have
re-establish'd Liberty, after his _Parthian_ Expedition; and if this
Conversation had been kept secret till the Death of _Caesar_, and then had
been discover'd by _Anthony_; then had _Caesar_ fall'n, so belov'd and
lamented by the _Roman_ People, so pitied and so bewail'd even by the
Conspirators themselves, as never Man fell. Then there would have been a
Catastrophe the most dreadful and the most deplorable that ever was beheld
upon the Tragick Stage. Then had we seen the noblest of the Conspirators
cursing their temerarious Act, and the most apprehensive of them in
dreadful expectation of those horrible Calamities which fell upon the
_Romans_ after the Death of _Caesar_. But, Sir, when I write this to you, I
write it with the utmost Deference to the extraordinary Judgment of that
great Man who some Years ago, I hear, alter'd the _Julius Caesar_. And I
make no doubt but that his fine Discernment and the rest of his great
Qualities have amply supply'd the Defects which are found in the Character
of _Shakespear_'s _Caesar_.

I should here answer an Argument, by which some People pretend to prove,
and especially those with whom I lately convers'd, that _Shakespear_ was
conversant with the Ancients. But besides that the Post is about to be
gone, I am heartily tir'd with what I have already writ, and so doubtless
are you; I shall therefore defer the rest to the next opportunity, and
remain

Your, _&c_.

Letter III.

_Sir_, Feb. 8.

I come now to the main Argument, which some People urge to prove that
_Shakespear_ was conversant with the Ancients. For there is, say they,
among _Shakespear_'s Plays, one call'd _The Comedy of Errors_, which is
undeniably an Imitation of the _Menechmi_ of _Plautus_. Now _Shakespear_,
say they, being conversant with _Plautus_, it undeniably follows that he
was acquainted with the Ancients; because no _Roman_ Author could be hard
to him who had conquer'd _Plautus_. To which I answer, that the Errors
which we have mention'd above are to be accounted for no other way but by
the want of knowing the Ancients, or by downright want of Capacity. But
nothing can be more absurd or more unjust than to impute it to want of
Capacity. For the very Sentiments of _Shakespear_ alone are sufficient to
shew that he had a great Understanding: And therefore we must account some
other way for his Imitation of the _Menechmi_. I remember to have seen,
among the Translations of _Ovid_'s Epistles print