Alterations and Adaptations of Shakespeare

Whilst the greatest effort has been made to ensure the quality of this text, due to the historical nature of this content, in some rare cases there may be minor issues with legibility. The criticisms made by Dryden were repeated, with slight variations, by critics, dramatists, and editors down to the beginning of the nineteenth cen tury. Passing by the absurd strictures of Rymer and Mrs. Lennox, the latter of whom denied Shakespeare any excellence, one may call to mind the criticisms of John Dennis and Charles Gildon, both of whom, as did Dryden, replied to Rymer in defense of Shake speare, and the prefaces of Rowe, Pope, and lastly Doctor Johnson, who was almost frightened at his own temerity in justifying Shakespeare's rejection of the unities. These all recognized the genius of the great Elizabethan, but seemed to think that he worked without any method at all and lamented that he was unlearned and ignorant of the rules of art. Not until the time of Coleridge were these false no tions entirely eradicated.