the duke did, to the mere act or circumftance of dying; for when the retorts upon him, And shamed life a hateful, he goes on, Ay, but to die, and go we know not where. As if he had faid, I do not mean the mere pain of dying; it is To lie in cold obstruction, and to rot; Can we think that Shakespeare could so far forget himself, as to be here fo very explicit regarding the notion of a future state, if but two or three pages before he had been inculcating a contrary doctrine !-What then must we think of his commentator, who affects to be moved with indignation, and in effect prefumes to charge him on this account with vulgarity, folly and impiety! Shakespeare appears to have had fuch a regard, even for his mortal part, as to bestow a curfe on the perfon who should difturb his afhes; what a fevere malediction, then, would he not have bestowed on that facrilegious hand, which had thus mangled his immortal reputation, could he have penetrated the womb of time, or anticipated the temerity of a modern critic!' The next fpecimen we shall select, fhall be, the remarks on a paffage in The Merchant of Venice: DUKE. Upon my pow'r I may difmifs the court, Unless Bellario, a learned Doctor, Whom I have fent for to determine this, « Bellario, a learned Doctor, The doctor and court are here Whom I have fent for. fomewhat unfkilfully brought together. That the duke would, on fuch an occafion, confult a doctor of great reputation, is not unlikely; but how fhould this be foreknown by Portia ?" Here our author grows ftill warmer; and he thus expoftulates with the learned editor: Why will you, Dr. Johnfon, be thus conftantly feeking occasion to find fault with Shakespeare, for misconduct in his drama; the bufinefs of which you are evidently much too unfilled in to have a right to take upon you the authority of cenfuring the foremost man of all this world? You admit it to be right that Dr. Bellario, whom we may very well well fuppofe to be a civilian of the first rank, should be fent for, to advife in this caufe. You know too, I imagine (or at least you might have known, if you had read the play) that this fame Dr. Bellario (for he was a doctor too; we are all doctors, Dr. Johnfon) was a relation, a coufin, to Portia. This being premised, is it not very natural to fuppofe that, after Baffanio was called away in fuch hafte to Venice, on account of the profecution carried on against his friend Anthonio, his bride Portia would fend a meffenger to her coufin Bellario, in order to afk his opinion of fo extraordinary a cafe, or to intereft him in Anthonio's behalf? And can any thing be more probable than that Ee should inform her, on receiving fuch a meffage, that he was actually fent for to Venice on that very account? For it is to be observed, that the duke speaks as if he had fent for him fome confiderable time before: for he fays, unlefs Bellaris, &c, ume Lere to DAY. His power of difmiffing the court alfo, on his not coming, fecms founded on fome phyfical or moral impediment, that might very naturally occur, to prevent his arrival was the time: fo that he must be fuppofed either at fuch ad honce is made it neceffary to give him a confiderable timely were that the extraordinary nature of the caufe might mice in quire fo much the more time to prepare himfelf esse ferase it-This being the fate of the caf, men as very apt foundation on which to build Portia's plot of cik lang for the doctor? which defign the no doubt concen by lemer, before the fent for the notes and coate Rene V. a& MI.—And that this was really the came dent, from what Portiz fays to Jeffira, durvy raSE L fine, and before the fendi Balthazar to be wo and doces.—Ježica compliments ber of 1 the bond three times over, was nothing; becaufe fhe could not be fure the money would be taken. Nay, fhe evidently does not intend to truft to that acceptance. It is therefore, I think, very evident that she had even at this time concerted the scheme with her coufin Bellario. How far Belmont might be from either Venice or Padua, I cannot exactly fay: but it appears from circumftances that it could not be very far. From Belmont to Venice, it feems, there was a common traject, or ferry; fo that the diftance of both from Padua could not be too great for tranfacting the bufinefs in queftion. It is true, that the formality with which Portia introduces her charge to Balthazar, when she fends him for the notes and cloaths, feems to favour the fuppofition, that this was the first time fhe had fent to Bellario, in which cafe there would be fome grounds for Dr. Johnson's remark; but we muft obferve, that Balthazar is now to be intrufted with a more important charge than he had before been, in merely carrying and bringing back a letter; or, it is not unlikely, that Portia entrusted that bufinefs with a fervant of lefs importance. All these things duly confidered, it is plain, I think, that Dr. Johnfon has very rafhly and unadvifedly prefumed to call Shakespeare unskilful, because he wanted skill himfelf. I fhall difmifs this note, therefore, with advifing our edifor never to wade fo far out of his depth for the future. It is a trite adage, but it is a very good one, and worthy to be ob ferved; Ne futor ultra crépidam. I do not fay that Dr. Johnson may not probably be well fkilled in fome things. Not that I knstu that he is well killed in any*; for, though I have read all his works, I declare he does not appear to me (at leaft fo far as I myself am able to judge) to be mafter of any one science, or any one language, fo that he muft not plume himself on my fuffrage. Not that I deny him to be mafter of the whole circle of sciences, and of all languages ancient and modern. But, if it be fo; if it be really true, as his friends inform me, that he is poffeffed of fuch amazing ftores of literary and fcientific knowledge, I cannot help thinking him extremely culpable, not to fay very ungrateful, to keep them all avaricioufly to himself, and fob off the public with mere fhreds and patches. How dare Dr. Johnfon treat that public with fo much contempt, which hath done him fuch extravagant benour? How dare he behave to that public with fuch unparalell'd ingratitude, which hath given him fuch unparalell'd, such I will except indeed the article of literary compofition; in which, fo far as the merit of a speech, an effay, a life, or a novel, goes, he is undoubtedly the best writer in Chriftendon. But his merit even here is in a great measure mechanical, and may be justly accounted for in a manner that will do little honour either to his boasted genius os learning.' avowed, avowed, fuch unmerited encouragement?-It is true, that its having done all this is fufficient to give Dr. Johnfon a very mean opinion of its fpirit, tafte and judgment. But he should have been aware of carrying the impofition too far; he fhould not have prefumed to think that this public, taftelefs and ignorant as he may suppose it, could ever be prevailed on to grace his waving noddle with a wreath, irreverently torn from the brows of Shakefpeare! The felf-fufficient, the arrogant, Dr. Johnfon may poffibly conceive, that the zeal, with which the very name of Shakefpeare infpires me, is counterfeited; and that I exprefs myself" thus warmly, to provoke him to a reply.-No, Dr. Johnfon,. you cannot reply. I muft join in that deference, which I think the world hath undefervedly paid you, fo far as to own, that I should never have prefumed to publifh any thing against Dr. Johnson, that I had not good reason to think UNANSWERABLE. It is indeed prudential in you to make a virtue of neceffity, and previously to give out, that you will not do what you have fo much reason to think you can not do.-Yet you have tellites, your light-troops; you may fend them out to barrafs your fa the enemy whom you dare not encounter. But, as I am no farther your enemy than as you are Shakespeare's, fend who you will, as many as you will; I will undertake, under to gal lant a leader, to rout an army of fcribblers, to crufh a myriad of cockle-fhell critics, in his caufe.' Boldly faid! Mr. Kenrick! Why, you are the very OBLAK DO FURIOSO of Criticifm! But are you not apprehenfive of se fate of Tom Osborne? Prefumptuous Tom Ofborne! who, braring the vengeance of this paper-crown'd idol,' [the editor of Creos fpeare] was, for his temerity, transfixed to his mother was by a thundering folio!' KENRICK's Pref. p. xi. * We intended fome farther extracts from this ervesting Review; but the paffages we have already quotes, van 16 ficiently extended the article: we fhall comm for the prefent, with a word of exhortator was £ fered to 14. Kenrick,-that he will, in the view. undertaking, humanely condefcend to lay in scissor moderate Es wrath againft a fellow coute wat e author, and, for the honour of letters is your terature in particular, liften to the 2014 young Bard the Reviewers and Com O be as rape for mare s Ner aus inerE DE 24 A View of the Advantages of Inland Navigations: With a Plan of a Navigable Canal, intended for a Communication between the Ports of Liverpool and Hull. 8vo. Is. Becket and De Hondt, &c. IN Na nation, which muft derive its opulence, its ftrength and glory from the benefits of trade and commerce, every design for cultivating and diffufing those benefits, muft at all times merit our thanks, though the execution may not always command our applaufe. But at a time, when we are bewailing the decay of trade, and lamenting that the balance is almost every where against us; when we are complaining that our rivals the French outfell us in moft articles of commerce; that our friends the Portugueze are endeavouring to fupply themfelves from other markets; and that even our own colonies are attempting to fet up for themselves; when both traders and landholders are ready to fink under the weight of heavy impofitions, and the exceffive prices of all kinds. of commodities.-At fuch a time, a defign to enhance the value of lands, and to revive and extend the manufactures and commerce of Great Britain, must be peculiarly feasonable and acceptable more efpecially, when the propofal not only difplays a good intention, but a perfect and comprehenfive knowledge of the fubject. Such is the merit of the little treatife now under confideration, which, in the moft perfpicuous and intelligent manner, fets forth the advantages arifing from inland navigations in general, and the particular benefits which may be derived from the propofed communication between the ports of Liverpool and Hull, by means of a navigable canal. Happy would it be for this nation, if men of fortune and influence, instead of wafting their wealth and mifapplying their talents in election-fquabbles and party broils, would turn their thoughts to fuch national objects, and entertain a generous emulation who fhould beft promote the intereft of their country! That the trading intereft of this kingdom cannot be more effectually improved than by means of inland navigations, is evident from the noble experiment made by his grace the Duke of Bridgewater, which has been attended with fuch beneficial effects to that part of the country. Whatever temporary obftructions may occur, it is certain, that the nation which fells cheapest will in the end take the lead in commerce; and they who employ the feweft hands will afford their commodities at the moft reasonable rate. It is well known, daily experienced, that this kingdom is too thinly peopled, owing to the vast numbers who migrate to our extenfive colonics, |