Shakespeare wanted not the Stilts of Languages to raise him above all other men. The quotation from Lilly in the _Taming of the Shrew_, if indeed it be his, strongly proves the extent of his reading: had he known Terence, he would not have quoted erroneously from his _Grammar_. Every one hath met with men in common life, who, according to the language of the _Water-poet_, “got only from _Possum_ to _Posset_,” and yet will throw out a line occasionally from their _Accidence_ or their _Cato de Moribus_ with tolerable propriety.—If, however, the old Editions be trusted in this passage, our Author’s memory somewhat failed him in point of _Concord_. The rage of _Parallelisms_ is almost over, and in truth nothing can be more absurd. “THIS was stolen from _one_ Classick,—THAT from _another_”;—and had I not stept in to his rescue, poor Shakespeare had been stript as naked of ornament, as when he first _held Horses_ at the door of the Playhouse. The late ingenious and modest Mr. Dodsley declared himself Untutor’d in the lore of Greece or Rome: Yet let us take a passage at a venture from any of his performances, and a thousand to one, it is stolen. Suppose it be his celebrated Compliment to the _Ladies_, in one of his earliest pieces, _The Toy-shop_: “A good Wife makes the cares of the World sit easy, and adds a sweetness to its pleasures; she is a Man’s best Companion in Prosperity, and his only Friend in Adversity; the carefullest preserver of his Health, and the kindest Attendant in his Sickness; a faithful Adviser in Distress, a Comforter in Affliction, and a prudent Manager in all his domestic Affairs.”—_Plainly_, from a fragment of Euripides preserved by Stobæus. Γυνὴ γὰρ ἐν κακοῖσι καὶ νόσοις πόσει Ἥδιστόν ἐστι, δώματ᾽ ἤν οἰκῇ καλῶς, Ὀργήν τε πραύνουσα, καὶ δυσθυμίας Ψυχὴν μεθιστᾶσ᾽!—_Par._ 4to. 1623. Malvolio in the _Twelfth-Night_ of Shakespeare hath some expressions very similar to Alnaschar in the _Arabian Tales_: which perhaps may be sufficient for _some_ Criticks to prove his acquaintance with Arabic! It seems however, at last, that “_Taste_ should determine the matter.” This, as Bardolph expresses it, is a _word of exceeding good command_: but I am willing that the Standard itself be somewhat better ascertained before it be opposed to demonstrative Evidence.—Upon the whole, I may consider myself as the _Pioneer_ of the _Commentators_: I have removed a deal of _learned Rubbish_, and pointed out to them Shakespeare’s track in the ever-pleasing _Paths of Nature_. This was necessarily a previous Inquiry; and I hope I may assume with some confidence, what one of the first Criticks of the Age was pleased to declare on reading the former Edition, that “The Question is _now_ for ever decided.” An Essay On The Learning Of Shakespeare: Addressed To Joseph Cradock, Esq. “Shakespeare,” says a Brother of the _Craft_, “is a vast garden of criticism”: and certainly no one can be favoured with more weeders _gratis_.