and fo plentifully capable of furnishing their favourite entertainments. Befides the advantage which Shakespear had over all men in the article of wit, he was of a sweet, gentle, amiable difpofition, and was a most agreeable companion; fo that he became dear to all that knew him, both as a friend and as a poet, and by that means was introduced to the best company, and held conversation with the finest characters of his time. Queen Elizabeth had feveral of his plays acted before her, and that princefs was too quick a difcerner, and rewarder of merit, to suffer that of Shakefpear to be neglected. It is that maiden princess plainly whom he intends by

A fair vefstal, throned by the Weft.

Midfummer night dream.

And in the fame play he gives us a poetical and lively reprefentation of the Queen of Scots, and the fate the met with,

-Thou rememb'reft

Since once I fat upon a promontory,
And heard a fea-maid on a dolphin's back,
Uttering fuch dulcet and harmonious breath,
That the rude fea grew civil at her fong,
And certain ftars fhot madly from their spheres,
To hear the fea-maid's music.

Queen Elizabeth was fo well pleased with the admirable character of Falstaff in the two parts of Henry IV. that she commanded him to continue it in one play more, and to make him in love. This is faid to have been the occafion of his writing the Merry Wives of Windfor. How well fhe was obeyed, the play itself is a proof; and here I cannot help obferving, that a poet feldom fucceeds in any fubject affigned him, fo well as that which is his own choice,

choice, and where he has the liberty of selecting: Nothing is more certain than that Shakespear has failed in the Merry Wives of Windfor. And tho' that comedy is not without merit, yet it falls fhort of his other plays in which Falstaff is introduced, and that Knight is not half fo witty in the Merry Wives of Windfor as in Henry IV. The humour is fcarcely natural, and does not excite to laughter fo much as the other. It appears by the epilogue to Henry IV. that the part of Falstaff was written originally under the name of Oldcastle. Some of that family being then remaining, the Queen was pleased to command him to alter it, upon which he made ufe of the name of Falstaff. The first offence was indeed avoided, but I am not sure whether the author might not be fomewhat to blame in his fecond choice, fince it is certain, that Sir John Falstaff who was a knight of the garter, and a lieutenant-general, was a name of diftinguished merit in the wars with France, in Henry V. and Henry VIth's time.

Shakespear, befides the Queen's bounty, was patronized by the Earl of Southampton, famous in the hiftory of that time for his friendship to the unfortunate Earl of Effex. It was to that nobleman he dedicated his poem of Venus and Adonis, and it is reported, that his lordship gave our author a thousand pounds to enable him to go through with a purchase he heard he had a mind to make. A bounty at that time very confiderable, as money then was valued: there are few inftances of fuch liberality in our times.

There is no certain account when Shakespear quitted the ftage for a private life. Some have thought that Spenfer's Thalia in the Tears of the Mufes, where the laments the lofs of her Willy in the comic scene, relates to our poet's abandoning the stage. But it is well known that Spenfer himself died in the year 1598, and five years

after

after this we find Shakespear's name amongst the actors in Ben Johnson's Sejanus, which first made its appearance in the year 1603, nor could he then have any thoughts of retiring, fince that very year, a licenfe by King James the first was granted to him, with Burbage, Philipps, Hemmings, Condel, &c. to exercise the art of playing comedies, tragedies, &c. as well at their ufual house called the Globe on the other fide the water, as in any other parts of the kingdom, during his Majefty's pleasure. This licenfe is printed in Rymer's Fædera; befides it is certain, Shakespear did not write Macbeth till after the acceffion of James I. which he did as a compliment to him, as he there embraces the doctrine of witches, of which his Majefty was fo fond that he wrote a book called Dæmonalogy, in defence of their existence; and likewife at that time began to touch for the Evil, which Shakespear has taken notice of, and paid him a fine turned compliment. So that what Spenfer there fays, if it relates at all to Shakespear, muft hint at fome occafional recefs which he made for a time.

What particular friendships he contracted with private men, we cannot at this time know, more than that every one who had a true taste for merit, and could diftinguish men, had generally a juft value and efleem for him. His exceeding candour and good nature muft certainly have inclined all the gentler part of the world to love him, as the pow-, er of his wit obliged the men of the moft refined knowledge and polite learning to admire him. His acquaintance with Ben Johnfon began with a remarkable piece of humanity and good nature: Mr. Johnson, who was at that time altogether unknown to the world, had offered one of his plays to the ftage, in order to have it acted, and the perfon into, whofe hands it was put, after having turned it care lefsly over, was juft upon returning it to him with an ill-natured anfwer, that it would be of no fer

vice

vice to their company, when Shakespear luckily caft his eye upon it, and found fomething fo well in it, as to engage him firft to read it through, and afterwards to recommend Mr. Johnfon and his writings to the public.

The latter part of our author's life was spent in eafe and retirement, he had the good fortune to gather an eftate, equal to his wants, and in that to his wifh, and is faid to have spent fome years before his death in his native Stratford. His pleafant wit and good nature engaged him in the acquaintance, and entitled him to the friendship, of the gentlemen of the neighbourhood. It is fill remembered in that county, that he had a particular intimacy with one Mr. Combe, an old gentleman, noted thereabouts for his wealth and ufury. It happened that in a pleasant converfation amongft their common friends, Mr. Combe merrily told Shakefpear, that he fancied he intended to write his epitaph, if he happened to out-live him; and fince he could not know what might be faid of him when dead, he defired it might be done immediately; upon which Shakespear gave him thefe lines.

Ten in the hundred lyes here engraved, 'Tis a hundred to ten his foul is not faved: If any man asketh who lies in this tomb? Oh! oh! quoth the Devil, 'tis my John-a-Combe. But the fharpnefs of the fatire is faid to have ftung the man fo feverely, that he never forgave it.

Shakespear died in the fifty-third year of his age, and was buried on the North fide of the chancel in the great church at Stratford, where a monument is placed on the wall. The following is the infcription on his grave-ftone,:

Good friend, for Jefus fake forbear,
To dig the duft inclofed here.

Bleft be the man that fpares thefe ftones,
And curs'd be he that moves my bones.

He

He had three daughters, of whom two lived to be married; Judith the elder to Mr. Thomas Quincy, by whom he had three fons, who all died without children; and Sufannah, who was his favourite, to Dr. John Hall, a physician of good reputation in that county. She left one child, a daughter, who' was married to Thomas Nash, Efq; and afterwards to Sir John Bernard, of Abington, but deccafed likewife without iffue.

His dramatic writings were first published together in folio 1623 by some of the actors of the different companies they had been acted in, and perhaps by other fervants of the theatre into whofe hands copies might have fallen, and fince republifhed by Mr. Rowe, Mr. Pope, Mr. Theobald, Sir Thomas Hanmer, and Mr. Warburton.

Ben Johnson in his difcoveries has made a fort of effay towards the character of Shakespear. I fhall present it the reader in his own words,

I remember the players have often mentioned it as an honour to Shakespear, that in writing he never blotted out a line. My anfwer hath been, ⚫ would he had blotted out a thousand! which they thought a malevolent fpeech. I had not told pofterity this, but for their ignorance, who chufe. that circumftance to commend their friend by, wherein he most faulted; and to justify my own. character (for I lov'd the man, and do honour to his memory, on this fide idolatry, as much as any). He was indeed honest, and of an open free nature, had an excellent fancy, brave notions, and gentle expreffions, wherein he flowed with that facility, that fometimes it was necessary he fhould be ftopp'd. His wit was in his own power: would the rule of it had been fo. Ma-: ny times he fell into those things which could not escape laughter, as when he faid in the perfon of Cæfar, one fpeaking to him,

Cæfar