lves into, and been mix'd with his own
Writings; so that his not copying at least something from them, may be
an Argument of his never having read 'em. Whether his Ignorance of the
Antients were a disadvantage to him or no, may admit of a Dispute: For
tho' the knowledge of 'em might have made him more Correct, yet it is
not improbable but that the Regularity and Deference for them, which
would have attended that Correctness, might have restrain'd some of that
Fire, Impetuosity, and even beautiful Extravagance which we admire in
_Shakespear_: And I believe we are better pleas'd with those Thoughts,
altogether New and Uncommon, which his own Imagination supply'd him so
abundantly with, than if he had given us the most beautiful Passages out
of the _Greek_ and _Latin_ Poets, and that in the most agreeable manner
that it was possible for a Master of the _English_ Language to deliver
'em. Some _Latin_ without question he did know, and one may see up and
down in his Plays how far his Reading that way went: In _Love's Labour
lost_, the Pedant comes out with a Verse of _Mantuan_; and in _Titus
Andronicus_, one of the _Gothick_ Princes, upon reading

_Integer vitae scelerisque purus
Non eget Mauri jaculis nec arcu--_

says, _'Tis a Verse in_ Horace, _but he remembers it out of his_
Grammar: Which, I suppose, was the Author's Case. Whatever _Latin_ he
had, 'tis certain he understood _French_, as may be observ'd from many
Words and Sentences scatter'd up and down his Plays in that Language;
and especially from one Scene in _Henry_ the Fifth written wholly in it.
Upon his leaving School, he seems to have given intirely into that way
of Living which his Father propos'd to him; and in order to settle in
the World after a Family manner, he thought fit to marry while he was
yet very Young. His Wife was the Daughter of one _Hathaway_, said to
have been a substantial Yeoman in the Neighbourhood of _Stratford_. In
this kind of Settlement he continu'd for some time, 'till an
Extravagance that he was guilty of, forc'd him both out of his Country
and that way of Living which he had taken up; and tho' it seem'd at
first to be a Blemish upon his good Manners, and a Misfortune to him,
yet it afterwards happily prov'd the occasion of exerting one of the
greatest _Genius's_ that ever was known in Dramatick Poetry. He had, by
a Misfortune common enough to young Fellows, fallen into ill Company;
and amongst them, some that made a frequent