“In many of his plays the latter part is evidently neglected.”
“He had no regard to distinction of time or place.”
“In his comic scenes he is seldom very successful when he engages his characters in reciprocations of smartness and contests of sarcasm.”
“In tragedy his performance seems constantly to be worse, as his labour is more.”
“In narration he affects a disproportionate pomp of diction and a wearisome train of circumlocution, and tells the incident imperfectly in many words, which might have been more plainly delivered in few.”
“His declamations or set speeches are commonly cold and weak.”
“It is incident to him to be now and then entangled with an unwieldy sentiment, which he cannot well express and will not reject.”
“What he does best he soon ceases to do.”
“A quibble is to Shakespeare what luminous vapours are to the traveller; he follows it at all adventures.”
“He neglects the unities—those laws which have been instituted and established by the joint authority of poets and critics.”