36 SOME REMARKS ON THE PHILOSOPHY AND 



If in this composition I should be found transgressing against the 

 critical law of unity, I must be content to repose on the evidence of 

 those great masters of language and composition, Johnson and 

 Fielding. The former, in his life of Pope, remarks — " As the end 

 of method is perspicuity, that series is sufficiently regular that 

 avoids obscurity, and where there is no obscurity it will not be dif- 

 ficult to discover method." While the immortal Fielding, in the 

 initial chapter (fifth book) of that incomparable work Tom Jones, 

 overturns the bastard claims of criticism altogether. The quota- 

 tions I select are too far distant from each other to be related, 

 which must render my style discrepant. But continuity is less 

 necessary, as Shakspeare, like nature herself, has this peculiar ex- 

 cellency, that while the parts are essential to the whole, yet each 

 part, like a beautiful tree or flower, is a picture in itself. 



With regard to the character of this composition, without refer- 

 ring to those illustrious commentators of the poet, Steevens, Ma- 

 lone, Tyrwhitt, Schlegel, Hazlitt, and, though last yet first, the 

 sweet and sensitive Jameson,* I shall merely reply, in the words of 

 an eminent writer and critic, " If every line of Shakspeare's plays 

 were accompanied with a comment, every intelb'gent reader would 

 be indebted to the industry of him who produced it." My object is 

 to examine the philosophy, physical and moral, or the observances, 

 of Shakspeare ; and if the work be uncalled for, the public at least 

 encourage the undertaking, for would we patch up an argument, give 

 strength to reason, argument to truth, and poetry to every thing, 

 Shakspeare is always conclusive. Thus much for the worthiness of 

 my subject, but how far it is worthily treated is not for me to pro- 

 claim'; but if the reader have " thought the same things a hundred 

 times," I rely confidently on a verdict in my favour ; for when an 

 author's thoughts are anticipated he is sure of approbation, since he 

 has given a premium to vanity.t Following the order of the plays, 

 we commence with 



THE TEMPEST. 



Shakspeare strictly adhered to truth : his forms unknown were 

 not as the "traveller's tales," reputed facts, however excusable the 



* Of all the illustrators of our poet, Mrs. Jameson is the most fascinating, 

 the most true. Love, with her, is an instinct ; her very thoughts (noble as 

 they are) are embued with sensibility ; her reasonings are of the " woman 

 all compact" — the Portia of her sex. 



f " ' That was excellently observed,* say I, when I read a passage in an au- 

 thor where his opinion agrees with mine ; when we differ, there I pronounce 

 him to be mistaken." — Swift. 



