I fhall make use of this gentleman's skill as I fee occafion; and, fince I am got upon the fubject of LOVE, fhall conclude this Paper with a copy of verses which were lately fent me by an unknown hand, as I look upon them to be above the ordinary run of fonneteers.

The author tells me they were written in one of his defpairing fits; and I find entertains fome hope that his miftrefs may pity fuch a paffion as he has defcribed, before fhe knows that the herself is Corinna.

ONCEAL, fond man, conceal the mighty "fmart,

CON

Nor tell Corinna fhe has fir'd thy heart.

"In vain would'ft thou complain, in vain pretend "To afk a pity which the muft not lend. "She's too much thy fuperior to comply, "And too, too fair to let thy paffion die. "Languifh in fecret, and with dumb furprise "Drink the refiftlefs glances of her eyes. "At awful distance entertain thy grief, "Be ftill in pain, but never afk relief. "Ne'er tempt her fcorn of thy confuming state; "Be any way undone, but fly her hate. "Thou muft fubmit to fee thy charmer bless "Some happier youth that fhall admire her lefs; "Who in that lovely form, that heavenly mind, "Shall mifs ten thousand beauties thou could't find. "Who with low fancy fhall approach her charms, "While, half enjoy'd, fhe finks into his arms. "She knows not, muft not know, thy nobler fire, "Whom fhe, and whom the mufes do infpire; "Her image only fhall thy breaft employ, "And fill thy captive foul with fhades of joy;

"Direct thy dreams by night, thy thoughts by day; "And never, never from thy bofom ftray."

N° 592. Friday, September 10, 1714.

Studium fine divite vena.

HOR. Ars Poet. ver. 409.

Art without a vein.'

ROSCOMMON.

I

LOOK upon the PLAYHOUSE as a world within itself. They have lately furnished the middle region of it with a new fet of meteors, in order to give the fublime to many modern tragedies. I was there laft winter at the first rehearsal of the new thunder t, which

* The author of these verfes was Gilbert, the fecond brother of Euftace Budgell, Efq. See SHIELLS's "Lives of "English Poets," &c. Vol. V. p. 15.

The father of these two gentlemen was Gilbert Budgell, D. D. their mother Mary was only daughter of Dr. William Gulfton, Bishop of Bristol, whofe fifter Jane married Dean ADDISON, and was the mother of Mr. Jofeph ADDISON. This Paper, No. 591, might be written by Mr. G. Budgell or his brother Euftace, for it is faid that this whole volume was published by him and his kinfman ADDISON, without the concurrence of STEELE. E. BUDGELL's Papers, in the other feven vols. of the SPECT. are lettered X, as he is said to have marked his linen; and in the GUARDIAN they are diftinguished by an afterisk.

+ Apparently an allufion to Mr. Dennis's new and improved method of making thunder; at whom feveral oblique ftrokes in this Paper feem to have been aimed. See TAT. with Notes, Vol. V. p. 374; additional Notes, &c. and Vol. I. P. 406, Notes.

is much more deep and fonorous than any hitherto made ufe of. They have a Salmoneus behind the scenes who plays it off with great fuccefs. Their lightnings are made to flash more brifkly than heretofore; their clouds are also better furbelowed, and more voluminous; not to mention a violent ftorm locked up in a great cheft, that is defigned for the Tempest. They are alfo provided with above a dozen fhowers of fnow, which, as I am informed, are the plays of many unfuccefsful poets artificially cut and fhredded for that use. Mr. Rymer's Edgar is to fall in fnow at the next acting of King Lear, in order to heighten, or rather to alleviate, the distress of that unfortunate prince; and to ferve by way of decoration to a piece which that great critic has written against.

I do not indeed wonder that the actors should be fuch profeffed enemies to thofe among our nation who are commonly known by the name of critics, fince it is a rule among thefe gentlemen to fall upon a play, not because it is ill written, but because it takes. Several of them lay it down as a maxim, that whatever dramatic performance has a long run muft of neceflity be good for nothing: as though the first precept in poetry were "not to pleafe." Whether this rule holds good or not, I fhall leave to the determination of those who are better judges than myself; if it does, I am fure it tends very much to the honour of thofe gentlemen who have established it; few of their pieces having been difgraced by a run of three days,

and

and most of them being fo exquifitely written, that the town would never give them more than one night's hearing.

I have a great esteem for a true critic, fuch as Aristotle and Longinus among the Greeks; Horace and Quintilian among the Romans; Boileau and Dacier among the French. But it is our misfortune that fome, who fet up for profeffed critics among us, are so stupid, that they do not know how to put ten words together with elegance or common propriety; and withal fo illiterate, that they have no taste of the learned languages, and therefore criticise upon old authors only at fecond-hand. They judge of them by what others have written, and not by any notions they have of the authors themselves. The words unity, action, fentiment, and diction, pronounced with an air of authority, give them a figure among unlearned readers, who are apt to believe they are very deep because they are unintelligible.

The an

cient critics are full of the praises of their con temporaries; they difcover beauties which escaped the obfervation of the vulgar, and very often find out reafons for palliating and excufing fuch little flips and overfights as were committed in the writings of eminent authors. On the contrary, most of the fmatterers in criticism, who appear among us, make it their business to villify and depreciate every new production that gains applaufe, to decry imaginary blemishes, and to prove, by far-fetched arguments, that what país for beauties in any celebrated piece

0 3

are

are faults and errors. In fhort, the writings of thefe critics, compared with thofe of the ancients, are like the works of the fophifts compared with thofe of the old philofophers.

Envy and cavil are the natural fruits of lazinefs and ignorance; which was probably the reason that in the heathen mythology Momus is faid to be the fon of Nox and Somnus, of darkness and fleep. Idle men, who have not been at the pains to accomplish or distinguish themselves, are very apt to detract from others; as ignorant men are very subject to decry those beauties in a celebrated work which they have not eyes to difcover. Many of our fons of Momus, who dignify themselves by the name of critics, are the genuine defcendants of these two illuftrious ancestors. They are often led into thofe numerous abfurdities in which they daily inftruct the people, by not confidering that, firft, there is fometimes a greater judgment fhewn in deviating from the rules of art than in adhering to them; and, 2dly, that there is more beauty in the works of a great genius, who is ignorant of all the rules of art, than in the works of a little genius, who not only knows but fcrupulously obferves them.

Firft, We may often take notice of men who are perfectly acquainted with all the rules of good writing, and notwithstanding choose to depart from them on extraordinary occafions. I could give inftances out of all the tragic writers of antiquity who have fhewn their judgment in this particular; and purposely receded from an

established