he describes them in his preface. This play has likewise sunk into
oblivion. From this time he gave nothing more to the stage.

Being by a competent fortune exempted from any necessity of
combating his inclination, he never wrote in distress, and therefore
does not appear to have ever written in haste. His works were
finished to his own approbation, and bear few marks of negligence or
hurry. It is remarkable that his prologues and epilogues are all
his own, though he sometimes supplied others; he afforded help, but
did not solicit it.

As his studies necessarily made him acquainted with Shakespeare, and
acquaintance produced veneration, he undertook (1709) an edition of
his works, from which he neither received much praise, nor seems to
have expected it; yet I believe those who compare it with former
copies will find that he has done more than he promised; and that,
without the pomp of notes or boasts of criticism, many passages are
happily restored. He prefixed a life of the author, such as
tradition, then almost expiring, could supply, and a preface, which
cannot be said to discover much profundity or penetration. He at
least contributed to the popularity of his author. He was willing
enough to improve his fortune by other arts than poetry. He was
under-secretary for three years when the Duke of Queensberry was
Secretary of State, and afterwards applied to the Earl of Oxford for
some public employment. Oxford enjoined him to study Spanish; and
when, some time afterwards, he came again, and said that he had
mastered it, dismissed him with this congratulation, "Then, sir, I
envy you the pleasure of reading 'Don Quixote' in the original."

This story is sufficiently attested; but why Oxford, who desired to