imitate him; and the ill Succeſs of Shakeſpear's Imitators, produces no other Effect, than to make him be conſider'd as inimitable. You remember that in the Tragedy of Othello Moor of Venice, (a moſt tender Piece) a Man ſtrangles his Wife on the Stage; and that the poor Woman, whilſt ſhe is ſtrangling, cries aloud, that ſhe dies very unjuſtly. You know that in Hamlet Prince of Denmark , two Grave-Diggers make a Grave, and are all the Time drinking, ſinging Ballads, and making humourous Reflexions, (natural indeed enough to Perſons of their Profeſſion) on the ſeveral Skulls they throw up with their Spades; but a Circumſtance which will ſurprize you is, that this ridiculous Incident has been imitated. In the Reign of King Charles the Second, which was that of Politeneſs, and the Golden Age of the Liberal Arts; Otway, in his Venice preserv'd, introduces Antonio the Senator, and Naki his Curtezan, in the Midſt of the Horrors of the Marquis of Bedemar's Conſpiracy. Anto-
