ity very well: that some of the Arrows of Cupid are pointed with
Lead, and others with Gold, he found in Ovid; and what he speaks of Dido,
in Virgil: nor do I know any translation of these Poets so ancient as
Shakespeare's time." The passages on which these sagacious remarks are
made occur in the _Midsummer Night's Dream_; and exhibit, we see, a clear
proof of acquaintance with the Latin Classicks. But we are not answerable
for Mr. Gildon's ignorance; he might have been told of Caxton and Douglas,
of Surrey and Stanyhurst, of Phaer and Twyne, of Fleming and Golding, of
Turberville and Churchyard! but these Fables were easily known without the
help of either the originals or the translations. The Fate of Dido had
been sung very early by Gower, Chaucer, and Lydgate; Marloe had even
already introduced her to the Stage: and Cupid's arrows appear with their
characteristick differences in Surrey, in Sidney, in Spenser, and every
Sonnetteer of the time. Nay, their very names were exhibited long before
in the _Romaunt of the Rose_: a work you may venture to look into,
notwithstanding Master Prynne hath so positively assured us, on the word
of John Gerson, that the Author is most certainly damned, if he did not
care for a serious repentance.

Mr. Whalley argues in the same manner, and with the same success. He
thinks a passage in the _Tempest_,

---- High Queen of State,
Great Juno comes; I know her by her _Gait_,

a remarkable instance of Shakespeare's knowledge of ancient Poetick story;
and that the hint was furnished by the _Divum incedo Regina_ of Virgil.

You know, honest John Taylor, the _Water-poet_, declares that _he never
learned his Accidence_, and that _Latin and French_ were to him
_Heathen-Greek_; yet, by the help of Mr. Whalley's argument, I will prove
him a _learned_ Man, in spite of every thing he may say to the contrary:
for thus he makes a _Gallant_ address his _Lady_,

"Most inestimable Magazine of Beauty--in whom _the Port and Majesty of
Juno_, the Wisdom of Jove's braine-bred Girle, and the Feature of
Cytherea, have their domestical habitation."

In the _Merchant of Venice_, we have an oath "By _two-headed Janus_"; and
here, says Dr. Warburton, Shakespeare shews his knowledge in the Antique:
and so again does the _Water-poet_, who describes Fortune,

Like a _Janus_ with a _double-face_.

But Shakespeare hath somewhere a _Latin Motto_, quoth Dr. Sewel; and so
hath John Taylor,