engaged Mr. T. Bowdler's attention. This was no less than presenting the plays of Shakspeare to the public, purified from every thing that could offend the most delicate eye or ear. Upon this subject two opinions have prevailed in extreme opposition to each other. While some ardent admirers of our poet have refused to part with a syllable of his works lest the beauty of the whole should be diminished, others have desired to exclude him from their shelves, lest they who read him should be contaminated. Extremes are generally faulty, and happily in this case a middle course could be adopted with less difficulty than could have been imagined till the trial was made; which would leave entire and untouched all that is really valuable, removing only that which is indecent and offensive; which would take away the im purities that have gathered upon the surface, and thereby show to greater advantage the beauty and uniformity of the work. This was attempted some years since by one of Mr. T. Bowdler's nearest relatives in respect of twenty of the best plays. He himself afterwards carried into execution the same plan with regard to the whole number, and in the year 1818 published The Family Shakspeare' in ten volumes, in which nothing is added to the original text, but those words and expressions are omitted, which cannot with propriety be read aloud in a family.' His object is thus stated in a short preface to the work.

6

It certainly is my wish, and it has been my study, to exclude from this publication whatever is unfit to be read aloud by a gentleman to a company of ladies. I can hardly imagine a more pleasing occupation for a winter's evening in the country, than for a father to read one of Shakspeare's plays to his family circle. My object is to enable him to do so, without incurring the danger of falling unawares among words or expressions, which are of such a nature as to raise a blush on the cheek of modesty, or render it necessary for the reader to pause and examine the sequel, before he proceeds further in the entertainment of the evening.' - p. x.

"To those who desire to prohibit altogether the perusal of Shakspeare's plays, arguments of a different kind must be addressed; and Mr. T. Bowdler's nephew has discussed the question in a paper, written on occasion of the first appearance of the Family Shakspeare,' and which has since been printed in his Select Pieces.' But in reply to the objections of those who, adopting the opposite extreme, are afraid of injuring the great dramatist by the slightest mutilation, two circumstances may be mentioned which have been brought forward by the editor; the first is, that the folio edition of 1623, is in many respects much more pure than the earlier editions of the plays, and in these respects may be deemed a Family Shakspeare: the second, that in representing the plays of Shakspeare upon the stage, many indecent expressions are always omitted; and without such omission the representation could not be endured. Are these plays, now, rendered feeble and uninteresting by such mutilations? or would any one wish such things to be read in the family, which must not be heard in one of the theatres? But in fact, the question is decided. Seven years have elapsed since the Family Shakspeare' was published in 1818; and a third edition is now on sale in octavo, and a fourth in duodecimo. The merit of the work, therefore, may be considered to be acknowledged and established the readers of Shakspeare will henceforth probably be multiplied tenfold; the Family Shakspeare' will be the edition which will lie on the table of every drawing-room; and the name of the editor will be remembered, as of one who has perhaps contributed more than any other individual to promote the innocent and rational amusement of well-educated families.

"Having finished his labours upon Shakspeare, Mr. T. Bowdler undertook another similar work, which he deemed of yet greater importance. As the first of our dramatic poets is in its original state unfit to be perused by the eye of delicacy, so one of our most celebrated historians has rendered his work highly objectionable, partly on the same ground,

A

but still more on account of his hostility to our holy religion. To remove from the History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire,' every thing that can give just cause of offence, yet leave the narrative to be told in the powerful language of its author, was a task well worthy of a man of sound principles and correct judgment. To this work Mr. T. Bowdler devoted much and diligent attention, and as his seventieth year drew on and infirmities increased, he made it his earnest prayer that he might be permitted to finish the important undertaking. This desire was granted. In the autumn preceding his death, the MSS. were committed to the publisher; and during the few months which followed, he was enabled to complete some arrangements, and to make a few alterations which had been kindly suggested by one of the historians of the present day. The work has been committed to the press; and but for an unexpected delay would have appeared by this time.

"There was still one little object which he had much at heart, namely, the paying a tribute of filial piety to the memory of his parents, and particularly of his father. This he accomplished in a few pages which he wrote at Malvern in the autumn of last year, and which he annexed as a postscript to the fourth edition of Shakspeare, and to his edition of Gibbon. It is preceded by some little mention of the different members of his family, for the purpose of correcting the errors which had crept into the Biographia Britannica.' After making honourable mention of his mother, he expresses his desire, before the term of his own existence is quite finished, to place one wreath on the tomb of his deceased father, of whom he says as Horace once said of his father, ‘If I were to begin life again, and were indulged with the choice of my parents, I would choose my own in preference to all that were most distinguished for wealth, dignity, or power.' The conclusion of this postscript is particularly interesting, as it records the sentiments of the writer, within only a few months of the solemn event, the approach of which he there con

templates. After quoting the interesting letter inserted below*, he proceeds:

"If these reflections appear interesting to strangers, far more deeply must they touch the heart of him who now transcribes them from the original letter of his father. I, that at present hold the pen, am the boy, whose expected death was the cause of their being written; who, sixty years ago, in consequence of a fall from a horse, lay dying, as was supposed, in this same Malvern, where I now write. But I now write in contemplation, not of the uncertain death of wounds and disease, but of the inevitable death of advancing years; looking forward in humble hope of being again united to that parent, who, with such genuine piety, expressed his feelings at his approaching separation, and final re-union with his boy. To the indulgence of that hope, nothing so much encourages me as the reflection of having never departed from the faith and principles which my parents inculcated, both on my tender, and my riper years. Happy indeed would be the close of my worldly course, if my conduct in life had, like my faith, been the same as my father's; but in the consideration of all my imperfections, I look to that Rock on which my excellent parents placed their reliance, and to which they never ceased to advise their children to look up; in prosperity, as well as adversity; in the vigour of youth, and in the weakness of old age. Revered and beloved parent, adieu.

'At veniet felicius ævum

Quando iterum tecum, sim modo dignus, ero.'-Lowth.

* Extract of a letter from Thomas Bowdler, Esq. to Arthur Annesley, Esq. 1764.

"What strikes me most in your letter, is what you so kindly say to me with regard to my dear little boy. In this, and every trial, I wish to behave as a Christian ought: knowing that I am as much bound in duty to suffer what God inflicts, as to do what he commands; but I know that I fail in this and every thing. I am very fond of the boy, and this touches me too nearly. As to his life, I have little or no hope of it; so little, indeed, that the bitterness of his death is, in a manner, over with me. I am trying to resign him, and all the pleasure I had in him, not barely with patience, but even with a cheerful and thorough submission to the will of God. If others can part with their children to make their

6

"Such were the occupations, amidst which the evening of his life passed usefully and cheerfully away. In the language of his favourite historian, which he has adopted as one of the mottos of his edition of Shakspeare, Ubi animus requievit, et mihi reliquam ætatem procul a republica habendam decrevi, non fuit consilium socordia atque desidia bonum otium conterere.'-Sallust. Conversing with his friends or poorer neighbours during some hours in the morning, and devoting his evening to his literary pursuits, happy in contributing to the happiness of those around him, honoured and beloved as he deserved to be, his life may be said to have realised, beyond that of most men, the description of the poet :

'An elegant sufficiency, content,

Retirement, rural quiet, friendship, books,
Ease and alternate labour, useful life,
Progressive virtue, and approving Heaven.'

"The prevailing sentiment of his heart was thankfulness to the Disposer of all things, for the blessings with which he was surrounded. This we have seen expressed upon leaving St. Boniface; it was his first thought in the letters which he wrote from France; it was his favourite theme in his letters and conversation; and it contributed greatly, no doubt, to that peace and cheerfulness which he enjoyed. The near approach of his latter end was continually in his view, and he marked his strength gradually decline, without dismay or discontent; expressing no fear, unless it were that he might outlive the use of his faculties, and thereby become a burthen to those around him. This evil, if such it be, and all the inconveniences and discomforts of protracted sickness, were averted by a premature dissolution, if at the age of threescore years and ten, it could be called premature. Being detained at Swansea by transacting some distressing business, he caught a cold, which, falling upon the lungs, in a few days termin

fortunes in the East Indies, from whence they do not expect to live to see their return, why should not I part with him to a far better place, and to his infinitely greater advantage, and where, too, I hope to see him again?"