The Plays of William Shakspeare: In Fifteen Volumes. With the Corrections and Illustrations of Various Commentators. To which are Added NotesT. Longman, 1793 |
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Page xxxi
... performed with accuracy one of the heaviest of literary tasks , ought not to be molested by a display of petty faults , which might have eluded the most vigilant faculties of sight and hearing that were ever placed as spies over the ...
... performed with accuracy one of the heaviest of literary tasks , ought not to be molested by a display of petty faults , which might have eluded the most vigilant faculties of sight and hearing that were ever placed as spies over the ...
Page 14
... performed , were fo far from being applauded by the people , that they were fcarcely endured ; and many of them were actually damned . 66 the fine plush and velvets of the age " Did oft for fixpence damn thee from the stage , " - fays ...
... performed , were fo far from being applauded by the people , that they were fcarcely endured ; and many of them were actually damned . 66 the fine plush and velvets of the age " Did oft for fixpence damn thee from the stage , " - fays ...
Page 16
... performed as well . " Dryden himself alfo certainly alludes to this ftory , which he ap- pears to have related both to Gildon and Rowe , in the following paffage of his Efay of Dramatick Poefy , 1667 ; and he as well as Gildon goes ...
... performed as well . " Dryden himself alfo certainly alludes to this ftory , which he ap- pears to have related both to Gildon and Rowe , in the following paffage of his Efay of Dramatick Poefy , 1667 ; and he as well as Gildon goes ...
Page 29
... performed in Shakspeare's com- pany , was Jofeph Taylor . There was however a painter of the naine of John Taylor , to whom in his early youth it is barely poffi- ble that we may have been indebted for the only original portrait of our ...
... performed in Shakspeare's com- pany , was Jofeph Taylor . There was however a painter of the naine of John Taylor , to whom in his early youth it is barely poffi- ble that we may have been indebted for the only original portrait of our ...
Page 52
... performed by an excellent comedian , yet I cannot but think it was defigned tragically by the author . There appears in it fuch a deadly spirit of revenge , fuch a favage fierceness and fellness , and fuch a bloody defignation of cru ...
... performed by an excellent comedian , yet I cannot but think it was defigned tragically by the author . There appears in it fuch a deadly spirit of revenge , fuch a favage fierceness and fellness , and fuch a bloody defignation of cru ...
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acted addreffed afcertain againſt alfo alluded allufion appears becauſe Cæfar circumftance comedy Comedy of Errors compofitions copy criticks Cymbeline daughter death difcovered drama dramatick edition editor Engliſh faid fame fays fcene fecond folio feems feen feveral fhall fhew fhould fince firft firſt fome fometimes fpeare ftage fubject fuch fufficient fuppofe Hamlet Henry IV Hiftory himſelf impreffions inferted inftances Jonfon juft King Henry King Henry VI King Lear labour laft leaſt lefs likewife Loft Lover's Melancholy Macbeth MALONE moft moſt muft muſt obfcure obferved occafion old plays paffage perfons piece players pleaſe pleaſure poet poet's prefent printed probably publick publiſhed quarto reafon Regifter Richard Romeo and Juliet ſcene ſeems Shak Shakspeare Shakspeare's ſtage STEEVENS Stratford Stratford-upon-Avon theatre thefe themſelves theſe thofe Thomas thoſe tion Titus Andronicus tragedy tranflation Twelfth Night uſed verfes whofe William Shakspeare Winter's Tale words writer written
Popular passages
Page 186 - He carries his persons indifferently through right and wrong, and at the close dismisses them without further care, and leaves their examples to operate by chance. This fault the barbarity of his age cannot extenuate, for it is always a writer's duty to make the world better, and justice is a virtue independent on time or place.
Page 221 - He was the man who of all modern, and perhaps ancient poets, had the largest and most comprehensive soul. All the images of nature were still present to him, and he drew them not laboriously, but luckily : when he describes anything, you more than see it, you feel it too.
Page 179 - This therefore is the praise of Shakespeare, that his drama is the mirror of life; that he who has mazed his imagination, in following the phantoms which other writers raise up before him, may here be cured of his delirious ecstasies, by reading human sentiments in human language, by scenes from which a hermit may estimate the transactions of the world, and a confessor predict the progress of the passions.
Page 221 - All the images of nature were still present to him, and he drew them not laboriously but luckily: when he describes anything you more than see it, you feel it too. Those who accuse him to have wanted learning, give him the greater commendation: he was naturally learned; he needed not the spectacles of books to read Nature; he looked inwards, and found her there.
Page 47 - They have their exits and their entrances, And one man in his time plays many parts, His acts being seven ages.
Page 176 - Shakespeare is above all writers, at least above all modern writers, the poet of Nature; the poet that holds up to his readers a faithful mirror of manners and of life.
Page 220 - Notes are often necessary, but they are necessary evils. Let him that is yet unacquainted with the powers of Shakespeare and who desires to feel the highest pleasure that the drama can give read every play from the first scene to the last, with utter negligence of all his commentators. When his fancy is once on the wing, let it not stoop at correction or explanation.
Page 192 - The objection arising from the impossibility of passing the first hour at Alexandria and the next at Rome supposes that, when the play opens, the spectator really imagines himself at Alexandria, and believes that his walk to the theatre has been a voyage to Egypt, and that he lives in the days of Antony and Cleopatra. Surely he that imagines this may imagine more.
Page 358 - tis a common proof, That lowliness is young ambition's ladder, Whereto the climber-upward turns his face; But when he once attains the upmost round, He then unto the ladder turns his back, Looks in the clouds, scorning the base degrees By which he did ascend: so Caesar may; Then, lest he may, prevent.
Page 184 - Shakespeare engaged in dramatic poetry with the world open before him. The rules of the ancients were yet known to few; the public judgment was unformed; he had no example of such fame as might force him upon imitation, nor critics of such authority as might restrain his extravagance.