Johnson on the Winter's Tale

ENGL 4165-4166: WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

The Works of William Shakespeare (1765)

SAMUEL JOHNSON (1709-1784)

General Observation on The Winter's Tale

1. Of this play no edition is known published before the folio of 1623.

2. This play, as Dr. Warburton [Bishop William Warburton, 1698-1779] justly observes, is, with all its absurdities, very entertaining. The character of Autolycus is very naturally conceived, and strongly represented.