ABSTRACT
The Specimen of a Commentary on Shakspeare (1794) was not only the first published of Walter Whiter’s works, but the only product of his residence at Cambridge. The contemporary reception of Whiter’s Specimen fell well below his expectation. The critic of the Gentleman’s Magazine is equally unwilling to give a serious hearing to Whiter’s theories. As Mr Alan Over has pointed out, this critic seems to think that Whiter is emending rather than restoring readings, and he conveniently ignores Whiter’s many pleas that the original text should be preserved in face of suggestions and emendations much wilder than any of his own. Similarly, the critic is scornful of Whiter’s many associations drawn from the tapestry hangings of the Elizabethan period — such is the association of Mr. W’s ideas, that every word is to be pressed into the service of painting and he is equally unconvinced by Whiter’s ‘theatrical.
