corner of this doleful cave (with a toad crawling through the ribs); but the addition of fiends, swelling toads, &c. must be introduced, ad libitum, by fome second Brueghel. THE lines in this page, describing the powers of harmony, may produce from fome artist of eminence, a Fancy piece worthy of them; and the ideas which will arife in the painter's imagination, will be the surest guide to beauty, and will shew the futility of here offering more hints than briefly saying that a kind of St. Cecilia figure may be introduced, playing on a lute-whose celestial countenance may be expressive of that fublime harmony, which, we may prefume, the perusal of Dryden's Ode would give birth to; or the listening to Handen's strains would raise in the heart of a Sheridan. THE monster Aaron, that damned Moor, may be in the back-ground, as listening to her; and (with his cloudy melancholy And fleece of woolly hair, that now uncurls T Even them there to perish. The danger to which Mr. Hill and his friends were exposed, inftantly alarmed them; they had scarce read the shocking tale, when looking up, they beheld their inhuman guide, affisted by two others whom, they had feen near the fpot, clofing the entrance into the vault. They were now reduced to the utmost distress, however they drew their swords, and were determined to make some desperate effort to rescue themselves from a scene so truly dreadful. With this resolution, they were groping about at random in the dark, when they were startled at the groans of some one feemingly in the agonies of death; they attended to the dismal found, and at length, by means of a glimmering light from the top of the catacomb, they faw a man jutt murdered; and a little beyond, they discovered his inhuman murderers, flying with the utmost precipitation; they pursued them immediately, and though they were not able to come up with them, they however had the good fortune to reach the opening through which these wretches escaped out of the cavern, before they had time to roll the stone on the top of it. Thus Mr. Hill and his friends were by a miracle saved." [Journal from Baffora to Bagdad.] * A VERY interesting sketch of a head, might be taken from what Marcus says of the boy, in page 315-but as this scene could not have been written by Shakespeare, it will be passed over. Even as an adder, when she doth unroll as at the moment of his dark vindictive features, being foftened and relenting from his dire purpose, by the sweet sounds of mufic-his knife dropping from his hand He would have dropp'd his knife, and fell asleep His dress may be taken from Hanmer's edition. Page 545. I am Revenge; fent from the infernal kingdom, From these lines might be etched a wild Fancy head (in strange and fad habiliment), somewhat in the style of Mortimer's head of Lear. Or, should these lines not be chosen, another print of a fimilar kind might be taken from p. 490, representing the head of Aaron, as proclaiming the revenge and vengeance of his foul. Page 556. It would be disgusting to represent all the dead and mangled bodies on the stage; and had Titus been an interesting character, (which he cer + Scylla wept MILTON. tainly tainly is not) an affecting painting might have been taken at the time his son imprints his last kiss on his father's pale cold lips. How then are we to introduce to advantage, the beautiful lines which Lucius addresses to the Boy-(and which, by the by, are not introduced in Dod's Beauties of Shakespeare.)-Are we to draw Lucius as speaking them to the Boy; whose innocent and mildly affected look may be glancing, or fixed on his fond grandfire. Or must we have a Fancy piece of Age and Youth, representing a fond, interesting, and venerable old man, in the moment described in these lines: Many a matter hath he told to thee *, 1 If the former is preferred, it would be better to omit Marcus and the other characters. SHOULD the latter be chosen-nature alone must dictate to a painter, the smiling expression of each countenance. A Fancy-piece of venerable age, will be more interesting than the mangled trunk of Titus. + Some may choose to give to the Boy, a look different from smiling; and somewhat similar to that in Mr. Bunbury's Sad Story. And a Fancy drefs may be chosen by some, like that in Guercino's Woman begging water, in the collection of Drawings by Rogers; and in the same stile of engraving. * WHAT a picture would Sir Joshua produce from this scene! + Can we poffibly suppose Shakespeare to have written the two last lines which the boy speaks ? Tail-piece. Tail-piece. THE touches of Shakespeare being difcernible in the Clown; it will form a good print for this department, to have a half length etching of him, as saying in page 532-Oh! the gibbet-maker? and it might be in the same style of etching as Mr. Bunbury's Courier Anglois, or Ryland's print from Vandyck in the collection of drawings by Rogers. expreffion of the face, must be left to each one's humorous imagination.* The A LIST of fuch Prints taken from this play, as I have seen. Those I have not feen, are printed in Italics. 1. Bell's first and second edition. 2. Hanmer. 3. Theobald. 4. Rowe. 5. A cut by L. du Guernier, to an edit. in 8 vol. 8vo. printed for Tonson, in 1735 6. Pope's 12m0. edition 7. Lowndes. 8. Taylor's picturesque Beauties. C CORIOLANUS. |