having.]

[Footnote 10: I allude to such characters as the blubbering droll
Tyke.]

[Footnote 11: Reynolds's characters are as faithful copies of
nature as Woodward's caricatures of men with heads ten times
bigger than their bodies. How could Mr. Surr, in a late well
written novel, offer any apology for him? But friendship is as
blind as love, in spite of Horace's opinion.]

[Footnote 12: Though I call Dibdin a ballad-monger, I do not think
him by any means equal to the other songster, sans-souci Dibdin.]

[Footnote 13: It is a melancholy thing, that men of the first
abilities have frequently lent their aid to the cause of vice.
Better be dull as Cobb, or Hoare, than so to abuse great talents.]

[Footnote 14: The age are under great obligations to Mr. Gifford
for his very excellent edition of Massinger. I wish he had not
been so severe on poor Mason and Coxeter. Their inaccuracies
certainly warranted a few expressions of spleen, but not such
harsh language as Mr. Gifford uses; but alas! his Persian fist
cannot hit a gentle blow. Like his author, whom he has so
successfully translated, whenever he attacks, "instat, insultat,
jugulat." --_Scal. de Satira._]

[Footnote 15: I am not one of those who think the age degenerate:
but certainly the rigid manly character of old times is melted
into one of elegance and comparative softness. Perhaps the change
is for the better, as I think no virtue has been lost in the
transfusion. Be that as it may, there is something in the tone of
Massinger not altogether suited to the general taste of the
present time. I wish it was.]

[Footnote 16: Fletcher is an amiable writer; but the general
effect of his tragedies appears to me languid. His comedies,
however, are exceedingly entertaining.]

[Footnote 17: Jonson's genius and learning shine to advantage in
his Volpone, Alchymist, Silent Woman, and Every Man in his Humour.
It is to be lamented his characters are not more general.]

[Footnote 18: Let me join my voice to the universal chorus of
praise to Shakspeare, "si quid loquar audiendum." It is merely a
testimony of gratitude; nor presumes to add to that fame which has
been celebrated, not to mention a thousand others, by the nervous
prose of Johnson and the rapturous poetry of Gray. O "Magnum et
memorabile nomen!"]