years before his death at his native Stratford. His pleasurable wit and good-nature engag'd him in the acquaintance, and entitled him to the friendship, of the gentlemen of the neighbourhood.

He died on his birth-day, the 23d of April, 1616, in the 53d year of his age, and was buried on the north fide of the chancel, in the great church at Stratford, where a monument is plac'd in the wall, reprefenting him under an arch in a fitting pofture, a cushion spread before him, with a pen in his right hand, and his left refted on a fcroll of paper. the following infcription:

Beneath

Judicio Pylium, genio Socratem, arte Maronem,
Terra tegit, populus mæret, Olympus habet.
Stay, paffenger, why doft thou go so faft?
Read, if thou can't, whom envious Death hath plac'd
* Within this monument; Shakspeare, with whom
Quick Nature dy'd, whofe name doth deck the tomb,
'Far more than coft; fince all that he hath writ,
* Leaves living Art but page to ferve his wit.'
On his grave-ftone underneath is,

• Good friends, for Jefus' fake forbear
To dig the duft inclofed here.

Bleft be the man that spares thefe' stones,
And curs'd be he that moves my bones.'

He had three daughters, of which two lived to be married; Judith, the elder, to one Mr. Thomas Quiney, by whom the had three fons, who all died without children; and Sufannah, who was his favourite, to Dr. John Hall, a phyfician of good reputation in that country. She left one child only, a daughter, who was marry'd first to Thomas Naf, Efq; and afterwards to Sir John Bernard, of Abington. By the former of thefe gentlemen, fhe had likewife a daughter, who married Sir Reginald Fofter, of Warwickshire, and from her is lineally defcended the prefent Nicholas Franklyn Miller, of Hide-hall, in Hertfordshire; the only remaining defcendant of our immortal author.

Thecharacter of Shakspeare, as a man, is best seen in

his

:

his writings but fince Ben Jonson has made a fort of aneffay towards it in his Discoveries, I will give it in his words.

"I remember the players have often mentioned it as an honour to Shakspeare, that in writing (whatfoever he penned) he never blotted out a line. My anfwer had been, Would he had blotted a thousand! which they thought a malevolent fpeech. I had not told pofterity this, but for their ignorance, who chofe that circumftance to commend their friend by, wherein he moft faulted; and to justify mine own candour; for I loved the man, and do honour his memory, on this fide idolatry, as much as any. He was, indeed, honeft, and of an open and free nature; had an excellent fancy, brave notions, and gentle expreffions; wherein he flowed with that facility, that fometimes it was neceffary he fhould be ftopp'd: Suflaminandus erat, as Auguftus faid of Haterius. His wit was in his own power : would the rule of it had been fo too! Many times he fell into thofe things which could not efcape laughter; as when he faid in the perfon of Cefar, one fpeaking to him,

66

Cafar thou doft me wrong,"

Cæfar did never wrong, but with juft caufe:" and fuch like, which were ridiculous. But he redeemed his vices with his virtues. There was lever more in him to be praised, than to be pardoned."

As an author, his character has been fo often drawn by the most eminent writers of the times, that I shall only add what Dr. Young fays of him in his Conjectures on Original Compofition." Shakspeare mingled nowater with his wine, lowered his genius by no vapid imitation. Shakspeare gave us a Shakspeare, nor could the first in ancient fame have given us more. ShakSpeare is not their fon, but brother; their equal; and that in fpite of all his faults. Think you this too bold? Confider, in those ancients, what is it the world admires? Not the fewness of their faults, but the number and brightnefs of their beauties; and if ShakSpeare is their equal (as he doubtlefs is) in that which

in them is admir'd, then is Shakspeare as great as they; and not impotence, but fome other caufe must be charged with his defects. When we are fetting these great men in competition, what but the comparative fize of their genius is the fubject of our enquiry: and a giant lofes nothing of his fize, though he should chance to trip in his race. But it is a compliment to thofe heroes of antiquity, to fuppofe Shakspeare their -equal only in dramatic powers; therefore, though his faults had been greater, the scale would still turn in his favour. There is at least, as much genius on the Britif, as on the Grecian ftage, though the former is not fwept fo clean; fo clean from violations, not only of the dramatic, but moral rule; for an honeft heathen, on reading fome of our celebrated fcenes, might be feriously concerned to fee that our obligations to the reli ligion of Nature were cancelled by Chriftianity."