show that a passage in the Preface
has been conveyed from one of Warburton's letters published by Nichols and
by Malone. Any defence of Theobald by an absolute refusal to believe
Warburton's word can be of no value unless some proof be adduced that
Warburton was here untruthful, and it is peculiarly inept when Theobald's
own page proclaims the theft. We know that Theobald asked Warburton for
assistance in the Preface, and gave warning that such assistance would not
be acknowledged. Warburton could have had no evil motive in marking those
passages in his _private_ copy; and there is surely a strong presumption
in favour of a man who deliberately goes over seven volumes, carefully
indicating the material which he considered his own. It happens that one
of the passages contains an unfriendly allusion to Pope. If Warburton
meant to be "dishonest"--and there could be no purpose in being dishonest
before he was Theobald's enemy--why did he not disclaim this allusion some
years later? The simple explanation is that he marked the passages for his
own amusement while he was still on friendly terms with Theobald. They are
thirteen in number, and they vary in length from a few lines to two pages.
Four of them are undoubtedly his, and there is nothing to disprove that
the other nine are his also.(34)

Theobald quotes also from his own correspondence. On 17th March, 1729-30,
he had written to Warburton a long letter dealing with Shakespeare's
knowledge of languages and including a specimen of his proposed pamphlet
against Pope. "Your most necessary caution against inconsistency, with
regard to my opinion of Shakespeare's knowledge in languages," he there
says characteristically, "shall not fail to have all its weight with me.
And therefore the passages that I occasionally quote from the Classics
shall not be brought as proofs that he imitated those originals, but to
shew how happily he has expressed themselves upon the same topics"
(Nichols, ii., pp. 564, etc.). This part of the letter is included
verbatim three years afterwards in the Preface. So also is the other
passage in the same letter replying to Pope on the subject of
Shakespeare's anachronisms. Theobald borrows even from his own published
writings. Certain passages are reproduced from the Introduction to
_Shakespeare Restored_.

If Theobald could hardly acknowledge, as he said, the assistance he
received in writing the Preface, he at least admitted his editorial debt
to Wa