An Epistle
To Sir Thomas Hanmer, on His Edition of Shakespeare’s Works
This poem was written by our author at the university, about the time when Sir Thomas Hanmer’s pompous edition of Shakespeare was printed at Oxford. If it has not so much merit as the rest of his poems, it has still more than the subject deserves. The versification is easy and genteel, and the allusions always poetical. The character of the poet Fletcher in particular is very justly drawn in this epistle.