ingle
scene or two that should be adopted from Marlow--eleven reigns--of which the
first two appear the only unpromising subjects;--and those two dramas must
be formed wholly or mainly of invented private stories, which, however,
could not have happened except in consequence of the events and measures
of these reigns, and which should furnish opportunity both of exhibiting
the manners and oppressions of the times, and of narrating dramatically
the great events;--if possible, the death of the two sovereigns, at least
of the latter, should be made to have some influence on the finale of the
story. All the rest are glorious subjects; especially Henry I. (being the
struggle between the men of arms and of letters, in the persons of Henry
and Becket), Stephen, Richard I., Edward II., and Henry VII.

"King John."

Act i. sc. 1.--

"_Bast._ James Gurney, wilt thou give us leave awhile?

_Gur._ Good leave, good Philip.

_Bast._ Philip? _sparrow!_ James," &c.

Theobald adopts Warburton's conjecture of "_spare me_."

O true Warburton! and the _sancta simplicitas_ of honest dull Theobald's
faith in him! Nothing can be more lively or characteristic than "Philip?
Sparrow!" Had Warburton read old Skelton's _Philip Sparrow_, an exquisite
and original poem, and, no doubt, popular in Shakespeare's time, even
Warburton would scarcely have made so deep a plunge into the _bathetic_ as
to have deathified "_sparrow_" into "_spare me_!"

Act iii. sc. 2. Speech of Faulconbridge:--

"Now, by my life, this day grows wondrous hot;
Some _airy_ devil hovers in the sky," &c.

Theobald adopts Warburton's conjecture of "fiery."

I prefer the old text: the word "devil" implies "fiery." You need only
read the line, laying a full and strong emphasis on "devil," to perceive
the uselessness and tastelessness of Warburton's alteration.

"Richard II."

I have stated that the transitional link between the epic poem and the
drama is the historic drama; that in the epic poem a pre-announced fate
gradually adjusts and employs the will and the events as its instruments,
whilst the drama, on the other hand, places fate and will in opposition to
each other, and is then most perfect, when the victory of fate is obtained
in consequence of imperfections in the opposing will, so as to leave a
final impression that the fate itself is but a higher and a more
intelligent will.

From the length of the speeches, and the circumstance that, wit