perate. Avicen says, "If learning be mixed Directing. with a brain that is not of a contexture fit to receive it, the brain ferments, till it be totally exhausted." We must endeavour to eradicate these indigested ideas out of the pericranium, and to restore the patient to a competent knowledge of himself. Dennis. Caitiffs, stand off! Unhand me, miscreants! [The Doctor, the nurse, and Lintot, run out of the room in a hurry, and tumble down the garret stairs altogether.] Is the man, whose labours are calculated to bring the town to reason, Mad? Is the man, who settles poetry on the basis of antiquity, mad? See Longinus in my right hand, and Aristotle in my left! [Calls after the Doctor, the bookseller, and the nurse, from the top of the stairs.] I am the only man among the moderns, that support the venerable ancients. And am I to be assassinated? Shall a bookseller, who has lived upon my labours, take away that life, to which he owes his support? [Goes into his garret, and shuts the door.] XXIII. ADORATION. Milton's Morning Hymn. (PARAD. Løsт. B. V. v. 153.) THESE are thy glorious works, Parent of good, Veneration. Almighty! thine this universal frame, Thus wond' rous fair! Thyself (1) how wondrous Admiration then Unspeakable! who sitt'st above the heav'ns, In these thy lowest works; yet these declare Veneration. Love, with Thy goodness beyond thought, and pow'r divine. Veneration (1) Thyfelf how wond'rous," &c. The fenfe, in profe, would be, "If thy works be fo wonderfully excellent, thy own original excellence is unfpeakable, and inconceivable." It is not, I believe, generally underflood fo, elfe readers would not (as I have heard many) make a paufe between the word then and unspeakable. I Speak, ye who best can tell, ye sons of light, Sacred Rap- Angels! For (1) ye behold him, and with songs And choral symphonies, day without night, ture. Circle his throne rejoicing. (2) Ye in heav'n! Him first, him last, Him midst, and without end. Sure pledge of day, that crown'st the smiling morn With thy bright circlet! praise him in thy sphere While morn arises, that sweet hour of prime. Admiration (3) Thou sun, of this great world both eye and soul, Lowly Sub- Acknowledge Him thy greater. Sound his praise miffion. In thy eternal course, both when thou climb'st, And when high moon hast gain'd, and when thou fall'st, Rapture. Moon, that now meet'st the orient sun, now fly'st And nourish all things; let your ceaseless change (1) The reader need fcarce be told, that fuch matter ought to be expreffed with as much smoothness and liquidity of utterance as poffible. (2) "Ye in heav'n." This is generally ill pointed. Thefe words are a complete sentence. The meaning is," I call on you (Angels) to praife God in your celeftial habitation.' And then the poet goes on to call on the terreftials to join their humble tribute. (3) Thou fun of this," &c. To be fpoken a little more ore rotundo, or full-mouthed, than the foregoing, to image the ftupendous greatnefs of a world of fire, equal as fuppofed by astronomers, to a million of earths. 66 Rising, or falling, still advance his praise. With ev'ry plant, in sign of worship wave, To hill or valley, fountain, or fresh shade XXIV. PEEVISHNESS. The scene between Priuli, a Venetian senator, and Jaffier, who had married his daughter without his consent, and being afterwards reduced to poverty, and soliciting his father-in-law to relieve his distress, receives the following treatment. VENICE PRESERVED.] PRIULI and JAFFIER. Priuli. No more! I'll hear no more. and leave me. Profound Submiffion. Be gone Pecvifanefs. Jafier. Not hear me! By my sufferings but Courage. you shall. My lord! my lord! I am not that abject wretch You think me. Where's the difference, throws Remonftr, me back So far behind you, that I must not speak to you? Peevithnefs. Courage, Jaffier. Could my nature e'er But have endur'd the thought of doing wrong, Distress. I need not now thus low have bent myself To gain a hearing from a cruel father. Remonftr. You cannot say that I have ever wrong'd you. Priuli. I say you've wrong'd me in the nicest Peevishness. point, The honor of my house. Romonftr. -Chiding. Remonftr. Your baseness to me. You can't defend From travel, I with open arms received you. My house, my table, fortune, all was yours; My only child, and stole her from my bosom. Your daughter's life? You know, that, but for me Selfdefence You had been childless. I restor'd her to you, When sunk before your eyes amidst the waves, I hazarded my life for her's; and she Reproach. Has richly paid me with her generous love. At dead of night. That cursed hour you chose find Easeration But inay your joy in her prove false as mine. Ghiding. Reduce the glittering trappings of thy wife [Exit.] XXV. CONTEMPT OF THE COMMON OB- HONOR and shame from no condition rise; Teaching Question. (1) I'll tell you, friend! A wise man and a fool. Informing, You'll find, if once the wise man acts the monk; Teaching. Or, cobler like, the parson will be drunk; *Worth makes the man, and twant of it the fel- *Approbat. +Contempt The rest is all but leather or prunella. Stuck o'er with titles and hung round with strings, That thou may'st be by kings, or whores of kings, But by your father's worth if yours you rate, Where but among the heroes and the wise. (1) This line (I'll tell you, friend," &c.) may be expreffed in a fort of important half-whisper, and with fignificant locks and nod, as if a grand secret was told. Sneer. Contempt. Queftion Sneer. |