of thofe which had hitherto been published, of any of the antient dramatic writers, drew down upon me the high difpleafure of the Critical Reviewers, and of course the cenfure of that numerous tribe of readers, who never prefume to judge for themselves, or to hazard an opinion on any performance, until they have been taught what they ought to fay of it, by thefe learned profeffors of the art of teaching grown gentlemen to think.'

We are forry that we have displeased him; but we will appeal to himself, and he must neceffarily confefs, that if an edi tion, whofe only merit was correctnefs, by any accident became incorrect, it could not be entitled to our approbation. We shall extract his own words.

My first effay in verbal criticism, I mean the publication. of Maflinger's plays, proved rather unfortunate, through the negligence of the perfon entrusted with the conduct of it; a total inattention to the directions of the editor, with respect to the arrangement of the text, the amendments, and the notes; and a multitude of typographical errors, have deprived that edition of the only merit to which it could have pretended, which was that of CORRECTNESS.'

Thefe Comments are of no great importance; their first object is to detect the mistakes of fome former annotators, who have attempted to elucidate Shakspeare by depth of learning, and the refinements of philofophy. Another view of this author is to explain difficult or corrupt paffages, which have hitherto, from their infignificance, efcaped the notice of other editors, or have been omitted on account of their uncertainty. We fhall felect an inftance of the former kind.

"For in that fleep of death what dreams may come
When we have fhuffled off this mortal coil,
Muft give us pause."

This paffage hath, hitherto been entirely unnoticed by any of the editors, and has of courfe received their tacit approba tion; yet to me it appears to be erroneous. Hamlet is not

confidering what may poffibly happen to us when we have got rid of the tumult and bustle of the world, which is the only fenfe that the words mortal coil, can poffibiy imply, but what may befal us when we have fhaken off this covering of flesh, that part of us which is fubject to mortality.-It appears clearly from the general tenor of the speech that this is Hamlet's meaning and I have never feen the part performed by a good actor who did not fhow that he understood the paffage in this fenfe; yet that is a fenfe which the words, as they ftand, cannot poffible exprefs. I am therefore thoroughly perfuaded that we fhould read, "When we have fhuffled off this mortal spoil," inftead of coil, which differs but little from the former reading, ex

:

24

preffes

preffes fully the idea of Hamlet, and that in language highly poetical.

The flough or skin of a fnake which he cafts every year, is called his fpoil.-It is to this Shakspeare alludes; and the words Shuffled off, happily exprefs the kind of motion which the fnake muft neceffarily make ufe of, in order to free himself from his old covering.

An expreffion fimilar to that which I contend for, occurs in Howell, who may be confidered as Shakspeare's contemporary, being employed in public butinefs at the time of Shakspeare's death-In his laft letter he fays,

"Yet the nobleft part of us may be faid to be then fet at liberty, when having fhaken off this flough of flesh," &c.

Slough of flesh and mortal spoil, are perfectly fynonymous.' In the following paffage, Mr. Mafon feems to have fupported the old reading with propriety.

"My may of life

Is fall'n into the fear, the yellow leaf."

The old reading it feems is way of life, and it should not have been discarded; as the following paffages prove that it was a mode of expreffion in ufe at that time, as courfe of life is

now.

In Maflinger's Very Woman, the doctor fays, "In way of life, I did enjoy one friend ;' And again, in the New Way to pay Old Debts, lady Allworth fays,

If that when I was miftrefs of myfelt,

And in my way of youth," &c.

There are some other parts of Shakspeare which are well illuftrated; but we must leave to naturalifts, his opinion relative to the prolific power of loaches. Your chamber-liè breeds fleas like a loach,' fays the carrier; that is, fays Mr. Mafon, your chamber-lie breeds fleas as faft as loaches breed? not fleas but loaches. We are not acquainted with the fish; and can find no very refpectable authority for the fact all fift are exceedingly prolific.

6

In general however the commentary is trifling, and the paffages fuch that we fcarcely wifh for any interpretation. In fome inftances they seem to be erroneous; but it is not a pleasing task to notice incorrectnefs; and we were reminded, in the Preface, how ungrateful the office of a cenfor is, even when it is indifpenfible. Our author has not improved the state of the text. We wish to fee Shakspeare in his original form, with only thofe faults corrected which were obviously and clearly committed by the printer. The old copies are unpleafant, from their form and numerous abbreviations. Mr. Steevens, in re-printing the quarto editions, deferves the credit of faithful copyift, and he aimed at no more.

a

The

The Newspaper. A Poem. By the Rev. G. Crabbe. 4to. 24. - Dodsley.

THE HE Poem, fays the author, which I now offer to the public, is, I believe, the only one written upon the fubject; at leaft, it is the only one which I have any know. lege of: and, fearing there may not be found in it many things to engage the reader's attention, I am willing to take the ftrongest hold I can upon him, by offering fomething which has the claim of noveity.'

This, we apprehend, is rather inaccurately expreffed; for if, as he fears, many things are not found in it worthy notice, their nature cannot be altered by his fubfequent claim to novelty.

We believe, with him, that no poem has been professedly written on the fubject: but the artifices of newspaper editors have been expofed, in a ftrong vein of humour, by Foote, in the Bankrupt; and of which we think this gentleman might have availed himself, and strengthened his fatire against those pests of fociety, from whofe wanton or malevolent attacks no character is fecure.

His talents are indeed more confpicuous in the pathetic and defcriptive, than the fatyric line. Humour he certainly poffeffes in no inconfiderable degree; but we do not perceive that force and fpirit in the prefent poem, which is in general deemed effential to compofitions of this kind. It is, however, a work of genius, and we shall therefore confider it with attention.

The greatest part of the poem, we are told, was written immediately after the diffolution of the late parliament.' It opens with obferving, that

A time like this, a bufy, bustling time,

Suits ill with writers, very ill with rhyme;
Unheard we fing when party rage runs ftrong,

And mightier madness checks the flowing song.'

The author confiders newspapers as most deftructive to lite

rature.

For thefe unread the nobleft volumes lie,
For thefe in fheets unfoil'd the Mufes die;
Unbought, unbleft, the virgin copies wait
In vain for fame, and fink unfeen to fate.'

He next calls on his brother poets to fupport the common caufe, and thus flates the nature of his fubject.

7

! I fing

I fing of news, and all thofe vapid fheets,
The rattling hawker vends thro' gaping streets;
Whate'er their name, or what the time they fly
Damp from the prefs to charm the reader's eye :—
For, foon as morning dawns with rofeate hue,
The Herald of the morn arifes too;

Poft after Poft fucceeds, and all day long
Gazettes and Ledgers fwarm, a noify throng.
Gray evening comes, and comes not evening gray
With all the trifling tidings of the day?

Of all these triflers, all like thefe I write ;
Oh! like my fubject, could my fong delight,
The crowd at Lloyd's one poet's name should raise,
And all the alleys eccho to his praise.

• In fhoals the hours their conftant numbers bring,
Like infects waking to th' advancing spring,

Which take their rife from grubs obfcure that lie
In fhallow pools, or thence afcend the sky;
Such are thefe bafe ephemeras, fo born

To die before the next revolving morn.'

Thefe lines, though we think the eleventh exceptionable, are
full of defcriptive humour; and the fimile which concludes
them extremely appofite, though the expreflion, or thence
afcend the fky,' feems of no ufe but to eke out the line. Pof-
fibly and fhould be substituted for or, which would make it
much less objectionable. We fully allow the beauty and pro-
priety of thofe that follow.

Yet foon each reptile tribe is loft but thefe,
In the first brushing of the wint❜ry breeze;
Thefe ftill remain, a base but constant breed,
Whofe fwarming fons their fhort-liv'd fires fucceed;
No changing feafon makes their number lefs,
Nor Sunday fhines a fabbath on the prefs.'

The author next ftigmatizes two Sunday papers, confiders their character in general, and obferves, that

They drop their maggots in the weak man's brain;

1

That genial foil receives the fruitful flore,
And there they grow, and breed a thousand more.'
He makes the following remarks on party-writers:

Chief to the profperous fide the numbers fail,
Fickle and falfe, they veer with every gale;
Soon as the chiefs, whom once they choofe, lie low,
Their praise too flackens, and their aid moves flow;

Not

Not fo when leagu'd with rifing powers, their rage

Then wounds th' unwary foe, and burns along the page.' We apprehend the author is here mistaken. We have in another place obferved, that the hireling fcribblers of an unfuccefsful faction appear more numerous, violent, and declamatory, than those of the fuccefsful. The latter, probably, by enjoying fome fhare of their patron's fortunes, bask in indolence beneath the fun-fhine of profperity; but the others, ftung with envy, exert all their powers, and give full vent to their malevolent paffions. The author tells us, that golden fetters will make the faithlefs fure.'

For those who deal in flattery or abuse

Will fell them where they can the most produce.'

We can hardly allow thefe lines to be poetry, though we will not deny the truth of the pofition. But that the fuccessful candidates for elevated ftations do not beftow golden fetters on those who revile their condu&t; or that thefe inftinctive tribes' cannot buy with timely change their future bread,' feems pretty clear from the inundation of abuse always thrown on thofe in place, and the comparative filence relative to thofe who are merely candidates for it.

The effects which newfpapers have on fociety in general, and on individuals, is next confidered. The village freeholder, who at an ale-houfe club

looks elate,

A little prop, and pillar of the state ;' is thus moft excellently delineated.

Here he delights the weekly news to con,
And mingle comments as he blunders on ;
To swallow all their varying authors teach,
To fpell a title and confound a speech:
Till with a muddled mind he quits the news,
And claims his nation's licence to abuse;
Then joins the cry, "that all the courtly race
Strive but for power, and parley but for place;"
Yet hopes, good man!" that all may ftill be well,"
And thanks the ftars that he's a vote to fell.'

The amufement newspapers in general afford, the nature of their advertisements, and all their component parts, are next confidered. The characters of their volunteer correfpondents in the political line, thefe brave affertors of their country's freedom, and defenders of its rights, are thus humorously defcribed,

• Thefe