of our own behaviour) we make guilty of our dif afters, the fun, the moon and ftars; as if we were

bias it to all the contrary ill qualities. So wretched and monftrous an opinion did it fet out with. But the Italians, to whom we owe this, as well as moft other unnatural crimes and follies of thefe latter ages, fomented its original impiety to the moft detestable height of extravagance. Petrus Aponenfis, an Italian phyfician of the XIIIth fentury, affures us that thofe prayers which are made to God when the moon is in conjunction with Jupiter in the Dragon's tail, are infallibly heard. The great Milton with a juft indignation of this impiety, hath, in his Paradife Regained, fatirized it in a very beautiful manner, by putting thefe reveries into the mouth of the Devil. Nor could the licentious Rabelais himself forbear to ridicule this impious dotage, which he does with exquifite addrefs and humour, where, in the fable which he fo agreeably tells from Efop, of the man who applied to Jupiter for the lofs of his hatchet, he makes thofe, who, on the poor man's good fuccefs, had projected to trick Jupiter by the fame petition, a kind of aftrologick atheists, who afcribed this good fortune, that they imagined they were now all going to partake of, to the influence of fome rare conjunction and configuration of the ftars. Hen, ben, difent ils-Et doncques, telle eft au temps prefent la revolution des Cieulx, la constellation des Af tres, & afpet des Planetes, que

7

quiconque Coignée perdra, foubdain deviendra ainfi riche ?Nou. Prol. du IV. Livre.

But to return to Shakefpear. So blafphemous a delufion, therefore, it became the honefly of our poet to expofe. But it was a tender point, and required managing. For this impious juggle had in his time a kind of religious reverence paid to it, It was therefore to be done obliquely; and the circumftances of the fcene furnished him with as good an opportunity as he could with. The perfons in the drama are all pagans, fo that as, in compliance to custom, his good characters were not to speak ill of judicial aftrology, they could on account of their religion give no reputation to it. But in order to expofe it the more, he, with great judgment, makes thefe pagans Fatalifts; as appears by these words of Lear, By al the operations of the orbs, From whom qve do exift and ceafe

to be.

For the doctrine of fate is the true foundation of judicial Aftrology. Having thus difcredited it by the very commendations given to it, he was in no danger of having his direct fatire against it mistaken, by its being put (as he was obliged, both in paying regard to custom, and in following nature) into the mouth of the villain and atheift, efpecially when he has added fuch force of reafon to his ridicule, in the words referred to in the beginning of the note.

villains

villains on neceffity; fools, by heavenly compulsion; knaves, thieves, and treacherous, by spherical predominance; drunkards, lyars, and adulterers, by an inforc'd obedience of planetary influence; and all that we are evil in, by a divine thrusting on. + An admirable evafion of whore-mafter Man, to lay his goatish difpofition on the charge of a ftar! my father compounded with my mother under the Dragon's tail, and my nativity was under Urfa major; fo that it follows, I am rough and lecherous. I should have been what I am, had the maidenlieft ftar in the firmament twinkjed on my bastardizing,

Pat!

SCENE

ENE IX.

To him, Enter Edgar.

-5 he comes, like the Catastrophe of the old comedy; my cue is villainous Melancholy, with a

figh

troduction of the perfons of the Drama into the scene, juft in the nick of time, or pat, as our author fays, makes the fimilitude very proper. This, without doubt, is the fupreme beauty of Come. dy, confidered as an action. And as it depends folely on a ftrict obfervance of the Unities, it shews that thefe Unities are in nature, and in the reafon of things, and not in a meer arbitrary invention of the Greeks, as fome of our own country critics, of a low mechanic genius, have, by their works, perfuaded our quits to be lieve. For common fenfe requiring that the subject of one comedy fhould be one action, and that that action should be contained nearly within the period of time which the reprefentation

of

figh like Tom o' Bedlam-O, thefe eclipfes portend thefe divifions! fa, fol, la, me

Edg. How now, brother Edmund, what ferious contemplation are you in?

Edm. I am thinking, brother, of a prediction I read this other day, what fhould follow thefe eclipfes. Edg. Do you bufy yourself with that?

6

Edm. I promife you, the effects, he writes of, fucceed unhappily. When faw you my father laft? Edg.

of it takes up; hence we have
the unities of Time and Action;
and from thefe unavoidably a-
rifes the third, which is that of
Place. For when the whole of
one action is included within a
proportionable fmall space of
time, there is no room to change
the scene, but all must be done
upon one pot of ground, Now
from this laft unity (the neceffary
iffue of the two other, which de-
rive immediately from nature)
proceeds all that beauty of the
catastrophe, or the winding up
the plot in the ancient comedy.
For all the perfons of the Drama
being to appear and act on one
limited fpot, and being by their
feveral interests to embarras, and
at length to conduct the action
to its deftin'd period, there is
need of confummate kill to bring
them on, and take them off, na-
turally and neceffarily for the
grace of action requires the one,
and the perfection of it the o-
ther. Which conduct of the ac-
tion must needs produce a beau-
ty that will give a judicious mind
the highest pleasure. On the o-
ther hand, when a comic writer
has a whole country to range in,
nothing is cafier than to find the

perfons of the Drama just where he would have them; and this requiring no art, the beauty we fpeak of is not to be found. Confequently a violation of the unities deprives the Drama of one of its greatest beauties; which proves what I afferted, that the three unities are no arbitrary mechanic invention, but founded in reafon and the nature of things. The Tempest of ShakeSpear fufficiently proves him to be well acquainted with thefe unities; and the paffage in queftion fhews him to have been ftruck with the beauty that refults WARBURTON. from them.

6 I promise you,] The folio edition commonly differs from the firit quarto, by augmentations or infertions, but in this place it varies by omiffion, and by the omiffion of fomething which naturally introduces the following dialogue. The quarto has the paffage thus:

I promije you, the effects, he rites of, fucceed unhappily, as of unnaturalness between the child and parent, death, dearth, diflolutions of ancient amities, divifions in ftate, menaces and maledictions against king and nobles,

need

Edg. The night gone by.

Edm. Spake you with him?

Edg. Ay, two hours together.

Edm. Parted you in good terms, found you no difpleasure in him, by word or countenance ?

Edg. None at all.

Edm. Bethink yourself, wherein you have offended him and, at my intreaty, forbear his prefence, until fome little time hath qualified the heat of his difpleafure; which at this inftant fo rageth in him, 7 that with the mischief of your perfon it would fcarcely allay.

Edg. Some villain hath done me wrong.

Edm. That's my fear. I pray you, have a continent forbearance 'till the speed of his rage goes flower; and, as I fay, retire with me to my lodging, from whence I will fitly bring you to hear my Lord fpeak. Pray you, go, there's my key. If you do ftir abroad, go arm'd.

Edg. Arm'd, brother!

Edm. Brother, I advise you to the beft; I am no honeft man, if there be any good meaning toward you: I have told you what I have seen and heard, but faintly; nothing like the image and horror of it, Pray

you, away.

Edg. Shall I hear from you anon?

eedlefs diffidences, banishment of friends, diffipation of courts, nuptial breaches, and I know not auhat.

It is easy to remark, that in this fpeech, which ought, I think, to be inferted in the text, Edmund, with the common craft of fortune-tellers, mingles the paft and future, and tells of the fu

ture only what he already foreknows by confederacy, or can attain by probable conjecture.

7 that with the mifchief of your perfon] This reading is in both copies, yet I believe the authour gave it, that but with the mischief of your person it would fcarce allay.

SCENE

Edm. I do ferve you in this bufinefs. [Exit Edgar. A credulous father, and a brother noble, Whose nature is fo far from doing harms, That he fufpects none; on whofe foolish honesty My practices ride eafy; I fee the business. Let me, if not by birth, have lands by wit; All with me's meet, that I can fashion fit.

Gon.

[Exit.

ID my father ftrike my gentleman for chiu

D'ing of his fool?

Stew. Ay, madam.

Gon. By day and night, he wrongs me. Every hour He flashes into one grofs crime or other,

That fets us all at odds; I'll not endure it.

His. Knights grow riotous, and himfelf upbraids us
On every trifle. When he returns from hunting,
I will not speak with him; fay, I am fick.
If you come flack of former fervices,

You fhall do well; the fault of it I'll anfwer.

Stew. He's coming, Madam, I hear him.
Gon. Put on what weary negligence you please,
You and your fellows; I'd have it come to question,
If he diftafte it, let him to my fifter,

Whofe mind and mine, I know, in that are one,
Not to be over-rul'd. Idle old Man,

That still would manage thofe Authorities,

& Idle old Man,] The follow lowing Lines, as they are fine in

That

themfelves, and very much in Character for Gonerill, I have re

fored