tion of
that which is subsequent to and ingrafted upon Nature--namely, of human
life itself, of universal human experience; much in the same way as
Ulysses admired most, in the song of Demodocus, his knowledge of that
which had passed withinside the Wooden Horse, and concluded, hence, to the
undoubted inspiration of the Muse.

This appears to us to be the meaning of Pope's eulogy; and if it but
unfolds the hints of Dryden's, it unfolds them, be it said, uninvidiously,
something after the fashion in which Shakspeare himself unfolded the hints
which he found in old books, of plots and personages; that is to say,
originally, creatively, with quite independent power; and certainly with
no deterioration to the matter. Pope goes on to admit faults. We must here
dissent as to facts and opinions, and must qualify.

"It must be owned, that with all these great excellences, he has
almost as great defects: and that as he has certainly written better,
so he has perhaps written worse than any other. But I think I can in
some measure account for these defects, from several causes and
accidents; without which it is hard to imagine that so large and so
enlightened a mind could ever have been susceptible of them. That all
these contingencies should unite to his disadvantage seems to me
almost as singularly unlucky, as that so many various, nay, contrary
talents should meet in one man, was happy and extraordinary.

"It must be allowed that stage-poetry, of all other, is more
particularly levelled to please the _populace_, and its success more
immediately depending upon the _common suffrage_. One cannot
therefore wonder, if Shakspeare having at his first appearance no
other aim in his writings than to procure a subsistence, directed his
endeavours solely to hit the taste and humour that then prevailed.
The audience was generally composed of the meaner sort of people, and
therefore the images of life were to be drawn from those of their own
rank; accordingly we find, that not our author's only, but almost all
the old comedies have their scene among _tradesmen_ and _mechanics_;
and even their historical plays strictly follow the common _old
stories_ or _vulgar traditions_ of that kind of people. In tragedy,
nothing was so sure to _surprise_ and cause _admiration_, as the most
strange, unexpected, and consequently most unnatura