I know thee well, an earl thou art, Lord Percy, fo am I. But trust me, Percy, pity it were Let thou and I the battle try, When thefe brave men had diftinguished themselves in the battle, and in fingle combat with each other, in the midst of a generous parley, full of heroic fentiments, the Scotch earl falls; and with his dying words encourages his men to revenge his death, reprefenting to them, as the moft bitter circumftance of it, that his rival faw him fall. With that there came an arrow keen Which ftruck Earl Douglas to the heart Who never spoke more words than these, Merry-men, in the language of those times, is no more than a chearful word for companions and fellow foldiers. A paffage in the eleventh book of Virgil's Æneid is very much to be admired, where Camilla, in her laft agonies, inftead of weeping 1 weeping over the wound fhe had received, as one might have expected from a warrior of her fex, confiders only (like the hero of whom we are now fpeaking) how the battle fhould be continued after her death. Tum fic expirans, &c. En. xi. 820. A gathering mift o'erclouds her chearful eyes; DRYDEN. Turnus did not die in fo heroic a manner; though our poet feems to have had his eye upon Turnus's fpeech in the last verse, Lord Percy fees my fall. --Vicifti, & victum tendere palmas Aufonii videre Æn. xii. 936. The Latian Chiefs have feen me beg my life. Earl Percy's lamentation over his enemy is generous, beautiful, and paffionate; I must only caution the reader not to let the fimplicity of the ftile, which one may well pardon in fo old a poet, prejudice him against the greatness of the thought. Then Then leaving life, Earl Percy took O Chrift! my very heart doth bleed That beautiful line, Taking the dead man by the hand, will put the reader in mind of Æneas's behaviour towards Laufus, whom he himself had flain as he came to the rescue of his aged father. At vero ut vultum vidit morientis, & ora Æn. xii. 822. The pious prince beheld young Laufus dead; &c. I shall take another opportunity to confider the other parts of this old fong. C*. *By ADDISON, dated, as the fignature feems to denote, from Chelsea. Sec N° 74; and final Note to N° 7. *. At Drury-Lane, May 21, " The LIBERTINE DESTROYED." Don John by Mr. Mills; Jacomo, Mr. Johnfon; Antonio, Mr. Thurmond; Lopez, Mr. Bickerstaff; Francifco, Mr. Keen; Leonora, Mrs. Knight; Maria, Mrs. Porter; Octavia, Mifs Sherborne; Flavia, Mifs Willis; Shepherds, Mr. Norris, Mr. Leigh, Mr. Pack, and Mr. Burkhead. May 22, The Squire of Alfatia." SPECT. in folio. N° 71. N° 71. Tuesday, May 22, 1711. -Scribere juffit amor. Love bade me write. TH OVID. Epift. iv. 10. HE entire conqueft of our paffions is fo difficult a work, that they who defpair of it should think of a lefs difficult task, and only attempt to regulate them. But there is a third thing which may contribute not only to the eafe, but alfo to the pleasure of our life; and that is refining our paffions to a greater elegance than we receive them from nature. When the paffion is Love, this work is performed in innocent, though rude and uncultivated minds, by the mere force and dignity of the object. There are forms which naturally create refpect in the beholders, and at once inflame and chaftife the imagination. Such an impreffion as this gives an immediate ambition to deferve, in order to The Squire by Mr. Bullock; Sir W. Belfond, Mr. Penkethman; Y. Belfond, Mr. Wilks; Sir Edw. B. by Mr. Keene; Trueman, Mr. Mills; Cheatly, Mr. Bickerstaff; Shamwell, Mr. Bullock, Jun.; Lolpoop, Mr. Crofs; Scrapeall, Mr. Norris; Ifabella, Mrs. Rogers; Terefa, Mrs. Oldfield; Mrs. Termagant, Mrs. Knight; Lucy, Mifs Sherburn; Ruth, Mrs. Powell; with dancing by Mrs. Bicknell. On Thursday, May 24, "The Marplot," or Second Part of "The Bufy Body." The part of Marplot by Mr. Pack; Don Perriera, Mr. Dogget; Colon. Ravelin, Mr. Wilks; C. Gripe, Mr. Mills; D. Lopez, Mr. Bowen; Lorenzo, Mr. Norris; Madem. Joneton, Mrs. Bradfhaw; Ifabinda, Mrs. Porter; Da Perriera, Mrs. Santlow; and Governante by Mrs. Willis. SPECT. in folio. VOL. I. Ee please. please. This caufe and effect are beautifully described by Mr. Dryden in the fable of " Cymon and Iphigenia." After he has represented Cymon fo stupid, that He whistled as he went, for want of thought; he makes him fall into the following scene, and shews its influence upon him so excellently, that it appears as natural as wonderful. } It happen'd on a fummer's holiday, That to the greenwood-fhade he took his way; His quarter-ftaff, which he cou'd ne'er forfake, Hung half before, and half behind his back. He trudg'd along, unknowing what he fought, And whistled as he went, for want of thought. By chance conducted, or by thirst constrain'd, The deep receffes of the grove he gain'd; Where in a plain, defended by the wood, Crept thro' the matted grafs a cryftal flood, By which an alabaster fountain stood: And on the margin of the fount was laid (Attended by her flaves) a fleeping maid, Like Dian and her nymphs, when tir'd with sport, To reft by cool Eurotas they refort: The dame herself the goddef's well exprefs'd, Not more diftinguifh'd by her purple veft, Than by the charming features of her face, And e'en in flumber a fuperior grace; Her comely limbs compos'd with decent care, Her body fhaded with a flight cymarr; Her bofom to the view was only bare: The fanning wind upon her bofom blows, To meet the fanning wind the bofom rofe; The fanning wind and purling ftreams conti nue her repose. The |