When this confusion of voices was pretty well

'over, though I was afraid to offer at speaking, as

fearing I should not be heard, I proposed a visit to 'the Dutch cabin, which lay about a mile further up ' into the country. My crew were extremely rejoiced 'to find they had again recovered their hearing; though every man uttered his voice with the same apprehensions that I had done

Et timide verba intermissa retentat.

At about half-a-mile's distance from our cabin, we heard the groanings of a bear, which at first 'startled us; but upon inquiry, we were informed by

some of our company that he was dead, and now lay ⚫ in salt, having been killed upon that very spot about a fortnight before, in the time of the frost. Not far 'from the same place, we were likewise entertained 'with some posthumous snarls and barkings of a • fox.

'We at length arrived at the little Dutch settle'ment; and upon entering the room, found it filled 'with sighs that smelt of brandy, and several other ' unsavoury sounds, that were altogether inarticulate. 'My valet, who was an Irishman, fell into so great a 'rage at what he heard, that he drew his sword;

• but

'but not knowing where to lay the blame, he put it ' up again. We were stunned with these confused

noises, but did not hear a single word until about ' half-an-hour after; which I ascribed to the harsh ' and obdurate sounds of that language, which wanted " more time than ours to melt and become audible. 'After having here met with a very hearty welcome, we went to the cabin of the French, who, to 'make amends for their three weeks' silence, were

talking and disputing with greater rapidity and con'fusion than ever I heard in an assembly even of that 'nation. Their language, as I found, upon the first 'giving of the weather, fell asunder and dissolved. I 'was here convinced of an error, into which I had 'before fallen; for I fancied that, for the freezing of the sound, it was necessary for it to be wrapped up and, as it were, preserved in breath: but I found my mistake, when I heard the sound of a kit playing · a minuet over our heads. I asked the occasion of it; upon which one of the company told me, it ⚫ would play there above a week longer, if the thaw ' continued ; "for," says he, finding ourselves "bereft of speech, we prevailed upon one of the company, who had this musical instrument about 6.66 him, to play to us from morning to night; all ." which

6.66

"" which time we employed in dancing, in order to dissipate our chagrin, et tuer le temps."

Here Sir John gives very good philosophical reasons why the kit could not be heard during the frost; but as they are something prolix, I pass them over in silence, and shall only observe, that the honourable author seems by his quotations to have been well versed in the ancient poets, which perhaps raised his fancy above the ordinary pitch of historians, and very much contributed to the embellishment of his writings.

[Nov. 23, 1710.]

STAGE

SPECTATOR]

N° 10

STAGE LIONS.

[ADDISON

Dic mihi, si fueris tu leo, qualis eris?

-MART.

HERE is nothing that of late years has afforded

THE

matter of greater amusement to the town than Signior Nicolini's combat with a Lion in the Haymarket, which has been very often exhibited to the general satisfaction of most of the nobility and gentry in the kingdom of Great Britain. Upon the first rumour of this intended combat, it was confidently affirmed, and is still believed by many in both galleries, that there would be a tame lion sent from the Tower every opera night, in order to be killed by Hydaspes. This report, though altogether groundless, so universally prevailed in the upper regions of the playhouse, that some of the most refined politicians in those parts of the audience gave it out in whisper,

whisper, that the Lion was a cousin-german of the Tiger who made his appearance in King William's days, and that the stage would be supplied with lions at the public expense during the whole session. Many likewise were the conjectures of the treatment which this Lion was to meet with from the hands of Signior Nicolini: some supposed that he was to subdue him in recitativo, as Orpheus used to serve the wild beasts in his time, and afterwards to knock him on the head; some fancied that the Lion would not pretend to lay his paws upon the hero, by reason of the received opinion, that a Lion will not hurt a Virgin. Several, who pretended to have seen the opera in Italy, had informed their friends, that the Lion was to act a part in High-Dutch, and roar twice or thrice to a thorough-bass, before he fell at the feet of Hydaspes. To clear up a matter that was so variously reported, I have made it my business to examine whether this pretended Lion is really the savage he appears to be, or only a counterfeit.

But before I communicate my discoveries, I must acquaint the reader, that upon my walking behind the scenes last winter, as I was thinking on something else, I accidentally justled against a monstrous animal that extremely startled me, and, upon my

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