minate a leading character, every thing said to him, or of him, as well as by him, are to be carefully gathered up; for Shakspeare in particular paints so very close to nature, and with such marking touches, that he gives the very look an actor ought to wear, when he is on his scene.

When an actor has done this, he will find his understanding so enlightened by the task, and his mind possest with such a passion for what is natural, that he will scorn the sorry practice of tricks, and that vain study of setting himself off by this or that preconcerted attitude, in which some handicraft-men, who were more like tumblers than tragedians, have in times past disgraced their profession: in short, if he studies his author he will have no need to study his looking-glass let him feel and he will be sure to express; nature, that gave him limbs and organs of speech, will be sure to give him action, and he need not measure the board he is to fall upon, as if he was to make his exit down a trap.

There is one thing in particular1 would wish him to avoid, which is a repugnance against appearing in characters of an unamiable sort; (the ladies will observe I address myself to both sexes throughout:) it is a narrow notion to suppose that there can be any adhesion either of vice or virtue to the real character or that revenge, cruelty, perfidiousness, or cowardice can be transposed into a man's nature, because he professionally represents these evil qualities. If I had not determined against particularizing any person in this paper, I should here quote the example of an actor, whose untimely death every friend of the drama must deplore, and whose good sense I might appeal to in confirmation of my advice.

Of this above all things every actor may assure himself, that there is no calling or profession in life,

that can less endure the distractions of intemperance and dissipation. A knowledge of the world no doubt is necessary to him, and he must therefore take his share in society, but there is no other introduction into the best company, but by meriting a place in it; and as for vulgar fellowships and connections, where a man is to act the pleasant fellow and set the table in a roar, if he has not the spirit and discretion to decline them, he will soon find his professional talents sacrificed to his convivial ones; if he does not reserve all his exertions for his art, nature must sink under double duty, and the most that he can obtain in return will be pity.

An eminent actor should resolve to fortify himself against the many personal attacks, which in the present times he is to expect from friends as well as foes by the former I mean those friends, whose illjudged applauses are as dangerous to his repose as calumny itself. That proper sense of himself, which holds a middle place between diffidence and arrogance, is what he must oppose to these attacks of extravagant applause or illiberal defamation; for gentlemen of wit and pleasantry find so much amusement in sporting with the feelings of actors, that they will write; and there is a figure called hyperbole much in fashion amongst them, the excellent property of which figure is that it cuts both ways virtus ejus ex diverso par augendi atque minuendi. Now although the hyperbole is a figure of freedom, and has certain privileges, that go beyond credibility, yet I have the authority of Quintilian to say that it has bounds; on the outside of truth, I confess, but still within reason-Quamvis enim est omnis hyperbole ultra fidem; non tamem esse debet ultra modum.-An actor therefore will do wisely to put no faith in such a double-tongued figure, nor form any acquaintance with those who are in the daily use of it.

If he would have better authority for the advice I give him, let him turn to his books, and he will not find a writer of eminence, either ancient or modern, that will not tell him slander is a tax on merit. I shall instance only one of each, because I will not burthen him with quotations. The first of these is Tacitus, a writer of unquestionable authority, and one who has left as good receipts for wholesome judgment in all worldly affairs as any man whatever : His maxim indeed is short, for he makes no waste of words on any occasion; speaking of certain libel. lous publications, he observes-Spreta exolescunt ; si irascare, agnita videntur :—Which may be thus rendered-Contempt disarms abuse; resent, and you adopt it. The other which I shall adduce, is the judicious and amiable Mr. Addison, who is rather more diffusive on the subject, but concludes his opinion with this recommendation of the prescription above mentioned That it is a piece of fortitude, which every man owes to his own innocence, and without which it is impossible for a man of any merit or figure to live at peace with himself, in a country that abounds with wit and liberty.' (SPECT. No. 355.)

When I have said this, I am free to own, that it is an act of aggravated cruelty to attack a man, whose profession lays him so continually at mercy, and who has fewer defences than other men to resort to. An actor has a claim upon the public for their protection, whose servant he is; and he ought to be dear to every man in particular, whose heart he has dilated with benevolence, or lightened with festivity; if we are grateful to the surgeon who assuages the pain of a festering sore, or draws even a thorn from our flesh, should we not remember him with kindness, who heals our heart of its inquietude, and cheers those hours with gaiety and innocence, which we might else have devoted to gloominess or guilt?

If an actor has these claims upon the world at large, what ought he not to expect from the poet in particular? The poet's arms should be his natural asylum, a shield from the arrows of envy and detraction. An actor is in the capacity of a steward to every living muse, and of an executor to every departed one; the poet digs up the ore; he sifts it from the dross, refines and purifies it for the mint; the actor sets the stamp upon it, and makes it current in the world.

NUMBER XXX.

PREJUDICE IS SO wide a word, that if we would have ourselves understood, we must always use some auxiliary term with it to define our meaning: thus when we speak of national prejudices, prejudices of education, or religious prejudices, by compounding our expression we convey ideas very different from cach other.

National prejudice is by some called a virtue, but the virtue of it consists only in the proper application and moderate degree of it. It must be confessed a happy attachment, which can reconcile the Laplander to his freezing snows, and the African to his scorching sun. There are some portions of the globe so partially endowed by Providence with climate and productions, that were it not for this prejudice to the natale solum, the greater part of the habitable world would be a scene of envy and repining. National predilection is in this sense a blessing, and perhaps a virtue; but if it operates other wise than in the best sense of its definition, it per

verts the judgment, and in some cases vitiates the heart. It is an old saying, that charity begins at home, but this is no reason it should not go abroad: a man should live with the world as a citizen of the world; he may have a preference for the particular quarter, or square, or even alley in which he lives, but he should have a generous feeling for the welfare of the whole; and if in his rambles through this great city (the world) he may chance upon a man of a different habit, language or complexion from his own, still he is a fellow-citizen, a short sojourner in common with himself, subject to the same wants, infirmities and necessities, and one that has a brother's claim upon him for his charity, candour and relief. It were to be wished no traveller would leave his own country without these impressions, and it would be still better if all who live in it would adopt them; but as an Observer of mankind (let me speak it to the honour of my countrymen) I have very little to reproach them with on this account: it would be hard if a nation, more addicted to travel than any other in Europe, had not rubbed off this rust of the soul in their excursions and collisions; it would be an indelible reproach, if a people, so blest at home, were not benevolent abroad. Our ingenious neighbours the French are less agreeable guests than hosts: I am afraid their national prejudices reach a little beyond candour in most cases, and they are too apt to indulge a vanity, which does not become so enlightened a nation, by shutting their eyes against every light except their own; but I do a violence to my feelings, when I express myself unfavourably of a people, with whom we have long been impli cated in the most honourable of all connections, the mutual pursuits of literary fame, and a glorious emulation in arts and sciences.

Prejudices of education are less dangerous than