[Page 58.] As a proof of the bad taste of the multitude we find in this nation of
ours, that a vile Pantomime piece, full of machinery, or a lewd, blasphemous Com*
edy, or a wretched Farce, or an empty, obscure, low Ballad Opera (in all which, to
the scandal of our nation and age, we surpass all the world), shall draw together
crowded audiences, when there is full elbow-room at a noble piece of Shakespeare's
or Rowe's. [These foregoing extracts are given mainly for their historical value, as
indicating the thoughtful appreciation, — not very profound, it must be confessed, but,
still, true and genuine,— in which Sh. was held by eminent men (and Sir Thomas
Hanmer was Speaker of the House of Commons) a little more than a hundred years
after his death. It is also to be noted that Hanmer has anticipated much modern
criticism, both English and German, which still continues to be put forth as novel 01
striking. Ed.]

DR JOHNSON (1765)

( The Plays of Shakespeare, vol. viii, p. 31 X.) — If the dramas of Shakespeare were
to be characterized, each by the particular excellence which distinguishes it from the
rest, we must allow to the tragedy of Hamlet the praise of variety. The incidents
are so numerous that the argument of the play would make a long tale. The
scenes are interchangeably diversified with merriment and solemnity; with merri-
ment that includes judicious and instructive observations; and solemnity not strained
by poetical violence above the natural sentiments of man. New characters appear
from time to time in continual succession, exhibiting various forms of life and pai-
ticular modes of conversation. The pretended madness of Hamlet causes much
mirth, the mournful distraction of Ophelia fills the heart with tenderness, and every
personage produces the effect intended, from the Apparition, that in the First Act
chills the blood with horror, to the Fop in the last, that exposes affectation to just
contempt

The conduct is perhaps not wholly secure against objections. The action is, in-
deed, for the most part, in continual progression, but there are some scenes which
neither forward nor retard it. Of the feigned madness of Hamlet there appears no
adequate cause, for he does nothing which he might not have done with the reputa-
Vol. IX— to



146 APPENDIX

tion of sanity. 