Dr. Johnson has said of this play-" I have never been strongly agitated in perusing it, and think it somewhat cold and unaffecting, compared with some other of Shakspeare's plays : his adherence to the true story, and to Roman manners, seem to have impeded the natural vigour of his genius." Had Johnson lived in the present time, perhaps this very "adherence to the true story," would have excited that warmth, and that interest, of the absence of which he complains. A relish for the food of the mind is to be created by a certain stimulus, the same as an appetite for the nourishment of the body; and, in these days, political wonders occur to inspire a more than common concern about all those that are past. In this admirable drama is a short, and yet exact, narration, of the most remarkable crisis in the Roman history. Every character is described by a faithful pen-every virtuous and every wicked design nicely explained, by a penetrating and an impartial commentator upon the heart of man. Voltaire's tragedy, on the same subject, has a de gree of peculiar interest, on account of his representing, though from doubtful authority, the close relationship, which subsisted between Cæsar and Brutus, as father and son; but the sympathy awakened by truth, and nothing but known truth, is surely more forcible with the generality of readers, than that which arises from a source, the least tending towards fiction. Some critics have objected to Shakspeare's conti nuation of the play after the death of Cæsar; supposing that great event would have been more powerful than any other for the catastrophe: but it is hardly possible to read to the end, and wish any thing altered; unless, perhaps, that Cæsar's character had been rendered more prominent in those few scenes where he is introduced. This drama is not, however, designed to represent the life, but solely the death, of Julius Cæsar. The poet has not attempted to show in action, even by one important incident, how this conqueror of the world lived,-but merely how he died. In so short a composition as a play some characters must necessarily be compressed; and, in the original editions of this work, Cicero's has been more than any other diminished. That celebrated orator is there placed amongst the dramatis personæ, and has scarcely been given a word to say. The following account from Upton will be of use to the reader: "The real length of time in Julius Cæsar' is as follows: About the middle of February, A. U. C. 709, a frantic festival, sacred to Pan, was held in honour of Cæsar, when the royal crown was offered him by Marc Antony. On the 15th of March, in the same year, he was slain. A. U. C. 711, Brutus and Cassius were defeated near Philippi." SCENE-For the three first Acts, at Rome; afterwards at an Isle near Mutina, at Sardis, and Philippi. JULIUS CAESAR. ACT THE FIRST. SCENE I. A Street in Rome. Enter CASCA, D. BRUTUS, and certain PLEBEIANS. MOB, huzza. Casca. Hence; home, you idle creatures, get you Is this a holiday? what! know you not, Casca. Where is thy leather apron, and thy rule? 2 Pleb. Truly, sir, in respect of a fine workman, I am but, as you would say, a cobler. Casca. But what trade art thou? answer me, directly. 2 Pleb. A trade, sir, that I hope I may use with a safe conscience; which is, indeed, a mender of bad soles. f Casca. What trade, thou knave? thou naughty knave, what trade? 2 Pleb. Nay, I beseech you, sir,be not out with me: yet if you be out, sir, I can mend you. Casca. What mean'st thou by that? mend me, thou saucy fellow? 2 Pleb. Why, sir, cobble you. Casca. Thou art a cobler, art thou? 2 Pleb. Truly, sir, all that I live by is the awl: I meddle with no tradesman's matters, nor woman's matters; but withal I am, indeed, sir, a surgeon to old shoes; when they are in great danger, I recover them. As proper men as ever trod upon neat's leather, have gone upon my handy work. Casca. But wherefore art not in thy shop to-day? Why dost thou lead these men about the streets? 2 Pleb. Truly, sir, to wear out their shoes, to get myself into more work. But, indeed, sir, we make holiday to see Cæsar, and to rejoice in his triumph. Casca. Wherefore rejoice?what conquests brings he home? What tributaries follow him to Rome, To grace in captive bonds his chariot wheels? You blocks, you stones, you worse than senseless things! O, you hard hearts! you cruel men of Rome! And do you now put on your best attire, |