As it is not in this Province of the _Drama_ that the
Strength and Mastery of _Shakespear_ lay, so I shall not undertake the
tedious and ill-natur'd Trouble to point out the several Faults he was
guilty of in it. His Tales were seldom invented, but rather taken either
from true History, or Novels and Romances: And he commonly made use of
'em in that Order, with those Incidents, and that extent of Time in
which he found 'em in the Authors from whence he borrow'd them. So _The
Winter's Tale_, which is taken from an old Book, call'd, _The Delectable
History of_ Dorastus _and_ Faunia, contains the space of sixteen or
seventeen Years, and the Scene is sometimes laid in _Bohemia_, and
sometimes in _Sicily_, according to the original Order of the Story.
Almost all his Historical Plays comprehend a great length of Time, and
very different and distinct Places: And in his _Antony_ and _Cleopatra_,
the Scene travels over the greatest Part of the _Roman_ Empire. But in
Recompence for his Carelessness in this Point, when he comes to another
Part of the _Drama_, _The Manners of his Characters, in Acting or
Speaking what is proper for them, and fit to be shown by the Poet_, he
may be generally justify'd, and in very many places greatly commended.
For those Plays which he has taken from the _English_ or _Roman_
History, let any Man compare 'em, and he will find the Character as
exact in the Poet as the Historian.
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