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. The Play it self, take it all together, seems to me to be one of the most finish’d of any of _Shakespear_’s. The tale indeed, in that part relating to the caskets, and the extravagant and unusual kind of bond given by _Antonio_, is a little too much remov’d from the rules of probability: But taking the fact for granted, we must allow it to be very beautifully written. There is something in the friendship of _Antonio_ to _Bassanio_ very great, generous, and tender. The whole fourth act, supposing, as I said, the fact to be probable, is extremely fine. But there are two passages that deserve a particular notice. The first is, what _Portia_ says in praise of mercy, and the other on the power of musick. The melancholy of _Jaques_, in _As you like it_, is as singular and odd as it is diverting. And if what _Horace_ says, Difficile est proprie communia dicere, ’twill be a hard task for any one to go beyond him in the description of the several degrees and ages of man’s life, tho’ the thought be old, and common enough.