second from which I intended to make a transcript in the disguised hand imitating Shakspeare's signature.

28 February, 1824

W. H. IRELAND"

After "Finis" we find "Huzza Huzza Huzza" In his Authentic Account of the Shaksperian Manuscripts, &c. 1796, page 26, Ireland remarks of this production:

"I wrote the play of King Henry the Second, of which I only executed three leaves in the old hand, now in my father's possession: it was thought by many superior to Vortigern.”

Henry the Second was published in 1799 sm. 8", and in the second edition of Vortigern, London, 1832, 8°, we read:

"In the Press, Henry the Second. An Historical Drama, Written by the Author of Vortigern, and Attributed to Shakspeare."

John Philip Kemble killed Vortigern-being acted as Shakespeare's-in a very ingenious manner:-"The conduct of this gentleman," complains Ireland, "was too obvious to the whole audience to need much comment: I must, however, remark that the particular line on which Mr. Kemble laid such a peculiar stress was in my humble opinion the watchword agreed upon by the Malone faction for the general howl. The speech alluded to ran as follows; the line in Italics being that so particularly noticed by Mr. Kemble.

And when this solemn mockery is o'er

No sooner was the above line uttered in the most sepulchral tone of voice possible, and accompanied with that peculiar emphasis which on a subsequent occasion so justly rendered Mr. Kemble the object of criticism (viz. on the first representation of Mr. Colman's Iron Chest), than the most discordant howl echoed from the pit that ever assailed the organs of hearing. After the lapse of ten minutes, the clamour subsided; when Mr. Kemble, having again obtained a hearing, instead of proceeding with the speech at the ensuing line, very politely, and in order to amuse the audience still more, redelivered the very line above quoted with even more solemn grimace than he had in the first instance displayed Mr. Sh*r*d*n was much displeased at the conduct of the gentleman mentioned in the preceding paragraph." Confessions, edit. 1805, pp. 157. 159;

ii.

to Shakspeare's Tempest. London: Printed for the Author, 8°, pp. 55, 1797.

Dedication signed Francis Godolphin Waldron, who calls his production a "weak essay at an ini tation of our immortal Shakspeare": we shall not contradict him.

347. Essays on Some of Shakespeare's
Dramatic Characters, to which is
added, An Essay on the Faults of
Shakespeare. The Fifth Edition. By
William Richardson, M.A.F.R.S. E.
Professor of Humanity in the Uni-
versity of Glasgow. London: J.
Date
Murray, 8°, pp. vi., 2, 401.
(probably 1797) erased, and 1798
inserted in pencil. Another copy,
same edition, 1798.

Richardson so confused the titles and mixed the matter of his volumes that it is difficult to tell what constitutes a full and unduplicated ("the word is a His books good word") body of his criticism. were published as follows:

1. A Philosophical Analysis and Illustration of some of Shakespeare's Characters, Glasgow, 1774, 12°; London, 1774, 12°, 1775, 12°, 1780, 12, 1784, II. Essays on 8°, 1785, 12°; Phila. 1788, 12°. Shakespeare's Dramatic Characters of Richard the Third, King Lear, and Timon of Athens: with an Essay on the Faults of Shakespeare; and Additional Observations on the Character of Hamlet, III. Essays on London, 1783, 8°, 1784, 12°.

Shakespeare's Dramatic Character of Sir John Falstaff; and on his Imitation of Female Charac ters [to which were added, some general Observations on the chief Objects of Criticism in the Works of Shakespeare: Richardson: Advertisement to No. IV. infra], London, 1789, 12°. IV. Essays on some of Shakespeare's Dramatic Characters. To which is Added, An Essay on The Faults of Shakespeare. The Fifth Edition, London, 1797, 8°. 1798, 8°.

"These different performances [Nos. I. II. III. supra] are now collected into one volume with one uniform title: they are more commodiously arranged; and have received such correction and improvement as must necessarily have occurred to the author, and been suggested by his friends in the course of several preceding Editions." Advertisement to No. IV.

V. The whole again, called sixth edition-Essays on Shakespeare's Dramatic Characters, with an Íllustration of Shakespeare's Representations of National Characters in that of Fluellen, with two Original Letters from Mr. Burke, consisting of Observations on Shakespeare, 1812, 8°.

Richardson died two years later than the above date-i. e. in 1814. He is not to be confounded with William Richardson, Print-seller, who in 1794, London 8°, privately printed Proposals for the Publication of the Felton Portrait of Shakespeare-written by George Steevens.

348. Cursory Remarks on Tragedy, on Shakespear, and on Certain French and Italian Poets, Principally Tragedians, London, sm. 8°, 1774.

Ascribed by some to Richardson (see Cat. Biblioth. Musei Brit., vol. VI, 1817, 7oc. Richardson, William Bohn's Lowndes, Part VIII, 1863, 2318). We are satisfied, as we have already stated No. 313 supra that this was not by Richardson-whom an

eminent modern successor in Shakespearian lore thus dismisses :

Richardson, not often a very profound critic." CHARLES KNIGHT: Supp. Notice to Cymbeline.

To this [Hazlitt on the Characters of Shakspeare's Plays] add Richardson's Essays on the Characters of Shakspeare; a work of considerable elegance of style, and replete with judicious remarks." DIBDIN: Lib. Comp. 796. n. 349. Memoirs of the Life of Charles Macklin, Esq. Principally Compiled from his own Papers and Memorandums: which Contain His Criticisms on and Characters and Anecdotes of Betterton, Booth, Wilks, Cibber, Garrick, Barry, Mossop, Sheridan, Foote, Quin, and most of his Contemporaries; Together with his Valuable Observations on the Drama, on the Science of Acting, and on Various other Subjects: The Whole Forming a Comprehensive but Succient History of the Stage: which Includes a Period of One Hundred Years. By James Thomas Kirkman. London, 2 vols. 8°, 1799. Macklin played Shylock when between 99 and 100, and is said to have elicited from a famous spectator-Alexander Pope-a famous couplet :

"This is the Jew

That Shakespeare drew."

But this story is doubted by a correspondent of Notes and Queries, 1854, i. 239. 350. The Essence of Malone, or, The "Beauties" of that Fascinating Writer, Extracted from his Immortal Work, in Five Hundred, Sixtynine Pages, and a Quarter, Just Published; and (With his accustomed felicity,) Entitled, "Some Account of the Life and Writings of John Dryden!!" Second Edition, enlarged. London: T. Beckett, 8°, pp. ii, 142, 1800. [By George Hardinge.]

Bound up with The Stranger, 8°, 1798, Remarks on the New Edition of Bellendus, 8°, 1787, and the Battle of Edington, 80, 1796.

Hardinge was one of those bitter, sneering scolds who make the name of critic disreputable and even wit and humour disagreeable. Those who wish to learn more about him (by most he is forgotten, or rather was never known) will find more than enough in Nichols's Literary Anecdotes, vol. VII., Index. 351. Notes upon Some of the Obscure Passages in Shakespeare's Plays; with remarks upon The Explanations and Amendments of the Commentators in the Editions of 1785, 1790, 1793. By the Late Right Hon. John Lord Chedworth. London: Bulmer, 8°, pp. 375. 1805. Privately printed. See No. 352 infra.

352. Remarks, Critical, Conjectural, and Explanatory, upon the Plays of Shakspeare; Resulting from a Collation of the Early Copies, with that of Johnson and Steevens, Edited by Isaac Reed, Esq. together with some Valuable Extracts from the Mss. of the Late Right Honourable John, Lord Chedworth. Dedicated to Richard Brinsley Sheridan, Esq. By E. H. Seymour. London : trade edition, roy. 8°, 2 vols., pp. viii, 480; 436, 4; 1805. Large paper.

"It is true, indeed, the circumstances attending our great dramatist and his productions must ever leave questionable the authority even of the best copies, for excepting A Midsummer Night's Dream, we shall not, perhaps, find a single play that is not evidently corrupted." Introduction, p. 1.

353. History and Antiquities of Stratford-upon-Avon: Comprising a description of the Collegiate Church, the Life of Shakspeare, and Copies of several Documents relating to him and his Family, never before printed; with a Biographical Sketch of other Eminent Characters, Natives of, or who have resided in Stratford. To which is added, a particular Account of The Jubilee Celebrated at Stratford, in Honour of our Immortal Bard. By R. B. Wheler. Embellished with Eight Engravings. Stratford-upon-Avon, sm. 8°, pp. ii, 229. [1806.]

Originally in sm. 12o. An Abridgment was published in 1814.

"This ancient town may be traced to a period as remote as 300 years before the invasion of England by William the Conqueror, at which ra was a monastery there, in the possession of Ethelward, a Viceroy or subordinate King over the Wiccians." Page 2.

354. Comments on the Commentators on Shakespear. With Preliminary Observations on his Genius and Writings; and on the Labours of those who have Endeavoured to Elucidate them. By Henry James Pye. London, 8°, pp. xvi, 342, 1807.

355. Illustrations of Shakspeare, and of Ancient Manners, with Dissertations on the Clowns and Fools of Shakspeare; On the Collection of Popular Tales Entitled Gesta Romanorum; and on the English Morris Dance. By Francis Douce. The Engravings on Wood by J. Berryman. In Two Volumes. London Printed for Longman, Hurst, Rees, and Orme, 8°, xv, 526, 499, 1807.

The Lenox copy is extended into 4 volumes, with a title-page to each volume, printed expressly for that purpose, viz.:

Illustrations of Shakspeare, and of Ancient Manners, with Dissertations on the Clowns and Fools of Shakspeare; on the Collection of Popular Tales entitled Gesta Romanorum'; and on the English Morris-Dance. By Francis Douce. Illustrated with Two Hundred Portraits, Views, etc. Enlarged into Four Volumes. Sold by Ellis and White, 29 New Bond Street, London, MDCCCLXXIV.

This copy contains 206 portraits, views, etc., a fac-simile of a MS. letter of 6% pages from Douce to George Chalmers, and two (one from The Morning Herald) newspaper biographical notices of Douce. The volumes are bound by De Coverley in red morocco with gilt edges and tooling on margins and backs.

Douce's Illustrations is worth a dozen of ordinary volumes of Shakespeariana. "Hook upon this work as a sort of Hortus Shakesperianus, from which fruit of every hue and flavour may be safely pluckt and eaten. The research and learning bestowed upon it are immense. I once attempted, during the Hora Subsecive of a watering place, to make a catalogue of the authors consulted in it; but my courage or patience failed." DIBDIN: Library Companion. Unfortunately, however, Lord Jeffrey so disgusted Douce by the manner in which he handled his book (Edinburgh Review, July, 1808, 44968,) that the indignant antiquary left directions that his own manuscripts, finished and unfinished, and books with manuscript annotations, should be sent in a box to the British Museum, not to be opened

until January 1, 1900. His collections of books, prints, drawings, and the most beautitul of his missals (of great value) he bequeathed to the Bodleian Library. As Douce died in 1834 he thus excluded two generations from the benefit of his lucubrations, which is rather a severe punishment-and that of many innocent for one guilty; but we suspect that there was "method in Douce's' madness

:-that

he coveted a revival of fame among the great grandchildren of his contemporaries. The profoundly learned Francis Douce, whose name ought never to be uttered without deep respect for his rare scholarship and generous regard to its interests." HENRY GREEN: Shakespeare and the Emblem Writers, 1870, Preface.

356. An Account of the Incidents from which the Title and part of the Story of Shakespeare's Tempest were Derived; and its True Date Ascertained. By Edmond Malone. London: Baldwin, 8°, pp. iv, 1-36, Appendix 37-52, 1808. [-1809.]

With the following MS. note:

"To the Reverend Henry J. Todd, from the Author. Not published :-only eighty copies having been printed. It is requested that this pamphlet

may not be inadvertently put into the hands of any person who may be likely to publish any part of it."

This caution which Malone calls "an entreaty, written in each copy. that no part of it should be communicated to the publick," was, of course, useless as a man of half the sense of Malone one would suppose would have foreseen-and by what the author calls "an extraordinary circumstance' his Account was reviewed, on the first of January, 1809, in one of the monthly publications"; hence his Appendix (also printed separately, 20 copies, 1809, 8°) of 16 pages. "The monthly publication" was "The British Critic," and the reviewer was Archdeacon Nares, to whom Malone had given a copy of his " Account." "I have no doubt that my conjecture was perfectly well founded, and that the leading circumstance of this play, from which its title is derived, was suggested to Shakspeare by a recent disaster, which doubtless engaged much of the conversation of his contemporaries, the dreadful hurricane that dispersed the fleet of Sir George Somers and Sir Thomas Gates, in July 1609 on their passage with a large supply of provisions and men for the infant colony in Virginia; by which the Admiral-ship, as it was called, having those two com manders on board, was separated from the rest of the fleet, and wrecked on the Island of Bermuda." Account, p. 1.

But see Hunter's Disquisition, No. 403 infra.

357. Ueber Dramatische Kunst und Litteratur. Vorlesungen von August Wilhelm Schlegel. Heidelberg, cr. 8°, 3 vols. xii. 378, 2; 300; viii, 429, 2, 1809-11.

Delivered at Vienna in 1809, and first printed at Heidelberg from which edition translations were soon made into English, French, and Dutch. For the English version see:

A Course of Lectures on Dramatic Art and Literature from the German of Wm. Augustus Schlegel, London, 1815, 2 vols. 8°; with an Introduction by Mr. Horn, 1840, 2 vols. 12°; 3d edition, Revised and Enlarged, from Schlegel's Posthumous Papers, by Rev. A. J. W. Morrison, (Bohn's Stand. Lib.,) p. 8°, 1840, 1846, 1861.

Contains a critical and historical account of the ancient and modern drama-the Greek, the Latin. the Italian, the French, the Spanish, and the German. See Edin. Rev. Feb. 1816; For. Quart. Rev. No. 33, 160.

"In a few pages we reap the fruit of the labour of a whole life; every opinion formed by the author, every epithet given to the writers of whom he speaks, is beautiful and just, concise and animated." MADAME DE STAËL.

358. An Essay on the Writings and Genius of Shakspeare, Compared with the Greek and French Dramatic Poets. With Some Remarks upon the Misrepresentations of Mons. de Voltaire. The Sixth Edition, Corrected. To which are added, Three Dialogues of the Dead. By Mrs. Montagu. London, 8°, pp. xxiii, 296, 1810.

Also a copy on large paper, roy. 8°. See also No. 359 infra.

359. Saggio Sugli Scritti e Sul Genio di Shakespear Paragonato ai Poeti Drammatici Greci e Francesi con Algune Considerazioni Intorno alle

False Critiche del Sig. de Voltaire Opera Di Mad. Montagu Traduzione dall' Inglese Firenze Tipografia All' Insegna di Dante, 8°, pp. xiv, 227, 2, 1828.

"The most elegant and judicious piece of criticism which the present age has produced." WARTON Hist. of Eng. Poetry, ed. 1840, i. xliv.

"A wonderful performance." SIR S. E. BRYD

GFS.

"It is recommended to those who are not sufficiently established in their dramatic faith, to peruse a work lately published, called, An Essay on the Writings and Genius of SHAKESPEARE, by which they will with much satisfaction be convinced that England may justly boast the honour of producing the greatest dramatic poet in the world." GARRICK: An Ode, etc., at Stratford upon Avon (No. 310 supra).

JOHNSON. Sir, I will venture to say there is not one sentence of true criticism.'

"GARRICK. But, sir, surely it shows how much Voltaire has mistaken Shakspeare, which nobody else has done.' "JOHNSON. worth while.""

'Sir, nobody else has thought it

In his estimate of Shakespearian commentators, HALLAM (Lit. Hist. of Europe, 4th ed. 1854, . 94) whilst ranking Hurd and Lord Kames “among the best of this class," is disposed to place Mrs. Montagu "not very far from the bottom of the list."

360. Aphorisms from Shakespeare;

Arranged According to the Plays, &c. With A Preface and Notes ; Numeral References to each Subject; and A Copious Index. Bury, 18°, pp. xxxiv, 456, Index xxvi. With portrait from Droeshout. [By Capell Lofft.] 1812.

"Containing upwards of 4,000 clear, concise, and pithy sentences on nearly every subject incident to human life." Gent. Mag. 1812, ii. 344.

"I own, after a familiarity with his writings, if I may be allowed the expression, of almost as long standing as my life has been . . . . I am more and more astonisht that a life of 52 years-and but little part of his could be a life of studious leisureshould give time for such Attainments and Performances." LOFFT: Introduction: a very good

one.

361. Shakespeare's Dramas, illustrated by a set of copper-plate Engravings from Thurston's Designs by Rhodes, London: Tegg, 4°, 1813.

India proofs. 50 plates.

362. An Essay on the Character of Henry the Fifth when Prince of Wales. By Alexander Luders, Esq. London: T. Cadell, 8°, pp. 150, 1813.

"Not having been able to find sufficient authority for the wanton and dissolute character assigned to him in the plays of Shakespear, and that older play which he seems to have followed, I suspect that they are almost as fabulous as Ovid's Metamorphoses.' Introduc. p. 1.

363. A Biographical Memoir of the Late Edmond Malone, Esq. London Nichols, 8°, pp. 27, 1814.

"Not published." Bound up with An Account of the Incidents from which the Title and Part of the Story of Shakspeare's Tempest Were Derived, etc., by Malone, Lond. 8o, 1808.

"The following sketch originally appeared in the GENTLEMAN'S MAGAZINE. A few copies of it (with some additions) are now reprinted for private distribution among the friends of the late Mr. MaLONE," etc. Advertisement, signed James Boswell, Middle Temple, Jan. 20, 1814.

364. Another Account of the Incidents from Which the Title, and a Part of the Story of Shakespeare's Tempest, were Derived; and the True Era of it Ascertained; Evincing the Original Connexion of the Royal Family with the Poet's Drama. By George Chalmers, F.R.S.S.A. London: Only 40 copies Printed by R. and A. Taylor, But, Not Published, nor Intended to Be. 8, pp. viii, 82, 1815.

"The Author begs Mr. Kemble to accept this Pamphlet as a sincere tribute of his particular respect.

"What I mean, at present, is nothing more than to vindicate the rectitude of my own judgment, in placing the epoch of the Tempest, in 1613, in opposition to the declaration of Mr. Malone, in his unpublished pamphlet, that he has made a discovery which led him to place the writing of the Tempest in Mr. Malone went back to the year 1609 for a tempest to wreck Somers's ship on Bermudas: But Shakspeare called specially for this last tempest, which lasted the three last months of 1612.

1611

Nor is Somers's shipwreck even alluded to in the Comedy of the The Tempest." Advertisement. vii., p. 68.

365. Shakspeare's Himself Again: or The Language of the Poet Asserted: Being a Full but Dispassionate Examen of the Readings and Interpretations of the Several Editors. The whole Comprised in a Series of Notes, Sixteen Hundred in Number, and Further Illustrative of the More Difficult Passages in His Plays, to the Various Editions of which the Present Volumes form a Complete and Necessary Supplement. By Andrew Becket; Author of Lucianus Redivivus, &c., &c. In Two Volumes. London: A. J. Valpy, 8°, pp. xxvii, 368; 331, 1815.

If these 1600 "restorations" were well received, a complete edition of the poet was to follow. "A work of very little value." HALLIWELL: Shakespeariana, 1841, 170. See also (London) Quar. Rev. xvi. 35.