places and in his Antony and Cleopatra, the scene travels over the Roman empire. In those plays which he has taken from the English or Roman history, the characters are as exact in the poet as the historian. He seems indeed so far from proposing to himself any one action for a subject, that the title is The Life of King John, King Richard, &c. What can be more agreeable to the idea our historians give of Henry the Sixth, than the picture Shakspeare has drawn of him? His manners are every where exactly the same with the story; one finds him still described with simplicity, passive sanctity, want of courage, weakness of mind, and easy submission to the governance of an imperious wife, or prevailing faction: though at the same time the poet does justice to his good qualities, and moves the pity of his audience for him, by shewing him pious, disinterested, a contemner of the things of this world, and wholly resigned to Providence. Cardinal Beaufort, who had murdered the Duke of Gloucester, is shewn in the last agonies on his death-bed, with the good king praying over him; and there is so much terror in one, and so much tenderness and moving piety in the other, as must touch any one capable either of fear or pity. In his Henry the Eighth, if his faults are not shewn, and the shades in this picture do not bear a just proportion to the lights, it is not that the artist wanted either colours or skill in the disposition of them; but he forebore out of regard to queen Elizabeth, his daughter. He has dealt more freely with the minister, and certainly nothing was ever more justly written, than the character of Cardinal Wolsey. He has shewn him insolent in his prosperity; and yet, by wonderful address, he makes his fall and ruin the subject of general compassion, and the whole man, with his vices and virtues, is finely and exactly described in the second scene of the fourth act. Nor are the manners, proper to the persons represented, less justly observed in those characters taken from the Roman history; and of this, the fierceness and impatience of Coriolanus, his courage and disdain of the common people, the virtue and philosophical temper of Brutus, and the irregular greatness of mind in M. Antony, are beautiful proofs. For the last two especially, you find them exactly as they are described by Plutarch, from whom certainly Shakspeare copied them. His design seems rather to describe those great men in the several fortunes and accidents of their lives, than to take any single great action, and form his work simply upon that. However, there are some of his pieces where the fable is founded upon one action only. Such are Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, and Othello. The design in Romeo and Juliet is plainly the punishment of their two families, for the unreasonable feuds and animosities that had been so long kept up between them, and occasioned the effusion of so much blood. In the management of this story, he has shewn something wonderfully tender and passionate in the love part, and very pitiful in the distress. The whole tragedy of Macbeth, but more especially the scene where the King is murdered, in the second act, as well as this play, is a noble proof of that manly spirit with which he wrote; and shew how powerful was, in giving the strongest emotions to our souls. he Though the descendants of Shakspeare are extinct; yet some of his family, the descendants of his brothers and sisters, still reside a Tewkesbury, Stratford, and Leamington; and, as such, are deservedly noticed in their neighbourhood, though in humble life. List of the Six and thirty Dramas of Shakspeare, with the Dates of the earliest Editions of each. 1. The Tempest.-In the folio of 1623. 2. The Two Gentlemen of Verona.-In the folio of 1623. 3. The Merry Wives of Windsor.-1602. 4to.-1619. 4to. 4. Measure for Measure.-In the folio of 1623. 5. The Comedy of Errors.—In the folio of 1623. 6. Much Ado about Nothing.-1600. 4to. 7. Love's Labour's Lost.-1598. 4to.-1631. 4to. 8. The Midsummer Night's Dream.-1600. 4to. 9. The Merchant of Venice.-1600. 4to.-1637. 4to. 10. As You Like It.-In the folio of 1623. 11. Taming of the Shrew.-In the folio of 1623. 12. All's Well that End's Well.-In the folio of 1623. 13. Twelfth Night.-In the folio of 1623. 14. The Winter's Tale.-In the folio of 1623. 15. Macbeth.-In the folio of 1623. 16. King John.-In the folio of 1623. 17. King Richard the Second.-1597. 4to.—1598. 4to.—1608. 4to. 13. King Henry the Fourth, Part I.-1598. 4to.-1599. 4to.-1604. 4to. 19. Part II.-1600. 4to. 20. King Henry the Fifth.—1600. 4to.-1602. 4to.-1608. 4to. 21. King Henry the Sixth, Part I.—In the folio of 1623 22. 23. Part II.-In the folio of 1623. Part III.-In the folio of 1623. 24. King Richard the Third.—1597. 4to.-1598. 4to. 1602. 4to. 25. King Henry the Eighth.-In the folio of 1623. 26. Coriolanus.-In the folio of 1623. 27. Julius Cæsar.-In the folio of 1623. 28. Antony and Cleopatra.-In the folio of 1623. 29. Timon of Athens.-In the folio of 1623. 30. Titus Andronicus.-1611. 4to. 31. Troilus and Cressida.-1609. 4to. 32. Cymbeline.-In the folio of 1623. 33. King Lear.-1608. 4to. 34. Romeo and Juliet.-1597. 4to.-1599. 4to.-1609. 4to. 35. Hamlet.-1604. 4to.-1605. 4to.-1611. 4to. 36. Othello.-1622. 4to.-1630. 4to. SIR FRANCIS DRAKE. THIS celebrated English navigator, and brave naval officer, was the son of Edmund Drake, a mariner, and was born at a village near Tavistock, in Devonshire, in the year 1545. He was apprenticed to the master of a small vessel trading to France and Zealand; at the age of eighteen he went out as purser of a ship to the Bay of Biscay; and at twenty, made a voyage to the coast of Guinea. In 1565, he went to the West Indies, and in 1567, served under his kinsman, Sir John Hawkins, in the Bay of Mexico. Being a considerable loser by the last two voyages, he made a third in 1570, with two ships, the Dragon and the Swan; and in the following year sailed again to the same parts with the Swan only. On the 24th of May, 1572, he sailed from Plymouth in the Pasca, in company with the Swan, commanded by his brother, John Drake. In this voyage he sacked the town of Nombre de Dios, and afterwards, from a high tree, saw the South Seas, which inspired him with an ardent desire of carrying an English ship thither. Drake was a great gainer by this expedition; but his generosity and love of justice were very extraordinary, an instance of which is worth recording. Having presented a cutlass to a prince of the free Indians inhabiting the Isthmus of Darien, the prince gave him in return four large wedges of gold, which he threw into the common stock, saying, "My owners gave me that cutlass, and it is but just they should have their share of its produce." The riches he had acquired he spent with great generosity in the service of his country, fitting out three frigates at his own expense, which he commanded in person, under Walter, Earl of Essex, against the rebels in Ireland. After the death of Essex, Drake applied to Sir Christopher Hatton, vice-chamberlain to the queen, by whose interest he at length obtained the queen's permission for an expedition against the Spaniards in the South Seas. His friends contributed largely towards this expedition, for which five ships were fitted out. The Pelican, which he named the Hind, burden one hundred tons, commanded by himself; the Elizabeth of eighty tons, John Winter, captain; the Marigold, a bark of thirty tons burden, John Thomas, commander; the Swan, a fly-boat of fifty tons, commanded by WORTHIES, No. 13. 2 F John Chester; and a pinnace of fifteen tons, of which Thomas Moon was the commander. The ships had one hundred and sixty-four able men on board, a large quantity of provisions, together with four pinnaces stowed in pieces, to be put together whenever they might be wanted. This fleet sailed out of Plymouth Sound the 5th of November, 1577; but meeting with a violent storm, in which several of the ships were damaged, were obliged to put back and refit. On the 13th of December they sailed again, with a favourable wind, and saw no land till the 25th, when they passed Cape Cantin, on the coast of Barbary; and, on the 27th, came to the island of Mogador. The admiral arriving at Cape Blanco on the 17th of January, found a ship at anchor with only two sailors left to guard her, which he immediately scized, and took her into the harbour, where they remained four days, during which, he exercised his men on shore, to prepare them for land as well as sea service. Having passed the line, they at length discovered the coast of Brazil on the 5th of April, being fifty-four days since they saw land. Sailing hence they anchored in port St. Julian, which name was given it by Magellan, where the admiral, going on shore with six of his men, some of the natives slew the gunner, whose death was revenged by the commander, who killed the murderer with his own hand. At this place Magellan having executed one of his company who conspired against his life, Drake caused one of the crew, named Doughty, to be tried for the same offence against himself, and executed him on the same gibbet. On the 17th of August, they left the port of St. Julian, and on the 20th fell in with the strait of Magellan, which they entered on the 21st, but found it so full of intricate turnings and windings, that the same wind which was sometimes in their favour, was at others against them. After several difficulties they entered the South Sea on the 6th of September, and on the next day a violent storm drove them two hundred leagues south of the strait, where they anchored among some islands, abounding in water and excellent herbs. On the 3d of October they discovered three islands, in one of which was a most incredible number of birds; and on the 8th, in a storm, they lost the Elizabeth, Captain Winter, who being driven back into the strait, took possession of the country in the name of Queen Elizabeth, and afterwards arrived safe in England. Being now arrived at the other mouth of the strait, they steered for the coast of Chili, and on the 29th of November cast anchor at the island of Mocha, where the admiral, with ten men, went on shore. The inhabitants were such as the extreme cruelty of the Spaniards had obliged to seek a refuge here; and they behaved very civilly, giving the admiral two fat sheep and some potatoes, in exchange for some trifling presents. And now continuing their course for Chili, they met an Indian in a canoe, who mistaking them for Spaniards, informed them, that at St. Jago there was a large ship laden for Peru. The admiral rewarded him for his intelligence, whereupon he conducted them to the place where the ship lay at anchor. There were only eight Spaniards and three negroes on board, who mistaking them for friends, welcomed them by beat of drum, and invited them to drink Chili wine. Drake accepted the invitation, and going on board, put them all under hatches, except one, who leaping overboard, swam on shore to give notice of the coming of the English: upon which, the inhabitants quitting the town, the admiral secured his prize, and then going on shore, rifled the town and chapel. Entering the port of Lima on the 13th of February, they found twelve sail of ships at anchor unguarded, the crews being on shore. Examining these vessels, they found a chest filled with rials of plate, which, together with some silks and linen, they made prize of; but having intelligence that a rich ship was lately sailed from that harbour for Paita, the admiral determined to follow her, and having come up with her they gave her three shots, which brought away the mizen-mast, whereupon they boarded her, and found thirteen chests full of rials of plate, eighty pounds weight of gold, a quantity of jewels, and twenty-six tons of silver in bars. Continuing their course, they met with a ship laden with linen cloth, china dishes, and silks; from the owner of which, a Spaniard, who was then on board, the admiral took a falcon of massy gold, with a large emerald in the breast of it. The pilot conducted them to the harbour of Guatulco, which they ransacked, but found nothing of value, except a bushel of rials of plate and a chain of gold set with jewels. Mr. Drake having now revenged both himself and his country on the Spaniards, began to think of the best way of returning to England. To return by the strait of Magellan, (and as yet no other passage had been discovered) would, he thought, be to throw himself into the hands of the Spaniards; he therefore determined to sail westward to the East Indies, and so following the Portuguese course, to return home by the Cape of Good Hope. But wanting wind, he was obliged to sail toward the north, in which course, having continued at least six hundred leagues, and being got into forty-three degrees north latitude, they found it intolerably cold, upon which they steered southwards, into thirty-eight degrees north latitude, where they discovered a country which, from its white cliffs, they called New Albion, though it is now known by the name of California. The arrival of the English at California being soon known throughout the country, two persons, in the character of ambassadors, came to the admiral and informed him, in the best manner they were able, that their |