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profess, that all the honour, power, and riches, which | know I contribute more to your satisfaction, when I they propose to themselves, cannot give satisfaction acknowledge I am the better man, from the influence enough to reward them for half the anxiety they and authority you have over, Sir,

"Your most obliged and most humble servant,

SIR,

"R. O."

undergo in the pursuit or the possession of them. While men are in this temper (which happens very frequently,) how inconsistent are they with themselves! They are wearied with the toil they bear, "I am entirely convinced of the truth of what but cannot find in their hearts to relinquish it: re- you were pleased to say to me, when I was last with tirement is what they want, but they cannot betake you alone. You told me then of the silly way I was themselves to it. While they pant after shade and in; but you told me so as I saw you loved me, covert, they still affect to appear in the most glitter- otherwise I could not obey your commands in letting ing scenes of life. Sure this is but just as reason-you know my thoughts so sincerely as I do at preable as if a man should call for more light, when he sent. I know the creature, for whom I resign so has a mind to go to sleep. much of my character,' is all that you said of her; but then the trifler has something in her so undesigning and harmless, that her guilt in one kind disappears by the comparison of her innocence in another. Will you, virtuous man, allow no alteration of offences? Must dear Chloe be called by the hard name you pious people give to common women? I keep the solemn promise I made you, in writing to you the state of my mind, after your kind admonition; and will endeavour to get the better of this fondness, which makes me so much her humble servant, that I am almost ashamed to subscribe myself yours, "T. D."

Since then it is certain that our own hearts deceive us in the love of the world, and that we cannot command ourselves enough to resign it, though we every day wish ourselves disengaged from its allurements; let us not stand upon a formal taking of leave, but wean ourselves from them while we are in the midst of them.

"SIR,

It is certainly the general intention of the greater part of mankind to accomplish this work, and live according to their own approbation, as soon as they possibly can. But since the duration of life is so uncertain, (and that has been a common topic of discourse ever since there was such a thing as life itself,) how is it possible that we should defer a moment the "There is no state of life so anxious as that of a beginning to live according to the rules of reason? The man of business has ever some one point to his own reason. man who does not live according to the dictates of It will seem odd to you, when I carry, and then he tells himself he will bid adieu to assure you that my love of retirement first of all all the vanity of ambition. The man of pleasure re-brought me to court; but this will be no riddle solves to take his leave at least, and part civilly with when I acquaint you, that I placed myself here with his mistress; but the ambitious man is entangled a design of getting so much money as might enable every moment in a fresh pursuit, and the lover sees me to purchase handsome retreat in the country. new charms in the object he fancied he could aban- At present my circumstances enable me, and my don. It is therefore a fantastical way of thinking, duty prompts me, to pass away the remaining part of when we promise ourselves an alteration in our con- my life in such a retirement as I at first proposed to duct from change of place and difference of circum myself; but to my great misfortune I have cutirely stances; the same passions will attend us where- lost the relish of it, and should now return to the ever we are, till they are conquered; and we can country with greater reluctance than I at first came never live to our satisfaction in the deepest retire-to court. I am so unhappy, as to know that what I ment, unless we are capable of living so, in some measure, amidst the noise and business of the world. I have ever thought men were better known by what could be observed of them from a perusal of their private letters, than any other way. My friend the clergyman, the other day, upon serious discourse with him concerning the danger of procrastination, gave me the following letters from persons with whom he lives in great friendship and intimacy, according to the good breeding and good sense of his character. The first is from a man of business, who is his convert the second from one of whom he conceives good hopes: the third from one who is in no state at all, but carried one way and another by starts.

"SIK,

I re

am fond of are trifles, and that what I neglect is of the greatest importance: in short, I find a contest in my own mind between reason and fashion. member you once told me, that I might live in the world, and out of it, at the same time. Let me beg of you to explain this paradox more at large to me, that I may conform my life, if possible, both to my duty and my inclination. I am yours, &c.

"R. B."

R. Letters are directed "For the Spectator, to be left at Mr. Buckley's, in Little Britain, post paid." N. B. In the form of a direction, this makes a figure in the last column of the Spectator in folio.

No. 28.1 MONDAY, APRIL 2, 1711.
Neque semper arcum
Tendit Apollo.

HOR. 2 Od. x. 19.

Nor does Apollo always bend his bow.

"I know not with what words to express to you the sense I have of the high obligation you have laid upon me, in the penance you enjoined me, of doing some good or other to a person of worth every day I live. The station I am in furnishes me with daily I shall here present my reader with a letter from opportunities of this kind; and the noble principle a projector, concerning a new office which he thinks with which you have inspired me, of benevolence to may very much contribute to the embellishments of all I have to deal with, quickens my application in the city, and to the driving barbarity out of our every thing I undertake. When I relieve merit streets. I consider it as a satire upon projectors in from discountenance, when I assist a friendless per-general, and a lively picture of the whole art of son, when I produce concealed worth, I am dis-modern criticism. pleased with myself, for having designed to leave the world in order to be virtuous. I am sorry you decline the occasions which the condition I am in might afford me of enlarging your fortunes; but

"SIR,

"Observing that you have thoughts of creating certain officers under you, for the inspection of se veral petty enormities you yourself cannot attend to;

and finding daily absurdities hung out upon the sign-posts of this city, to the great scandal of foreigners, as well as those of our own country, who are curious spectators of the same: I do humbly propose that you would be pleased to make me your superintendent of all such figures and devices as are or shall be made use of on this occasion; with full powers to rectify or expunge whatever I shall find irregular or defective. For want of such an officer, there is nothing like sound literature and good sense to be met with in those objects that are every where thrusting themselves out to the eye, and endeavouring to become visible. Our streets are filled with blue boars, black swans, and red lions; not to mention flying pigs, and hogs in armour, with many other creatures more extraordinary than any in the deserts of Africa. Strange! that one who has all the birds and beasts in nature to choose out of, should live at the sign of an Ens Rationis! "My first task therefore should be, like that of Hercules, to clear the city from monsters. In the second place, I would forbid that creatures of jarring and incongruous natures should be joined together in the same sign; such as the bell and the neat's tongue, the dog and the gridiron. The fox and the goose may be supposed to have met, but what has the fox and the seven stars to do together? And when did the lamb and the dolphin ever meet, except upon a sign-post? As for the cat and fiddle, there is a conceit in it; and therefore I do not intend that any thing I have here said should affect it. I must, however, observe to you upon this subject, that it is usual for a young tradesman, at his first setting up, to add to his own sign that of the master whom he served; as the husband, after marriage, gives a place to his mistress's arms in his own coat. This I take to have given rise to many of those absurdities which are committed over our heads; and, as I am informed, first occasioned the three nuns and a hare, which we see so frequently joined together. I would therefore establish certain rules, for the determining how far one tradesman may give the sign of another, and in what cases he may be allowed to quarter it with his own.

"In the third place, I would enjoin every shop to make use of a sign which bears some affinity to the wares in which it deals. What can be more inconsistent than to see a bawd at the sign of the angel, or a tailor at the lion? A cook should not live at the boot, nor a shoemaker at the roasted pig; and yet, for want of this regulation, I have seen a goat set up before the door of a perfumer, and the French king's head at a sword-cutler's.

"An ingenious foreigner observes, that several of those gentlemen who value themselves upon their families, and overlook such as are bred to trade, bear the tools of their forefathers in their coats of arms. I will not examine how true this is in fact. But though it may not be necessary for posterity thus to set up the sign of their forefathers, I think it highly proper for those who actually profess the trade to show some such marks of it before their doors.

"When the name gives an occasion for an ingenious sign-post, I would likewise advise the owner to take that opportunity of letting the world know

who he is. It would have been ridiculous for the ingenious Mrs. Salmon to have lived at the sign of the trout; for which reason she has erected before her house the figure of the fish that is her namesake. Mr. Bell has likewise distinguished himself by a device of the same nature: and here, Sir, I must beg leave to observe to you, that this particular |

As for

figure of a bell has given occasion to several pieces of wit in this kind. A man of your reading must know, that Abel Drugger gained great applause by it in the time of Ben Jonson. Our apocryphal heathen god is also represented by this figure; which, in conjunction with the dragon, makes a very handsome picture in several of our streets. the bell-savage, which is the sign of a savage man standing by a bell, I was formerly very much puzzled upon the conceit of it, till I accidentally fell into the reading of an old romance translated out of the French; which gives an account of a very beautiful woman who was found in a wilderness, and is called in the French La belle Sauvage; and is every where translated by our countrymen the bellsavage. This piece of philosophy will, I hope, convince you that I have made sign-posts my study, and consequently qualified myself for the employ ment which I solicit at your hands. But before I conclude my letter, I must communicate to y u another remark, which I have made upon the subject with which I am now entertaining you, namely, that I can give a shrewd guess at the humour of the inhabitant by the sign that hangs before his door. A surly choleric fellow generally makes choice of a bear; as men of milder dispositions frequently live at the sign of the lamb. Seeing a punch-bowl painted upon a sign near Charing-cross, and very curiously garnished with a couple of angels hovering over it, and squeezing a lemon into it, I had the curiosity to ask after the master of the house, and found, upon inquiry, as I had guessed by the little agrémens upon his sign, that he was a Frenchman. I know, Sir, it is not requisite for me to enlarge upon these hints to a gentleman of your great abilities; so, humbly recommending myself to your favour and patronage. "I remain, &c."

I shall add to the foregoing letter another, which came to me by the penny-post.

"From my own apartment near Charing-cross. "HONOURED SIR,

"Having heard that this nation is a great encou rager of ingenuity, I have brought with me a ropedancer that was caught in one of the woods belonging to the Great Mogul. He is by birth a monkey; but swings upon a rope, takes a pipe of tobacco, and He gives great satisfaction to the quality; and if drinks a glass of ale like any reasonable creature. they will make a subscription for him, I will send for a brother of his out of Holland, that is a very good tumbler; and also for another of the same family whom I design for my merry-andrew, as being an excellent mimic, and the greatest droll in the country where he now is. I hope to have this entertainment in readiness for the next winter; and doubt not but it will please more than the opera or puppet-show. I will not say that a monkey is a better man than some of the opera heroes; but certainly he is a better representative of a man than the most artificial composition of wood and wire. If you will be pleased to give me a good word in your paper, you shall be every night a spectator at "I am, &c." my show for nothing.

C

• St. George.

No. 29.] TUESDAY, APRIL 3, 1711.

Sermo lingua concinnus utraque Suavior: ut Chio nota si commista Falerni est.

"

composer should not follow the Italian recitative too servilely, but make use of many gentle deviations from it, in compliance with his own native language. HOR. I Sat. x. 23. He may copy out of it all the lulling softness and dying falls," (as Shakspeare calls them) but should still remember that he ought to accommodate himself to an English audience; and by humouring the tone of our voices in ordinary conversation, have the same regard to the accent of his own language, as those persons had to theirs whom he professes to imitate. It is observed, that several of the singing birds of our own country learn to sweeten their voices and mellow the harshness of their natural notes, by practising under those that come from warmer climates. In the same manner I would allow the Italian opera to lend our English music as much as may grace and soften it, but never entirely to annihilate and destroy it. Let the infusion be as strong as you please, but still let the subject matter of it be English.

Both tongues united, sweeter sounds produce, Like Chian mixed with Falernian juice. THERE is nothing that has more startled our English audience, than the Italian recitativo at its first entrance upon the stage. People were wonderfully surprised to hear generals singing the word of command, and ladies delivering messages in music. Our countrymen could not forbear laughing when they heard a lover chanting out a billet-doux, and even the superscription of a letter set to a tune. The famous blunder in an old play of "Enter a king and two fiddlers solus," was now no longer an absurdity, when it was impossible for a hero in a desert, or a princess in her closet, to speak any thing unaccompanied with musical instruments.

But however this Italian method of acting in recitativo might appear at first hearing, I cannot but think it much more just than that which prevailed in our English opera before this innovation: the transition from an air to recitative music being more natural than the passing from a song to plain and ordinary speaking, which was the common method in Purcell's operas.

The only fault I find in our present practice, is the making use of the Italian recitativo with English words.

To go to the bottom of this matter, I must observe, that the tone, or (as the French call it) the accent of every nation in their ordinary speech, is altogether different from that of every other people; as we may see even in the Welch and Scotch who border so near upon us. By the tone or accent, I do not mean the pronunciation of each particular word, but the sound of the whole sentence. Thus it is very common for an English gentleman when he hears a French tragedy, to complain that the actors all of them speak in one tone: and therefore he very wisely prefers his own countrymen, not considering that a foreigner complains of the same tone in an English actor.

A composer should fit his music to the genius of the people, and consider that the delicacy of hearing and taste of harmony, has been formed upon those sounds which every country abounds with." In short, that music is of a relative nature, and what is harmony to one ear, may be dissonance to another.

The same observations which I have made upon the recitative part of music, may be applied to all our songs and airs in general.

How

Signior Baptist Lully acted like a man of sense in this particular. He found the French music extremely defective, and very often barbarous. ever, knowing the genius of the people, the humour of their language, and the prejudiced ears he had to deal with, he did not pretend to extirpate the French music and plant the Italian in its stead; but only to cultivate and civilize it with innumerable graces and modulations which he borrowed from the Italians. By this means the French music is now perfect in its kind; and when you say it is not so good as the Italian, you only mean that it does not please you so well; for there is scarce a Frenchman who would not wonder to hear you give the Italian such a preference. The music of the French is indeed very properly adapted to their pronunciation and accent, as their whole opera wonderfully favours the genius of such a gay airy people. The chorus, in which that opera abounds, gives the parterre frequent opportunities of joining in concert with the stage. This inclination of the audience to sing along with the actors, so prevails with them, that I have sometimes known the performer on the stage do no more in a celebrated song than the clerk of a parish church, who serves only to raise the psalm, and is afterwards drowned in the music of the congregation. Thus the notes of interrogation, or admiration, in Every actor that comes on the stage is a beau. The the Italian music (if one may so call them) which queens and heroines are so painted, that they appear resemble their accents in discourse on such occa as ruddy and cherry-cheeked as milk-maids. The sions, are not unlike the ordinary tones of an En- shepherds are all embroidered, and acquit themselves glish voice when we are angry; insomuch that I in a ball better than our English dancing-masters. have often seen our audiences extremely mistaken I have seen a couple of rivers appear in red stockas to what has been doing on the stage, and expect-ings; and Alpheus, instead of having his head coing to see the hero knock down his messenger, when vered with sedge and bull-rushes, making love in a he has been asking him a question; or fancying that full-bottom periwig and a plume of feathers; but he quarrels with his friend when he only bids him with a voice so full of shakes and quavers, that I good morrow. should have thought the murmurs of a country brook the much more agreeable music.

For this reason, the recitative music, in every language, should be as different as the tone or accent of each language; for otherwise, what may properly express a passion in one language will not do it in another. Every one who has been long in Italy, knows very well that the cadences in the recitativo bear a remote affinity to the tone of their voices in ordinary conversation-or, to speak more properly, are only the accents of their language made more musical and tuneful.

For this reason the Italian artists cannot agree with our English musicians in admiring Purcell's compositions, and thinking his tunes so wonderfully adapted to his words; because both nations do not always express the same passions by the same sounds. I am therefore humbly of opinion, that an English

I remember the last opera I saw in that merry nation was the Rape of Proserpine, where Pluto, to make the more tempting figure, puts himself in a French equipage, and brings Ascalaphus along with him as his valet de chambre. This is what we call

folly and impertinence; but what the French look upon as gay and polite.

but they were persons of such moderate intellects, even before they were impaired by their passion, I shall add no more to what I have here offered, that their irregularities could not furnish sufficient than that music, architecture, and painting, as well variety of folly to afford daily new impertinences; as poetry and oratory, are to deduce their laws and by which means that institution dropped. These rules from the general sense and taste of mankind, fellows could express their passion by nothing but and not from the principles of those arts themselves; their dress; but the Oxonians are fantasticai now or, in other words, the taste is not to conform to the they are lovers, in proportion to their learning and art, but the art to the taste. Music is not designed understanding before they became such. The thoughts to please only chromatic ears, but all that are capa of the ancient poets on this agreeable frenzy are ble of distinguishing harsh from disagreeable notes. translated in honour of some modern beauty; and A man of an ordinary ear is a judge whether a pas- Chloris is won to-day by the same compliment that sion is expressed in proper sounds, and whether the was made to Lesbia a thousand years ago. But as melody of those sounds be more or less pleasing.-C. far as I can learn, the patron of the club is the reComplete sets of this paper for the month of nowned Don Quixote. The adventures of that gentle March, are sold by Mr. Greaves, in St. James's-knight are frequently mentioned in the society, under street; Mr. Lillie, perfumer, the corner of Beaufort-buildings; Messrs. Sanger, Knapton, Round, and Mrs. Baldwin.-Spect. in folio.

the colour of laughing at the passion and themselves: but at the same time, though they are sensible of the extravagances of that unhappy warrior, they do not observe, that to turn all the reading of the best and wisest writings into rhapsodies of love, is a frenzy no less diverting than that of the aforesaid accomplished Spaniard. A gentleman, HOR. I Ep. vi. 65. who, I hope, will continue his correspondence, is lately admitted into the fraternity, and sent me the following letter:

No. 30.] WEDNESDAY, APRIL 4, 1711.
Si, Mimnermus uti censet, sine amore jocisque
Nil est jucundum; vivas in amore jocisque.

"SIR.

little known in the world, is the secresy which we constitution runs counter to that of the place wherein are obliged to live under in the university. Our we live for in love there are no doctors, and we all

poem

If nothing, as Mimnermus strives to prove, Can e'er be pleasant without mirth and love, Then live in mirth and love, thy sports pursue.-CREECH. ONE common calamity makes men extremely af "Since I find you take notice of clubs, I beg leave fect each other, though they differ in every other to give you an account of one in Oxford, which you particular. The passion of love is the most general have no where mentioned, and perhaps never heard concern among men; and I am glad to hear by my of. We distinguish ourselves by the title of the last advices from Oxford, that there are a set of Amorous Club, are all votaries of Cupid, and adsighers in that university, who have erected them-mirers of the fair sex. The reason that we are so selves into a society in honour of that tender passion. These gentlemen are of that sort of inamoratos, who are not so very much lost to common sense, but that they understand the folly they are guilty of; and for that reason separate themselves from all other company, because they will enjoy the pleasure of profess so high a passion, that we admit of no graduates in it. Our presidentship is bestowed accordtalking incoherently, without being ridiculous to any but each other. When a man comes into the club, ing to the dignity of passion; our number is unlihe is not obliged to make any introduction to his dis-mited; and our statutes are like those of the Druids, course, but at once, as he is seating himself in his recorded in our own breasts only, and explained by the majority of the company. A mistress, and a chair, speaks in the thread of his own thoughts: "She gave me a very obliging glance, she never Without the latter no one can be admitted; for he in her praise, will introduce any candidate. looked so well in her life as this evening;" or the that is not in love enough to rhyme, is unqualified like reflection, without regard to any other member for our society. To speak disrespectfully of a woof the society; for in this assembly they do not meet to talk to each other, but every man claims the full man is expulsion from our gentle society. As we liberty of talking to himself. Instead of snuff-boxes when we are rivals, we drink together the health of are at present all of us gownsmen, instead of dueling and canes, which are the usual helps to discourse our mistress. The manner of doing this, sometimes with other young fellows, these have each some piece indeed creates debates; on such occasions we have of riband, a broken fan, or an old girdle, which they recourse to the rules of love among the ancients. play with while they talk of the fair person remembered by each respective token. According to the Nævia sex cyathis, septen Justina bibatur. MART. Epig. i. 72. representation of the matter from my letters, the company appear like so many players rehearsing be hind the scenes; one is sighing and lamenting his destiny in beseeching terms, another declaiming he will break his chain, and another, in dumb-show, striving to express his passion by his gesture. It is very ordinary in the assembly for one of a sudden to rise and make a discourse concerning his passion in general, and describe the temper of his mind in such a manner, as that the whole company shall join in the description, and feel the force of it. In this case, if any man has declared the violence of his flame in more pathetic terms, he is made president for that night, out of respect to his superior passion. We had some years ago in this town, a set of people who met and dressed like lovers, and were distinguished by the name of the Fringe-glove club;

that

Six cups to Navia, to Justina seven. This method of a glass to every letter of her name, occasioned the other night a dispute of some warmth. A young student who is in love with Mrs. Elizabeth Dimple, was so unreasonable as to begin her health under the name of Elizabetha; which so exasperated the club, that by common consent we retrenched it to Betty. We look upon a man as no company does not sigh five times in a quarter of an hour; and look upon a member as very absurd, that is so much himself as to make a direct answer to a question. In fine, the whole assembly is made up of absent men-that is, of such persons as have lost their locality, and whose minds and bodies never keep company with one another. As I am an unfortunate member of this distracted society, you cannot expect

a very regular account of it; for which reason I
hope you will pardon me that I so abruptly subscribe
myself,
Sir, your most obedient humble servant,

46

"T. B.

"I forgot to tell you, that Albina, who has six votaries in this club, is one of your readers."-R.

No. 31.] THURSDAY, APRIL 5, 1711.
Sit mihi fas audita loqui- VIRG. Æn. vi. 266.
What I have heard, permit me to relate.

ing his whole art of machinery, for the diversion of two monarchs. Some at the table urged, that a puppet-show was not a suitable entertainment for Alexander the Great; and that it might be introduced more properly, if we suppose the conqueror touched upon that part of India which is said to be inhabited by the pygmies. But this objection was looked upon as frivolous, and the proposal immediately overruled. Our projector farther added, that after the reconciliation of these two kings, they might invite one another to dinner, and either of them entertain his guest with the German artist, Mr. Pinkethman's heathen gods, or any of the like diversions which shall then chance to be in vogue.

strange animals in town, whether birds or beasts, they may be either let loose among the woods, or driven across the stage by some of the country people of Asia. In the last great battle, Pinkethman is to personate King Porus upon an elephant, and is to be encountered by Powell, representing Alexander the Great, upon a dromedary, which nevertheless Mr. Powell is desired to call by the name of Bacephalus. Upon the close of this great decisive battle, when the two kings are thoroughly reconciled, to show the mutual friendship and good correspondence that reigns between them, they both of them go toLAST night, upon my going into a coffee-house gether to a puppet-show, in which the ingenious Mr. not far from the Haymarket Theatre, I diverted my-Powell, junior, may have an opportunity of displayself for above half-an-hour with overhearing the discourse of one, who, by the shabbiness of his dress, the extravagance of his conceptions, and the hurry of his speech, I discovered to be of that species who are generally distinguished by the title of projectors. This gentleman, for I found he was treated as such by his audience, was entertaining a whole table of listeners with the project of an opera, which he told us had not cost him above two or three mornings in the contrivance, and which he was ready to put in execution provided he might find his account in it. He said, that he had observed the great trouble and inconvenience which ladies were at, in travelling up and down the several shows that are exhibited in different quarters of the town. The dancing monkeys are in one place; the puppet-show in another; the opera in a third; not to mention the lions, that are almost a whole day's journey from the politer part of the town. By this means people of figure are forced to lose half the winter after their coming to town, before they have seen all the strange sights about it. In order to remedy this great inconvenience, our projector drew out of his pocket the scheme of an opera, entitled, The Expedition of Alexander the Great; in which he had disposed all the remarkable shows about town among the scenes and decorations of his piece. The thought, he confessed, was not originally his own, but that he had taken the hint of it from several performances which he had seen upon our stage; in one of which there was a raree-show; in another a ladder-dance; and in others a posture-man, a moving picture, with many curiosities of the like nature.

This expedition of Alexander opens with his consulting the oracle of Delphos, in which the dumb conjuror who has been visited by so many persons of quality of late years, is to be introduced as telling his fortune. At the same time Clinch of Barnet is represented in another corner of the temple, as ringing the bells of Delphos, for joy of his arrival. The tent of Darius is to be peopled by the ingenious Mrs. Salmon, where Alexander is to fall in love with a piece of wax-work, that represents the beautiful Statira. When Alexander comes into that country, in which Quintus Curtius tells us the dogs were so exceeding fierce that they would not lose their hold, though they were cut to pieces limb by limb, and that they would hang upon their prey by their teeth when they had nothing but a mouth left, there is to be a scene of Hockley in the Hole, in which is to be represented all the diversions of that place, the bullbaiting only excepted, which cannot possibly be exhibited in the theatre, by reason of the lowness of the roof. The several woods in Asia, which Alexander must be supposed to pass through, will give the audience a sight of monkeys dancing upon ropes, with many other pleasantries of that ludicrous species. At the same time, if there chance to be any

This project was received with very great applause by the whole table. Upon which the undertaker told us, that he had not yet communicated to us above half his design; for that Alexander being a Greek, it was his intention that the whole opera should be acted in that language, which was a tongue he was sure would wonderfully please the ladies, especially when it was a little raised and rounded by the Ionic dialect; and could not but be acceptable to the whole audience, because there are fewer of them who understand Greek than Italian. The only difficulty that remained, was how to get performers, unless we could persuade some gentlemen of the universities to learn to sing, in order to qualify themselves for the stage; but this objection soon vanished when the projector informed us that the Greeks were at present the only musicians in the Turkish empire, and that it would be very easy for our factory at Smyrna to furnish us every year with a colony of musicians, by the opportunity of the Turkey fleet; besides, says he, if we want any single voice for any lower part in the opera, Lawrence can learn to speak Greek, as well as he does Italian, in a fortnight's time,

The projector having thus settled matters to the good-liking of all that heard him, he left his seat at the table, and planted himself before the fire, where I had unluckily taken my stand for the convenience of overhearing what he said. Whether he had observed me to be more attentive than ordinary, I cannot tell, but he had not stood by me above a quarter of a minute, but he turned short upon me on a sudden, and catching me by a button of my coat, attacked me very abruptly after the following manner,

"Besides, Sir, I have heard of a very extraordi nary genius for music that lives in Switzlerland, who has so strong a spring in his fingers, that he can make the board of an organ sound like a drum, and if I could but procure a subscription of about ten thousand pounds every winter I would undertake to fetch him over, and oblige him by articles to set every thing that should be sung upon the English stage." After this he looked full in my face, expecting I would make an answer, when, by good luck, a gen

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