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On this play Mr. Pope has the following note, Act I. Sc. i.
“ This firſt ſcene was added ſince the edition of 1608, which is much ſhort of the preſent editions, wherein the ſpeeches are generally enlarged, and raiſed; ſeveral whole ſcenes beſides, and the choruſes alſo, were ſince added by Shakeſpeare.”
Dr. Warburton alſo poſitively aſſerts that this firſt ſcene was written after the acceſſion of K. James I. and the ſubſequent editors agree, that ſeveral additions were made by the author to King Henry V. after it was originally compoſed. But there is, I believe, no good ground for theſe aſſertions. It is true that no perfect edition of this play was publiſhed
- ↑ His miſquoting a line of Julius Cæſar, ſo as to render it nonſenſe, at a time when the play was in print, is a ſtrong illuſtration of this part of his character. The plea of an unfaithful memory cannot be urged in his defence, for he tells us in his Diſcoveries, that till he was paſt forty, he could repeat every thing that he had written.
der, after having peruſed the following character of Jonſon, drawn by Mr. Drummond of Hawthornden, a contemporary, and an intimate acquaintance of his, will not, perhaps readily believe theſe poſthumous encomiums to have been ſincere. “ Jonſon, (ſays that writer) was a great lover and praiſer of himſelf; a condemner and ſcorner of others, rather chuſing to to loſe a friend than a jeſt; jealous of every word and action of thoſe about him, eſpecially after drink, which was one of the elements he lived in; a diſſembler of the parts which reigned in him; a bragger of ſome good that he wanted: he thought nothing right, but what either himſelf or ſome of his friends had done. He was paſſionately kind and angry; careleſs either to gain or to keep; vindictive, but, if he was well anſwered, greatly chagrined; interpreting the beſt ſayings often to the worſt[1]. He was for any religion, being verſed in all. His inventions were smooth and eaſy, but above all, he excelled in tranſlation. In ſhort, he was, in his perſonal character, the very reverse of Shakeſpeare; as ſurly, ill-natured, proud and diſagreeable, as Shakeſpeare, with ten times his merit, was gentle, good-natured, eaſy, and amiable.” Drummond's Works, fol. 1711.
In the year l619 Jonſon went to Scotland, to viſit Mr. Drummond, who has left a curious account of a converſation that paſſed between them, relative to the principal poets of thoſe times.
From a natural partiality to his author, the foregoing well-authenticated character was ſuppreſſed by the laſt learned editor of Jonſon’s works.
