_Falstaff's Billet-doux_, and
Master _Slender_'s
_Ah! Sweet_ Ann Page!
are very good Expressions of Love in their Way. In _Twelfth-Night_ there
is something singularly Ridiculous and Pleasant in the fantastical
Steward _Malvolio_. The Parasite and the Vain-glorious in _Parolles_, in
_All's Well that ends Well_ is as good as any thing of that Kind in
_Plautus_ or _Terence_. _Petruchio_, in _The Taming of the Shrew_, is an
uncommon Piece of Humour. The Conversation of _Benedick_ and _Beatrice_
in _Much ado about Nothing_, and of _Rosalind_ in _As you like it_, have
much Wit and Sprightliness all along. His Clowns, without which
Character there was hardly any Play writ in that Time, are all very
entertaining: And, I believe, _Thersites_ in _Troilus_ and _Cressida_,
and _Apemantus_ in _Timon_, will be allow'd to be Master-Pieces of ill
Nature, and satyrical Snarling. To these I might add, that incomparable
Character of _Shylock_ the _Jew_, in _The Merchant of_ Venice; but tho'
we have seen that Play Receiv'd and Acted as a Comedy, and the Part of
the _Jew_ perform'd by an Excellent Comedian, yet I cannot but think it
was design'd Tragically by the Author. There appears in it such a
deadly Spirit of Revenge, such a savage Fierceness and Fellness, and
such a bloody designation of Cruelty and Mischief, as cannot agree
either with the Stile or Characters of Comedy.
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