pronunciations is controverted by the feveral perfons who have adopted them; and what right has this felf-appointed judge to determine which is the best?

The Author allows the propriety of the objection, and therefore thinks it neceffary to lay open the grounds upon which he puts in his claim to this arduous office.

There was a time, and that at no very diftant period, which may be called the Auguftan age of England, I mean during the reign of Queen Anne, when English was the language fpoken at court; and when the fame attention was paid to propriety of pronunciation, as that of French at the Court of Verfailles. This produced a uniformity in that article in all the polite circles; and a gentleman or lady would have been as much afhamed of a wrong pronunciation then, as perfons of a liberal education would now be of mif-fpelling words. But on the acceffion of a foreign family to the throne, amid the many bleflings conferred by that happy event, the English language fuffered much by being banished the court, to make room for the French. From that time the regard formerly paid to pronunciation has been gradually declining; fo that now the greatest improprieties in that point are to be found among people of fashion; many pronunciations, which thirty or forty years ago were confined to the vulgar, are gradually gaining ground; and if fomething be not done to stop this growing evil, and fix a general ftandard at prefent, the English is likely to become a mere jargon, which every one may pronounce as he pleases. It is to be wifhed, that fuch a ftandard had been established at the period before mentioned, as it is probable, that English was then spoken in its highest ftate of perfection. Nor is it yet too late to recover it in that very state. It was my fortune to receive the early part of my education under a mailer, who made that a material object of inftruction to the youth committed to his care. He was the intimate friend, and chofen companion of Swift; who had paffed great part of his life in a familiar intercourfe with the most diftinguished men of the age, whether for rank or genius. Eminent as he was for the purity and accuracy of his ftyle, he was not more attentive to that point in writing, than he was to exactness of pronunciation in fpeaking. Nor could he bear to hear any mistakes committed by his friends in that refpect, without correcting them. I had the happiness to be much with him in the early part of my life, and for feveral months read to him three or four hours a day, receiving ftill the benefit of his inftruction. I have fince had frequent opportunities of being convinced, that a uniformity of pronunciation had prevailed at the court of Queen Anne, by comparing Swift's with that of many diftinguifhed perfonages who were there initiated into life; among the number of which were the Duke of Dorfet and the Earl of Chesterfield. And that very pronunciation is ftill the customary one among the defcendents of all the politer part of the world bred in that reign. Upon investigating the principles on which the pronunciation of that time was formed, I found, that though there were no rules laid down for its regulation, yet there was a fecret influence of analogy conftantly operating, which attracted the different words, according to their several claffes,to itself as their centre, And where there were any deviations from that anaB 4

logy,

logy, the anomalies were founded upon the best principle by which fpeech can be regulated, that of preferring the pronunciation which was the most ealy to the organs of fpeech, and confequently most agreeable to the ear. So far the Author has laid open his pretenfions, upon a fuppofition that pronunciation depended only upon cuftom and fashion. But when he adds, that he is the first who ever laid open the principles upon which our pronunciation is founded, and the rules by which it is regulated, he hopes the claim he has laid in to the office he has undertaken, will not be confidered as either vain or prefumptuous.'

Undoubtedly there cannot be a better ftandard of pronuncia, tion, fo far as it is regulated by ufe and cuftom alone, than that which is afforded by the reign of Queen Anne; though the accentuation of every individual word was not, even in that period, fo firmly fettled, but that fome few variations may be traced in the very best writers. Mr. Sheridan had certainly a great advantage in being acquainted with fach mafters of our fpoken language as Dr. Swift, the Earl of Cheflerfield, and the Duke of Dorfet; and this advantage hath been prodigiously increafed by his own long and ardent attention to the subject, both in a fpeculative and a practical view, in which refpect no perfon living can pretend to compare with him. Nevertheless, our Author must not be furprifed, if, in a matter in its nature fo delicate and difficult as that concerning which he treats, a doubt fhould here and there arife, in the minds of the most candid critics, with regard to the propriety of his determinations. For inftance, we would with him to reconfider, whether in the words which begin with fuper, fuch as fuperftition, fupercede, &c. he is right in directing thein to be pronounced ho-per. Whatever might be the cafe in Queen Anne's time, it doth not occur to us that any one, at prefent, above the lower ranks, fpeaks these words with the found, ; or that a good reason can be given for their being thus founded. Nay, their being thus fpoken is contrary to Mr. Sheridan's own rule; for he fays, that the letter S always preferves its own proper found at the beginning of words. A few doubts, however, of this kind, will by no means detract from the general merit of the Dictionary before us; which is undoubtedly a work of great authority and importance, and will be found of the utmoit service to all public fpeakers; to all foreigners who ftudy our tongue; to all who have been brought up in the ufe of the Scotch, Irish, or other provincial accents; and to all teachers of the English Janguage.

I

What is ftill wanting to complete the undertaking is, that a School of Eloquence be opened, where not only pupils may be regularly taught the art of delivery for their own benefit, but where perfons may be infructed in the method of teaching it to

others,

others, that thus it may fpread through the land. Such an inftitution would alone be the means of effectually answering the ends proposed by our Author, He had formerly an intention of carrying a plan of this kind into execution; and he is of all men the best fitted for conducting it, by his deep fcientific knowledge of the fubject, and by his being one of the moft correct speakers of the age. Whether Mr. Sheridan ftill perfifts in his defign, we are not able to fay; but if he means to pursue it, we fincerely wifh that he may fucceed in the prosecution of fo valuable and defirable an object.

ART. II. Supplement to the Edition of Shakspeare's Plays published in 1778, by Samuel Johnfon and George Steevens. Containing additional Obfervations by feveral of the former Commentators: to which are fubjoined, the genuine Poems of the fame Author, and feven Plays that have been afcribed to him. With Notes by the Editor [Mr. Malone] and others. 2 Vols. 8vo. (large) 18 s. Boards. Bathurft, &c. 1780.

THIS

HIS very curious Supplement to Shakspeare well deferves the rank it claims; for though it doth not place itself on an equal footing with the laft edition of Johnfon and Steevens, yet it merits a place next to it: and the admirers of Shakspeare will efteem themselves indebted to Mr. Malone for the pains he hath taken to gratify their curiofity.

The Editor's Advertisement is fenfible and modeft. He acknowledges his obligations to feveral learned and ingenious gentlemen, who affifted him with notes and obfervations to ilJuftrate fome obfcure or interefting paffages in Shakspeare. Sir William Blackstone for the first time appears here as a scholiaft. His very judicious notes have no other diftinction than the final letter of his name, -E. The other gentlemen whofe aliftance the Editor acknowledges are, Dr. Percy [Dean of Carlifle], the Rev. Dr. Farmer, the Rev. Mr. Henley, Mr. Tyrwhitt, and (above all) Mr. Steevens.

The Advertisement is fucceeded by what Mr. Malone calls a Prolegomena, which contains a very curious delineation of the ceconomy of our antient theatres, and is a farther proof how laborious and critical his enquiries have been in order to throw light on this obfcure fubject.

It may afford fonie amufement to our Readers, to present them with a general view of the ancient English ftage, extracted from the Prolegomena; referring thofe who wish to be more minutely acquainted with particulars, and the refources from whence they were drawn, to the work itself.

Before Shakspeare, the drama was little cultivated, or undertood. Not one play that was published before 1592 will bear a fecond reading. Exclufive of myfteries, moralities, tranflations,

&c.

&c. there are but thirty-four pieces extant which were published before that period.

In the time of Shakspeare there were no less than ten playhouses, viz. four private and fix public theatres. Moft, if not all Shakspeare's plays were performed either at the Globe on the Bank-fide, or at the private theatre in Black Friars. This latter was very small, and plays were reprefented there by candle-light. The Globe was fituated on the South fide of the Thames. It was an hexagonal building, partly open to the weather, and partly covered with reeds. It was a public theatre of confiderable fize; and plays were acted there by day-light. It was burnt down in 1613; and rebuilt the following year with great improvements. Exhibitions at the Globe were chiefly calculated for the lower people: those at Black Friars, for a more felect and judicious audience. Wright, author of the Hiftoria Hiftrionica (1699), informs us, that the Globe was a fummer, and the other a winter theatre.

In Shakspeare's time, the price of admiffion to the pit was fixpence: to the best rooms (as they were called) or boxes, a fhilling. Admiffion to meaner theatres was obtained at a much cheaper rate. The Fortune playhouse, which belonged to William Alleyn, the founder of Dulwich College, had a Two-penny gallery, as we learn from Middleton's comedy of the Roaring Girl, 1611. In the reign of Charles I. the price of admiffion to the boxes in the more refpectable theatres was advanced to two hillings, and half a crown.

It appears from feveral paffages in old plays, that persons were permitted to fit on the stage as fpectators of the exhibition. The critics and wits chiefly took their feats there. This indulgence indeed was granted only at the private, not at the public theatres.-The ftage was ftrewed with rufhes; the ufual covering indeed for floors, at that time, in England.

As to the machinery of the ftage, it was very fimple before the time of Shakspeare, as we learn from a paffage in Sir Philip Sydney's Defence of Poetry (1595). Mr. Malone, from several circumstances collected from old plays and their ftage-directions, finks the mechanism of the ancient English theatre fo very low, as to imagine that it feldom went beyond a painted chair, or a trap-door; and that few, if any of them, had any moveable scenes. They had, he thinks, only curtains to be drawn backward or forward on an iron-rod; and a fingle fcene, compofed of tapeftry, which appears fometimes to have been ornamented with pictures. Some paffages in the old dramas incline one to think, that, when tragedies were performed, the ftage was hung with black. Mr. Steevens, however, is of opinion that the machinery of the ftage in the time of Shakspeare was not fo fimple and fcanty as Mr. Malone fuppofes. From fome ftage directions in

the

the first folio edition of his plays, it fhould feem that the machinery was confiderably improved. In The Tempest, Ariel is faid to enter "like a harpy, claps his wings on the table, and with a quaint device the banquet vanishes." In a subsequent scene of the fame play, "Juno defcends ;" and in Cymbeline, "Jupiter defcends likewife in thunder and lightning, fitting upon an eagle." In Macbeth" the cauldron finks, and the apparitions rife." It may be added, fays Mr. Steevens, that the dialogue of Shakspeare hath fuch perpetual reference to objects supposed visible to the audience, that the want of fcenery could not have failed to render many of the defcriptions uttered by his fpeakers abfurd and laughable.' He alfo obferves, that the pageants and tournaments so often exhibited in the reign of Henry VIII. might afford a natural introduction to scenery on the ftage.

Before the exhibition began, three flourishes, or pieces of mufic, were played; or, in the ancient language, there were three foundings. Mufic was likewife played between the acts: the inftruments chiefly ufed were trumpets, cornets and hautboys. The band, which did not confift of more than five or fix perfons, fat in an upper balcony, over what is now called the stage-box.

The performers of male characters generally wore periwigsa part of drefs unusual at that period. Mafques were fometimes worn by those who performed in female characters. In Shakspeare's time, and for many years afterwards, these latter characters were reprefented by boys or young men. Sir William Davenant, in imitation of the foreign theatres, firft introduced females in the scene.

In Shakspeare's time, it was not customary to exhibit more than a fingle drama in one day. The Yorkshire Tragedy, or All's One, appears, indeed, to have been one of four pieces that were exhibited the fame day; and Fletcher has alfo a piece called Four Plays in One. We find no other inftance of the fame kind. Farces were not introduced till after the Restoration.

The entertainment in Shakspeare's time was diversified and enlivened (principally for the fake of the common people) by vaulting, tumbling, flight of hand, morrice-dancing, &c.-in hort (fays old Stephen Goffon, in his School of Abuse, 1579), "nothing is forgot (viz. by the Devil) that might ferve to fet out the matter with pomp, or ravifh the beholders with variety of pleasure."

The amufements which preceded the commencement of the play were anciently of various kinds. While fome part of the audience entertained themselves with reading or playing at cards, others (fays Mr. Malone) were employed in lefs refined occupations, in drinking ale or fmoking tobacco.

It was cuftomary in the time of Shakspeare to carry tablebooks (as they were called) to the theatre, and either from curi

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ofity