."

The earlier critics who remarked on Shakespeare's depiction of character
had not suspected that the examination of it was to oust the older
methods.

A greater writer, who has met with unaccountable neglect, was to express
the same views independently. Maurice Morgann had apparently written his
_Essay on the Dramatic Character of Sir John Falstaff_ about 1774, in an
interval of political employment, but he was not prevailed upon to publish
it till 1777. The better we know it, the more we shall regret that it is
the only critical work which he allowed to survive. He too refers to his
book as a "novelty." He believes the task of considering Shakespeare in
detail to have been "hitherto unattempted." But his main object, unlike
Whately's or Richardson's, is a "critique on the genius, the arts, and the
conduct of Shakespeare." He concentrates his attention on a single
character, only to advance to more general criticism. "Falstaff is the
word only, Shakespeare is the theme."

Morgann's book did not meet with the attention which it deserved, nor to
this day has its importance been fully recognised. Despite his warnings,
his contemporaries regarded it simply as a defence of Falstaff's courage.
One spoke of him as a paradoxical critic, and others doubted if he meant
what he said. All were unaccountably indifferent to his main purpose. The
book was unknown even to Hazlitt, who in the preface to his _Characters of
Shakespeare's Plays_ alludes only to Whately(31) and Richardson as his
English predecessors. Yet it is the true forerunner of the romantic
criticism of Shakespeare. Morgann's attitude to the characters is the same
as Coleridge's and Hazlitt's; his criticism, neglecting all formal
matters, resolves itself into a study of human nature. It was he who first
said that Shakespeare's creations should be treated as historic rather
than as dramatic beings. And the keynote of his criticism is that "the
impression is the fact." He states what he _feels_, and he explains the
reason in language which is barely on this side idolatry.(32)

The Essays.

Nicholas Rowe.

Nicholas Rowe's _Account of the Life, etc., of Mr. William Shakespear_
forms the introduction to his edition of Shakespeare's plays (1709, 6
vols., 8vo).

Rowe has the double honour of being the first editor of the plays of
Shakespeare and the first to attempt an authoritative account of his life.
The value of the biography can best be judged by