Some Account of the Life of Mr. William Shakespear (1709) eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 48 pages of information about Some Account of the Life of Mr. William Shakespear (1709).

Some Account of the Life of Mr. William Shakespear (1709) eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 48 pages of information about Some Account of the Life of Mr. William Shakespear (1709).
he was three and thirty Years old at Spencer’s Death; and his Reputation in Poetry must have been great enough before that Time to have deserv’d what is here said of him.  His Acquaintance with Ben Johnson began with a remarkable piece of Humanity and good Nature; Mr. Johnson, who was at that Time altogether unknown to the World, had offer’d one of his Plays to the Players, in order to have it Acted; and the Persons into whose Hands it was put, after having turn’d it carelessly and superciliously over, were just upon returning it to him with an ill-natur’d Answer, that it would be of no service to their Company, when Shakespear luckily cast his Eye upon it, and found something so well in it as to engage him first to read it through, and afterwards to recommend Mr. Johnson and his Writings to the Publick.  After this they were profess’d Friends; tho’ I don’t know whether the other ever made him an equal return of Gentleness and Sincerity. Ben was naturally Proud and Insolent, and in the Days of his Reputation did so far take upon him the Supremacy in Wit, that he could not but look with an evil Eye upon any one that seem’d to stand in Competition with him.  And if at times he has affected to commend him, it has always been with some Reserve, insinuating his Uncorrectness, a careless manner of Writing, and want of Judgment; the Praise of seldom altering or blotting out what he writ, which was given him by the Players who were the first Publishers of his Works after his Death, was what Johnson could not bear; he thought it impossible, perhaps, for another Man to strike out the greatest Thoughts in the finest Expression, and to reach those Excellencies of Poetry with the Ease of a first Imagination, which himself with infinite Labour and Study could but hardly attain to. Johnson was certainly a very good Scholar, and in that had the advantage of Shakespear; tho’ at the same time I believe it must be allow’d, that what Nature gave the latter, was more than a Ballance for what Books had given the former; and the Judgment of a great Man upon this occasion was, I think, very just and proper.  In a Conversation between Sir John Suckling, Sir William D’Avenant, Endymion Porter, Mr. Hales of Eaton, and Ben Johnson; Sir John Suckling, who was a profess’d Admirer of Shakespear, had undertaken his Defence against Ben Johnson with some warmth; Mr. Hales, who had sat still for some time, hearing Ben frequently reproaching him with the want of Learning, and Ignorance of the Antients, told him at last, That if Mr. Shakespear_ had not read the Antients, he had likewise not stollen any thing from ’em;_ (a Fault the other made no Confidence of) and that if he would produce any one Topick finely treated by any of them, he would undertake to shew something upon the same Subject at least as well written by Shakespear. Johnson
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Some Account of the Life of Mr. William Shakespear (1709) from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.