The Legend of Shakespeare	i j
Life itgelf; it is as impossible to find any two alike; and such
as from their relation or affinity in any respect appear most
to be Twins, will upon comparison be found remarkably
distinct. To this life and variety of Character, we must add
the wonderful Preservation of it; which is such throughout
his plays, that had all the Speeches been printed without the
very names of the Persons, I believe one might have applied
them with certainty to every speaker.
The Power over our Passions was never possessed in a
more eminent degree, or displayed in so different instances.
Yet all along, there is seen no labour, 110 pains to raise them;
no preparation to guide our guess to the effect, or be per-
ceived to lead toward it: But the heart swells, and the tears
burst out, just at the proper places: We are surprised, the
moment we weep; and yet upon reflection find the passion
so just, that we should be surprised if we had not wept, and
wept at that very moment.
Dr. Johnson wrote his famous preface to Shakespeare
hi 176^. Johnson never praised extravagantly, and he
criticised freely. Shakespeare by this time was indisput-
ably a classic, or as Johnson sonorously put it—
The Poet, of whose works I have undertaken the revision,
may now begin to assume the dignity of an ancient, and
claim the privilege of established fame and prescriptive
veneration. He has long outlived his century, the term com-
monly fixed as the test of literary merit. Whatever advantages
he might once derive from personal allusions, local customs,
or temporary opinions, have for many years been lost; and
every topic of merriment or motive of sorrow, which the
modes of artificial life afforded him, now only obscure the
scenes which they once illunifnated. The effects of favour and
competition are at an end; the tradition of his friendships
and his enmities has perished; his works support no opinion
with arguments, nor supply any faction with invectives \ they