, a gentleman well known by his indefatigable attention to the works
, a gentleman well known by his
indefatigable attention to the works of Shakspeare, was
born at Troston, near Bury, Suffolk, June 11, 1713, and
received his education at the school of St. Edmund’s Bury.
In the dedication of his edition of Shakspeare, in 1768, to
the duke of Grafton, he observes, that “his father and the
grandfather of his grace were friends, and to the patronage
of the deceased nobleman he owed the leisure which enabled him to bestow the attention of twenty years on that
work.
” The office which his grace bestowed on Mr. Capell was that of deputy inspector of the plays, to which a
salary is annexed of 200l. a year. So early as the year
1745, as Capell himself informs us, shocked at the licentiousness of Hanmer’s plan, he first projected an edition of
Shakspeare, of the strictest accuracy, to be collated and
published, in due time, “ex fide codicum.
” He immediately proceeded to collect and compare the oldest and
scarcest copies; noting the original excellencies and defects of the rarest quartos, and distinguishing the improvements or variations of the first, second, and third folios.
But while all this mass of profound criticism was tempering
in the forge, he appeared at last a self-armed Aristarchus,
almost as lawless as any of his predecessors, vindicating
his claim to public notice by his established reputation, the
authoritative air of his notes, and the shrewd observations,
as well as majesty, of his preface. His edition, however,
was the effort of a poet, rather than of a critic; and Mr.
Capell lay fortified and secure in his strong holds, entrenched in the black letter. Three years after (to use his own language) he “set out his own edition, in ten volumes, small octavo, with an introduction,
” 1768, printed
at the expence of the principal booksellers of London, who
gave him 300l. for his labours. There is not, among the
various publications of the present literary aera, a more
singular composition than that “Introduction.
” In style
and manner it is more obsolete, and antique, than the age
of which it treats. It is lord Herbert of Cherbury walking
the new pavement in all the trappings of romance; but,
like lord Herbert, it displays many valuable qualities accompanying this air of extravagance, much sound sense,
and appropriate erudition. It has since been added to the
prolegomena of Johnson and Steevens’s edition. In the
title-page of this work was also announced, “Whereunto
will be added, in some other volumes, notes, critical and
explanatory, and a body of various readings entire.
” The
introduction likewise declared, that these “notes and various readings
” would be accompanied with another work,
disclosing the sources from which Shakspeare “drew the
greater part of his knowledge in mythological and classical
matters, his fable, his history, and even the seeming peculiarities of his language to which,
” says Mr. Capell,
“we have given for title, The School of Shakspeare.
” Nothing surely could be more properly conceived than such
designs, nor have we ever met with any thing better
grounded on the subject of “the learning of Shakspeare
”
than what may be found in the. long note to this part of
Mr. Capell’s introduction. It is more solid than even the
popular essay on this topic. Such were the meditated
achievements of the critical knight-errant, Edward Capell.
But, alas! art is long, and life is short. Three-andtvventy years had elapsed, in collection, collation, compilation, and transcription, between the conception and production of his projected edition: and it then came, like
human births, naked into the world, without notes or commentary, save the critical matter dispersed through the
introduction, and a brief account of the origin of the fables
of the several plays, and a table of the different editions.
Cenain quaintnesses of style, and peculiarities of printing
and punctuation, attended the whole of this publication.
The outline, however, was correct. The critic, with unremitting toil, proceeded in his undertaking. But while
he was diving into the classics of Caxton, and working his
way under ground, like the river Mole, in order to emerge
with all his glories; while he was looking forward to his
triumphs; certain other active spirits went to work upon
his plan, and, digging out the promised treasures, laid
them prematurely before the public, defeating the effect
of our critic’s discoveries by anticipation. Steevens, Malone, Farmer, Percy, Reed, and a whole host of literary
ferrets, burrowed into every hole and corner of the warren
of modern antiquity, and overran all the country, whose
map had been delineated by Edward Capell. Such a contingency nearly staggered the steady and unshaken perseverance of our critic, at the very eve of the completion
of his labours, and, as his editor informs us for, alas! at
the end of near forty years, the publication was posthumous, and the critic himself no more! we say then, as
his editor relates, he was almost determined to lay the
work wholly aside. He persevered, however (as we learn from the rev. editor, Mr. Collins), by the encouragement
of some noble and worthy persons: and to such their Cih
couragement, and his perseverance, the public was, in
1783, indebted for three large volumes in 4to, under the
title of “Notes and various readings of Shakspeare; together with the School of Shakspeare, or extracts from
divers English books, that were in print in the author’s
time; evidently shewing from whence his several fables
were taken, and some parcel of his dialogue. Also
farther extracts, which contribute to a due understanding
of his writings, or give a light to the history of his life, or
to the dramatic history of his time.
”