Imagens da página
PDF
ePub

and resolution to revenge his death, as Orestes; he has the same abhorrence for his mother's guilt, which, to provoke him the more, is heightened by incest but it is with wonderful art and justness of judgment, that the poet restrains him from doing violence to his mother. To prevent any thing of that kind, he makes his father's Ghost forbid that part of his vengeance:

But, howsoever thou pursu'st this act,

Taint not thy mind, nor let thy soul contrive
Against thy mother aught: leave her to heav'n,
And to those thorns that in her bosom fodge,
To prick and sting her.

This is to distinguish rightly between horror and terror. The latter is a proper passion of tragedy, but the former ought always to be carefully avoided. And certainly no dramatic writer ever succeeded better in raising terror in the minds of an audience than Shakespeare has done. The whole tragedy of Macbeth," but more especially the scene where the king is murdered, in the second act, as well as this play, is a noble proof of that manly spirit with which he wrote; and both shew how powerful he was in giving the strongest motions to our souls that they are capable of. I cannot leave "Hamlet" without taking notice of the advantage with which we have seen this masterpiece of Shakespeare distinguish itself upon the stage by Mr. Betterton's fine performance of that part; a man, who, though he had no other good qualities, as he has a great many, must have made

his way into the esteem of all men of letters by this only excellency. No man is better acquainted with Shakespeare's manner of expression; and indeed he has studied him so well, and is so much a master of him, that whatever part of his he performs, he does it as if it had been written on purpose for him, and that the author had exactly conceived it as he plays it. I must own a particular obligation to him for the most considerable part of the passages relating to this life which I have here transmitted to the public; his veneration for the memory of Shakespeare having engaged him to make a journey into Warwickshire on purpose to gather up what remains he could of a name for which he had so great a veneration 1.

This "Account of the Life of Shakespeare" is printed from Mr. Rowe's second edition, in which it had been abridged and altered by himself after its appearance in 1709. STEEVENS.

DR. JOHNSON'S ANECDOTE

ON SHAKESPEARE'S LIFE

WITH

Mr. STEEVENS's Refutation.

In the time of Elizabeth, coaches being yet uncommon, and hired coaches not at all in use, those who were too proud, too tender, or too idle to walk, went on horseback to any distant business or diversion. Many came on horseback to the play; and when Shakespeare fled to London from the terror of a criminal prosecution, his first expedient was to wait at the door of the playhouse, and hold the horses of those that had no servants, that they might be ready again after the performance. In this office he became so conspicuous for his care and readiness, that in a short time every man, as he alighted, called for William Shakespeare, and scarcely any other waiter was trusted with a horse, while William Shakespeare could be had. This was the first dawn of better fortune. Shakespeare, finding more horses put into his hand than he could hold, hired boys to wait under his inspection, who, when William Shakespeare was summoned, were immediately to present themselves, I am Shakespeare's boy, Sir. In time Shakespeare found higher

employment; but as long as the practice of riding to the playhouse continued, the waiters that held the horses retained the appellation of Shakespeare's boys.

Johnson's Anecdote seems to want every mark of probability. Though Shakespeare quitted Stratford on account of a juvenile irregularity, we have no reason to suppose that he had forfeited the protection of his father, who was engaged in a lucrative business, or the love of his wife, who had already brought him two children, and was herself the daughter of a substantial yeoman. It is unlikely, therefore, when he was beyond the reach of his prosecutor, that he should conceal his plan of life, or place of residence from those who, if he found himself distressed, could not fail to afford him such supplies as would have set him above the necessity of holding horses for subsistence. Mr. Malone has remarked, in his "Attempt to ascertain the Order in which the Plays of Shakespeare were written," that he might have found an easy introduction to the stage; for Thomas Green, a celebrated comedian of that period, was his townsman, and perhaps his relation. The genius of our author prompted him to write poetry; his connexion with a player might have given his productions a dramatic turn, or his own sagacity might have taught him that fame was not incompatible with profit, and that the theatre was an avenue to both. That it was once the custom to ride on horseback to the play, I am likewise yet to learn. The most popular of the theatres were on the Bank-side; and we are told, by the satirical pamphleteers of the time, that the usual mode of conveyance to these places of amusement was by water; but not a single writer so much as hints at the custom of riding to them, or at the practice of having horses held during the hours of exhibition. Some allusion to this

EULOGIES

ON SHAKESPEARE.

WHAT needs my Shakespeare for his honour'd

bones

The labour of an age in piled stones!

Or that his hallow'd reliques should be hid
Under a starry pointing pyramid!

Dear son of memory, great heir of fame,

What need'st thou such weak witness of thy name!

usage (if it had existed) must, I think, have been discovered in the course of our researches after contemporary fashions. Let it be remembered too, that we receive this tale on no higher authority than that of “ Cibber's Lives of the Poets," vol. I, p. 130. Sir William Davenant told it to Mr. Betterton, who communicated it to Mr. Rowe, who (according to Dr. Johnson) related it to Mr. Pope. Mr. Rowe (if this intelligence be authentic) seems to have concurred with me in opinion, as he forebore to introduce a circumstance so incredible into his life of Shakespeare. As to the book which furnishes the anecdote, not the smallest part of it was the composition of Mr. Cibber, being entirely written by a Mr. Shiells, amanuensis to Dr. Johnson when his dictionary was preparing for the press. T. Cibber was in the King's-Bench, and accepted of ten guineas from the booksellers for leave to prefix his name to the work; and it was purposely so prefixed as to leave the reader in doubt whether himself or his father was the person designed. STEEVENS.

« AnteriorContinuar »