the place of nature to another, and imitation, always deviating a little, becomes at laſt capricious and caſual. Shakeſpeare, whether life or nature be his ſubject, ſhews plainly, that he has ſeen with his own eyes; he gives the image which he receives, not weakened or diſtorted by the intervention of any other mind; the ignorant feel his repreſentations to be juſt, and the learned ſee that they are complete.
Perhaps it would not be eaſy to find any author, except Homer, who invented ſo much as Shakeſpeare, who ſo much advanced the ſtudies which he cultivated, or effuſed ſo much novelty upon his age or country. The form, the characters, the language, and the ſhows of the Engliſh drama are his. He ſeems, ſays Dennis, to have been the very original of our Engliſh tragical harmony, that is, the harmony of blank verſe, diverſified often by diſſyllable and triſſyllable terminations. For the diverſity diſtinguiſhes it from heroic harmony, and by bringing it nearer to common uſe makeſ it more proper to gain attention, and more fit for action and dialogue. Such verſe we make when we are writing proſe; we make ſuch verſe in common converſation.
I know not whether this praiſe is rigorouſly juſt. The diſſyllable termination, which the critick rightly appropriates to the drama, is to he found, though, I think, not in Gorboduc, which is confeſſedly before our author; yet in Hieronymo[1], of which the date is not certain, but which there is reaſon to believe at leaſt as old as his earlieſt plays. This however is cer-
- ↑ It appears from the induction of Ben Jonſon’s Bartholomew Fair to have been acted before the year 1590. Steevens.
