as his Time.

As I have not propos'd to my self to enter into a Large and Compleat
Criticism upon Mr. _Shakespear_'s Works, so I suppose it will neither be
expected that I should take notice of the severe Remarks that have been
formerly made upon him by Mr. _Rhymer_. I must confess, I can't very
well see what could be the Reason of his animadverting with so much
Sharpness, upon the Faults of a Man Excellent on most Occasions, and
whom all the World ever was and will be inclin'd to have an Esteem and
Veneration for. If it was to shew his own Knowledge in the Art of
Poetry, besides that there is a Vanity in making that only his Design, I
question if there be not many Imperfections as well in those Schemes and
Precepts he has given for the Direction of others, as well as in that
Sample of Tragedy which he has written to shew the Excellency of his own
_Genius_. If he had a Pique against the Man, and wrote on purpose to
ruin a Reputation so well establish'd, he has had the Mortification to
fail altogether in his Attempt, and to see the World at least as fond of
_Shakespear_ as of his Critique. But I won't believe a Gentleman, and a
good-natur'd Man, capable of the last Intention. Whatever may have been
his Meaning, finding fault is certainly the easiest Task of Knowledge,
and commonly those Men of good Judgment, who are likewise of good and
gentle Dispositions, abandon this ungrateful Province to the Tyranny of
Pedants. If one would enter into the Beauties of _Shakespear_, there is
a much larger, as well as a more delightful Field; but as I won't
prescribe to the Tastes of other People, so I will only take the
liberty, with all due Submission to the Judgment of others, to observe
some of those Things I have been pleas'd with in looking him over.

His Plays are properly to be distinguish'd only into Comedies and
Tragedies. Those which are called Histories, and even some of his
Comedies, are really Tragedies, with a run or mixture of Comedy amongst
'em. That way of Trage-Comedy was the common Mistake of that Age, and is
indeed become so agreeable to the _English_ Tast, that tho' the severer
Critiques among us cannot bear it, yet the generality of our Audiences
seem to be better pleas'd with it than with an exact Tragedy. _The Merry
Wives of_ Windsor, _The Comedy of Errors_, and _The Taming of the
Shrew_, are all pure Comedy; the rest, however they are call'd, have
something of both Kinds. 'Tis not very easie to determine which