Dramatic Works; since most Men are I believe convinced, that he is very little indebted to any of them; and a remarkable Influence of this is to be observed in his Tragedy of Troilus and Cressida, wherein it appears (as Mr. Theobalds has evidently demonstrated it,) that he has chosen an old English Romance concerning the Trojan War, as a worthier Guide than even Homer himself.  Nature was our great Poet’s Mistress; her alone has he followed as his Conductress; and therefore it has been with regard to her only, that I have considered this Tragedy.  It is not to be denied, but that Shakespeare’s Dramatic Works are in general very much mix’d; his Gold is strangely mingled with Dross in most of his Pieces.  He fell too much into the low Taste of the Age he liv’d in, which delighted in miserable Puns, low Wit, and affected sententious Maxims; and what is most unpardonable in him, he has interspersed his noblest Productions with this Poorness of Thought.  This I have shewn in my Remarks on this Play.  Yet, notwithstanding the Defects I have pointed out, it is, I think, beyond Dispute, that there is much less of this in Hamlet than in any of his Plays; and that the Language in the Whole, is much more pure, and much more free from Obscurity or Bombast, than any of our Author’s Tragedies; for sometimes Shakespeare may be justly tax’d with that Fault.  And we may moreover take Notice, that the Conduct of this Piece is far from being bad; it is superior in that respect (in my Opinion) to many of those Performances in which the Rules are said to be exactly kept to.  The Subject, which is of the nicest Kind, is managed with great Delicacy, much beyond that Piece wherein Agamemnon’s Death is revenged by his Son Orestes, so much admired by all the Lovers of Antiquity; for the Punishment of the Murderer alone by the Son of the murdered Person, is sufficient; there is something too shocking in a Mother’s being put to Death by her Son, although she be never so guilty. Shakespeare’s Management in this Particular, has been much admired by one of our greatest Writers, who takes Notice of the beautiful Caution given by the Ghost to Hamlet,

   But howsoever thou pursuest this Act, &c.

The making the Whole to turn upon the Appearance of a Spectre, is a great Improvement of the Plan he work’d upon; especially as he has conducted it in so sublime a Manner, and accompanied it with all the Circumstances that could make it most perfect in its kind.

I have observed in my Remarks, that the Poet has, with great Art, brought about the Punishment of the guilty Queen by the very Person who caused her Guilt, and this without Staining her Son’s Hands with her Blood.