John Bartlett (1820–1905). Familiar Quotations, 10th ed. 1919.
3814 Alexander Pope 1688-1744 John Bartlett
| NUMBER: | 3814 |
| AUTHOR: | Alexander Pope (1688–1744) |
| QUOTATION: | This is the Jew That Shakespeare drew. 1 |
| Note 1. On the 14th of February, 1741, Macklin established his fame as an actor in the character of Shylock, in the “Merchant of Venice.”… Macklin’s performance of this character so forcibly struck a gentleman in the pit that he, as it were involuntarily, exclaimed,— “This is the Jew That Shakespeare drew!” It has been said that this gentleman was Mr. Pope, and that he meant his panegyric on Macklin as a satire against Lord Lansdowne.—Biographia Dramatica, vol. i. part ii. p. 469. [back] |