And as in great Piles of Building, some Parts are often finish’d up to hit the Taste of the Connoisseur; others more negligently put together, to strike the Fancy of a common and unlearned Beholder:  Some Parts are made stupendiously magnificent and grand, to surprize with the vast Design and Execution of the Architect; others are contracted, to amuse you with his Neatness and Elegance in little. So, in _Shakespeare_, we may find _Traits_ that will stand the Test of the severest Judgment; and Strokes as carelessly hit off, to the Level of the more ordinary Capacities:  Some Descriptions rais’d to that Pitch of Grandeur, as to astonish you with the Compass and Elevation of his Thought:  and others copying Nature within so narrow, so confined a Circle, as if the Author’s Talent lay only at drawing in Miniature.

In how many Points of Light must we be oblig’d to gaze at this great Poet!  In how many Branches of Excellence to consider, and admire him!  Whether we view him on the Side of Art or Nature, he ought equally to engage our Attention:  Whether we respect the Force and Greatness of his Genius, the Extent of his Knowledge and Reading, the Power and Address with which he throws out and applies either Nature, or Learning, there is ample Scope both for our Wonder and Pleasure.  If his Diction, and the cloathing of his Thoughts attract us, how much more must we be charm’d with the Richness, and Variety, of his Images and Ideas!  If his Images and Ideas steal into our Souls, and strike upon our Fancy, how much are they improv’d in Price, when we come to reflect with what Propriety and Justness they are apply’d to Character!  If we look into his Characters, and how they are furnish’d and proportion’d to the Employment he cuts out for them, how are we taken up with the Mastery of his Portraits!  What Draughts of Nature!  What Variety of Originals, and how differing each from the other!  How are they dress’d from the Stores of his own luxurious Imagination; without being the Apes of Mode, or borrowing from any foreign Wardrobe!  Each of Them are the Standards of Fashion for themselves:  like Gentlemen that are above the Direction of their Tailors, and can adorn themselves without the Aid of Imitation.  If other Poets draw more than one Fool or Coxcomb, there is the same Resemblance in them, as in that Painter’s Draughts, who was happy only at forming a Rose:  you find them all younger Brothers of the same Family, and all of them have a Pretence to give the same Crest:  But Shakespeare’s Clowns and Fops come all of a different House:  they are no farther allied to one another than as Man to Man, Members of the same Species:  but as different in Features and Lineaments of Character, as we are from one another in Face, or Complexion.  But I am unawares launching into his Character as a Writer, before I have said what I intended of him as a private Member of the Republick.

    [Sidenote:  Some Particulars of his private Life.]