copy but that which is in Mr. Malone's collection, I will produce a specimen. It is from the speech of Lalius, the centurion. See Lucan. lib. i. 1. 361:

"What, doubtst thou us? even nowe when youthful bloud
"Pricks forth our lively bodies, and strong armes
"Can mainly throw the dart; wilt thou endure
"These purple groomes? that senates tyranny?
"Is conquest got by civil war so hainous ?
"Well, lead us then to Syrtes desart shoare;
"Or Scythia; or hot Labiae's thirsty sands.
"This hand that all behind us might be quail'd
"Hath with thee past the swelling ocean;
"And swept the foming brest of Articks Rhene.
"Love overrules my will, I must obey thee;
"Cæsar, he whom I heare thy trumpets charge
"I hould no Romaine; by these ten blest ensignes,
"And all thy several trumphs, shouldst thou bid me
"Intombe my sword within my brothers bowels;
"Or fathers throate; or womens groning wombe;
"This hand (albeit unwilling) should performe it."

But although these and similar passages evince that Marlowe's ear had sometimes taught him to release blank verse from the fetters which had been imposed upon it, yet the general strain of his versification resembles that of Surrey and Sackville. At last Shakspeare arose, who was destined to carry the drama in all its parts to the highest state of perfection; and even in the structure of his verse, not only left all his predecessors far behind him, but exhibited to those who came after him, a model of harmony which no one has ever surpassed. Perhaps no species of metrical excellence can be mentioned, which is not exemplified in his plays. He has equally avoided the formal monotony of those who went before him, and the laxity of his contemporaries; his metre is generally correct; but the inexhaustible variety of his modulation never palls upon the ear. Whether that spirit of his, in aspiration, lifts him from the earth;" or humbler topicks require a more subdued tone; whether he is

66

sublime, pathetick, familiar, or gay, the colours of
his style, and the musick of his cadence, are adapted
with the most exquisite skill to the character which
he designs to paint, or the sentiment which he wishes
to express :

"So on the tip of his subduing tongue
"All kinds of arguments and questions deep,
"All replication prompt and reason strong,
"For his advantage, still did wake and sleep,
"To make the weeper laugh, the laugher weep.
"He had the dialect and different skill,

66

Catching all passions in his craft of will."

I have withdrawn from the Index, which will be
found at the close of this work, those references which
relate to the topicks discussed in the foregoing Essay,
that the reader may have the materials, upon which
he is to form his opinion, at once before him. I
have not put down every exemplification of what has
been stated, but have thought it would be sufficient
to produce as much as would establish the principle.

Particles omitted:

listen, listen to, xi. 105.

serve, serve for, vi. 24.

other instances of particles omitted, xii. 23, 83.

xiii. 228, 390.

xiv. 131.

Particles redundant:

command upon, command, xi. 137.
drink in, simply drink, viii. 116.
drink up, simply drink, vii. 480.
other instances, vi. 70.

xiv. 58.

Xxv. 33, 282.
xix. 142.

Particles employed contrary to modern usage:

for catching cold, lest they should catch cold, iv. 26.
for blunting, for fear of blunting, xx. 273.
guilty to, guilty of, iv. 214.

xiv. 384.

xii. 139.

in, for on, xviii. 243.

detecte l with, i. e. by, viii. 142.
suspect with, i. e. of, viii. 160.
wonder of, i. e. at, v. 299.
die upon, i. e. die by,
look upon, for look on,

v. 232.
viii. 435.

xiv. 379.

charge with, i. e. charge for, xii. 172.

xvi. 134.

xviii. 427.

I desire you of more acquaintance, v. 255.
I desire you of the like, vi. 498.

whom we intreated of succour, xvii. 349. *

Adjectives used adverbially :

damnable, for damnably, x. 438.

xiv. 318.
honourable, for honourably, xiv. 288, 395.
voluntary, for voluntarily, viii. 286.

Double comparative:

more wider, viii. 416.

more richer, x. 11.

Double superlative:

most best, vii. 272.

For a multitude of particles similarly misapplied in the
writings of the age of Queen Anne, see Lowth's Grammar,
p. 166. Edit. 1775.

Negative used to assert a thing strongly :

here's no vanity, xvi. 395.

Present tense of a verb used for the passive parti-

ciple:

heat, for heated, xi. 342.
fast, for fasted, xii. 172.
frustrate, for frustrated, xii. 38.
other instances, xv. 36, 225.

xix. 119.

Active participle, used for passive:
discontenting, discontented, xiv. 383.
longing, longed for, iv. 66.
multiplying, multiplied, xiii. 354.
all obeying, all obeyed, xii. 326.

Passive participle for active:
brooded, for brooding, xv. 293.
deformed, deforming, iv. 262.
becomed, becoming, vi. 192.
delighted, delighting, ix. 282.
professed, professing, x. 27.

Adjectives used for active participle:

estimable, esteeming, xi. 379.
penetrative, penetrating, xii. 375.

Adjectives used for passive participle:

dividable, for divided, viii. 263.
corrigible, corrected, xii. 375.

Participle passive instead of adjective:
unavoided, for unavoidable, xix. 183.

Plural nouns employed, where we should now use
singular :

preys, xi. 160.
hilts, xii. 152.
sights, xix. 150.
sleeps, iv. 249.

Plural substantive with singular verb, xi. 101.

Singular substantive with plural verb, iv. 389.
xii. 124.
there and where, used as substantives, iv. 169.
x. 127.

for, instead of because, passim.
as, for as if, passim.
sentences beginning one way, and ending another, iv.

245, 255.

xv. 38, 109.

less and more; Shakspeare apt to get into confusion
in the use of those words, xii. 8, 273.

xiv. 32, 313.

Words differently accented from modern usage:

advértize, ix. 12.
aspéct, iv. 177.
charáctered, x. 152.
commérce, viii. 354.
cómplete, vii. 235.
confíne, subst. x. 120.
cónjure, beseech, iv. 62.
contract, subst. xix. 137.