1 In the first feat, in robe of various dyes, And taught new lands to rife, new feas to roll; And, paffing nature's bounds, was fomething more. Churchill, London: PRINTED AND EMBELLISHED Under the Direction of . COOKE, THE "He immortal Shakspeare rofe in the auspicious reign of Queen Elizabeth, an æra favourable to genius and learning, when liberty began to dawn, and difpel the mifts of Gothic ignorance, and its puny nurfling, Superftition.-Reafon having now affumed its empire, over the human mind, the mantle of mystery, which had veiled both religion and literature, was removed; mankind began to exercife their intellectual powers, and affert their right to think for them!elves. At this juncture appeared the greatest genius that ever graced this or any other country. He appeared, as is very forcibly expreffed by one of his biographers, to filence the legendary tales of the bard and the minstrel, to regulate the wildnefs of romantic fiction, to put to flight the phantoms of allegory, and to advance original poetry almost to the fummit of perfec tion." Dr. Johnfon defcribes the appearance of this extraordinary genius at a period when mankind were struggling to emerge from barbarity with an energy of diction fcarcely to be equalled in the whole compafs of poetic compofition. The lines alluded to are as follow: "When learning's triumph o'er her barbarous foes Very few particulars refpecting the life of this aftonifhing genius, who advanced the reputation of dramatic poetry fo far beyond the attainments of his age, have defcended to pofterity. Though his extraordinary talents excited the wonder and admiration of the age in which he flourished, yet, as he moved within a contracted sphere, the occurrences of his life were neither various nor important. Rowe, who publifhed an edition of his works, has collected what incidents of his life were known in his time, which, A 3 with with fome additional anecdotes and obfervations of others of his learned commentators, will form the bafis of these memoirs. William Shakspeare was born at Stratford upon Avon, in the year 1564. His father lived in repute, and carried on a confiderable woollen manufactory in that town, but being encumbered with a family of ten children, had not the means of giving our author a very liberal education. He was fent to the Free-School, where he acquired all the claffical learning he poffeffed; but what proficiency he made at fchool, and to what degree of eminence he attained afterwards in literary purfuits, has been a fubject of difpute, nor can it be precifely ascertained. It is admitted, however, that he was deprived of the opportunity of profecuting his learning at school, as the narrow circumftances of his father reduced him to the neceffity of calling him home at an early age to affift him in his ordinary employment, for the fupport of a young and numerous family. He paffed fome years of his life in this kind of domeftic obfcurity, till a fingular circumftance occurred that brought forth the firft dawn of his genius. The practice of deer-ftealing being very prevalent at that time, he was feduced by fome profligate companions to join them as an accomplice in robbing the park of a neighbouring Baronet, Sir William Lucy, who profecuted him with fuch rigour as compelled him to quit his native country. This gave birth to a ballad, written by him, in which the Baronet was lampooned with fuch feverity, that in revenge for the conceived infult offered to his dignity, he redoubled his profecution of the author, who was thereby reduced to the neceffity of withdrawing precipitately from Stratford, and in order to evade apprehenfion, of taking fhelter in London. On his arrival in the metropolis, he had recourse, for the means of fupport, to an expedient as fingular as the circumftance which brought him there. Hired coaches not being then in ufe, it was cuftomary for perfons of fuperior rank, who lived at any confiderable diftance from the play-houses, to ride thither on horseback, fo that men were employed to hold the horses till the close of the performance. Our author, then unconscious of a genius which afterwards foared above all competitors, condefcended to take upon him that fervile office, and acquired fuch ́ a reputation for vigilance and punctuality, that, in a fhort time, a greater number of horses being committed to his care than he could manage himself, he hired boys under him, who retained the appellation of Shakspeare's boys, as long as the custom of riding on horfeback to the play-house continued. From the fituation in which he was placed, he at tracted the notice of the comedians, who recommended him to the manager. He was at firft only admitted to the humble station of what is termed call boy, or, in other words, prompter's attendant, whole business it is to warn the performers to be ready as often as the feveral scenes of the drama in which they are engaged require their appearance on the stage. Having remained fome time in this humble ftation, he at length became an actor: and we find his name inferted in the lift with the other performers, as was the custom in those days, without fpecifying the particular part allotted to each; fo that we cannot afcertain the caft he filled in the drama. From the minuteft investigation it only appears that the principal character he performed was the Ghoft in his own tragedy of Hamlet. From this lowly beginning, to the aftonishment of his contemporaries, and the admiration of pofterity, he became, in process of time, if not the greatest actor of his day, the paragon of dramatic writers; as he feemed to have had all nature within his grafp, and to have been a perfect master in the difplay of the human paffions. It is fuppofed that there are no traces to be found of the gradations by which this extraordinary genius rofe from a degree of mediocrity, to the very fummit of excellence, in dramatic writing. As there |