University of Virginia Library

A Supplement to the Bibliography of 'Shakespeare Idolatry'
Margaret Lee Wiley

IN The Genesis of Shakespeare Idolatry, 1766-1799, Professor R. W. Babcock[1] brought together an impressive bibliography of late eighteenth-century Shakespearean criticism. The list, as it stands after twenty years, is so comprehensive that supplements to it are worthy of attention when they come to light. The purpose of this article is to name two volumes which supplement the following sections of Professor Babcock's study: (1) "Primary Texts," 1770-1774, pages 254-255; (2) "Shakespeare, Original Genius," pages 123-126; and (3) "The Application of Theories of Association to Various Aspects of Shakespeare," pages 176-182.

The first volume to which I call attention was published by William Duff in 1770: Critical Observations | on the | Writings | of the most celebrated | Original Geniuses in Poetry. | Being a Sequel | to the | Essay

on Original Genius. [London: Printed for T. Becket and P. A. DeHondt, in the Strand].[2] Section III of this work is a criticism and an appreciation of Shakespeare's original genius in the invention of incident, character, and imagery, and in the expression of the sublime, the pathetic, the wild and picturesque, and the supernatural. In addition to the seventy-page discussion in Section III, other comments upon Shakespeare appear in the book (pp. 95, 120, 197, and 365). The comprehensiveness of Duff's treatment of Shakespeare makes this volume an essential supplement to Professor Babcock's bibliography. Added significance of the supplement derives from the fact that Critical Observations was not mentioned by Mr. Paul Kaufman in "Heralds of Original Genius";[3] nor did Professor R. S. Crane name the work when he reviewed Mr. Kaufman's study in "English Literature of the Restoration and Eighteenth Century: A Current Bibliography" (PQ, VI [1927], 168-169).

The second volume to which I call attention is a critical application of the laws of association to Shakespeare's plays. According to Professor Babcock, "The psychological process of association was perhaps first applied definitely to interpret Shakespeare in this period by William Richardson in 1774."[4] Without disputing the priority of William Richardson, I call attention to another work published in that year, 1774, which was not mentioned by Professor Babcock and not listed in his bibliography, but which contains a well-developed criticism of Shakespeare's plays according to the principles of association: "An | Essay | on | Genius | By | Alexander Gerard, D. D. | Professor of Divinity in King's College. | Aberdeen." [London: Printed for W. Strahan; T. Cadell in the Strand; and W. Creech at Edinburgh].

Although Gerard had read papers on genius and on the association of ideas before the Aberdeen Philosophical Society between 1758 and 1771 and had, according to his Advertisement, made some progress toward An Essay on Genius as early as 1758, Richardson's philosophical analysis reached the public first, being reviewed in May, 1774, whereas Gerard's was noticed several months later.[5] The evidence of the periodicals thus discredits Robert Chambers' belief that Richardson was not published until 1775,[6] a date that would have given Gerard priority in the publication of a philosophical analysis of Shakespeare's plays in terms of the laws of association. In An Essay on Genius the detailed study of Shakespeare was the climax to Gerard's study of genius, and all except one of his significant illustrations

came from Shakespeare. How much earlier than 1774 Gerard had in fact applied the laws of association to Shakespeare's work cannot be precisely determined, for much of his work between 1758 and 1771 had been for oral presentation.

Notes