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lelon Record; and that nothing but a Treachery equa to it in Baseness, can parallel it? If this were fuch Nonfenfe, as Mr. Pope would willingly have it, it would be a very bad Plea for me to alledge, as the Truth is, that the Line is in Shakespear's old Copy; for I might have fupprefs'd it. But, I hope, it is defenfible; at least, if Examples may keep it in Countenance. I remember a Piece of Nonfense just of the fame Stamp, in the Amphytrio of Plautus: Sofia, having furvey'd Mercury from Top to Toe, finds him fuch an exact Refemblance of himself, in Drefs, Shape, and Features, that he cries out,

-Tam confimil' eft, atq; Ego.

That is, He is as like me, as I am to myfelf: For the Syntax must be help'd out thus: atq; Ego fum mihi. Now I humbly conceive, in Strictness of Expreffion, a Man can no more be like himself, than a Thing be its own Parallel. But to confine myself to Shakespear: I doubt not but I can produce fome fimiliar Passages from him, which, literally examin'd, are stark Nonsense; and yet, taken with a candid Latitude, have never appear'd ridiculous. Mr. Pope would fcarce allow one Man to fay to another, "Compare or weigh your Miftrefs with your Mi"ftrefs, and, I grant you, fhe's a very fair Woman: But compare her with fome other Women "that I could name, and the Cafe will be altered.' Yet the very Substance of this is faid by Shakespear in Romeo and Juliet; and Mr. Pope has not degraded it as any Abfurdity, or unworthy of the Author.

66

Pho! Pho! you faw her fair, none elfe being by;
Her felf poiz'd with herself in either Eye :
But, &c.

Or what shall we fay of the three following Quota

tions

tions? And, I am fure I could match them with Threescore of the fame Stamp.

Romeo and Juliet.

Oh! fo light a Foot

Will ne'er wear out the everlasting Flint.

Winter's Tale.

-For Cogitation

Refides not in the Man, that does not think.

Hamlet. -Try what Repentance can, What can it not? Yet what can it, when one cannot repent?

Who does not fee at once, that the heaviest Foot that ever trod, could not wear out the everlasting Flint? Or, that he, that does not think, has no Thought in him? Or, that Repentance can avail nothing, when a Man has no Repentance? Yet let thefe Paffages appear with the cafting Weight of Allowance, the Licentia fumptus pudenter, as Horace calls it; and their Abfurdity will not be fo extravagant, as when examined by the literal Touchstone. But it is high Time to conclude.

If Mr. Pope is angry with me for attempting to reftore Shakespear, I hope the Publick are not. Admit my Sheets have no other Merit, they will at leaft have this: They will awaken him to fome Degree of Accuracy in his next Addition of that Poet, which we are to have in a few Months: And then we shall fee whether we owed the Errors of the former Edition to Indiligence, or his Inexperience in the Author. And as my Remarks upon the whole Works of Shakefpoar fhall closely attend upon the Publication of his Edition, I'll venture to promife without Arrogance, that I'll then give above five hundred more fair Emen→ dations, that fhall escape him and all his Affiftants.

I am, Sir,

Your very humble Servant,

LEW. THEOBALD.

There

There are many Emendations might be made which escap'd them both; in the famous and excellent Tragedy of Othello not a few, for Inftance one, when Othello comes in to murder Defdemona, he thinks if he should fee her, it would be impoffible for him to do it, fo he fays to himself

Put out the Light, and then, put out the Light.

Thus it is printed and spoke, even by Mr. Quin himfelf, with the Accent ftrong upon the Word the, which would feemingly intimate, that he meant first to put out the Candle, and then murder her, calling her the Light, whereas it should be pointed thus, Put out the Light, and then-Put out the Light! That is, as to fay, put out the Light, and thenbut before he can speak the Words kill her, he exclaims to himself-Put out the Light! that raises Terror and Horror in him, fo that he in a Manner expoftulates with himself about it, and thus the Sense is clear, only by the Alteration of the Stops.

To fpeak our Sentiments freely, we do not believe that any Body will acquire much Fame in meddling with Shakespear, nor have I noted that Mr. Pope valued himself upon it enough to mention it once in any Letter, Poem, or other Work whatsoever, except the Preface, which he fays is his; but about the Amendments, &c. he says nothing at all: Nay, as to his other Works, he seems to be far from thinking them safe as to their Fame; thus he speaks to the World.

"In this Office of collecting my Pieces, I am "altogether uncertain, whether to look upon my"felf as a Man building a Monument, or burying "the Dead?

"If Time fhall make it the former, may these

"Poems

"Poems (as long as they laft) remain as a Teftimo68 ny, that their Author never made his Talents fub"fervient to the mean and unworthy Ends of Party "or Self-intereft; the Gratification of publick Pre"judices, or private Paffions; the Flattery of the "Undeferving, or the Infult of the Unfortunate. "If I have written well, let it be confidered that " 'tis what no Man can do without good Senfe, a "Quality that not only renders one capable of be"ing a good Writer, but a good Man. And if I "have made any Acquifition in the Opinion of any "one under the Notion of the former, let it be con"tinued to me under no other Title than that of the • latter.

“But if this Publication be only a more folemn "Funeral of my Remains, I defire it may be known " that I die in Charity, and in my Senfes; without "any Murmurs against the Juftice of this Age, or

any mad Appeals to Pofterity. I declare I fhall "think the World in the right, and quietly fubmit

<< to every Truth which Time fhall discover to the "Prejudice of these Writings; not so much as

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wifhing fo irrational a Thing, as that every Body "should be deceiv'd, meerly for my Credit. How

ever, I defire it may then be confidered, that "there are very few Things in this Collection which "were not written under the Age of five and twen66 ty; fo that my Youth may be made (as it never "fails to be in Executions) a Cafe of Compaffion. "That I was never fo concern'd about my Works

as to vindicate them in Print, believing if any "Thing was good it would defend itself, and what "was bad could never be defended. That I used "no Artifice to raise or continue a Reputation, de"preciated no dead Author I was obliged to, brib'd "no living one with unjuft Praife, infulted no Ad

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