of our tradefmen have been almoft deferted,
and a croud of weavers and hardwaremeri
have elbowed each other two hours before
the opening of the doors, when the bills
have informed us, in enormous red letters,
that the part of George Barnu ell was to be
performed by Mr. , at the particu-
lar defire of feveral ladies of diftinftlon.
'Tis true, indeed, that our principal aftors
have moft of them had their etiucation at
Covent-garden or Drury-hne ; but they
have been employed in the bufinefs of the
drama in a degree but jult above a fcene-
Ihifter. An heroine, to whom your mana-
gers in town (in envy to her rifmg merit)
fcarce allotted the humble part of a confi-
dante, now blubbers out Andromache or
Belvidera ; the attendants on a monarch
ftrut monarchs themfelves, mutes find their
voices, and meffage-bearers rife into heroes.
The humour of our beft comedian confifts
in fhrugs and grimaces ; he jokes in a wry
mouth, and repartees in a grin ; in Ihort,
he pradifes on Congreve and Vanbrugh all



thofe diftortions which gained him fo much
applaufe from the galleries, in the drubs
which he was obliged to undergo in panto-
mimes. I was valtly diverted at feeing a
fellow in the charafter of Sir Harry Wil«
dair, whofe chief adion was a continual
preffing together of the thumb and fore-
finger, which, had he lifted them to his
nofe, I Ihould have thought he defigned as
an imitation of taking fnufF: but I could
eafily account for the caufe of this fingle
gefture, when I difcovered that Sir Harry
was no lefs a perfon than the dexterous Mr. ■
Clippit, the candle-fnuffer.

You would laugh to fee how ftrangely
the parts of a play are call. They playecl
Cato : and their Marcia was fuch an old
woman, that \vhen Juba came on with his

" Hail! charming maid!"

the fellow could not help laughing. Ano-
ther night I was furprized to hear an eager
lover talk of rulhing into his miftrefs's
arms, rioting on the neftar of her lips, and
defiring (in the tragedy rapture) to *' hug
her thus, and thus, for ever ;" though he
always took care to ftand at a moft cere-
monious diftance. But I was afterwards
very much diverted at the caufe of this ex-
traordinary refped, when I was told that
the lady laboured under the misfortune of
an ulcer in her leg, which occafioned fuch
a difagreeable ftench, that the performers
were obliged to keep her at arms length.
The entertainment was Lethe ; and the part
of the Frenchman was performed by a South
Briton ; who, as he could not pronounce a
word of the French language, fupplied itf
place by gabbling in his native Welfh.

The decorations, or (in the theatrical
dialed) the property of cur company, are as
extraordinary as the performers. Othello"
raves about a checked handkerchief; the
ghoft in Hamlet ftaiks in a poftilion's lea-
thern-jacket for a coat of mail ;"and Cupid
enters with a fiddle-cafe flung over his
Ihoulders for a quiver. The apothecary of
the town is free of the houfe, for lending
them a peftle and mortar to ferve as the
bell in Venice Preferved : and a barber-
furgeon has the fame privilege, for furnifli-
ing them with bafons of blood to befmear
the daggers in Macbeth. Macbeth himfelf
carries a rolling-pin in his hand for a
truncheon ; and, as the breaking of glaffes
would be very expenfive, he daihes down a
pewter pint-pot at the fight of Banquo's
ghoft.

A fray happened here the other night,

which was no fmall diverfion to the audi-

s 3 eace.



ELEGANT EXTRACTS,



262

ence. It feems there had been a great con-
teft bftween two of thofe nnmic heroes,
which was the fitteft to play Richard the
Third. One of them was reckoned to have
the better perfon, as he was very roimd-
Ihouldered, and one of his legs was fhorter
than the other; but his antagonift carried
the part, becaufe he ftarted beft in the tent
fcene. However, when the curtain drew
up, they both ruflied in upon the ftage at
once; and, bawling out together, _♦' Now
" are our brows bound with viclorious
" wreaths," they both went through the
whole fpeech without flopping.

Counoijfeur.



Book IV.



§73.



Plajers often mifiah one 'EffeR for
another.



The French have diftinguifhed the arti-
fices made ufe of on the ftage to deceive
the audience, by the expreiiion of Jen de
Theatre, vv'hich we may tranflate, " the jug-
gle of the theatre." When thefe little arts
are exercifed merely to afllft nature, and fet
her off to the beft advantage, none can be
{o critically nice as to objeft to them ; but
when tragedy by thefe means is lifted into
rant, and comedy diftorted into buftbonery,
though the deceit may fuccced with the- fuperiority to thetn in all the common inci



creatures, if we have helped to raife a heart
drooping beneath the weight of grief, and
revived that barren and dry land, where no
water was, with refrelhing Ihowers of love
and kindnefs. Seed's Sermons.

§ yr. Ho-uj Polite7iefs is manifejled.

To correft fuch grofs vices as lead us tQ
commit a real injury to others, is the part
of morals, and the objeft of the moft ordir
nary education. Where that is not attended
to, in fome degree, no human fociety can
fuisftft. But in order to render converfa-
tion and the incercourfe of minds more eafy
and agreeable, good-manners have been in-
vented, and have carried the matter fome-
what farther. Wherever nature has given
the mind a propenfity to any vice, or to
any paifion difagrseable to ethers, refined
breeding has taught men to throw the bias
on the oppofite fide, and to preferve, in all
their behaviour, the appearance oi fenti-
ments contrary to thofe whicii they natu-
rally incline to. Thus, as we ars naturally
proud and felfifli, and apt to aifume the pre-
ference above others, a polite man is taught
to behave with detlrence towards thofe with
whom he converfes, and to yield up the



multitude, men of fenfe will always be of-
fended at it. This conduft, whether of the
poet or the player, refembles in fome fort
the poor contrivance of the ancients, who
mounted their heroes upon ftilts, arid ex-
preffed the manners of their characters by
the grotefque figures of their maiks.

Connoiffeur,

§ 74. True Pkafure defined.

We are affeded with delightful fenfations,
when we fee the inanimate parts of the cre-
ation, the meadows, flowers, and trees, in
a flourifhing ftate. There muft be fome
rooted melancholy at the heart, when all
nature appears fmiling about us, to hinder
us from correfponding with the reft of the



Creadon, and joining in the univeriai chorus perfon in the company



dents of fociety. In like manner, Vherever
a perfon's fituation may naturally beget any
difagreeabie fufpicion m him, 'tis the part
of good-manners to prevent it, by a ftudied
difplay of fentimeats direftly contrary to
thofe of which he is apt to be jealous.
Thus old men know their infirmities, £:nd
naturally dread contempt from youth :
hence, well-educated youth redouble their
inftances of refpcft and deference to their
elders. Strangers and foreigners are with-
out protection : hence, in ail polite coun-
tries, they receive the higheft civilities, and
are entitled to fhe firft place in every com-
pany. A man is lord in his own family,
and his guefts are, in a manner, fubjecl to
his authority : hence, he is always the lowefl
attentive to the



of joy. But if meadows and trees in "their
chearful verdure, if flowers in their bloom,
and all the vegetable parts of the creation
in their moft advantageous drefs, can in-
fpire giadnefs into the heart, and drive
away all fadnefs but dcfpair ; to fee the ra-
tional creation happy and flourifhing, ought
to give us a pieafure as much fuperior, as



wants of every one ; and giving himfelf
all the trouble, in order to pleafe, which
ma}' not betray too viflble ari afFeiftation, or
inipofe too much conftraint on his guefts.
Gallantry is nothing but an inftance of the
fame generous and refined attention. As
nature has given man the fuperiority above
woman, by endowing him with greater



the latter is to the former in the fcale of ftrength both of mind and body, 'tis his

beings. But the pieafure is ftill heightened, part to alleviate that fuperiority, as much

if we ourfilves have been inftrumental in as pofTible, by the generoflty of his beha-

CQHtributing to the happinefs of our fellow- viour, and by a ftudied deference and conj



laifance



Book IV. NARRATIVES, DIALOGUES, &c.



263



plaifance for all her inclinations and opini-
, ens. Barbarous nations difplay this fupe-
;! riority, by reducing their females to the
I moil abject flavery ; by confining them, by
I beating them, by felling them, by killing
I them. But the male fex, among a polite
I people, difcover their authority in a more
generous, though not a lefs evident, man-
ner ; by civility, by refped, by complai-
fance, and in a word, by gallantry. In
good company, you need not aflc, who is
i mafier of the feaft? The man who fits in
the loweft place, and who is always induf-
trious in helping every one, is molt cer-
tainly the perfon. We muft either con-
i dcnm all fuch inltances of generofity, as
foppifh and aife^ted, or admit of gallantry
: among the relL The ancient Mofcovites
wedded their wives with a whip inilead of
a wedding-ring. The fame people, in their
own houfes, took always the precedency
above foreigners, even foreign ambailadors.
Theie two inltances of their generofity and
politenefs are much of a piece. Hume's Ejajs.

576. The Bujinefs atid ^aJijications of a
Poet dejcribed. .

*' Wherever I went, I found that poetry
ivas confidered as the higheft learning, and
regarded with a veneration fomewhat ap-
proaching to that which man would pay to
the angelic nature. And it yet fills me
%vith wonder, that, in almoft all countries,
the molt ancient poets are confidered as the
beft : whether it be that every other kind
of knowledge is an acqaifition gradually
attained, and poetry is a gift conferred at
once ; or that the tirft poetry of every na-
tion furprifed them as a novelty, and re-
tained the credit by confent which it re-
ceived by accident at firft : or whether, as
the province of poetry is to defcribe nature
and pafTion, which are always the fame,
the firft writers took pcfleflion of the molt
ftriki!>g objects for defcription, and the mofl
probable occurrences for fiction, and left
nothing to thofe that followed them, but
tranfcriptions of the fame events, and new
combinations of the fame images. What-
ever be the rcafon, it is commonly obferved,
that the early writers are in poficiiion of
nature, and their followers of art : that
the firft excel in ftrength and invention, and
the latter in elegance and refinement.

f' I was deflrous to add my name to this
illuftrious fraternity. I read all the poets
of Perlla and Arabia, and was able to re-
peat by memory the vokunes that are fuf-
pcndfd iu the mofque of Mecca. But I



foon found that no man was ever great by
imitation. My dcfire of excellence impelled
me to transfer my attention to nature and
to life. Nature was to be my fubjed, and
men to be my auditors ; I could never de-
fcribe what I had not ken : I could not
hope to move thofe with delight or terror,
wbofe intcrelts and opinions I "did not un-
deritand.

" Being now refolved to be a poet, I
faw every thing with a new purpofe ; my
fphcrc of attention was fuddenly magnified :
no kind of knowledge was to be overlooked.
I ranged mountains and defcrts for images
and refemblances, and pictured upon my
mind every tree of the foreft and flower of
the valley. I obferved with equal care the
crags of the rock and the pinnacles of the
palace. Sometimes I wandered along the
mazes of the rivulet, and fometimes watched
the changes of the funimer clouds. To a
jioet nothing can be ufelofs- Whatever is
beauiiful, and whatever is dreadful, mult
be familiar to his imagination : he muft be
con-.-erfanr with all that is awfully vail or
elegantly little. The plants of the garden,
the animals of the wood, the minerals of
the earth, and meteors of the Iky, muft all
concur to ftore his mind with inexhauftible
variety : for every idea is ufeful for the en-
forcement or decoration of moral or religi-
ous truth ; and he, who knows moft, vvill
have molt power of diverfifying his fcenes,
and of gratifying his reader with remote
allufions and unexpedted inftruftion.

" All the appearances of nature I was
therefore careful to ftudy, and every coun-
try which I have furveyed has contributed
fomething to my poetical powers."

" In fo wide a furvey," faid the prince,
" you muft furely have left much unob-
ferved. I have lived, till now, within the
circuit of thefe mountains, and yet cannot
walk abroad without the fight of fom.ething
which I never beheld before, or never
heeded."

" The bufinefs of a poet," faid Im.lac,
" is to examine, not the individual, but the
fpecies ; to remark general properties and
large appearances : he d:;es not number the
ftreaks of the tulip, or defcribe the different
fhades in the verdure of the foreit. He is
to exhibit in his portraits of nature fuch
prominent and itriking features, as recal the
original to every mind ; and mult negletft
the minuter difcryninations, which one may
have remarked, and another have negie<fted,
for thofe charafteriftics which arc alike ob-
vious to vigilance and c-arelellnefs.

8 4.- " Eut



264



ELEGANT EXTRACTS,



Bqok XV.



«* But the knowledge of nature is only for the language ; for great contemporaries



half the ta(k of a poet ; he mull be ac-
quainted likevvife with all the modes of life.
His character requires that he eftimate the
happiiieis and mifery of every condition,
obkrve the power of all the pafiions in all
their combinations, and trace the changes
of the human mind as they are modified by ture was fo rn
various inftitutions, and accidental influ- "*- -i-'-n -
ences of climate or cuftom, from the fpright-
linefs of infancy to the defpondence of de-
crepitude. He muft diveft himfclf of the
prejudices of his age or country ; he muft



whet and cultivate each other; and mutual
borrowing and commerce, m^kes the com-
mon riches of learning, as it does of civil
government.

But fuppofe that Homer and Virgil were
the only poets of their fpecies, and that na-
ch worn out- in producing;
them, that ftie is never able to bear the like
ag^in ; yet the example only holds in he-
roic poetfy, In tragedy and fatire, 1 offer
myfelf to maintain, againft fome of our
modern critics, that this age and the laft.



confider right and wrong in their abftrad particularly iq England, have excelled the
and invariable ftate ; he muft difregard pre- ancients iu both th'efe kinds,
fent laws a»d opinions, and rife to general Thus I might fafely confine myfelf to
and tranfcendental truths, which will always my native country : but if I would only
be the fame : he muft therefore content himr cfofs the fcas, I might find in France a living
felf with the flow progrefs of his name; Horace and a Juvenal, ip the perfon of the
ccntemn the applaufe of his own time, and admirable Boileau, whofe numbers are ex-
commit his claims to the juftice of pofte- cellent, whofe exprefTions are noble, whole
lity. He muft write as the interprete^r of thoughts are juft, whofe language is pure,
nature, and the legillator of mankind, and whofe fatire is pointed, and whofe fenfe is
confider himfelf as prefiding over the clofe. What he borrows from the ancienits.



thoughts and manners of future generations,
as a being fuperior to time and place.
«' His labour is not yet at an end : he



he repays with ufury of his own, in coin as,
gopd, and almoft as univerfally valuable;
for, fetting prejudice and partiality apart.



muft know many languages and many fci- thoughheis our enemyjtheltampofaLouis,

ences; and, that his ft)le may be worthy of the patron of arts, is not much inferior tq

his thoughts, muft by inceffant pradice the medal of an Auguftus Caefar. Let thi^

familiarize to himfelf every delicacy of be faid without entering into the interefts of



ipeech and grace of harmony."

JohnJo7i's Rajfelas.



f 77-



Remarks on fome of the I
ancient and modern.



'Poets, both



faftions and parties, and relating only the

iDounty of that king to men of learning and

merit ; a praife fo juft, that even we, whq

are his enemies, cannot refufe it to him.

Now, if it may be permitted me to go

'Tis manifeft, that fome particular ages back again to the confideration of epic

have been more happy than others, in the poetry, I have confefTed that no man hithertq

produftion of great men, and all forts of has reached, or fo much as approached to

arts and fciences ; as that of Euripides, the excellencies of Homer or Virgil ; I muft

Sophocles, Ariftophanes, and the reft, for farther add, that Statius, the beft verfificator

ftage poetry, amongft the Greeks ; that of next Virgil, knew no; how to defign after

Auguftus for heroic, lyric, dramatic, ele- him, though he had the model in his eyes;

^iac, and indeed all forts of poetry, in the that Lucan is wanting both in defign and

perfons of Virgil, Horace, Varius, Ovid, fubjeft, and is befides too full of heat and

and many others; efpecially if we take into affeftion; that among the moderns, Ariofto

that century the latter end of the common- neither defigned juftly, nor obferved any

wealth, wherein ^ye find Varro, Lucretius, unity of aftion, or compafs of time, or mo-

and Catullus: and at the fame time lived deration in the vaftnefs of his draught : his

Cicero, Salluft, and Casfar. A famous age ftyle is luxurious, without raajefty or de-

in modern times, for learning in every kind, cency; and his adventurers without the

was that of Lorenzo de Medici, and his fon compafs of nature and pofhbility. Taflb,

Leo X. wherein painting was revived, whole defign was regular, and who obferved

poetry flourifhed, and the Greek language |he rules of unity m time and place more

was reflored. clofely than Virgil, yet was not fo happy in

Examples iri all thefe are obvioqs : but his a(Sion : he confefTes himfelf to have been

vhat 1 would infer is this^ That in fuch an too lyrical, that is, to have written beneath

age, lis pollible fome great genius may arife the dignity of heroic verfe, in his epifodes of

to equal any of the ancients, abating only Sophionia, Ermiiiia, ap4 Armidaj hisltory



78.



Boor. IV. NARRATIVES, DIALOGUES, &c.

is not fo pleafing as Ariofto's; he is too
flatulent fometimes, and fometimes too dry;
jnany times unequal, and almoft always
forced ; and befides, is full of conceptions,
points of epigram, and witticifms; all
which are not only below the dignity of he-
roic verfe, but contrary to its nature. Virgil
and Homer have not one of them : and
thofe who are guilty of fo boyifli an ambi-
tion in fo grave a fubjeft, are fo far from
being confidered as heroic poets, that they
i(Ought to be turned down from Homer to
Anthologia, from Virgil to Martial and
Owen's epigrams, and from Spenfer to
Flecno, that is, from the top to the bottom
of all poetry. But to return to Taffo; he
borrows from the invention of Boyardo, and
jn his alteration of his poem, which is infi-
nitely the worft, imitates Homer fo very

fervilely, that (for example) he gives the

king of Jerufalem fifty fons, only becaufe

Homer had beftowed the like number on

icing Priam; he kills the youngeft in the

fame manner, and has provided his hero with

a Patroclus, under another name, only to

bring him back to the wars, when his friend

was killed. The French have performed

nothing in this kind, which is not below

jhofe two Italians, and fubjeft to a thoufand

more refledions, without examining their

St. Louis, their Pucelle, or their Alarique.

The Englifh have only to boaft of Spenfer

and Milton, who neither of them wanted

cither genius or learning to have been per-

feft poets, and yet both of them are liable to

many cenfures. For there is no uniformity

jn the defign of Spenfer ; he aims at the ac-

complifhment of no one aftion ; he raifes up

3 hero for every one of his adventures, and

endows each of them with fome particular

moral virtue, which renders them all equal,

yithout fubordination or preference. Every

ene is molt valiant in his own legend ; only

we muft do them the juftice to obferve, that

piagnanimity, which is the character of

Prince Arthur, ftiines through the whole

poem, and fuccoiirs the reft, when they are

m diftrefs. The original of every knight

was then living in the court of queen Eliza-
beth; and he attributed to each of them

that virtue vi'hich he thought moft confpi-

puous in them : ai^ ingenious piece of flat-
tery, though it turned not much to his ac-
count. Had he lived to finifh his poem, in

the fix remaining legends, it had certainly

been more of a 'piece; but could not have

been perfeft, becaufe the model was not

true. But Prince Arthur, or his chief pa-

(jon. Sir Philip Sidney, whon^ he intended



265



to make happy by the marriage of his Glo-
riana, dying before him, deprived the poet
both ot means and fpirit to accomplilh his
defign. For the reft, his obfolete language,
and ill choice of his ftanza, are lauits but of
the fecond magnitude : for, nolwithitanding
the firlt, he is ftill intelligible, at leaft after
a little practice ; and for the laft, he is the
more to be admired, that labouring under
fuch a difficulty, his verfes are fo numerous,
fo various, and fo harmonious, that only
Virgil, whom he profeffedly imitated, has
furpaffed him among the Romans, and only
Mr. Waller among the Englifh. Drjden.

Remarks on fame of the hsji EnghJ^
dramatic Faets. . •
Shakfpeare was the man who, of all
modern and perhaps ancient poets, liad the
largeft and moft comprehenllve foul. All
the images of nature were ftill prefent to
him, and he drew them not laboriouily, but
luckily : when he defcribes any thing, you
more than fee it, you feel it too. Thofe
who accufe him to have wanted learning,
give him the greater commendation : he
was naturally learned ; he needed not the
fpeftacles of books to read nature; he
looked inwards, and found her there. I
cannot fay he is every where alike ; were
he fo, I Ihould do him injury to compare
him with the greateft of mankind. He is
many times flat and infipid ; his comic wit
degenerating into clenches; his ferious,
fwelling into bombaft. But he is always
great, when fome great occafion is prefented
to him : no man can (d.y he ever had a fit
fubje<!t for his wit, and did not then raifc
himfelf as high above the reft of Poets,

Quantum lenta folent inter viburna cupreflJ.

The confideration of this made Mr. Hales
of Eaton fay, that there was no fubjeft of
which any poet ever writ, but he would pro-
duce it much better treated in Shakfpeare;
and, however others are now generally prefer-
red before him, yet tlie age wherein he
lived, which had contemporaries with him
Fletcher and Jonfon, never equalled them to
him in their efteem. And in the laft king's
court, when Ben's reputation was at the
higheft. Sir John SuckHng, and with him
the greater part of the courtiers, fet our
Shakfpeare far above him.

Beaumont and Fletcher, of whom I am
next to fpeak, had, with the advantage of
Shakfpeare's wit, which was their prece-
dent, great natural gifts, improved by ftudy; ■
Beaumont efpecially being fo accurate a

judge



266



ELEGANT EXTRACTS,



Bdok IV.



judge of players, that Ben Jonfon, while he
lived, fubmitted all his writings to his cen-
fure, and, 'tis thought, ufed his judgment in
correding, if not contriving, all his plots.
'What value he had for him, appears by the
verfes he writ to him, and therefore I need
fpeak no farther of it. The firft play which
brought Fletcher afid him in elieem was their
Philaicer; forliefore that, they had written
two or three very unfuccefsfully : and the
like is reported of Ben jonfon, before he
writ Every Man in his Humour. Their
plots were generally more regular than
Shakfpeare's, efpecially thofe which were
made before Beaumont's death; and they
underftood and imitated the converfation of
gentlemen much better, whofe wild debau-
cheries, and quicknefs of repartees, no poet
can ever paint as they have done. That
humour which Ben jonfon derived from
particular perfons, they made it not their
bunnefs to defcribe ; they reprefentcd all
thepaluons very lively, but above all, love.
1 am apt to believe the Englifh language in
them arrived to its higheft perfeftion : what
words have been taken in fmce, are rather
fuperfluous than ncceffar}'-. Their pla}'s