But howsoever thou pursu’st this Act, Taint not thy Mind; nor let thy Soul contrive Against thy Mother ought; leave her to Heav’n, And to those Thorns that in her Bosom lodge, To prick and sting her. Vol.  V. p. 2386.

This is to distinguish rightly between Horror and Terror.  The latter is a proper Passion of Tragedy, but the former ought always to be carefully avoided.  And certainly no Dramatick Writer ever succeeded better in raising Terror in the Minds of an Audience than Shakespear has done.  The whole Tragedy of Macbeth, but more especially the Scene where the King is murder’d, in the second Act, as well as this Play, is a noble Proof of that manly Spirit with which he writ; and both shew how powerful he was, in giving the strongest Motions to our Souls that they are capable of.  I cannot leave Hamlet, without taking notice of the Advantage with which we have seen this Master-piece of Shakespear distinguish it self upon the Stage, by Mr. Betterton’s fine Performance of that Part.  A Man, who tho’ he had no other good Qualities, as he has a great many, must have made his way into the Esteem of all Men of Letters, by this only Excellency.  No Man is better acquainted with Shakespear’s manner of Expression, and indeed he has study’d him so well, and is so much a Master of him, that whatever Part of his he performs he does it as if it had been written on purpose for him, and that the Author had exactly conceiv’d it as he plays it.  I must own a particular Obligation to him, for the most considerable part of the Passages relating to his Life, which I have here transmitted to the Publick; his Veneration for the Memory of Shakespear having engag’d him to make a Journey into Warwickshire, on purpose to gather up what Remains he could of a Name for which he had so great a Value.  Since I had at first resolv’d not to enter into any Critical Controversie, I won’t pretend to enquire into the Justness of Mr. Rhymer’s Remarks on Othello; he has certainly pointed out some Faults very judiciously; and indeed they are such as most People will agree, with him, to be Faults:  But I wish he would likewise have observ’d some of the Beauties too; as I think it became an Exact and Equal Critique to do.  It seems strange that he should allow nothing Good in the whole:  If the Fable and Incidents are not to his Taste, yet the Thoughts are almost every where very Noble, and the Diction manly and proper.  These last, indeed, are Parts of Shakespear’s Praise, which it would be very hard to Dispute with him.  His Sentiments and Images of Things are Great and Natural; and his Expression (tho’ perhaps in some Instances a little Irregular) just, and rais’d in Proportion to his Subject and Occasion.  It would be even endless to mention the particular Instances that might be given of this Kind:  But his Book is in the Possession of the Publick, and ’twill be hard to dip into any Part of it, without finding what I have said of him made good.