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N° V. TUESDAY, MARCH 6.

SPECTATUM ADMISSI RISUM TENEATIS?

HOR. ARS POET. VER. 5.

ADMITTED TO THE SIGHT, WOU'D YOU NOT LAUGH?

N Opera may be allowed to be ex

A lavish in it's decora

tions, as it's only defign is to gratify the fenfes, and keep up an indolent attention in the audience. Common fenfe how. ever requires, that there fhould be nothing in the fcenes and machines which may appear childish and abfurd. How would the wits of King Charles's time bave laughed to have feen Nicolini expofed to a tempeft in robes of ermine, and failing in an open boat upon a fea of pafteboard? What a field of raillery would they have been let into, had they been entertained with painted dragons fpitting wild-fire, enchanted chariots drawn by Flanders mares, and real cat cades in artificial landkips? A little kill in criticifin would inform us, that hadows and realities ought not to be mixed together in the fane piece; and, that the fcenes which are defigned as the representations of nature, fhould be filled with refemblances, and not with the things themselves. If one would reprefent a wide champain country filled with herds and flocks, it would be ridiculous to draw the country only upon the fcenes, and to croud feveral parts of the ftage with fheep and oxen. This is joining together inconfiftencies, and making the decoration partly real and partly imaginary. I would recommend what I have faid here to the directors, as well as to the admirers of our modern opera.

As I was walking in the ftreets about a fortnight ago, I faw an ordinary fellow carrying a cage full of little birds upon his fhoulder; and, as I was wondering with myself what ufe he would put them to, he was met very luckily by an acquaintance, who had the fame curiofity. Upon his aking him what he had upon his fhoulder, he told him that he had been buying fparrows for the opera. Sparrows for the opera,' fays his friend, licking his hips, what, are they to be roafted?'- No, no,' fays the other, they are to enter towards the

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end of the firit aft, and to fly about the ftage.'

This range dialogue awakened my curiofity fo far, that I immediately bought the opera, by which means I perceived that the fparrows were to act the part of fmging-birds in a delightful grove; though upon a nearer enquiry I found the fparrows put the fame trick upon the audience, that Sir Martin Marall practifed upon his miftrefs; for though they flew in fight, the mufic proceeded from a confort of flagelets and birds-calls which were planted behind the fcenes. At the fame time I made this difcovery, I found by the difcourfe of the actors, that there were great defigns on foot for the improvement of the opera; that it had been propofed to break down a part of the wall, and to furprise the audience with a party of an hundred horfe; and that there was actually a project of bringing the New River into the houfe, to be einployed in jetteaus and water-works. This project, as I have fince heard, is poftponed till the fummer feafon; when it is thought the coolness that proceeds from fountains and cafcades will be more acceptable and refreshing to people of quality, In the mean time, to find out a more agreeable entertainment for the winter feafon, the opera of Rinaldo is filled with thunder and lightning, illuminations and fire-works; which the audience may look upon without catching cold, and indeed, without much danger of being burnt; for there are feveral engines filled with water, and ready to play at a minute's warning, in cafe any fuch accident fhould happen, However, as I have a very great friendship for the owner of this theatre, I hope that he has been wife enough to infure his houfe before he would let this opera he acted in it.

It is no wonder that thofe fcenes fhould be very furprising which were contrived by two poets of different nations, and raised by two magicians of

different

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different fexes. Armida (as we are told in the argument) was an Amazonian enchantrefs, and poor Signior Caffani (as we learn from the perfons reprefented) a Chriftian conjuror (mago Chriftiano.) I must confefs I am very much puzzled to find how an Amazon fhould be verfed in the black art; or how a good Chriftian, for fuch is the part of the magician, fhould deal with the devil. To confider the poet after the conjuror, I fhall give you a tafte of the Italian from the first lines of his preface. Eccoti, benigno lettore, un parto di poche * fere, obe se ben nato di notte, non è però aborto di tenebre, mà fi farà conofcere figlio d'Apollo con qualche raggio di Parnajo.-Behold, gentle reader, the birth of a few evenings, which, though it be the offspring of the night, is not 'the abortive of darkness, but will 'make itself known to be the fon of Apollo, with a certain ray of Parnailus. He afterwards proceeds to cail Mynheer Handel the Orpheus of our age, and to acquaint us, in the fame fublimity of file, that he compofed this opera in a fortnight. Such are the wits to whofe taftes we fo ambitiously conform ourselves. The truth of it is, the finest writers among the modern Italians exprefs themselves in fuch a florid form of words, and fuch tedious circumlocutions, as are used by none but pedants in our own country; and at the fame time fill their writings with fuch poor imaginations and conceits, as our youths are ashamed of before they have been two years at the univerfity. Some may be apt to think that it is the difference of genius which produces the difference in the works of the two nations; but to fhew there is nothing in this, if we look into the writings of the old Italians, fuch as Cicero and Virgil, we shall find that the English writers, in their way of thinking and expreffing themfelves, refemble thofe authors much more than the modern Italians pretend to do. And

as for the poet himfelf, from whom the dreams of this opera are taken, I must intirely agree with Monfieur Boileau, that one verfe in Virgil is worth all the clincant or tinfel of Taffo.

But to return to the iparrows; there have been fo many flights of them let loofe in this opera, that it is feared the houfe will never get rid of them; and that in other plays they may make their entrance in very wrong and improper fcenes, fo as to be feen flying in a lady's bed-chamber, or perching upon a king's throne; befides the inconveniencies which the heads of the audiences may fometimes fuffer from them. I am credibly informed, that there was once a defign of cafting into an opera the ftory of Whittington and his cat, and that in order to it, there had been got together a great quantity of mice; but Mr. Rich, the proprietor of the playhouse, very prudently confidered that it would be impoffible for the cat to kill them all, and that confequently the princes of the ftage might be as much infefted with mice, as the prince of the island was before the cat's arrival upon it; for which reafon he would not permit it to be acted in his houfe. And indeed I cannot blame him; for, as he faid very well upon that occafion, I do not hear that any of the performers in our opera pretend to equal the famous pied piper, who made all the mice of a great town in Germany follow his music, and by that means cleared the place of those little noxious animals.

Before I difmifs this paper, I muft inform my reader, that I hear there is a treaty on foot with London and Wife (who will be appointed gardeners of the playhouse) to furnish the opera of Rinaldo and Armida with an orange. grove; and that the next time it is acted, the finging-birds will be perfonated by tom-tits; the undertakers being refolved to fpare neither pains nor money for the gratification of the audience.

C

N° VI.

I

N° VI. WEDNESDAY, MARCH 7.

CREDEBANT HOC GRANDE NEFAS, ET MORTE PIANDUM,
SI JUVENIS VETULO NON ASSURREXERAT.

Juv. SAT. XIII. 34.

'TWAS IMPIOUS THEN (SO MUCH WAS AGE REVER'D)
FOR YOUTH TO KEEP THEIR SEAT, WHEN AN OLD MAN APPEAR'E.

Know no evil under the fun fo great as the abuse of the understanding, and yet there is no one vice more common. It has diffufed itself through both fexes and all qualities of mankind; and there is hardly that perfon to be found, who is not more concerned for the reputation of wit and fenfe, than honesty and virtue. But this unhappy affectation of being wife rather than honeft, witty than good-natured, is the fource of most of the ill habits of life. Such falfe impreffions are owing to the abandoned writings of men of wit, and the aukward imitation of the rest of mankind.

For this reafon Sir Roger was faying last night, that he was of opinion none but men of fine parts deferve to be hanged. The reflections of fuch men are to delicate upon all occurrences which they are concerned in, that they fhould be expofed to more than ordinary infamy and punishment for offending against fuch quick admonitions as their own fouls give them, and blunting the fine edge of their minds in fuch a manner, that they are no more fhocked at vice and folly, than men of flower capacities. There is no greater monfter in being, than a very ill man of great parts: he lives like a man in a palfy, with one fide of him dead. While perhaps he enjoys the fatisfaction of luxury, of wealth, of ambition, he has loft the tafte of good-will, of friendship, of innocence. Scarecrow, the beggar in Lincoln's-Inn-Fields, who difabledhimfelf in his right leg, and afks alms all day to get himfelf a warm fupper and a trull at night, is not half fo defpicable a wretch as fuch a man of fenfe. The beggar has no relifh above fenfations; he finds reft more agreeable than motion; and while he has a warm fire and his doxy, never reflects that he deferves to be whipped. Every man who terminates his fatisfactions and enjoy. ments within the fupply of his own neceffities and paffions, is,' fays Sir

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Roger, in my eye, as poor a rogue as Scarecrow. But,' continued he,' for the lofs of public and private virtue, we are beholden to your men of parts forfooth; it is with them no matter what is done, fo it be done with an 'air. But to me, who am fo whimsical

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in a corrupt age as to act according 'to nature and reason, a selfish man, in the most shining circumftance and equipage, appears in the fame condition with the fellow above-mentioned, but more contemptible, in proportion to what more he robs the public of, and enjoys above him, I lay it down 'therefore for a rule, that the whole man is to move together; that every action of any importance, is to have a profpect of public good; and that the general tendency of our indifferent actions ought to be agreeable to the ⚫ dictates of reafon, of religion, of goodbreeding; without this a man, as I be'fore have hinted, is hopping inftead of 'walking, he is not in his entire and proper motion.'

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While the honeft knight was thus bewildering himself in good starts, I looked attentively upon him, which made him, I thought, collect his mind a little. What I aim at,' fays he,' is to reprefent, that I am of opinion, to polish our understandings and neglect our manners, is of all things the most inexcufable. Reafon fhould govern paflion, but instead of that, you see, it is often fubfervient to it; and as ⚫ unaccountable as one would think it, a wife man is not always a good man. This degeneracy is not only the gift of particular perfons, but at fome times of a whole people: and perhaps it may appear upon examination, that the most polite ages are the leaft virtuous. This may be attributed to the folly of admitting wit and learning as merit in themfelves, without confidering the application of them. By this means it becomes a rule, not fo much to regard what we do, as how

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we do it. But this falfe beauty will not pafs upon men of honeft minds and true taste: Sir Richard Black⚫ more fays, with as much good fenfe as virtue" It is a mighty difhonour "and fhame to employ excellent fa"culties and abundance of wit to hu"mour and please men in their vices "and follies. The great enemy of "mankind, notwithstanding his wit "and angelic faculties, is the most "odious being in the whole creation." 'He goes on foon after to fay very generously, that he undertook the writing of his poem " to refcue the Mufes "out of the hands of ravifhers, to re"ftore them to their fweet and chafte "manfions, and to engage them in an employment fuitable to their dignity." This certainly ought to be the purpofe of every man who appears in 'public, and whoever does not proceed upon that foundation, injures his country as faft as he fucceeds in his 'ftudies. When modefty ceases to be 'the chief ornament of one fex, and integrity of the other, fociety is upon a wrong bafis, and we fhall be ever after without rules to guide our judgment in what is really becoming and ornamental. Nature and reafon direct one thing, paffion and humour another: to follow the dictates of the two latter, is going into a road that is both endlefs and intricate; when we purfue the other, our paffage is delightful, and what we aim at easily attainable.

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mon than that we run in perfect contradition to them? All which is fupported by no other pretenfion, than that it is done with what we call a good grace.

Nothing ought to be held laudable or becoming, but what nature itfelf fhould prompt us to think fo. Refpect to all kind of superiors is founded, methinks, upon inftin&t; and yet what is fo ridiculous as age? I make this abrupt tranfition to the mention of this vice more than any other, in order to introduce a little flory, which I think a pretty inftance that the most polite age is in danger of being the moft vicious.

It happened at Athens, during a public reprefentation of fome play exhibited in honour of the commonwealth, that an old gentleman camé too late for a place fuitable to his age and quality. Many of the young gentlemen who obferved the difficulty and confufion he was in, made figns to him that they would accommodate him if he came where they fat: the good man buftled through the crowd accordingly; but when he came to the feats to which he was invited, the jeft was to fit close, and expose him, as he stood out of countenance, to the whole audience. The frolic went round all the Athenian benches. But on thofe occafions there were also particular places affigned for foreigners; when the good man fkulked towards the boxes appointed for the Lacedemonians, that honest people, more virtuous than polite, rofe up all to a man, and with the greatest respect received him among them. The Athenians being fuddenly touched with a fenfe of the Spartan virtue, and their own degeneracy, gave a thunder of applaufe; and the old man cried out "The Athenians understand what is "good, but the Lacedemonians prac "tife it."

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'I do not doubt but England is at prefent as polite a nation as any in the world; but any man who thinks can eafily fee, that the affectation of being gay and in fashion, has very near eaten up our good fenfe and our reli· gion. Is there any thing so just, as that mode and gallantry fhould be 'built upon exerting ourfelves in what is proper and agreeable to the inftitutions of justice and piety among us? And yet is there any thing more com.

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N° VII. THURSDAY, MARCH 8.

SOMNIA, TERRORES MAGICOS, MIRACULA, SAGAS,
NOCTURNOS LEMURES, PORTENTAQUE THESSALA RIDES?

HOR. EP. II. 208.

VISIONS, AND MAGIC SPELLS, CAN YOU DESPISE,
AND LAUGH AT WITCHES, GHOSTS, AND PRODIGIES?

yesterday to dine with an

all the paffions and humours of his

Gold acquaintance, I had the mif- yoke-fellow; ; Do not you remember,

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fortune to find his whole family very much dejected. Upon afking him the occafion of it, he told me that his wife had dreamt a strange dream the night before, which they were afraid portended fome misfortune to themselves or to their children. At her coming into the room I obferved a fettled melancholy in her countenance, which I fhould have been troubled for, had I not heard from whence it proceeded. We were no fooner fat down, but after having looked upon me a little while- My dear,' fays fhe, turning to her husband, you may now fee the ftranger that was in the candle last night. Soon after this, as they began to talk of family affairs, a little boy at the lower end of the table told her, that he was to go into joinhand on Thursday. Thurfday!' fays fhe, no, child, if it pleafe God, you fhall not begin upon Childermas-day; tell your writing-mafter that Friday will be foon enough.' I was reflecting with myself on the oddnefs of her fancy, and wondering that any body would eftablish it as a rule to lofe a day in every week. In the midst of thefe my mufings, fhe defired me to reach her a little falt upon the point of my knife, which I did in fuch a trepidation and hurry of obedience, that I let it drop by the way; at which the immediately ftartled, and faid it fell towards her. Upon this I looked very blank; and, obferving the concern of the whole table, began to confider myself, with fome confufion, as a perfon that had brought a difafter upon the family. The lady, however, recovering herself after a little space, faid to her husband, with a figh- My dear, miffortunes never come fingle. My friend, I found, acted but an underpart at his table, and being a man of more good-nature than understanding, thinks himself obliged to fall in with

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child,' fays fhe, that the pigeonhoufe fell the very afternoon that our careless wench fpilt the falt upon the table? Yes,' fays he, my dear, and the next poft brought us an account of the battle of Almanza.' The reader may guefs at the figure I-made after having done all this mifchief. I difpatched my dinner as foon as I could, with my ufual taciturnity; when, to my utter confufion, the lady feeing me quitting my knife and fork, and laying them acrofs one another upon the plate, defired me that I would humour her fo far as to take them out of that figure, and place them fide by fide. What the abfurdity was which I had committed I did not know, but I fuppofe there was fome traditionary fuperftition in it; and therefore, in obedience to the lady of the houfe, I difpofed of my knife and fork in two parallel lines, which is the figure I fhall always lay them in for the future, though I do not know any reafon for it.

It is not difficult for a man to fee that a perfon has conceived an averfion to him. For my own part, I quickly found, by the lady's looks, that the regarded me as a very odd kind of fellow, with an unfortunate afpect. For which reafon I took my leave inmediately after dinner, and withdrew to my own lodgings. Upon my return home, I fell into a

profound contemplation on the evils that attend these fuperftitious follies of mankind; how they fubject us to imaginary afflictions, and additional forrows, that do not properly come within our lot. As if the natural calamities of life were not sufficient for it, we turn the most indifferent circumitances into misfortunes, and fuffer as much from trifling accidents as from real evils. I have known the fhooting of a ftar spoil a night's reft; and have feen a man in love grow pale and lofe his appetite,

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