With that there came an Arrow keen

Out of an English Bow,

Which ftruck Earl Dowglas to the Heart,
A deep and deadly Blow.

Eneas was wounded after the fame Manner by an unknown Hand in the midst of a Parly.

Has inter voces, media inter talia verba,

Ecce viro ftridens alis allapfa fagitta eft,
Incertum qua pulsa manu

But of all the defcriptive Parts of this Song, there are none more beautiful than the four following Stanzas, which have a great Force and Spirit in them, and are filled with very natural Circumftances. The Thought in the third Stanza was never touched by any other Poet, and is fuch an one as would have shined in Homer or Virgil.

So thus did both thefe Nobles dye,
Whofe Courage none could ftain:
'An English Archer then perceiv'd
The noble Earl was flain.
He had a Bow bent in his Hand,
Made of a trufty Tree,

An Arrow of a Cloath-yard long
Unto the Head drew he.

Against Sir Hugh Montgomery
So right his Shaft he fet,

The Grey-goofe Wing that was thereon
In his Heart-Blood was wet.

This Fight did laft from break of Day
Till fetting of the Sun;

For when they rung the Evening Bell

The Battel Scarce was done.

One may obferve likewife, that in the Catalogue of the Slain the Author has followed the Example of the greateft ancient Poets, not only in giving a long Lift of the Dead, but by diverfifying it with little Characters of particular Perfons,

And with Earl Dowglas there was flain

Sir Hugh Montgomery,

Sir Charles Carrel, that from the Field
One Foot would never fly:

Sir Charles Murrel of Ratcliff too,
His Sifter's Son was he;
Sir David Lamb, fo well efteem'd,

Tet faved could not be.

The familiar Sound in these Names destroys the Majefty of the Description; for this Reason I do not mention this Part of the Poem but to fhew the natural Caft of Thought which appears in it, as the two last Verses look almost like a Tranflation of Virgil,

Cadit Ripheus juftiffimus unus

Qui fuit in Teucris & fervantiffimus aqui,
Diis aliter vifum eft

In the Catalogue of the English who fell,Witherington's Be-
haviour is in the fame Manner particularized very artfully,
as the Reader is prepared for it by that Account which is
given of him in the Beginning of the Battel; tho' I am fa
tisfied your little Buffoon Readers(who have seen that Pal-
fage ridiculed in Hudibras)will not be able to take the Beau-
ty of it: For which Reason I dare not fo much as quote it.
Then stept a gallant Squire forth,
Witherington was his Name,

Who faid, I would not have it told
To Henry our King for Shame,
That e'er my Captain feught on Foot
And I ftood looking on.

We meet with the fame Heroick Sentiment in Virgil.
Non pudet, O Rutuli, cunctis pro talibus unam
Objectare animam? numerone an viribus aqui

Non fumis

What can be more natural or more moving, than the Cir-
cumftances in which he defcribes the Behaviour of thofe
Women who had loft their Husbands on this fatal Day?
Next Day did many Widows come
Their Husbands to bewail;

They wash'd their Wounds in brinifh Tears,
But all would not prevail.

Their Bodies bath'd in purple Blood,

They bore with them away;

They kifs'd them dead a thousand Times,

When they were clad in Clay.

N 2

Thus

Thus we fee how the Thoughts of this Poem, which naturally arife from the Subject, are always fimple, and fometimes exquifitely noble; that the Language is often very founding, and that the whole is written with a true poetical Spirit. IF this Song had been written in the Gothick Manner, which is the Delight of all our little Wits, whether Writers or Readers, it would not have hit the Tafte of fo many Ages, and have pleafed the Readers of all Ranks and Conditions. I fhall only beg Pardon for fuch a Profufion of Latin Quotations; which I fhould not have made use of, but that I feared my own Judgment would have looked too fingular on fuch a Subject, had not I fupported it by the Practice and Authority of Virgil.

N° 75.

Saturday, May 26.

Omnis Ariftippum decuit color & ftatus, & res.

Hor.

T was with fome Mortification that I fuffered the Rai

Ilery of a Fine Lady of my Acquaintance, for calling, in

one of my Papers, Dorimant a Clown. She was fo unmerciful as to take Advantage of my invincible Taciturnity, and on that occafion, with great Freedom to confider the Air, the Height, the Face, the Gefture of him who cou'd pretend to Judge fo arrogantly of Gallantry. She is full of Motion, Janty and lively in her Impertinence, and one of thofe that commonly pafs, among the Ignorant, for Perfons who have a great deal of Humour. She had the Play of Sir Fopling in her Hand, and after she had faid it was happy for her there was not so charming a Creature as Dorimant now living, fhe began with a Theatrical Air and Tone of Voice to read, by way of Triumph over me, fome of his Speeches. 'Tis fhe, that lovely Hair, that eafie shape, those wanton Eyes, and all thofe melting Charms about her Mouth, which Medley Spoke of; I'll follow the Lottery and put in for Prize with my Friend Bellair.

In Love the Victors from the Vanquish'd fly; They fly that wound, and they pursue that dye. Then turning over the Leaves, the reads alternately, and speaks,

And

And you and Loveit to her Coft fhall find

I fathom all the Depths of Womankind.

Oh the Fine Gentleman! But here, continues fhe, is the Paffage I admire moft, where he begins to Teize Loveit, and Mimick Sir Fopling: Oh the pretty Satyr, in his refolving to be a Coxcomb to please, since Noife and Nonfenfe have fuch powerful Charms.

I, that I may Successful prove,

Transform my felf to what you Love.

Then how like a Man of the Town, fo Wild and Gay is that!

The Wife will find a Difference in our Fate,

You wed a Woman, I a good Estate.

IT would have been a very wild Endeavour for a Ma of my Temper to offer any Oppofition to fo nimble a Speaker as my Fair Enemy is; but her Difcourfe gave me very many Reflections, when I had left her Company. Among others, I could not but confider, with fome Attention, the falfe Impreffions the generality (the Fair Sex more especially) have of what should be intended, when they fay a Fine Gentleman; and could not help revolving that Subject in my Thoughts, and fettling, as it were, an Idea of that Character in my own Imagination.

NO Man ought to have the Efteem of the rest of the World, for any Actions which are difagreeable to thofe Maxims which prevail, as the Standards of Behaviour, in the Country wherein he lives. What is oppofite to the eternal Rules of Reafon and good Senfe, muft be excluded from any Place in the Carriage of a Well-bed Man. I did not, I confefs, explain my felf enough on this Subject, when I called Dorimant a Clown, and made it an Inftance of it, that he called theOrange Wench, Double Tripe: I should have fhewed, that Humanity obliges a Gentleman to give no Part of Humankind Reproach, for what they, whom they Reproach, may possibly have in common with the most Virtuous and Worthy amongst us. When a Gentleman fpeaks Coarfly, he has dreffed himself Clean to no purpose: The Cloathing of our Minds certainly ought to be regarded before that of our Bodies. To betray in a Man's Talk a corrupted Imagination, is a much greater Offence against the Converfation of Gentlemen, than any Negli

N 3.

gence

No 757 gence of Drefs imaginable. But this Senfe of the Matter is fo far from being received among People even of Condition, that Vocifer paffes for a fine Gentleman. He is Loud, Haughty, Gentle, Soft, Lewd, and Obfequious by turns, just as a little Understanding and great Impudence prompt him at the prefent Moment. He paffes among the Silly Part of our Women for a Man of Wit, becaufe he is generally in Doubt. He contradicts with a Shrug, and confutes with a certain Sufficiency, in profeffing fuch or fuch a Thing is above his Capacity. What makes his Chara&er the pleafanter is, that he is a profeffed Deluder of Women; and because, the empty Coxcomb has no Regard to any thing that is of it felf Sacred and Inviolable, I have heard an unmarried Lady of Fortune fay, it is a Pity fo fine a Gentleman as Vocifer is fo great an Atheist. The Crowds of fuch inconfiderable Creatures, that infeft all Places ofAffembling, every Reader will have in his Eye from his own Obfervation; but would it not be worth confidering what fort of Figure a Man who formed himself upon thofe Principles among us, which are agreeable to the dictates of Honour and Religion, would make in the familiar and ordinary Occurrences of Life?

I hardly have obferved any one fill his feveral Duties of Life better than Ignotus. All the Under-parts of his Behaviour,and fuch as are expofed to common Obfervation, have their rife in him from great and noble Motives. A firm and unfhaken Epectation of another Life, makes him become this; Humanity and good Nature, fortified by the Senfe of Virtue, has the fame Effect upon him, as the Neglect of all Goodnefs has upon many others. Being firmly Established in all Matters of Importance, that certain İnattention which makes Mens Actions look eafie, appears in him with greater Beauty : By a thorough Contempt of little Excellencies, he is perfectly Mafter of them. This Temper of Mind leaves him under no neceffity of Studying his Air, and he has this peculiar Distinction, that his Negligence is unaffected.

HE that can work himself into a Pleasure in confidering this Being as an uncertain one, and think to reap an Advantage by its Difcontinuance, is in a fair way of doing all things with a graceful Unconcern, and Gentlemanlike Eafe. Such a one does not behold his Life as a fhort, tranfient, perplexing State, made up of trifling Pleasures,

and