m, that seem to fix their dates. So the chorus at the
end of the fourth act of Henry V by a compliment very handsomely
turned to the Earl of Essex, shews the play to have been written when
that Lord was general to the queen in Ireland; and his eulogium upon
Queen Elizabeth, and her successor King James in the latter end of his
Henry VIII is a proof of that play's being written after the accession
of the latter of these two princes to the throne of England. Whatever
the particular times of his writing were, the people of the age he
lived in, who began to grow wonderfully fond of diversions of this
kind, could not but be highly pleased to see a genius arise amongst
them, of so pleasurable, so rich a vein, and and so plentifully
capable of furnishing their favourite entertainments. Besides the
advantage which Shakespear had over all men in the article of wit, he
was of a sweet, gentle, amiable disposition, and was a most agreeable
companion; so that he became dear to all that knew him, both as a
friend and as a poet, and by that means was introduced to the best
company, and held conversation with the finest characters of his time.
Queen Elizabeth had several of his plays acted before her, and that
princess was too quick a discerner, and rewarder of merit, to suffer
that of Shakespear to be neglected. It is that maiden princess plainly
whom he intends by

----A fair vestal, throned by the West.

Midsummer night dream.

And in the same play he gives us a poetical and lively representation
of the Queen of Scots, and the fate she met with,

----Thou rememb'rest
Since once I sat upon a promontory,
And heard a sea-maid on a dolphin's back,
Uttering such dulcet and harmonious breath,
That the rude sea grew civil at her song,
And certain stars shot madly from their spheres,
To hear the sea-maid's music.

Queen Elizabeth was so well pleased with the admirable character of
Falstaff in the two parts of Henry IV. that she commanded him to
continue it in one play more, and to make him in love. This is said to
have been the occasion of his writing the Merry Wives of Windsor. How
well she was obeyed, the play itself is a proof; and here I cannot
help observing, that a poet seldom succeeds in any subject assigned
him, so well as that which is his own choice, and where he has the
liberty of selecting: Nothing is more certain than that Shakespear
has failed in the Merry Wives of Windsor. And tho' that comedy is not