Indeed, to point out, and exclaim
upon, all the Beauties of _Shakespeare_, as they come singly in
Review, would be as insipid, as endless; as tedious, as unnecessary:
But the Explanation of those Beauties, that are less obvious to
common Readers, and whose Illustration depends on the Rules of just
Criticism, and an exact Knowledge of human Life, should deservedly
have a Share in a general Critic upon the Author.
[Sidenote*: Mr. _Addison_ and _He_ compared, on a similar Topick.]
I shall dismiss the Examination into these his latent Beauties, when
I have made a short Comment upon a remarkable Passage from _Julius
Caesar_, which is inexpressibly fine in its self, *and greatly
discovers our Author's Knowledge and Researches into Nature.
Between the acting of a dreadful Thing,
And the first Motion, all the _Interim_ is
Like a Phantasma, or a hideous Dream:
The Genius, and the mortal Instruments
Are then in Council; and the State of Man,
Like to a little Kingdom, suffers then
The Nature of an Insurrection.
That nice Critick _Dionysius_ of _Halicarnassus_ confesses, that he
could not find those great Strokes, which he calls the _terrible
Graces_, in any of the Historians, which he frequently met with in
_Homer_. I believe, the Success would be the same likewise, if we
sought for them in any other of _our_ Authors besides our _British_
HOMER, _Shakespeare_. This Description of the Condition of
Conspirators has a Pomp and Terror in it, that perfectly astonishes.
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