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artless perseverance in her suit, and her slowness to suspect that she can be suspected, are such proofs of Shakespeare's skill in human nature, as, I suppose, it is vain to seek in any modern writer. The gradual progress which Iago makes in the Moor's conviction, and the circumstances which he employs to inflame him, are so artfully natural, that, though it will perhaps not be said of him as he says of himself, that he is a man not easily jealous, yet we cannot but pity him, when at last we find him perplexed in the extreme.

There is always danger, lest wickedness, conjoined with abilities, should steal upon esteem, though it misses of approbation; but the character of Iago is so conducted, that he is from the first scene to the last hated and despised.

Even the inferior characters of this play would be very conspicuous in any other piece, not only for their justness, but their strength. Cassio is brave, benevolent, and honest, ruined only by his want of stubbornness to resist an insidious invitation. Roderigo's suspicious credulity, and impatient submission to the cheats which he sees practised upon him, and which by persuasion he suffers to be repeated, exhibit a strong picture of a weak mind betrayed by unlawful desires to a false friend; and the virtue of Aemilia is such as we often find, worn loosely, but not cast off, easy to commit small crimes, but quickened and alarmed at atrocious villainies.

The scenes from the beginning to the end are busy, varied by happy interchanges, and regularly promoting the progression of the story; and the narrative in the end, though it tells but what is known already, yet is necessary to produce the death of Othello.

Had the scene opened in Cyprus, and the preceding incidents been occasionally related, there had been little wanting to a drama of the most exact and scrupulous regularity.

(LI 2) Appendix. Some apology perhaps is necessary for the inconvenience of an Appendix, which, however, we can justify by the strongest of all pleas, the plea of necessity. The Notes which it contains, whether communicated by correspondents, or collected from published volumes, were not within our reach when the plays were printed, to which they relate. Of that which chance has supplied, we could have no previous knowledge; and he that waited till the river should run dry, did not act with less reason than the Editor would do, who should suspend his publication for possibilities of intelligence, or promises of improvement. Had we foreseen the Oxford edition, the assistance we expected from it might have persuaded us to pause; but our volumes were completely finished before its publication. [There are no notes by Johnson in this Appendix; several are by Steevens.]

EIGHTEENTH CENTURY ESSAYS ON SHAKESPEARE Edited by D. Nichol Smith

CONTENTS

Preface.

Introduction. Shakespearian Criticism in the Eighteenth Century.

I.

II.

III.

IV.

The Essays.

Nicholas Rowe.

John Dennis.

Alexander Pope.

Lewis Theobald.

Sir Thomas Hanmer.

William Warburton.

Samuel Johnson.

Richard Farmer.

Maurice Morgann.

Nicholas Rowe: Some Account of the Life &c. of Mr. William Shakespear. 1709.

John Dennis: On the Genius and Writings of Shakespeare. 1711.

Letter I.

Letter II.

Letter III.

Alexander Pope: Preface to Edition of Shakespeare. 1725.

Lewis Theobald: Preface to Edition of Shakespeare. 1733.

Sir Thomas Hanmer: Preface to Edition of Shakespeare. 1744.

William Warburton: Preface to Edition of Shakespeare. 1747.

Samuel Johnson: Preface to Edition of Shakespeare. 1765.

Richard Farmer: An Essay on the Learning of Shakespeare: Addressed to Joseph Cradock, Esq. 1767.

Preface to the Second Edition, 1767.

An Essay On The Learning Of Shakespeare: Addressed To Joseph Cradock, Esq.

Maurice Morgann: An Essay on the Dramatic Character of Sir John Falstaff. 1777.

Preface.

On The Dramatic Character Of Sir John Falstaff.

Preface.

The purpose of this book is to give an account of Shakespeare's reputation during the eighteenth century, and to suggest that there are grounds for reconsidering the