fail to raise the reader's fympathy to a very high pitch, and in the very recital draw tears from his eyes: in this description the poet has difcovered a masterly hand by exhibiting a real picture of wretchedness capable of moving the moft obdurate,and of melting them into tenderness and pity; for what can be a more mov. ing fight, than to behold human greatnefs, furrounded with human mifery; a female character, lovely in itfelf ftooping under the oppreffion of grief, poverty, and all that shake the foul? Such a character is worthy of man to admire and of heaven to behold.

with redoubled luftre? even fo tho' Belvidera, for a moment, was loaded with woes, yet amidst all the fhocks and injuries of fortune, did not the difcover fomething of fuperior greatness, shine forth with more than common luftre, fcattering the folid gloom of mifery that hovered round, and feem to travel thro' her misfortunes with a gracefulness and ftrength of mind peculiar only to the more exalted characters in life? In fhort, the fun was full of fplendor, tho' eclipfed by clouds; Belvidera full of virtues, tho' covered with for

row.

The circumftances, with which it concludes are exceedingly natural,

ftrong point of view. In fine, the defcription of the fons of Rapine, and of the beauteous Belvidera is conducted with fo much art and judg ment that its parallel can fçarce be found. The circumstances gradually increafe, and afcend by way of Climax, till at laft the poet employs fuch as could not fail to affect a dif interested perfon, besides a Jaffier.

The first interview between Belvidera and her husband is undoubtedly moving and pathetic. The whole fcene is fo highily interefting, the characters fo amiable, and the cir cumftances fo judiciously chofen, that one's fympathy is excited to a very high pitch for the poverty of Jaffier, and the hardships of a beauteous Belvidera.

But if her character be amiable and virtuous, that of Aquilina muft when contrafted with it, appear vicious, and defpicable: and fuch is the judgment of the poet, that for the one he excites our love and efteem, for the other our averfion and difgueft by which means our instinctive love of virtue and hatred to vice is in fome measure ftrengthened. But tho' this may be one advantage,

which arifes from introducing vicious characters into poetry, yet nothing is more unnatural than to interfperfe love and gallantry in tragedy, a fubject, which of all other rejects mirth and wantonnefs, fince Melpomene delights only in the grand and folenin, and not in childish prattles and love tales, which are fitter for the lower fpecies of poetry, than tragedy, whofe grand fubjects, and fublime fentiments are defigned to warm and improve the heart.

The tragic mufe muft therefore be dreffed in melancholly weeds, and not in the gaudy robes of Venus.

On that account we cannot but blame the poet for introducing an aged Senator, giving up his heart, which, by the bye, fhould have been filled with more weighty matters, to the charms of a Greek courtezan.

Such ftrokes of gallantry cannot but enervate the most pathetic tragedy, and deface the impreffions made upon our minds by the more exalted perfonages, who behave themselves with dignity and grace. It is perfectly ridiculous, and abfurd, and to one of taste a memento vomere.

Should any of the tragic poets of Greece or Rome come back a little from the other world, and hear the love-tales of Addison in his Cato, or the childish prattles of Antonio, pronounced upon the stage, and many others pouring out whole pages of unnatural fentiments, nay downright nonsense, would not they laugh, and be mightily offended at fuch grofs abfurdities?

True indeed we love to fee human nature exhibited in a variety of lights, and agitated by various paffions, fuch as we are confcious actuates, or have actuated our own minds, fuch as, fear, grief, terror, and love, fo long as we are fure these paffions are real, and fpring from an inward fenfibility of heart, which the

perfon who poffeffes them cannot help, being fated to human nature and enterwoven in his constitution: but to hear chimerical lovers, when more ferious thoughts fhould take full poffeffion of their mind, talking in fuch wild and romantic ftrains in many of our tragedies, particularly in this, is undoubtedly extravagant and abfurd.

And it were to the honour of Otway that he had facrificed these few ridiculous pages to Vulcan, as they give neither beauty nor dignity to the piece, but throw a meanness over it, otherwife perfect and complete.

But poets in their flight are very unequal; fometimes they foar as high as the clouds; and here the whole fyftem of nature is fubjected to their furvey, from which they cull thofe rich fpoils, and fublime decriptions, which adorn their compofitions, and render them original; at other times they fink as low, and tread the verdant plain, and instead of following nature in their fober walks, they fall in with the deprav ed tafte of the age in which they live.

But if the poet has indulged himfelf in childish prattles in the character of Antonio and Aquilina, he has difcovered the manly ftrength and boldnefs of his mufe in the ap-' pointment between Jaffier and Pierre; for the defcription which Jañer gives of himfelf is truely natural, as it is common for a perfon, who is deeply engaged in any dreadful, bold, or daring enterprife, to be rack'd with agonizing and painful thoughts, to be every way disturbed, and thrown into confufion. And one cannot read it without imagining he both heard and faw Jaffier walking upon the Rialto.

"I'm here, and thus the fhades of night furround me, I look

the exact refemblance between the fubject, and the image it contains, intended to be illustrated.

What can gives us a livelier picture of disappointed ambition than a fpot of ground, on the top of a mountain, which appears exquifitely pleasant at a distance, on account of its exalted fituation, and the goodly profpect which it affords? but, fhould a perfon deceived by thefe appearances, imagine that on this ground he can build a firm and ftately edifice, after he has made a confiderable progrefs in his defign, he finds himself mightily disappointed, the foundation fandy, and confequently the fuperftructure tottering and unftable, and befides, himself and his building, from the height of the fituation, expofed to the violence and fury of every ftorm.

The cafe of the ambitious man is exactly fimilar. He forms in his own imagination, many great and lofty projects; but after he has purfued them to a confiderable length, and perhaps almoft gained the fummit of his wishes, fome unexpected difappointment intervenes, which faps the foundation and overturns all his scheme, or his eminence excites the envy of his rivals, which breaks into a ftorm of malice againft him, and terminates in the total overthrow of all his towering hopes

In the third act, and fecond fcene, the poet has, by entering deeply into the feelings of his perfonages, drawn a true picture of human nature, capable of exciting our pity and compaffion for the heart difturbed Jaffier and the comfortless and forlorn Belvidera; and as it is natural for a perfon, who is violently agitated by paffion to exprefs themselves in broken and unfinished fentences, she discovers the real ftate and condition of her mind in the following paffage;

"Yes,

"Yes, yes, there was a time When Belvidera's tears, her cries and forrows,

Were not defpis'd; when if fhe chanc'd to figh;

Or look but fad; there was indeed a time

When Jaffier would have ta'en her

in his arms,

Eas'd her declining head upon bis breaft

And never left her till he knew the caufe:

But let her now weep feas,

Cry till fhe rend the earth, figh till fhe burft

Her heart asunder; ftill he bears it all,

Deaf as wind, and as the rocks un

fhaken."

Here the poet enters into the feelings of Belvideta, and makes her fpeak the language of nature, who, when toffed with paffion, thunders out her fentiments in broken and interrupted periods, abrupt and intoherent fentences; which evident ly shows that beauty of expreffion is the leaft thing the ftudies or feeks after, when he would exhibit to our view the deep workings of the human heart.

Here Belvidera does not like the Sigifmunda of a Thomfon, talk and reafon with as much coolness and precifion, and conduct her periods with as much propriety, as Cicero or Demofthenes would have done in any of their oratorial harangues; but fpeaks the real language of exceffive paffion, which is by no means expreffed by regular and well conducted periods, and fentiments embellished with all the ornaments of ftyle and elocution.

The firft fcene of the fourth act, is likewife exceedingly beautiful: both on account of the infinuating addrefs of the amiable Belvidera, VOL. I.

and the picturefque, and the moving defcription, which it contains. With a mafterly hand fhe paints the horrid fcene, and fets it by way of vision in a most frightful view. And after calling up to his disturbed imagina tion, a difmal picture of that fatal confpiracy, making bloodsheds, ra pines; defolation pafs before his a ftonifh'd eyes; the wails of infants and the groans of men found dreadfully in his ears, could his heart re◄ main obdurate and unfhaken? No, it was not adamantine, but flesh of the tendereft kind, and could not but be fenfibly touched and deeply affected with fuch a black and horrible picture of ruin.

Now, my dear Philander, thefe are but a few, a very few of the beauties of this excellent piece, as I could paint out more, and have infifted longer upon those I have pointed out, were I not afraid I have tir ed your patience; on which account I fhall conclude at prefent with obferving that the ftudy of poetry, pärticularly that of the higher fpecies, fuch as tragedy, and the Epic poem, to one who intends to fpeak in public, is abfolutely neceffary.-For though one; who does not devote much of his time to the mufes, may in public fpeak common fense, make dry and general obfervations, and adhere ftrictly to naked truth; yet to touch the heart, to move the pasfions, aud triumph over the whole man, is wholly beyond his power: this is the province of their greatest favourites, who, by contracting an early relish for their moft exquifite beauties, as your friend Cleon has done, whofe abilities as a poet are already great and undifputed, and who, for dignity of ftyle, and correctness of compofition, may, fometime hence be placed on a level with the most admired of the moderns.— His genius begins to dawn, and proLI

mifes

mifes a fair and unclouded day; and I can fee the ftately oak rifing out of the beautiful and tender plant.

Haften, haften, O C- -n, when I fhall fee thousands with pleasure more than common, liftening to thy voice, hear them grumbling admiration, and fee them ftand ftruck with thy eloquence! then fhall envy's galling tongue be tied: and people finely wanton in thy praife, and fpeak fuch things of thee as charm her ear. One, who indulges himself in the ftudy of poetry, can intereft the mind, and engage her deepest attention by representing images and pictures that are lively and expreffive; and it is he that can affect our paffions and fteal upon our imaginations ere we are aware, and by his grand fimiles,bold and expreffive metaphors, and all his other engaging tropes and figures he can keep the attention alive, till the grand truths, he has in view to establish, have taken full poffeffion of the foul, and made ftrong and lafting impreffions upon the heart. 1

Could mankind by dry and formal precepts be inftructed, and prevailed upon to tread the paths of virtue, there would be no need for the affiftance of the mufes: but daily experience convinces us of the contrary: men fometimes are too wife to be taught, they often fcorn inftruction delivered in a dry and lifeless manner,therefore premeditated difcourfes garnished with all the flowers of eloquence, and polished with the cool touches of the cloffet are neceffary, before we can engage the attention in order to improve the heart. Now, whence can these flowers be culled, but from the regions of poetry, where they are thick and frequent?

With them one is enabled to exprefs himself with dignity and ease, to cloath his thoughts and fentiments,

in fuch a manner as that they fhall become both pleasing and instructive to thofe with whom he happens to converfe.

Take away the excellencies now mentioned, and you deprive the o rator of half his merit: deftitute of thefe neceffary ornaments,with which poetry furnishes hint, his compofitions could only be confidered as cor rectly cold and regularly low, and not as the productions of one who is much converfant with the poets.

In the regions of poetry there is an univerfal defcription of nature, as there is no fcene in the creation, no character in life, but what the poet's pencil has exquifitely drawn, and confequently they are produc tive of a variety of delicious entertainment adapted to every taste.Thus, the Seafons of Thomfon and the characters of Shakespear are a ftanding proof of this, which will be univerfally read and admired, fo long as genius and taste remain.

In the former we have a tranfcript of the vifible world; and though it were loft in time's oblivious gulph; and funk in ruin; and fhould the Seafons of a Thomson escape the general wreck, might not we read na ture, in his variegated page, as stik exifting, and floating before our aftonished eyes?

In the latter we have a view of hu man nature in a variety of lights, and previous to experience, which often cofts a perfon dear, we are taught the bad effects of vice, and the rewards of virtue. Here the moft momentuous and useful lessons of morality are delivered, gilded over, like the phyfician's pills, with all the charms of Parnaffus.

To conclude, my dear Philander, one, who is acquainted with the poets, will in every place and on every occafion appear agreeable: his ide

as