really old Shakespeare criticism

[angevin2]

Because this sort of thing is always fun.

From an old complete works, which does not have a date on it, annoyingly, but from the appearance of the book I would guess was probably published between 1860 and 1900:

No man of sound sense ever writes unintelligibly, and no true poet ever makes inharmonious verses. Shakespeare was both; and yet in his

Comments

[oursin]

That first one sounds almost like Johnson, but I don't have my selected J, which includes bits of the Prefaces to Shakespeare, at hand to check.

[jsburbidge]

The first view is very much in a Bentley on Milton mode. Bentley's edition of Milton is invaluable, because just about everything that Bentley wanted to change is, in my experience, a heads up that Milton may be doing something interesting. (Shakespeare has always been up for the accusation of carelessness in composition ("Would he had blotted a thousand"), but Milton is about the most premeditated author in English Literature at every level down to fine detail.)

[queeniefox]

No man of sound sense ever writes unintelligibly

Ah, if only it were true... :D