ad toward it: But the heart swells,
and the tears burst out, just at the proper places: We are surpriz'd, the
moment we weep; and yet upon reflection find the passion so just, that we
shou'd be surpriz'd if we had not wept, and wept at that very moment.

How astonishing is it again, that the passions directly opposite to these,
Laughter and Spleen, are no less at his command! that he is not more a
master of the _Great_, than of the _Ridiculous_ in human nature; of our
noblest tendernesses, than of our vainest foibles; of our strongest
emotions, than of our idlest sensations!

Nor does he only excel in the Passions: In the coolness of Reflection and
Reasoning he is full as admirable. His _Sentiments_ are not only in
general the most pertinent and judicious upon every subject; but by a
talent very peculiar, something between Penetration and Felicity, he hits
upon that particular point on which the bent of each argument turns, or
the force of each motive depends. This is perfectly amazing, from a man of
no education or experience in those great and publick scenes of life which
are usually the subject of his thoughts: So that he seems to have known
the world by Intuition, to have look'd thro' humane nature at one glance,
and to be the only Author that gives ground for a very new opinion, That
the Philosopher, and even the Man of the world, may be _Born_, as well as
the Poet.

It must be own'd that with all these great excellencies he has almost as
great defects; and that as he has certainly written better, so he has
perhaps written worse, than any other. But I think I can in some measure
account for these defects, from several causes and accidents; without
which it is hard to imagine that so large and so enlighten'd a mind could
ever have been susceptible of them. That all these Contingencies should
unite to his disadvantage seems to me almost as singularly unlucky, as
that so many various (nay contrary) Talents should meet in one man, was
happy and extraordinary.

It must be allowed that Stage-Poetry of all other is more particularly
levell'd to please the _Populace_, and its success more immediately
depending upon the _Common Suffrage_. One cannot therefore wonder, if
_Shakespear_, having at his first appearance no other aim in his writings
than to procure a subsistance, directed his endeavours solely to hit the
taste and humour that then prevailed. The Audience was generally composed
of the meaner sort of people; and