the first and his parliament, renders an acquaintance with his character a matter of importance, towards forming a right opinion of the troublesome period in which he lived. He was a lawyer of great eminence, and with his professional knowledge, he possessed a vast body of general learning, particularly in antiquities. He drew up "a Treatise on the Civil Government of England before the Conquest," at the age of twenty two years; which gained him a great reputation among the most learned men of his time. His opposition to the measures of the court in the reign of James, as well as that of his successor, do honour to his integrity; but it is a matter of question whether he was actuated by pure principles in his conduct in the Long Parliament. He was equally avaricious of money and popularity, and both were more easily gained and secured in connection with the opposition faction than in the ranks of loyalty. In short, whatever may be conceded to the moral character of Selden in the outset of his political career, it is to be feared that little apology can be offered for his continuance with the murderers of his king. He was very positive and fixed in his own opinion; and he was fond of quibble and contradiction. In the house of commons, and in the assembly of divines, for he was a member of each, he appears principally to have delighted in gravelling let; but this is improbable, since it appears from Roscius Anglicanus, (commonly called Downes the Prompter's book) that Shakspeare took the pains to instruct Joseph Taylor in the character of Hamlet, and John Lowine in that of King Henry the eighth. He who could instruct some of the first performers of the time, and who has besides given such admirable instructions in the art of acting, as are delivered in the character of Hamlet, could not be altogether so indifferent a player as this account represents him to have been. Oldys, in his Collections, has another story illustrative of Shakspeare as a performer; but there are many palpable errors in it. Such as it is we lay it before our readers: "One of Shakspeare's younger brothers, who lived to a good old age, even some years, as I compute, after the restoration of King Charles II. would, in his younger days, come to London to visit his brother Will, as he called him, and be a spectator of him as an actor in some of his own plays. This custom, as his brother's fame enlarged, and his dramatic entertainments grew the greatest support of our principal, if not of all our theatres, he continued, it seems, so long after his brother's death, as even to the latter end of his own life. The curiosity at this time of the most noted actors exciting them to learn something from his brother, they justly held him in the highest veneration. And it may be well believed as there was besides a kinsman and descendant of 、 of the family, who was then a celebrated actor among them (viz. Charles Hart, who died August, 1683). This opportunity made them greedily inquisitive into every little circumstance, more especially in his dramatic character, which his brother could relate of him. But he, it seems was so stricken in years, and possibly his memory so weakened with infirmities (which might make him the easier pass for a man of weak intellects) that he could give them but little light into their enquiries, and all that could be collected from him of his brother Will in that station was, the faint, general, and almost last ideas he had of having once seen him act a part in one of his own comedies, wherein, being to personate a decrepid old man, he wore a long beard, and appeared so weak and drooping, and unable to walk, that he was forced to be supported and carried by another person to a table, at which he was seated among some company who were eating, and one of them sung a song." This evidently alludes to the character of Adam, in As you Like it, Act. II. Scene the last. Queen Elizabeth had several of Shakspeare's plays performed before her, and he paid her majesty a beautiful compliment in his Midsummer Night's Dream, where he terms her, "A fair vestal throned by the west." She was so highly delighted with the character of Falstaff, as to command him to continue it for one play play more, and to shew him in love, which occasioned the admirable comedy of the Merry Wives of Windsor. Old Bowman the player reported from Sir William Bishop, that some part of Sir John Falstaff's character was drawn for a townsman of Stratford, who either faithlessly broke a contract, or spitefully refused to part with some land, for a valuable consideration, adjoining to Shakspeare's in or near that town. At the conclusion of Lintot's edition of Shakspeare's Poems, it is said, "that most learned prince and great patron of learning, king James the first was pleased with his own hand to write an amicable letter to Mr. Shakspeare; which letter, though now lost, remained long in the hands of Sir William D'Avenant, as a credible person, now living can testify." This anecdote was related by John Sheffield, Duke of Buckingham; and Dr. Farmer was of opinion that the letter was written by king James, in return for the compliment paid to him in Macbeth. J Shakspeare's deficiency in learning was his real advantage, and concerning which Mr. Rowe relates this story which he had from Dryden. "In a conversation between Sir John Suckling, Sir William D'Avenant, Endymion Porter, Mr. Hales of Eton, and Ben Jonson; Sir John Suckling, who was a professed admirer of Shakspeare, had undertaken his defence against Ben Jonson, with some warmth; Mr. Hales, who had sat |