. 10. oi M alone' s Shakfpeare, pag. 17, 
 
 The reftoring Malone changes ear to air. 
 
 Still flie entreats, and prettily entreats. 
 For to a pretty ear Ihe tunes her tale. 
 
 Such is the old copy ! 
 
 ** I suspEc T,quoth Edmond, thepoet wrote air." 
 
 Upon which Mr. Steevens obfervcs, (mark 
 an Editor's "joit !) " that Edmond is turning Venus- 
 " into a finger of recitative ;" — and he juflifies 
 the word ear as an external and beautiful objedl. 
 
 " I cannot approve, — fays my little playfellow, 
 ** (upon my knee,) the change, — or the ridicule of 
 " it, — or the interpolation of the word. Ear may 
 «* be underjlood (in fo quaint a poem) for air. But 
 
 *■ Edmond fays, in one of his notes^ that Grecian fiiperftition 
 configned every part of us to the charge of a particular deity. 
 -—I fliould like to know what peculiar deity would have taken 
 care in thofe days of Edmond's Ears 1 [Mw. /V 
 
 ** above
 
 [ 37 ] 
 
 " above all, I reprobate the change of the word, 
 " for which there is no pretence." 
 
 '* Yes, but there is," qiiorh Edmond ; " for as 
 
 compofiiors are deceived by their^7/?7/(:/>zg* eye^ even 
 
 fo iranjcribers are deceived by the confulion of 
 
 found I V That I may do the remark juftice, I 
 
 fhall clothe it in his words. 
 
 ** The two words ear and air were, I believe, 
 " in the time of our Author, pronounced alike ; 
 " and hence, perhaps, arofe the mistake. 
 
 See vol. 10. p. 20, n. 3, Malone. 
 I go to p. 20, n. 3, and there find an argu- 
 ment fo new, that it makes an abfolute revolu- 
 tion of found, which it behoves all the poets, 
 and readers of poets, to mark. 
 
 *^ It APPEARS from the correfponding rhi^ne to 
 " EAR, that this word was formally pronounced as 
 " if written air." {]The rhime is hair.] 
 
 Edmond certainly is an excellent patriot of 
 another^ ijland^ (if it is not high treafon fo to call it, 
 (ince it has been imperially amalgamized \\ ith our 
 ownj) for where elfe could he difcover that czir 
 was, at any time, pronounced like air? It \\as, 
 and it is, / know where, upon the other lide of 
 the vv-ater. 
 
 But now for his argument : upon which I give 
 notice that I admit ihtfa^. — *^Nego confcqnenlium:*' 
 It proves too mOch ; — and in three ways : I ha\e 
 the Sergeant's help for the divifion. 
 
 Firjl, if ear is air, bccaufe it rhimes to hair, 
 all other terminations that rhime to car muit 
 
 * ** Charatl^r" — fo accented, (by Shakfpeare) and fo at tliis 
 day pronounced by the common people of Ireland. [Malone. 
 
 t I fhould not obtain credit for accuracy if I fliould report 
 how many times that phrafe has been adopted by Edmond. I 
 could lay a dozen of Irifli Claret, that we could fill a pn-e 
 *ith 'em. 
 
 4 D 3 be
 
 [ 38 ] 
 
 be read ^/V; (for example — the word^ fear in the 
 Cuckozv SoKg, mufl: be read as if written /^/r J 
 
 Secondly^ it proves that all other words ending in 
 enr, if rhimes to dir, or to words of that found, af- 
 fume for ever, and in all other places, the found of 
 the rhiming word*. This, in the very fame volume, 
 converts deer, dear, year, tear, hear, cheer, 
 and "SPEAR," (in that part of the Poet's name, which, 
 alone, all the world admits) into dair, yair, 
 TAiR, HAIR, CHAIR, and " spair"; for EucHd fays, 
 (who often fquints at Edmond) that proportions 
 ^iiie in eodem terlio conveniimty are of the fame 
 quality as between each other — I forget the words. 
 
 Upon this, new-fafhioned, principle, words, 
 in general, are to depend, according to Edmond, 
 for their general found, upon the rhime which 
 poets occaiionally give to them. It would occupy 
 a hundred folio-volumes to mark the danger of this 
 aphorifm ; but the laxity of it (a damajcene\ phrafe) 
 is demonflrated by this, viz. that poets, when 
 \t f lilts them, give two or three different rhimes 
 to the fame word ; — and there is nothing fo com- 
 mon as to cenfure a bady or /^//^ rhime, though it 
 may be convenient; — which habit, Edmond him- 
 felf has exemplified in his own critique upon the 
 works of Dryden, as well as thofe of Shakfpeare. 
 On the other hand, Johnfon, who is in general, at 
 leaff a very cold, (and I think, a very falfe,) critic 
 of Prior, gives him credit for improving the 
 EngliHi rhime, by making it lefs rigid in the fimi- 
 litudeof the rhiming found. Let us take up any 
 volume of this Author, upon Edmond's dodrine. In 
 VnoXy—Jea is rhime to way^ ["ed. 1 733, octavo,"J] 
 
 * Doftors differ, — Dcaor Steevem ridicules all fimilitude of 
 rhime in this very Poem, and propofes to read thus, by way 
 of rhime, to kifs ; and fays it is not woi fe than likely, as the 
 rhime of quickly. [Mai. vol. 10. pa. 23. 
 
 I See E(fince, &c. &:c. pag. 45, 2d ed. J A note by Edmond ! 
 
 and
 
 C 39 ] 
 
 zndjfarto there; — Trod and road^ God d^ndi abode ^2iYt 
 correfponding rhimes. Thefe are to be found in 
 the firft compofition of the firft volume. Let us 
 go to the Jaft, that immortal poem of Henry and 
 Emma: There — love and rove — liv^d and received 
 — word and lord — known and one — drejl and beq/l — 
 know and brow — are playfellows. But fliall it 
 be faid, that in Prior's time, thefe words were 
 ** pronounced alike /"' 
 
 3. It happens, whimfically enough (and if I had 
 Edmond's joys or forrows, I fhould be in Heaven 
 at the difcovery) that in this poem {oi Hen: and 
 Em:) we have ear as the rhime to fair -^ fo that, 
 according to Edmond, ear was in Prior's time pro- 
 nounced as if written air. 
 
 4. If ear and hair have the fame tone when 
 recited, how does Edmond prove to me that ear, 
 according to its modern found, was not the con- 
 trouling, or fuperior tone, fo as to convert hair in- 
 to hear F — And then, what becomes of his change ? 
 
 Example XVII. 
 
 PafT. Pilgrim, 
 
 vol. 10. pag. 332. 
 
 Thou, for whom Jove \^o\x\^fivear, 
 Juno but an Ethiop were. 
 
 D 4 Swear
 
 [ 40 ] 
 
 Swear is a dissyllable ! Malone. 
 
 Let it here be obfcrved in the firfl: place, what 
 is the meafure of thcfe enchanting verfes. — It is 
 trochaic J of three feet and a half, 
 on a j day a | lack the j day. 
 This meafure is, with aftonifhing precifion, (for 
 that age) and yet without monotony, fuftained by 
 the Poet. 
 
 The difTyllabic swear, and that word alone, at 
 once deftroys the charm. 
 
 Th5u for 1 whom Jove 1 would f\vc|ar. 
 
 ^:3- Oh delightful Edmond! Reformer of rhime, 
 as well as rhithm ! — Euclid of poetical melodies ! 
 
 Happy competitor of thofe female critics who 
 dijj'e^ed Orpheus upon the banks of the Hebrus ! 
 
 Example XVIII. 
 
 Here's that | which is j too weak |to be] a finner| 
 \^HonpJf\ water which ne'er left a man i' the mire. 
 
 Timon. 
 
 1. Malone confefles (with almofl a fingle 
 anomaly of candour, to hiniy) the fadl, that Captl 
 tranfpofed a word, fo as to make verfe out of 
 lines, here, which, before his tranfpofition, were 
 profe — but I need not add that he does not thank 
 him for it, 
 
 2. He accredits the following line as an lam-, 
 lie verfe, (for lamhic it muft be, or none}. 
 
 It
 
 C 41 ] 
 
 It happens to be (which I need not explain to 
 the Ladies,) a perfed: Anapcejl.* 
 
 \_H'oncJi'\ waiter which neerjleft aman|i the mTic. 
 
 When the obvious emendation would have been 
 to repeat the word "here's" in the fecond line 
 
 \_Here'i] water, &c. 
 
 The word " Honejl'' in the manufcript, may have 
 been read, by the copyijl^ if Shakfpeare's hand 
 was like that of the Sergeant, or like that of 
 his own autographs^ (the adopted, or the dif- 
 owned) inftead of the word " Here's."" 
 
 3. After adopting Capel (with no thanks) he 
 reprobates the habit (though he accepts and 
 profits by the injlance^ unthanked) of turning 
 profe into verfc. 
 
 N. B. This controller of rhithm " he-halves^'* 
 (a word of his own that will appear in the fe- 
 quel) the fyftem of his idol Procriijles ; for 
 though he often makes his bed the meafure, he 
 fometimes leaves the end of it perfedly unoc- 
 cupied, though he never omits to fliorten the 
 figure, if required. 
 
 * The Author of the ^'Rcvlfal" in a part of his elaborate and 
 judicious work, aflumes that " our tragic verfe admits the 
 •' anapaji into any part of the line" — as erroneous, and play- 
 fully mifconceived zpofttdatum as any oi Edmond himfelf ! — But 
 he does not fay " into every part of the fame line." 
 
 ? EXAMPLK
 
 [ 42 ] 
 
 Example XIX. 
 Coufin, I think thou art enamored 
 *[UpJon his follies — never did I hear. 
 " The latter word hear is ufed as a dissyllable!'." 
 
 Malone. 
 " [Up] is not wanted." 
 
 _ __'-' — 
 
 On lus I follies 1 never I did IjHeaR. 
 
 Well done irocheo-philijl I M. F. 
 
 Example XX. 
 
 Wtre you [but] in my ftead, would ^5« have heard 
 A mother Icfs? 
 
 [But] — which is my daughter's hint — is re- 
 fufed by Edmond, who fays that heard is a 
 diHyllable !! 
 
 Were you | in my~|fi:cad would | you have|He-aRD? 
 
 Minutiola therefore is voted a petticoat-innovator. 
 
 Example the lafl. 
 I cannot enough remind the reader of the paf- 
 fage repeated fo often in Edmond's works, " (take 
 for example pag. 631, Appendix, vol. 10.) that 
 words arc frequently omilled which are elfential 
 to the metre ;" though to that fuppofition he is an 
 irreconcilable enemy, when he can make charms 
 a diffyllable, and rcjedl the omitted [IJ.f 
 
 * " Enamored upon" — was familiar to that age — I have feen 
 thofe two identical words together, and in one of Edmond's 
 volumes. 
 
 t So he makes arm a difTyllable pag. 442. vol. 10. though 
 to repeat the word feems a very obvious emendation- 
 
 Arm [arm] my Lords ! Rome never had more caufe ! 
 
 Tit: Andr: 
 
 But
 
 t 43 ] 
 
 But who will believe, it is the Time Edmond 
 who approves the interpolated addition of the 
 following three words — " so viperous slander/' 
 only becaufe they are necefTary to the fenfe and 
 the metrCy p. 669 ? — Appendix, vol. 10*. 
 
 Before the curtain Ihall drop on this delight- 
 ful fubje»5t of the metre, I cannot help noting 
 the inverted Edmond^ or the diifyllablc mono- 
 fyllabized, as no inferior fpecimen of a -pure and 
 refined ear. 
 
 Liften arre^is aiiribns ! 
 
 Example I. 
 
 The pret]ty d'im\ples of — his\c\nn\i).\s c\\eQk\\J}ts f7)iiles.'\ 
 
 Mr. Steevens has, with obvious propriety, rc- 
 jeded the two lafl: words. 
 
 Edmond reftores them. — Hear him ! 
 
 " Our Author and his cotemporarics take 
 *^ the liberty of ufmg words of two fyllables as 
 " monofyllablcs. 
 
 " Dimples'' is, I believe^ fo employed here'.K 
 and " OF his" when contracted, or souNDi:D 
 QUICKLY, likewife make but one syllable! 
 " In this view there is no redundancy." [Malonc. 
 
 (|r3- Let us peep at the line upon this plan, 
 and then read it aloud. — 
 
 Here it is ! — 
 
 Thcprctjty'dTmjPL'soF 's chTn|andchcek|lHsnnTle.s 
 
 * " 111 [/«, and'\ hafte the writer and withal. 
 ** The two fupplemental words complete the fenfe, and the 
 " metre \ and were artninly omirted by tlie negligence of the 
 " firft printer or tranfcriber," \^Malone, 
 
 6 So
 
 [ 44 ] 
 
 So that by this arrangement plesJofIhisI arc 
 to be one fy liable !!!* 
 
 Example II. 
 
 The ear|tafte, touch | fmcll, ail 1 from thy \/ablc rife. 
 To make this a verfe, thblc is monofyllabized. 
 
 My Son propofes to read ih' ear^ and the ra- 
 ther as (according to Edmond) tiic original word 
 is there, to which ih' ear has more affinity (than 
 if expanded into its two conftituent fyllables 
 ** the ear'') — it vviil then be read as follows — 
 
 [Th' ear] touch|tafte fmell|all from | thy ta|ble rifej 
 
 Edmond feems to think it not in the lead 
 
 necciTary, but propofes table as a word oilejs than 
 
 two fyllables by one ; his neat way, as I am told, 
 
 of paraphrafing a monofyllable I 
 
 Yet with all his averfion to change, he had jufl 
 adopted a double emendation of Dodlor Warbur- 
 ton ; — whom he fays, that his friends (and poor 
 Bifliop Hurd feels this anathema to the bone) 
 muft never dare to mention with Shakfpeare; 
 but whofe emendations he is much in the habit 
 of adopting, — juft as vice vend he commends 
 the DocSior of Law, and reje6is him. Warbur- 
 ton, it feems, had changed there into the ear, 
 and he added \_fmell,'] which Edmond, the 
 rejloring Editor, (who had compared him to a 
 pifmirCy) has approved. 
 
 * " Oh thefe ecUp/es do portend thefe divlfions. 
 
 [Edmund in Lear. 
 Example
 
 [ 45 3 
 
 Example IV. 
 
 " The genius and the mortal inftruments 
 
 " Are then in council — and the ftate of [a] man. 
 
 Edmond reflores the article [^] ; to inform us 
 that COUNCIL here takes up the time of one 
 fyllable. 
 
 Are thenjTn council Jand thejftate of|a man. 
 
 Example V. 
 
 Thou wouldft have left thy deareft heart's blood there. 
 Rather than [have] made that fajvage Duke|thine heir. 
 
 Hen. Vl. 3d part. 
 
 Edmond .J Rather is here ufed as a monofyi- . 
 lable. 
 
 " I fhould propofe to part with a little word, 
 quite an expletive, and as little nccelTary to the 
 {qw^^ as it is reconcilable to the metre — I mean 
 the word [havej in the fecond line. But Edmond 
 is in a fit at the innovation, and I give it up ; 
 but I mark it, as he does many of the innovations, 
 to fliew that 1 give it up." 
 
 Minutiolus the Fourth. 
 
 ^^ Partial as I am to Edmond, and juftly as I 
 have compared him to Apollo^ there is another 
 Cynthius, who, in the perfon of l^c. Burney, 
 " aurcm vellii ;" 
 
 He
 
 [ 46 ] 
 
 He is of opinion that it is not the 
 *' Cantor Jpol/oy" 
 to whom we can aflimilatc Malone, the rhithmo- 
 iomijl. 
 
 After thefe enormities in the Second Folio, 
 and in all who follow it, he commands^ (by recom- 
 mending,) that we fliould never open thofe books 
 any more; — and I (for one) iliall readily obey 
 that injunction; but not without an heraldic 
 yN\ii{^txlo^\xIJaac Heard y (my refpedted friend,) 
 that Edmond is defcended from Gatakery a cele- 
 brated Editor of TheocrituSy who, after com- 
 mending (in very monaftic Latin) the melody of 
 
 IlxpQsvog IvQoi, Qe^vjzu, — yvvv} S'eig oixov e(p£p7ru, 
 
 breaks a lance with his Author in the following 
 verfion of it : 
 
 Veneiam ego hue Virgo; — at mulier fum jam hinc 
 reditura; 
 
 which after its due elifions, reads thus : 
 
 Vener' eg' hue Virg' at mulier fum j' hinc reditura. 
 
 ^^3" I have already given the Ladies a neat 
 epitome of the Iambic from their favorite Horace. 
 
 But I am reminded by one of them, who is 
 more familiar to that fweet writer than myfelf, 
 •* that 1 am too fuperficial an obfcrver of his 
 " Canons, in dilTedting thofc of Edmond." 
 
 Horace
 
 C 47 ] 
 
 Horace tells that Lady, and me, " that an 
 " Iambic is 
 
 " Pes citmr 
 A kind of Hillijherg or Parifot in the ballet de 
 Poefie — He fays it is called the " Iambic trimetery* 
 when its pulfations are JiXy and when each of 
 them refembles the other. 
 
 He fays, that in later periods the lambiry 
 with all his rapidity and fpirit, was accommodating 
 and patient enough to replace the difinherited 
 Spondee in his paternal right ; but with a compro- 
 mife, importing (thefe are the Sergeant's words) 
 " that every Jecond and fourth ftep, or foot, 
 " fliould be referved exclulively to the Iambic 
 *' alone." 
 
 Horace does not feem to approve that compro- 
 mife : but if he had feen, (in one of his Bacchana- 
 lian vifionsj Malone's improvement of Shakfpcare's 
 rhithm, and his new conftrudion of the 
 
 — — — — — " aures 
 *' Caprl-pedum Satyrorum acuta " 
 
 he would have blufhcd for the lines which ac- 
 cufe his Malone, o^ ignorance ^ to whom 
 
 — — — ** ad fccnam milTus ciun pondere verfiis," 
 
 owes its habit; and which reprobate, with fo 
 much flippancy, the 
 
 ** immodulata poemata,'^ 
 
 as he calls them. 
 
 f In the Englifli Iambic they are fife. 
 
 7 I niuH,
 
 [ 48 J 
 
 I mufl, however, make one concefTion to 
 Horace, {aiili-Maloman^s he is, and confequently 
 anti-Minu/ian,) which is to thank him for one 
 of his Canons, and recommend its adoption to 
 the dii minores (though Edmond is the Jupiter 
 hyper~canonij}^ and muft not hear of it). 
 
 — — — ** Condi fee modos, amanda 
 ** voce quos rcrldas !" 
 
 I mud alfo refer my dear Edmond, this once, 
 to a very inferior Editor, Air. Churchy who gives, 
 in his preface to the Edition of Spencer, a paf- 
 fage from Fletcher's Purple IJland^ 
 
 " Oh let the Iambic Mufe revenge that wrong, 
 *< Wi)ich cannot flumbcrin thy flieets ofleadl" 
 
 ^3" The Cynic, who is never happy, unlefs in 
 giving pain to an irritable critic, damps the 
 mock-heroifm of this playful triumph, by telling 
 me, that for " thf he would recommend the 
 word ** my," which, he fays, ** the compofitors 
 " glancing eye has changed." 
 
 " In fliort, (fays he) I am of Mercutio's 
 opinion ; and " both your houfes" excite what 
 you will, perhaps, call the vapours, or a 
 fit of fpleen. But this once oblige your 
 friend! and clofe the fubjec5t of your Iambic 
 imputations ! Carry your point in your own 
 way— but let us read no njore of it 1 for elfc, 
 
 depend
 
 r 49 3 
 
 depend upon it, you will be deferted like Bayes, 
 and your " players will go to dinner." 
 
 *' Quern criminofis cunque voles modiim 
 " Ponas Iambi 5 T' 
 
 Go to your anagrams again. 
 
 ** Thy genius calls not thee to purchafe fame 
 ** In keen Iambics \ but mild anagram.* 
 
 *' My late friend Mr. Tyrrwhitt^' as Edmond 
 calls him (with many other departed luminaries) 
 appears in front of the battle, with a juft, though 
 high charadler. 
 
 But I wifli that Edmond would not be quite fo 
 partial to me^ — as \fear that he is\ for his praifc 
 is very dangerous. It is like Hamlet's courtefy to 
 Guildernften — " it is not of the right breed.'* 
 
 After a very elegant panegyric upon his 
 " friend^* he tells us that Mr. Tyrrwhit, (afliftcd 
 by the Ghoft of Denmark^) was of opinion to 
 adopt the original fpelling of the Firjl Folio, 
 and make the firJl copy a general Handard. 
 
 A wifer thing was never faid ; but (as Johnfon 
 would have obferved,) " it might have flruck many 
 •* other men, ivomen, and children." It is not very 
 unlike the ingenious truifmy " that water is moft 
 *' pure at the fountain head," 
 
 * Dry den. 
 
 E However,
 
 [ 50 ] 
 
 However, after fuch compliments, Edmond is, 
 in part, a mutineer againit this commander in 
 chief, and without alligning his reafon ; which, 
 however, is gently infinuated. 
 
 But of all the hnprovemenis that ever ftruck 
 the poetical ingenuity of Edmond himfelf, his 
 improvement of this oracular truth is the mod 
 Hibernian ; that is, the livelieji. 
 
 " The inconvenience is, that a collater's eye 
 " deceives him ; therefore Edmond will not col- 
 '* late the firft and the later folios," (which laft, 
 by the way, I thought he was never to look at 
 again.) ** But he will have one of the copies 
 " read aloud * whilft he is looking at the other^ in 
 " order to be more fure of the innovation." 
 
 But is not this, {viy dear joy,) fays Paddy, f 
 a round about way to infure the fidelity of your 
 tranfcript from the original folio ? 
 
 In his beft manner he gives the refult of his 
 atchievements by the effed: of this oral and vifual 
 collation united— in two plays only. — It fills, how- 
 ever, (mod: aufpicioufly for the reader,) no lefs 
 than feven pages of notes. 
 
 * I hope not by a neiju Member of the Imperial Parliament, 
 f " He (Edmond) is gone to his Relations in Ireland.^^ 
 
 [Bofwell's pref. to Johnfon's Life. 
 
 But
 
 [ 51 ] 
 
 But after all, fuch a rejiorhig Editor as Edmond, 
 may be defined. 
 
 " An Editor who is averfe to all innovations but 
 " his own." 
 
 For we find in the fame preface, that copies, 
 the mofl authentic, are occafionally abandoned 
 by this adept at rejlorativesy but with notice of 
 the emendation which though adopted, is fairly 
 given to its Author. 
 
 That notice is not, however, to be given, and 
 Would be evidently wafted, if it is the obvious 
 error of the mere prefs. 
 
 To explain himfelf, he gives, in a long note, 
 many of thefe unnoticed corrections, which I 
 do maintain, with all deference, to be not more 
 obvioufly errors of that nature, than fuch as 
 elfewhere he has adopted with avidity, in pre- 
 ference to limilar corredtions by the Second 
 Folio ; — viz. inter alia y where Edmond has refcued 
 a diftorted rhithm from an obvious corredlion 
 that has given a perfe(ft fhape to it. 
 
 Curft be that [I] did fo, 
 
 is one of that clafs, according to Edmond's own 
 opinion, who has actually cenfured the fame ad- 
 verfary for not putting in fuch an [I] as having 
 been obvioufly (not more obvioufly) omitted or 
 Jpilt in the way by the firft Editor. 
 
 But other marked inftances may be adduced, 
 in which the compoiitor's glancing eye^ in Eng- 
 liili, his inadvertence, or blunder, is counte- 
 nanced by Edmond. 
 
 E 2 One
 
 [ 5^ ] 
 
 One is enough to fatisfy a reafonable man, 
 that Edmond is too fublime to be conliftent. 
 
 Have you not thought (for cogitation 
 
 Refldes not in the man who does not think) 
 
 My wife is flippery ? Othello* 
 
 This is the old copy, which Edmond has re- 
 placed, with all its dignity of perfedl nonfenfe, 
 in oppofition to a correfting word, fo obvious, 
 that I give the corredor no credit for peculiar 
 fagacity; on the other hand, who but Edmond 
 will difcredit him as a " wanton innovator?" 
 
 Have you not thought (for cogitation 
 
 Refides not in the man who does not think it J 
 
 My wife is (lippery? 
 
 Various are the inflances of Edmond's flip- 
 pant rage for amendment. 
 
 Let me feledl ojie in the ift part of Hen. VI. 
 
 By way oi Jet -off in the account of delicacy 
 againft liberties with a virgin text. 
 
 Not 7ney &c. 
 
 " I believe the Author wrote *' not one^ 
 
 But the rejhring^ or the virgin^ Editor, 
 K«r' s^oxK^, will form a canon of itfelf hereafter; 
 and by its precious examples, will prove that 
 Bardolph's definition oiaccoj?wiodate, would apply, 
 with equal accuracy, to this profeflbr of the 
 literal and fyllabic purities, redeemed from the 
 capricious innovator on the one hand, or the 
 compofitor's glaticing eye and puzzled ear on 
 the other. 
 
 He
 
 C 53 ] 
 
 He next informs us that he determines to be 
 a philanthropift. 
 
 " Jane pater!'* clare, clare cum dixit ** Apollo P' 
 ** Labra inovet (metuens audiri.") 
 
 " Let Capcl — my averfion — that pedant in con- 
 " ceit — that profefTed imitator of Shakfpeare'% 
 " clown injlyle — that noBicide of the longeft night 
 *' in RuJfiQy (as I call him ;) — lh2itfeparator of black 
 " hairs from whitCy as John/on called him, (but 
 " never called me) — let hiin be an exception — let 
 " me ufe him occalionally (with or without no- 
 ** tice of the honor conferred upon hivty) but 
 " let me ever abufe him." 
 
 In fupport of editorial philanthropy he adduces 
 a pafTage from Johnfon, which, for a colledlion 
 of founding phrafes and a very folemn truifm, 
 half buried in the figure called verbiage^ cannot 
 find its parallel. 
 
 " I know not (fays that profound writer) why 
 ** our Editors, with fuch implacable anger, 
 " perfecute their predeceflbrs," (which few 
 have done with more virulence, as Nathan 
 could have told him, than Samuel Johnfon^ 
 L. L. D.) " 01 vsKpoi fjLri SocKvovcTi — the dead (it is 
 " true) can make no refinance." 
 
 Here, one fhould have thought, he might have 
 
 clofed the fentiment, for he has anfwered his own 
 
 queftion, and folved his own difficulties; but he 
 
 purfues it into circumlocution, and without a 
 
 E 3 new
 
 C 54 ] 
 
 new image, " he will fay more." We cannot 
 flop him any more than we could the tyrant of 
 the pulpit who is 
 
 Ever ending, flill beginning. 
 
 " Since they neither can feel nor 77iend, — the 
 '* fafety o^ '' mauling" them (no very elegant 
 cxprefTion for fuch a model of ftyle !) " feems 
 " greater than the pleafure.'* 
 
 *' Nor, perhaps, (this is very like Edmond,) 
 w^ould it mis-befeem us to remember amidft our 
 triumphs over the nonjenfical and the Jenjelejs^ 
 (a very fubtle diflindion !) that we likewise 
 ARE MEN ; — that delemur morti nos nojiraqiie. And, 
 AS Swift observed to Burnet, (or Mr. Thomp" 
 Jon to Mr. Jackfon^ for I cannot think it figni- 
 fies who faid it, or to whom,) " fhall foon be 
 ** amongft the dead ourfelves." 
 
 N. B. I would recommend in the next edi- 
 tion of Edmond*s preface, two or three pages, 
 here, out of Sherlock upon Death ; — not forgetting 
 the dialogue of Shallow and Silence upon that 
 fubjedl. 
 
 g]:3° Apropos of the dead, a hint is given to us 
 that we fliall have hereafter (that is, we or our 
 executors) a " Shakfpeare' s life" in a correded and 
 uniform narration by Edmond's own pen. 
 
 Quando erit ille dies cum tu, pulcherrime rerum, 
 
 ^laituor in nivels aureus ibis equis? 
 
 (a rhapfody (by the zvay) of viinute homage to 
 Augujlus Malone, which is not, I hope, unworthy 
 of the hero and cpnqueror it anticipates. ) 
 
 Apropos
 
 C 55 ] 
 
 Apropos of his philanthropy^ — in taking notice 
 of the Editors, he difpofes of them a Vaimable thus : 
 
 " Rowe is meagre ; — as a biographer ; — as an 
 " Editor, almofi every page of his work is dis- 
 " figured by accumulated corruptions. — Fope 
 " has made him (Shakfpeare) fo unlike himfelfy 
 " that he (Edmond) is confident, had Shakfpeare 
 " revifited the ''glimpfes of the moon," he would 
 " not have known his own works." 
 
 " //<3;;/;«fr adopted Pope, and added more caprice 
 of his own. — Theobald was not quite fo great an 
 innovator, but he knew fo little of the cotempo- 
 rary authors, that all he has done in all his vo- 
 lumes, has been exceeded by the rcfearches that 
 have been fince made for the purpofe of illuf- 
 trating one play.""* 
 
 *• — Warhurton eredled his throne on a heap of 
 " ftones, that he might throw them at the head 
 '^ of all who palTed by — like Salmafius I — [-very 
 " like him ! and ^* very like a zvhaie !''' ) His con- 
 " ceits are fo chimerical that no critical 
 
 " READER WILL EVER OPEN HIS VOLUMES AGAIN. 
 
 ** Let none of his admirers dare to unite 
 " his name to that of Shakefpeare !!" 
 
 I cannot agree to this anathema, though com- 
 minated by fuch a favorite Lord Peter of mine as 
 Edmond, 
 
 • Johnfon, with playful contempt, fays of this annotator 
 (whom he has perpetually adopted) 
 
 " Poor Tib! he was knocked down already." 
 
 BofvoelVs Johnfcn. 
 
 E 4 It
 
 [ S6 3 
 
 It is true, that I confider Edwards the Canoniji 
 (who turned Warburton into juft ridicule) as 
 the acuteft wit of his time, and one of the beft 
 critics too, as far as he entruftcd himfelf in that 
 ocean. 
 
 But I can as little forbear to admire many of that 
 fame Warburton''^ illuftrations and conjectures, — > 
 not only as proving his talents (which all the 
 world attefted, and will ever atteft) but as pro- 
 moting and improving the relilli of the poet, 
 upon whofe text he wrote. 
 
 Do6lor Johnfon, though he condemns his pre~ 
 c'lpitancy and his arrogance (with too little at- 
 tention to iV^//'^«'j apoftrophe,) "fays of him, 
 " with candour, (ohfific omnia !) that his emen- 
 " dations are often happy and juft, and his ini. 
 " terpretation of obfcure paflages, learned and 
 *' fagacious ;"* — yet this man is never to be read 
 again by the votaries of Edmond. 
 
 BohadiJ could not have done better with his 
 ** Twenty more! kill 'em!" 
 
 Then comes Edmond's Giant in the nativtf 
 panoply of his Typhean ftrength. 
 ** Himfelf an army. "t 
 
 * " Dr. J. was partial to W." (as it fhould feem from 
 Bofivell) " becaufe W. had commended htm.'" 
 t §ampfon Agoniftes. 
 
 The
 
 [ 57 J 
 
 The immortal fpirit of Bofwell's hero^ who, it 
 fcems, has no competitor amongft all the lumi- 
 naries of the eighteenth century !! Well done 
 eulogift ! — Cold was the hint of ancient wifdom 
 in the " rit quid nims.''^ The Malonian praife 
 ouijieps the degrading modcjly of thofe limits. 
 — But I forget that he gives him one rival, jufl 
 one: — his namefake and friend, the late Mr. 
 Edmond Burke^ whofe title of Right Honorable, 
 for the fake of accuracy in the Temple of Genius 
 and Virtue, is annexed, by his groom of the cham- 
 bers. Mr. Locke and Mr. Addijon make room for 
 thefe two monopolizing patentees of their plane- 
 tary fyftem. — The jealous lVarl>uri on contr3i6ts his 
 fery arms — 
 
 His brachia contrahit ardens 
 
 Scorpius et cash plus jufta parte reliquit. 
 
 The moment I faw this high-flown panegyric, 
 I dropt a hint, and picked it up again — " will 
 " this diadem of immortality laft a page?" (was 
 my queflion to myfelf. ) " Glancing'' my optics to 
 the right, (not as a compofitoTy but as a man 
 jealous of an hyperbole,) I found fome of the 
 jewels counterfeit, and this jeweller himfelf in 
 the a(5t of detecting them. 
 
 " The fucceflion of Editors (quoth Johnjon^ 
 with all his Apotheofis — ele^ about him) have 
 added little to his powers of pleafing." 
 
 Edmond is nettled at this judgement, but ra- 
 ther in mifericordid (as the lawyers exprefs it when 
 a man is undone) he anfwers, that " surely," 
 
 (an
 
 [ 58 .] 
 
 (an affcding word that would not have dif- 
 graccd the *' pudency of Imogen/' who could/wear 
 nothing but od/pii t ikins ) " Surely, he was not 
 admired/o much before Editors wrote upon him I 
 
 The remainder of his preface lives or dies, 
 like fome of the heroes in the iEneid, 
 
 Fortemque B'lan fortemque Cleanthuniy 
 
 without any peculiar mark of difcriminating 
 character. But I cannot part with prefatory 
 Edmond before I do him juftice in the article of 
 LABOUR, and appreciate moft gratefully its value, 
 accrediting, with implicit faith, his own ac- 
 count of it. 
 
 ** In Shakfpeare'^ plays are a hundred thou- 
 
 " SAND LINES. 
 
 ** It was NECESSARY OFTEN tO COnfult SIX OR 
 
 " SEVEN VOLUMES to afcertain by which of the 
 " Editors each emendation (the Sergeant has 
 ** noted that word) had been made." 
 
 So that he had the tafk " imponere Pel ion Off a'" 
 to difcover who, by name, (and place of abode, 
 if required,} committed the murder oi\nno\2X- 
 ing upon the text, which his, Edmond's, pro- 
 feffion is to restore, and his pradlice, to improve. 
 
 Thus far we have tripped and bounded, with 
 playful agility, our Edmond's preface of seventy- 
 nine
 
 [ 59 ] 
 
 NINE pages — hand in hand — the hero and his pa- 
 ncgyrift — the knight and fquire. 
 I But alas, what follows? The intire preface 
 of ]o\\n(on, forty -nine pages ! 
 
 *' Amphora cxpit 
 
 ** Inftitiii: — currente rota" cur iirccus exit?" 
 
 All men have their pedantries. Mr. Lyons^ 
 of Cambridge y a very acute mathematician, read 
 //owifr through, in the original, which he enabled 
 himfelf perfectly to undcrftand. 
 
 But he reported, " that he could not find 
 " the gentleman had proved any thing." 
 
 A Sergeant at law (to whom, in the ahfira^^ 
 I have alluded) called upon me, /;/ perfon^ the 
 other day, when Malone^s, firft part of his firfl 
 volume of bis edition (as he calls it) lay before 
 me. 
 
 Jobnfon*s prface appeared. — The Sergeant 
 flowly moved his head and fa id, " he fliould be 
 " forry to rccovimend an aclion againft a very 
 " ingenious Editor and Critic, as he underftood 
 ** Sergeant Malone to be, (though he never had 
 " read his works as they were not in his way.) 
 " But that Saunders's Reports^ and Croke-James^ 
 ** warranted an a&ion upon the cafe againft Ed- 
 " mond, and againft all his bookfellers, for de- 
 " predating Johnfon'^ prior edition, by making 
 «* this preface hold up the tail of their own." 
 
 We
 
 [ 6o ] 
 
 We have next the advertifement of another, 
 and prior Editor, the late Mr. Steevens, — It oc- 
 cupies nz2iX fixteen pages ! 
 
 But alas, «^ verbum qiiidem — in thefe twenty- 
 nine pages of Edmond's preface — to that Editor's 
 honour ! 
 
 There was a time when they " tookjweet coun^ 
 " fel together y* when they were " twin cherries 
 " upon the fame Jiock.'' 
 
 Why they Jhould have ■ quarrelled, if they ever 
 did, — or if not, why Edmond fhould be thus 
 cold, is a defideratum in the literary cabinet, which 
 the furvivor can alone fupply. 
 
 Why the advertifement has been copied ^ and 
 why that Editor's notes are occafionally intro- 
 duced, (either to be adopted, refuted, or im- 
 proved,) I could not at firfl afcertain. But 
 a bookfellcr (who fliall be namelefs) accredited 
 the ingenuity of the expedient by the following 
 queftion. 
 
 ** Is there no policy y Mr. Felixy in making a 
 " competitor fupply you with his pages in addi- 
 " tion to your own ?" 
 
 The next bonne bouche is Mr. Steevens again ? 
 Seventeen pages, containing a HIT: of Englifli 
 tranflators from claflical authors in Shakfpeare'% 
 time. 
 
 The Sergeant was muttering " trover and coti- 
 " verfion of prefaces !'* 
 
 Pope
 
 C 6i ] 
 
 Pope follows — and accommodates with near six- 
 teen PAGES more. 
 
 Heminge and Condell^ (familiar to all of us,) and 
 Rowe's Life in a hundred and fifty-three 
 
 PAGES, 
 
 (The Sergeant made a note of it.) 
 
 Shakfpeare's will, — his mortgage, — new anec- 
 dotes of his life, — regiflers at Stratford upon 
 Avon — regiflers in the company of Stationers — the 
 order of his plays, and a deteded forgery of the 
 late Charles Macklin, fill the remainder of this 
 volume — which is not a volume after all, but 
 the firj} part of the jirjl volume ; a title which I 
 do not the lefs, but the more, admire, becaufe 
 I have not a conception what it means. 
 
 Upon the lift of Claflics in Englifh, there is a 
 note which has m.uch of Edmond's livelicft cha- 
 rafter in its features. 
 
 You muft know that he hates a forgery, (as 
 the poor Irclands knew to their coft, though he 
 gives quarter moft playfully to Macklin for a 
 fimilar offence.) 
 
 He has introduced, in addition to the lift which 
 he found (and has copied) 
 
 ** The Golden Boke of Marcus AureliuSy em- 
 ** peror and eloquent orator." 
 
 For no purpofe connecfted with Shakefpearc, 
 " but only to exclude this (devoted) book in 
 " duodecimo, (a convenient fize for banifhment) 
 ** from any future catalogue of tranjlated claffics. 
 
 " It
 
 C 62 2 
 
 " It was a (deteAed) fraud of Guevara. 
 
 " Chapman y in his Gentleman UJIjeVy fpcaks of 
 ** the book as Guevara's own." 
 
 Firft, let us pay all due homage to the /;;/- 
 ■portance of the news that Chapman dete6ted 
 Cuevera% impofition, by calling the book his, 
 not that of the emperor, as profeffed. 
 
 But let us alfo admire the unexampled inge- 
 nuity of the detedion. 
 
 The pailiige in Chapman being quoted verba- 
 lim, (of courfe and for obvious reafons that 
 Ihall be namelefs) appears to be this : 
 
 " If there are not more choice words in that 
 " letter than in any three of Guevara's Golden 
 ** Epistles, I am a very afs." 
 
 If I had not been deeply read in Malonian 
 proofs, I fliould afk — 
 
 Firjly how it appears from this paffage, that 
 QhapynaUy by Guevara's Golden Epistles, al- 
 ludes to the Golden Boke o/Marcus Aurelius? 
 
 And fecondly, in what logic (out of the moon) 
 by calling them Guevara's Golden Epistles, 
 he detects them as the verfions of a counter- 
 feited original ? 
 
 If I lliould fay that Melmoth's Pliny is the 
 moft cxquifite model of elegant ftyle in our lan- 
 guage, I Ihould fay what I thought; but I fliould 
 be a little furprizcd if I could be told, " that I 
 had converted Melmoih into the original zvriter of 
 P/iiifs Letters !" 
 
 In
 
 C 63 ] 
 
 In a note upon Rowe, Edmond (who is like 
 me, a perfed: enthuliaft for his hero, and 
 will ** bear no rival near his throne,") falls, 
 without mercy, upon Ben John/on — Upon his ill- 
 nature he cannot be too fevere. But Abel Drug^ 
 gery Bobadily and Volpone^ give themfelves an 
 air of fmiiing at the cenfure oihh talents i and 
 the Silent Woman allures me that JJoe is eloquent 
 enough to refute that cenfure. 
 
 It is a very marked feature of Edmond's cha- 
 rader'to be a Sylla in literature, love his friends 
 and hate his enemies, which enemies are thofe 
 who differ with him, or with his friends. 
 
 It is alfo in fome degree the characfler of the 
 age. I am partial, for example, to Mr. Tyrr^ 
 whity the " ahibef* of Malone, But when it is re- 
 quired of me that I fhould therefore crufli the 
 pi/mire* Dr. IVarlurtony I helitate, or as the Ser- 
 geant would fay, (iir: avifare vitlt. 
 
 If I believe ufque ad aras the war of Troy, (by 
 which I have fo often bled in corporal fympa- 
 thies with Hedor and Achilles,) I muft accufe, 
 it feems, a ioiile oiitrancey Mr. Bryant, and ac- 
 cufe him of ignorance or of fclf conceit, though 
 up to the moment of this demand, I fhould have 
 
 * Apropos of i\\t pi/mire^ we are told, " that Johnfon com- 
 " pared Edvjards to a horfe fly upon Warburton. " He may 
 ** fting the horfe, but Hill it is a horfe" — are his very fugacious 
 words. 
 
 thought
 
 [ 64 ] 
 
 thought him (as I really did) a mofl ingenious 
 and learned man ; a gentleman of the moft en- 
 gaging manners, and a writer, folicitous for 
 nothing but the caufc of truth. 
 
 Edmond and Minutius flourifh together, and 
 are quite at home in their notes upon Shakfpeare's 
 Life; but the will of Lady Barnard is the 
 chef d'oeuvre oifupcrfluous acqiiifition, 
 
 *' She was the daughter of Sufanna Hall, who 
 was the daughter of Shakfpeare. 
 
 " She was the laji of Shakfpeare's defcendants, 
 and fhe died without iJJ'ue" (which is much the 
 fame thing in other words.) 
 
 But her will is annexed ! 
 
 It has not a fyllable that has the remoteft con- 
 iie<5lion with him^ and has not one circumftance 
 in it, that, for any purpofe, can at all intereft, in 
 that place, any one of Edmond's readers. But 
 there it is, — with all its fonnali ties, — and without 
 an omitted word, 
 
 I remember a very eloquent, but rather dif- 
 fufe Barrifler from Scotland, who was arguing 
 in the Minutian way at the bar of the Houfe of 
 Peers. Lord Mansfield faid, " You need not 
 " be fo particular — the Lords have the cafe be-i 
 " fore them." ** I thank your Lordfliip for the 
 " hint, (replied the Advocate) and will confine 
 
 myfclf
 
 C 6j ] 
 
 " myfelf to fuhjlance, — The Letter, my Lords, 
 " ended thus : 
 
 *' I am. Sir, 
 *' With the greateft refpe6t, efteem, 
 *' and regard, 
 " Your mofl obedient and mofl humble fervant, 
 
 " Alexander Macbeane.'* 
 
 I do not recoiled: feeing Edmond in the 
 Houfe of Lords jufl at that moment; but when 
 I read Southerne's Letter to Dr. Rawlinfon, (a 
 reference to which the curious reader will fee 
 in the Effence, part the firft, page 20, fecond 
 edition) I took it for granted, that he muj} have 
 heard, with me, the North Britifh Advocate ; — and 
 fince I have feen Lady Barnard's will, I 2ir[\fure 
 he was there; or, as the Sergeant would fay, 
 I demur to the competency of his alibu 
 
 PART
 
 C 66 3 
 
 PART THE SECOND. 
 
 Edmond — the Vowel Killer. 
 
 CANON I. 
 
 " yi A^ Editor of a poet who died near two ce'ritu^ 
 " ries agOy Jhoiild be very anxious to afcertain the 
 " number and the pofition of the letters in which 
 *' his name ought now to be written. 
 
 ** Hejbould overturn t if he can^ with an air of 
 ** defiance, the mode of fpelling that name which 
 *' has been generally received, 
 
 *' HefJjoiildy in quoting others, whether ancient 
 ** or modern^ zvho have written the name^ be as in- 
 '* corred; as it may fuit him to be. 
 
 *' Hejbould theny with an amiable palinode, in a 
 " fe par ate work, abandon the fa^ upon which he 
 " had built his defiance, but affert his intention to 
 " perfevere in the corollary from thofe premifes to 
 " the end of time." 
 
 ^' I will
 
 [ 67 ] 
 
 " I will pen down my *dileriunas." 
 
 All's Well that Ends Well. 
 
 * Note by Warburton. 
 
 " Dilemmas'' arguments that conclude both 
 " ways," 
 
 I cannot figure to my own mind an object of en- 
 quiry, and of refearch, more interefting, than how 
 we are to write at this day the Jurname of that 
 poet who was born at Stratford upon Avon, A.D. 
 1564, who died there A. D. 16 16, and whofe laft 
 Editor, 
 
 ** Like Aaron's ferpent, fwallows up the reft." 
 
 Cicero^ who in ftyle and powers of reafoning is 
 one of Edmond's prototypes^ has told us, ** that 
 ** we long to know where great men lived, and 
 ** where they sat." 
 
 Mr. Pope had the fame kind oi local Jiiperjlition : 
 
 ** Here St. John sat, — and thought." 
 
 A fimilar paffion of the reader is fed and che- 
 riflied by the Hiftorian who tells us where Dryden 
 LIVED, and where he sat, — when preparing for 
 
 A CONSIDERABLE WORK, " and Wcll fupplied WITH 
 
 " DAMASCENES for the purpofe, by Tonson the 
 
 " BOOKSELLER."* 
 
 The late Earl of Orford, who was the honour 
 as well as the head of the Miftutian race, amongft 
 
 * See (be EJfcnce^ Sec page 45, fecond edit. 
 
 F 2 his
 
 [ 68 ] 
 
 his precious heir-looms, has left, at Strawberry- 
 hill, a picture of the very houfe in its modern ap-' 
 pearance, which contained, when it was another 
 houfe, his favourite Madame de Sevigne ; and for 
 her fake his Lordfliip has given us, if I recoiled:, 
 in the fiime pidure certain other parts of that im-' 
 mortal ftreet. 
 
 Upon the fame grounds of poflhumous claim 
 to endearment, we embrace with rapture the 
 'wajherivoman' s /-///of the *^ illujlrious deady" or the 
 written charge of the undertakers who buried 
 them. We dcpofit in the Mufeum, or in the an- 
 tiquarian archives of Somerfet Houfe, their letters 
 to an attorney or a taylor; and tht fac Jimile oi 
 their illegible autograph is a Pitt's-diamond for a 
 
 CURIOUS READER. 
 
 But how their name fhould, with pundilious 
 accuracy, be tiow written, if two centuries have 
 intervened fince the owners of that name were 
 born, is of all Fox-chaces the moft alluring to a 
 keen Editor of their works. Ever fince the me- 
 morable cors et crie after Mr. Alderman Whitting- 
 lons Cat (which I had the honour to attend at the 
 Society of Antiquarians*) I am aware of no hunt 
 which requires and produces better fportfmen. 
 By the way^ this metaphor is delightfully appo- 
 lite, but it is not my own ; it is that of Edmond, 
 who calls every diflentient from bim (paft as well 
 ^s future) " AN IDLE babbler" in this very purfuit, 
 I. e. as he amplifies it, now-and-then, to his Co? 
 
 * Then held in Cha7ice>y-latte, [Malone. 
 
 ^efie
 
 [ 69 ] 
 
 terie of the pbiio-Maionmns "a dull and blun- 
 ** dering hound, who gives the tongue when there 
 '* is no fcent" — or, without metaphor, a goffip 
 who circulates the falfe alarm of a fuperfluous 
 E in a " poet's name," which the Malones of 
 the pack, 
 
 " Slow in * piirfuitj^ 
 
 hut/agacwus at laji, are fure to corredl.f 
 
 In enquiries like thefe we do not in general de- 
 mand any Jubjecl at all. 
 
 Roijclcyy for example, was received aux bras 
 ouverts by the acute and profound crofs-examiner 
 of counterfeits, Mr. Tyrrwhit, as well as by the 
 fuperficial and Punic faith of Strawberry-hill, be- 
 fore it was (or could be) determined that fuch a 
 poet ever exifted — was quoted with amiable cre- 
 dulity by the accomplifhed Editor of Chaucer for 
 the illuflration of that poet ,- — was, at a later pe- 
 riod, ambidexteri-zedhy him, with doubts, refpecfl- 
 fully infinuated ; — and was, indue courfe of time, 
 dethroned, without ceremony, as an impudent 
 ufurper, by the fame notable polemic, as well as 
 
 ■and their heads are hung 
 
 With EARS that fweep away the morning dew. 
 
 [Midf. Night's Dream. 
 t Tro. and CrefT. Act V. Sc. I. 
 
 " If a hoinid gives his mouth, and is not upon the /cent of 
 t\\tgamej he is called a babbler." 
 
 [Malone. 
 
 F 3 accurate
 
 [ 70 3 
 
 accurate fcholar. He is now the " bafelefs fabric y* 
 or the ^hojl of nothing, as Edmond archly deline- 
 ates the contours of the invifible apparition. — 
 He is put " by a decree of the Medes and Perfians,* 
 into Edmond's negative catalogue of Dramatis 
 Perfona in the Comedy of his playful enmities and 
 loves. 
 
 Thus, before it was known that a " Roman collo- 
 quifiy' in a fiditious dialogue, ever came 
 
 *' Into this breathing worldy' 
 
 as a real perfonage, — have Edmond and I co- 
 quetted (for the benefit of pofterity) upon the 
 anagram of his Roman habit, or mafk. 
 
 Hearne's Oak perhaps never exifted in its pal- 
 pable form ; but ue are not the lefs anxious to 
 vifit the pit, in which it is imagined, that if it 
 ever grew at all, it might have appeared ** with 
 '* all its bravery on,** many centuties ago. Like the 
 Mariana quercus of Cicero , it is an evergreen to all 
 eternity ; and for the reafon which is intimated 
 by him " Sat a est ingenioj"' It is to live, in the 
 *' Poet's eye," though an " airy nothing,'' in it- 
 fclf, and is to live in the fuppofed locality of 
 its primaeval honours, though in the form of a 
 defcendant, who can, with difficulty, make out 
 its pedigree, 
 
 " J'Vlth all appliancesy and means to loot," 
 
 that an Earl of Leicefter can fpare to it. The 
 
 ** Founder's kin," at All Souls, or the Duke of 
 Aquitain, at a Coronation, are lively illuftrations 
 of this hypothefis. 
 
 If
 
 [ V ] 
 
 If political and poetical images may be com- 
 pared, as they often are by the fanciful analytic, 
 Mr. IVyndhamy it is like the rubbifh of 0/i Sarum, 
 which contributes to the Senate, through the 
 medium of an obflinate opinion, that a real 
 borough exiflcd once at that place in a lefs re- 
 fined fliape, and that it zvas " a local habita- 
 tion," as well as " a name." 
 
 J:^ The Sergeant gives me a hint that I am play- 
 ing with edge-toolsj — that I may entrench upon the 
 rights and privileges of the Senate in this efficient 
 branch of it ; — that Old Sarum, when Mr. Adding- 
 ton fliakes it by the hand, becomes the County of 
 Torky and every other conftituent of the repre- 
 fentative aggregate ; — that burgage tenure is a 
 right of property in the foil, whether in the old 
 houfe or in ihe/ciie of it, and that Mr. Hardinge 
 will not thank me for fending him to Coventry, 
 
 Pindary after telling us that one of the gods 
 '' eat a childy" rebukes himfelf, and perhaps, like 
 me, had a Sergeant at his elbow, 
 
 '* ne forte pudori 
 
 Incuteret legum fandlarum infcitia." 
 
 " It is abfurd and irrational (faid the bard of 
 Thebes) " to circulate thefe tales, and convert 
 any of the immortal gods into a *Cannibal. — 
 
 I ABSTAIN." *' CiCpig'afA.Oii" 
 
 and fo do I, fays Minutius Felix, upon the topic 
 
 of Old Sarum. 
 
 * The word in fhe original is yajrp/xa^yon or glutton ; but 
 human flefli being tlie fubje(5t, I have departed from the literal 
 import of the word, 
 
 8 F 4 Prol^o
 
 C 7^ 3 
 
 Proho aliler. 
 
 We have many of us playfully ventured, 
 -" like wanton boys, 
 
 " That fwim on bladders (on a fea of glory) 
 in the fafcinating problem of this queftion. 
 
 " Um Troja fuit?" 
 though it has not been proved that it ever ex- 
 ifted at all. By the zvay, though it has not been 
 provedy I adopt the legal dexterity and loop- 
 hole of the Sergeant (who bids fair to be a Judge), 
 and I add, ex cauield^ an admiflion that it has not 
 been difproved. 
 
 Apropos de bottes. — I remember a learned pre- 
 late's political fyllogifm in the Houfe of Peers, 
 who reafoned in fupport of the Heir apparent's 
 claim to the Regency, upon the argument that his 
 R. H. had the bcfl right, becaufe no other per- 
 fonage had a better ; and that, as a i^egency could 
 not cxift without a Regent, a logical devolution of 
 the fufpendcd crown fell, ex jure y upon him whofe 
 title no competitor could fupplant. 
 
 ** How charming is A'wine ph'dofophy I 
 
 *' Not harfh and crabbed, as the dull fuppofe.'* 
 
 We are now to afk of thofe who wrote the name 
 before us, two hundred years agOy what is the 
 corred manner of defcribing that fignature, 
 which,* " had yio ftandardy' and varied in all its 
 
 * I quote the orthographifl himfelf in ttntiints. The 
 reader, who is familiar to his ten •volumes.^ would be affronted if 
 1 fliould note the page. 
 
 habits.
 
 C 73 3 
 
 habits, according to the whim of the writers, in- 
 cluding the owner of the name. 
 
 Tant mieux ! fays Edmond, in full cry, and 
 "with all his whippers-in at his heel. 
 
 " We have nothing to lofe, and we have a 
 golden fleece before us ; — credit for ingenuity, at 
 leaft J — with a chance of profitable etceteras. 
 
 I am not at prefent aware that an eftate in 
 Warwickfhire can depend upon the orthography 
 of this name. But as Edmond fhrewdly ob- 
 ferves, an eftate might have depended upon it. 
 He has reminded me (with Minutian accuracy) 
 of the FetherJloneSy who obtained their wealth 
 by an accredited " haugh^'" at the end of their 
 name, fupprefled in utterance, or (as the Sergeant 
 moft happily exprefles it) in a kind of oral abey- 
 ance, but existing in legal demand at the tail of 
 the ab — original lignature.* 
 
 Firft Branch of the Argument. 
 
 Malone, versus Malone. 
 
 Edmond has told us roundly, in ''Some account 
 of Dryden's life," though it is a death's blow to his 
 oracular indignation elfewhere, that '' Shakes- 
 
 * There is in Stertie a baptifmal problem upon hetero-graphles^ 
 that is very edifying. 
 
 " In gomine gatr'n^^ &c. would make the aft a nullity — 
 " but "-^ pdtrtrtr for " patris" would be fufficientj the decLnfion 
 " would be in fault, and the root untouched." 
 
 PEARE"
 
 [ 74 ] 
 
 peare" is the pcrfed and original nanne — but that 
 it was called in his time Shakspeare. I fuppofe he 
 means (though " called'' is a word poetically inde- 
 finite) that it was pronounced as if fo written, which 
 in fadl it never has been, that I can difcover. But 
 why he chofe to introduce this figure of the tone, 
 or found, this eye of the ear (to adopt his own 
 analogies) in the fhape of fo uncouth an appear- 
 ance, I cannot imagine, when his own triumph- 
 ant *' Shakspeare" gives the very fame effedt. 
 Thefe are bright fuperfluities of a rich and copious 
 vein. 
 
 Such an oracle, upon the fide of Shakespeare, 
 ^ould be fufficient ad hominei?j ; or as we fhould 
 rather fay, ad Apollinem, But we are often to 
 exclaim, in the words of Richard — 
 
 Methinks there ha five Edmonds in the field ; 
 Four\\dL\t I {lain in fight. 
 
 It is not ad hominem, but ad homines^ that his 
 adverfaries muft attack or defend. 
 
 In one of his preliminary volumes to Avon's 
 Bard he excommunicates, and fends to Coventry , 
 which, though in the fame county, is at the dif- 
 tance oi eight eenm\\c& from Stratford, every man, 
 woman, child, or houndy who fhall, after the date of 
 ** thofe prefents," write,lifp,or cry "Shakespeare," 
 
 In that Perillus's hull^ he will not have the 
 leaft objedion (if I know him well) to be 
 roafted himfelf — or (as the Sergeant prompts 
 him, out of Blackftone's Commentaries) to emu- 
 late the candour of the heretic Bifhop, with a 
 
 meek
 
 [ 7S ] 
 
 meek fimplicity of heart congenial to thofe pri- 
 mitive ages of the world — 
 
 *' fudico me cremar'if* 
 faid the Bifliop. 
 The historian adds, 
 
 Et fu'it combujius. 
 
 It happens, not a little whimfically, that 
 with a few, and very infulated, exceptions, the 
 mode of fpelling this immortal name, which is 
 now reprobated by the imperial edi5l of Edmond, 
 has been prevalent from the earlieft ages, till 
 very much to his honour, 7ny hero exploded the 
 erratum^ and baniflied the fuperfluous e by a. 
 talifman.* 
 
 ^3" It has been admitted by the Sergeant, 
 who is very candid (in his theories) that ** Sus: 
 ** PER coll:" in a marginal note, was too laconic 
 a rope for a capitally convicTied felon's neck. But 
 who would have thought a fuperfluous E, the favor- 
 ite and plaything of two centuries, could beat once 
 cut off, and for ever,by the words*' idle babble!" 
 Yet fo it is — Lord Peter's reafoning, when he 
 recommended, by a cojige d'eiire, the poetical 
 (and Malonian) virtues of his brozvn loaf^ could 
 not be more fpirited. The argument of alTcr- 
 tion, or of affertion loofely apparelled in a 
 kind of reafoning undrcfs, is the fafeft and the 
 mofi becoming. 
 
 * " Populumquey^^j- 
 Dedocet uti 
 Vocibus." [Horace. 
 
 Pun
 
 C 76 ] 
 
 Pun of the name. 
 
 That Shakespear was originally the name we 
 cannot " choofe but infer," (to ufe the language 
 of the poet) in that punning age, from the coat 
 of arms connedled with it, viz. a long " spear," 
 to which the import of the word shake is at 
 leaft very applicable, and is, (by thofe who de- 
 fcribe the ufe of this weapon), applied in 
 fad. 
 
 It will appear, in fupport of the pun, before we 
 are much older, that it was divided into the 
 two parts of the compound idea which the 
 name defcribed and was written Shake-spear. 
 
 Grant of arms. 
 
 But here I am corre6led by Edmond in hia 
 herald's coat, who tells me, that in thepriginal 
 grant of this punning spear, the intermediate 
 e has been difallowed, and the pun annihilated. 
 
 None
 
 C 77 ] 
 None but himfelf can be his parallel. 
 
 Edmond ihall anfwer Edmond. 
 In other words, the Edmond of one page re- 
 futes the Edmond of another. 
 
 " Et fibi fe gaudet prsferri." 
 [i.] "Shakespeare (fays Edmond) was called 
 " Shaxspeare, juft as Blakesley was called 
 " Blaxley." 
 
 If fo calledy it is not improbable that it would 
 have been fo zvritlen ; or at lead, with a fimilar 
 caft of letters and conforming to that found, — by 
 a miflaken reference to the oral delivery of the 
 name, but without prejudice to its original fta- 
 mina, reliding and flouriihing in the pun. 
 
 [2.3 Nor is this all the evidence to the fame 
 effed: — Another Edmond is coming into the field, 
 armed cap-a-piedy and fliaking this queftionable 
 fpear in his hand. 
 
 He is arguing (in his military fafaion) whe- 
 ther Greene; in his Groat/worth of IFit^ ed. A. D. 
 1 592, had, or had not, " Shakespear" in his eye ; 
 and he infers that he had, becaufe he gives to 
 one of his dramatis perjona^ the name of "Shake- 
 scene", which he (Edmond) interprets into a 
 covered and Jhadowed refemblance of the poet's 
 name. But that refemblance it could not have 
 been, if "Shakspeare" had been the defcriptioii 
 by which the poet was marked in thofe days. 
 
 [3.] Another objedlion to the argument ariling 
 from this Grant of Arms to John Shakfpcare, is the fact 
 — that Edmond has again been -xpoet. — The name, 
 to a herald's eye, is not Shakfpeare^ but ShakefpeareJ* 
 
 * Copy. " la the Patent of Arms, 20 061. 1596, to 
 John " Shakespeare," the name is fpelt as above. 
 
 " G. Naylor, York Herald, 16 Jan. 1601." 
 
 9 N. B.
 
 [ 78 ] 
 
 N. B. Edmond's poetical tranfcript of the fame 
 original, purports to be a minute and clerical copy 
 of the inftrument, witnefs the obfolete orthogra- 
 phies of" bayltfe'' — "bedded.'' 
 
 N. B. Mr. Steevcns obferves in a note, which Edmond 
 has adopted in the very next page, upon the name of -(^r^fw, 
 bow unlikely it is that a name fliould be ill fpelt by heralds.-' 
 The reafon affigned by him being a libel upon the College of 
 Arms, I will not publifli it. — aipira/^a*. 
 
 Autograph. 
 
 But Edmond, the Editor of the Bard, fmiles with 
 contempt, at the air-beating Edmiond (as he calls 
 him) who is Dryden's biographer, by afking him 
 (and me) "how the poet bitn/elf wrott his name?" 
 
 I anfwer " }ou, one of the Edmonds, have told 
 the other EdmGiid, and me, that by the poet 
 himfelf this letter was excluded from the name. 
 But you have aJfo afTured us, and lince that JJoeet 
 had been worked off {mx.o a book circulated from 
 hence to Japan,) " that Shakespeare is the 
 " name ;" which appears to Jhadow the inference, 
 that he, as well as others, wrote it thus. 
 
 Yet fuch an anfwer will be nothing, till Apollo-^ 
 Edmond will tell us, (which I fufpedl that he 
 never means to do,) from his Delphic feat, which 
 of his clajlding oracles he, at any given inflant of 
 time, fhall prefer, or (as the Sergeant beautifully 
 exprelTcs it) " by zvhich of his pleas he zvill abide,'* 
 
 We muft therefore canvas the argument arif- 
 ing from the poet's habit of fpelling his name, 
 as if the advantage ground of recourfe to it had 
 been uniformly held forth by his Editor, though 
 it is the reverfe of the fad. 
 
 Caprice
 
 [ 79 ] 
 
 Caprice of autographs. 
 
 It happens, however, that in thofe days, men 
 did not write their names (of courfe) either as 
 they Jhould have written them, or as they were 
 in fa6t written by their cotemporaries ; or at 
 other times, and with any other pens in their 
 hand, by themf elves. 
 
 TiBETOT. 
 
 I recolledt (though I am any thing but an 
 antiquarian) the name of Tibet oty a feudal peer, 
 who wrote with an ariflocratic defiance of rule. 
 It was half pride and half negligence — many of 
 them could write nothing but their names, and 
 fome — 
 
 [W" " ^^ upon your guard !" fays my legal 
 friend, " there is a modern Houfe of Peers, and 
 ** they arejealous of their anceftors :"] I abstain. 
 
 They held it an indication of dignity^ 
 
 that what they wrote as their name, fhould be a 
 general fimilitude of the found, but with num- 
 berlefs varieties of inflexion. 
 
 This, of Tibetot^ was, perhaps, the mofl pro- 
 minent in whim; I cannot, with Mahnian 
 
 precifion.
 
 [ 80 ] 
 
 prccifion, rcprefcnt, by autographs authenticated, 
 all the differences of Tibetot — Tibetoft — 
 TiBETOE — TiPTOFT — TiPTOE, &:c. but they are 
 very amuling, very intcrefting, and very 
 
 CURIOUS. 
 
 If the Sidney Papers — Winwood's Memorials — 
 Haynes's — Murden's — Forbes's — or Birch's Co!- 
 ledions, and the other documents of that age, 
 recorded in this, were confulted, the refult would 
 be a fyftem of anti-Malonian herefies ; and, 
 therefore I advife none of my followers, or his 
 to open thofe books. They demonftrate a diffi- 
 culty in my hero's way, like that of his friend, 
 the lover in Terence : 
 
 Qiia2 res in fe neque confilium habet neque modum, 
 Earn confilio regere non potes. 
 
 There was no ftandard of orthography in thofe 
 days, but, leaft of all, for names of perfons, 
 
 I have, at this moment, before me, Win- 
 wood's Memorials (lent me in the moji obliging 
 manner by the owner of the book). It feems 
 there, as if all the writers in that correfpondence, 
 were laughing at Edmond and me. 
 
 A word is written by the fame individual, 
 with all the ingenious varieties that a monkey 
 would fuggeff, if he dealt in verbal criticifm. 
 
 Confonants and vowels are multiplied or ab- 
 breviated, juft as the whim bites. 
 
 E is ridiculoufly added, or as ridiculoufly 
 taken away. 
 
 We
 
 [ 8. ] 
 
 We have the title of DuKdom as familiar as that 
 of DvKEdom — LiKlihood and LiKE/ibood are genera 
 (like Aldwinkle in " Dryden's life" by MaloneJ 
 to many fubordinate varieties. Pt'WBROK and 
 PemEROKE are the fame individual Peer; and 
 Stukeley feels it no lofs to his name if it is writ- 
 ten Stukly, by himfelf or others, any more than 
 Shakspeare was likely (or liklyj to be hurt if 
 SuAKE-fpeare derogated from his elifion or fub- 
 tradlion of the contefted vowel. 
 
 Other, and more grotefque, varieties are endlefs. 
 
 In the Jurnames of great men, the writers do 
 not think of Edmond, or me ; and, befides other 
 State- criminals, the Marquis of Salijhiiry is an 
 " IDLE BABBLER," when he alTumes that Cecil is the 
 name of his illuftrious Houfe. His great an- 
 ceflor's autography in the time of James the 
 Firft, appears to have been " Cecyll," though 
 he was often Cecil, as written by others, and was 
 adorned with many other playful diverfities ; the 
 original, and perfed:, name in heraldic lore be- 
 ing Sitsilt, from the 7th of King Stephen to 
 the 22d of Queen Eliz. 1580. 
 
 In the Sidney papers y — in Lodge ^ — and in Haynes's 
 colle5lio7it we have the following yV«A' d'efprit upon 
 the name : Cecil — Cecill — Cecyll — Cejill — Cicil — 
 Cicill — Cycell — Cycil — Sicill — and CyJ'yli. 
 
 Sir Robert Cecyll^ when he writes to Cornwallis^ 
 with whom he was in the habit of correfpon- 
 dence, endorfes " Cornwalleys** upon the envt:lope 
 — Willoughby is Willobee — Elwis^ Elzves^ and 
 Hellwyjfe, are one and the fame individual. 
 G ** Orrendg'
 
 C 8^ ] 
 
 " Orreridg'" was the "Jljadozvrd" name of" Orange'^ 
 in the bureau of EmbaiTadors and Statefmen. 
 
 Apropos de hotles Cccil-icnncSy the Ifland of Si^ 
 (ily is as full of play as a kitten. Sicylia — Sycillia 
 — Scycile — and Cicilia too, are its varieties, in 
 hiflorical proof. 
 
 The immortal Sir Philip Sydney wrote the 
 name of Sydney to his Will ; but as a corref- 
 pondent he was either Sydney or Sidney^ as the 
 / or y prevailed in his fancy by turns. His 
 father had been Sydney ^ ab ovo ad mala ; but his 
 brothers were apoftates, in general, to the fub- 
 ftitutcd /. 
 
 He dedicates the ** Arcadia'' in 1580, to Lady 
 Pembroke, which dedication is clofed by th/s 
 word " Sidneis,'' and is yet figned "P. Sidney." He 
 has in other places, written Sidnei for his name. 
 
 In Lodge, the Earl of Shrewjhury's name has 
 been fpelt with more than twenty varieties ^ — in- 
 cluding ** Shrejhurye" and ** Shrojhery," 
 
 In a celebrated pamphlet entitled " the £«- 
 qiiiry,' Edmond, with his accuftomed fpirit of 
 conje^ural ajjertion, reprefents that *' Leicejler" 
 is the univerfal autograph as written by the Earl 
 — that others write it " Leycejiev" and for both of 
 thefe oracles, he refers, to chapter and vcrfe, thofe, 
 who in general, for that reafon, are too indolent 
 or too generous to examine the reference. 
 
 Tully fays, " that when a Roman augur met a 
 Roman augur, he laughed in his face :" We, Mi- 
 nutians, know one another fo well, that in propor- 
 tion to the minute precifion which is announced, 
 we fufpedinoneanother, a '^^^ow^i/" inaccuracy; 
 
 and
 
 [ 83 ] 
 
 and it feems to me almoft impoflible, that Ed- 
 mond fhould ever ceafe to be a poet^ — in the 
 chapter of invention^ — as a Copyiji. 
 
 The Earl is in the very book to which Edmond 
 refers, written " Lejier' by Sir Philip Sydney, his 
 nephew, who dates letters at i^^r-Houfe, and 
 he is " Leicejler" in Sir Philip's Will. He, the 
 Earl himfelf, in that very fame book, (the Sydney 
 papers,) has v/ritten " Lecejler" and ** Leycejler.'* 
 Lord Burleigh has written him " Lecejier.*' 
 
 In the Burleigh papers, " Lecejier" is the name 
 upon thofe books of the Council, to which alfo, 
 with his accuftomed felicity ^ as well as cafidour, 
 of reference, Edmond exprefsly alludes. 
 
 The weight oi Entellus-ChalmerSy in his combat 
 withpares-MaloneyXS never more impreflive, than 
 upon the topic of Z,<f/Vif/?^r, who feems to have been 
 as much above rule in his tyranny over the alpha- 
 bet, when he called upon it for his name, as he was 
 flippant in the abufe of all other powers which, 
 thecomelinefs of his perfon attracfled through the 
 fenfitive organs of the tender,thoughvirgin,Queen. 
 
 In fhort, there never exifted in this whimfical 
 ifland, fuch confufion of writing and fpelling as 
 in Shakfpeare's time. 
 
 Mortgage-Deed, and IVlll. 
 
 The poet himfelf has written his name, with 
 fome diiferences, in a Mortgage-Deed, and in his 
 will. But he^akes no/pear in either of thofe fields. 
 
 It is, however, an additional, and ftriking, 
 
 proof that Edmond is in the right, when " Shake- 
 
 G 2 spear"
 
 [ 84 ] 
 
 SPEAR is rcprcfentcd (by him) as the original name^ 
 to deted in the body of the Mortgage-Deed it- 
 fclf — " SuAK^-fpeare" fix times out of feven. 
 
 The Attorney therefore of thofe days, and 
 probably of that place, had no conception of 
 being, (what Attorneys very feldom are, as the 
 Sergeant affures mcj at all fuperfluous in his 
 life of the letter e. 
 
 The fignature by the Poet, is reprefented, 
 through his interpreter, (with a comment fome- 
 what papal) to contain the word Shakspeare ; 
 and his mode of Euclidizmg that propolition, 
 is not lefs fanciful than Ariofto's Legendary 
 Mufc, or Allolpho's Journey to the moon. 
 
 fk) (S5aJ/ft fig. I. Q^^.j^^yM>- 
 
 (t3~ " It would have been Shakspeare,'* fays 
 Edmond, interpreting the label annext, fig. i. 
 " if the Poet could have had room for it.'* 
 
 But fays one of my little playfellows — " Papa! 
 " do tell me why does a put over e fhow that 
 *■* re was to follow ? — or that e after k was not 
 " left out, and for the fame reafon, viz. becaufe 
 " there M'as not room for that letter ? 
 
 Thefc
 
 [ 85 ] 
 
 Thefe Malonian queftions, of a child (and of a 
 girlj though I do not approve them as levelled 
 at Malone, are happy auguries of a difie^^ing 
 intellect, — and fo far I was plea fed with 'enri. 
 N. B. I have diredled, in my will, that fhe is to 
 marry an Editor. 
 
 But with all my enthufiafm for Edmond, I 
 cannot withhold the Sergeant's note, which I 
 found (in fliort-hand) upon my table when he had 
 called upon me in my abfence — " A fignature 
 ** like this, imperfed, and felf-mutilated, at the 
 " beft, cannot prove any part of the name fo 
 " written to be corredt and full." 
 
 The Will 
 
 Here again the Attorney and the Poet are at 
 variance, but the Poet is alfo at variance %viih 
 himfelf, — like his Editor. 
 
 The Attorney in Malone's Reports has written 
 marginally* " Shackspeare."! 
 
 The poet has written Shakspere firil, [fee the 
 autograph pag. 84] and then Shakspeare, [fee 
 the laft autograph pag. 84] by way of fecond 
 
 * Man'^: Genlis, in one of her Novels, improves upon the 
 Attorney, and pays her comphments to " SchaJcfpcar.'" 
 
 f In Coiribe's will, dated A. D. 16 12, the name is alfo 
 written Shackspere. Sec the autograph annexed. 
 
 10 CJ thouglit
 
 [ 86 ] 
 
 thought — at leafl Edmond or Steevens, or both, 
 have fo interpreted, (and have demanded that we 
 ihoLild coHicide) upon the evidence of the auio- 
 graphs which they have annexed. 
 
 Let the curious Reader determine for himfelf. 
 Let him firft accredit the copy, and then en- 
 quire whether it is ■\fac-fimile of the original.. — 
 But the Sergeant looks as if this order and line 
 of march in proof did not quite fatisfy him, or the 
 Common Picas. I anfwered his look, by affuring 
 him that " Sergeant Malone" would have no ob- 
 jection to it. 
 
 But if one of thefe two varieties mujl be adopted, 
 the Sergeant, whofe optics are very acute, in- 
 clines to Shakspere, " becaufe it feems, upon the 
 face of it (an expreiTion taken from his pleading 
 habits) " more clear of doubt as to the letters, — 
 " if indeed it is the hand of the poet, as Mrr 
 " Steevens" (who never departed from truth in his 
 precious life) " affirms, — and the oracle is counter- 
 ** ligned by Edmond j but elfe I fliould not be- 
 " lieve it." 
 
 " Let me, however, afk (the Sergeant pro- 
 ceeds ) where is the Office-Copy of the JVill f 
 
 " I alTure you, Mr. FeliXy that your friend 
 (and I am forry for him, becaufe I have a refped 
 for him) cannot ftir in the Courts hand or foot, 
 before that evidence is produced. I may wi{h, 
 for example, to fee how the name has been fpelt 
 in the body of the IVill^ by that fcrivener, who, as 
 thefe two gentlemen fuppofe, " wrote Siiack- 
 «• spere" upon the margin, and whom jw^r friend, 
 
 Malone,
 
 C 87 ] 
 
 Malone, defcribes to have written Shakspeare 
 throughout the will ; that is, to have written it in 
 the way that he fuppofes it finally written by the 
 teftatorhimfelf.* 
 
 It is whimfical, to be fure, that with an af- 
 ferted knowledge of the original IVill, and with 
 profefTed, but not Office-Copies of it, through a 
 fucceflion of Editors, (and many of them, fuch as 
 Capd, Minutian to the bone,) this vulgar, and 
 Slipjlop inaccuracy of Shakespeare has not only 
 in general prevailed, but has been imported, by a 
 fort of dignified negligence, into that very docu- 
 ment, the IVill. In this crime (Ufi nominis) Mr. 
 Editor Steevens himfelf is implicated, — a circum- 
 flance, in the Sergeant's opinion, which detracfts 
 from his credit, as a witnefs to the autograph pro- 
 duced by hi'iu at a later period. 
 
 It is whimlical too, as well as ingenious, that, 
 as I hinted before, Edmond, in quoting the various 
 Editors who have in facT: adopted the fupertiuous 
 e^ has made them lift by force under his banners, 
 and has diverted Shakespeare of that pleonafm 
 which they Til leaft had given him. 
 
 I have only to account for the condud: of thofe 
 great men who preceded Edmond, (and were the 
 
 * Edmond has marked, upon this occafion, his accuflomed 
 accuracy^ of the political ipecies. The name in the bocy of the 
 will is not " Shakspeare," but, as one fliould naturally fuppofe, 
 it is in part the fame anomaly as the Attorney has alfo adopted 
 upon the margin. Suackspeare is the name; — eccrjignum. 
 
 G 4 Bacons
 
 [ 88 ] 
 
 Bacons of that Newtonian Editor) upon the hypo- 
 thefis, (which baffles all credibility,) that none of 
 them //TO the will (a finguiar ofcitancy in minute 
 and verbal hiflorians), — or took no copy of that 
 which they had feen (currente oculo)^ or confidered 
 it as their own word, abbreviated. 
 
 ^3" " Indeed the k.joi-dijanty as produced by 
 Edmond, the difciple of Steevens, is unlike every 
 modern conception of that inierefting letter, and 
 feems confident with an e annexed, or with an 
 elifion, once marked with a da{li or comma, but 
 which may have fince vaniflied, or may have been 
 obliterated by the hand of Time, — though it is 
 true, that Edmond, (as well as Thomas Hearne) 
 has very often the talent of remembering what the 
 fcythe-bearing veteran forgets.^' 
 
 I owe this acute remark to Mr. Smeeton^ of St. 
 Martin's Lane, and it will prove to the world that 
 my Jatellites are not inferior to the Jupiter they 
 ferve. I do not mean the " Jupiter in good fpirits,"* 
 but the Jupiter tonans of criticifm upon evane- 
 fcent elilions, or dots of an /. 
 
 It has been obferved by Anti-Malonians^ 
 amongfl: the Jyllaharum aucipes (to whom Tully 
 alludes, with unbecoming ridicule), " that or- 
 thography cannot be determined in general by a 
 tejiatory becaufe he may have been given over ; 
 and forgetful, or carelefs when his tremulous 
 hand wrote the namej — which imbecillity is 
 
 * See the Ejjence, pag. ii, of \he fecond edition. I have 
 now the honor to add, that Edmond's eye, glancing as it is, 
 overlooked in Cymbeline the word Jo'vial, applied by Jupiter to 
 himfelf, not in his convivial but planetary figure: " Our 
 
 " JOVIAL ST.AR." 
 
 here
 
 [ 89 ] 
 
 here confirmed fas they infifl) by the fad that 
 our Poet has twice written his name to this 
 identical IVill, and has varied the mode of fpell- 
 ing it in thofe tzvo fignatures." 
 
 This ingenious remark, (though a little un- 
 civil to the Minutians) produces another queftion, 
 — which I referve to a feparate volume, — //; quarto, 
 viz. " In what itate of body and mind (includ- 
 ing, of courfe, the finger and thumb, as well as 
 the memory, which is the foul of them) our im- 
 mortal poet was placed at the moment of writ- 
 ing the two memorable fignatures. Perhaps 
 (with all his immortality about him) he may have 
 cried,'' with his own Cicfar, in Spain — 
 " Give me fome drink, Titinius," 
 ** Like a fick girl."* 
 
 At prefent I have only to conjedure, that Ed- 
 mond lays more ftrefs upon the Mortgage auto~ 
 graphy than upon the IVill, (as being more dif- 
 tincl) becaufe, though he adopted the name be- 
 fore he faw it there, he never, till that infpedlion 
 blelled his vifual nerve, called every pad and fu- 
 ture dillentient ** an idle babbler." 
 
 The /F/7/and tht Mortgage Autographs abandoned 
 and abjured. 
 
 ^3- But we are full of myfteries in the liter^ 
 arv, as well as in the ?iaturaL world ; and there 
 is a pamphlet of keen fatyr, as well as acute ar- 
 
 * There is a contefl: between the two editors, Malone and 
 Stee'venSf upon this very topic, in Malone's tenxh vol. pag. 266. 
 
 gument.
 
 [ 90 ] 
 
 giiment, written by Fximondagainflthe Irelands, 
 and written long after this anathema was fulmi- 
 nated againft every fignature but *' Shak/peare/* 
 confidered as proved by a faithful tranfcript of 
 the autographs annexed by the poet himfclf to 
 the Mortgage and the IVill. 
 
 " Every thing which is 7iew (fays Addifon, 
 contemplating the Malones of ages unborn, 
 but not unconceivcd in his day) gives pleafure to 
 the fancy — charms it with an agreeable furprife, 
 — and gratifies curiofity." Oi novelties the moft 
 extraordinary, is at hand ; and if I had the pen of 
 Lord Orford's favourite Madame de Sevigne^ I 
 would put the reader, male or female, upon ten- 
 terhooks of fufpenfe, before I told a fecret, as 
 wonderful as that which is unfolded, with fuch 
 beauty of playful rhetoric, by that enchanting 
 writer when Ihe defcribes the marriage oiLaufun, 
 
 But in defpair of Z^^rpen, I have copied Virgil's 
 ** lurno tempus erit,"' and have '^Jhadowed^" in the 
 title of thefe paragraphs, a recantation, at once the 
 boldeft, and the moft humiliating, xkidX Jublimity 
 c/r<7«</o«r ever produced, — but accompanied with a 
 perfeverance in the felf-convided error, which, 
 except in its good-humoured laugh at the reader's 
 cxpence, has no parallel in the ages of the world, 
 from Arifl arc.hu Sy the common anceftor, to Ma^ 
 lone, his unqueftioned, and lineal heir. 
 
 In this pamphlet "Shakspeare" is abandoned, 
 and *' Shakspere" is to be the word in future 
 againft all idle babblers, who may have trufted 
 Edmond's defiance — 
 
 But he/ui^divides the refult— 
 
 Suhdivifion
 
 [ 9' ] 
 
 SuhdiviJIon the firJI. 
 He admits that " Shakspere" was the lignaturc 
 of the poet himfelf !1 
 
 Subd'roifion the fecond. 
 
 He demands the right of continuing, himfelf, 
 to write" Shakspeare" for reafo^ " which he has 
 given in his lifey 
 
 ^f3" I fuppofe he means in Shakfpeare' s Lift'y by 
 himy and in the life that is to come — for there are 
 no fuch reafons in that which is already publifned. 
 
 " Upon my word," (fays the Sergeant) and I 
 never faw him look more ingenuoufly hurt. " Upon 
 my word, Mr. Felixy I flmdder for the general credit 
 o{ Antiquaries, :ind aim oft for the exiftcnce of that 
 Society, when I fee a fabric of fuch apparent abi- 
 lity, as well as confidence, deflroyed fo playfully 
 by him who had erecfled it, though depending up- 
 on ocular teftimony alone as to the/^^7, and upon a 
 folemn inference from the argument ; — which had 
 concluded, that none but ** idle babblers'" could 
 ever depart from the poet's autograph, as the fole 
 criterion of his name. 
 
 ProfelTion of Faith, by John Shakspeare, ^fup^ 
 pofed relation of the Poet, Malone's ed. of 
 
 Sh. vol. I. 
 Here, if the paper be genuine, which I have 
 not only fcen, but pojffefs (and by the Sergeant's 
 1 1 Zi! ary
 
 [ 92 ] 
 
 wary advice, I do not *' commit my/elf" as its cham- 
 pion or opponent), though it was confidently af- 
 ferted by Edmond, that it was a Relation s work, 
 it is now, with urbanity of felf-accufing ridicule, 
 given up, and thrown away, by him^ upon thofe 
 other Shakfpearcs who have no " Fancy's Children" 
 to boaft in their pedigree. It has therefore done 
 its duty; and after a laborious, but ufeful tran- 
 fcript, it has nothing to do with our Siiaksplare 
 — at all — at all. 
 
 It appears by a Deed which refers to the cele- 
 brated Mortgage^ and which the parties executed 
 juft one year after the Poet's dcmife, that his 
 name is (there too) again written " Shakespeare." 
 This Deed is publiflied by Malone in " the Death 
 of Ireland," that aifedling Tragedy in pro/e, to 
 which I have alluded. 
 
 ToMB-sTONE versus Title-page. 
 As the Sergeant, in pleading heroics, has entitled 
 
 the conflicl. 
 
 I am not fure why, (and fo much the better,) 
 but fo it is, that Edmond hates a tomb-stone, and 
 has a kind of native prediledion for a title-page. 
 
 I remember a wicked flory of a good man 
 who never fpoke of the Devil but in terms of 
 courtier-like refped: — Being afked " why ?" he 
 
 anfwered :
 
 C 9i ] 
 
 anfvvered : *' I do not love him — but there is no 
 " harm in being civil to a pcrfon who jnay be 
 " very uncivil to me^ and with a power to hurt 
 " me." 
 
 This caution applies to all indifcriminate cen- 
 fures ; they are fpirited, (and fo is Edmond who 
 ufes them,) but they are not like the Sergeant 
 of Chaucer — they are not like my own Sergeant, 
 — they are not 
 
 " Wary and wife." 
 
 Had it not been for Edmond's habitual flric- 
 tures on Parifh-Clerks and Stone-cutters, the 
 tomb-ftone or monument of this Poet in the 
 chancel of Stratford Church, would have been 
 ten thoufand pounds to hhn^ in the lottery of 
 autographs. 
 
 It is a decided **Shakspeare j" and I agree with 
 Dr. Davenport i (who was, by the way, extremely 
 obliging to me^ as well as to Edmond, and is 
 t\\(t ArijJipptis o^ Stratford-CourtefieSy) *' that no 
 '* trace of an elifion can be found." 
 
 But alas, Edmond has challenged (a legal 
 phrafe borrowed from the coif at my elbow) all 
 tomh-jlonc evidence, and with felf-denying 
 heroifm (to do him jullice) lays no emphatical 
 flrefs upon this, although it is a powerful aux- 
 iliary to one of his 
 
 ** Five Edmonds in the field." 
 
 In the next place (which is awkward and vial-cl- 
 fropQs) the Poet's widow in the chancel of that very 
 fame church, is a determined " Shakespeare," 
 A. D. 1623. 
 
 The
 
 t 94 ] 
 
 The daughter, and favorite child, who, I (hould 
 think, would have indulged an affedtionate pa- 
 rent's orthographies (whatever his widow may 
 have done, whom, as Edmond has told us, he 
 forgot in his Will) dies " the daughter of Shake- 
 speare," and is an idle babbler upon her tomb" 
 Jione in the fame chancel, A. D. 1649.* 
 
 Doclor Hall (whofe medical notes the inde- 
 fatigable Edmond has obtained, and promifes to 
 depofit in the Mufeum) is in the fame chancel, 
 defcribed as " the hufband of Sufannah, the 
 daughter of Shakespeare," A. D. 1635. 
 
 I have before obferved, that out of three 
 iomb-fione records, Edmond has copied onCt 
 as he found it, with improvident accuracy ; but 
 that, with a convenient flip, he has dropt the 
 unaccommodating e in one of the others, viz. in 
 that which defcribes the daughter's name. Let 
 me now add, for the honour of his addrefs, that 
 he has been equally dexterous in his report of 
 the Vhyjician's wife^ and with unexampled 
 finefTe, — for he adduces every other Minutianiftn 
 of the exhibit, but overlooks this one part of 
 the text — " he marr. Sufanna y~ daughter and 
 " coheire of Will, f Shakfpearet gent." &c. 
 
 * *• Not on the fecond but on the eleventh of July," as 
 Malone, correfting Theobald, with Mimtian felicity, has 
 the ohWgxng prevenance to inform us. 
 
 Malone, vol. i, pt. i, pag. 105. 
 f If Minutius Felix and the Vicar of Stratford are not 
 as blind as the " Beggar of Bethnal Green/' this laj)i(/al name 
 is not Shakspeare but Shakespeare. 
 
 It
 
 [ 95 3 
 
 It is alfo, at leaft, extremely curious, that Sir JVtU 
 liatn Dugdaky antiquarian profcffed, a very ex- 
 pert herald, and in general a very accurate (as 
 well as minute) hiftorian, a Warwickfliire-man, 
 born when the Poet was living, quoting, in a 
 local hiflory of Stratford, this very infcription, 
 and quoting it as he found it, with pundtilious 
 regard for truth, confiders it as a mere ftone^ 
 cutter's erratiiniy and has not once adopted it 
 elfewhere, but has perfevered in ** Shakespeare" 
 as the original and perfe^l name, 
 
 I remember one palfage in his book which car- 
 ries me back to the pun^ confirmed by the evi- 
 dence of a confummate herald, and is, in thefe 
 words, forming a part of the index to the arms. 
 
 " Shakespear — argent — on a bend fable — a 
 SPEAR of the field." 
 
 It is true, that without Malone at their elbow, 
 the Dean and Chapter at Weftminfler have put 
 ** Shakspeare" upon their cenotaph, A. D. 1741. 
 
 But it is not lefs true : 
 
 Firjt, That all the cotemporaries of that in- 
 fcription have continued ** Shakespeare" or 
 ** Shakespear," and have fo written it with a 
 marked reference to this revifed compofitor of 
 the lapidal prefs. 
 
 Secondly, That it feems natural to fuppofe 
 Tojnb-fione the Jecond a mere plagiarifl: from 
 Tomb-Jlone the firji, and then, (as the Sergeant 
 elegantly exprefies the folecifmj it is " Jde?n per 
 idein.'*
 
 C 96 ] 
 
 In Stratford itfclf, the Town hall gives the 
 figure and llatueof " Shakespeare," fo infcribed. 
 
 At all events, tell me. Genius of candour and 
 of Edmond, what becomes of iomb-jloneSy (if 
 they were as plentiful as blackberries,) in oppo- 
 lition to the title pages of the living poet's works, 
 either prompted, or at leaft, unoppofed by him f 
 
 Before I touch upon them^ I cannot help re- 
 lating a very aufpicious anecdote, and worthy 
 of the Malonian fchool. 
 
 Malonian Revolution at Stratford, 
 
 ^^ Mr. Edmond Malone, of Queen Ann- 
 Street, Eaft, has white wafhed the monument of 
 Shakspeare in Stratford chancel, fo as to put the 
 entire effigies of the poet, (including his coun- 
 tenance and apparel,) into one uniform, but very 
 dignified, mafs of ftone colour, though, till this 
 annotating improvement was adopted by the 
 Editor f« />^^«/, it was, like other monuments, 
 of that period, covered by the artift with many 
 colours. 
 
 The Sergeant was muttering over his books, 
 under the column oi facrilege, but I faved him 
 trouble (for which he did not thank me, becaufe 
 he loves it), by telling him — " the Vicar ajented.'* 
 
 Whether, for this office oi plaijlerer extraor^ 
 Unary to their native bard, he is made free of 
 
 the
 
 C 97 ] 
 
 the Corporation at Stratfordy I have not yet learnt; 
 but if he is not, he defcrves to be. 
 
 What Mr. Carter will fay to him who has con- 
 verted his brother architedt, James Ifyatt, into a 
 Goth and Vandal, for fpoliation (allcdged) of an- 
 cient monuments, it is not for me to conjedure ; 
 but I think Edmond is endangered, and he will 
 do well to patch up an armiftice with Mr. Chal- 
 mers. 
 
 On the potency of the title pages ^ let it never 
 be forgot, ill, that by one of thefe Dryden is 
 prefented with an additional e between r and jy in 
 his name, a boon accredited, hrevimaniiy by Malone. 
 
 And 2d, Ihat Lifideius, that immortal ana- 
 graniy is built upon a title-page alone. 
 
 I alTert, with Malonian dignity, (but with a 
 mean fpirit of accuracy in fupport of it,) that 
 not one title page is to be found in the Poet's 
 life, or at any later period anterior to that of 
 Edmond (whom Proteus long preferve I ) in which 
 the name is any thing but Shakespeare; and I 
 begin at his own time, 
 
 I aver upon the ocular teftimony of Minutius 
 Felix, at the Mufeum in Great RulTell Street, 
 that all the old editions there preferved, have 
 Shakespeare upon the title page without one 
 exception. 
 
 H To
 
 [ 98 ] 
 
 To feled: thofe of his own time, 
 
 A. D. 1598, Rich, the lid. 
 Shake-fpeare, 
 
 A. D. 1598, Rich, the Illd. 
 Shake-fpeare. 
 
 1^3" I'"* both of thefe I mark the divifion of 
 the name into the two radical words that gave 
 birth to it, and which, in that punning age, 
 are carefully cherifhed by that arrangement. 
 
 In the very next year, 1599, we have 
 The fecond part of Henry the IVth, 
 and with precifely the fame divifion of the 
 word Shake — -fpeare. 
 
 In A. D. 1600, it is preferved, modo etformd, 
 as a part of the title page to 
 
 The Merchant of Venice. 
 
 In that fame year we have the word Shake- 
 fpeare^ but undivided, as the name of the au- 
 thor, to four of his other plays, real or fuppofed. 
 
 In 1602, we have another Shakefpeare, 
 
 In 1605, ^wo more. 
 
 In 1608, w^e have King Lear by Shakefpeare. 
 
 In 1 609, Pericles, — and Poems), ^, , ^ 
 
 , , T T 1 h by Shakefpeare 
 
 In 1 61 1, Hamlet S 
 
 In 1615, we have Richard the Ild (perhaps 
 copied from that of A. D. 1598) by Shake- 
 fpeare. 
 
 ^^ I have
 
 C 99 ] 
 
 1:3° I have adduced thefe inftances for proofs, 
 that in his own time he was " called" Shake- 
 fpeare^m 
 
 If I am told that Meflieurs, the Editors of 
 thofe early days, were governed by t\\t found oi the 
 name, then Shakespeare, could not have been 
 " called Shaxspeare," as Edmond has affirmed, 
 in Dryden's Life, (comparing it with Blake-slev, 
 called Blaxley,} but was at leaft, appellatively 
 foftened into a milder tone. 
 
 If I am told that ** called" means " written,'* 
 in Shaxspeare, I difprove the fad by thefe title 
 pages. 
 
 f:^- The Sergeant commends this argument, 
 and fays, it is what pleaders call a dilemma, which 
 is a legal fort of cleft-ftick, that is generally 
 fatal to its adverfaries. 
 
 N. B. The catalogue of Garrick's old plays, f 
 including thofe of " Nature's Dramatijl," (which 
 is, perhaps, after all, his true and perfecl name) 
 is written, (who would have thought it ?) by 
 Mr. Cd^d; — whom Garrick therefore fo far ac- 
 credited. 
 
 But I admit, (though it would be at once his 
 death if he could juft be revived enough to be 
 
 * In the lift which is given to us by Mr. Editor Steevensy 
 A. D. 1773, are all thefe, which that great man adopts; and 
 fohie others, which are not accredited by hm. 
 
 f Mr. Steeveiis, who is truth itfelf\ reports that in this col- 
 lection there is a vohime endorfed Shake/peare^ vol. i, and that 
 it belonged to Charles the IJl^ 
 
 H 2 killed.
 
 [ 100 ] 
 
 killed, as Ireland was by Talus-Edmond's iron 
 mace) that his catalogue is not precifely and 
 pundually accurate in its reference to the books 
 themfelvcs. 
 
 I have confulted the fountain head — 
 
 ** yuvat intrgros accedcre fontes \** 
 
 and I muftadd, that Mr. //jr/'<?r did the honors of 
 each cup ** in the ?noJl obliging mannery'' though 
 (butfor Edmond's example of gratitude in iimilar 
 efFulions) I Ihould think it a fuperfluous com- 
 pliment, implied and covered by the habitual 
 accefs to that amiable perfon, which his office 
 and pleafing manners give to fo many in the 
 various departments of literature. 
 
 The " Shakejpeares" of a later period upon title 
 pages, but all of them in the 17th century, are 
 twenty-four. — They commence at 1619, and 
 clofe at 1695. 1 (hall only feledl a peculiar 
 circumftance upon that of Ric. III. in 1630. It is 
 not only a decided " Shake-fpearey" but ** Speare'* 
 has a large initial ;— which, I own, tempted a 
 little fnap of the finger and thumb. 
 
 Edmond's tranjcript of unaccommodating Ori~ 
 ginals. 
 
 Here it is that I again admire Edmond's UL- 
 paralleled ingenuity, who, in referring to fome of 
 ihefe very title pages^ either drops the name, — or 
 omits, andfpills the very letter inqueflion as a part 
 
 of
 
 C 10. j 
 
 of it which is inconvenient for bis purpofe — with 
 Jludious inattention^ as the Sergeant well exprcfTes it- 
 
 I may be told, that perhaps Edmond is not 
 anfwerable for the accuracy of thefc tranfcripts, 
 which are pofTibly thofe of Steevens and bor- 
 rowed only by Edmond. 
 
 But I. The Sergeant informs me, that if Ed- 
 mond will not explain, with more difcrimination, 
 what is, and what is not his own, he mufl anfwer 
 for all the vouchers he has produced. 
 
 2. That by adducing them as accurate, with- 
 out even the infinuated hint of omiflions, which 
 he mud have been able to point out, he makes 
 them his own. 
 
 3. That in one inftance, he has given us bet- 
 ter, and the bejly authority, viz, bis own. — The 
 Sergeant refers me to pag. 224, Mai. Shak. 
 vol. I. pt. I. 
 
 " Folio edition. 
 
 " Mr. William Shakfpeare\ comedies, &c. 
 pnbliflied according to the true original copies, 
 1623, Ifaac Jaggard, and Ed. Blount. 
 *' Reprinted in 1632, 1666, and 1685." 
 
 f Malone ! 
 
 |f3" I have feen this very edition of 1623, 
 
 and I alTert, that on the title page of that folio, 
 
 there is no " Shakf pea-re,'' and " Shakefpeare" is 
 
 the name. 
 
 In page 292, he tacitly and gracefully admits 
 
 the negative truth of page 229; for there he 
 
 quotes the entry of this identical book in the 
 
 H 3 Regiftcr
 
 C 102 ] 
 
 Regifter of MelTieurs the incorporated Sta- 
 tioners, referring to William Shakefpeare's work. 
 But he has the memory as well as the genius, 
 of the Poet, which ^* memory" he defcribes pi^^w 
 (and it is a favorite theme) to be, as if fo called 
 " ^ non ?nemorando.'"We{hsi\\ fee beautiful inftances 
 of it in the Annotator's CanonS'-^smd we muft 
 not here anticipate them. 
 
 Dedications, 
 
 In 1596, the Poet himfelf dedicates to Lord 
 Southampton, his " Venus and Adonis." — He 
 figns his name " Shakefpeare." 
 
 See Malone's Enquiry y &c. pag. 67. 
 
 [It is true, that Edmond adds a note which 
 
 refers to a M.S. diary of A. D. 1593, which he 
 
 had feen, and in which diary " Shakfpere" is the 
 
 name. 
 
 " ^lare de ceo.''* 
 
 fays the Sergeant."] 
 
 In 1594, the fame Poet again dedicates to 
 that nobleman, " the Rape of Lucrece,*' and 
 iigns again " IV. Shakefpeare," 
 
 [Malone's Enquiry^ pag. (>%, 
 
 ^^ But Apella the Jew^ will obftinately dif- 
 believe the fad which I am now going to lay 
 before him. 
 
 Edmond in the Shakjpeare^ edited by him, 
 when his objeA is to reprobate a fuperfluous e^ 
 adduces thefe very dedications ; and, without 
 
 ceremony.
 
 [ I03 ] 
 
 ceremony, banifhes that impertinent vowel. See 
 vol. 10. — " Why?" 
 
 *' Becaufe it fuited him." 
 
 And yet is the very fame Edmond fo puncfli- 
 lious a copyift of the ancient orthographies, 
 that he quotes an entry of " Comes Sozvthainpton'* 
 in the very next page, (after one of thefc dedi- 
 cations,) and " IVrioiheoJley' by way of tranfcript 
 from Camden's Britannia. 
 
 This I call addrefs. 
 
 But what fhall we fay of page 134, in Ed- 
 mond's note upon his own work ? 
 
 " Mr. William Shak-fpeare^ his true Chro- 
 nicle — Hijlorie of the Life and Death of King 
 Lear and his Three Daughters, with the Un- 
 fortunate Life of Edgar, Sonne and Heire^ the 
 Earle oiGloJicr, &c. &c. &c. &c. 1608." 
 
 I have Italianized the words that have any 
 orthographical ruft upon them, to fliow how 
 Minutian this great man profelTes to be as a 
 Copyiji. 
 
 But on the other hand, Minutius Felix tefti- 
 fies, that amongft thefe pundlilious fidelities of 
 truth, " Shakfpeare' alone is a word that is to be 
 read with poetical optics ; and that no ufurper in his 
 own hiftorical plays, can have lefs claim, except 
 upon the Lion's plea^ to the right afTumed. 
 For " Shakefpeare*' is the name: — I have/^^« it; 
 and with all deference to the fagacity oi'^irefias — 
 Edmond's prophetical vifions, I have ^c^en it with 
 better eyes (for a certificate) than he can boaft. 
 H 4 It
 
 [ 104 ] 
 
 It happens, playfully enough, that in the 
 very fame page, five inftances are given of" ^S"^^/^*?- 
 Jpeare" as he is in the original, with an impro- 
 vident, but amiable, fimplicity of truth. 
 
 Regifers of Stratford, 
 
 Here Edmond is at home — and Bonaparte is 
 not more triumphant. 
 
 Thefe Regiflers exclude, in every inftance but 
 onCy till 170O;. the firit ^, which has yet been fo 
 accredited by collateral evidence, and of the fame 
 period. 
 
 But after 1700, they embrace the banilhed 
 letter, and perfevere in it, with as little reafon 
 for adopting it juft then, as for its earlier ba- 
 nilhment. 
 
 Here we have the Poet again : I do not mean 
 ShakfpearCy but his poetical Editory who, refer- 
 ring to the later period, adheres to the rejedion of 
 the letter adopted, though profefiing to copy with 
 minuteft care ; and omits, with a pious fraud, or 
 graceful negligence, the fingle inftance of that 
 pleonafm in the century that clofed with 17CO. 
 
 But I confefs that, with all my enthufiafm 
 for his brilliant inaccuracies, I had alfumed, in 
 the reporter of Mr. Shaw's family accounts ^ and 
 of the undertaker's bill for Drydens funeral^ 
 iindeviating precifion, to the dot of an /, as the 
 
 amanu-
 
 C 105 3 
 
 amanuenfis of Regijfers, which he had perfonally 
 infpcded ; (for his eyes are very good, when he 
 cbu/es to fee, whatever Dr. Burney may think of 
 his ears) He infpecfled them, under the aufpiccs 
 of the Vicar, in whofe prefence I have feen them 
 too. 
 
 But though imperially felf-accredited in each 
 of the extracts, which he tells his reader, p. 171, 
 that •* he has made with care ;" and though I am 
 told that he was for a time entrufted with a fe- 
 parate cuftody of the originals, I ihall have the 
 honor to attell again the Jublimity of his fatls 
 — I lliall mark what he would call, and juflly, 
 egregious inaccuracies in CapcH or Ihcobdld, 
 but which in hiniy both of us agree to confider 
 as patches upon a beautiful countenance, and 
 though blemiflies in thcmfclves, becoming in 
 their polition. 
 
 Having y^<^;/ thefe regifters, and " before * din- 
 iier^^' which part of the day Horace recommends 
 for difquilitions of tafle 
 
 f — *' impranji difquirite !" — J 
 
 I can he Jure of the extradls I have made. 
 
 It has been flated that he affcdts to omit no par- 
 ticle of literal differences, and more particularly 
 in the mode of fpelling the Poet's name, which 
 he has, (upon that principle oiMinutianifmy) oc- 
 cafionally varied, as from the original, and in 
 ftrift purfuance of the hiftorical fact. 
 
 * I do not mean to fay that I had not a moil excellent break- 
 
 ^■^^ of lea and muffins , 
 
 8^ It
 
 [ io6 ] 
 
 Q:^» It reminds mc of a bookfeller's catalogue 
 which fell into my hands at Brighthelmftone. 
 
 At the end of fome few articles was annexed, 
 as a beacon to guard againfl: a rock, the de- 
 hortatory word '* indecent." " This man has 
 great merit/' faid a veftal aunt of mine, " vvc 
 are now fure of the reft," — and fentfor the ** Coufin 
 of Mahomet,** which my daughter, under the 
 wings of my aunt, was beginning to read !! 
 
 I. I Ihall firft prove that he has mifquoted 
 the original, where it fo far agrees to the copy, 
 as that both exclude the firft e. 
 
 This may be called an " accident ly chanced* 
 
 a. I ftiall convidl him of equal inaccuracy, 
 (but the convidion is a laurel to him) where the 
 original admits the impertinent vowel, and where 
 his copy excludes it. 
 
 This may be called, as a very ingenious cri- 
 tic in the town of Limerick well defcribes it> 
 " an accident hy dejign." 
 
 In other culprits, invidious names are given 
 to thefe liberties ; but they are lady-like frolics in 
 him, like putting coals into your bed, &c. &c. 
 
 N. B. If Mr. Chalmers happens to be of an 
 envious nature, he will be jealous of thefe de- 
 tections.* 
 
 * I begin to think my fort is the detection of literal mzccw- 
 racies committed by men who piqued themfelves upon clerical 
 fidelity of tranfcript ; for I have correfted Mr. Steevens's 
 copy (foi dijantj from the fame original, though faid by him 
 to have been tranfcribed by the late Mr. TVcJl, a celebrated 
 antiquarian, who had an eftate in Warwickfliire. [Min. Felix. 
 
 STRATFORD
 
 [ 107 3 
 
 STRATFORD REGISTER. 
 
 First Head, 
 The Maloniana. The Original. 
 
 Shakfpere. 
 
 Pag. 174, Hamnet, &c. 
 
 Shakfpeare. 
 Aug. II, 1596. 
 
 Pag. 175, Gilbert Shak- 
 fpere, 
 Feb. 3, 161 1. 
 
 Richard Shakfpere. 
 Feb. 4, 1 61 2-13. 
 
 Pag. 176, Shahfperey Son, 
 
 Nov. 23, 1616. 
 
 Pag. 179, Shakfpeare. 
 Nov. 18, 1666. 
 
 Pag. 1 80, Shakfpeare, 
 
 Hart, 
 April. 10, 1694. 
 
 Anne, Daughter of Shak- 
 fpeare. 
 Aug. 9, 1700. 
 Cathariney Daughter of 
 
 Shakfpeare. 
 July 19, 1703. 
 
 Anne, [Daughter of 5'/;fli'- 
 fpeare, and Anne] 
 Hart. 
 
 Shakfpeare, 
 
 Shakfpeare. 
 Shakfper, fiUius, ^'c. 
 
 Shakfpere, 
 Shakpefy Hartt, 
 
 Ann Filia Shaxpear, 
 Katheren of Shakfpear, 
 
 Ann Hart. 
 
 Nothing more! the reft is 
 Edmond's invention !! 
 
 SLIPS
 
 [ 'o8 ] 
 
 SLIPS of MEMORY under the 
 Second Head. 
 
 Mahne, 
 William Shakspeare, 
 Son of Shakspeare. 
 Sept. 14, 1695. 
 
 P. 180, Anne, Daughter 
 of Shakspeare, &c. 
 Mar. 29, 1738. 
 
 William Shakspeare. 
 Jan. 8, 1743-4- 
 
 Thomas, Son of Shak- 
 speare. 
 "Mar. 12, 1746. 
 
 Shakspeare, Hart. 
 
 July 7, 1747- 
 
 Catharine, Daughter of 
 William Shak- 
 
 speare, &c. 
 
 May 10, 1748. 
 
 WilliamSHAKSPEARE,&C. 
 
 Feb. 28, 1749-50 
 
 Original. 
 William Shakespeare, 
 Fillius Shakespere. 
 
 Shakespear. 
 
 Shakespear. 
 Shakespear. 
 
 Shakespear, &c 
 Shakespear. 
 
 Shakespear. 
 
 N. B. There are other inaccuracies in the copy 
 of other names — but I refcrve them to a 
 Je par ate work — in folio. 
 
 (13- Upon
 
 [ 109 ] 
 
 §0" Upon this Rcgifler another very obvious 
 comment arifes. 
 
 If it is corredt in the earlieft entries of the 
 name, Edmond is /;; the bajket (a metaphor taken 
 from a Cockpit,-) for the Poet will then be 
 " Shaky^dT^," which is not Edmond 's child ; 
 though to make it feem probable that it was 
 written Shak/j5f<^r<? occalionally in the Regifter 
 itfelf, he has ;«//quotcd the mode of fpelling it 
 in the burial of Hamnet, the fon of the Poet, 
 by copying (Hibernice) what is not in the ori- 
 ginal. 
 
 I cannot 
 
 *' (pudet hac opprobria,'' See. S:c.) 
 collate Edmond with MeiTieurs the Aldermen 
 of Stratford, upon the authenticity of the Cor- 
 porate Entries; for inftead of accrediting (as he 
 afFeds to do) the cxtrads from their books, 
 (pag. 103,) " by the favor of Mr. Davenport^'' 
 he has made Ihort work of it, and fv/cpt away 
 the originals, to infpedt, and return, whenever 
 it may — fuit him^ — as the Vicar tells me. 
 
 Regijlers of the Company of Stationers. 
 
 I. As to the extracts from the Rcgifters of 
 this dignified hally Edmond has, by a miracle, 
 deviated into one Shakcfpere^ as found in them, 
 and the date A. D. 1600,* [p^igc 255, vol. i, 
 
 * The Poet was then become a celebrated man ; as Edmond 
 has obferved. 
 
 part
 
 [ »'o ] 
 
 part I.] which extra6t, by the way, is inaccu- 
 rate, for the word is not " Shakefpere" but 
 "Shakefpeare^"' as Mr. Chalmers, who is the vidtor, 
 (quo-ad hoc) hdi^ proved m Edmond's beft manner, 
 by a counter-affcrtion. 
 
 But I have Dares £s? EnUllus, united, againfl 
 all * IDLE BABBLERS who glve the word Shak- 
 fpeare as of that period ; — unlefs found in the 
 Regifter of Stratford, (which Ecclefiaflical au- 
 thority, the two joint-oracles of the Hall and 
 Stage oppofe upon advantage ground,) or in the 
 Patent -grant of Arms, which Edmond has /«-, 
 'ventedy (profeffing to copy it,} fo far as it re- 
 Ipedls the name of " Shakfpeare." 
 
 [2.] We htive other inftances, in the famq 
 Regifter, viz. thofeof 1608 and 1609, pag. 258, 
 and 259, vol. I. pt. i. 
 
 Let me, however, emulate Edmond's candoui 
 in pag. 260, by inverting the refult, which he 
 has mifquoted, and dating the fa6l, which he 
 has overlooked, though it is in his own favour. 
 The name is not " Shakefpearey" A. D. 1626, as he 
 has quoted it — but a new and moft eccentric 
 anomaly, — unique as far as I have obferved. The 
 difcovery is due to Entellus ChalmerSy Efq. — it is 
 the word " Shakfpeere," 
 
 * R is incredible what a/><f/ of Edmond's is that word. — ^Who 
 fliould have fuppofcd that he would have called Andronicus,, 
 and Therfites " babblers-" but be has,— and in the fame para- 
 graph! vol. 10, pag. 378, ^1 
 
 Licenfe'^ 
 
 h
 
 C "' ] 
 
 iJcenfe to the Poet as an A^or^ 1603. 
 
 It IS, publifhed by Edmond himfelf; — and 
 ** Shakespeare" is the adlor licenfed ; — pag. 40, 
 vol. I, pt. 2. 
 
 Verjes upon Stanley. 
 
 Thefe are afcribed by Malone to Shakefpeare, 
 and are marked, according to Edmond, with his 
 name fo written, by the original Editor. 
 
 ^^3° Apropos of RegijlerSy they render, at 
 Stratford, the local evidence of the name a 
 perfect myflery, inafmuch as the very fame de- 
 ceafed, the Poet himfelf, who is upon his monu- 
 ment *' Shakjpeare" is in the regifter of that very 
 interment ^^ Shakjpere \^* and his widow is in the 
 xt^\%.tx^^ Shakjpeare y'' who upon her tomb is an 
 arrant ^'Shakefpeare.'* 
 
 [Note hy the Sexton* 
 
 Cotefuporaries of the Poet, 
 
 They are Shakefpeariani nem: contr: 
 
 [i.] According to Edmond himfelf, [pag. 
 
 191, vol. 10,] Meres, in 1598, wrote " the 
 
 " honey-tongued Shakefpeare," 
 
 The
 
 [ "2 ] 
 
 The fame Edmond emulates the contempt of 
 memory which he afcribes to the Poet ; for 
 pag. 39 8j vol. I, he copies a palFage from this 
 very author, and makes him (with Talus' s Re- 
 fiorattve Drops) write the word " Shak/peare"" — 
 profelTing to be fo Minutian a copyift, that he 
 writes " EarW'' in the fame pafTage. 
 
 \_i.~\ Dr. Gabriel Harveyy has in the fame 
 year ( 1 598 J given us no other name for him, but 
 Shakefpeare. 
 
 [See Malone's firft note upon Hamlet.* 
 
 C3O ^^-^^ Paffionate Pilgrim (I have Edmond's 
 word for it, vol. 10, pag. 321,) was publifhed 
 by William Jaggard, with " Shakefpeare' &'' name 
 to it, in A. D. 1599. 
 
 [4.] In Greene's Return from ParnafTus, 
 A. D. 1602, I, who have feen it (through a 
 Minutian telefcope) affirm that ** Shakefpeare" is 
 one of his dramatis perfon^e. 
 
 [5.] I have feen a work that has the title of 
 ** Daiphantus in Love," publifhed A. D. 1604, 
 by An. Sc. (gentleman,) which initials mean, as I 
 am informed by the owner of the book (who 
 honours me with his friendfliip, though he is 
 F. S. A.) Anthony Scholker. In that work 
 " Shakefpeare''' is the name. 
 
 [6.]] Barkjlead\iXQX.t him " Shakefpeare^' A. D, 
 1607. Malone, 10-71. 
 
 [7.] Edmond's gracious boon prcfents me 
 with D^/'L'/V^, of Hereford, who, about 161 1, [as 
 he tells me, i. pt. 2, 184,] infcribed his verfes 
 
 * See alfo pag. 71, Mai, Shakf. vol. 10. 
 
 " To
 
 C "3 ] 
 
 " To our Englifh Terence Mr. William Shake^ 
 *'' /peare.*^ 
 
 [7. aj CareWy in 161 4, alludes to ^^ Shakefpeare^* 
 Mai. 10-71. 
 
 [8.j Ben Johnfon wrote the name uniformly 
 *< Shakefpeare," 
 
 But as Edmond thinks /^/w an " idle babbler," 
 he has not fuffered him to lie in his grave, un- 
 molefted, with fuch a fi^ion upon his lips. In 
 other words, (as the Sergeant has gravely, but 
 neatly, illuftrated this quo warranto^) he has not 
 fuffered him to have written it, as he wrote it in 
 fad:, but reforms the erratum, — in his Report. 
 
 1^9.] The name of *' Shakefpeare'" adorns a lift 
 of the adors in three of Be7i Johnfon's favorite 
 plays. 
 
 [10.] Bajfe, a little after the Poet's death (as 
 Edmond has dated him) wrote commendatory 
 verfes upon " Shakefpeare.'* 
 
 gf3" A more exquifite fpecimen of Edmond\ 
 amiable conflicfts with Edmond^ cannot be ad- 
 duced, or imagined. 
 
 In the text, pag. 196, part i, vol. r, the 
 verfes are entitled " on William Shakfpeare," 
 "which is poetical invention -, — for there is no fuch 
 title ! 
 
 In the note, another, and the real, title is pro- 
 duced, which I fliall quote in Edmond's words — 
 
 ** Bajfe his elegie OJie * [on'] Poett Shakefpeare."'' 
 
 * " One" (vice versa) loft the final f, in thofe days, now 
 and then, for a little variety. 
 
 I *' If
 
 i "4 i 
 
 " If the firfl: of thefe titles be confidered (fays 
 the anatomizing Trchatius) merely as the mifpri- 
 lion of the earliefl: compofttor's " glancing eye ^' 
 you meet that apology for Edmond, 'with a 
 cartel of defiance ; no fuch prior Editor having, 
 in fad, annexed any fuch name as a title to 
 thofe verfes. — There's your glove!" 
 
 [ri.] All the other commendatory verfes in 
 
 the folio edition of 1623, are praifes of" Shake-' 
 
 Jpearey' and may be ranked as the laurels of 
 
 coaeval, as well as pofthumous, fame, his death 
 
 having been fo recent as A. D. 1616. 
 
 ^3- They are all, Mathout exception, mij- 
 qiioted by Edmond, with felicity * of error, fo 
 far as refpeCts the " babbling*' vowel. 
 
 Editors. 
 
 All, — commencing at Hcminge and CondelV^, 
 his brother-comedians, and proceeding in fuc- 
 cefllon to the " Virgo''* and the " Saturnia regna" 
 of Malone, have fuppofed their Poet a " Shaken. 
 fpeare.\* 
 
 ^^ Yet I believe that every one of them has^ 
 by the miracle of difcovering that which does 
 not exijl, been caught by Edmond, in the very 
 ad of anticipating his reform by 2ifecond, or fu- 
 
 '*■ " Varieties ioo regular iox chance^^ \C¥Vjh^ 
 
 pernatural.
 
 C "5 ] 
 
 pernatural, fight.^ It is very feldom indeed, if 
 at all, that he makes an accidental (and which 
 therefore might be a pardonable) flip into the 
 name which they wrote, — profejfing to copy it. 
 
 In page 324, vol. r, pt. i, having quoted 
 Pope (whom he dcfcribes in general to have 
 written a word ["** Shak/pearCy'^ which he never 
 has written, but which Edmond thinks htjhould 
 have written) he has caught the real word 
 ** Shakefpeare ;'' but he repents in time; — for it 
 is in the very fame page, that he again lofes, out 
 of his hand, (or prcfs) the derellcl e^ which 
 he had himfelf appropriated as reprefenting 
 Fope. 
 
 Mafter of the Revels. 
 
 [Edmond loquitur. 
 
 Sir Henry Herbert^ who bore that office, and 
 was, in other words, the Infpe6lor of Plays, upon 
 the face of a receipt ^ (a legal and mofl: happy ex- 
 preflion'Jwhichispublifhcd by Edmond, and bears 
 date 1627, writes him down — a " Shakefpeare.'" 
 
 * Th\'^ finejje of Edmond has been extended, by him, to his 
 engraved portrait of Lord Southampton^ in whofe library a 
 vohimc of " Shakfpeare'" is produced, — and with Malonian ortho- 
 graphy a 
 
 I ji Antiquarians.
 
 C ii6 ] 
 
 Antiquarians. 
 
 ["i.] Pag. 172, and pag. 269, vol. i, pt. 2. 
 
 Aubrey the antiquarian, is quoted by Edmond 
 as writing the name " ShakefpcareJ'^ 
 
 [2.] CamdeUy 161 4, wrote the fame word. 
 
 Dugdale followed him. 
 
 [3. J Birch in our time. 
 
 [4.] And IVarton, the refearcher, who dif- 
 covered " that Milton had a very bad * ear," 
 are planet firuck by the fame error. 
 
 (j:^ Apropos, the Sergeant (who is never 
 more eloquent than in goffip of the Bar)" tells an 
 excellent flory of an ingenious and promifing 
 advocate, the Marcellus of his day, who diftin- 
 guiflied himfelf as counfel for the liberty of 
 the fubjeft au miry — was painted in his caufi^ 
 dical roheSy with his hnet'*' ex parte Somerfet," by 
 way of truncheon for his hand, — and when he 
 wrote a letter to thofe who were unapprized 
 of his laurels, made it a rule to add, " the gen- 
 
 * I had mifquoted Warton. He does not fay that Mil/on 
 had " NO EAR, but that he had " a very bad ear !!" 
 
 //«/«(? had the lame ophvion as to Shakfpeare, but the deity 
 who had the care of that hiftoriaa's ear 
 
 " excejfa adytis" 
 v\'hcn he made the remark. 
 
 " tleman
 
 C "7 3 
 
 " tleman who diftinguiftied himfelf fo much in the 
 '* Negro-Caufe/' — by w^iy o^parenthefisy oxepijode, 
 I would propofe to diftinguifh Tom from Joc^ 
 by adding, *' the Poet laureat who difcovered 
 " THAT Milton had a very bad ear. !1" 
 
 ToetSy 
 
 And Writers in Profe 
 
 of all Defcriptions and of all Periods, ever fincc 
 
 the Birth of Shakejpeare. 
 
 Garrick. 
 
 As true to his own catalogue of ShakefpearCy 
 as to the genius of the Bard, (whofe immor- 
 tality he fhared with his own,) died an infidel 
 as to Edmond's reform. 
 
 In Stratford upon A-voUy the feat of Tomb- 
 fiones and of Rcgifiers which exclude the firfl: e^ 
 I can certify that I heard Mr. Garrick recite the 
 word " Shakejpeare.^^ 
 
 Mrs. Baddeley (a popular hiflorian, as well as 
 Edmond) fung no other name at the Jubilee. 
 
 Mrs. Montagu has left ** Shakfpeare'' un-" vin- 
 dicated.'' Mrs. Charlotte Lennox has left him 
 un-" ill ujl rated.'' 
 
 Their hero was another man, who was called 
 
 and written " Shakejpear" by them — I (d.y by theiUy 
 
 ;^nd beg that an accent may dwell upon the word 
 
 I 3 *' them-;'
 
 [ "8 ] 
 
 *' them ;" for I add, " not by Edmond as reporting 
 " them." ISIote the diverfity I fays my learned 
 friend. 
 
 Sieevens and John/on republifhed no other 
 dramatift; they unite (as 1 hope they did upoa 
 all other topics of morality) in abjuring the 
 ufurper *' Sbakfpeare." 
 
 Johnfon'% prologue in 1747, ^^^^ equally unini- 
 tiated in the Malonian lignature. 
 
 Thofcl manly, and fpirited lines, which no- 
 thing of their kind (except Malone's account of 
 Dry den's NorthamptonJJjtre cftate) [in Greek., /^er 
 ctivr^ova. IlijXsiwi/a.] has ever equalled, — were 
 throvv'n away, if Edmond is correct, upon fome 
 other dramatift. 
 
 In the voluminous Di&ionary of that Eng^ 
 liJJj Juvenaly the references are to *' Shakefpeare,"* 
 In the Ramblerhis Critique is upon " Shakefpeare,* 
 
 Dryden. 
 
 Edmond, page 126, vol. r, pt. 2, refers to 
 the verfes of Dry den, which are in vol. 2, pag, 
 
 * Bo/hvell wrote '■^ yohajon^s life," \n fomc degree, under the 
 jufpices of Edmond ; and upon BofwelVs death a new edition, 
 u'hich I have feen, was Maloniani%cd^ by which procefs the 
 word " Shak/peare" is not only given to Bofivellf but, through 
 him, to John/on, 
 
 231*
 
 i 119 ] 
 
 231, ed. 1743, of Dry den' 5 works, and writes 
 the line thus, — with a Malonian quill : 
 
 " Shaifpeare, thy gift !" 
 
 If the name is not " Shakejpeare'" in the ori- 
 ginal, I'll eat the name. 
 
 By the way^ pag. 196, we are told by Edmond, 
 that as Dryden was intimate with Davenant^ 
 uho knew Shak/peare^ he muft ha\"e known 
 through him, at leaft many, if not all, of the 
 interefling particulars conneded with his life. 
 But ftill, (which is very curious) he was ignorant 
 of his immc — His eye, his ear^ and his Jiicmory^ 
 were too *^ glmichig" to catch it. 
 
 It may be faid, *' that Edmond is no pro- 
 felTor of autographs, or of rigid and pundual 
 reference to the word that he found." 
 
 I anfwcr in the Sergeant's name, (with his 
 compliments, and with many apologies,) " that 
 Edmond cannot fo efcape, inafmuch as he writes 
 the name in feme, though few, of the inflances, 
 with pund:iiious accuracy, though militating 
 againft his creed." 
 
 Recapitulation hy the Sergeant. 
 
 " Shake-JpearCy' 
 " Shake-fpear," 
 
 or i 
 " Shake -fpere:' ) 
 
 I 4 rirfi:
 
 I I20 ] 
 
 Fir/I general divifion. 
 
 The teftimony of the living Poet and of his co- 
 temporaries. 
 
 Suh divifion the firjl. 
 
 I. All the Editors in the Poet's life. 
 
 Subd. 2. His own dedications.* 
 
 Subd. 3. His name as an adlor. 
 
 Subd. 4. His licenfe as an adtor, 
 
 Subd. 5. His name as written in his mortgage 
 deed. 
 
 Subd. 6. Mifcellaneous writers who wrote 
 when he was living. 
 
 Subd. 7- The Regiflers of the Company of 
 Stationers, except in one fingle inftance. 
 
 Subd. 8. His father's Grant of Arms. 
 
 Second general divifion. 
 
 Thofe who have mentioned his name fince his 
 death. 
 
 Subd. I. The Regifter of Stratford in one in- 
 ftance before 1700, and uniformly ever fince that 
 period. 
 
 Subd. 2. The Regifter of the Company of 
 Stationers. 
 
 * " But N. B. Lord Southampton's bookfeller, to whom thefe 
 very dedications are infcribed, fent him a poet, lettered " Shak- 
 fftare" Qu. if it was not Mak^e's edition. 
 
 [Note by an imported member of the Imperial Parliament, 
 
 Subd.
 
 C 121 3 
 
 Subd. 3. The Deed which refers to the Mort- 
 gage. 
 
 Subd. 4. All the Poets, and all the writers in 
 profe, 
 
 rheralds, 
 including< antiquaries, 
 
 (,and writers of didlionaries. 
 Tof his wife, 
 Subd. 5. The tombilones-' his daughter, 
 
 (^and fon in law. 
 Subd. 6. Garrick — both orally, and graphi- 
 cally. 
 
 Subd. 7. Statues and bufts — pajjifn — with two 
 exceptions. 
 
 Subd. 8. Malone, like Banquo, with Dryden^s 
 mirror in his hand, and a map of Blakejley vil- 
 lage, held as a banner before him, clofes the 
 awful procefllon of " Shake/pcares.'' 
 
 Shakfpeare'* defires to be heard. 
 
 FirJ} general divijion. 
 
 In the Poet's life. 
 
 Subdivifion i. 
 
 1 . Grant of Arms, as mif quoted by Edmond. 
 
 2. Dedications, Ditto, 
 
 3. The Will, ditto. 
 
 4. AfTcrtion of Edmond. 
 
 Second
 
 C I" ] 
 
 Second general divifion. 
 Since his death. 
 
 *i. Monument at Stratford. 
 
 2. in VVeftminftcr Abbey. 
 
 3. Malone contradided by himfelf. 
 
 " Shak/pere." 
 
 Tirjl general dhifion. 
 
 In his life. 
 
 Subd. I. The Mortgage Deed, and the Will, 
 according to their fecond and correded edition 
 by Edmond. 
 
 2. Corporation Entries. 
 
 3. Regifter of Stratford. 
 
 4. Malone felf-refuted, backwards and for- 
 wards. 
 
 * Amongft a thoufand inilances of Jamu — Edmond^ I feleft 
 the following : 
 
 t^ " To correft falfe datcs^ SiC. by examining tombstones, 
 &;c. we are told " invades the rights of the dead," &c. fee 
 fome " IDLE babble" to that purpofe in the F. of Literature^ 
 p I." {Mai. Dryd. pa. 3. 
 
 '3:^ " Here the reader may exclaim " what ! have we not the 
 *' date of his (Dryden's) birth on his wow/;/;^////'" I anfwer, 
 I. That information, furniraed by tombstones, is, by no 
 means, implicitly to be relied upon. 2. That for the date 
 mentioned we have not even that /lender and often deluji've 
 authority." \_MaL Dryd. pa. 5. 
 
 CCP " Sir Erafmus Dryden died May the thirteenth, not 
 " THE TWENTY-SECOND — as f aid OH his tombjlone." [N. B. 
 Thele are Edmond's Italics.] 
 
 [Mai Dryd. pa. il. 
 
 ** Sbackfpcare"
 
 C '23 J 
 
 ** Shackfpeare'' and *' Shackfpere.** 
 
 The attorney who wrote Combe's Will, and 
 that of the Poet. 
 
 g;^ '* And pray my dear Bai avian little dot of 
 an il (for to call you a letter would throw it awayj 
 do be fo good as tell m€, faid Moroje^ the Cynic, 
 whatj'o// have done. Have you fatisfied the lite- 
 ratos of the age, (excufe the pun, which is your 
 province,) that jo« are in the right? and that it 
 may not ftill be faid by Edmond (as he thinks 
 it may) 
 
 " Here lies the man who difcovered the mode 
 of fpelling an immortal Poet's name, which 
 the Poet himfelf adopted when he borrowed 
 money, and when he paid the debt of nature !!"* 
 
 *' Oh, but my dear friend, (faid I) " after 
 *' thanking you for your endearments, let me 
 *' tell you, that it cannot be uninterefling, if, 
 '' like the facetious Mr. Chalmers, I demon- 
 " Jlrate^ that although Edmond is, or may be, 
 " in the right, yet the heretics, who diiTent from 
 " his word, are not very much /;; the wrong; 
 " and that although in the right, he w^ould be 
 " thought more in the right, if he could, than 
 *' his evidence enables him to be. 
 
 * "Let wimake us a nami — Jell we be fcattercd." Gen. xi. 4, 
 
 " Half
 
 [ 124 ] 
 
 " Half the " battles of the books'' are of this 
 *' kind, and half the Chancery Juits are fought 
 " upon this principle — it is the fall of Sannpfon 
 ** Agonijlesy that pulls down his enemies over 
 " his head. 
 
 " Here I leave the names of Shakefpeare and 
 ** Sbak/pearCy &c. for ever. 
 
 Cejius, artetnque repono. 
 
 " Upon that fubjed ** I have done,'' (as Mr, 
 " Sheridan faid, (by way of banter upon pero- 
 *' rations) after his eloquence upon the Begums, 
 *' — / have done." 
 
 " Yes, and you have done welly (faid Morofey) 
 '*' but as Abel faid, " though it is very fine, 
 *' do not you tink it is a littel too long ? 
 
 " That celebrated player upon the viol da 
 " Gambay vi^as a man of infinite humour, and a 
 " very accomplifhed epicure at the expence of 
 ** his friends, but contributing the talents of his 
 " cook. 
 
 " One day in company with another very emi- 
 " nent performer, whom I knew, he met a divine 
 '* who would have been a famous proficient in 
 " mufic, as well as upon " drum ecclcfiajlic" if 
 " nature hud not adled like your favorites, the 
 " Gods in Homer; that is, if flie had not given 
 *^ him juft half his prayer — the wifh to be ad- 
 " mired upon the violin — without effedl or merit 
 " — and fuccefs in the church — without capacity. 
 
 " He
 
 C '^5 ] 
 
 *' He invited the two muficians to pafs a week 
 ** in the country with him, at a rcfidcnce con- 
 •* nedted with a part of his preferment. 
 
 " They held him cheap as a mufician — cheaper 
 *' as a divine, (though a dignitary,) and cheaper 
 *^ flill as a companion, 
 
 " But, they had infinite refped for his good 
 " fare — the challenge was accepted, and the 
 " mail-coach conveyed them to their hofi: — the 
 ** cook went bodkin between them. 
 
 ** The dinner was exquifite — the wine deli- 
 *' cious. — But after four or five glafics of it, 
 *' Abel faw, with difmay, the edge of a fermon 
 " peering out of Admctns's, pocket. 
 
 " It faid, or fecmed to fay," '^ you muff heaf 
 *' as well as drink-,'" Abci conveyed acrofs the ta- 
 *' ble a look of horror to his friend, as much as to 
 " fay, " the dinner, which is gone, or the wine 
 '* that is before us, cannot pay us for what is 
 " to come." 
 
 " After many awkward efforts, the paper, 
 *' inch by inch, rifing in the pocket, and after a 
 *' kind of amorous delay^ which coquetted with 
 " his modeft fears, the author produced his 
 " work, and fpread it upon the table. 
 
 " He paid many compliments to Ahel (who 
 '^ thanked him in broken-Englifh) for his know- 
 *' ledge of the language ! — he requeued his opi- 
 " nion of the difcourfe, and was preparing to read 
 " when the other faid, *' that he could venture 
 *' to approve it before hand^ as he was quite 
 
 " furc
 
 C '^6 ] 
 
 " fure it would be as eloquent as any thing in St. 
 " Paul." 
 
 " Oh, but you muft hear it, that you may 
 " point out the faults and corredl them." 
 
 " He read the difcourfe, which occupied near 
 " an hour. — They fimulated profound attention, 
 *' and thought of nothing but the wine, which 
 " they took in more copious libations, to relieve 
 " them againft the monotony, and the dullnefs of 
 ** the ferenade. 
 
 " Well, my dear Ahel ! do not flatter me! 
 " what is really your opinion of this work ?'* 
 
 " Why ! (faid Abel) it is very fine, prodi- 
 ** gioujly fine — but is it not a littel too longf'' 
 
 " Do you think fo ?" replied St. Paul, flung to 
 " the heart. The tone of pique, and of diffembled 
 *' anger, which marked this queftion, gave hopes 
 " to the Athenians, (but, alas ! they were infi- 
 *' dious hopes,) that no fuch interruption to the 
 " repofe of their enjoyments, would be attempted 
 ** again. 
 
 ** The very following day this devoted paper 
 " appeared again. " You were in the right, my 
 " dear Abel, it zvas too long ; it is improved by 
 *' your hint — I have (hortened it very much." 
 
 ** Again, it was read ab ovo ad mala ; and then, at 
 " leaft (as he had lopt off near half the volume) 
 " applaufe unqualified, was, in fome degree, 
 " alTumed ; or with complacency of felf-love, 
 *^ anticipated. But the inhuman ^if^d"/ anfwered : 
 " why, it is better to be fure — it is a great deal 
 
 *' better.
 
 C '27 ] 
 
 " better than it was, and it is "cery fine — but it 
 ** is too long — it is a littel too long. 
 
 " The enraged, but ambitious author, proceeded 
 ** every day with a diminuendo each time, till on 
 *' the Saturday, with a peevifh kind of fneer, he 
 " faid, ** this, to oblige you, is an epigram — it is 
 " the fhorteft thing of the kind ever known — 
 " it is a bare quarter of an hour, and my habit 
 " is forty minutes at an average. But you feem 
 " determined againft me." " Not at all, (Hiid 
 '* Abel J I am honeft, I am your friend." ** Well, 
 '* here it is !" and he read it, (having aflurcd his 
 *^ critic, that although he could not help think- 
 " ing him too fevere, he refpeded his motives.) 
 '^ When he had finiflied, Abel faid, ** I cannot 
 " help it, I muft be honeft, it is better — it is 
 " much better than it has been yet — but it is too 
 " long," " Why (faid the other) this is more than 
 " is to be endured ; it really is almoft as much 
 '* as to fay, it would be improved if the zvhole 
 " was taken away !" " Why, DoCior, to fay 
 ** what I tinky it would be the beft of all." 
 
 §3* To this banter upon Edmond, and me, 
 I anfwer — with His Grace the Archbijhop of Gr, - 
 nada — "Farewell! — I wifli you all manner of 
 ** profperity, and a better tajle !" 
 
 APPENDIX.
 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 Malonico-Minuiiana, 
 
 Page 7. 
 
 For etcetera read etcetera. 
 
 This improvement upon the hypothefis of an 
 erratum, is borrowed from Edmond, vol. 10, 
 683. [For etCiCtera r. etC(€tera.~\ 
 
 It corrects an error by repeating it. 
 
 YoxJho'uldx.JJjo'uld, ibid, 548, 
 is of the fame caft. 
 
 ^3- If there is a difference the Fairies alone 
 can fee it. 
 
 * 
 Here Ends the First Volume 
 
 * OF THE First Volume. * 
 
 * \Hihernico — Malonic}^ 
 
 f 
 
 D
 
 / 
 
 Zh!^ 
 
 ANOTHER 
 
 ESSENCE OF Mx^LOxNE. 
 
 SECOND PART 
 
 OF THE FIRST VOLUME j 
 OR 
 
 * SECOND VOLUME 
 
 OF THE fIRST. 
 
 Piice 53. 
 
 * [A Mahnlan 
 fub-divifion.
 
 (t.iil.JfirrDmduuni.
 
 ANOTHER 
 
 ESSENCE OF M ALONE, 
 
 OK. 
 
 The ''BEAUTIES'' 
 
 SHAKSPEARE's EDITOR. 
 
 For thee I dim these eyes, and (luff this head 
 With all such reading as was never read. 
 
 POFE. 
 
 Their heads were libraries out of order. 
 
 A Note upon the Dunciad. 
 
 SECOND PART. 
 
 \^V 
 
 Ronton : 
 
 PRINTED FOR T. BECKET, PALL MALL. 
 
 t80t. 
 
 J. SMEETON, PRINTER, ST. MARTIN's tANE.
 
 r 
 
 -* I
 
 DIVISION THE SECOND 
 
 OF THE FIRST VOLUME. 
 
 PART THE FIRST. 
 
 Edmond the Commentator, 
 
 " And you, Malone, to critic learning dear, 
 *' Correct and elegant I — refind tho' clear.''' 
 
 [Courtenay. 
 
 §r^ JL HE Canonizers of the Roman Calendar 
 (excufe the pun!) waited, as we are told by 
 Addifon, till fifty years had elapfed, after the 
 deceafe of their faint eled; at which time it 
 was to be fuppofed that all cotemporaries, who 
 might recoiled: a miftake, or correct a miracle, 
 would be out of his way. 
 
 But the AptheofiSy which is due to Edmond, in 
 ^een Ann Streety Eaft, is already mature, and 
 perfe(5l. 
 
 " Viventi decus atque fentienti.'* 
 
 I haflen, after the reapers, into that prolific 
 Hubble of genius and fancy, which the notes 
 of Edmond-Arijlarchus have left behind them, 
 for us (poor gleaners) to explore. 
 
 * B The
 
 [ ^ ] 
 
 The Canons will be few and fhort, but the 
 Examples interefting and pleafant ; or I will 
 never tell the Reader again that he may depend 
 upon me. 
 
 Bentley in his preface to the Notes upon 
 Horace, defining what fort of pcrfonages, critics, 
 who deferve the name, ought, in his conception 
 of them, to be, has drawn Edmond's portrait 
 as if he fat for it. 
 
 " Eft et per-acri infuper judicio opus ; eft 
 " fagacitate et a^yx^voicc ; eft, utde Arijlarcho^ olim 
 " praedicabant, divinandi quadam peritia, et 
 " l^oiVTiKyj, quse nulla laborandi pertinacia acquiri 
 ** pofliint, fed naturce folius munere, nafcendique 
 " felicitate, contingunt." 
 
 \_BenlL Pref. to Notes upon Hor: 
 
 " Criticism is the daughter of Labour and 
 
 " ofTRUTH." 
 
 \_Ramhler, N^ 3. 
 
 CANON
 
 [ 3 ] 
 CANON I. 
 
 Le Recherche. Gallice. 
 
 Or, "who WOULD HAVE THOUGHT IT?" AngUcC. 
 
 " Edmondl feek him out! wind me into him! 
 
 — frame the bufinefs after your own wifdom." 
 
 [Glofter to Edmund, in King Lear.* 
 
 Example I. 
 
 " He wears a key in his ear, and a lock hanging 
 *' by it." 
 
 [Dogberry. 
 
 This means a lock of hair — as Edmond and 
 Warburton are agreed — but not as to the key. 
 I need not fay, that Malone is the victor in this 
 confli(5l, a key being his fort. — According to bim^ 
 Dogberry's pleafantry conlifts in the fuppolition 
 that as being a lock it muft have a key to it. 
 
 Example II. 
 
 ** What Angel czWs me from V!\y fiownry bed ?" 
 
 [Titania, in the Midfummei Night's Dream. 
 
 * They fee, with clearnefs, what is too remote for dif- 
 covery— they find in every paflage a fecret meaning — a remote 
 allufion, or an occult imitation. [Rambler, 176. 
 
 B 2 " This
 
 [ 4 ] 
 
 " This (quoth Edmond) is a parody on the 
 Spanijh Tragedy^ in which there is the following 
 line. 
 
 " What outcry calls me from my naked bed ?" 
 
 ^^ Such a notion of parody is new ; — for the 
 line to which the covered (or Jhadowed) parody 
 of another line is attributed, happens to be very 
 
 poetical and beautiful. The other line, if there 
 
 was not a total want of refemblance, might with 
 more colour, be deemed the parody of this. — 
 But Edmond's receipt is full as eccentric as if 
 that part of the Mneid which Cotton has tra- 
 veftied, were to be called, in Virgil, the parody 
 of Cotton II 
 
 Example III. 
 
 *' Your name!" — fays Bottom to Peafe-blofTom." 
 
 Midf. N. Dream. 
 
 " It is taken" — fays Edmond — "from the Maid's 
 Metamorphofis — not printed indeed before A. D. 
 1600; — in other words, printed after this play of 
 the Midf. N. Dream 1 — but probably writteniova^ 
 years before. 
 
 ^t3- N. B. firfl:, the fubjed: of imputed co-in- 
 cidence ! viz. the two words " your name." 
 
 Secondly, the refinement of conjeiflure (the 
 " divinandi peril ia" which Bentley intimates) that 
 Shakfpeare faw this other play in a fuppofed 
 manufcript^ — and Hole from it thofe two words !! 
 
 Example
 
 C 5 ] 
 
 Example IV. 
 
 " Still climbing trees [in] the Hefperidcs." 
 
 L. L. Loft. 
 
 Edmond fuppofes that Shakfpcare conceived the 
 Hejperides to iDe the name of a Garden, like the 
 Thuilleries; though in the palTage to which he 
 adverts, the word (of) in place of the word (in) 
 (which may however be high-treafon) would 
 reflore the Ladies ; — with whom 1 cannot but think 
 Shakfpeare was made acquainted by the fame 
 tranflations,* or dicftionaries, which told him of 
 the Garden. 
 
 §^ The fame poet, according to Edmond, 
 has written 
 
 ** Before thee ftands this fair Hejperides^ 
 
 *• With golden fruit, but dangerous to be touched; 
 
 " Herhce, &c." 
 
 [Pericles. 
 
 A defcription which gives a human form, and a 
 fex to the name. 
 
 But Edmond fays, " No!" and his reafons are 
 two. 
 
 1. " Becaufe he (Shakfpeare) could not have 
 imagined He/per ides was the name of Aittiochm's 
 daughter. 
 
 2. *' Becaufe he confidered He/perides to be the 
 name of a garden." 
 
 * Edmond himfelf informs us that OfLPs pagan mytho- 
 logies were then familiar, in their Englifli drefs, to all who 
 chofe to converfe with 'em. 
 
 B 3 For
 
 [ 6 ] 
 
 For which ingenious libel on the poet, he cites 
 the palTage firft mentioned. 
 
 Of thefe arguments in a circle^ Edmond is ena- 
 moured. A logician of the old Jchool would have 
 inverted the fyllogifm as to the name of the garden. 
 He would have faid; — i. That Shakfpeare does 
 not ufe ir, as the name of Antiochus's daughter, 
 but as a poetical defcription, to " Jhadozv" the 
 difficulty of reaching her; which he alfo marks 
 by the words — 
 
 *' Dang'rous to be touch'd." 
 
 and that by this ufe of the word " Hefperidesy" he 
 demonrtrates what none but Edmond, (who is a 
 Pyrrh:mJ} — profcjfedy unlefs where credulity is the 
 order of the day) would have doubted ; his inten- 
 tion to defcribc the Ladies — not the Garden, m 
 the other play. 
 
 But a logician of the old fchool is not an editor 
 of Shakfpeare, with E. M. for his initials. — 
 '* Nous avons change tout cela^' was the anfwer of 
 the Medecin malgre luiy when reminded that Ana- 
 tomy, before his time, had fuppofed the heart 
 upon the left fide ! 
 
 " Cehl rejjemble trop a Vayicien regime^* W'as the 
 " almoft proverbial fpirit of reform (as it was 
 called) " after the death of Louis XIV. in France.'* 
 
 S^Bol. Lett, io IVymiham, 
 
 Example
 
 [ 7 ] 
 
 Example V. 
 
 *' AUiifque ct idem nafceris. 
 
 " Caius. — Rugby, come to the court vit me ; 
 By gar, if I have not Anne Page, 
 I fhall turn your head out of my door. 
 
 [Exeunt Caius and Rugby." 
 " Richly. — You fliall have Anne^ fool's head of 
 your own. No! I know ^««^'s mind for that." 
 
 " Mrs. Quickly, / believe^ intends a quibble 
 " between Ann^ founded broad, and onc^ which 
 " was formerly, fometimes — pronounced on. In 
 " the Scottifli dialed: one is written, and I fup- 
 " pofe, pronounced " Ane.'* 
 
 " In 1603 was publiflied, 
 
 " Ane verie excellent and delegable treatife, 
 " entitulet Philotus," &c. \_Malone, 
 
 Example VI. 
 
 Thou common friend that's without faith and love. 
 
 " That^s" PERHAPS, quoth Edmond, is here ufcd, 
 not for "who is," but ioii"ideJi" — *'thatis to fay." 
 
 Malone, 
 
 Perhaps // is not : — for there is no occalion to 
 fuppofe that it is. M. F. 
 
 Example VII. 
 
 Stephana.'^ 
 
 *' Now, jerkin, you are like to lofe your /»«/;-, 
 " And prove a ^^/c/ jerkin." 
 
 B 4 He
 
 [ 8 ] 
 
 He is taking a fuit of gliflering apparel from 
 the line, on which Ariel had placed it.—'' Jerkins, 
 quoth Edmond, " are made of goat-fkin, and feem 
 " to have been part of the wardrobe of the thea- 
 " tres, in our author's time. 
 
 *' However, as the apparel brought in by Ariel, 
 *' is defcribed as gliftcring, the garments here 
 " fpoken of, were probably ornamented with tin- 
 " fcl, or gilt leather, and hung upon a hair line ///" 
 
 13* Firjiy A goat's- fkin zvould have been the 
 jerkin here defcribed, except that it could be no 
 SUCH THING, for the reafons alledged. 
 
 Secondly, This apparel defcribed as gliftering, 
 was PROBABLY tinfcl or gilt leather. A Minutiany 
 but elegant fuperfluity, which anfwers no queftion! 
 
 Thirdly, Hair is the hair line, which is here, 
 to be fuppofed the hair of the jerkin; and the 
 hair, by lofing which, it becomes bald !! 
 
 Example VIII. 
 
 There are critics and hyper-critics ; there arc 
 logicians and hyper-logicians. 
 
 *' Draw her home with mufic." 
 
 [Lorenzo to the muficians, who are to 
 ferenade Jeflica. 
 
 " Shakfpcare, / believe, was thinking of the 
 cuftom of accompanying the laft waggon-load at 
 the end of the harveft, with ruftic mufic." 
 
 \_Malone^ 
 
 r?- The
 
 [93 
 
 §:f- The words that precede, are thefe— 
 
 Come ho! and wake Diana with a hymn ; 
 With f wee teji touches pierce your miftrefs' ear. 
 
 So that Lorenzo, by Farmer * Edmond's ac- 
 count, puts JeJJica (in his thoughts) into a wag- 
 gon, that carries home the laft waggon-load of 
 the harveft ; and when he recommends a fere- 
 nade of fweeteji mufic (or touches) for Jeflica's 
 (priyate) ear, he is thinking of Blowzibella and 
 Co. at the harveft home !! 
 
 QC^ This is not gallant , but is very ingenious. 
 
 Example IX. 
 
 Dil quibus imperium ejiy antmarunif^-^Umbraque fiknteSt 
 Et ChaoSy et Phlegethon, 
 
 " Put out the light, and then put out the light.** 
 
 " I will now put out the lighted taper which I 
 hold, — and then put out the light — of life ! To 
 put the light outt was a phrafe for " to kill," In 
 the Maid's 'Tragedy, Melantius fays— 
 
 " 'Tis a juftice, and a noble one, to put the light 
 out of fuch bafe offenders." 
 
 * I was writing this paflage, when the Cynic, who was 
 peering over the notes of Titus Andronicus, infilled upon it, 
 that in juftice to my heroy I fhould add thefe words; A61 iv. 
 fcene iv. TV/. Andro7iicusy upon the term of honey.flalks— 
 fidmond alluding to Mafon's remark upon it, fays — 
 
 " Perhaps, the author was not fo (kilfui a farmer as his 
 cmtH€ntator,'\ [Malcne. 
 
 This
 
 t 'O ] 
 
 This phrafc is twice ufcd in Sidney's Arcadia, 
 for killing a lady. \_M alone, 
 
 I am fo pleafed by this critiquet that I cannot 
 help giving Edmond a little keepfake or two of 
 my own, as an Edmondulus, or proveditore for 
 the Lion. 
 
 " ril darken your day lights^'* is a pugiliftic 
 figure very apropos to one ftage at leaft. 
 
 But as I know his clafTical prediledions, I will 
 give him a Lady * in Virgil's ^Eneid, who fays to 
 another Lady, " extinxti me^ teque^foror-y' i. e. " you 
 Iiave killed me, and yourfelf" — a metaphor taken 
 from an extinguijher. 
 
 Example X. 
 
 ** Let me iny ferviec tender on your lips?* 
 
 [lachimo to Imogen. 
 
 " Perhaps this is an allulion to the ancient cuf- 
 " torn of fwearing fervants into noble families !" 
 
 [Malone, 
 
 Example XL 
 
 *' A penfion of thoufands to be paid by the Sophy. '^ 
 
 ** They fay he has been fencer to ibe Sophy." 
 He was thinking (fays Edmond j of Sir Robert 
 Shirley y EmbalTadour from the Sophy m 1612, 
 
 ■* N. B. This is not the u4nney fjler Anne^ of Blue Beard, in 
 Mother Goofe's Tales. [M. F. 
 
 as
 
 C " 2 
 
 as we are told in Stowe's continuation, to uhich 
 Camden agrees j l>ut in truth he arrived in 1 6 1 1 . 
 
 He mamed Terefe, whofe filler was one of 
 the queens of Perfia. 
 
 \_Euclid and Malone^ hand in hand. 
 
 There are ftrange coincidencies in the world — 
 Who would believe that fuch a palTage as I am 
 going to relate, is to be found in one of Steele's 
 or Addifon's papers, and apropos of a gentleman, 
 whofe name is written Minucio ? Yet fuch is the 
 fact. 
 
 " Minucio is a little philofopher who fets up for 
 knowledge, by doubting and by contradicting 
 others. 
 
 " This accomplifhed gentleman faid, " it was a 
 misfortune, that men of letters very feldom looked 
 into the bottom of things." Will any man per- 
 fuade me, faid he, that this was not a concerted 
 affair 1 That four kings are to come over here 
 and lie at the tzvo Crowns and Cujhions ; — that 
 one of them is to fall lick ; — that he is to lodge 
 in King Street^ and all this by accident 1 
 
 " No 1 no ! depend upon it, that Tee — T^ee — 
 Ncen — Ho — Ga — Rem^ Emperor of the Mo- 
 hocks, was prepared for the adventure before 
 hand. 
 
 ** I do not like to contradicl gentlemen, but I 
 muft beg leave to fay, that, however, •S'^ — Ga — 
 Tealh — Roa — Gelh — Tou^ and E — Toiv — Oh — 
 Roam — Ree^ may have been furprized, — Ho — 
 Nee — Teth — Taw — No—Rew, knew it before 
 he fet his foot upon the Englifh coafl." 
 
 Example
 
 C «2 ] 
 
 Example XII. 
 
 ** I'be Tempeji was fo called, becaufe there had 
 been a great ftorm in 1612." 
 
 \_M alone. 
 
 Example XIII. 
 
 Lear was necelTarily written after Odl. 1604, 
 becaufe we have thefe lines : 
 
 *« Fee! fah! fum! 
 
 " I fmell the blood of a Britijh man.'* 
 
 ** He faid Brilijh^ becaufe England was nomi- 
 ** nally become Britain I though it was a century 
 " later before the two countries were united 1" 
 
 \_Mal. 1—353- 
 
 f);^ Let it here be remembered, curious reader I 
 that Lear is King of 5r//^/«; — which makes the 
 obfervation more ingenious. 
 
 Example XIV, 
 
 '* Weep for nothing, 
 
 ** Like Diana in the fountain." 
 
 \_As you Jihe it. 
 
 " He alludes to a figure of Diana at the Crofs in 
 
 Cheapfide, and " the water prilling from her naked 
 IreaJlH!" which, it feems, are the words of 
 Stowe^ A. D. 1598, who defcribes an alabafler 
 figure of Dianay that received and pafTed the 
 water conveyed from the Thames. 
 
 ^3- I touched
 
 C '3 ] 
 
 Q^ I touched upon this pidlurefque and fan- 
 ciful note in the Ejjhicfy (2d ed.) p. 72 and 73. 
 
 I have recently difcovered that Edmond has 
 not playfully (but as gravely as the Sergeant could 
 have done it) given a Pindarko-Arijtotelian de- 
 duction, that by this tinquejlionable reference to the 
 fountain at Cheapfide, we can date that play in 
 which it is found !1 
 
 \_Malone Cbron, Ord. &c. pag. 327. 
 
 Example XV. 
 
 Locus eft et pluribus umbris. ^Hor: 
 
 We can * Jhadow more probabilities. E. M. 
 
 *' The cloud-capt towers, — the gorgeous palaces, — 
 
 The folemn temples, — the great globe itfelf, — 
 
 Yea, all which it inherit, fiiall diffblve. 
 
 And like this infubftantial pageant faded, 
 
 Leave not a wreck behind." \TempeJl. 
 
 §3* I fometimes have conjedured (though I 
 have not Jhadozved the pedigree v.ith Sir IJaac 
 Heard) that Edmond is a defcendant from Scrib- 
 lerus. At leaft, I am confident that he dcferves 
 to be, and that if he is, (which is quite a Malonian 
 if) he is no degenerate offspring. Bathos was 
 the fort of that ingenious critic. But for Bathos 
 (to ufe Profpero's language) 
 
 " Deeper than did plummet ever found." 
 
 * Here motley images her fancy ftrike, 
 Figures ill paid, undjimilifs milike^ [Pope. 
 
 Read
 
 C H ] 
 
 Read and admire " that illujlrationy' of thefe 
 beautiful and celebrated verfes which Edmond 
 (with fuch modefty of light) reprefents the fol- 
 lowing paflage to convey — 
 
 ** Over the firft: gate (of King James's Queen's 
 
 triumph, in 1604 — ^°^ '^^U ^^^S ^^fo^^ i^^^ V^^y 
 was 'written I*) was reprefented the true likenefs 
 of all the notable houfes, towers, and steeples, 
 within the Citie of London. 
 
 " The lixth arch was erecled above the Con- 
 dud in Fleete Streete, whereon the globe of the 
 world was feen to move. 
 
 " At Temple Bar, a feaventh arche was creeled, 
 the fore-front whereof was proportioned in every 
 rcfped: like a temple — being dedicated to Janus! I" 
 
 \_MaIone. 
 
 33* Let me add, that I have not a doubt he 
 was thinking of the Globe Theatre !! 
 
 \_Minutms Felix. 
 
 §3* I am happy to find, what indeed I had 
 jiflumed in my dedication of the EiTence, that 
 Edmond is a reader and quoter of Coryate's Cru- 
 dities. He exprefsly refers to him in page 104, 
 vol. I, part the 2d, and quotes the original quarto 
 edition. It is true that he quotes him to refute 
 him, but that is no dilhonour to either of the 
 parties. In another paflage, page 68, he gives 
 him credit for hiftorical integrity, and fuppofes 
 that no Jcenes exilled at Venice, becaufe he does 
 
 * " Some tims heforc the heginning of this piny " &c. &c. 
 
 \Bayes in the Rehearfal. 
 
 not
 
 [ H ] 
 
 not mention them, (though he does mention ap- 
 parell^ Jhowes and mufic^) which is a rapid infer- 
 ence, but very civil to Mr. Coryate*, 
 
 ^3* Surely, Edmond himfelf had afcended 
 one of thele cloiuUcapt towers when he wrote 
 this nubilous commentary upon them. 
 
 *' Infert icfepiis nebulis, neque cernitur ulli.'* 
 
 Example XVI. 
 
 " And if the boy have not a woman's gift, 
 *' To rain a fho\Ter of commanding tears, 
 ** An onion will do well for fuch a fhift." 
 
 [Tam. of the Shrew. 
 
 " This, it is wl unlikely y (one ofihej/jadozvedpro- 
 labilities^ which Edmond loves to his heart) was 
 an expedient ufed by the adors of interludes." 
 
 [_Malo}ie. 
 
 * By the 'waji — to this great man (Coryate) are dedicated 
 (as they fhould be to Edmond,) " Phaleudac Hendecafylla- 
 hles — trimeters — cataleSlics — ajiilftyajlic afcleplads — dkoli dijlrophiy 
 rithtnical^ and hyperrithmicalP [Coryate. 
 
 2::*= Edmond cannot help inventing^ as a reporter, though 
 I am convinced he means to be an hljlorian. 
 
 For example — 
 
 He finds " no ground for this writer's (Coryate) assertion, 
 that female performers had appeared on the Englifli ftage be- 
 fore he wrote. 
 
 The words in Coryate are thefe : 
 
 " Here I obferved certain things that I ne'ver fanx)^ for I faw 
 women a£te, a thing that I r\t\tx faiu be/me — though I have 
 HEARD that it hath hecome/omeiimei ufed in Loadon." 
 
 Example
 
 ['6 3 
 
 Example XVII. 
 
 " Merfes profundo ! pulchrior evenit." 
 
 Horace. 
 
 ** Oh, fome authority how to proceed, 
 " Some tricks, fome quilkiSy how to cheat the devil." 
 
 [Love's Lab. Loft. 
 
 83" " gullet is the peculiar word adapted 
 to law-chicane. I imagine the original to be 
 this: 
 
 " In the French pleadings every feveral allega- 
 tion of the plaintiff's charge, and every diflind: plea 
 in the defendant's anfwer, began with qu'il ejly 
 from whence was formed the word quillet ^ to fig- 
 nify z,falfe charge, or an evafive anfwer.'* 
 
 \_Malone. 
 
 ^ — The Chaos dark and deep, 
 ** Where namelefs fomethings in their caufes fleep." 
 
 IPope. 
 
 Example XVIII. 
 
 Tam. of the Shrew. 
 
 *' Gru. Let their heads be fleekly combed, their 
 
 *' blue coats brufhed, theif garters of an 
 
 ** indifferent knit." 
 
 A very ingenious friend of mine told me that 
 he had a good ftory for me, but that he hAdfeven 
 more, to introduce it. 
 
 And I remember a very fophiftical advocate 
 from North Britain, who faid, in broad Scotch, 
 
 addrefTmg
 
 C '7 ] 
 
 addrefling himfelf to the Peers. — " To this, my 
 " Loards, there are tzva objadlions : To thofe twa 
 " obja(5lions I have/^A' anfwers to mak." I was 
 to dine with a Peer of that fame Houfe. His eye 
 caught me — It faid, or feemed to fay, " Let this 
 be the * dinner hellV 
 
 Thus, before I can play with Edmond, I mufl, 
 like Dumourier's artillery, kill fome of my own 
 friends who are in my way. 
 
 Be attentive, curious readers, — and I anticipate 
 your blefling. 
 
 John/on.'] — ** What is the fenfe of this I knozv 
 not — (how confoling to the uninitiated ! how re- 
 frefhing to the ignorant!) unlefs (now then we 
 Ihall have it, though infinuated with modefty) 
 it means that their garters Ihould be fellows — in- 
 different — or JMi different the one from the other.** 
 
 Before I proceed, I muft here obfcrve how de- 
 lightfully the habit of criticifm (that " euphrafy 
 and rue of the anger) purges the intelledlual vi- 
 lion of a commentators eye. j 
 
 Dr. John/on had no fuch oculift at his elbow 
 when he wrote his dicJionary, which intimates 
 nothing like the fenfe which is here given to the 
 word indifferent, though it gives not fewer than 
 iix meanings of the term. 
 
 * A name given to a refpe£table Sergeant in the Houfe of 
 Commons. " Is the Houfe up?" " No," was the anfwer, 
 *' but Sergeant' is — which is the fame thing." N. B. 
 
 This anecdote I never Uare to relate before my Sergeant. 
 
 * C \_Steevens.
 
 C «8 ] 
 
 Slcevens.'\ 
 
 " This is rightly explained. 
 
 " So in Hamlet, 
 
 " As the indifferent children of the earth.** 
 
 In which play and paffage, it means nothing 
 like it — but is to be underftood in the fifth 
 icn(c given to it by Johnfon, viz. *' of a middle 
 " ftate, neither good nor worfl." 
 
 It is the an Aver made by two courtiers to 
 Flamlet's queflion. " Good lads, how do ye 
 *' both." The anfwer does not mean to fay more 
 than " pretty well, I thank ye, as times go." It 
 would be ridiculous to fuppofe they meant '^ we 
 *^ are likeall other children of the earth," or "like 
 *' all other men ; there is no difference between 
 " us two and the rell of mankind." Such an an- 
 fwer would be an impertinence. In the other 
 fenfe it is natural and proper. 
 
 1:3- Malone,~] — " Perhaps, by garters of an 
 indifferent knit, the author meant parti-co- 
 loured garters — garters of a different knit." 
 
 '* In Shakfpeare's time indifferent was fome- 
 times ufed for different !! 
 
 " That garters of a different knit were formerly 
 worn, appears from TEXNOFAMIA, or the 
 marriage of the arts y (thank you, fay the Coun- 
 try Gentlemen) where the following ftage di- 
 redlion occurs — " Phantajles in a branched velvet 
 jerkin, red lilk ftockings, and parti-coloured 
 garters !!" 
 
 1:3- Note. F/r/?, the pofition that in-different 
 means diff'erent ; or, according to Edmond's 
 
 notion
 
 [ >9 ] 
 
 notion of /;/, as an intenjive * particle^ lery dif- 
 ferent. 
 
 |f3- Note. Secondly^ the irreliflible coiife- 
 fequence, or corollary, that garters of a d iff rent 
 /:////, are the fame as garters of a different co-^ 
 lour — in other words, parti-colourcd. 
 
 I^' Note. Thirdly, the inference that be- 
 caufe parti-coloured garters were fometimes 
 worn, they were the garters here intended. 
 
 g^ Note. Fourthly^ that they were fome- 
 times worn hy fervantSy and were confequently 
 to be worn by the fellow fervants of Grumio, 
 becaufe PhcVilaJies, a ridiculous or theatrical 
 perfonage (as the very name and iccno. of the 
 diredlion import) wore them over his red filk 
 flockings, under a velvet jerkin branched. 
 
 Example XIX. 
 
 A man worth any wonnan — over buys me, 
 Ahnofl tlic man he pays. 
 
 [^Imogen fpeaking of PofJmmvst 
 
 ^^ Note, " So fmall is my value, and fo 
 great, his, that in the purchafe he has made 
 (for which he paid him/elf) for much the greater 
 part, and almoft the whole, he has nothing in 
 return. The mod: minute portion of his wealth 
 would be too high a price for the wife he has 
 acquired." \_Malone. 
 
 I muft admit (as the ladies, and with longer 
 nails than I approve, infill] that it is a very un- 
 gallant interpretation. 
 
 * {EJJcnce^ pag. i, ikdk. cd ed. 
 
 C2 The
 
 [ 20 ] 
 
 The Sergeant affures me that Imogen could 
 not be heard in the Common Pleas, if fhe offered 
 there fo degrading a confefTion, efpecially being 
 ^ feme covert — that it is therefore /-^^ /(^w. 
 
 But it is impofTible that Imogen could mean 
 to undervalue herfelf at all ; and as the words 
 carry no fuch import, it is the vifionary genius 
 of Edmond that ftamps an impreflion foreign to 
 that of the feal in his hand. This 1 call the ma- 
 gic of critical invention, the magic of difcover- 
 ing that which does not exifl. 
 
 Example XX. 
 
 ** And I have not forgotten what the infide of a 
 church is made of — I am a pepper-corn— a 
 brewer's horje.'" [Faljiaff. 
 
 * Malone.'] — (i.) " A hrewefs horfe^ per- 
 haps was apt to be lean with hard work." 
 
 ^^ *' I never had the honor to fee them in Shak- 
 fpeare's time ; but if I may reafon from what I 
 fee of them in my own time, they would be 
 almoft proverbial limilies, for that which is the 
 reverfe of lean." [M. Felix, 
 
 " (2.) (fsiys Edmond-ZijnriJ a brewer's horfe 
 " may not mean a dray-horfe, but the crofs- 
 " beam on which barrels are carried into cel- 
 *' lars, &c. The allufion may be to the taper- 
 *^ form of the machine." 
 
 §3- " A brewer's
 
 [ 21 3 
 
 '* A hrezvcrs horfe is, however, men- 
 tioned in AriJiippHs, or the Jovial Philofopher, 
 1630. 
 
 " To think Helicon a barrel of beer is as 
 great a (in as to call Pegafus a brewer's horfe.'* 
 
 N. B. The fentence jufb quoted is an Aero- 
 caftrian apropos de bottes for this brewer's horfe, 
 
 00" After he has given us thefe two keys of 
 the lock — he defcends, but with becoming 
 dignity, into the regions of common fenfe, by 
 telling us that it was of no confequence, and 
 that it may be taken for any diffimiliiude. This 
 makes the reft of the note gratuitous acquifition 
 to Mejfieurs Rivhigton and SonSy &c. &c. 
 
 Example XXI. 
 
 No more truth in thee than a drawn fox, 
 
 Faljiaff. 
 
 Warhurlon had faid that by drazvn was meant 
 often hunted. 
 
 Johnfon thinks it means ** an exenterated" 
 fox — the form of the animal without its powers, 
 though he admits drawn to be a hunter's term 
 forpurfuit by track — but adds, that his own inter- 
 pretation better fuits the flezved prune that pre- 
 cedes." 
 
 Malone.~\ — Outftrips his friend, and fays, this 
 drawn fox is, perhaps, a fox drawn over the 
 ground, to exercife the hounds. 
 
 C 3 Then
 
 C " ] 
 
 Then he adds this curious account of a fox, 
 (qu. if not in the Jijlcr-Jjlandy) who, when 
 drawn out of his hole had the fagacity to coun" 
 terfeit death ^ that he might thereby obtain an 
 opportunity to efcapc. 
 
 Example XXII. 
 
 FalftafT. — Tut, Tut ;— good enoiigh to tofs. 
 Malone. — before the Irifli rebellion, (1 thought 
 Jecond ftght had been Scotch monopoly) makes a 
 paraphrafe of by addmg the words " upon a 
 pikel" 
 
 Example XXIII. 
 
 — — — V'^xed I am 
 Of late with pailions o^Jome difference*—- 
 Conceptions only proper to uiyfelf. 
 
 *Malone,'\ — Fluctuation of opinions and de- 
 lires, 
 
 " Very like a whale!" 
 fays the Cynic. 
 
 But it is curious to fee how ojie ingenuity 
 fuperfedes another. 
 
 Velut unda fupervenit undana. 
 In Hamlet, another editor converts the mad 
 Ophelia into a learned herald — " You may wear 
 your rue with 2i.difference.^* An heraldic word, fays 
 Mr. Steevens, and quotes Holingfliead as Ophe- 
 lia's prompter. A difference, according to him, 
 is a mark of diftindlion amongft heralds. 
 
 Edmond
 
 [ 23 ] 
 
 Edmond is equally ingenious, but he likes to 
 wear it with a difference^ and therefore, in this 
 place, where the heraldic metaphor would be 
 appofite enough, he defpifes ir, and explains the 
 term difference in a way that no human creature, 
 but himfelf did, or could explain it. 
 
 Example XXIV. 
 
 We that take purfes go by the moon and feven 
 ftars, and not by the fun — he — " that wan- 
 dering knight Jo fait." 
 
 Malone.^-^^* FalftafFftarts the idea of Phoebus, 
 i. e. the fun — but deviates into an allufion to 
 " El donzel del Febo" — *' the knight of the fun,** 
 in a Spanifh romance, tranflated under the title 
 of " The Mirror of Knighthood," during the 
 age of Shakfpeare. 
 
 *• This illuftrious perfonage was moil excellently 
 
 fair^ and a great zvanderer, as thofe who travel 
 
 after him, (how witty! and playful!) through 
 
 three thick volumes (beautifully alliterated !j 
 
 in quarto, will difcover. 
 
 " Perhaps the words — 
 
 ** That wandering knight fo falrc," 
 
 are part of fome forgotten ballad, the rubje(5t of 
 this harmlefs hero's adventures !!" 
 
 Example XXV. 
 
 ** If I do, fillip me with a three-man s beetle T 
 
 Falfaff. 
 C 4 I con-
 
 [ 24 ] 
 
 I conceive the note that follows, to be the 
 
 rnruvvTrsproiTOv of the Canon before us. 
 
 Malone.'] — '* A diverfion in common, with 
 boys in Warwickjhire, and the adjoining coun- 
 ties, on finding a toady to lay a board about two 
 or three feet long, at right angles over a ftick, 
 about two or three inches diameter, as per fketch ; 
 
 then placing the toady the other end is ftruck 
 with a bat or large ftick, which throws the 
 creature forty or fifty feet perpendicular from 
 the earth, and its return, in general, kills it. — ? 
 This is called filliping the toad !! 
 
 Example XX VL 
 
 *' Tu cave ne minuas." [Horace. 
 
 '^ The front of heav'n was full oi fiery Jhapes— 
 The goats ran from the mountains ; and the herds 
 Were flrangely clarnrous to the frighted field.'* 
 
 [Glendower in Hen. IV. pt. i. 
 
 ^Cf* Now for a note worthy of the editor 
 and critic, profcffed — a note which converts the 
 Poet of Nature, 1597, into a Fellovi^ of the 
 Royal Society, ered:ed A. D. 1692-3. 
 
 I once thought Cato's library, upon the Ita- 
 lian ftage, recorded by Addifon, and which had 
 Plutarch's lives in it, was the moft beautiful 
 anachronifm that ever appeared. But Cheva- 
 
 liefs.
 
 C 25 ] 
 
 //Vr's quotation from Diodorus Sciulus againH: 
 Chriflianity ! fupplanted the earlier competitor 
 — and what is to come puts them both under its 
 leg. 
 
 *' Omne fimili diflimili gaudet.'* E. M. 
 
 *' Shakfpeare appears to have been as well 
 *' acquainted with rarer phenomena, as with 
 " erdinary appearances of nature." 
 
 " A writer in the Philofophical Tranfadions, 
 " No. 207, defcribing an earthquake (which is 
 *' rather a different circmnfiance in its probable 
 " effedt upon cattle, from tht^t fiery Jh apes in the 
 *' heaven or Iky,) in Catanea, iiear Mount JEtna, 
 *' (Thank you, Mr. Travelling Edmond, for your 
 " local helps to thofe, who, like me, are no tra- 
 *' vellers 1} *' by which eighteen perfons were de-- 
 " fiyoyedy {I'heyy at lead, were not goats or 
 " cattle) mentions one of the circumftances that 
 " are faid here to have marked the birth of 
 " Glendower. 
 
 " There was a blow, as if all the artillery of 
 " the world had been dif charged at once." (This 
 reporter, faid my fon to me, ought furely to 
 have been rather an epic poet than a natural 
 philofopher. " The fea retired from the town 
 " above two miles — the birds flew about afto- 
 ^* nifhed." 
 
 ^;^ " ne cattle in the fields ran crying." 
 
 Happy coincidence! if true ! (I exclaimed) 
 though inaufpicioufly for the illuftration of this 
 
 effed:
 
 C 26 ] 
 
 efle^l arifing from artillery) or quafi artillery (as 
 the Sergeant exprelTes it) which Edmond thinks 
 the fame thing as a fiery Jrjape, I had juft been 
 walking in a field of my own, and my cattle 
 having taken fright at a fudden explofion made 
 by, cannon, " ran crying all over the field." 
 
 Thus far I had written before I/aw No. 207, 
 to which Edmond alludes. 
 
 But who will now deny that Edmond is not 
 only a poet's editor, but a poet him/elf \ or, 
 perhaps, as he was half a poet when hzfaw the 
 patent of Sir William Sidley, he is now become 
 a poet and a half. 
 
 A fublirner ficlion has not produced the 
 Odyfley, nor the legendary tales of Ariofto. 
 
 Firjiy in honor to a very fubordinate branch 
 of the epic, if Edmond 's copy had the fainted 
 refemblance to the original aiTumed, it would 
 prove, by epic more than logical reafoning, that 
 Shakfpeare was acquainted with fuch rarer phe~ 
 nomena^ as a very uncommon earthquake pro- 
 duced in 1692-3, which is the date of the ac- 
 count, and is near a century later than Edmond's 
 date of this play. 
 
 But now for the fa^ with a negative before 
 it ; I mean the poetical accuracy of the refer- 
 ence. I, who have feen, and have ready the 
 original which Edmond profejfes to copy^ aver 
 that nothing like the citation is there to be 
 found, fo far as it refpedts the coincidence al- 
 iedged; which, in every incident y and in every 
 
 word
 
 [ 27 ] 
 
 word of the fiippofed original, is the pageant of 
 Edmond's brain. 
 
 Ardentem frigidus iEtnam 
 
 Infiluit. 
 
 So far I am, like him, a negative-ijl. 
 
 In the next place I affirm, with equal confi- 
 dence, that what is in the original ; that is, in 
 the letter (for fuch it is) utterly deflroys the 
 limilitude here imagined, or, in other words, 
 created. 
 
 The writer, who is an Italian correfpondent 
 of Malpighi, details many particulars which 
 mark the extreme and peculiar, if not unex- 
 ampled, violence, of the event, fuch as, that 
 whole cities were deftroyed, and rocks torn 
 from the mountains, (which rocks may, per- 
 haps, be Edmond's goats) the earth dancing; 
 or, like an ague, fhaken from fide to fide. In- 
 ftead of eighteen perjons deftroyed.^ fifty-nine 
 thoufand, nine hundred and fixty-three were 
 killed ; — great part of Catanea was deftroyed ; — 
 Syracufa fhattercd, but not ruined ; — a particular 
 ftreet in the town of Noto, hung, on one fide, 
 like an inclined wall ; — grottos fell in ; — walls 
 leapt, as if taken and carried away ; — two rocks 
 met acrofs a river and clofed the valley up ; — 
 the fea ran down ; but I cannot, with fpedaclcs, 
 difcover the two miles \ — which, perhaps, may be 
 inferred. The earth opened ; — running waters 
 dried up j — cities were like a defart, and heap of 
 ruins." 
 
 The
 
 C 28 ] 
 
 The only words that bear at all upon the 
 found and tho: fiery Jhape^ (which, for argument 
 fake, we muft combine in the allufionj are 
 what follow ; and the reader will do me the ho- 
 nour, when he has read thefe words, to read 
 again^ (with homage, bordering upon idolatry,) 
 Edmond's note : 
 
 *' Some perfons which, the evening before, 
 "were travelling in the country, obferved a great 
 flame of lighty at, about, an Italian mile's dif- 
 tance, and fo bright, that they took it for a real 
 fire ; and though they went diredly towards it, 
 yet it feemed to keep at the fame diftance from 
 them. 
 
 " Whilfl: they were obferving of this appear- 
 ance, the earthquake beguny which was fenlible 
 to the horfes they rode^ who were affrighted 
 thereat ; the trees were all fhaken ; upon this, 
 the amazed travellers looking for the light they 
 faw juft before, found it vanifoed. — — — 
 a noife like cannon at a great diftance /" 
 
 After I had read this No. 207, and had com- 
 pared it with Edmond's running goatSy his crying 
 herds upon a i\x\\ gallop in the fields, and his cho- 
 rus oiall the artilleries in the world fired off at once ; 
 reminded me of fomething, which is very apro- 
 pos of his artillery, I mean of a diftindlion be- 
 tween a gunner and a gunfier in the Guardian 
 or Tatler, I forget which. 
 
 " The gunfier (as we are there told) only- 
 means to furprize, and, perhaps, to entertain 
 
 the
 
 C 29 ] 
 
 the reader. He deals in wind gunSy which 
 knock down thofe who make ufe of them ; and, 
 according to the various compreflions of the air, 
 (very apropos of the Catanian earthquake,) make 
 bounces that cannot be heard without laughter. 
 
 '* Vitio carentem 
 
 " Ludit imago 
 ** Vana, quas porta fugiens eburna, 
 *' Somnium diicit.'* 
 
 The Sergeant here, to my aftonifhment (at 
 a man of his order and precifion,) became ari 
 advocate for Edmond, and fpoke for him thus, 
 havino; difclaimed a fee : 
 
 ** I begin, faid he, with Horace's rule : 
 
 Fi£la voluptatis causa fiat proxima verisf 
 
 I confider Edmond's edition of Shakfpeare as 
 a book intended, as well as calculated, for mere 
 amufement. 
 
 We have here proximity of truth enough, and 
 we are never to forget that wit is the talent (by 
 its definition) of combining remote allufions. 
 
 We have horjes frightened. Horfes are cattle, 
 at leaft, in common parlance -^ a fire and can- 
 nony both indeed at a diftance ; but ftill we have 
 them — we have an earthquake — we have the 
 retiring fea — and we have Catanea for one of the 
 cities materially affeded by this accident. 
 
 It is true we have no herds running and cry^ 
 ing in the fields^ but thofe phenomena may be 
 inferred \ — as they would have been herds of fin- 
 
 gular
 
 C 30 3 
 
 gular apathy, who would 7wt have run^ or who 
 would not have cried at fuch an occurrence." 
 
 With fimilar addrefs he touched upon the 
 other topics ; but I, aflliming the Chief Juftice, 
 when he had clofed his argument, ruled as 
 follows : 
 
 " That Edmond's note was the EJfence of 
 No. 207, according to the definition of that 
 word as given us by Dr. Johnfon, as follows : 
 
 " EJfence is but the very nature of any thing, 
 whether exijling or mt.^* 
 
 [Johnf. Di61:. in v. 
 
 ^^ I muft here make a little digreflion to 
 another playful ftroke of Edmond's reference. It 
 is apropos of his favorite boaft, 
 
 — — — " Se 
 Cum magnis vixiffe." — — — 
 
 "Butler, (fays EdmondJ as the late Mr. Burke 
 obferved feveral years ago to mcy has well il- 
 luftrated the principle on which they went, (the 
 dedicators) when he compares them to the 
 archer who draws his arrow to the head, whether 
 his object be a goofe or fwan." 
 
 \_Drydens life by M alone.''* 
 
 Of courfe, in the note upon this text, we 
 have not only that image, but other allufions, 
 and their vehicles, other lines, to be copied from 
 Hudibras. 
 
 But who would have thought or dreamt that 
 Burke wrote the Guardian, vol. i. No. 4? in 
 which paper occurs the identical remark, in 
 
 which
 
 [ 3' ] 
 
 which paper, as in Edmond's note, the whole 
 paflage is quoted at length, and in which paper 
 (a coincidence no lefs fortunate!) a dedication 
 is annexed, ridicuoufly fulfome in the hero's 
 praife, juft as in Edmond's note a fample of the 
 fame kind is adduced by him. 
 
 Example XXVII. 
 
 " Capitulate againft us, and are up." 
 
 To capitulate^ fays Mr. Editor Steevens, 
 means to make head. 
 
 But Edmond more ingenioufly puts the tail 
 for the head, by telling us what all of us knew 
 before, that " capitulate" means " pei' capita 
 feu artictilos pacifci i" and then adds, that it is 
 ufed very nearly in that fenfe here, i.e. juft as 
 near as voar in its commencement, is to the 
 peace that clofes, or truce that fufpends it. 
 
 But without adverting incommodioufly to the 
 awkward exprefilon pacifciy Edmond informs us 
 that, in fadl, the Perciea did capitulate ; i. c. 
 alledged grievances by way of articles on which 
 the riling was founded. 
 
 In that fenfe, all enemies and all rebels capi- 
 tulate ; nor is war, in modern courtefy, ever de- 
 clared without fuch a capitulation ; but it pre- 
 vents, alas, no efFufion of human blood. 
 
 N. B. This note was lent me by a gentleman 
 very much in the fecrets of the corps diploma- 
 iiqae. 
 
 Example
 
 [ 32 ] 
 
 Example XXVIII. 
 
 A conqueror that will pray in aid for kindnefs where 
 he for grace is kneel'd to. 
 
 [Praying hi aid is a term ufed for a petition 
 made in a Court of Juftice, for the calling in 
 of help from another who has an intercjl in the 
 Jiiit /" M alone. 
 
 This cannot be the meaning here, which makes 
 the note more ingenious. [M/«. Felix, 
 
 Example XXIX. 
 
 Apemantus. — Heav'ns! that I were a Lord. 
 Timon. — What would 'ft thou do then, Apemantus? 
 Apem. — Even as Apemantus does now — hate a 
 
 Lord with all my heart. 
 Tim.— What, thyfelf? 
 Apem. — Ay. 
 Tim.— Wherefore. 
 Apem. — That I had no angry wit to be a Lord.^» 
 
 Art not thou a merchant? 
 Merch. — Ay, Apemantus." 
 
 '' The tub to the whale is a^tgry wit — and the 
 editors difport around it. 
 
 Enter Whale the jirjl, or John/on. 
 
 " The meaning may be—" I fhould hate my- 
 " felf for patiently enduring to be a Lord." 
 This is ill enough exprefled ; — perhaps fome 
 happy change may fet it right. I have tried, 
 and ean do nothi7ig — Exit Johnfon growling. 
 Enter Steevens, gracefully bowing. 
 
 " If
 
 [ 33 ] 
 
 " If I hazard one conjecflure, it is not with 
 the fmalleft degree of confidence. By an " an- 
 gry wity' Apemantus may mean the -poety who 
 has been provoking him. 
 
 ** The fenfe will then be thus : " I fhould hate 
 myfelf, becaufe I could prevail on no captious 
 wit — .like Jjim — to take the title in tay ftead." 
 
 He then gives a reading which the author of 
 the Revifal offers, (who was the late Mr. Heath 
 of Exeter J viz. 
 
 " That I had fo wronged my wit to be a lord'' — 
 a very acute and a very admifTible change, as I 
 fhould have thought, if my underftanding had 
 not been impregnated with Malonian <eihery 
 (an expreflion which mut: jnutandis, I have bor- 
 rowed from the late James Bofivell). N. B. the 
 author of that fame " Revifal" was an excellent 
 fcholar and (0ice tethered, J a very ingenious critic. 
 
 Enter Edmond, (impering. 
 
 ** I BELIEVE Shakfpeare was thinking of the 
 common exprellion — " he has zvit in his anger y" 
 (of which, by the way, neither I, nor my wife, 
 nor children, ever heard — but zve are neither 
 zvitty nor ajigry). ** The difficulty arifes here 
 (proceeds Edmond) from the original editors 
 paying no attention to abrupt fcntences. Our 
 author, I fuppofe, wrote — 
 
 That I had tio angry ivit : to be a Lord! 
 Art not thou a merchant? 
 
 '* Apemantus is afked, why he fliould hate him- 
 
 fclf ? he replies, " for this reafon, that I had no 
 
 * D wit
 
 [ 34 ] 
 
 wit or dijcrction (a very eccentric definition of 
 that playful talent !) but was ahjiird enough 
 to wifh myfclf one of that fet of men whom I 
 defpife. 
 
 " He then exclaims, with indignation— 
 
 *' To be a Lord!" 
 
 " Such is my conjecture : — Wit^ in the fenfe of a 
 ivitty or ingenious perfon's talent, was not, \JuJ- 
 pe&, the language of Shakfpeare's time." [^Malone. 
 
 I love refinement, and therefore my vote is 
 for Edmond. 
 
 But as to his notion that w//, in Shakfpeare's 
 time, did not mean a witty or ingenious per/on s 
 talent, I recommend him to the following paf- 
 fage in Lovers Labour Lojl — 
 
 Maria.^-'^l know him, Madam, &c. 
 The only foil of his fair virtues glofs. 
 Is zjharp wit, matched with too blunt a will, 
 Whofe edge hath pow'r to cut, whofe will ftill wills 
 It (hould none fpare that come within its power. 
 
 Princefsr^ — Some merry, mocki?7g Lord belike ! &c. &c. 
 
 Compare this pafTage with Edmond's remark ! 
 — and then fay if the indijcreiion of mere wit 
 could be more difcriminately marked. M. F, 
 
 But what (hall we fay of Biron f 
 
 His eye begets occafion for his ivit. 
 
 Which his fair tongue, &c. &c. 
 
 _ _ _ _ - turns to a tnirtb moving jeji. 
 
 It is a portrait of the late Charles Toivnjhend, 
 who was, beyond all comparifon, the zvittiejl 
 man of his day, and, the mojl indijcreet I 
 
 It
 
 [ 35 ] 
 
 It is the charader of BirQ7t himfelf in the 
 whole play. M. F. 
 
 There is a divifion of this faculty into jive 
 branches, by Hawes^ in 1554 — which (quaint as 
 it is) overlooks Edmond's wit. 1. Common 
 wit. 2. Imagination. 3. Fantafy. 4. Efli- 
 mation. 5. Memory. Edmond himfelf gives 
 me this intelligence, page 308, vol. 10, in his 
 note upon a fonnet. 
 
 But great zviis have Jhori memories. 
 
 One fhouid think Edmond had no eyes to any 
 thing which could offend his definitions ; for 
 elfe the following pafTages would have checked 
 his triumphant aflertion, " that wit, in Shak- 
 fpeare's time did not mean what is underftood by 
 it in general, but fignified (of all the birds in 
 the air) dijcretion. 
 
 ** If you fpend word for zy^r^/ with me, I fliall make 
 ** your wit bankrupt.'* 
 
 [Thurio, in a battle of puns with Va- 
 lentine. Two gent, of Verona. 
 ** Thoufand f capes of wit make thee the father of 
 ** their idle dream." 
 
 [The Duke in Meafure for Meafure, al- 
 luding evidently to Lucio's banters 
 upon his incontinence. 
 
 ** There is a kind of merry w^ar betw^ixt Signior 
 
 Benedick and her; 
 " They never meet but there's zfkirfnijh ofwit.^' 
 \_Leonato in M. A. ab. Nothing, alluding 
 to Benedick and Beatrice. 
 
 D 2 ** A college
 
 C 36 ] 
 
 '* A college oi wit-crackers fhall r\o\ fiout me." 
 
 [_Betiedick himfelf. 
 
 ** Thy luit is as quick as the greyhounds mouth, 
 it catches.^* 
 
 \^Beiiedick to Margaret, in anfwer to a pun. 
 
 '* That I was difdainful, and had my good wit out 
 of the Hundred 77ierry talcs." 
 
 {^Beatrice to Benedick at the mafquerade. 
 
 '* He is the prince's y^/F^r— his gift is in devifing im- 
 pofribley7a?Z(r/^/,f— none but libertines delight in 
 him ; and the commendation is not in his wit, 
 but in his villainy, for he both pleafeth men 
 and angers them, and then they laugh at him, 
 and beat him." 
 
 [^Beatrice again, maflced as before, and 
 ridiculing Benedick. 
 
 JVarhurlons, judicious note [pijmire as he is) 
 being adopted by Edmond^ (who fays that wit in 
 Shakfpeare's time was the fame thing as difcre^ 
 tion) Ihall clofe the debate. 
 
 " His villainy^ — by which fhe means his /w- 
 piety and his malice. By his impious jejis, fhe in- 
 finuates, he pleajed libertines ; and by his devifing 
 jhnders of them he angers them." \_Warhurton, 
 
 Example XXX. 
 
 3d Lord. — I promife you, my Lord, you mov'd me 
 
 much. 
 Apem. — Much ! 
 
 Malone.] — Apemantus means to fay, " that's 
 extraordinary.'' 
 
 Example
 
 C 37 ] 
 
 Example XXXI. 
 
 There is no crojfing him in his humour; 
 
 When all's fpent, he'd be croJJ'ed \\\Q.xi as he could. 
 
 Theobald fays, {^^ poor Tih") that he would 
 then have his hand croJJ'ed with money if he 
 could. 
 
 This expofition, tho' made by a man who lyes 
 flat, and ftunned by hard blows, before Johnfon 
 came, (fee divifion the firft of this volume) is 
 adopted by Malone ; but he adds, that another 
 fenfe was alfo to be conveyed, i. e. ** that he 
 will then wifh to undo the paft, and would la- 
 ment he had not been crojfed before !!" 
 
 Example XXXII. 
 
 Burgomafters and great oneyers. 
 
 I Hen. IV. 
 
 Theohald.'] — " The reading which I have fub- 
 flituted — MoneyerSt I owe to the friendlhip of 
 Nicholas HardingCy Efq. 
 
 " Moneyer is an officer of the Mint who 
 makes coin, and who delivers out the King's 
 money. 
 
 " Money ers are alfo taken for bankers.''' 
 
 This emendation was adopted by Warburton, 
 but rejeded, though with high compliments to 
 Mr. Hardhige, by Mr. Heath, who adds, '' that 
 he had the honour to know Mr. HardingCj and 
 
 D 3 that
 
 [ 38 ] 
 
 that he entertained a very high opinion of his 
 judgment." 
 
 Johnfon calls it " a very acute and judicious 
 attempt at emendation, which has not unde- 
 fervedly been adopted by Warburton." 
 
 But he pays a higher compliment ftill to 
 Sir Thomas Hanmer, v/ho reads great ozvners 
 *' not without equal and greater likelihood." 
 
 " He, (Johnfon,) is not fatisfied that change 
 is necelTary, and conceives great one-yers a cant 
 phrafe for " great ones.'^ 
 
 ^0- Hide your diminifhed heads ! The fun 
 is out ! 
 
 [^Malone.'] — " Perhaps Shakfpeare wrote 
 ONYERS, that is, public accountants. 
 
 " It is a courfe of the Exchequer when a 
 fheriff makes up his accounts, &c. to fet upon 
 his head (a lingular, but happy, expreflion,) 
 O — NI — oneratur nifi haheat Jufficientem exonera- 
 tionem. He therefore becomes the king's debtor, 
 and the p3.nies peravaile, as they are termed in law, 
 for whom he anfwers, become his debtors, and 
 are difcharged, as with refped to the King. 
 
 " To fettle accounts in this manner, is Jlill 
 called in the Exchequer to <?;/y, and from hence 
 Shakfpeare, perhaps, formed the word onyers !!" 
 
 I have ftarted this problem at the Exchequer 
 in every one of its accounting departments, 
 (though I wifh that I had more to do with 'em 
 than I have;) and the Officers appear to be as 
 
 much
 
 C 39 ] 
 
 much aftonifhed as the boatmen were dcfcribed 
 in Lucian, quoted in Bryant's Mythology^ when 
 they were interrogated upon the banks of 
 Menander, concerning thofe mufical fwans that 
 were faid, by the poets, to relide and fing there, 
 particularly juft as they were going to die. The 
 Tellers, the deputy-Tellers, Clerks, &c. heard 
 me with complacency, but looking at one an- 
 other, marked their fufpicion that my fortune 
 would not be worfe if the cuflody of the 
 Chancellor Ihould put it into the hands of a 
 Committee. 
 
 §0- Here is another inftance of the " fi^a 
 voluptatis causa /" 
 
 Example XXXIII. 
 
 " Square ^ means quarrel in Shakfpeare." 
 
 ** Square and quarrel are fynonymous terms 
 for a -pane ofglafs,'* [Malone. 
 
 I never heard they were, and 7ny glazier ab- 
 jures the word. 
 
 But if there is any fuch word, as quarrel^ for 
 a pane ofglafsj it proves nothing to the purpofe 
 for which it was quoted, (ince it muft be derived 
 evidently from quadreau^ a fquare, juft as the fame 
 word quarrel is, when it means an arrow with a 
 fquare head. [Cap^Il's ghojJ. 
 
 D 4 Example
 
 [ 40 ] 
 
 Example XXXIV. 
 
 Thofe that Hobgoblin call you and sweet Puck. 
 You do their work, and they fhall have good luck. 
 
 Malonc.'\ — The epithet (sweet) is not fuper- 
 fluous. — Puck alone was far from being an en- 
 dearing appellation, it lignified nothing better 
 than fiend. 
 
 Pray what is the meaning of Hobgohlin F and 
 what is the endearment of that perfonage ? 
 
 M. F. 
 Johnfon calls him a frightful fairy.'* 
 
 Johnf. in v. 
 
 Example XXXV. 
 
 ** The human mortals." 
 
 M. N. D. 
 
 " Human.'] — To mark the difference between 
 men and fairies. 
 
 Fairies were not human, but they were yet 
 fubjedt to mortality !!" \_Malone. 
 
 The amiably anilian logic of this remark is 
 unexampled, and is in Sir Roger de Coverlfs befl 
 manner, though he, with more acutenefs, but 
 with equal fimplicity, exculpates Moll White 
 from the charge of riding in the air. 
 
 I never heard of the death and burial of in- 
 vifible fpirits , nor can the fextons of my parifli, 
 
 at
 
 [ 41 3 
 
 at all enlighten me in that aerial regider of 
 Subterranean mortality. M. F. 
 
 Example XXXVI. 
 
 " Cowflips tally her penfioners be." 
 
 Edmond apprehends tall in this place to de- 
 note the height of the cowflips. 
 
 I will here apply to hiuiy and with his own 
 urbanity of good humour, what he addrefles to 
 Capell, viz. " that although he has devoted his 
 life to the obfolete antiquities of minute and 
 verbal criticifm, he has not been able to difcover 
 that in Shakfpeare height^ was not univerfally 
 or neceflarily conveyed by tally but that occa- 
 lionally the latter imported grace, or fpirit, or 
 flrength, in the figure. 
 
 \Geo. Chalmers — by the Penny Pojl. 
 
 Edmond himfelf, to ferve another purpofe, 
 interprets tall fo as to make it a very good epi- 
 thet for the fairies, without reference to their 
 ftature. 
 
 " TaW—" quick-handed'' — " aaive." 
 
 \_Maloney vol. lo, p. 556. 
 
 He quotes his friend Signior FloriOy who wrote 
 his didionary in 1598. 
 
 Example
 
 C 42 3 
 
 Example XXXVII. 
 
 ** Good mafter miijiard Jeed^ 
 
 I know your patience well." 
 
 ^^3" ** By patience is meant ftanding flill in 
 the mujlard pot, to be eat with beef, on w hich 
 it was a conftant attendant." 
 
 [Malone, 
 
 " But how does this truifm elevate the patience 
 
 of 'mujlard above that of fait, pepper, fugar, 
 
 vinegar, &c.?'* 
 
 [_Ed?nond*s cook in ^i. Ann, Street, Eajl. 
 
 03* The anfwer is deferred. 
 
 Example XXXVIII. 
 
 " How like you the young German, 
 The Duke of Saxony's nephew ?*' 
 
 [Neriira to Portia in the M. of Venice. 
 
 " In Shakfpeare's time the Duke of Bavaria 
 " vifited London, and was 7nade knight of the 
 " garter,'* 
 
 (Was he indeed ?) 
 
 " Perhaps, in this enumeration of Portia's 
 fuitors, there may be fome covert allulion to 
 thofe of Queen Elizabeth." \_Malone, 
 
 Perhaps not. 
 
 But I never underftood that his Highnefs of 
 Bavaria (for whofe memory I have, neverthelefs, 
 infinite refped:J was one of the fuitors. 
 
 Example
 
 [ 43 3 
 Example XXXIX. 
 
 '* To prove vvhofc blood is reddeji, his, or mine." 
 
 Edmond — " It muft be remembered that red 
 is traditionally a lign of courage. 
 
 " Thus Macbeth calls one of his frighted fol- 
 diers, a white~\i\tvtd. lown. Again, in this 
 play, cowards are faid to have livers as white as 
 milki and a timorous man is termed a milk fop." 
 
 \_Malone. 
 
 §3* I. " A milk fop is not a timorous man, but 
 rather foft and effeminate. 
 
 1. A white-livered TCi^n is not a coward i and 
 there is no analogy between fear and the colour 
 of the liver. 
 
 3. There is no affinity between the colour of 
 a man's IHood and the colour of his liver." 
 
 [A note from Apothecaries' Hall. 
 
 Example XL. 
 
 " The kinder we to give 'em thanks for nothing, 
 Our fport fhuU be to take what they miflake." 
 
 [_Edmond.'] — " Foltaire fays fomething like that 
 of Louis XIF. who took pleafure in feeing his 
 courtiers in confufion when they fpoke to him." 
 
 " Not a bit like it. — For it was pride in him, 
 as it appears from the tenor of the context ; — 
 but in Thefeus it was good humour and generous 
 complacency to thofe who did their beft." 
 
 \_Min. Felix. 
 
 Example
 
 C 44 ] 
 
 Example XLI. 
 
 ** And with fuch fober and unnoted paflion, 
 He did behave his anger, ere 'twas fpent. 
 As if he had proved an argument." 
 
 The old copy reads behoove, 
 
 Rowe^ (who appears to me a very ingenious 
 and a very ufeful editor,) introduced the word 
 behave. 
 
 Dr. Warhirion approved the change, and he 
 interpreted behave — " manage. '* 
 
 Behave certainly may be a verb adtive, as we 
 know by the common phrafe, behave himjelfy 
 i. e. condudl himfelf. 
 
 Here then a fenfe is produced, which is quaint, 
 I admit, but intelligible. 
 
 Edmonds as if to ridicule ?i\\jmnpers but him- 
 felf, fays, that he fometimes has thought the 
 word (and which he makes for the purpofe) 
 may have been — " he did behalve — his anger, 
 i. t.fupprefs it." 
 
 ^^3" N. B.JirJI, the poetical invention of the 
 new word ! 
 
 |J<3" N. B./econdly, that if I cut a thing /« half, 
 1/uppre/s it ! 
 
 But the curious reader has more playfulnefs 
 to come. 
 
 Behalve is introduced " because the author 
 often converts nouns into verbs." 
 
 That bebalving is 7wt the fame as the ad: of 
 JuppreJJing, 1 can prove, ad ho}?nnemy — for he 
 
 behalves
 
 [ 45 ] 
 
 behalves the import of the word behave, by 
 putting Warburton's interpretation of the word 
 firfl, then adducing his own word, then giving us a 
 paflage from Davenant, (in a note of Steevens'sJ 
 which confirms the fagacity of Rowe, and proves 
 that behave is ^ verb adlive, in the very fenfe 
 here claimed. 
 
 " Behave their influence." 
 
 Edmond has therefore lehal-vedy (and with his 
 accuflomed addrefsj the rival editor ; but he has 
 not fuppreJJ'ed him, for by the help of the two 
 notes, we eftablifli him again, complete and 
 perfedt. 
 
 Example XLII. 
 
 ^* Had his neceffity made ufe of mc, 
 
 I would have put my wealth into donation. 
 
 And the beft half fhould have returned to him." 
 
 [Twion. 
 
 Edmond firft introduces a note of Steevens, 
 jufi: as Martial fuppofes Cato to have come into 
 a Roman theatre, — ut exiret. 
 
 But then he accredits another, which he calls 
 happy \ and if the invention of a fenfe, which 
 cannot exijl, makes happy interpreters j here 
 they are ! 
 
 '* I would have treated my wealth as a gift ori- 
 ginally received from him, and would have re- 
 turned half to him, of that v^hole, for which I 
 fuppofed myfelf his debtor."
 
 [ 46 ] 
 
 63" I am convinced that interpreters like 
 thefe, are fpirits, 
 
 " Qucis meliore luto finxit praecordia Titan." 
 
 [M. F. 
 
 Example XLIII. 
 
 ** Loathed iigamy." Rich. Hid. 
 
 1. Bigamy is defined by Sergeant Edmonds the 
 offence of marrying tzvo virgins, and the Jecond 
 before the firft wife is dead ! 
 
 2. It is alfo the offence of marrying a widow ! 
 
 \_M alone. 
 
 This laft was the very offence which Richard 
 
 had recently committed, who is here addreffed 
 
 by Buckingham. — For he had juft married Anne, 
 
 the widow of the Prince. [M. F. 
 
 Example XLIV. 
 
 " Duchefs of York to Rich. III. her fon. — 
 
 What comfortable hour canft thou name. 
 That ever grac'd me in thy company ? 
 Rich. — Faith, none but Humphrey Hour that called 
 your Grace 
 To breakfaft once." 
 
 Iph This may probably be an alliifion to fome 
 
 affair of gallantry in which the Duchefs of York 
 
 had been fufpeded. [Maione, 
 
 1^:3=- Now for Edmond, with his negative key, 
 
 •* Surely the poet's fondnefs for a quibble, has 
 
 not induced him to pcrfonify and chrijien that 
 
 hour
 
 [ 47 ] 
 
 hour of the day that fummoned his mother to 
 her breakfaft!!" 
 
 f^ N. B. Myfourlh fon, who dabbles in punc- 
 tuation, as well as the late *S'/> James Burroughsy 
 (a talent which is the fublimity perfonified of 
 critical niechanifmj defires me to read on. 
 
 I read accordingly, and find the words "forth 
 of my company." 
 
 ** How can this be corred: ?" (fays he) and he 
 fays well (for his years). " The mother obferves 
 that Ihe never had a comfortable hour in his 
 company. He anfwcrs, yes, one hour forth of 
 my company ; i. e. not /// my company, but out 
 of my company ; — which is not an anfwer ad 
 idem, and makes the paflage nonfenfe, (if that 
 indeed is any objedion.) 
 
 I would therefore (fays the little pointer) make 
 a full flop at the word once. 
 Forth of my company ! 
 will then be a new paragraph. 
 
 And the following lines confirm the accuracy 
 of this arrangement — 
 
 If I be fo difgracious in thy fight. 
 Let me march on. 
 
 [Minutiolus the fourth. 
 
 Example XLV. 
 
 In Anth. and CIccp.—^ lady is averfe to heating her 
 liver with drinking," 
 
 By the way^ (he is one of Cleopatra's maids 
 
 of honour. 
 
 One
 
 C 48 ] 
 
 One fhould think Ihe might be averfe to it — 
 
 1. becaiife a heated liver is not pleajant \ and 
 
 2. becaufe the habit of drinking^ fo as to heat 
 the liver, is not feminine or pretty — /;/ Maids of 
 Honour. 
 
 But Edmond, who is not gallanty (as we fa- 
 tally remember and lament) iniinuates, that her 
 diflike to this habit, arifes from the irrefiftible 
 analogy which he, (and he alone,) has difcovered 
 between a heated liver and a pimpled face. 
 
 ^3" I have aflembled a confultation of the 
 inoft eminent phylicians in the metropolis, who 
 tell me there is no fuch analogy. I have their 
 certificate ligned : George Baker, 
 
 H. R. Reynolds, 
 Lucas Pepys, 
 Francis Millman. 
 
 Example XLVI. 
 
 Ric, II. a£l 3, fc. 4. — 
 
 *' Oh, I zm prefst to death thro' want of fpeaking.*' 
 
 Mai one. 
 
 I never yet faw the Sergeant laugh a gorge de- 
 ploy ee^ till I told him that, according to Edmond, 
 the poet alludes here to the ancient legal punifh- 
 ment, called ** peine forte et dure," which, as he 
 tells us, was inflided on thofe perfons who, being 
 arraigned, refufed to plead, remaining obftinately 
 filent. " They -were prejfed (k feems) to death 
 by a heavy weight laid upon their ftomach." 
 
 As
 
 C 49 ] 
 
 As the Sergeant was recovering, I laid before 
 him, with an air of myftery, the palFagc to which 
 I alluded in the Ejjence^ (P^g* 4S> 2d ed.) and 
 reminded him of Beatrices 's wit — in Much Ado 
 about Nothings as compared by Benedick-Ma- 
 lone to the fame ingenious procefs of the peine 
 forte et dure. 
 
 He fell into fuch a convulfive fit of that which, 
 according to fome philofophers, is the diftinc- 
 tive character of the human race, that I was 
 alarmed for his health and his life, efpecially 
 as he had before complained of a dangerous 
 fulnefs in the head, arifing from a circle of 
 law dinners. But after lofing blood, (and as 
 red^ I can alTure Mr. Traditionary Edmonds as 
 that of any hero,) he is as zvell as can he ex- 
 ■peEled. He has taken, by the phyfician's ad- 
 vice, a gentle opiate, labelled " The order and 
 chronology of Shakf pe are's plays.** 
 
 Example XLVII. 
 
 Nas duo turba fumus. 
 
 ^^ The two kings of Brentford never fmell 
 with a more cordial fympathy of nofe, at the 
 fame bouquet^ interchanged between them, than 
 Samuel and Edmonds at the figure which this 
 Canon has produced and cherifticd. 
 
 They often ridicule Warhurtony who is fond 
 of it, and excels in it, but is very inferior to 
 either of them. 
 
 Let me here ^^ pray in aid'* a pafTagc in Dr. John- 
 fon, which Edmond has not himfelf furpafied, 
 
 * E thougli
 
 C so 3 
 
 though he has gratefully adopted it, and made it 
 immortal, as a part of his note, but infcribed 
 with Johnfon's name. 
 
 ** Beatrice.] — Hey ho! 
 
 Margaret.]— For a horfe ? a hawk ? or hufband ? 
 [ [Beatrice.] — Forthelettcrwhichbeginstheinall,a«//." 
 
 Mr, Editor M alone properly fuppofcs ** hey ho 
 " to be a word of longing ; and produces a book, 
 " entitled. Heigh ho for a Hujband ! or The 
 " willing Maid's wants made known." 
 
 The anfwer of Margaret evinces, that Ihe un- 
 derftood it as a wifli for fomething unpofTelTed, 
 by afking her if it is for a hawk, a horfe, or a 
 hufband. 
 
 But Johnfon makes three fagacious remarks, 
 the fame Johnfon whom Edmond prefers (when- 
 ever he does not grapple with him) to all the 
 commentators 1 
 
 1. It is a poor jefl. 
 
 2. It is obfcure. 
 
 3. It is not worth elucidation. 
 But thefe are no reafons why he fliould not 
 
 elucidate. — With an air of mathematical cer- 
 tainty, he explains the paflage by a folution, 
 which, if any man, woman, or child, can read, 
 with a command of the mufcles, which diftin- 
 guifli the human creature, they ought imme- 
 diately, fans autre forme de proces^ to be made 
 Sergeants at Law. 
 
 " For a7i Hi that is, for an ache or pain !'* 
 
 [Johnfoit, 
 
 " Such tricks hnth flrong imagination, 
 That it itfclf is high fantaRical." 
 
 I. Here
 
 C 51 3 
 
 1. Here ache is made a rhime to //, which 
 is new, and worthy of Edmond's " eavy' pro- 
 nounced like ** air" 
 
 2. She is longings (by her own account,) — for 
 'pain ! 
 
 3. In all her dialogue fhe does not even coun- 
 terfeit paiJif though Benedick does when he is 
 angry with Claudio. She fays that fhe hjick. 
 
 4. " Heigh ho'* is not an interpretation of 
 pain ; it is an expreiTion of flight languor and 
 uneaiinefs. 
 
 5. "Ache" the word here fuppofed, is, in this 
 identical play, fpelt ach, where Benedick pre- 
 tends to have the tooth ach. 
 
 But where is ache^ fpell it as you Mill, pro- 
 nounced H? 
 
 Anfwer : " In the terra incognita oimy rhithm." 
 
 [£. Malone, 
 
 Johnfon truly derives it from oLx^^y which, of 
 courfe, gives it the found that rhimes to make^ 
 takcy &c. 
 
 But he fuppofes, by a figure, called Invention^ 
 that we mult read it as a dilTyllable at leaft in 
 Shdkefpeare (for fo he writes the name). 
 
 Fill all |thy b5nes|wTth « |f/;^j mikejthee roar.| 
 
 And in the following line, which he alfo at- 
 tributes to the fame poet — 
 
 old ^Tjf/vj throb I — your h51|lo\v tooth | will rage. 
 
 AlTuming, firll, that a rhithm of perfed: mea- 
 fure was left in the manufcript of his poet. 
 
 E 2 And
 
 [ S» ] 
 
 And fccondly, that if it was, not a fyllable of 
 it had been fpilt — though my accurate friend, 
 Mr. Smeetouy afTures me, that nothing is more 
 common than for Jyllables and words to be loft 
 amongft the dancing types. 
 
 In tlie cafe before us Mr. Smeelon coincides 
 with me, that a minute omifTion muft here be fup- 
 plicd ; fo minute, and fo obvious, that if Johnfon 
 had not been an editor profejjed^ he would have 
 picked up the omitted words. 
 
 In the firft line the word and^ 
 
 In the fecond line the word will^iYt omitted. 
 
 Reinftate them, and the genuine found of 
 ache, as if written ake, is preferved. 
 
 That it was not Shakfpeare's habitual whim 
 to make two fyllables of ache^ we can prove by 
 the following line — 
 
 ** Charm ache with pain, and agony with words." 
 
 Nor does it follow that if it was ever ufed as 
 a diflyllable in its plural for the fake of the 
 meafure, it was therefore pronounced as a rhime 
 to laches the law word. 
 
 " Lachefis is pronounced lake/is upon the fame 
 principle of reference to its Greek root." \_P or/on. 
 
 It happens too, not a little whimfically, that 
 in the older edition of other plays in which the 
 word is introduced, it is written *^ akcy" which 
 inuft therefore be deemed Shakfpeare's mode 
 of writing and fpelling it. Johnfon gives three 
 inftances of it. [Ceo. Chahners. 
 
 [See Johnf. Did. in v. ake /J 
 Edmond,
 
 [ S3 ] 
 
 |[:3" Edmond, with elegant and playful can- 
 dour, accufes the poet of an arch intention to 
 make his future commentators ridiculous! 
 
 For in a note upon Anth. and Cleop. after 
 throwing light on a fuppofed obfcurity, he fays, 
 that Shakfpeare probably defigned the confufion ; — 
 which his critics endeavour to dijentangle II 
 
 Example XLVIII. 
 
 Edmond is a filk mercer, and fuppofes that 
 Shakfpeare was of the fame trade. 
 
 Page 329, vol. 10, 
 
 A% faded glofs no rubbing will refre/fj. 
 
 An ancient manufcript having read — 
 
 No rubbing will excite. 
 
 Mr. Editor Steevens writes as follows — 
 ^3" " Read the firft line how you will, it is 
 founded upon a falfe pofition — every one knows 
 that the glojs or polilh on all works of art may 
 be rejloredy and that rubbing is the means of 
 rejloring it. 
 
 Enter Edmond thefilk mercer, 
 
 • ■ ** talos a vertice pulcher ad imos." 
 
 " Shakfpeare, I believe, alludes to faded Jilk, 
 of which the colour, when once faded, cannot 
 be reftored but by afecond dying. 
 
 1:3" As if glofs and colour were the fame ! — 
 which, I believe, no mercer but himfelf has 
 difcovered. 
 
 E 3 The
 
 [ 54 ] 
 
 The glofs to which the poet alluded, "was 
 beauty, which he calls 
 
 *' The fhining glofs that fadeth fuddenly." 
 
 "which, I apprehend, (who am only a woollen 
 mercer) applies to its brilliancy ^ not its colour i — 
 for the colour may remain when its glofs is faded. 
 
 Example XLIX. 
 
 ** All the world's my ivay.^* 
 
 [ShaJcfpeore. 
 
 Perhaps Milton had this in his mind when 
 he wrote — 
 
 *< The world was all before him— where to chufe 
 " His place of rejl /'* [^Malone. 
 
 " Very like a whale.'* [Polonius. 
 
 Example L. 
 
 ** And from your facred vials pour your graces. ^^ 
 \_Hermoine in the Wint. Tale. 
 
 The expreflion feems to have been taken from 
 xht facred writings,—' 
 
 ** And I heard a great voice out of the temple, 
 ** faying to the angel, go your ways, and 
 *' pour out the vials of the wrath of God 
 ** upon the earth." Rev. xvi. i. 
 
 \_Malone. 
 
 Example
 
 C ss ] 
 
 Example LI. 
 
 The far-fetched fent home again ! 
 
 — — — He is come to cope 
 The purple tejiament of bleeding war. 
 
 " I oncey^ quoth Edmond, (he does not fay 
 whether before or after dinner, and if the latter, 
 with whom he dined) " thought Shakfpeare 
 might have had the f acred hook, which is fre- 
 quently covered with purple lealher^ in his 
 thoughts. But the following note renders fuch 
 a fuppolition extremely doubtful.'' 
 
 The note makes " purple" apply itfelf to the 
 future effufion of blood, and the war, a tejla^ 
 menty in a legal fenfe, to be opened by the fol- 
 diers who are its legatees II 
 
 But if this note, which Edmond prefers to 
 his own, had been abfolutely defperate, would 
 it leave Edmond's purple cover of the Bibky a 
 mafter of the field ? 
 
 Entre nous — Edmond is a little too fond of 
 his own children at the very moment that he 
 affedls to difown them, and throw them upon 
 the parifh. 
 
 Example LII. 
 
 Your honors in all duty. 
 
 This was formerly the ufual mode of addrefs 
 
 to noblemen. He then quotes a Jingle inftance 
 
 E 4 of
 
 C 56 3 
 
 of it from Birch's coUecftion. But in this very 
 dedication, to the Earl of Southa?npton^ " your 
 LordJIoip''' is produced, though ** your honor ' ac- 
 companies it; and in the following dedication, 
 to the fame perfon, " your honor" is totally 
 omitted. Edmond would have made an excel- 
 lent lawyer, as the Sergeant often exclaims ; — 
 he tells what makes /d?r him, and fuppreffes what 
 makes againjl him, w-ith mafterly addrefs. 
 
 We find in page 562, vol. 10. that at leaft 
 after the rcftoration, *^ your honor'' was become 
 obfolete, but it has been difcovered that in a 
 letter of that asra, it was addrefTed, (perhaps,) 
 to an eldejl Jon of a peery on principles of he- 
 raldry, which are not explained, but which are 
 at leafl: new to me. 
 
 It happens, however, that we are told by the 
 alter et idem, that a per/on of honor at the very 
 fame period, meant a perfon who had claims 
 to an ancient barotty, 
 
 [See Effence, page 31, 2d ed.] 
 
 In truth, ''your honor' was not the ufual addrefs 
 to a nobleman in Shakfpeare's time. Letters of 
 that age, are numberlefs, and I appeal to them. 
 
 [M. F. 
 
 Example LIII. 
 
 — — — " Heav'ns {ojhine, 
 " That they may fairly note this ad of mine." 
 
 [Olivia in Tw. Night. 
 
 Alluding,
 
 C 57 ] 
 
 Alluding, PERHAPS, to a fuperflitious fuppo- 
 fition, the memory of which is (till prefcrved in 
 a proverbial faying — " Happy is the bride upon 
 " whom the fan JJjines ! and blelFed the corps 
 " upon which the rain falls !" 
 
 \_Malone. 
 
 I cannot make a parting bow to this Canon 
 with a better grace than by the two following 
 lines in that fanciful poet, whofe dreams Ed- 
 mond has reinfpired, and, perhaps, improved : 
 
 " He apprehends a world of figures here, 
 " But not ihe form of that he doth intend." 
 
 [Shcihfpear. 
 
 CANON.
 
 C S8 ] 
 
 CANON II. 
 
 The Superfluous^ or the Time-killer, 
 
 Example I. 
 
 ** Are there no flones in heaven 
 
 *' But what ferve for the thunder?" Othello. 
 
 Malone, the expojitor.'] — " Has not heaven 
 " one fupernumerary bolt to hurl diredlly at the 
 " head of this atrocious villain ? Muft all the 
 " ftores of its arfenal be employed for common 
 •' and ordinary thunder, which, though fome- 
 ** times deftrudiive, is, in the ufual courfe of 
 «' nature, not fpecifically pointed at one par- 
 «* ticular objed?" 
 
 Example II. 
 
 " Thou haft not half the power to do me harm 
 " as I have to be hurt." 
 
 \_Imogen in Cymheline. 
 
 " I have, in this cafe, power to endure more 
 *' than you have power to inflid." Malone, 
 
 ^ *' You fpeak like a mod ancient and quiet 
 ** watchman." \_Dogberry. 
 
 Example
 
 C S9 1 
 
 Example III. 
 
 — -. — <* Oh devil! devil! 
 
 If that the earth could teem with w^oman's fears. 
 
 Each drop fhe falls vi^ould prove a crocodile.'" 
 
 \pthollo. 
 
 MalQne.~\ — " Shakfpeare alludes to the fabu- 
 lous account of crocodiles" — f Upon my word 
 you're in the right." M. F.) ** Each tear" — fays 
 Othello, — " that falls from the deceitful Defde- 
 mona, would generate a crocodile^ the moft de- 
 ceitful of all animals, and whofe tears are pro- 
 verbially faljer [E. M. 
 
 It is a corredl remark, though a little equivocal 
 in the expreffion. They are not falfe tears ^ or, 
 in other words, 7to tears at all ; — hut falfe y in the 
 character of tendernefs, which they denote and 
 alTume. [M, F. prompted by a famous a^refs. 
 
 Example IV. 
 
 ** Harm not yourfelf with your vexation,; I 
 Am fenfelefs of your wealth — a touch more rare. 
 Subdues all pangs, all fears." 
 
 \lmogen in Cymheline, 
 
 Malone*s paraphrafe."] — " A more uncom- 
 mon, — a finer feeling.'* 
 
 " Thank you Edmond ! — in my daughter's 
 name."^ [M. F. 
 
 Example
 
 [ «o ] 
 
 Example V. 
 
 If:^ A Malonian parenthefis. 
 
 By the ivay. — I muft here put Edmond into 
 good and bad company at once, for \ Jujpe^ 
 that he did not love Steevcns ; — but that he wor- 
 fliipped Johnfon, (who was that Steeven's 
 coadjutor,) we have a thoufand proofs. He 
 has however matriculated both of them (to ufe 
 an academical phrafe) in adopting and embracing 
 two fuch notes as, perhaps, dignity and genius 
 united never atchieved. 
 
 *' Ille finiftrorsum hie dextrorsum abit." 
 
 Which is to the right or which is to the left of 
 common fenfe, I recommend (upon motives of 
 delicacy) to a ballot. 
 
 *' And with mine eyes I'll drink the words you fend, 
 Tho' ink be made oi gall.'" 
 
 \PoJihumus in Cymbeline. 
 
 §f3" " Shakfpeare, even in this poor conceit, 
 '* has confounded the vegetable galls ufed in 
 *' inky with the animal gall^ fuppofed (and I 
 *' believe known) to be hitter,'' [^John/on, 
 
 I dare not fliow Steevens's note which fol- 
 lows (and follows in Malone's edition) to the 
 Sergeant, for fince the fit of laughter which I 
 innocently excited in the mufcular fyflem of 
 his " grave and fad" countenance, I cannot an- 
 fwer for the confequences of this note. 
 
 Inftead
 
 [61] 
 
 Inflead of detedling the ingenious error which 
 the note of Johnfon imports, he argues, with 
 equal fubhmity of ignorance, upon the nature of 
 galls in ink; and like a *'fad Counfellor of ihe King" 
 (as grave and political advifers to His Majefty, 
 were called in early days) he reafons thus, but 
 forgets that Momus ought fometimes to be feared, 
 or that he will be revenged : 
 
 ** The poet might mean either the vegetable 
 or the animal galls y with equal propriety ; — as the 
 'vegetable gall is bitter; and I have fcen an an- 
 cient receipt for making inky beginning, ** take 
 *^ of the black juice of the gall of oxen two 
 " ounces !" &c. [jSleevens. 
 
 If my death-warrant had accompanied the 
 iirft arrival of thefe notes, I (hould have lau2:hcd. 
 
 The word ** thouglf in the original is quite 
 forgot, or contemptuoufly mifinterpreted. Whe- 
 ther it is a vegetable or animal gall that forms 
 ink in general y makes no difference to Pojl humus. 
 The conceit, if any, (which I do not admit,} 
 is upon the wordy and the poet, may, as well have 
 punned upon the equivoque of the term, as upon 
 the bitternefs of the tafte, imputed here (by 
 Mr. Steevens, chemift as well as editor) to the 
 compofition of the ink. 
 
 But the (Malonian) proofs adminiftcred by his 
 brother-chemifl:, are excellent: i. " Galls of 
 oxen have been found in an ancient receipt for 
 ink." 
 
 From which, I fuppofe, it is to be inferred, 
 (or it is nothing to the purpofe) that vegetable 
 
 gall
 
 C 62 ] 
 
 gall either is, or was, or can be, ufetf, in form- 
 ing Imogen's ink : — to which inference there is 
 only one (flight) objedion, which is, that it is 
 completely refuted by the fa6l. 
 
 2. " Vegetable gall is hitter J' 
 
 Which it is not — I have fome upon my table ; 
 and thofe that have done me the honor to be my 
 rafters, are confident in repelling this charge as 
 a libel upon the ingredient. 
 
 Apropos. — The fame Dr. Johnfon in his dic- 
 tionary, has adduced this very pafTage in Cym- 
 beline, for one of the inftances (which it cer- 
 tainly affords) of gall^ as a thing of a bitter 
 iafte ; — i. e. as if Pofthumus had faid, ** though 
 your ink were as bitter as gall.'''' 
 
 In another pafTage, and figuratively, as here, 
 Shakfpeare fays, •* let there be gall enough in 
 your ink." 
 
 Johnfon too diflinguifhes the vegetable gall, 
 and proves that it is not bitter — from the me- 
 dical writers who defcribe the " acerbity of the 
 tafte," which acerbity is a harfh acid, very 
 unlike bitternefs. 
 
 Vv-'illing to believe that Mr. Editor Steevens 
 (who in petticoats would have made an ex- 
 cellent Goddefs of Truth at the Gallic fite^ if the 
 *' Goddefs of Reafon" could have been /w- 
 proved) had really ittn this ancient receipt for 
 the gall of an ox as ufed for ink^ — I am happy 
 to account for it, without fuppofing the ab- 
 furdity imputed by him, and by Mr. Editor 
 
 Malone,
 
 C 63 ] 
 
 Malone, (his adopted father, quoad hoc J to their 
 friend Shakfpeare. 
 
 " For ink, fuch as that which (alone) Poft- 
 humus contemplates, viz. the ink of Imogen's 
 letter, the animal gall was never ufed in this 
 world. (We cannot anfwer for ihe moon.) It 
 would not only be of no ufe, but it would coun- 
 teract the effecl of all the other ingredients. 
 
 *' But for printers ink, it zn'onld be of ufe, 
 and for the fame reafon that it would be hurtful 
 to the ink that is to zvrite : Aflringent qualities 
 are eflential to the latter ; but in printer s ink, a 
 faponaceous eft'cdl is required, which the animal 
 galls, being alkaline, produce; — they are ufed in 
 the nature of detergents, one objecl being to 
 render the utenlils clean, with more facility, 
 whilft other ingredients, which are mucilaginous, 
 give confidence and cohefion. 
 
 '' The part of the vegetable gall, on which the 
 formation of Imogen's ink depends, is in a pe- 
 culiar acid, found only in the vegetable gall 
 —it is known by the name of the gallic acid, 
 
 " The vegetable gall is not bitter in ihe leajl, 
 and rather auftere than even acerb (to ufe John- 
 fon's word) ; in other words, it is more harlli and 
 rough than four. 
 
 ** The animal gall is intenjely hitter.*' 
 
 [Report of a committee at Stationers and 
 Apothecaries' Hall. 
 
 But how lliould men of their vivacity have the 
 dullnefs 10 be medically or chemically accu- 
 rate.
 
 [ 64 ] 
 
 rate, when they affume, (but playfully) fuch in- 
 ferior branches of fcience ? To afRime them, and 
 prove their ignorance by the fadt which they defy, 
 is bold and fpirited, which is more than can be 
 faid of truth. It is a cold and fncaking merit. 
 
 By the way, — gall of carp gives clearnefs and 
 ftrength to the light. [Chambers in v. gall -j 
 which induces me to recommend it for an Edi- 
 tor's gla7icing eyCy when he contemplates an 
 omitted or fuperfluous e. 
 
 The gall of a bullock (which Mr. Editor 
 Steevens obferved, as he reports, in a receipt for 
 ink,) is reputed, an alexi-opthalmic^ and I with 
 that he had ufed it for his (intellecflual) optics 
 before he had made it an ingredient of Imogen's 
 letter to her hufband. 
 
 See Chambers again. 
 
 Gall of a roe-bucky or of a hare, deterges and 
 carries off fpccks, clouds, and cataradls of the 
 eye. Ibid. 
 
 Medical accuracy is not, I think, Edmond^s 
 fort. That a hot liver makes a pmpled face, 
 cannot be implicitly received ; and I mufl beg 
 leave to withhold my aflent from another of his 
 dodrines, viz. " that mortification is attended 
 with no pain." A learned apothecary, who at- 
 tends me, fays, it is, by no means, true; the 
 mortified part feels no pain, but that fbate is 
 frequently the companion as well as confequence, 
 of inflammation, of irritability, and of pain ex- 
 treme, — elfewhere. In fome diforders, pain fub- 
 
 fides
 
 [ 6s ] 
 
 iidcs when the mortification has taken place. 
 But in many other cafes, the irritability and 
 pain of the furrounding parts continue," 
 
 Apropos of the animal gall. We are told " that 
 laughter is of ufe to force it out of the gall blad- 
 der into the duodenum j" and I have feen, but 
 forget where, the anatomical folution. 
 
 I only recoiled " that our intereoftal and ab- 
 dominal mufcles are Ihaken for the purpofe ;" — 
 and though I am not an advocate for laughter in 
 general, I mufl: add, that ever fince the fit which 
 endangered the Sergeant's life, he has been 
 more good humoured and playful than he was 
 before the accident. 
 
 Example VI. 
 
 " Look on my wrongs with an indifferent eye.'* 
 " Indifferent — •* Impartial:' 
 §f:3- "Every Jury-man (fays Sir Edward Coke) 
 ought to be impartial and indifferent ! \_Malone, 
 Hamlet's father approves of this interpreta- 
 I tion, and begs leave to add another inftance ex- 
 traded from another play of the fame dramatift : 
 *' I am a poor woman, and a ftranger. 
 Born out of your dominions, having here 
 No Judge indifferent:* Hen. VIII. 
 
 The fame King of Denmark whifpers to me, 
 that it is a familiar fenfe of the term, and that 
 he is a little furprizcdat Edmond's appeal to 
 him. 
 
 * F Example
 
 C 66 3 
 
 Example VII. 
 
 *' Thy fon is banifhed upon good advice.^* 
 
 RIc. II. 
 
 " Upon great confideraiion,'* [^Edmond, 
 
 *' Even I agree to this. " \_Pyrrho. 
 
 Example VIII. 
 
 In the fonnets, pag. 225, vol. 10, we have 
 this line, fonn. 37: 
 
 So I made lame by fortune's dearefl: fpite. 
 
 And in fonn. 89 : 
 
 Speak of my lamenefs and I ftrait will halt. 
 
 Edmond vindicates, and with all due gravity, 
 the poet againft the hypothefis, that Shakfpeare 
 was lame. He fays, the expreflion is in the firft 
 inftance figurative ; and I, who have been all 
 my life in the habit of thinking four was not 
 three (till Edmond (liook my faith) implicitly 
 adopt that wife opinion. 
 
 In the 89th fonnet, as Edmond irrefiflibly 
 argues, the poet fpeaks of an unmerited impu- 
 tation. Befides, (as he archly and yet logically 
 obferves,) if lame habitually j how could he halt 
 occafionally ? [^Euclid and Locke „ 
 
 iExAMPLB
 
 [ 67 ] 
 
 Example IX. 
 
 Or the apropos de bottes negatives, 
 
 ** Her Majefty (Henrietta) preferred Shakfpeare's 
 houfe to the college." [Theobald. 
 
 Malone.'] " She took no refuge there ;" but en- 
 tered Stratford in triumph. 
 
 " By the zva)\ the following was the origin of 
 that College," — which Her Majefty did not vifit. 
 
 Then he gives the hiftory of the College, 
 vol. r. pag. ii6. and I thank him for it. 
 
 \_Min Felix. 
 
 (1:3* I ^"^ \^txz moft happy to remind the 
 reader, that Mr. Bofweli has promifed us an 
 account of all the houjes which Docflor Johnfon 
 ever inhabited, in a feparate work. To be fure 
 Mr. Bofweli is dead ; but as Edmond has been 
 his Editor lince his death, one may hope that he 
 has found this work in manufcript ; we fhall 
 then, I have no doubt, have the minuteft hiftory 
 of the two contiguous houfes at leaft, as being 
 thofe which Dr. Johnfon did not inhabit, efpe- 
 cially if the Dr. was near inhabiting either of 
 them ; for Mr. Bofweli tells us, *^ a Mr. Lee was 
 proud of the fadt, not that he had^ (for he had 
 not) but that he was near having Dr. Johnfon 
 at fchool under him." 
 
 F 2 ExAMPtK
 
 [ 6S ] 
 
 Example X. 
 
 ** And fhe will fing the fong that pleafeth thee, 
 And on your eye-lids crown the god of fleep. 
 Making fuch diff'rence between fleep and wake, 
 As is the diff'rence between day and night." 
 
 I. Hen. IV. 3 — I. 
 
 Edmond fvvectly paraphrafes thefe lines, and 
 makes them in his profe more poetical^ but not more 
 clear than he found them. This, I fuppofe, is 
 what Mr. Courtenay means when he fays of him 
 in the motto that he has given to me : 
 
 *' Rejind, though clear." 
 
 " She will lull you by her fong, into foft 
 tranquillity, in which you fliall be fo near fleep 
 as to be free from perturbation, and fo much 
 awake as to be fenfible of pleafure. (How ele- 
 gantly voluptuous!) A ftate partaking of 
 Heep and wakefuinefs, as the twilight of night 
 and of day." 
 
 ^3* Another parenthefis of the " apropos,* 
 hut ad hominem. 
 
 Perhaps charad:er was never fo exemplified. 
 He is " fillipping the Ireland-ianos with his 
 " three-man's beetle." He cites with great pro- 
 priety, the ancient orthographies, and amongft 
 them a palTage out of Sir John Forte/cue's Jus 
 
 Regale^
 
 Regale^ which happens to defcribe the feivile 
 condition of the French in thofe days, and alfo 
 to paint, in difgufting colours, the tyranny 
 which then was exercifed over them. 
 
 Edmond writes a long note merely political, 
 but in which there is a fentiment that no man 
 but a polemic in the controverfy of an auto^ 
 graphs (fuch as Edmond and myfelf,) could have 
 adopted, but in which (enthuliaft for him as I 
 am) I cannot implicitly follow him. 
 
 He " wifhes the country was blotted from the 
 map of the world." • 
 
 I wiih no fuch thing, and God forbid that I 
 fliould ; for my religion has taught me (except 
 in criticifm) that I fhould pray for my enemies. 
 
 But let us not forget a topic of more im- 
 portance, viz. the fancy of this anathema in a 
 political note, produced by a difpute, whether 
 Ireland's manufcripts were genuine or forged!!! 
 
 Example XL 
 
 [ — — — bullatis Ut mi!ii nugis 
 Pagina turgefcat.] 
 
 His lobbies, fill'd with 'tendance, 
 Rain * jacriftc'uil zvhifp' rings in his ear. 
 
 [Timoft, 
 
 * Malone.'j — " IVhi/perings attended with 
 fuch refpedt and veneration as accompany fa^ 
 crifices to the gods. 
 
 F 3 The
 
 [ 70 ] 
 
 The lingle word incenje^ which is ofteri ufed 
 for adulation, gives the idea and with no cir- 
 cuitous expreflion ; — in which refpedl the Mj- 
 lonian comment is preferable. \Min. Felix* 
 
 Example XII. 
 
 *• In this I'll be Impartial: be you judge 
 
 Of your own caufe !" \MeaJ.for M. 
 
 "In the language of our author's time, im Mas 
 frequently ufed as an augmentative or intenfive 
 particle. '* \^Malone. 
 
 I am fo pleafed with Edmond for this Archi- 
 median difcovery, that it would hurt me to de- 
 rogate from its weight. I therefore only beg 
 leave to put it into the Canon of amiable Jiiper'* 
 jiiiitiesy becaufe, in the pafTage itfelf, there is 
 no colour for the inference that any fuch thing 
 is meant. 
 
 •' I'll be impartial^' fays the Duke, i. e. I'll take 
 no part in it, but (it by and hear — you fhali be 
 judge, though it is your own caufe. It never 
 could be fuppofed that when the Duke is pre- 
 tending indignation againft the accufer, he means 
 to degrade the juftice of that compliment and 
 good opinion, by telling him that he will be 
 partial in his favor. 
 
 As to the intenfive particles I wilh them well, 
 in a feparate work oi fix ntditWtilt duodecifnoSy 
 to which I will molt happily, and proudly con- 
 tribute, \_Min. Felix. 
 
 Example
 
 C 7' ] 
 
 Example XIIL 
 
 When my indifpofition put you back. 
 
 And that unaptneji made your mln'ijhr. 'T'nnoiu 
 
 Ma/one.] " The conftrudion is, " 
 
 ** And made that unapt nefs your minijler.*' 
 
 [Ghoji of Denmark, 
 
 One of my fons, who is only feven years old, 
 has a turn for fatire and ridicule, which I endea-> 
 vour in vain to reprefs. 
 
 *' That air-drawn dagger by which thoufands bleed." 
 
 But he is often more than a match for me by 
 his romps and playfulnefs, which difarm all 
 ferious anger. *' Pray," faid he, ** tell me, if 
 *' I was to ^^.y, four is two multiplied by two?" 
 would this gentleman explain it ? and would he 
 fay, that is, " two and two make four?" 
 
 Example XIV. 
 
 «— — — — 'Tis all engaged, 
 And what remains will hardly flop the mouth 
 Of prefent dues — the future comes apace. 
 What fliall defend the interim? and at length, 
 How goes our reckoning? Timon. 
 
 [^Malone.'] " How will you be able to fubfiH: 
 in the time intervening between the payment of 
 the prefent demands which your whole fubftance 
 will hardly fatisfy, and the claim of future dues, 
 for which you have no fund whatfoever ? and 
 
 F 4 finally,
 
 [ 72 ] 
 
 finally, on the fettlement of all accounts in what 
 plight will you be ?" 
 
 A very accurate and fteward-like paraphrafe, 
 which has only dilated every thing it found com- 
 preiTed, but has interpreted no obfcurity. 
 
 This may be called an Arcadian receipt for 
 an Editor and Critic. Par/on Adams would 
 have been quite at home in it. 
 
 Example XV. 
 
 *' Shakes all our buds from growing.*' [^Jmoien. 
 
 " Malone.'] — Our buds of love. 
 
 " A bud without any diftindl idea, whether of 
 flower or fruit, is a natural reprefentation of any 
 thing * incipient or immature ,- and the buds of 
 flowers, if flowers are meant, grow to flov/ers, 
 as the buds of fruits grow to fruits. \_Edmond. 
 
 " See the Gardener'' s Di^ionary by Millar ^ &c. 
 
 Example XVI. 
 
 And what poor duty cannot do, 
 
 Noble refpedl takes it in weight not merit. 
 
 M. N. D. 
 
 * Yet though my calf is an incipient coiv, I rather doubt 
 whether 1 fliould call it the bud of a coiv. {_Min. Felixy 
 
 (made nvarj by the Sergeant.) 
 
 " And
 
 [ 73 3 
 
 " And what dutifulnefs tries to perform with- 
 out ability, regardful* generofity receives it 
 with complacency, eftimating it, not by the me- 
 rit of the performance, but by what it mignt 
 have been were the abilities of the pertormcrs 
 equal to their zeal." 
 
 " Such, I think, is the true interpretation of 
 the paflage." \_Edi7Jond. 
 
 [And fo do I — my wife, and my children. M.F. j 
 
 '^^ " For which interpretation the reader is 
 indebted partly to Dr. Johnfon, and partly to 
 Mr. Steevens.*' 
 
 This divifion duo-partite between the tenants 
 in common of the remark aforefaid, was ho- 
 noured by the Sergeant's note of it in Ihort 
 hand. 
 
 Example XVII. 
 
 j[" Dare pondus idonea fumo."] 
 
 *' To borrowyi many talents." Timon, 
 
 Altered by fome of the Editors to fifty talents ; 
 the original is properly reftored by Mr. Stee- 
 vens, and explained as a colloquial exprelTion 
 for a number indefinite. 
 
 Malone improves upon this benevolent in- 
 
 flrudion to the reader, produces the word 
 
 fuch as having the fame import, and proves it 
 
 by an addrefs of Qu. Eliz. to one of her Par- 
 
 * A word cqintd by Edmoqd for the purpole. M. F- 
 
 Jiaments !» 
 
 *^
 
 [ 74 3 
 
 Jiaments !! But he does not prove it (if it wanted 
 proof) by a palTage from Jidius Ccejar, 
 
 " There \sJq much that thou wilt kill me ftraight." 
 
 No two phrafcs can be more diflimilar — but 
 wit combines dilTimilitudes. [V. Locke, 
 
 Example XVIII. 
 
 8^ The fervants of Timon's creditors are 
 debating upon his debts to their mailers. 
 
 One of the mafters, it feems> is creditor for 
 3000 crowns, and the other for 5000. 
 
 The fervant of the former fays, 
 
 — - - It fhould feem by the fum, 
 Your mafter's confidence was above m'lney 
 Elfe furely his had equalled. 
 
 A palTage more intelligible cannot well be 
 imagined. His^ means the creditor for 3000 
 crowns. 
 
 Now for a note of notes ! 
 
 Malone.~\ " The meaning 'may be, " the con- 
 fidential friendfhip fubfifting between your 
 mafier [Lucius] and Timon, was greater than 
 that fubfifting between my mafter [Varro] and 
 Timon. " Elfe furely the fum borrowed by Timon 
 from your mafter, would have been equal to, and 
 nox. greater than^ the fum borrowed from jnime, 
 
 *' And this equality would have been produced 
 by the application to t^-^y mafter, being raifed 
 from 3000 crowns to 5C00. 
 
 Two
 
 [ 75 ] 
 
 ^3^ " Tzvo fums of equal magnitude may he re^ 
 duced to an equality^ as well by addition to the 
 lejferfumy as by fubt ration from the greater. 
 
 " ThuSy if A has applied to B for ten pounds^ 
 and to C for five ; and C requejis that he may lend 
 A -precifely the fame fum as he Jhall be furnifcd 
 with by B : this may be done either by A's aug" 
 menting his loan^ and lending ten pounds y as well as 
 B, or by B'j" diminifhiug his loan^ and like C, lend" 
 ing him only five pounds. 
 
 The words of Varro's fervant, may therefore 
 mean, Elfe furely the fame fums had been bor- 
 rowed by Timon from both our mafters !!" 
 
 Here let us paufe ! 
 
 ** The meaning thus produced by this compli- 
 cated procefsj which utterly miflakes* the words 
 that form the fentence, happens to be right in 
 itfelf, and felf-evident upon other principles. 
 
 Would any man, (woman, or child,} imagine 
 it poiTible that Edmond having Hated it, fhould 
 immediately difown it, as follows : 
 
 |f3- ** I have preferved this interpretation, be- 
 caufe I once thought it probabky and becaufc 
 it may fir ike others ^% juft I 
 
 " But the true interpretation is this, which 
 I aJfo formerly propofed, (fo that he h2iS propofed 
 the falfe, as well as that which is true.) 
 
 * "To this[paraphrafe] I makethe fame objecf^ion, that J 
 " have done to many others, namely, that a meaning is ex- 
 " traded from the words that they in no fort warrant." 
 
 \_Malons upon Steevens^ vol. 8, pag. 328. 
 
 *' His
 
 [ 76 ] 
 
 " His may refer to mine.'* 
 
 (It certainly fnay and mujl.) 
 
 He then paraphrafes d Pordinaire this truifm. 
 
 ^3- He then gives a new reafon for giving 
 not the tenor, but the fubflancc of this firft in- 
 terpretation, though he thinks it wrongs be- 
 caufe a fhallovv remarker has endeavoured to 
 reprefent it as unintelligible ! 
 
 *' It may be fo he fays to him.'* 
 
 He then ufes language to this gentleman, 
 which, though he is anonymous, and, perhaps, 
 non exifting, the Sergeant advifes ?ne to fupprefs. 
 
 But in the end he infults over him by a mofl 
 playful argument ; i. e. by reprefenting that 
 Anonymous adopts the fecond interpretation, 
 as if it had been originally his own ! 
 
 I declare, as I hope for mercy, that I adopted 
 it alfo, and before I faw it in him ; — not as being 
 his, but as being compelled by the words ; for I 
 muft beg leave here, once for all, in fupport of 
 A, B, C, D, &c. who read Shakfpeare, to in- 
 iift, that when I or they obferve a palTage in that 
 Poet which is clear of doubt, as that 5 and 5 are 
 10, — if Edmond proves it alfo, j?r/? by a miftake of 
 the words, and of the argument, fhen^ by a para- 
 phrafe of them, I and they are not his followers, 
 becaufe we adopt, without any thanks to him, 
 what he docs not make his (monopolized) inter- 
 pretation, merely by expanding, into the elegant 
 fuperfiuities of his paraphrafe, the obvious import 
 of two or three fim.ple words. 
 
 Let
 
 C 77 ] 
 
 Let mc give a fimilar inflance. A book is 
 opened, and a bottle is uncorked by a Malonian 
 procefs in a pi6lure of the Rake's Progrr/s, that 
 which reprefents the furgeon's room. 
 
 If I were to aflert, upon the view of a corked 
 bottle and an unopened book, that a cork may be 
 taken from the bottle, and that all the leaves may 
 be opened of the book ; I alTert what the medical 
 operator proves, but I neither adopt his procefs 
 nor his conclufion as fuch^ though I perfectly 
 agree with him in th.& general propojit ion. 
 
 Example XIX. 
 
 You will fay they are Perfian, but let them be changed. 
 [Lear to Mad Tom, — alluding to his rags. 
 
 Malone.] " Alluding^ perhaps ^ to Clytus r^- 
 fujing the Perfian robes offered him by Alexander !! 
 
 \_Malo7ie, 
 
 Example XX. 
 
 When the rain came to wet me once, and the wind 
 to make me chatter; when the thunder would 
 not peace at niy bidding, there I found them, 
 and there 1 fmelt them out. [Lear, 
 
 Malone,^ — It feems an allufion to King Canute's 
 behaviour, when his courtiers flattered him as 
 Lord of the fea ! 
 
 Example
 
 [ 78 ] 
 
 Example XXI. 
 
 Anth. and CI. i — 2. 
 
 *' When it pleafeth their deities to take the wife of 
 a man from him, it (hows to man the taylors 
 of the earth, comforting therein, that when 
 old robes are worn out, there are materials 
 enough to make new." 
 
 One laments that Shakfpeare ihould have 
 made a very ungallant and a very unconnubial 
 refledlion; but one is not lefs hurt at the difco- 
 covery intimated by Edmond, that he forgot his 
 wife in his will, and in a very aukward manner, 
 added a gift of inconfiderable value, as a legacy 
 to her. 
 
 Edmond, however, feems particularly anxious 
 that a widower fhould not be inconfolable, and 
 one lliould think he had read Le Veuf^ that 
 humorous proverbe which Le-Texier made fo ex- 
 quifite by his charming talent. 
 
 He has, therefore, put into his profe, that of 
 his author, with no advantage, difcoverable to 
 common eyes, but the beauty of paraphraje^ and 
 the efficacy of a good blow following up another. 
 
 _ - _ ** The deities have made other women 
 to fupply the place of his former wife, as the 
 taylor, when one robe is worn out, fupplies him 
 •with another." \_M alone. 
 
 By this account of the male dowager'' s frailty, 
 the Ephefian matron is avenged, 
 
 N. B. I have
 
 C 79 ] 
 
 N. B. I have feen a collecftion of epitaphs, and 
 amongft them Sir Albert Moreto^i's amiable fui- 
 cide, as a difconfolate widower. 
 
 She firft deceafed — he, for a little, try'd 
 
 To live without her — lik'd it not, — and died. 
 
 Upon this epitaph there is a marginal note in 
 Edmond's hand, as follows — 
 
 [Qu. See my note upon Ant. and Cleop. 
 
 E. M. 
 
 Example XXI I. 
 
 The wifeft aimt telling the faddefl: tale, 
 Sometimes for their footftool, miftaketh me. 
 
 M. N. D. 
 
 J^ " Though aunty in many ancient books, 
 
 means a procurefs 1 believe that here it 
 
 means only an old woman," [^Malone. 
 
 Example XXIII. 
 
 Keep your fellow^ s counfel and your own. 
 
 Sj^ogherry, 
 
 ^^^ " This is part of the oath (and fo it is) 
 of a grand juryman. 
 
 " It is one, of many, -proofs of Shakfpeare hav- 
 ing been very converfant in legal proceedings 
 and courts of Juftice." \_Malone, 
 
 This oath is delivered before it is taken, and 
 is in the nature of a charge as well as an oath — 
 
 Ic
 
 f 80 ] 
 
 It is delivered aloiuiy and with due folemnity, 
 by an officer of the Court. 
 
 [Note by the Sergeant. 
 So that if Shakfpeare had ever gone to the 
 affizcs at IVarwicky only eight miles from Strat- 
 fordy he mufl have heard it without knowing 
 more of legal procejs than his playfellows, when 
 he was a boy, or the *ladies, whom he gallanted 
 into Court as a young man. 
 
 Example XXIV. 
 
 No man fo potent breathes upon the earth, 
 
 But I will leard\\\m. i Hen. IV. 
 
 Paraphrafis Maloniana.'] — To heard is to oppofe 
 face to face in a hoftile or daring manner. 
 
 ** Is it indeed ?" \Minutiola. 
 
 As that which is already expletive and wafte, 
 cannot fuffer by additional fuperfluities, I beg 
 leave to add the following inftances, which are 
 fb many additional tapers to the fun. 
 
 I heard thee to thy face. [i Hen. VI. 
 
 Com'ft thou to beard me? [Hamlet, 
 
 We might have met them dareful beard to beard. 
 
 [Macbeth. 
 
 If e'er again I meet him beard to beard. 
 
 [Coriolanus, 
 
 Dr. John/on^ and before he accepted Macpher- 
 fon's challenge, had fuch a tafle of the gymnaftic 
 
 *• " Perhaps \{\s future If^ife amongft them" [^Mahne, 
 
 definitions,
 
 [ 81 ] 
 
 definitions, that he takes one of thefe inflances, 
 which happens to be the example before us, a 
 peg higher, for he fays, in his didlionary, that 
 it means to pull hm by the beard, 
 
 gf3" Parenthetical epifode of fuperfiuity and 
 refinement in honor to this vtry fagacious critic. 
 
 ** If Percy be alive, I'll pierce him, if he do come 
 ** in my way; if he do not, if I come in his, 
 " willingly let him make a carbonado of me." 
 
 [Fal/aJ. 
 
 To pierce a veflel is to tap it. (Good !) Fal- 
 ftaff takes up his bottle (good!) and cries, " if 
 Percy be alive I'll pierce him" — and fo draws 
 the cork. 
 
 " I do not propofe this with 7nuch confi- 
 dence.'* \yohnfon. 
 
 This Malonian flight of that profound Edi- 
 tor upon a very intelligible paflage, confift- 
 ing of an obvious pun upon the name (with 
 a reference to a military ^ not a convivial, tap) 
 is adopted by Edmond, with a minuet ftep, 
 and, perhaps, with a little envy half fuppreffed 
 at the happifiefs of the conceit thus pre-occupied. 
 
 Example XXV. 
 
 Ric. II. 3—2. 
 
 The very beadfmen learn to bend their bows 
 Of double fatal yew, againft thy ftate. 
 
 An Editor, not Malone, but one of his aux- 
 iliaries.] — ♦• The wood is poifon, and the wood 
 " is employed for the inftruments of death." 
 
 * G If
 
 [ 82 ] 
 
 If the note had ftopt there it would have been 
 to the point, corred and ufeful. 
 
 But the pi/mire of the apropos^ bites the an- 
 notator; and he adds (at the peril of his neigh- 
 bour's button) a mere gofTip oi the aunt (or old 
 woman,) to whom he alludes (upon her three 
 footftool, marked F. S. A.) by telling us that 
 every Englifliman was to keep in his houfe a 
 bow, either of yew, or of feme other wood. 
 
 ^^ *' It fliould fccm (therefore) that yews were 
 planted in church-yards to defend the churches 
 from the wind, and from their ufe in making 
 bows ; while being enclofed, their poifonous 
 quality did no mifchief to the cattle." 
 
 But what fays Mr. Courtenay to the double 
 \x{^ in the church, the ufe of defending the 
 church from the wind, and the ufe of making 
 bows, which, I apprehend, in this ifland at 
 leaft, would break in upon the defence of the 
 church again]} the wind, unlefs that which is taken 
 away, can alfo remain, viz. the arms and branches 
 of the faid yews, or unlefs *' uno avulfo not deficit 
 *' alter taxeus ;** in other words, unlefs thofe 
 branches are cater-coufms of Jrijlo's enchanted 
 cup. 
 
 Example XXVI. 
 
 I Hen. VI. 5-4. 
 
 Now help me, charming fpells and periapts ! 
 
 ** Worn about the neck as prefervatives 
 
 againft difeafe or danger." Mulone. 
 
 'Jhus
 
 C 83 ] 
 
 Thus far it is at leaft a very appofite, and I 
 fuppofe (but it is out of my depthj a very judi- 
 cious elucidation. 
 
 ** But " oh calum! oh terra! oh marial" 
 
 What is conning here ? — the apropos is at hand 
 — ceconomy of time, or of intelledt, has no 
 chance againft the tempter. 
 
 " By the way — of thefe periapts, the jirfi 
 " chapter of Si. Joht's Go/pel was deemed the 
 " mod efficacious." \_Malone, 
 
 §3* He has defined fuperfluous to be 0'Z.;fr- 
 cloathed in oppofition to cold^ which, according 
 to him^ has the fenfe of naked. 
 
 [Twelfth Night, Ad i. fc. i. 
 
 In the fame play, a6t 3, tc. 4, he feems to 
 think the word pearl fignifies precious orua- 
 ment [or] fuperfliiity ; fo that here we obtain 
 another definition of fuperfiuity : It is a jewel 
 or precious ornament. For thefe definitions, if 
 they mean any thing, mull, according to the 
 Canons of Burger/dicius, be reciprocal. 
 
 Superfluity, however, imports repletion, or, 
 in the better words of Dr. Flaccus, — 
 
 Ocnne fuper vacuum plena de pedore manat. 
 
 It is, therefore, a generous complaint, though, 
 perhaps, cupping may now and then be of ufe. 
 
 [Edmond's apothecary and mine. 
 Johnfon's definition is churliih and fevere. 
 '' Superfluity-. — jnore than enough, 
 " Plenty — beyond ufc."* 
 
 G 2 I could
 
 [ 84 ] 
 
 I could here fuggeft an example or two of that 
 fuperfluity — 
 
 Net-worh — any thing reticulated or decuflated at 
 equal diftances, with interftices between 
 the interfedions. 
 
 Johnf. Did. in v. Net-work. 
 
 Reticulated — made of net-work, with interftitial 
 vacuities. 
 
 Johnf. Di£l. in v. Reticulated, 
 
 But Mr. Court enay^ who is a Dr. Tant-mieuXt 
 reminds me of the fun, to whom, as the fame 
 with Apollo, I have fo often compared Edmond. 
 
 ** He, like the fun, fhall. diflipate his ray, 
 ** AnAJhine \\\t fuperfiuity away." 
 
 Example XXVII. 
 
 Nips his root. \JVolfey, 
 
 Malojie.'] " Dr. Warburton reads the word 
 '* Jhoot" Capricious alterations like thefe, I am 
 fometimes obliged to quote, merely to introduce 
 the notes of thofe who, while they have fhown 
 them to be unnecelTary, have illujlrated our au- 
 thor.'* 
 
 This you fee is the amber and pismire. 
 
 Now for the amber-editors ! 
 
 JohnJon.'\ — Vernal frofts do not kill the root ; 
 but then, to kill the J^yoots does not kill the 
 root, or make it fall, 
 
 Steevens,
 
 C 85 ] 
 
 SteeveHS,~\ — The old reading is countenanced 
 by a paflage in Gaf coign — 
 
 And frofts fo nip the rootSy &c. 
 
 How do thefe incidental quotations and lights 
 prove that it was necejfary to quote V/arburton ? 
 
 Example XXVIII. 
 
 The truth I ftand on is my truth and honefly, If 
 they fhall fail me, I, with mine enemies, 
 ■will triumph over my perfon. 
 
 \Cranmer in Hen. VIII, 
 
 Cranmer, Ifuppofe, (quoth Edmond) means, 
 " that whenever his honefty fails, he Ihall re- 
 joice as heartily as his enemies at his deftruc- 
 tion. 
 
 ** I am of the fame opinion." 
 
 [A puny judge. 
 
 N. B. If I were not afraid of this prude Ed- 
 mond, I fhould read meo periculo — ** I, with mine 
 enemies, wijh^ triumph over my perfon." 
 
 If I had been CI. Johnfon, or CI, Steevens, 
 or CI. Tyrrwhit, it might, perhaps, be received 
 by Edmond. But I am Theobald, or Capcll, 
 and run away in a whole fkin, 
 
 '* Fallere et effugere eft triumphus." 
 
 Example XXIX. 
 
 Hen. VIIL— 
 
 ** A fmghheartr 
 
 ^ 3 iB^ ^ heart
 
 C 86 ] 
 
 (13" A heart void of duplicity or guile. 
 
 [Ch. Jujiice Malone. 
 I am of the fame opinion. 
 
 \_Mr. JuJlice Felix. 
 This oracle of three judges in the Courts, when 
 they have nothing to fay, after the Chief has de- 
 livered his and their opinion, was bantered in 
 a catch, which makes them take up the Chief 
 in the middle of a fcntence, and fo to render 
 v/hat they utter by way of chorus, perfed non- 
 fenfe. 
 
 \_From ajejl hook of the Sergeant* s. 
 
 Example XXX. 
 
 By the way^ as in Malone the biographer; I 
 meant a compliment, through him, to his fol- 
 lowers, prototypes, or competitors; even fo in 
 Malone the editor^ I make a paliing bow to 
 rival editors. 
 
 Mr. Editor Steevens puts the fickle into a 
 Mdlonian field, in alienam Jegetem^' when he 
 fays, ** that Faljlaff humoroufly compares him- 
 felf to the infide of a church, becaufe it confids 
 of a vacant choir i fuch an empty building be- 
 ing compared by him to himfelf, who is filled 
 up with guts and midriff." 
 
 But Edmond, who is rather jealous of this 
 reaping firoke in his field, refutes it, and with 
 Malonian fimplicity, (for he is " utrufqiie palmte") 
 appears not unworthy of the honours due to Ad- 
 
 difon's
 
 [ 87 3 
 
 difon's immortal De Coverley^ upon the fubjeil of 
 his judicial enquiries into Mrs, IVhite's aerial 
 equitations. 
 
 '* It Ihould be remembered, fays De Coverley 
 Malone^ (and fo it Jhould) that churches are not 
 always empty — (no more they are !) and that 
 nothing fhows that FalftafF means an empty 
 church." 
 
 It is an opinion fire cannot melt out of me, 
 that Edmond is in the right. [Min. Felix, 
 
 Example XXXI. 
 
 Tro. and Crejf'. 
 
 It is the purp of e that makes (Irong the vow. 
 But vows to every purpofe mult not hold. 
 
 Edmond.'\ — " The ElTence of a lawful vow is 
 — a lawful purpofe !1" 
 
 ^1:3- I cannot better wind up this Canon than 
 by Edmond's definition of circumjiancey which, 
 according to him (impregnated with Johnfonian 
 aether) is the detail or circumdudon of an 
 argument." SJTro, and Crejf. a^. 3, fc. 3. 
 
 But perhaps 
 
 Example XXXII. will do as well. 
 
 either to this gentleman or to her death 
 
 As fhe is minL\ I may difpofe of her, which fhall be 
 
 o her death 
 Mid. N. Dream. 
 
 G 4 »- " By
 
 [ 8S 3 
 
 ^3" " By a law of Solon, parents had an 
 abfolute power of life and death over their 
 children. 
 
 ^3- " So it fuited the poet's purpofe well 
 enough to fuppofe the Athenians had it before, 
 
 ^^ " Or, PERHAPS, he neither thought nor 
 knew any thing of the matter,*' 
 
 [_Malone, ^«. Ann Str, Eaji, 
 
 CANON
 
 [ 89 ] 
 
 CANON III, 
 
 The Minute^ or he Minutian, 
 
 ** Drawn with a team oi little atomies." 
 
 IRom. & Jul, 
 
 '* The purpofe is perfpicuous, ev'n as fubftance, 
 ** Whofe groflhefs little chara^ers fum up." 
 
 Tro. es" Cref 
 
 *' Notes of Nothtvg." [Edwards. 
 
 Example I. 
 
 'Jacques.'] — " To fee no paftlme I." 
 
 Steevens."] " Amidft this general feftivity, the 
 reader may be forry to take leave of Jaques." 
 One fliould imagine this Editor was an Alderman 
 upon a Lord Mayor's Day, but with more com- 
 panion for the abfentee. 
 
 This hypothetical fenlibility which is pre- 
 paring, with a contingent remainder (as the 
 Sergeant unintelligibly, but, I fuppofe, wittily, 
 obferves)'to afflidl us, paffes off" in a topic of 
 confolation, which proves that we are not forry 
 at all ; as it is made clear to us, (though we 
 
 per-
 
 [ 90 3 
 
 perfectly knew it before,) that Jacques would not 
 have liked the feaft. " He has filled (we are told) 
 •• with fenlibility, his part, and preferves to the 
 ** laft-, that refped: which is due to him as a 
 " coniiftent character, and an amiable, though 
 " folitary moral ift." 
 
 " It may be obferved, with fcarcc lefs concern, 
 (vi%. lefs than what is no concern at all) that 
 Shakfpeare has, upon this occasion, forgot Old 
 Adam^ thejervant of Orlando, whofe hddity^ould 
 have entitled him to notice at the end of the 
 piece, as well as to that happinefs which he 
 fhould naturally have (bared on the return (I fup- 
 pofe he means acquijition) oi fortune {\ fuppofc 
 he means good fortune) to his mafter. 
 
 153" It is the more remarkable lince, at the 
 rnd of the novel, Mr. Lodge makes him " Cap- 
 tain of the King's Guard." 
 
 The firft remark upon Old Adam's fate is, 
 that it feems in thefe profe-elegies over him, to 
 excite more diftrefs than Jaques's voluntary ab- 
 dication of pallimes, which it was natural iox 
 him to dijlike. 
 
 However, as I am charined with Steevens*& 
 good nature, which I am fure is, *' the language 
 of his heart;"* I am forry to heighten fo 
 amiable a diftrefs, by telling his executors, 
 
 * Forgot his epic and Pindaric art, 
 Bui ilill I love " the language of his heart." Pope. 
 
 that
 
 [ 9' ] 
 
 that Adam's lajl words, to our knowledge, were 
 thefe — 
 
 ** \ Jcarce canfpeak, to thank you for myfelf." 
 
 That affedliing addrefs was in a^fl the fecond, 
 and we are now in a(5l the fifth. 
 
 I have therefore too much reafon to believe that 
 Old Adam is deady and that he died very foon after 
 he delivered thofe words ; and the rather, as 
 from the time of that epilepfy, which hunger 
 and age produced, we never hear of his name. 
 
 It mufl: not, however, be inferred, that Or- 
 lando was not as deeply conc«rned as he Jhould 
 have been, though he does not introduce the 
 topic ; for the Ladies beg leave to remind the 
 late Mr. Steevens, that Rofaiind's admirer was 
 in love. Indeed, his occupation proves it, 
 for he was chiefly employed in fcribbling verfes 
 upon trees, (for which lovers, I fuppofe, have 
 a patent,) and I am forry to add, more witty 
 than delicate — we have a little fparring match 
 of fatire with Jaques ; but the reft of him, (Or- 
 lando) is mere love. He talks of his love to 
 Rofalind as a boy. He makes love to her in 
 play, as to a girl reprefenting his Rofalind, — 
 and he makes arrancrements with Rofalind her- 
 icU, as a magician for marrying that fame Ro- 
 falind as the Duke's niece. I cannot, in thefe 
 memoirs of his life, fee a niche for Old Adam's 
 figure. There is indeed, a (hort and rather 
 hurried converfation between the two reconciled 
 brothers ; but it mufl be remembered, that l>oth 
 
 of
 
 C 92 3 
 
 of them were deeply in love, though I have not 
 a doubt that in other converfations between 
 them at leaft, and which do not appear, Orlando 
 has done ample juftice to Adam's memory. 
 
 ^::^ I muft here touch with Edmond upon 
 that inexplicable fpirit of oblivion, which, ac- 
 cording to him, vifits and perfecutes the im- 
 mortal Bard of Stratford. I have not counted 
 them, but I believe there are not fewer than a hun- 
 dred inflances of abfolute /Jroo/', as he (Edmond) 
 thinks, and contends, that ht forgot his own plays 
 in the very acft of writing them. It is almoft as 
 familiar a topic in Edmond's comment as the 
 ear of a copyifl, or glancing eye of a compofitor. 
 
 The very next example applies to it. 
 
 It may be faid, this eloge of Jaques and of 
 Adam, with a covered or fhadowed cenfure of 
 the Poet, are not attributable perfonally to Ed- 
 mond though forming part of his notes, but 
 that Mr. Steevens, " good eafy man," is the 
 cftended philanthropift, and that F<a:n;;fr imputes 
 to Shakfpeare his refufal to make Old Adam a 
 Captain of the guard. 
 
 But the Sergeant affures me that Edmond has 
 domiciled every note which he has adopted with 
 approbation, fo as to make it his own. 
 
 Example
 
 C 9i ] 
 
 Example II. 
 
 — — — It was a handkerchief 
 My father gave to my mother. 
 
 [Othello, 
 
 Malone.'] — " But he had faid before to his 
 " wife — 
 
 — -^ — " That handkerchief 
 
 ** Did an Egyptian to my mother give.** 
 
 Edmond is here (for he is like Zimri, the 
 epitome of all charad:ers) very anxious to reha- 
 bilitate the dijpofing mind and memory of the 
 Poet. He is anxious therefore to make Othello 
 confiflent ; and feels it therefore necefTary to 
 fay, not that Othello forgot, or Shakfpeare for 
 him ; but that Othello's jirjl account was a /y^, 
 " to alarm his wife the more ;" and the fecond 
 alone was true. Why io ? — Take his own words — 
 
 1:3" " Becaufe truth was then fufficient for 
 his purpofe." 
 
 This, according to my vulgar notion of the 
 moral agents, we, all of us, are, critics included, 
 appears to be a Damafcene-like definition of 
 truth, and more like an Attorney's, than a hero's 
 vade-mecum. 
 
 An ernbajfadour indeed, is to lye, as IFootton 
 has told us, ("who, I take it for granted, made no 
 finecureof his own receipt.) — h. well-bred man 
 is to !yey fays the Earl of Chefterfield, efpecially 
 to the ladies. But I never beard it was a pare 
 of the military exercifg. 
 
 Let
 
 [ 94 ] 
 
 Let us, however, examine the reafonitig here, 
 (for we are all of us rational as well as 7noral 
 agents.) I Ihould think it would have been 
 mofl: probable that fuch a foolijh lye would have 
 been immediately deteHed^ becaufe it appears 
 from Emilia^ that Othello's wife had a particular 
 value for this keepfakc, and that llie had been 
 charged by him to be careful of it. He would, 
 therefore, in all human probability, have ftared 
 the fad: as it really was, at the moment of pre- 
 fenting the gift; and when ex conceffis he had no 
 interejl (upon the Malonian receipt) in the de- 
 ception. The /)'<?, therefore, and which con- 
 verts his open character into the cold artifices 
 of a Machiavely in a paroxifm of jealoufy, would 
 have been the art of an idiot as well as the fu- 
 perfluous torture of an executioner. 
 
 Though I cannot, for the foul of me, think 
 Shakfpeare had quite fo bad a memory as Ed- 
 mond afcribes to him, I fliould think it worthy 
 of his tafte and of his heart, but above all of 
 his accuracy in characfler to fuppofe he had for- 
 got the Egyptian^ than to impute fuch a falfe- 
 hood at fuch a moment, and as the vice of fuch 
 a man. 
 
 But the Sergeant, who has taken infinite 
 pains upon the fubjed:, thinks he can reconcile 
 the two accounts. 
 
 He thinks •' an Egyptian gave it by the in- 
 " tcrvention of Othello's father to the mother, 
 " as a kind of charm to enfure her fidelity and 
 '' his afTedion." 
 
 In
 
 r 95 ] 
 
 In the lafl account of the two, he calls it an 
 *' antique token." In both accounts, the hand- 
 kerchief is given to the mother. 
 
 ** By the way, though I deteft all art, (for I 
 cannot fubfcribe to your friend Edmond's doc- 
 trine of convenieiice^) I am of opinion tliat 
 reafoning with Machiavel, we fhould find as 
 much occafion for a lye to vindicate Othello's 
 honor againfl the charge of murder, as to vin- 
 dicate his jealoufy in the moment of a detecflion, 
 as he thought it, which made the adultery ma- 
 nifcft, and the pedigree of the handkerchief a 
 circumjlance merely as marking what htfeli^ and 
 that which is the center of union between all xhc 
 accounts, viz. that he valued the gift, and had 
 charged her to keep it with care." [Mr. Sergeant. 
 
 It is impollible to withhold, in this place, an 
 anecdote which is very charaderiftic of fuch 
 notes, and is upon the very topic of this hand- 
 kerchief. 
 
 Two Frenchmen were feeing Othello, and the 
 word is not lightly ufed, for what they heard 
 ■was of little ufe to them — one of them only 
 having the faintefl: conception of the language 
 and of his accuracy, the anecdote will not give 
 the moft encouraging impreflion. 
 
 One of them afked the other, (as knowing the 
 language better,) "jchy Othello appeared fo much 
 out of humour, and fo ill-bred with his wife? 
 
 " Oejl parct quUl az'oU psrdu/on mouchoif was 
 the anfwer.
 
 C 96 ] 
 
 " Ah ma foi (faid the interrogator) il avoit 
 " raijotu^* I 
 
 Example III. 
 
 A parenthefis backwards, written acrofs the 
 Channel. 
 
 Mai one's Prolegomena, or ^volume the firjl, 
 part the firfty \n ^ifeparate volume, 
 
 " Shakfpeare died on his birth day. 
 
 From Du Cange's perpetual Almanack, GlolT. 
 in V. annus, making allowances for the different 
 flyle which prevailed in England, from that on 
 which Du Cange's calculation was formed, 
 
 April the twenty-third in that year was a 
 
 Tue/dayVA"' 
 
 I am not a little happy to add, as a mere 
 pedi/fequus, to the reporter of Du Cange, that 
 Lord Burleigh, in his diary, publifhed by Mur- 
 den, appears to have been hurt in paring 
 his nail, at Greenwich, the lixteenth of July, 
 fifteen hundred and (ixty-four, the hirihyear 
 of Shakfpeare, and juft three months, within 
 a very few days, after his birth day. 
 
 [_Minutius Felix, 
 
 Example IV. 
 
 When you and I were at St. Alban's laft, 
 Your legs did better fervice than your hands. 
 
 [3. Hen. VI. 
 
 Edmond.J
 
 [ 97 3 
 
 Sdmond.l — An allufion to the old proverb. 
 " Onepairofheelsisbetterthantwopair of hands." 
 
 Example V. 
 
 Oh boy! thy father gave thee life toofooHf 
 And hath bereft thee of thy life too late, 
 
 [3. Hen. VI. 
 
 It Is impofllble, as I am told by the Sergeant 
 at Law, who is " wary and zvife^** to interpret 
 this palFage literally without making it, what is 
 never current in his Court ; in other words, 
 mere and perfed: nonfenfe. For whatever (fays 
 the coif) may be the import of the firjl line, the 
 Jecond^ if taken literally, aflumes that if the 
 father had killed the fon at any earlier period, 
 no harm would have been done. 
 
 The Poet, quaint as he is, evidently means 
 that he fhould have killed him before his birth, 
 fo as to have made him a dead, or ftill-born, 
 child ; or that he (hould not have generated him 
 till after the battle. 
 
 But Edmond, an over-match for all fuch 
 difficulties, (and who is playful as a dolphin 
 amongft the billows in a tempeft) with unex- 
 ampled addrefs, gets rid of the jirjl verfe, and 
 is mute upon ihcfecond. He fays, *^ the firjl line 
 imports that he, the fon, was born too foon^ 
 becaufc if he had been born later he would not 
 have been of age to fight. 
 
 * H f^ The
 
 [ 98 ] 
 
 ^^ The Sergeant, upon this topic, was more 
 playful than he generally is, and very amufing, 
 for he does not want humour, though at my 
 expence. 
 
 *' My dear Frlix, quoth he, your fuppofition, 
 that a father fpeaking to his own fon, dead be- 
 fore him, (and confequcntly born before his 
 death,) fiiould mean to fliy that he wifhed he 
 had generated that very fon after the hattky or 
 had killed him before he was born^ reminds me 
 of two Tories which are equal, but not fuperior, 
 to the pcrfpicuous arrangement of thefe two 
 fagacious problems in your head. 
 
 " An Irifli gentleman, whom I knew and re- 
 fpe6led (for his genius and powers of reafoning, ) 
 met, one day, an old woman who defired his 
 honor M'ould bellow fomething upon her, who had 
 nurfed him. " Oh, you devil, faid he, it is well 
 you are not upon a river's bank, e/fe you would 
 not be there, but in the river. I hate the fight 
 of you, for you changed me when I was a child, 
 and I fliall never be m)f elf again." 
 
 Anecdote the fecond. 
 
 A Sergeant, v/ho afterwards became a Judge, 
 was in tears upon the circuit, when Mifs Blandy 
 was under fentence of death for parricide, 
 
 " Surely, faid one of his friends, this woman is 
 no object of your compaflion ; — flie has no claim 
 to your tears." 
 
 No, faid he, (weeping and fobbing the more,) 
 it was not upon her account. It v»as only to 
 think what my dear Mr. Blandy would have 
 
 faid
 
 C 99 ] 
 
 faid if he had lived to fee this day;" — in other 
 words, to fee his daughter executed for murder" 
 ing him. 
 
 Example VI. 
 
 Timon (when out of his mind) fays to thieves ^ 
 " trufl: not the phyfician ! his antidotes are poi- 
 ** fon, and he JJays more thanjo// rob." 
 
 Malone.'] — *' Our Author's favorite daughter^ 
 who married a phyfician^ — three years I believe 
 before this play was written, could not have 
 been much pleafed by this pafTage." 
 
 What muft the Malone of that age have thought 
 of another pafTage ? 
 
 " The learned -pate ducks to ihe golden fool" 
 
 I anfwer my own queflion thus : 
 
 He would have laughed as heartily as Mrs. 
 Hall^ and her bedfellow too would have laughed 
 at this playful ridicule upon Dr. Hall's, profeffion. 
 
 Indeed I can as little think Moliere's Phyfcian 
 was at all oifcnded with him for his ridicule 
 upon him, when Louis XIV. faw them together, 
 and afked the Poet what the Phyfician did for 
 him. 
 
 " Nous raifonnons enjemble^ (anfwercd Moliere) 
 // en ordonne les remcdes je ne les fais pas, et je 
 gueris. 
 
 That playful Satyrift has defin J a Phyfician, 
 
 un homme que Von paye peur conter des fariholes 
 
 TI 2 dans
 
 [ 100 ] 
 
 dans la chamhre d'un malade jufqu^a-ce que la 
 nature i lait gueri on que les rhncdes I'ayent tue*** 
 
 Yet I cannot help thinking, but I am not fo 
 irritable as Edmond, who is in that point (as 
 well as infancy upon hijlorical fuhjecls) more of a 
 Poet, that if I had been a Phy/iciany the Son-in- 
 law of Molierey I fhould have been more pleafed 
 than hurt, by this ridicule upon the medical 
 tribe. \_Min. Felix. 
 
 Example VII. 
 
 ** Csefar! 'tis his fchoolrnafler.'^ 
 
 [Jni. and Cleo. 
 
 Malone.'\ — " Euphronius was his name. 
 
 " He was fchoolmafter to Anthony's children by 
 Cleopatra.*' 
 
 N. B. I am told this fad: is proved by a record 
 imported from Egypt ^ by one of Bonaparte's 
 antiquarian mifiionaries. 
 
 Example VIIL 
 
 [" Levium fpeftacula rerum."] 
 
 ** A lion among ladies is a moft dreadful thing." 
 
 iMidf. N. Dream. 
 
 Malone.l — *' Prince Henry was chriftened in 
 Scotland. When the King and Queen were at 
 dinner, a triumphal chariot, the frame of which, 
 we are told, was ten feet long and feven broad^ 
 
 with
 
 C ■<:>' 3 
 
 with allegorical perfonages, was drawn in by a 
 hlack-a-moor, 
 
 " This chariot JIjouU have been drawn by a 
 lyon. But becaufe his prefence might have 
 brought fome fear to the neareji, (whether gen- 
 tlemen or ladiesj or that the torches might 
 have commoved him, it was thought meete 
 that the Moore Ihould fupply that roome!!" 
 
 \_Some account^ &c. 
 
 This, he calls, " an odd coincidence !" 
 
 Example IX. 
 
 Now the hungry /yon roars. 
 
 M. N. Dream. 
 
 Edmond adopts and approves the anonymous 
 remarker, who fays, *' that Shakfpeare would 
 never have made this /yon roar, which (as he 
 wittily obferves) " can be heard no nearer than 
 the dejarts of Africa^'' if he had not read in the. 
 104th Pfalm, " the lyons roaring after their prey, 
 &c." 
 
 ^^J- I beg pardon for giving this example to 
 the Minutian canon a/one, as it applies, with equal 
 (if not fuperior) force, to l\\^ far-fetched. 
 
 Example X. 
 
 ♦' He has no children .'^ 
 
 [Macduff. 
 
 A mod important queftion arifes here, viz. 
 " who is meant by he"' — which appears to me 
 
 H 3 no
 
 [ 102 ] 
 
 no qucftion at all. Macduff muft of courfe im- 
 pute this murder to Macbeth^ as it is proved 
 that he does, for he fays very foon — 
 
 ** 'Bnn^ then i\ns fiend of Scotland^" &C. 
 
 But the beauty of the Malonian polemics, (in 
 which thofe doughty editors ,*nd cr'tics, Meffrs. 
 John/on and SteevenSy are engaged) is more 
 complicated, and refined. John/on affirms that 
 Macbeth had children. — Stecvens denies that he 
 had any ; and Edmond parts the combatants. 
 Inter * Pelidem fejlinat i^ inter Atrlden. 
 
 He offers this ("Nejlorian) remark, which I dare 
 fay at once, reconciled them, " Macbeth had a 
 " fon then living, named Ltdah :" for which 
 he quotes Fordun, and then fays, '* that whether 
 Shakfpeare was apprized of it can?iot he ajcer- 
 tained — but that we cannot prove he was not 
 acquainted with it." 
 
 [See the Thilofophical and Syllogijiical Pre- 
 late's Argument upon the Regency in 
 the firfl part of this volume. 
 
 Example XI. 
 When roafted crahs hifs in the boivl. 
 
 Malone'sfirji note — 
 
 ^ " Crabs arc Jvoeet apples.''* 
 
 * I have been ofien furprized that a moment's union could 
 have fubfifted between two fuch men. Perhaps John/on could 
 explain it as he explains the partial and quahfied intimacy of 
 Addifon with a certain Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, 
 
 Second
 
 C J03 ] 
 
 Second notCy in Appendix, vol. lo. 
 
 " The bowl n?uj} be fuppofed to be filled with 
 ale, a toaji and fome Jpice, and fome fugar 
 being added, what is called lambs-wool, is pro- 
 duced. 
 
 " So, in King Hen. V. (notour Author's play.) 
 
 Yet we will have in (lore a crab in the fire, 
 With mit-broivn ale that is full dale! 
 
 \_Malone. 
 
 Example XII. 
 
 King. — *' Is the Queen delivered ? 
 Say ** ay, and of a boy." 
 
 — — — '* Ay, ay, my liege! 
 And of a lovely boy : The God of Heaven, 
 Both now and ever blefs her! — 'tis a girl 
 Promifes boys hereafter." 
 
 yohnfon.'\ 
 
 John/on.'] — It is doubtful whether her is re- 
 ferred to the ^leen or to the girl. 
 
 Malone.'\ — As I believe this play was calcu- 
 lated for the ear of Elizabeth, I imagine that it 
 refers to the girl, 
 
 Minutius Felix.'] — I think it is either, and 
 juft as any reader fhall think fit. 
 
 *' Which is the King of France ? — Which is the 
 
 King of France ?" I faid eagerly when I was a 
 
 boy, at a fliow glafs ; and the Cicerone, without 
 
 H 4 altering
 
 [ 104 ] 
 
 altering his tone, anfwered, " which you pleqfe ! 
 ivhich you pic of e ! 
 
 It is my comment upon " her,'' 
 
 M.F. 
 
 By the way, it feems oddly calculated for 
 S^ieen Elizabeth's ear to commend her when 
 juft born (in this play) as promifing boys here- 
 after^ when fhe had tnfa£I fo long piqued herfelf 
 upon being a maid^ and was, though a Fairy^ 
 ^iccn^ fomewhat y?r/(r/ef« in years. In fliort, it is 
 a conceit that (as 1 have feen it flippantly ex- 
 prelTed in the enemy's quarters) " would make 
 Agelajliis laugh and waken Somnolentus" 
 
 Example XIII. 
 
 " Enter the Lord Chancellor." 
 Malone.'] — This is Lord Audley, — but he was 
 not Chancellor then j — he was only Keeper ! 
 
 Example XIV. 
 
 Shakfpeare's want of memory. 
 
 Mr. Editor Steevens, adopted by Mr. Editor 
 Malone. 
 
 And by that fire that burnt the Carthage Queen. 
 
 Shakfpeare
 
 [ 'OS ] 
 
 Shakfpeare had forgot that Thefeus performed 
 his exploits before the Trojan war, and confe" 
 quently long before the death of Dido. 
 
 " A palpable hit!" {OJirid. 
 
 Example XV. 
 
 More want of memory. 
 
 \_Anonymons — tickled by Malone, 
 Puck.-^Ho ! Ho ! Ho ! Coward, why comeft thou not ? 
 
 Anonymous.'^ — This exclamation is peculiar to 
 Puck, In the old fong, printed by Peck, in 
 which he relates all his gambols, he concludes 
 every vcrfe with Ho ! Ho ! Ho ! 
 
 He htxt forgets his ajfiimed character. 
 
 \_Anonymous, 
 
 *' The fong above alluded to, may be found 
 in Percy's Reliques of Ancient Poetry, vol. iii. 
 p. 203." [_MaIone, 
 
 With all due refped: for Mefiieurs Puck and 
 Peck^ Anonymous^ the Bijhopy and Malonc^ I can- 
 not find this exclufive right of Puck to the 
 word ho ; but, perhaps. Puck alone is the per- 
 fonage that ufes the word three times. In fcrip- 
 ture, however, it is twice ufed, — Zechariah — 
 Ho ! Ho ! come forth and flee ! In Shakfpeare, 
 
 the
 
 C >o6 ] 
 
 the word is familiar, (with and without tlie ad- 
 dition of an J,) and fcems to be a word of notice, 
 like the Joip and hallo ! of modern times. John- 
 Jofiy who is often (to do him juftice) very Ma- 
 loniauy efpecially in a definition^ calls it " an 
 " exclamation to give notice of approach, or 
 " any thing elfe.'* \_Min, Felix. 
 
 By the way, this reminds me of Beatricey and 
 of " Hey, ho," 
 
 It was intimated by Mr, Felix, that it was no 
 expreflion of pain, but that in a Lady it was 
 often fufpeded as an indired: admillion of an 
 attachment. 
 
 In Troilus and Crejfida, — Pandariis gives a love 
 fong to Helen, it ends hey ho ! upon which 
 Helen remarks, 
 
 ** In love V faith to th' very tip o' th' nofe !" 
 
 Example XVI, 
 
 Ban, Ban, Ca — Caliban. 
 
 " Perhaps our Author remembered a fong of 
 
 Sir Philip Sydney's, 
 
 Da — Da — Da — Dart dan , 
 
 \AJtrophel and Stella. 
 
 This Archimedian probability is in the Ap~ 
 pejidix, at the end of the tenth volume! 
 
 It fliould here be obferved, as a cardinal vir- 
 tue of the Editor profefTed that his oracle, like 
 the orthography of Shakfpeare's age, fhould 
 have no jiandard. For example — the powers 
 
 of
 
 [ 107 ] 
 
 of Shakfpeare's memory, when it fuits this 
 editor and critic, are as minute as thofe of Hill 
 and Magliabecci. 
 
 Example XVIL 
 
 **Phcen throneXy' read " Phosnix's throne." 
 The letters v/titj?juffled out of their places. 
 
 [_Malone. 
 
 An elegant and affe(fling paraphrafe of a 
 
 typical erratum. It gives, however, a nezv fource 
 
 of inaccuracy, — in addition to the puzzled ear, and 
 
 glancing eye. 
 
 Example XVIII. 
 
 Having proved^ as he thinks, (and we have 
 already canvafTed the argument) that Shakfpcarc 
 thought Hejperides the name of the garden ; he 
 fhows that Greene ^ 159^3 made the fame blunder. 
 
 And he adds — 
 
 f^ '' that it may have been ufed, in that fenfe, 
 by the Legend of Orpheus and Eurydice^ 1597. 
 
 ** And like the dragon of the Hejperides 
 Shulteth the gardcti^s gate.'* [^R'lalone. 
 
 The Sergeant is againft him here, and fays, 
 there is no pretence for it, the rule of the Courts 
 being to prefu me accuracy ; or in other words, 
 ovinia rith al7a ; and the Hefperides here natu- 
 rally marking the ladies ^ for it was their dragon as 
 well as garden. 
 
 Example
 
 [ I0» ] 
 
 Example XIX. 
 
 There is a degree of limplicity in what fol- 
 lows, that would become an Arcadian critic, 
 or an editor in the golden age. 
 
 He fuppofes ** Hamlet y'' not as it is, a theatrical 
 performance, but as a report of converfation, 
 and gravely fays, that ** Hamlet is goifig to ufe 
 a word at the moment that he is unluckily in- 
 terrupted by the Courtier, and prevented, as 
 Edmond believes, (I give his own words) from 
 ufing the word that he, Edmond, fuppofes to be 
 accidentally omitted in the pafTage before him, 
 which is part of another play^ viz. Love's Lab, 
 Lojl. 
 
 Example XX. 
 
 On haje and ground enough. 
 
 " Baje is a fubflantive — bafs." 
 
 @3r* " I give this explication, left any one 
 Ihould fuppofe, as I once did, that we ought to 
 read, and on bafc ground enough. \_Malone. 
 
 ** Judico me cremari" [The Bijhop, 
 
 Example XXI. 
 
 The Bi-fronted Minutian. 
 
 Ant, and Cleo.'\ — Ben Johnfon alludes to this 
 play when he makes Moroje in the Silent Wo^ 
 
 man.
 
 C 109 ] 
 
 man, declare that he would fit out a play that 
 were nothing but fights at fea, drum, trumpet, 
 and target. \_Malone — one fide of Janus. 
 
 Henry VI. — \^Fin'ng heard at fea. 
 
 Perhaps Ben Johnfon was thinking of fhis 
 play when he makes Morofe, &c. &c. &c. 
 
 \^Malone — the other fide of the face. 
 
 Example XXII. 
 
 Paulina to Leontes.'\ 
 
 *' Thou wouldft have polfon'd good CamiI!o*s honor, 
 ** To have him kill a king." 
 
 Malone.'] — *' How fliould Paulina know this ? 
 
 ** No one had charged the king with it but 
 himfelf, and zvhile Paulina was abfent^ attending 
 upon Hcrmione, 
 
 ** The i^ottfeems to have forgotten this." 
 
 [Malone. 
 
 grf- " I thank you, fays the poet, for fug- 
 gefting this error, and with your accuftomed 
 indulgence to me for the want of that excellent: 
 memory which \w/ feem to poiTefs. 
 
 " At prcfenr, as it is now very near two cen- 
 turies from the time that I converfed with her 
 (Paulina) upon the fubjed:, only two conjedurcs 
 occur to me. 
 
 ^0" " One of them is, that CamiUo may have 
 •told her of it in letters from Bohemia^ for he 
 married her immediately upon his return ; and 
 the bear, you know, had removed \\cv good man 
 
 out of his way. 
 
 CtJ" " Another
 
 [ no ] 
 
 ^^ " Another is, which, I think, will pleafe 
 jcu, becaufe it is very /ike yon) that Paulina 
 counterfeited attendance upon Hcrmione, and 
 ^ la Figaro* lijlened at the door. 
 
 Forgive me. Ladies of the Bedchamber! and 
 Maids of Honor ! 
 
 Example XXIII. 
 
 Quid i^ci^m^—faltat Malonius. [jfuvenaL 
 
 A kijfing note ! 
 
 |c3" And I beg the attention of young ladies. 
 But I love, as well as revere Mrs, Hannah 
 More. 
 
 And I have no objedlion to Chaperons. 
 
 * ** How could Shakfpeare know of the Barbier de Seville .?" 
 
 [E. Malo7ie. 
 
 I anfwer, " why not ? you tell us that he converted the paft 
 into his own time, why fliould he not have made the future 
 equally ufeful to him ? Befides, Figaro was nature, and 
 Shakfpeare wanted no exemplnria. If fagacity could ever 
 fredejiine a Figaro, his would have done it, though I confefs, 
 without anticipating the name. 
 
 But we forget that Shakfpeare, in this anfwer to Edmond, 
 is to be fuppofed alive in 1801, and as revifiting thefe glimpfes 
 of th: moon for the purpofe of a little chat witli him. 
 
 [M». Felix, 
 
 *' Come
 
 [ ... ] 
 
 *' Come unto thefe yellow fands, 
 
 ** And then take hands ! 
 
 " Courtfied vihtn you hzvQ, andkifs'd\ 
 
 ** Foot it featly here and there," &c. &c. &c. 
 
 Mr. Editor Stee'veiis.'] — " This was anciently 
 done at the beginning of fome dances." 
 
 Parenthefis of Min. Felix.] — " By the way^ — it 
 is a pity the habit has been difcontinued." 
 
 The accompli fhed Maloue^ in his Appendix 
 to his tenth voluvie^ thinks it indifpenf.ble to 
 add this note upon the lovelieft of all his themes 
 — the kijs — not that of Ariel's invifible fpirits 
 or fprites, (which alone are before him) but of 
 real dancers y male and female, in their .vifible 
 and palpable forms. 
 
 " It was only the hand.'" \Malone. 
 
 Min. Felix.'^^ — *' I am forry for it ; and fo is the 
 eldefl: of my daughters, who is partial to the 
 cojlume of early days. 
 
 But, firjly what is Edmond's reafon for 
 qualifying Steevens^ who is playfully indefinite 
 as to the local pofition of the kijs^ and whofe 
 oracle (though utterly deftitute of all proof) 
 may have been received as a carte blanche for the 
 li-ps or the cheeky cfpccially amongft the wives 
 and the daughters of antiquarians at a ball in So- 
 'merfet Houje ? 
 
 [2.] fvl" What are Edmond's proofs ? A 
 folitary extrad: from one letter in a Secretary of 
 State's memoirs during the reigns of Elizabeth 
 and James. He refers me to irinzcGod^ vol. 2, 
 
 pag.
 
 C "^ ] 
 
 pag. 44, and I fliall firft give Edmond's extrad 
 in his own words : 
 
 •* At this he was taken out to danccy and 
 footed it with his country-woman. He took 
 out the Queen and forgot ?iot to kfs her hand," 
 
 N. B. thefirjl-^ 
 
 I fear that Edmond forgets the etiquette of 
 hjfes at Court, 
 
 If he fliould be made an Iri/I> Peer, and Lady 
 Malone fhould be kiffed by the Queen, he would 
 know the difference between the hand and the 
 lips of queens, even to ladies. 
 
 But he would equally know when his oun 
 falutation was to be offered at Her Majefty's 
 feet, that in our Court Queens are never kiffed 
 by their male courtiers ; — without prejudice to 
 the rights of kiffing between fubjedl and fubje(5l. 
 
 N. B. \.\{^fecond — 
 
 Well knowing Edmond's Pindaric ufe of his 
 originals zxiA his lutellring notions of proof, I have 
 confulted the original at the fountain head. It 
 is a letter of Sir Dudley Carlton to Sir Ralph 
 IVinwoody and the advantage which has been 
 taken of it by Edmond behind their back, is a 
 moft exquifite refinement of genius for invention, 
 though under the mafl<: of report. 
 
 The letter gives an account of a mafk on 
 twelfth-day at the Banqueting Houfe. It was a 
 kind of pageant after the ceremony of creating 
 Prince Charles Duke of York. — Upon a moving 
 engine, were fea horfes and " other terrible 
 fifhes" rode by moors, but " no water," which 
 defideratum, the writer calls ** an indeconwi." — 
 
 A fliell
 
 C "3 ] 
 
 " A (hell in the form of a fcallop, had four feats 
 in it; upon one of them was King James's 
 Queen, and (as we are told by the fame writer) 
 in a very improper ftate for fuch frolics — Lady 
 Dorfety with nine other ladies of rank attending 
 her. — Their apparel was rich, " but light and 
 curtczan like." — Their faces and arms were 
 painted black — and that was difguife enough." 
 
 " He (the Duke of Holjiein) was taken out to 
 dance^ and footed it with his country-woman. 
 He took out the ^leen^ and forgot not to kifs 
 her handy though there was danger it fhould 
 have left a mark upon his lips." 
 
 So that here a ceremony of ^//^«<?//<? in kifling 
 HerMajeJiy's hand dX a mafquerade, (in which 
 her face was difguifed, but her quality known) is 
 not produced, as it is printed and explained by 
 the context, (for the evidence would then have 
 deftroyed the ufe and the objedl) but quoted, 
 by a partial reference^ as conftituting proof that 
 in general the dancers of that age, and of both 
 fexes, kijfedy— -before the dance began — but that 
 only the hand of the ladies received the lips of the 
 men. 
 
 With equal happinefs of conjedlure, Edmond- 
 Ariely in her chat with invifible fprites, alludes, 
 forfooth, to this habit of kijfing the hand at a 
 bally when llie defires them to ** foot it,'* after 
 they haye " curtfied and kiJJedlllV* 
 
 * I 1^3" After
 
 [ "4 ] 
 
 |f:3h After all, in King Hen. the Vlllth. we 
 find a more apt quotation ftill for Edmond's 
 purpofe, but ftill queftionable, and ftill giving 
 the ki/s to fomething lovelier than even the handy 
 though with a difference. 
 
 The king takes out Atina Boleyne to dance 
 with him, and fays — 
 
 ** I were unmannerly enough to take you out. 
 And not to kijs you.'* 
 
 But then we mufl not forget that he is a king, 
 that he is known, though mafked, and that he 
 is at a majquerade-bally which might have its 
 own privileges, 
 
 Mr. Editor Steevens^ true to his kifjing creed, 
 ftates the kifs to be an eftabliflied fee of the 
 lady's partner ; but produces a dialogue without 
 a date, in which it appears, that it was a fee 
 after the dance, not before it : That it was, how- 
 ever, a lip- kifs y if confidered as the partner's 
 fee, cannot be denied. The verfes are thefe — 
 
 " But fome reply, what foole would dancey 
 
 If that, when daunce is don. 
 He may not have at ladyes lips. 
 
 That which in daunce he wopn?" 
 
 Example
 
 C "5 ] 
 
 Example XXIV. 
 
 J^ More kijfing ! 
 
 ** Chorcis aptior." [Horace. 
 
 Romeo kij'es Juliet, and k/'/fes her at a maf~ 
 querade, which Edmond approves, and thinks 
 it was cuftomary in Shakfpeare's time. He is 
 obliging enough to remind us that Lord Sands 
 kijfes Ann Boleyn at a fupper of Cardinal Wol- 
 fey's, happening to lit near him, which is alfo 
 reconciled by Mr, Tyfon^MalonCy M, C. to the 
 cojiuttie of thofe days. 
 
 Example XXV. 
 
 More kijingfiill I 
 
 Edmond is fond of it, and I commend his 
 predileftion. 
 
 He is, in fhort, under the mafk of fuperfluity, 
 (as a rhetorical figure,) a felf-indulging hafiQ- 
 ^hilijl. 
 
 " Oh could this hjs be printed in thy hand," 
 
 I 2 fays
 
 C ii6 ] 
 
 fays ^een Margaret, (who, by the way, looks 
 very demure in her Strawberry-Hill portrait.) 
 
 Edmond is here at home with (his friend) the 
 com-pofitof s glancing eye, 
 
 Faraphrjfe.'] " That by the impreflion of my 
 kifs upon your hand, (fays Edmond, in Secun^ 
 dus's beft manner,) you may think on thofe lips, 
 
 Through which a thoufand fighs are breath'd for thee. 
 Example XXVI. 
 
 But my hijfes bring again! \_Edmond. 
 
 ^^ Ladies beware of the whifpering Ed- 
 mond ! 
 
 '* They are yet but ear-kijfmg arguments." \_Lear. 
 
 Malone.~\ — " They are yet only whifpered.'* 
 So that in his vocabulary " to zvhi/per^* — and 
 " kifs the ear' are fynonimous terms. 
 
 gj^* Again, I fay. Ladies beware of him ! 
 
 ** Principiis obfta!" 
 Or, Beware of a kifs upon the tip of an ear! 
 
 \_Hannah More. 
 
 But he is more dangerous in the whifpering 
 line than even I had fufpeded him to be, 
 
 Exam 
 
 PLE
 
 [ 117 ] 
 
 Example XXVIL 
 
 Gonerill fays to hijji — to {Edmond in his pro- 
 per name — ) 
 
 Decline your head! 
 
 This k'lfs, if it durfl; fpeak, 
 
 Would (Iretch thy fpirits up into the air. 
 
 \_GoneriU to Edmund, 
 
 She bids him (fays our Edmond, who feems 
 quite aufait in thcfe habits). 
 
 *' Decline his head." 
 That fhe may give him a hifs, and that, as her ftew- 
 ard is prefent, it may appear to be a whijper. 
 
 §3" This appearance (or figure) of a founds 
 requires peculiar fenfes like that ear of the copy- 
 ijly which is the organ (or the implement) of his 
 tranfcript,* 
 
 N. B. Dionylius's zvhifpering ear^ and the 
 whifpering gallery at St. Paul's^ are not affedled 
 by thefe cautions. 
 
 * I have touched already upon Edmond's contrivance 
 to warrant the fidelity of tranfcripts, by making a perfon read 
 one of the copies aloud whilft he had another fpread be- 
 fore him ; but the perplexity, as well as ingenious whim of this 
 expedient, is much heightened by a note upon King 'John., 
 which tells us, that one of thefe loud readers^ being a Here' 
 fardjhire man, pronounced one as if written on, 
 
 I 3 I mention
 
 C Ii8 ] 
 
 1 mention the latter, becaufe the Cicerone of 
 that wonder (as refpedable a man as the tomb- 
 fhewer at Weftminfter Abbey — who was invited 
 by the Baronet -Amateur to his lodgings at Nor- 
 folk Buildings) has intimated that as young 
 ladies frequent this gallery, it might reduce his 
 perquifites, if fuch analogies between the lip 
 and ear (hould alarm the difcretion of the Veftai 
 aunt. 
 
 ^Cx* In ^leen Anne^s. time the ton was anti- 
 hafian; for we are told of a complaint by a 
 country gentleman of thofe days, who had been 
 in the habit of kiffing the ladies all rounds that 
 he had been put out of countenance, and fup- 
 planted, by a courtier, who, upon his entree into 
 a room full of ladies, made a bow, fell back, 
 and recovered with a foft air ; made a bow to 
 the next, and fo on to one or two more, then 
 took the room en majje in a continual bow till he 
 reached the lady whom he thought proper to 
 diftinguifh. He adds, that no young gentle- 
 woman has been kijjed in public for feveral 
 miles in that neighbourhood, fince the courtier's 
 appearance, and prefles for an immediate paper 
 on the fubjed: of killing by way of falute. 
 
 \_Spe5lator. 
 
 But in the fame period Mr. Honeycomb re- 
 ports that male partners in the dance, (which is 
 very apropos of the curtjy and the kijsy enjoined 
 by Ariel) dwelt upon the fair one's Up — or
 
 [ 1^9 ] 
 
 elfe they would be too quick for the mulical 
 time. Thefe were called kiffnig dances, 
 
 [Ibid. 
 
 ^^ After all, \\\.z Jafejl mode of kijjingy and 
 
 o{ being kijfed^ for the ladies, and which I would 
 
 recommend, is that which the accomplilhed and 
 
 courteous knight. Sir Philip Sydney ^ defcribes-— 
 
 Who thofe ruddy lips can mifs, 
 Which blefTed ftiil ihemjelves do kifs. 
 
 By the zvay^ 
 
 Edmond thinks it not improbable that Shakf- 
 peare may have read the kiffes of Secundus (who 
 died, A. D. 1536) in fome Englifh tranflation. 
 
 Secundus's work is called by one of the editors, 
 ** divine." 
 
 Hadrianus Junius tells us, in a very amorous 
 expreflion, which I dare not put into my own 
 language, that " Secundi Bafia vivent dum hafiis 
 aviantium or a patehunt,"^ 
 
 Lillius GyralduSi with more delicacy, but 
 •with equal, if not fuperior animation, intimates 
 that in reading them we are kifjtng all the time, 
 that is, in the mind's lip^ which he calls " bajiis 
 afficir 
 
 Jul. Ccef. Scaliger, traces thefe identical 
 " kiJlfes" to the lips of no lefs a perfonage than 
 Siderea Venus. 
 
 Janus Doufa puts them into Attic honey. 
 
 The pedigree of them afligned by the poet 
 himfelf, 1 mean Secundus, who was their beft 
 herald, is very interefting. 
 
 I 4 They
 
 [ 120 ] 
 
 They are, it feems, the dew of the rofes that 
 formed Afcanius^s bed : the boy afleep, and 
 Venus afraid of kifling him, fhe kifled his bed, 
 xt'hich enlivened by the impreflion of her lips, 
 kilTed her, in return : the kifTes thus replaced, and 
 with an improved edition, (as Edmond's compofitor 
 cxprefles it,) were dropt by Venus in her flight 
 over the Earth. 
 
 Secundiis however appears very unconfcionable, 
 for he defires one of Mr. Honeycomb's dwelling 
 kijfes, and which he calls perenne bafium. 
 
 He fays, that if he has only one, it makes him 
 regret the lofs of it, and wifh for another. 
 
 He defcribes it as compofed of the moft ex- 
 quifite odours, and gives a lift of them, which 
 reminds one of a perfumer's bill, or of an Italian 
 warehoufe in the Hay-market. 
 
 In one refped: he has caught the whifper- 
 ing analogies of Edmond. He talks of a bafium 
 which is dulci-fonum, or fweetly toned, which is 
 Edmond's ear-kijjing zvhifper, anticipated. 
 
 But who would have imagined that he had 
 fo lively a conception of that * receipt in Ovid^ 
 Edmond's Art of love ? 
 
 Adde et blanditias verbaque publica, 
 Etcum Suavifonis muvmura.Jibiiis. 
 
 * This, Edmond, with his appropriate felicity, interprets mu' 
 Jicaltime^ and fays it is an evident, though (Jhado=wed) allufion 
 to a country dance, Crevit^ he thinks a pun upon the muficai 
 word crefcendoy and a type of Honeycomb's diuelling ki/s. 
 
 Here
 
 [ 12. ] 
 
 Here we have Gonerill's kifs in perfection, or 
 the kiffed ear that followed the verba pnblica. 
 
 We have alfo my Lord Sands and the Pj- 
 ramus of the Supper, in that fame Ovid, as 
 elegant and as kijfing a poet as Edmond's favorite 
 Secundtis. 
 
 Notitiam primofque gradus vlclnla cepit 
 Tempore crev'it amor. 
 
 I cannot help throwing-in before I leave fo 
 fafcinating a fubjed:, (and perhaps for ever,) the 
 moft elegant fatyr, compliment, and gallantry, 
 that polifned wit ever ftruck off; but Addijon zvas 
 thinking (as Edmond often fays of Shakfpeare,) 
 he was thinking of Secundus, or he could not 
 have written fo well. 
 
 " When I have feen a pretty mouth uttering 
 calumnies and inve6lives, what could I not have 
 given to hdiWtJiopt it F* 
 
 \_Spe5Iator. 
 
 The Reader, in this delightful ramble, may 
 perhaps have miffed the Sergeant : In truth he was 
 fall afleep, but with an exprefTion of ferene 
 complacency, in the tone of that flumber, which 
 he could not have improved in the cadence of 
 his periods, if he had been awake and profcf- 
 lionally employed. 
 
 * Stop the mouth'^mih Z. kifs ! \_Much ado^ 3cC. 
 
 Example
 
 . [ 122 ] 
 
 Example XXIX. 
 
 " SoDg* and Dance." 
 
 Midf, N. Dream. 
 
 * Note by Malojie,^ This Song, — like many 
 others, is lojl. 
 
 By the way — Dr. Johnfon thinks another Song 
 has been loft, which he fuppofes to have been 
 fling by Oheron, 
 
 ^^ I have recovered both of thefc airs, and 
 the mulic to which they are fct. N.B. They 
 are left in my will to the Mujeum. 
 
 Example XXX. 
 
 Enter a legate and two embafladours, with. 
 Winch ejier in a Cardinal's habit. \JrIen. VI. 
 Exeter.^ — What ! is my Lord of Winch ejler Injlalled? 
 
 Malone,~\ — It fhould feem the author meant 
 the Cardinal had juft obtained his Cardinal's hat. 
 
 The inaccuracy was in making Glojler addrefs 
 him by the title in the beginning of this play. 
 
 " He, in fad:, obtained it in the fifth year of 
 Henry's reign ! [^M alone. 
 
 §3^ " It was July the i^th of that year, and 
 according to Du Cange, the 14th of July fell 
 upon a Monday that year.'* \_Minutiu5 Felix. 
 
 Example
 
 r "3 ] 
 
 Example XXXI. 
 
 I Carrier. The turhys in my pannier are quite 
 ftarved. 
 
 Malone."] Here is a flight anachronifm ; 
 iurkies were not brought into England till the 
 time oi Hen. VIII. 
 
 ^$r " Edmond ! Xhxs^rgnts cor;fcience in your notes." 
 ** But the refpeSis thereof are *nice and trivial. 
 
 [Ric. III. 
 
 ^f:3" I 3"! happy to find that Mr. Addifon 
 conliders Edmond and me as two powerful aux- 
 iliaries to the hnagination. 
 
 He calls our procefs the labour of the fancy- 
 working downward and a kind of delving fpecula- 
 tion. Amongft other topics of Minutian fublimU 
 iy^ he lays this before his reader, with a philofo- 
 phical air that is very becoming to himy and very 
 honourable, I think, to us, 
 
 " Let a man try to conceive the different bulk 
 of an animal which is fuoenty^ from another 
 animal which is a hundred times lefs than a 
 
 * " Uke in the fenfe of minute^ and oi petty import." 
 
 [Maloae, 
 
 mit€ I
 
 C 124 3 
 
 mite ! He has no meafure for it ; the underftand- 
 ing opens infinite fpace around him, but the 
 fancy is loft in the purfuit of an atom, thro' all 
 its numberlefs diredtions." 
 
 Example XXXI. 
 
 — — — Was this face the face, 
 That every day^ under his houfehold roof, 
 Did keep ten thoujand men P 
 
 0;:3- M alone.'] — " Shakfpeare is not here quite 
 accurate. 
 
 '* Our old Chronicles only fay, that every day 
 ten thoufand men came to his houfehold.'* 
 
 Note the divcrfity ! \_Sergeant Malone, 
 
 [g:!" " Une exaditude etonnannte fur des chofes de 
 " neant?" 
 
 [^Le Clere, fpeaking of Bayle. 
 
 I remember feeing a defcription of a Minu- 
 tian critic^ which I thought fo apropos de boiies 
 (for Edmond's leg,) that I made a note of it, and 
 beg leave to introduce it here. 
 
 " If you talk of Herodotus, he makes a pane- 
 gyric upon Harry Stephens. He thinks he' gives 
 an account of an author when he tells you the 
 fubje^ — the name of the editor — and the time 
 of printing the book — when he marks the good- 
 nefs of the paper, the diligence of the corredor, 
 and the beauty of the type. 
 
 " He could find only tzvo faults in Virgil, 
 edited by Daniel Heinfms, 
 
 «< Two
 
 [ "5 3 
 
 " Two commas inflead of a parenthefis in the 
 firil book of the ^neid, and a femicolon in- 
 verted in the fourth Georgic !!" 
 
 Example XXXII. 
 
 In volume the tenth, and as part of an ela- 
 borate appendix to the notes, we have the fol- 
 lowing paffage : 
 
 *' Add to note 9, pag. 56, Rom. and Juliet, 
 
 ** Poperin pear." 
 " Leland was the parfon of PoperingiiCy and 
 by him, perhaps, the poperin pear was brought 
 into England ! [Malone, 
 
 Example XXXIII. 
 
 It is playing with edge tools to think of an 
 efcape from Edmond's detections — efpecially for 
 the ladies. 
 
 I could have fworn that Conftance was cor- 
 red: in defcribing herfelf. 
 
 ** A •widow—'hujbandleji" 
 
 But Edmond has convided her of an accu- 
 mulated falfehood. 
 
 " She was married again at this very time. 
 
 *' She was the wife to a third hufband. 
 
 And (lie was, (oh fie!) divorced from the fe^ 
 cond. 
 
 Forgive
 
 C '=6 3 
 
 Forgive mc, dear Mrs. Siddons, but I never 
 can fee you again in Conjiance, 
 
 [Min. Felix i 
 PbiloSiddon-iacns, 
 
 Example of the Superfluous and Mtnutian 
 united 1* 
 
 *' The rule is very limple that one cannot be 
 
 two:* 
 
 [Malone in a note upon Troil. and Crejf, 
 
 Ad V. fcenc 2. 
 
 ♦ It has been proved in the firft part of this work, that 
 Edmond conceives three to be the fame as four. See the di- 
 menfions of the word Afircea* 
 
 CANON
 
 [ 127 ] 
 
 CANON III. 
 
 The Rejloring Editor, 
 
 Reforms the text, if it Juits himy and adopts 
 the capricious innovation of other editors; or 
 clings to the virgin text in defiance of all mere- 
 tricious allurements, with obftinate fidelity. 
 
 Jam redit et A'ir^*— redeunt Saturnia Regna. 
 
 VirgiU 
 
 To hatch a new Saturnian ^gc o^ lead. 
 
 [fhamefully parodied by Mr. Pope. 
 
 — — — *' Reji oration hang 
 
 ** Thy med'cine on my notes!'* \_Lear. 
 
 Example I. 
 
 Duke S. If there be truth in Jightj you are my 
 
 daughter. 
 Orl. If there be truth injight, youaremyRofalind. 
 Phebe. UJight zndjhape be true, 
 
 Why then, my love, adieu!" 
 
 [ As you like it. 
 
 John/on.'] — The anfwer of Phebe makes it 
 PROBABLE that Orlando fays, if there be truth in 
 Jhape\ that is, (heaven biefs him for his videlicet I) 
 
 if
 
 [ 128 ] 
 
 if a form can be trufted, if one cannot ufurp the 
 
 form of another, 
 
 Againft this prohahility I demur, unlefs im- 
 frohable having, (by means of the intenfive 
 particle " /;/;," the fenfe of probable in the ex- 
 treme ;} the word probable may, vice versd^ mean 
 {ox Jhadoiso) extreme improbabilities. 
 
 Why fhould Orlando find out Rofalind hyjloape^ 
 and the Duke find her out by Jight f which laft 
 word includes the Jhape into the bargain, and 
 covers the whole figure. 
 
 To Thebe it is perfectly natural that fiape^ 
 which is here transformed out of one fex into the 
 other, {hould be the moft prominent feature of 
 the change, and of her doubts: To her'ix. con- 
 flitutes the only change, becaufe, to her^ the 
 iounienance had never been difguifcd. 
 
 But what am I to underftand from Edmond's 
 condudl here? It puzzles me: He adopts the 
 j>ote, but leaves the text untouched. 
 
 Example II. 
 
 " This is abominable, it infinuateth wi? (t/'infamie, 
 Ne intelligis? — to make frantic— lunatic." 
 
 Love's Lab. Loft. 
 
 " Dr. Fanner, with great probability, pro- 
 pofes to read uian t/ insanie. [^Malone.^ " Insanie 
 
 was
 
 [ 129 ] 
 
 was Theolald's emendation." Malone.'] — " It 
 appears to have been a word * anciently ufed." 
 
 ^Steevens, 
 
 Accordingly this word appears in the Mah^ 
 man text. 
 
 §3- Well done fountain head oi probability — 
 but this fountain had a parent — Mr, Theobald — ■ 
 and was adopted afterwards by another parent, 
 one Mr. Thomas Edwards^ whofe wit admi- 
 niflered by good ^cn^t, 
 
 — -— — — *' ordinem 
 
 ** Re6tum evaganti fraena licenti«e 
 
 " Injecit." 
 
 I do not blame the emendation, but I difcern 
 and admire the unblufiiing eafe of Edmond's man- 
 ner, when he totally departs from his own rule of 
 adhering to ancient copies which are intelli- 
 gible, for the fake of better fenfe, or of more 
 accuracy. 
 
 Left we (hould mark that want of memory 
 which a little mifleads /?/?;;, and which he is in the 
 habit of imputing, withfuchexquifite ridicule, to 
 Shakfpeare, I here extradl his profellion or Ca- 
 non upon the fubjed of ancient copies, that we 
 may watch him, and fee, to his honor, what a 
 tight, or gouty flioe he makes of it. 
 
 * Rd'wards confiders it as a word new coined by the pedant. 
 
 As thefe two great men are fo accurate, I aflume their ve- 
 racity ; and I lay no ftrefs upon the abfence of this word from 
 Johnfon, who has dropped, or, like Shakfpeare, forgot the 
 word injanie, 
 
 * K Pag.
 
 [ '30 ] 
 
 Pag. Ixili.-— " I may be cenfured for too JlriSl 
 an adherence to the ancient copies. 
 
 Pag. Ixiv. — " Having refolved 7iever to de- 
 viate from the authentic copies merely becaufe 
 the phrafeology was harfh or uncommon. 
 
 Pag. xi. — " Our principal employment has 
 been to rejiore ; — to ejedl the capricious in7tova'- 
 tions made by our predeceflbrs, from igno- 
 rance, &c. 
 
 Pag. xi. — " To form a genuine text by a 
 faithful collation of the ancient copies — a labo- 
 rious tafk — and the due execution of this it is 
 ■which can aloiie entitle an editor of Shakfpeare 
 to the favour of the public." 
 
 Then Mr. Editor Malone and the public, are 
 two. The bed friends muft part — and the lofs 
 will be (as it Jloould be) that of the public ; for 
 if Edmond cannot enlighten them, the world, 
 (as Bayes prophetically obferved when his players 
 were gone to dinner) — " the world muft be left 
 ** in ignorance." 
 
 Example III.* 
 
 Tlmon.] — " They fay, my Lord, that ira. furor 
 brevis ejl! 
 But yond' man is very angry." 
 
 * Here one poor word a thoufand clinches makes, 
 And various reading new Meander takes. [Pope, 
 
 Mr.
 
 [ ^3' 1 
 
 Mr. Rowe changed the text thus : 
 " ever angry ;" 
 a very ingenious and juft alteration. 
 
 But it is not lefs an alteration^ and for the An- 
 gle purpofe of improving that which before was 
 intelligible — a condud: which Edmond's theory 
 has reprobated, and his familiar habits adopted ; 
 — as in the cafe before us, for he has embraced 
 this improvement, and made it a part of his text, 
 which profeffes to be religioufly that of his 
 poet, not his own. 
 
 Here he inverts his conducfl upon a former 
 occafion, for here having adopted the emen- 
 dation, he alfo appears to adopt a note by Mr. 
 Editor Steevens equally capricious, but which 
 reinftates the word that Rowt has ejedled — 
 
 *' very anger.'* 
 
 Example IV. 
 
 In another note upon this play, there is a paf- 
 fage of fuch dignity againft his own practice of 
 capricious innovations^ that for the honor of hi? 
 candour and of his contempt for his own rules, 
 I make an example of it, as one of the altera- 
 tions in the Rejloring Editor's department. 
 
 *' I am not of that feather to fliake off 
 My friend when he muji need me.'* 
 
 ** I once idly conje^ured that Sh^kfpeare 
 
 wrote — 
 
 *' When he mojl needs me.'* 
 
 K z And
 
 [13^] 
 
 " And fo 1 have lince found the third folio 
 reads — 
 
 But if fuch capricious innovations were to be 
 admitted, every line in thefe plays might be 
 changed." 
 
 The Sergeant, who is always plodding in foli- 
 citous purfuits of accuracy in evidence, is un- 
 gallant enough to difpute the fa(5t, though with 
 me and the reader in general, he will of courfc 
 put it under the column of error in memory. 
 
 He reafons thus : Edmond would, of courfe, 
 have afcertained by collation, what all the read- 
 ings were before he inlinuated his amendments. 
 
 Example V. 
 
 You may take my word, my Lord, 
 
 I weigh my friend's afFedlion with my own; 
 
 *' I tell you true — I'll call upon you." 
 
 [Timon. 
 
 Malone."] — The old copy reads — " Til tell you 
 tiue." 
 
 " The corredion was made by Dr, John/on.'* 
 
 It is at once adopted into the text. 
 
 But why ? 
 
 Is it necelTary ? no : 
 
 Does it alter the fenfe ? no. 
 
 I wifh
 
 [ ^33 ] 
 
 I wifli Capcl had propofcd it; but as Mo- 
 liere's l>el efprit obferves — [T/j^? Cynic. 
 
 Par nos loix, profe et vers, tout nous fera foumls, 
 Nul n'aura de Tefprit que nous, ou nos amis. 
 
 \_Les Femmes Savantes, 
 
 Example VI. 
 
 [Oh ever gracious to perplex mankind, 
 And fpread a healing mift before the mind! 
 
 [Pope.'] 
 
 If I could fell my horfe and buy tw^enty more 
 better than he, why give my horfe to Timon 
 — afk nothing — give it him — it foals me 
 — ftraight and able horfes. [Timon. 
 
 This paflage requires no emendation, me is an 
 expletive. 
 
 But Edmond's reforming fpirit will exert itfelf. 
 
 He fays : " perhaps me was V;?;, and was 
 tranfpofed.* 
 
 Objedion — To foal a horfe is an expreflton 
 which no groom ever admitted ; and Shakfpeare 
 was a man who, (as Akenfide well exprelTed it,) 
 
 ** Walk'd in ev'ry path of human life." 
 
 * I cannot have a better opportunity of conftruing the 
 fhackivs of Edmond into Latin — 
 
 Tarn umhratiles funt ut putent in turbido ejfe quicquid in luce cfi, 
 
 K 3 Example
 
 C '34 ] 
 
 Example VII. 
 
 •— — — ** No reafon 
 Can found his ftate in fafety!" 
 
 Dr. Johnfon, with perfedly good fenfe, in- 
 terprets the palTage, 
 
 Then to give it letter fenfe he alters the 
 word, and Edmond (who \% felo de Je^ as the 
 Sergeant exprelTes it) accedes implicitly to the 
 change, which is, that oi found into founds and 
 thrown, by Dr. Johnfon, upon a new defedl of 
 the conipolitor. His types, it fcems, " are de- 
 faced and worn, fo that / and / are not always 
 to be diffinguifhed." 
 
 But they are diflinguifhed here, and confe- 
 quently the remark is a mere expletive — it may 
 be called an implement of time,* 
 
 Example VIII. 
 
 Take the bonds with you, and leave the dates in compt. 
 
 Theobald made this context out of the non- 
 fenfe which he found. 
 
 Leave the dates in — come! 
 
 Edmond adopts the alteration, which is a 
 very ingenious one. But why then is poor 
 
 * " In every face [I] found a dart." 
 
 The Vatican M.S. for [I] reads [IT] but this n;^y have 
 been the hallucination of the copyilt, who miftook the dafli 
 of the /for a T, Spe^atot\ 
 
 Theobald,
 
 [ '35 3 
 
 Theobald, or poor Tib^ to be fo difcredited 
 with Pope, Hanmer, Warburton, and Capdl, 
 for the purpofe of CI. Johnfon, CI. Farmer, 
 and CI. Malone? 
 
 " It is my occupation (fays the Cynic} to be 
 plain." 
 
 As Kent faid of his^ and though poor Theobald 
 (as well as CapellJ is the vidim and foot-ball of 
 the editors, it appears to me, firft, that he is 
 the very beft of them ; and fecondly, that he is 
 the ofteneft adopted by thofe who deride him 
 the moft. [Cy^/V. 
 
 Example IX. 
 
 I have retired me to a wajlefid cock. 
 
 Pope had altered this to " a lonely roomy'' and 
 this, Edmond fays, *' gives a perfect notion of the 
 method which he took." 
 
 As if all his emendations were of this kind, 
 though he has himfelf adopted many of them 
 which are both natural and fagacious. 
 
 Thefe are poetical exprelTions of a poetical 
 critic, and they give a perfe^ 7iotion of the 
 method which he takes in difleding his pre- 
 decefibrs. He muft not (as he often fays of 
 his poet) be taken as ii /peaking by the card. 
 
 K 4 Example
 
 [ '36 3 
 
 Example X. 
 
 Taming of the Shrew— A£t V. Cc. i. 
 Padua before Lucentio's houfe. 
 Petruchio and Vincentio knock at the door. 
 Vincentio is Lucentio's father. 
 A pedant is above at the window. 
 
 Says the Pedant, addrcHing himfelf to Vin- 
 centio, *' keep your hundred pounds to yourfelf ! 
 He fhall need none fo long as I live." 
 
 Petruchio then fays to the father, '' I told you, 
 your fon was beloved in Padua." 
 
 He then fays to the Pedant, " Tell Signor 
 Lucentio that his father is come from Pifa, and 
 is here at the door to fpeak with him." 
 
 Thou lyefV, anfwers the pedant, his father is 
 come from Padua, and here looking out at the 
 \\'indow- 
 
 Vincentio.— Art thou his father ? 
 Ped. — Ay, fo his mother fays. 
 
 This is the old copy, which Edmond is punc- 
 tilioufly and facredly to reinftate. 
 
 It has the recommendation of being perfedly 
 intelligible and rational. 
 
 The fenfe being, that Lucentio's real father 
 having faid that he was come from Pifa ; the 
 Pedant, who alTumes the father, gives him the 
 X'jty and fays, Lucentio's father is come frojn 
 Vaduay and is looking out at the window j in 
 other words, that he is come to the window 
 from the houfe which is i^i Padua, and by that 
 play of the words comes from Padua. 
 
 Edmond,
 
 C ^37 3 
 
 Edmond, the Rejloring Editor^ extrudes this 
 word, and fiibftitutes Pi/a in its place, for no 
 purpofe but that of introducing abfolute non- 
 fenfe, by making the pedant fay ** ihoii lyejl, his 
 father is come from Pifa^ which is jufl what the 
 father had aiTerted. 
 
 Yet, I fuppofe, that I am wrong, for Ed- 
 mond whifpers to me, that CI. Tyrrwhit^ with 
 his amber-headed cane^ pointed out the emen- 
 dation, which Edmond, without lofs of time, 
 has at once adopted. 
 
 If this be to rejlore, I had rather he would 
 promife to amend the text, and then we might 
 have a chance of feeing it rejlored. 
 
 Example XI. 
 
 Oh, it came o'er my ear like the fwcet fouth. 
 
 Steevens.'] — The old copy reads, like the 
 fweet found, 
 
 Rowe changed it into mind. 
 
 Pope into foulh. 
 
 Which lad, Malone implicitly adopts, — for- 
 getting what he faid of him, when he defcribed 
 the method he took ! 
 
 There is an old proverb which the Sergeant 
 often quotes, and with fome humour, in his 
 profeflion — 
 
 *' One man can fteal a horfe, when another 
 cannot look over a hedge." 
 
 Edmond
 
 [ '3» ] 
 
 Edmond has the fame degree and malady of 
 prediledion for CL John/on^ that he has of an- 
 tipathy to Capel; though in general (to do him 
 juftice) he forms one center of opinion between 
 them which is to rejed them both. 
 
 But there is a pafTage of fuch partiality for 
 the Dodor, in a note upon Timon of Athens, 
 as no amiable felicities of error in attachment 
 ever atchieved. 
 
 f^ Always remember that it is Edmond's 
 province to rejiore ! Here it is ! 
 
 Example XII. 
 
 The ancient copy reads thus — 
 
 " Our poefy is as a gum which ufes 
 ** From whence it's nourilhed." 
 
 Nonfenfe — I admit. 
 
 Mr. Pope (the capricious innovator) by one 
 of the happleft and moft natural emendations, 
 makes it perfect fenfe, and with flight change 
 of the words- 
 Is a gum which ijfues. 
 
 Dr. Johiifon converts ijfucs into oozes, which, 
 to be fure, is alfo very ingenious, but is not 
 wanted i is not fo like the original word that 
 appears (by miflake) in the text, and is an ar- 
 bitrary irnprovcment y at the beft, of a necejfary 
 emendation. 
 
 Edmond, the Rejlorer, at once embraces it. 
 
 Example
 
 C 139 ] 
 
 Example XIII. 
 
 ^JCf* Not fo is " poor Tib*^ embraced in a 
 note upon the very fame play, in which non- 
 fenfe, equally perfe6l of its kind, was corrcdted 
 by him^ and (as Edmond is not clofe to me 
 with his three~7nan s-beetle of Johnfon, Farmer, 
 and Malone) with uncommon acutenefs. 
 
 Even the hypercritic, Mr. Steevens, " unufcd 
 to the melting mood," adopts this emendation 
 w ith candour and fpirit. 
 
 But Edmond firft puts a little ice-water upon 
 it, like that of Addifon's faint praije (in Vope'z 
 falfe and bafe charader of it) and then rejeds 
 it, " becaufe the pafTage correvfted may ftand.'* 
 
 Enter Senators and pafs over. 
 
 Painter.— How this Lord is followed! 
 Poet.— The Senators of Athens. 
 
 Happy men. 
 
 Painter. — Look — more. 
 
 Poet. — You fee this confluence, &c. 
 
 Theobald read man inftead of men. 
 
 Upon which a curious little fecret peers out. 
 
 Steevens appears to have prompted the enien- 
 dation as being his own. 
 
 Such are the little playful artifices of rival 
 editors. 
 
 Sf3- J^ve
 
 [ 140 ] 
 
 ^^ Jove laughs at the perjury of lovers ; and 
 as he is always* in good fpirits^ I dare fay that 
 he would fmile at thefts like thefe. 
 
 Edmond reftores Mr. Theobald's right, and 
 rejedts the emendation, after calling it plaufible 
 enough. 
 
 §c3" Set againfl: this what he has himfelf fo 
 well called his idle conjecture in a former exam- 
 ple of this Canon. 
 
 Does it not bring that pleafant fellow. Ranger, 
 before us ? 
 
 " There is a degree of affurance in you, modefi 
 men, that we impudent fellows never can reach." 
 
 I do infift upon it, that Pope never came 
 within leagues of the capricious innovation there 
 confefled. 
 
 I cannot oppofe to this prudery of felf re- 
 proach, a more amufing contraft than Zimri- 
 Edmond gives in pag. 14 of the fame identical 
 play, in which nonfenfe is upheld and reafoned 
 againft Johnfon himfelf, whofe argument, how- 
 ever, is upon a meafuring caft with its rejected 
 and improved original. 
 
 * See the EJJence. 
 
 N. B. In addition to my note there, I would beg to remind 
 the ingenious Edmond, that joi'ial, in its only derivative 
 fenfe from Jove, is a word ufed by Shakfpeare himfelf— 
 
 " Ouryoi'w/ ftar." {Cymbeline, 
 
 Example
 
 C '4t ] 
 
 Example XIV. 
 
 A father complains, that one of Timon's fol- 
 lowers attempts a daughter of his. 
 
 *' This fellow here, thy creature, &c. 
 
 — — — — " this man of thine 
 
 *' Attempts her love : 
 
 ** Join with me to forbid him her re fort ! 
 
 Timon. — The man is honeft. 
 
 Father. — ** Therefore he will be, Timon; 
 
 His honefty rewards him in itfelf. 
 
 It mufl not bear my daughter. 
 
 This, a common reader, without a ray of 
 criticifm-profclTed, would alter, if he could; 
 i. e, without inaking a perfedliy new fentence. 
 
 But Edmond (with a rejioring night -cap on 
 his head) is firm to it as it is, and reafons upon 
 it with his accuftomed vigilance — at a late hour 
 of the night, 
 
 Malone.'\ Therefore he will he^'Xixnon ;" there- 
 fore he will continue to be fo, (to be honed) 
 and is fure of being fufficiently rewarded by the 
 confcioufncfs of virtue ; he does not need the 
 additional blefTmg of a beautiful and accom- 
 plilhed wife." [This lafl part of the fentence 
 has a gallantry in it fomcwhat unufual to Ed- 
 mond, and therefore, on the part of the ladies, 
 I thank him for it, though I am forry to add, 
 that I fee no colour for it, and that here the 
 gallantry is not unlike the paraphrafe which is 
 
 under
 
 C H2 3 
 
 under that colour a poetical flight of inven- 
 tion. Min. Felix.'} 
 
 He then meets an objedlion, which I cannot help 
 thinking he does not anfvver, and I like him the 
 better for it. The objedlor (" he forgets by whom 
 the remark is made," which is elegantly con- 
 temptuous) reminds him "that if Lucilius would 
 continue to he honefl, the interference of Timon 
 could not be wanted." 
 
 He anfwers, with fpirit, that Shakfpeare docs 
 not write by the card, and that he means here 
 the general honefty of Lucilius, and excludes 
 this a^ion /" 
 
 Johnfon, with great propriety, (as the unin^ 
 itiated would fay) recommends that an emenda- 
 tion Ihould be made; but he alfo recommends 
 his own, and which Edmond feems to approve 
 (by adducing it uncenfuredj but which the 
 novices in critical myjlery would rejcd:, as 
 being more unintelligible, quaint, and abfurd 
 than what it profeffes to corredt. 
 
 ** Therefore, voell he himl'^ 
 
 which he conftrues into Latin, hen} fit illi!'' 
 Alas, poor Shakfpeare ! 
 
 Example XV. 
 
 §0- In the Appendix to the lajl and the tenth 
 volume, that parting blow of Arijlotle-Edmond, 
 he rebukes, as well as rejedls, an emendation of 
 
 Pope,
 
 C H3 ] 
 
 Pope, which he had previoufly adopted and 
 approved. 
 
 " His caution againft " capricious innova- 
 tors" was, in this inflance, and in two * or three 
 more, " overwatched/'^ a Malonian trifyllable 
 (unlefs he chufes, the word being his own, to 
 make it either Izvo fyllables or fowrj which no 
 dictionary that ever I faw gives to him in the 
 {cnfe, that, as I conjedure, he means to convey ; 
 I fuppofe him to mean, taken by furprize % or, 
 in vulgar fpeech, caught napping. 
 
 Now for this Malonian Bobadil's planet- 
 ftruck difgrace ! this warning to all good Chrif- 
 tians againfl: his untimely end. 
 
 We were dead aJJeep, 
 
 Such is the Malonian text ! which, of courfe, 
 if undetected, would be fuppofed the genuine. 
 
 But Mr. Editor Steevens^ who feems now and 
 then to love mifchief, in this war of the pins and 
 the needles, whifpers that ^^ofjleep" is what the 
 old copy had printed, confequently intimates 
 that ajlecp is the word of fome capricious in- 
 novator. 
 
 * Erratum — for two or thjree it fhould be two or three 
 hundred, \_Apcmantus. 
 
 f N. B. He has the very fame word (for he is bit with his 
 own ardtntia fverl^a) in the Appendix to volume the tenth, 
 pag. 577, to mark a fimilar impofition upon his amiable fim- 
 plicity, though it played with edge tools in trufting Pope. 
 
 Edmoni
 
 [ 144 ] 
 
 Edmond is, however, quite firm upon the fad- 
 die, and retaining the new word " ajleepy" only 
 fays " the emendation is Mr. Pope's. Malone, 
 
 But in the note abovementioned, (in which he 
 exclaims with Adam — 
 
 *' I unweeting have offended unhappily deceived.") 
 
 he does not replace the extruded and the 
 injured word, but proceeds con fpirito^ and 
 makes another correction of the text, equally 
 ingenious, but with an advantage of being fup- 
 ported by a new phrafe " 07i Jleep^'' which, 
 though he has three authorities for it in other 
 books, happens never to have been ufed by a 
 poet, called Shakfpeare, whofe text he is in the 
 all of new makiitgy and of profejfing to. rejlore, 
 
 g3h " The note is like the fubjedl, and your 
 note is like his, and I wifh (as Lord North faid) 
 
 Cajleep. 
 
 " I could myfelfht deadl J J P' 
 
 i or 
 Konjleep" J [The Cynic. 
 
 Example XVI. 
 
 The firll copy reads — 
 
 ** Weeping again, the king, my father's death." 
 
 Tempejl. 
 
 Edmond is perfuaded that againjl^ is the real 
 word ; and he fays, (with a dignity not inferior 
 to that of Profpero) that again is inadmiflible. 
 
 But
 
 [ H5 ] 
 
 But why ? 
 
 " Becaufe Ferdinand 3.ktrwards tells us that he 
 had been Ihedding tears ever fince his father's 
 death." 
 
 " Yet," fays Edmonds who has always a cup of 
 Lethe zi hand for the poet, "as the author okcn 
 forgets the different parts of his own plays, I 
 make no chanp-e." 
 
 o 
 
 ^^ As the tears cannot fall at once, I fliould 
 fay, if I were a common man (which I hope that 
 I am too Malonian to be} that a young gentleman 
 %vho wept without cealing, even if the words are 
 literally taken, wept " again'" at every new drop 
 or guili of his tears. 
 
 But 1 fhould alfo believe that here the mode 
 of fpeech is figurative; and it is proved by 
 feveral incidents of the fon's conduct, that he 
 was not uniformly occupied in lamenting v.ith 
 tears his father's death. It happens that he is 
 at Icifure enough to be in love, and coquettes 
 with Miranda as prettily as could be dciired, 
 aflcr this prodigality of tears had begun its 
 courfe by his account of it. 
 
 Mark too the verfatility of my hero I — i. He 
 is at Shakfpcare's elbow to give him a v.ord, 
 and forces it upon him — then (2} he is off in a 
 tangent^ and leaves the word, though inad- 
 miiliblc, ** becaufe the poet had no memory — of 
 his oivn play !!!" 
 
 * h Example
 
 [ '46 ] 
 
 Example XVIL 
 
 Firrt copies — _ - . My prime requefl:, 
 
 Which I do laft pronounce is, O you wonder, 
 If you be inaid or no. 
 
 Miranda. — j— No v/ondcr, fir, 
 
 But certainly a maid. . 
 
 All the commentators (and blefling on their 
 heads!) adopt the change of this word into 
 made. 
 
 Some of them write their own credentials for 
 the invention of it. But my Lord Ch. Jiijlice 
 Malone gives the palm to the anonymous edi- 
 tor of the fourth folio. 
 
 " A more wanton or quaint, and capricious 
 innovation — to give your friend his own words 
 — never took its flight into an Editor's brain,'* 
 fays my legal friend. 
 
 " The word maid is not only intelligible, but 
 infinitely more natural and more delicate than 
 to make Ferdinand afk her if Ihe is *♦ made'' — 
 a very odd exprellion to denote the compliment 
 (here fuppofed) of afcribing to her a celejlial 
 pre-eminence. 
 
 *' Theanfwer, which, by a miracle of good for- 
 tune, is retained, one fhould have thought would 
 have decided this great queftion ; for Miranda^ 
 who was clofer to Ferdinand than Edmond is, 
 (though I hope not clofe enough to whijper^) fup- 
 pofes him to have afked her if fhe was a maid. 
 i3ut Malone does not mind her^ and converts 
 
 her
 
 C 147 ] 
 
 her (with all his contempt for that Mimitian 
 talent) into a punfter. 
 
 ** A little further on, which additionally con- 
 firms the original text, Ferdinand fays to her — 
 
 — — — Oh, If a virgin. 
 
 And your afFedlion not gone forth, I'll make you 
 
 The Queen of Naples. 
 
 " Edmond's firfl: remark upon this paflage is 
 *' that by the words, ** if a virgin," Ferdinand 
 proves, he was not confcious that he had afked 
 her if fhe was a maid or no;" forgetting that if 
 has often the import of the word fince, and 
 may, with propriety, have that import here. 
 
 " It is true (fays he) that flie has told him 
 Ihe is a maid, but this he appears to forget, 
 which he could not have done if he had afked 
 her himfclf. 
 
 " I have faid (my learned friend grows very ela- 
 borate) the original reading was natural, and will 
 explain myfelf: " I afk you, fays Ferdinand, 
 oh you wonderful creature, if you are what 
 your exterior femblance imports, a maid; than 
 is, an unmarried young woman, or what your 
 celeftial beauty intimates, not a maid, but a 
 goddrfs." ^Mr. Sergeant, oi Sergeant's Inn. 
 
 ^ — — occidiftis, amici, 
 non fervaftis. 
 
 Leave me to nature, my dear phyficians, without 
 any of thefe allerative refioratives. They 
 really difagree with my coA^titution. 
 
 l^Sbakfpeare. 
 
 L 2 Example
 
 [ 148 ] 
 
 Example XVIII. 
 
 SIender.'\-^l went to her in zvhi/e, and cried mum. 
 
 Malone. — " The old copy, by the inadvertence 
 of the author or tranfcriber, reads in greeny (and 
 in the two fubfequcnt fpeeches of Mrs, Page) 
 in Head of/;/ white.'" 
 
 It reminds me of blind-man's buff. 
 
 JVhitc and grcai, and black and grey, 
 
 Turn about three times, and catch who you may! 
 
 N. B. The corred:ions (viz. of green into white J 
 which are fully juftified by what has preceded 
 (p. 292) were made by Mr. Pope.'^ 
 
 §3" It mud never be forgot by the reader 
 "what Edmond fays of this " capricious innovator.'* 
 
 Example XIX. 
 
 Edmond has rejiored a line which he fup- 
 pofes to have been dropty or Jhujfled away by 
 the copyift or compofitor, (for he is not fure 
 which of the two offenders to accufe) and as 
 he is to perfonate Shakfpearc, it muft be owned 
 that it is a very modeji imitation of the poet's 
 manner. 
 
 ** The f on of Richard, Earl of Arundel.'" 
 
 Example
 
 [ H9 ] 
 
 Example XX. 
 
 ~ — Let me know my fault, 
 
 [on] what condition Hands it ? and wherein r 
 
 Condition is here explained by John/on 
 
 ** Degree of guilt.''' 
 
 which, for argument fake, I will readily af- 
 fume to be a jull, (though it is rather a ;?(9iWj ^cvSc 
 of the word. But John/on having thus diclicn- 
 adzed the word condition, changes on, without 
 faying " with your leave, or by your leave," into 
 the word /';/. But which is more Anti-Malouian, 
 he defies all the particles in Shakfpeare, and 
 feems to demand the right of omitting, adding, 
 or altering fuch little fcraps, jufi as his im- 
 preflion of the fenfe or metre Ihall direcl. 
 
 Edmondy — the virgin editor^ — implicitly adopts 
 a new word into the text, and fupports it by one 
 of his lively arguments. A% according to him, 
 was the original word, becaufe the anfwer is 
 " In the condition ;" but he forgets that in, is, 
 or may be, an anfwer to wherein. The word 
 Jland appears more fuitable to oni but at leaf]-, 
 on is very intelligible, and that is ground enough 
 on which the accurate report fhould (land in 
 refifting any change v/hatever. But we forget 
 that no changes of the moon are fo numerous, 
 or fo inconftant as the vicilfuudes of his faith. 
 
 L 3 Pope's
 
 [ 150 ] 
 
 Pope''s Rejloratives. 
 
 Example XXI. 
 
 Five complete lines omitted in later editions, 
 but found in the earlicfl, (A. D. 1598.) have 
 been replaced in the text by Mr. Pope^ who is 
 called, by Edmond, the capricious innovator. 
 
 One fhould have thought Edmond would have 
 fmiled — with Jupiter in good JpiritSy — or nodded 
 approbation from the jovial Jlar^ upon this 
 anomaly in him^ becaufe it would be reclitude 
 in otberSy but mod of all, in the Edmo7idiani i 
 that he would have faid " well done, thank you, 
 «' Mr. Pope, &c." 
 
 So far from it, that he rejedls what has been thus 
 replaced, and fhuts the door againft thefe native 
 inhabitants of the text. *' Why ?" becaufe he 
 does not like them, and chufes to fuppofe the 
 poet reje(5led them. 
 
 The paffage is full of bombaft, with or with- 
 out the litigated claim of thefe verfes. But they 
 happen to be in themfelves very beautiful, and 
 very like Shakfpcare. 
 
 Their only fault confidered as parts of the 
 text, is the length of the parenthefis. But Ed- 
 mond, (of all the birds in the air J fliould be mer- 
 ciful
 
 C '51 ] 
 
 ciful to that fault as an exemplary obfcrver of 
 Nathan's Canon, 
 
 Yet, for the fake of his dear prohabilitieSi 
 
 he has put the lines into hooks [ ] but he 
 
 ridicules the very argument on which that cx-^ 
 trufion is founded, which, in a(ft, he confirms 
 and approves. 
 
 Example XXII. 
 
 *' And fay what (lore of parting tears were (bed,"— ^ 
 ** Faith, none [for] me." 
 
 i. e. none, upon my account, or for my part. 
 
 The editor of the fecond folio (in general, 
 Edmond'saverfion,) has altered the word /cr into 
 the word \hy\ I fuppofe becaufc they are like 
 me another ! 
 
 The king is interrogating the guide of the 
 banifhed Hereford^ who means to intimate in 
 his reply that no love had been loft between 
 them. 
 
 " Faith, none/or me — none upon my account 
 * — " none for me'* (by either of us.) 
 
 A palTage more intelligible cannot well be 
 imagined. 
 
 ^3- I am this moment informed by a little 
 girl who was hunting for me /;; the Appendix 
 to the tenth volume, that one of Edmond's pe^ 
 nitentials there (which are as numerous almoft 
 as the pages) touches upon this Tarquinifmo^hx^ 
 L 4 own.
 
 [ 152 ] 
 
 own, which he reprobates, though with lefs anger 
 than he has in general exprcfTcd againft the 
 levities of his critical deportment. 
 
 " I have adopted (he fays) an emendation 
 " made by the Editor of the Second Folio, but 
 '* without necefllty.'* 
 
 *' For mcy* may mean *' on my fart J" ^ Thus 
 we fay, ^^ for me^ I am content, &:c. where ihefe 
 words have the fame fignification as here."' 
 
 Malone, 
 
 Example XXIII. 
 
 Mr, Editor Steevens^ who has an averfion to 
 fonnets, like the hatred of a Montague to a 
 Capulett after abufing thofe of Shakfpeare, ac- 
 cufes the early editors of depraving his mife- 
 rable conceits, and, with his accuftomcd wit, 
 compares the palTage as it ftands, after his alte- 
 ration, to the contrivance of the late Mr. Rich, 
 '* in making Harlequin jump down his own 
 throat." 
 
 Edmond vindicates the pafTage, but not the 
 Harlequin procefs, v/hich he turns upon the 
 innovator, and fays, in a very affedling manner, 
 that it is very hard he, Shakfpeare, (liould be an- 
 fwerable for what he has not written. 
 
 The palTage is — 
 
 Pity the world or elfe this glutton be, 
 To eat the world's due by the grave of tl.
 
 [ '<3 ] 
 
 Steevens alters it — 
 
 bs thy grave and thee. 
 
 i.e. be at once thyfelf and thy grave. 
 
 He had prefaced the alteration thus — 
 
 *^ I read, piteous conftraint (to read fuch fluff 
 at all!) &c. 
 
 The explanation of the original palTage by 
 Edmond is with a hecatomb of notes to its honor. 
 
 1^3^ *^ The meaning feems to be this — 
 
 *' Pity the world, which is daily depopulated 
 by the grave ! and beget children in order to 
 fupply the lofs ! or if you do not fulfil this 
 duty, acknowledge, that as a glutton fwallows 
 and confumes more than is fufficient for his 
 own fupport ; fo you, who, by the courfe of 
 nature, mud die, and by your rcmilTnefs, are 
 likely to die childlcfs • thus, ♦* living and dying 
 in lingle blefTednefs," confume and dcflroy the 
 world's due, to the defolation of which you Vvill 
 doubly contribute, i. by thy death, 2. by dying 
 childlefs!" 
 
 " He confiders the propagation of the fpecies 
 as the ivorld's diie^ as a right to which it is en- 
 titled, and which it may demand from every 
 individual." 
 
 ^^ One fhould really think Edmond was a 
 midwife. 
 
 ^3- There is a very marked inllance of Ed- 
 mond's wit m page 139 of his tenth volume. 
 
 Ic
 
 [ '54 ] 
 
 It is a note upon this line in the Rape of 
 Lucrece. 
 
 ** To blot old books, and alter their contents." ' 
 
 " Our author probably, little thought," fays 
 Edmondy fmiling (but in fcorn) at the capricious 
 innovator^ '* when he wrote this line, that his 
 own compofitions would afford a more ftriking 
 example of this devaftation than any that has 
 appeared iince the firft ufe of types. Malone, 
 
 Example XXIV. 
 
 The word thwartings interpolated by poor 
 Tihy is at once adopted upon the hypothefis 
 that fome of the letters dropt out, and that Mr, 
 CompofitoYy to reftore the word by conje5lure 
 (not, I hope, an offence, per fe !) produced the 
 word things. 
 
 The folio reads — 
 
 You might have been enough the man you arc 
 By ftriving lefs to be fo. — Leffer had been 
 The things of your difpofitions if 
 You had not fhewed them how you weredifpofed, 
 'Ere they lacked power to crofs you. 
 
 " N. B. This emendation by Tib (half rifing 
 from his earth like Antceus) is it feems an im- 
 provevient of Rozve, But I have the misfortune 
 
 to
 
 C 155 ] 
 
 to think Rowe is much happier becaufe more 
 natural and lefs quaint. 
 
 ** the things that thwart.'^ 
 
 It is alfo full as reconcilable, (i. e. not recon- 
 cilable at all) to the hypothefis of the rejloring 
 compofitor^ for if he had entirely deranged the 
 word, and fpilt the letters, I cannot imagine upon 
 what principle of a compofitor's fancy, he coined 
 the word things^ by conjedlure without premifes 
 —a compofitor is not prone to conje6lural cri- 
 ticifm, that ever I knew, any more than a fhort 
 hand writer. \T^he Sergeant, 
 
 (jUr - - - - Sanus utrifque 
 Aurihus atque oculis. 
 
 N. B. Whenever Edmond chufes to reflore by 
 rejecfling the original tranfcript, he has one or 
 other of the following folutions ready for him 
 in the hand of the fairies. 
 
 1. A compofitor's heieroplicifm or glancing 
 eye. 
 
 2. The confufed * ear of the copyift. 
 
 3. Letters dropped out or Jhuffled out amongft: 
 the types. 
 
 * ** Not working with his eye — without his ear. 
 
 Hen. V. 
 N. B. The copyift has an ear not unlike that of the Irilh 
 echo. 
 
 Example
 
 [ '56 ] 
 
 Example XXV. 
 
 Norfolk ! fofare as to an enemy. 
 
 Fare is the old word, and the meaning is clear. 
 They had patched up a kind of armiftice, and 
 are taking their leave. Hereford fays, fare as 
 well as I can wifn an enemy to fare i i. e. not 
 beloved, but fafe upon the faith of honor 
 pledged. 
 
 The wor A fare is changed by fubfequent editors 
 into far. 
 
 It is enough to fay that it is not wanted. But 
 the reafon for it, and the fupport of the reafon^ 
 are of all refinements the moft entertaining. It 
 efcaped from Johnfouy but is caught by Ed- 
 fiiond^ who finds it and wraps it up in Do^or 
 Suhtilis\ cloak. 
 
 T>r. Johnfon's Reafon.'] — *' So far as unto 
 mine enemy I have addrefled myfelf to thee — 
 now I addrefs you, with kindnefSy and v/ith ten^ 
 dernefs — " confefs your ireafons I" 
 
 N. B. I have heard and {ecn very fimilar in- 
 Itances of endearment in the late Sir John Fielding 
 of Bozv Street y Covent Gardeu — in a cat v. hen 
 playing with a moufe — and in Do^or Johnfon's 
 tendernefs for the ehampioi^ of OJJian, 
 
 Support of the reafon. J 
 
 " Surely/^/rc was a mif-print for the word /^/rr^, 
 the old fpelling of the word now placed in the 
 text. 
 
 The
 
 C '57 ] 
 
 The meaning may be *' fo much civility as an 
 enemy has a right to, I offer thee." 
 
 1. N. B. He is rather (hy of the Bovj Street 
 Graces^ imitated by John/on^ though he adopts 
 the firft batch of his comment. 
 
 2. N. B, The original word, as I have ex- 
 plained it, and as it explains itfelf, admits of 
 the very fiime import which Edmond here gives 
 to the fubjlitiited^ and (he mujl excufe me this 
 once if I add,) the interpolated word. 
 
 Min, FeJix^ 
 
 Making a bow, ana with 
 
 his hat in his hand. 
 
 By the way, — this reminds me of another cir- 
 
 cumftance in Edmond, which marks confum- 
 
 mate ability in his Anti-Malonian expofition of 
 
 the fame pretty little wordy^r. 
 
 ** You fpeak him/^r." Cymbeline. 
 
 " When I w^as more a friend to conjedlure than 
 I am at prefent, I fuppofed Shakfpeare might 
 have written 
 
 You fpeak h.\xn fair. 
 
 " But the old reading is probably right. 
 
 Malone.~\ 
 
 You are lavifli in your encomiums upon him — 
 
 your elogium has a wide compafs. [^Malone. 
 
 Who would not fuppofe that M alone was the 
 
 Pythagoras who had made this ingenious dif- 
 
 covery upon the anvil of his own brain ? 
 
 But
 
 [ '58 3 
 
 But the author oiiheReviJaly^z. &c. publiflied 
 in 1765, had written page 469 of that work, in 
 which are to be found the words following — 
 
 " You fpeak him/ar.'* 
 
 *' That is, you praife him to a great extent.^* 
 
 {f^ — — — — — potefne 
 ex his \xt proprium quid nofcere ? 
 
 [Horace's queftion to Edmond. 
 
 N. B. Admire 1 fagacious reader, firft, the 
 utter fuppreflion of the fadl that Edmond's pa- 
 tent, as the expofitor of the word far^ had been 
 preoccupied by the town-clerk of Exeter. 
 
 N. B. Admire, in the fccond place, with how 
 much addrefs he fuperfedes the law which he made 
 for himfelf ; i. e. made either for an adive de- 
 partment, or 2i fine-cure t — ad libitum of the judge 
 and the executioner. 
 
 The law may be found in his preface, page 
 liv. " I have, in general, given the true expli- 
 cation of the pafTage by whomfoever made with- 
 out loading the page with unfuccefsful attempts, 
 &c." 
 
 He does not there fay iti zvords and fyllahles^ 
 that he gives the name of each expofitor, but 
 he fays it by what feems to be his general habit. 
 
 The very note immediately following this 
 proves it amongft a thoufand other inftances of 
 the fame kind. It is a mere explication of an- 
 oiher palTage, and which furnifhes an additional 
 
 argu-
 
 [ 159 3 
 
 argument in fupport of the comment previoufly 
 made by the author of the Rcvifal, yet he alligns 
 the name of the expo li tor, who happens to be 
 the duTozpocTup Johnfon himfelf. 
 
 *' I do extend him. Sir, within himfelf." 
 
 " Note, " my praife, however extenfive, is 
 within his merit." \yohnJon, 
 
 But he difpenfes with his habit in the palTage 
 before us, with a turn of his phaeton, that equips 
 him as a charioteer for a feat upon the minifterial 
 bench in the Houfe of Commons. In otlier 
 words, he makes thedifcovery of another Archi- 
 medes pafs for his own, by paraphrafing it. 
 
 \Frobatiim eji. 
 
 Apropos — my unpolifhed habits of nature in 
 the padion for truth, which old age can with 
 difficulty fubduc, compel me to fay that Ed- 
 mond's predeceflbr, the ingenuous Mr. Editpr 
 Steevens, appears to have read the line of 
 
 *' Dolus an virtus, &c," 
 
 with zealous attention to its principle. 
 
 But he generally inverts Edmond's procefs, 
 and abbreviates inftead of dilating the fup- 
 preiTion of the loan. 
 
 Take, for an example, the following inftance, 
 efpecially as it bears upon this very Mr. Heathy 
 who is the author of the Revifal, and whom I 
 liave the honor very often to meet (though I 
 
 fuppofe
 
 [ i6o ] 
 
 fcppcfc better drelTed} in the notes of George 
 and ofEdniond — 
 
 " The force of his own merit makes his way :— 
 a gift tliat heaven gives for him — which buys 
 a place next the king." Shahjpeare. 
 
 '^ That is, as he is a man of no parentage or 
 fortune, and confcquently unable, of himfelf, 
 to ufe, by intcreft or purchafe, his merit is the 
 purchafe, which Heaven, to whom he is in- 
 debted for it, lays down for him, and thereby 
 advances him to the higlieft preferment." 
 
 Heath. 
 
 DCF* " What he is unable to give himfelf. Hea- 
 ven gives or depofits for him, and that gift or 
 depofit, buys him a place." Steevens. 
 
 I am forry to add, that Edmondy who imitates 
 occafionally all the editors ^ (as Tully did all the 
 orators) is not unvuerfally a mafter of this talent ; 
 for I remember fmiling at a romantic delicacy 
 of the faid Edmonds in telling us that Shakf- 
 peare borrowed hints of a particular fcene in the 
 Naming 'of the Shrew ^ from an old play of that 
 fam.e title, which is republiilied, and which he 
 had ftated himfelf as the general ground work 
 of Shakfpeare's play ; but he adds, with Spanifh 
 pundlilio, ** as Mr. Steevens has obferved," 
 though nothing was ever more trivial than his 
 remark, or more deceitful into the bargain, if 
 it infinuates that no other fimiiitude can be 
 found ;-— as it happens that Shakfpeare's play is 
 almoit a copy of the old one in the general ar- 
 rangement ;
 
 C .61 ] 
 
 rangement; in the material incidents, and irt 
 the point as well as the turn of the charaders. 
 
 This reminds me of another habit in editors 
 profefled, that of aflerting whatever is conve^ 
 nientf though fure to be refuted by authorities 
 if confulted. 
 
 For example, Mr. Editor Steevens is kind 
 enough to aflert as a fad — in which Edmond 
 coincides with him — (and the Ghojl of the 
 Royal Dane is of the fame opinion) that Shakf- 
 peare did not write the firft play called " The 
 Taming of the Shrew." 
 
 But as no felf-evident, or uninterefling pro- 
 polition can be too well proved, he adds, that 
 it is meanly written, (the firfl play) that Shakf- 
 peare took nothing from it but the order of the 
 fcenes, and a few lines which he may have 
 thought worth preferving. 
 
 " The Fairy ^leen" is not more fabulous 
 than every fyllable of that alTertion, though de- 
 livered by the Mirror of Truth, Mr. Edit-or 
 Steevens^ and this, accompanied by a reference 
 to a fad that can fpeak for itfelf j — as that firft: 
 play is republilhed. 
 
 The fecond (or Shakfpeare's) play is in many, 
 and cflential particulars of charader, of incident, 
 and of feleded phrafe, almoft a lame copy of 
 the original. 
 
 The adventure and the occafion of the mar« 
 
 riage, the condud^ and in general what is called 
 
 * M the
 
 [ i62 ] 
 
 the denouement (or, in our language, the evolu- 
 tion of plot) are, in general, clofely the fame in 
 both. 
 
 The undrefs of Petruchioat the marriage — the 
 abrupt and the humorous journey after it — the 
 mock-ruffian quarrels with his cook and the 
 other fervants — the beef and muftard fccne with 
 Grumio — the dialogue with Meflieurs the ha- 
 berdaflier, and the taylor — Petruchio's return — 
 
 *' E'en in thefe honeft mea-ne abilaments." 
 
 (a line taken from the firfl: play, word for word.) 
 The fun called the moon, and vice versa, by 
 the reformed and gentle Kate — the cap trod 
 under the foot — the lecture of Catharine to her 
 iifters — the hand offered in one play, in the 
 other placed under Petruchio's feet, are, with 
 many others, marked circumftances of merit in 
 the original play, and of Shakfpeare's obliga- 
 tions to it, though it may be fuperfluous to add, 
 that he has, in general, as well as elfewhere, 
 improved upon his model. 
 
 ^3=- A fimilar inffance of the poetical editor's 
 quid libet audendi potejlas, in the Ihape of a lite- 
 rary theft called plagiarifm, occurs in the fol- 
 lowing paffage — 
 
 ** Blow till thou burft [thee] wind." 
 
 [Thee]] is an emendation by Simpfon. — It is, 
 at leafl:, a very ingenious one. 
 
 Mr. Editor Steevcns makes it his own, plays 
 with it a little, and then gives it up, retaining 
 
 the
 
 [ 1^3 ] 
 
 the word " thy;' which Edfnond, but I dare 
 fay not in earnell, adopts. 
 
 Another and fimilar inflance of this playful 
 talent, which appropriates to A the literary- 
 goods and chattels of B, is before me. Says the 
 old copy — 
 
 - - - - There is no foul, 
 
 No, not fo much perdition as an hair. 
 
 Rowe^ Pope, and Warhurton changed it thus — 
 
 There's no foul [loft.] 
 
 The Author of the Revifaly in a very fcnfible 
 note, replaces and vindicates the original. 
 
 Sieevens implicitly follows him, and adopts 
 his argument, but Vvithout a hint that he had 
 been thus anticipated, and pre-occupied 
 
 Example XXVI. 
 
 His lettters are his mind — not I, my Lord. 
 
 Lord is interpolated by Capd, but the inter- 
 polation is adopted as a correction, which, in 
 Edmond'% words, is " certainly right;" but 
 ftill of this interpolating Capcll, not a fyllable 
 is to be found which intimates praife ,- nor is he 
 named amongft the editors by Edmond, but in 
 a lift of the money which each of them has re- 
 ceived; and in which lift, I hope, Edmond has 
 outftrippcd them all, though Mr. Bofzsoell inti- 
 mates that he has given his edition to the public 
 for nothing but fame. 
 
 M 2 ^^ I can-
 
 [ i64 ] 
 
 li^ I cannot have a better place for an apro^ 
 pos upon the fubjed: of this gentleman, for 
 fuch he was in birth and in manners. It has 
 been the faftiion for all the editors of his time, 
 without exception, to depreciate his labours 
 and his critical merit which has been accom- 
 pliflied in two ways; the firft, by laughing at 
 his quaint and pedantic flyle as a writer; the 
 fecond, by adopting his very ufeful difcovcries 
 and making fuch difcovcries their own. 
 
 Some proofs out of many fhall here be inferted. 
 
 ** With him (Shakfpeare) a change of fcene 
 generally implies a change cf place^ but always 
 an entire evacuation of it. Capcl. 
 
 SteevenSy who wrote after C^^Cl, without a 
 hint that fuch a man as Cnpcl ever exifted, or 
 any man who had ever dreamt of this key but 
 himfelf, writes the following words — 
 
 ** A change of fcene with Shakfpeare maft 
 commonly implies a change of place ^ but always 
 an entire evacuation of the ftage. 
 
 2. ** In Merry IVives^ &c. Shakfpeare made 
 ufe of fomc incidents in a book mentioned be- 
 fore, // Pecorone, It is probable this novel, in an 
 old EngliJIj drefsj was tranfplanted into a foolilh 
 book, " the fortunate^ the deceived, and the un- 
 fortunate lovers.** 
 
 There is a like ftory in the Piacevoli Notti di 
 Straparola. Capel. 
 
 Steevens. — ** A few of the incidents in this co- 
 medy might have been taken from fome old tranf- 
 lation of the // Pecorone, 
 
 *' I have
 
 C "65 3 
 
 - *' I have lately met with the fame ftory in a 
 very contemptible performance — •' the fortunate^ 
 the deceived^ and the unfortunate lovers. A 
 fomething fimilar ftory occurs in the Piacevoli 
 Notii di Straparolo. Mr. Stcevens. 
 
 And fuch is the addrefs of rival editors ! I am 
 happy that Edmond, who had read Mr. Capel's 
 hint, and Mr. Steevens's improvement of it (by 
 making it his own) has given the palm of difco- 
 very, to the fecond of the difcoveries (Hiber- 
 nice) without condefcending even to name 
 the firft. In BiJ/jop Hurd on poetical imitation^ 
 I fee nothing to be named with fuch a mi- 
 racle as the coincidence I have remarked, for 
 we muft believe that Steevens made the two 
 remarks without any ufe of CaptI, though he 
 muft have read him, or that he took what he 
 found in him, and (as in other fnmmary changes^) 
 altered the marks to pafs the article for his own. 
 This problem I leave to Edmond's ingenuity 
 and zeal for the caufe of truth. M. F. 
 
 g3> Since I wrote this note I faw the exe- 
 cuton of Mr. Cnptl, by Edmonds page 392, nor 
 will I fay any word in his favor again. 
 
 We are told, " that he has hung himfelf in 
 chains over the poet's grave, as the late Biftiop of 
 Gloucefter _;■/{/?/>' faid" (this may be excellent ^e;// 
 and juflice too, but it furpafl'es my Intel led} 
 " that he has boafted of his emendations in his 
 preface, as being in their number equal to thofc 
 of all the other editors and commentators put 
 M 3 together,
 
 [ '66 ] 
 
 together. Thar in truth, out of three hundred 
 and Izventy-five emendations which Edmond 
 
 (" good cafy man") 
 
 had once thought he (Capel) had properly re- 
 ceived into his text—Joriy alone were his own 
 — izvo hundred and eighty-froey thofc of olher 
 editors and commentators — that his innovations 
 adopted from others, or introduced by him from 
 ignorance of the ancient phrafeology and cuf- 
 toms, are nine hundred and twenty-two !!!" 
 
 '?' Peace to his manes ! 
 
 " I had rather leave them to this gibbet of in- 
 famy than refpite the execution by anatomizing 
 the accufer. \_Cynic. 
 
 A young friend of mine has taken it up, and 
 
 thinks he has refuted Edmond in a volume 
 
 (quarto) which it has not occupied more than 
 
 five years to digefl. M. F. 
 
 N. B. I once thought a cut upon Mr. Toilet 
 rather fevere, and fomewhat ill bred, as if he 
 had been a Ci'^pfL ^^ the fame volume. *' Mr. 
 Toilet very idly Juppofes %" but happily for Mr. 
 Toilet's fame, he fays, in the fame volume, that 
 he, himfelf, had been a very idle eonjeBurer, 
 pag. 289, ^' I once idly conje^uredy" &c. 
 
 [Malone. 
 
 To refume the executed CapcL omnes per 
 mortes animam Jontem, it fhould, perhaps, be a 
 Canon, " that accuracy of truth is out of its ele- 
 rnent, when a devoted editor is to be immolated. 
 
 We
 
 C -67 3 
 
 We are told, page 467, that Mr. C^l^Jfi ad- 
 mired, as well as recognized, the genius of 
 Shakfpeare in Titus Audroniciis ; and the mode 
 of afcribing this opinion to (J^apcL is a maftcr 
 piece of rhetoric before we come to the fid. — I 
 fliall quote Edmond's words. *• It muft prove a 
 circumftance of confummate mortification to 
 the living critics on Shakfpearc, as well as a 
 difgrace to the memory of thofe who have ceafed 
 to comment and collate (a paraphrafe of an 
 Editor's death) when it (hall appear from the 
 fentiments of one of their own fraternity (who 
 cannot well be fufpccfled of Afinine tajlelejfnejs 
 or Gothic prepojfeffions) [how delicate and po- 
 lillied is this irony !] that we have been all here 
 miftaken as to the merits and the Author of this 
 play. It is fcarce ncccflary to obfervc that the 
 perfon exempted from thcfc fufpicions, is Mr. 
 Capel." 
 
 Let us here paufe, and let us interrogate the 
 reader what he expCi^ls to find, but that C»lp-^ 
 had the Afinine tadeleifnefs and Gothic pre- 
 poiTcflions of an editor and critic, who not only 
 was of opinion that Shakfpeare had written this 
 play; but that in defiance of the other editors, 
 thought it was a very excellent play, and worthy 
 of the Author's genius. 
 
 Accordingly he tells us more in detail what 
 Mr. Cr^pfi thought, viz. *' that in this pla\\, 
 *' generally, to the editor's eye (his own) Shakf- 
 *' pcare ftands confclTcd ; that in particular the 
 '^^ ibird afl niay be read with admiration, even 
 M 4 *' by
 
 [ i68 ] 
 
 '' by the moft delicate, who, if they were hot 
 ^' without feelings, may chance to be touched 
 " by it with fuch paflions as tragedy fhould 
 *' excite, that is, terror and pity." 
 
 Then comes, by way of note, the following 
 paflage — " It were injuflice not to remark that 
 " the grand and pathetic circumjlances^ in this 
 ^' third a^ly uhich^ we are told, cannot fail to 
 " excite fuch vehement emotions, are as fol- 
 *^ lows — Titus lies down in the dirt — Aaron 
 "' chops off his band — Saturnilius fends him the 
 *' head of his two fons^ and his own hand again, 
 *' for a prcfent — his heroic brother y Marcus, kills 
 
 " aflyr 
 
 Is it not evidently intended by the anatomift 
 in this paffage, to impute that Mr. Cajiel not 
 only in general admired this play, but feleded 
 as the peculiar objedrs of his praife, thefe grand 
 and pathetic circumjlances which have been here 
 enumerated ? juft, in (hort, as if (J^apel had 
 faid, that a delicate reader of thefe very incidents 
 muft, upon their account, be deeply interefled 
 and afteded, if he has any feeling. 
 
 The more I fink the candour of this reference 
 to C^P^L the more I raife the ingenuity of it, 
 the more I lift the editor into the poet — 
 
 ** Sic veris falfa remifcet. 
 
 *' Prima ne mediuniy medio ne dijcrepet imum." 
 
 A verfe exa<flly applicable to his management, 
 for if he had ftated the whole paflage, he would 
 have incurred the ridicule of a di/crepancy, to 
 
 uf§
 
 C '69 ] 
 
 ufe the Hora^ian word, and which poets alone, by 
 their command over the materials of truth, can 
 avert. 
 
 Fird, Mr. (£a{)el happens to agree with all 
 the editors and critics upon the merits of this 
 play in general, which coincidence of opinion 
 he happens to exprefs, and which expreflion 
 particularly applies to the very incidettts that 
 Edmond reprefents to have pleafed him ((2Dapel) 
 the mojly as thofe in which, according to him^ 
 the genius of Shakfpeare Hands (peculiarly) con- 
 fefTcd. 
 
 It will not be at once believed by thofe who 
 are fuperficially acquainted with Malonian ad^ 
 drefsy that ^^J^t\ has written as follows, and 
 that Edvwnd's acute perception, has quite over- 
 looked the paflagc. 
 
 " It has been allcdged" (he fays) " that it is a 
 " very bundle of horrors, and unlike the poet's 
 ** manner, and even the ftyle of his other pieces. 
 
 " All which allegations are extremely true!!!** 
 
 Had Edmond quoted this pafTage, he could 
 not have faid, without mutiny againft the 
 Horatian Canon lafl: mentioned, that (JHttpcI 
 found all the other editors miftaken as to the 
 merits of this piece. 
 
 It would have a difcrepancy of parts in his 
 dramatic ftrudture of the Satyr. He therefore 
 drops or fpills it (like the vowel in Shakefpcare's 
 name.) — That omiflion is one fpecimen of his 
 genius, 
 
 (2.) The next is, that he copies words out of 
 the context, which really are there, omitting 
 
 three
 
 ■[ 'TO ] 
 
 three or four little words that are nccefiary parrs 
 of the fentcnce, and qualify the alTcrtion. 
 
 He dcfcribcs him as pronouncing that (ge- 
 nerally) in this play, " Shakfpcare ftands con- 
 fefled," leaping over three words, and which 
 I beg leave to infert ** tnfome places." 
 
 Now I apprehend it is very confident with 
 his general approbation of the judgement palled 
 by all the other editors and critics (and which 
 he has diftindly exprelTed in words that are 
 marked as well as clear) that he fhould admire 
 fame parts of the work^ and think them fublime 
 or pathetic. 
 
 It is alfo equally felf-evident that if he had 
 not ftated thefe parts which he admired the 
 mofi:, he would he iinderjlood as meaning the 
 fent intents and exprejions abftradled from that 
 bunch of horrors which he had previoufly re- 
 probated. 
 
 3. But now for another flroke of addrefs ! 
 (J^apd lays particular flrefs upon the third acl, 
 and fays, *' that no reader, let him be ever fo 
 " delicate, can read this z&: without fuch emo- 
 " tions as terror and pity excite." 
 
 Upon M'hich, before I was fraternized into 
 a Maloney I fliould have remarked, firft, that 
 notwithflanding the horrors en-umerated by Ed- 
 mond, as occurring in this adl, it might con- 
 tain very affedling thoughts^ and very fublime 
 or beautiful exprcffions. I Ihould alfo have in- 
 ferred (fecondly) that Mr. C^pel meant (upon 
 every ingenuous principle of conftruing his 
 
 words)
 
 [ ^71 3 
 
 ■words) to detach thcfe topics of his praife from 
 thofc pafTages of favage and of difgufting horror 
 which he had in general difapproved. The very 
 exprcfiion of this criticifn^ denotes this peculiar 
 diftindlion. He does not fay the delicate will 
 be offended by no palfages in this ad", but that 
 it may be read with admiration, by the delicate, 
 who may chance to find themfelves touched by 
 it, &c. that is, touched by what they read^ 
 which are the words and thoughts. 
 
 Whether he is correcft in this judgement, or 
 inaccurate, is another queftion ; but which, at 
 leafir, may admit of difcuilion without imputing 
 the Afinine or the Gothic^ to his (invented) ap- 
 probation of the chopped he ads ^ the chopped hand, 
 or the killed fy, 
 
 I am, however, Gothic enough to be fo far 
 of Mr. Cupel's opinion, that I fee many lines in 
 this aft, which are to my conception, worthy 
 of Shakfpeare, and fuperior infinitely to the reft 
 of this play, as well as to the general ftyle of 
 his cotemporaries. 
 
 4. I have not yet parted finally with Ed- 
 mond's unexampled addrefs in this anatomy of 
 ^aptl as a butcher, who delighted in human 
 JhamhleSy &c. 
 
 He adlually, by a reference that follows, en- 
 ables the reader to foften, if not refute the whole 
 drift of his charge and proof. 
 
 He refers to a note by Fdrmer, which note, 
 with no inferior fpirit of candour to that of his 
 friend, having ftatcd the admiiFion of thefe de- 
 formities.
 
 [ 172 ] 
 
 formitics, ridicules the apology for them by 
 Capel, as if it had been this, viz. " that Shakf- 
 ** peare muft: have been guilty of them becaufe 
 ** others were." 
 
 The fad is, that Capcl does no fuch thing. 
 His courfe of argument is this, in which I fee 
 nothing very Gothic or very AJinine, 
 
 He firlt admits the general charge againft this 
 play. 
 
 But he denies that neceflarily Shakfpeare can- 
 not have written it merely upon that account. 
 
 He then gives the reafons of his opinion that 
 he did write it. 
 
 One of them is, that it pafTed for his work. 
 
 A fecond, that it was much admired. 
 
 A third, that it was the tafte of the age ; 
 which he exemplifies in other plays, not even in- 
 finuating, that it was therefore neceflarily the 
 tafte of Shakfpeare, but that it makes the ob- 
 jedion to it as being his work, not, of itfelf, de- 
 cifive. 
 
 He then adds his opinion, " that Shakfpeare's 
 *' genius appears in Jovie parts of this play ^ and 
 " particularly in the ad: which he commends." 
 
 To infer from this context, firft, that C^I 
 admires the work in general ; fecondly, that he 
 admires the chopped heads, &c. or, thirdly, 
 (which is inconfiftent with fuch imputations) 
 that htjujiifies the deformities becaufe if others 
 would have wxitten them, Shakfpeare muji have 
 
 written
 
 C 173 ] 
 
 written them, is, perhaps, the ne plus ultra^ 
 even of a modern editor's delicacy and reafoning, 
 
 N. B. Of this ad Edmond fays, " that it is 
 highly probable the Jecond Jcene was added by 
 Shakfpeare" — yet in that fcene is the very paflage 
 of the MyoSlhonoiis hero which Edmond has 
 treated with fuch ridicule, and the foUov/ing 
 lines to which none can be fuperior in the reft 
 of the piece for abfurdity. 
 
 Or get fome little knife between thy teeth. 
 And jufl: againft thy heart make then a hole. 
 That all the tears that thy poor eyes let fall. 
 May run into the fink, and foaking in, 
 Drown the lamenting fool in fea-falt tears. 
 
 M(t)r. — Alas! my Lord, I have but killed a fly. 
 
 Tit. — But how, if that fly had a father and mother? 
 How would he hang his flender gilded wings. 
 And buzz lamenting doings in the air? 
 Poor harmlefs fly. 
 That with his pretty buzzing 
 Came here to make us merry, and thoii haft 
 killed him. 
 
 Mar. — Pardon me, fir, it was a black ill-favored fly. 
 Like to the Emprefs, m.oor, therefore I killed 
 him. 
 
 37/.— O! O! O! 
 
 — - _ _ We are not brought fo low- 
 But that between us we can kill a fly 
 That comes in likenefs of a coal black moor. 
 
 §^3* It appears that " poor Tib" confidered 
 it as no play originally of Shakfpeare, but as 
 having received the addition of " rnajlerly 
 Jirokes'* by him, as having been improved by 
 
 him^
 
 [ 174 ] 
 
 him, introduced by hi?n, and afcribed for thofe 
 reafons to him. This he reprefents to be in- 
 conteftiblc. 
 
 Between this opinion and that of Cnpc!, there 
 is a mere fhade of difference. 
 
 Dr, Johnjon fees no reafon for believing that 
 he wrote any party but having added that Ra- 
 venjcrofty who revijed it in the reign of Charles 
 the Second, fuppofcd, in parts of it, the hand 
 of Shakfpeare, he only fays that he does not 
 find thofe touches very difcernible. Mr. War- 
 ner^ we find (in Mr. Farmer's note) has differed 
 from his friend Mr. Upton^ who is peremptory 
 in rejedting it. 
 
 Enter Mr. Steevens. — In him we fhall have 
 at lG3.il fancy in ftatements ofthefa^. 
 
 In Titus Andronicus he afTcrts that, i. no 
 quibbles appear. 
 
 2. No play upon words. 
 
 3. No diffyllabic or trifyllabic terminations j 
 that ergo, it is not written by Shakfpeare. 
 
 1. Oracle — 
 
 " No quibbles." 
 To the tomb of the Andronici. 
 (pag. 381.) 
 
 How many fons of mine haft thou In forty 
 That thou wilt never render to ?ne more? 
 
 2. Oracle. — 
 
 ** No play upon zvords.** 
 
 And
 
 [ '75 ] 
 
 And fet a head on a headlefs Rome. 
 - - - Whofe virtues will, I hope, 
 Refleii on Ronic, as Titan s rays on earthy 
 And ripen jiiftice. 
 
 i. c. as the fun ripens a melon. 
 
 He is not with himfelf, let us withdraw. 
 
 Renowned Titus — More than half my foul, 
 And fafter bound to Aaron's charming eyes. 
 Than is Prometheus ty'd to Caucajus, 
 
 Oracle 3. part i. 
 
 " No dijfyllahic termhiations.^' 
 
 In the very next page of Malone^ after he has 
 quoted, and has domicUed this oracle of Stee- 
 vens, we difcern the two following lines— 
 
 The Greeks, upon advice, did bury \A — jnx. 
 How Troy was burnt, and he made \Xi\{G.\\able . 
 
 ■ There are twelve more inftances of the fame 
 kind in X.\\tfirjl a^ alone. 
 
 Part 2. Oracle 3. 
 
 *• No trifyllabic terminations." 
 
 Titus thou (halt obtain and afk the \empcry. 
 
 ' I 5 
 V/ill you beflow them friendly on Kx\\dro-ni-cus, 
 
 Now, Madam, you are piis'ner to an \cmperor. 
 
 Example XXVH. 
 
 Canon within a Canon. 
 
 A redoring phyfician fliould approve no reflo- 
 ratives but his own. IFarwick Lane. 
 
 Thefe
 
 [ '76 ] 
 
 Thefe lily UpSy 
 
 This cherry nofe. Midf. N. Dream. 
 
 Mr. Theobald has introduced brows for the 
 fake of the rhime, which, except in this verfe, 
 is uniformly fuftained in thefe couplets. 
 
 Dr. IVarhurton has adopted the intruder, and 
 (like certain other editors of my acquaintance) 
 has made him pafs for his own creature by the 
 foldier-like word of Bardolph accommodate. 
 
 'They little dreamt that if the rhime of brows 
 to nofe could be received, nofe would be the 
 rhime of brows to all critical eternity in the 
 future accent of that word as pronounced by a 
 reader to a copyift in profe or in verfe. 
 
 Edmond refufes to admit the caprice of the 
 innovation^ and rehabilitates the lips. 
 
 He is fond of lips. 
 
 He fays (with Shylock's '* excellent young 
 man," or Daniel the fecond) that neither eyes 
 nor ears of a copyift miflook, or could have 
 miftaken brozvs for lips. 
 
 " True, oh king," anfwers Theobald's ghoji» 
 But we are told in Elyfiiimy that words drop 
 out of your printing machines, and juftifyjyoa 
 when it is your will and pleafure to pick them 
 up, on grounds of conjedlure. But, perhaps, 
 
 Turpe putas parere minoribus. 
 
 13^ After all, it muft be confelTed, that 
 Methiifalemy in the nine hundred and fixty- 
 ninth year of his life, could not have made half 
 
 the
 
 C 177 ] 
 
 the collations which Edmond has not only dif- 
 patched, but copied in a fiftieth part of the 
 time. 
 
 I am forry to obferve that Addifon is not 
 fond of thofe who collate various readings. It 
 is in one of his papers that we find them lllihe- 
 rally accufed of taking up the time of the learned 
 and puzzling the ignorant by their colledion of 
 twenty or thirty varieties in a paffage tranfcribed. 
 His ridicule upon them in the note upon the 
 fong,* is really io flippant, that he deferves to be 
 edited, interpreted, and enlarged by them, 
 
 I would beg leave to bind up this rcftorative 
 Canon with a Minntian counterpart of Malonian 
 candour, by recommending, in Edmond's navte^ 
 and with his love to the reader, that we lliould 
 cling to his profejfwns, and make his condii^ the 
 example of capricious innovation ; in fliort, by 
 faying for him (as I have no doubt that he has 
 often faid for himfelf, though, perhaps, *' vietucns 
 audiriy at his midnight orifons in Slueen-Ann 
 Street, Eafl.) 
 
 " Trufl not my readings nor my ohfervat'ions! 
 
 [Much Ado about Nothing. 
 
 * EJfence^ &c, page i^c). 
 
 N APPENDIX.
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 Milton's Maid Servant. 
 
 Ai 
 
 .S the lafl: proof llicet was going to tny in- 
 valuable friend Mr. Smeeton of St. Martins 
 Lane^ a young woman called upon me, whofe 
 age I guefs to be near twenty-five, but I was 
 not ill-bred enough to afk her : — fhe had a very 
 interefting figure and countenance, but was 
 drefled (I la fille de chamhre. 
 
 She told me at once — /;/ viedias res — that flie 
 ■was a lineal defcendant from the maid-fervant 
 of Milton the poety whofe memory had been 
 fo defamed by Edmond ; and flie could alTure 
 me that her line of defcent was legitimate — I 
 told her there could be no doubt of it from the 
 modefty of her own appearance. Having thanked 
 me for this compliment, in a very animated 
 blufli, accompanied with a gentle fmile, fhe 
 added, that a gentleman who had chambers in 
 the Temple, was her miftrefs's brother, and had 
 been fo good as to vindicate her in the paper that 
 llie had the honor to lay before me — that he was 
 extremely amiable and clever, but flie was not 
 at liberty then to give me his name, though flie 
 could afTure me that nothing but his goodncfs 
 of heart could have interefled him for her. 
 
 I was
 
 [ 179 ] 
 
 I was charmed with her delicacy, and gave 
 her a di/h of coffee — took the manufcript, and 
 promifed, " upon the faith of a Templar/' that 
 I would make her family's welfare (infeparablc 
 from its honor) an immediate object of my 
 care— flie curtfied. I told her of Ariel's in- 
 jundion to her playfellows, and read the kifling 
 note — we parted. 
 
 When I examined the manufcript I was de- 
 lighted with it ; and except in fuperadding the 
 dot of an /, which the young Templar had 
 omitted, I give the naanulcript as pure as I re- 
 ceived it from his protegee. 
 
 If I am afl<.ed what analogy there is between 
 Mi lion 8 maid -fcr van t and the Mai one edition 
 of Shakfpeare F I anfwer, *' the fame that, happily 
 for the world, united the fuppofed author of 
 Junius to the unqueftioned writer of Abfalom 
 and AchilopheW 
 
 Milton wrote an epitaph upon Shah\fpeare 
 (as he wrote the word). This, by a natural 
 epifode, lets-in the apropos of the Templar, and 
 the manufcript. 
 
 About it, Goddefs, and ahut it. Pope. 
 
 Herefollo''Jcs the Manufcript, 
 Axiom. 
 
 In trifles ive are to ajjujne an error ^ zvhcther ii 
 has any or no exijlence. 
 
 N 2 If
 
 [ i8o ] 
 
 If the inaccuracy y being our ovjn, is nf conje- 
 que nee enough to be detected^ [ivhich ex conccllis 
 it cannot be) no barm is done, or we may be Jelf-ac- 
 cujers at the worjly after being dete5Ied by others^ 
 "which, being ingenuous, makes the fault becoming. 
 But there is a hope that wefhall efcape the deprendi 
 miferum by the infignificance of the fa£2s. 
 
 H(SC inter 
 Occafion is given to fay more of the real and of 
 the onlyfubje£l " fic fit^ avite^ liber : 
 
 Un livre fait tout, &c fans Ar'ifloie 
 
 La raifon ne voit goute & le bon fens radote. 
 
 Bo'ileau. 
 
 Problem — 
 
 Note, p. 109, of Drydens, life, Malone fays, 
 " that a fervant-maid who had lived with Mil- 
 ton, reprefents him in her depofition, to have 
 died late at night on a Sunday^ about a month 
 preceding her evidence in that caufe^ which was^ 
 Sunday the i c^th of November. 
 
 " But that Milton was buried on the 12th. 
 
 **■ That fhe evidently therefore rniftook a week 
 in her reckoning." 
 
 * Enter Grammar — one of Edmond's Univer- 
 iity-laureats.f 
 
 * This tranfition from axioms and problems to theatrical 
 images, has the carelefs inaccuracy of tafte which charafterizes 
 youth; and one cannot be angry with it in a Temple fhident, 
 who' is the champion of a fifter's maid. 
 
 ■}• See the EJJcnce, &c. page 67. 
 
 Grammar.'—-'
 
 [ I8i ] 
 
 Grammar. — If you fhould read this paiTage as 
 the ordo verhorum imperioufly demands that it 
 Ihould, and mull be read, you will underftand 
 that Sunday the i^ih of November was the day 
 on which the maid-Jervant gave her evidence. 
 
 Enter the Bijhop of London. — 
 
 Whatever becomes of 'Prifcian's head^ you 
 muft not harbour a thought fo profane as that 
 bufincfs was done by an Ecclefiajhcal Court on 
 difunday in fo exemplary an age. 
 
 You muft, therefore, in the forum of con- 
 fcience, if not in grammar^ take the other al- 
 ternative, and fuppofe that Sunday here was the 
 day on which her raafter died. 
 
 Biirgerfdicius. 
 
 Perhaps " the nurfe of all the Capulets" will 
 tell us by what procefs of Du Cange's almanack^ 
 we fo " evidently" make out the maid's falfe 
 reckoning ; (he depofes " that it , was upon a 
 Sunday^ about a fnonth before" fpeaking .inde- 
 finitely of the time as more or lefs than a month, 
 but with precifion as to the day of the week. It 
 was added, " zvhich was the i^th day of the 
 -preceding month,''* 
 
 This addition muft have been a rapid corollary 
 from the almanack, introduced by the ingenious 
 officer of the Court who wrote the depofition, 
 (had any fuch part cf the document ever exifted) 
 
 not
 
 [ 1S2 ] 
 
 not from the mind of the witncfs — not from her 
 exprellions. 
 
 Here then is a difcovery of an error in the 
 maid-fervant's calculation, which, but for the 
 evidence of that which does not exijiy would 
 have llept with its fathers for want of a better 
 underftanding between the maid-fervant and the 
 man-critic. 
 
 All the world knew, upon clear grounds, the 
 day of Milton's, death. 
 
 And what a champion of difcoveries ! what 
 a knight-errant of dates in terra incognita muft 
 this biographer of Dryden be, who difcovers 
 again what the fagacious Thomas Warton had 
 publifhed nine years before, and then, like 
 Americiis Vejpufius^ makes the laurel fit no head 
 but his own ! 
 
 Afurprize. 
 
 But, oh, gentle reader ! what if I tell you there 
 is, after all, 7io Juch account hy the maid-fer^ 
 i-ant :? 
 
 T'etfuch is thefa^I. 
 
 ^^ There is not one fyllable in her depo- 
 fition which refers to the day on which her 
 evidence was given, or to a month's reckoning 
 of a death which had paft (any more than x.o 
 that of a nine-month's reckoning of a birth to 
 come) ; and fhe has never dcpofed that he died 
 at a late hour of the night. 
 
 The
 
 [ '"3 ] 
 
 The lafi of thefe particulars, and the mod af- 
 fecting, is pure imagination. It may be found 
 under the article of Malone's Fairies. It founds 
 tragically in the opinion of Oberon, and it 
 
 finifncs well. Death and murder fliould be 
 
 at midnight. 
 
 As to " the month before (he gave her evi- 
 dence," whether it was taken from any other 
 depolition, or from Dyer's Junius^ in fome frag- 
 ment of a number that never appeared, is of 
 lefs confequencc, than to fee with pleafure, that 
 it gives occafion for doubt, which leads of courfc 
 to difcufiion, which is, prodire tenus^ in the five 
 hundred and fixty-ninth page and a quarter. 
 
 Fa^. 
 
 The account of Elizabeth Fijher is in thefe 
 words — 
 
 " This deponent was fervant under Mr, John 
 Milton for about a year before his death, who 
 died upon a Sunday the 15th of November lad, 
 at night !!! 
 
 Hiatus. 
 
 We are not informed by the hiflorian at fe- 
 cond hand, who the maid-fervant was, and 
 \v\izxcjhe was buried j at what hour, and w'hether 
 at a late or an early one ; how many legitimate 
 productions of her own (or Dinah-Shandy- 
 ifnmta) flic might have numbered ; and whether 
 ilie had ever jn if reckoned as a matron. 
 
 It
 
 [ 184 ] 
 
 It would have enlightened us to have been made 
 familiar with her namefake and her fellow wit- 
 ncfs Maria Fijber. 
 
 The ecclefiaftical proceedings only tell us that 
 
 fhe lived in Brick Lane, in Old Street, ubi moram 
 
 fecit per fpatium fex hebdomadarum anteci cti m 
 
 Guiddon Culcap infra locum vocal. Smock Alley; 
 
 et anted, cum quodam, Rogers y &c. 
 
 Even this might have been improved by ** elu- 
 cidations of the obfcure, and folutions of the 
 intricate," as Johnfon would have flated them. 
 
 I anfwer to all thefe pedantries^ and I anfwer 
 for Malone^ who is above anfwering for himfelf, 
 in the words of Pope^ and in a poem called the 
 T>unciad> 
 
 About //, Goddefs and about it ! 
 
 Problem II.* 
 
 An unfolicited kindnefs of Lord Shaftejbury 
 to one of Dryden's fonsy induced him to add 
 twelve complementary lines to the fecond edition 
 of Ahfalom and AchitopheL 
 
 In the fecond edition of Biogr. Brit. Dr. Kip^ 
 pis gives an account which he had received of 
 this tranfadion : it was thus — " this adt of ge- 
 nerofity had fuch an effcdl upon Dryden, that 
 to teftify his gratitude, he added the four fol- 
 
 * This Problem is clear gain, and has no connexion with 
 
 Milto7t or his maid, but it is in tfjefame hand. 
 
 lowing
 
 [ J8j ] 
 
 lowing lines in celebration of the Earl's condud: 
 as Lord Chancellor. 
 
 «' In Ifrael's Court, &:c." 
 
 Upon this pafTage in the Hiftorian, Edmond, 
 with infinite felf complacency at the conceit 
 which he had engendered^ and with books of 
 arithmetic in his hand, fays, pag. 147, " It ap- 
 pears that the original relator was not half in- 
 formed, for the lines inferted were not four but 
 twelve " 
 
 It is true that four and four are eight ; and 
 therefore Kippis muft have given us two more 
 lines before he had conquered half the way to 
 the dozen. 
 
 6 
 6 
 
 12 
 
 On the other hand is it not an axiom in ma- 
 thematics, that omne majus continet in fe minus f 
 and if all the verfes are twelve^ do they not 
 include four ? 
 
 May it not alfo be remarked, that as the eight 
 other lines are introdudlory to the four^ which 
 conftitute the main ideaj thus prepared, and 
 comprefled, the four lines, would alone be 
 counted by Dr. Kippis or his relator. 
 
 In anfwer — *' defendit numerus^'' or in Englifh, 
 the number defends the account of it, and the 
 
 * O account
 
 [ 186 ] 
 
 account forms a part of the bookfeller's demand 
 upon the reader's pocket for 
 
 " Some Account of Dryden's Life.'* 
 
 I J. Smeeton, Printer, 148, St. Martin's Lane. I 

 
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