"of candor to obferve that the darkness of the

age, which he enlightened, affords a favourable "contraft to fet off the fplendor of his talents: "But do we, who applaud him, read him? Yet, if "fuch is our veneration for times long fince gone "by, why do we not? The fact is, intermediate "writers have diffeminated his original matter "through more pleafing vehicles, and we concur, "whether commendably or not, to put his volumes upon the fuperannuated lift, allowing him however an unalienable compenfation upon our "praife, and referving to ourselves a right of taking him from the shelf, whenever we are difpofed to fink the merit of a more recent author "by a comparison with him. I will not there"fore difturb his venerable duft, but turn without "further delay to the author of the Effay upon the Human Understanding.

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"This Effay, which profeffes to define every "thing, as it arifes or paffes in the mind, mu "ultimately be compiled from obfervations of its

author upon himself and within himfelf: Be. "fore I compare the merit of this work there"fore with the merit of any other man's work "of our own immediate times, I must compare

what it advances as general to mankind with "what I perceive within my particular felf; and "upon this reference, fpeaking only for an hum"ble individual, I must own to my fhame, that my understanding and the author's do by no

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means coincide either in definitions or ideas. I "may have reafon to lament the inaccuracy or the "fluggishness of my own fenfes and perceptions,

but I cannot fubmit to any man's doctrine against "their conviction: I will only fay that Mr. Locke's metaphyfics

"metaphysics are not my metaphyfics, and, as it "would be an ill compliment to any one of our contemporaries to compare him with a writer, "who to me is unintelligible, fo I hope it can "never be confidered as a reflection upon fo greata name as Mr. Locke's, not to be understood by fo infignificant a man as myself.

"Well, Sir," cried the fullen gentleman with a fneer," I think you have contrived to difpatch "our philofophers; you have now only a few ob "fcure poets to difmifs in like manner, and you. "will have a clear field for yourself and your. "friends."

No CXLVIII.

Ingeniis non ille favet plauditque fepultis, Noftra fed impugnat nos noftraque lividus odit, (HORAT.)

THE farcaftie fpeech of the old Snarler, with which we concluded the laft paper, being unde ferved on the part of the perfon, to whom it was applied, was very properly difregarded; and the clergyman proceeded as follows:

The poets you have named will never be "mentioned by me but with a degree of enthu"fiafm, which I fhould rather expect to be ac"cufed of carrying to excefs than of erring in "the oppofite extreme, had you not put me on

my guard against partiality by charging me with "it beforehand. I fhall therefore without further ❝ apology

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apology or preface begin with Shakespear, first "named by you and firft in fame as well as time: "It would be madness in me to think of bringing

any poet now living into competition with "Shakespear; but I hope it will not be thought "madness, or any thing refembling it, to obferve to you, that it is not in the nature of things poffible for any poet to appear in an age fo po"lifhed as this of our's, who can be brought into any critical comparison with that extraordinary and eccentric genius.

"For let us confider the two great striking fea "tures of his drama, fublimity and character. "Now fublimity involves fentiment and expref"fion; the firft of these is in the foul of the poet; "it is that portion of infpiration, which we per"fonify when we call it the Mufe: fo far I am "free to acknowledge there is no immediate reafon "to be given, why her vifits should be confined "to any age, nation or perfon; fhe may fire the "heart of the poet on the fhores of Ionia three "thousand years ago, or on the banks of the Cam

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or Ifis at the prefent moment; but fo far as language is concerned, I may venture to say that "modern diction will never ftrike modern ears "with that awful kind of magic, which antiquity

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gives to words and phrafes no longer in familiar "ufe: In this respect our great dramatic poet hath "an advantage over his diftant defcendants, which "he owes to time, and which of course is one 66 more than he is indebted for to his own pre"eminent genius. As for character, which I "fuggefted as one of the two moft ftriking fea"tures of Skakefpear's drama, (or in other words "the true and perfect delineation of nature) in

"this our poet is indeed a mafter unrivalled; yet "who will not allow the happy coincidence of "time for this perfection in a writer of the drama? "The different orders of men, which Shakespear "faw and copied, are in many inftances extinct, "and fuch must have the charms of novelty at "leaft in our eyes: And has the modern dramatist "the fame rich and various field of character? "The level manners of a polished age furnish little "choice to an author, who now enters on the "" talk, in which fuch numbers have gone before "him, and fo exhaufted the materials, that it is july to be wondered at, when any thing like variety can be ftruck out. Dramatic characters

are pourtraits drawn from nature, and if all the "fitters have a family likenefs, the artist must "either depart from the truth, or preferve the re"femblance; in like manner the poet muft either "invent characters of which there is no counterpart in existence, or expofe himself to the dan(3 ger of an infipid and tirefome repetition : To add << to his difficulties it fo happens, that the prefent

age, whilft it furnishes lefs variety to his choice, "requires more than ever for its own amufement; "the dignity of the ftage muft of course be prof ❝tituted to the unnatural refources of a wild "imagination, and its propriery disturbed; mufic "will fupply thofe refources for a time, and ac"cordingly we find the French and English theatres "in the dearth of character feeding upon the airy "diet of found; but this, with all the fupport "that spectacle can give, is but a flimfy fubftitute, "whilft the public whofe taste in the mean time becomes vitiated

-media

&6

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media inter carmina pofcunt

Aut Urfum aut Pagiles

the latter of which monftrous prostitutions we have lately feen our national stage moft fhamefully expofed to.

"By comparing the different ages of poetry in C6 our own country with thofe of Greece, we fhall "find the effects agree in each; for as the refine"ment of manners took place, the language of

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poetry became alfo more refined, and with greater "correctnefs had lefs energy and force; the ftile "of the poet, like the characters of the people, "takes a brighter polish, which, whilst it smooths "away its former afperities and protuberances, "weakens the ftaple of its fabric, and what it gives to the elegance and delicacy of its complexion, takes away from the ftrength and ftur"dinefs of its conftitution. Whoever will compare fchylus with Euripides and Ariftophanes. "with Menander, will need no other illustration "of this remark.

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"Confider only the inequalities of Shakespear's dramas; examine not only one with another, "but compare even fcene with fcene in the fame

play: Did ever the imagination of man run "riot into fuch wild and oppofite extremes? "Could this be done, or, being done, would it "be fuffered in the prefent age? How many of

thefe plays, if acted as they were originally "written, would now be permitted to pafs? Can "we have a ftronger proof of the barbarous taste "of thofe times, in which Titus Andronicus first "appeared, than the favour, which that horrid "fpectacle was received with? yet of this

" we