ent. No one could call an opponent names
in the Billingsgate style more effectively, and every man who ventured
to differ from him was either a knave or a fool. 'Warburton's stock
argument,' it has been said, 'is a threat to cudgel anyone who disputes
his opinion.' He was a laborious student, and the mass of work he
accomplished exhibits his robust energy, but he has left nothing which
lives in literature or in theology. He was, however, a man of various
acquisitions, and won, for that reason, the praise of Dr. Johnson. 'The
table is always full, sir. He brings things from the north and the
south and from every quarter. In his _Divine Legation_ you are always
entertained. He carries you round and round without carrying you forward
to the point, but then you have no wish to be carried forward.'

Bentley's more concise description of Warburton's attainments deserves
to be recorded. He was, he says, 'a man of monstrous appetite, but bad
digestion.'

Warburton's _Shakespeare_ appeared in 1747, his _Pope_ in 1751. It
cannot be said that either poet has cause to be grateful to his
commentator. Of his _Shakespeare_ a few words may be appropriately said
here. In this pretentious and untrustworthy edition, Warburton accuses
Theobald of plagiarism, treats him with contempt, and then uses his text
to print from. In his Preface he declares that his own Notes 'take in
the whole compass of Criticism,' and he professes to restore the poet's
genuine Text. Yet, as the editors of the _Cambridge Shakespeare_
observe, there is no trace, so far as they have discovered, 'of his
having collated for himself either the earlier Folios or any of the
Quartos.' Warburton professed to observe the severe canons of literal
criticism, and this suggested the title to Thomas Edwards of a volume in
which the critic's editorial pretensions are attacked with some humour
and much justice.[68]

We may add that Bishop Hurd, Warburton's most intimate friend, edited
his works in seven volumes (1788), and six years later, by way of
preface to a new edition, published an _Account of the Life, Writings,
and Character of the Author_.

FOOTNOTES:

[57] Readers who remember Mr. Browning's estimate of 'sage Mandeville'
in his _Parleyings with Certain Persons_ may deem this criticism unjust;
but the De Mandeville who speaks in that poem is the creation of the
poet's imagination, or rather he is Mr. Browning himself.

[58] _Bolingbroke: a Historical Study_, p. 133