charge he had preferred against the author touching his right of citizenship, which was awarded and secured to him by the fame inftru

ment,

Such was Ariftophanes in person, manners and character: As a poet I might refer the learned reader to his works, which speak fo ably for themselves: They are not only valuable as his remains, but when we confider them as the only remains, which give us any complete fpecimens of the Greek comedy, they become ineftimable through the misfortunes of all the reft. We receive them as treafures thrown up from a wreck, or more properly as one passenger efcaped out of a fleet, whofe narrative we liften to with the more eagerness and curiofity, be cause it is from this alone we can gain intelligence of the nature of the expedition, the quality of the armament, and the characters and talents of the commanders, who have perished and gone down into the abyss together.

་

The comedies of Aristophanes are universally efteemed to be the ftandard of Attic writing in its greatest purity; if any man would wish to know the language as it was spoken by Pericles, he muft feek it in the fcenes of Ariftophanes, where he is not ufing a foreign or affected diction, for the purpose of accommodating it to fome

2

fome particular or extravagant character. The antient authors, both Greek and Roman, who had all the productions of the Athenian ftage before them, fpeak of him with fuch rapture and admiration, as to give him a decided preference before all other comic poets, with an exception as I believe of Plutarch only, who brings him into comparison with Menander, and after difcuffing their different pretenfions decides peremptorily for Menander: This criticifm of Plutarch's I fhall referve for future confideration; and when I said that he is fingle in his preference of Menander, perhaps I ought to recal the expreffion, as that poet has his admirers, but none that I know of, who have deliberately given judgment in his favour upon a critical comparison with Ariftophanes, except Plutarch above mentioned,

The drama of Ariftophanes is of a mixed fpecies; fometimes perfonal, at other times inclining to parody, according to the character of the middle comedy: He varies and accommodates his ftile to his fubject and the speakers on the fcene; on fome occafions it is elevated, grave, fublime and polished to a wonderful degree of brilliancy and beauty; on others it finks and defcends into humble dialogue, provincial rufticity, coarfe naked obfcenity, and

even puns and quibbles: The versatility of his genius is admirable; for he gives us every rank and defcription of men in his fcenes, and in every one is ftrictly characteristic. In fome paffages, and frequently in his choruffes, he ftarts out of the ordinary province of comedy into the loftieft flights of poetry, and in these I doubt if Æfchylus or Pindar have furpaffed him: In fentiment and good fenfe he is not inferior to Euripides, and in the acuteness of his criticisms equalled by none: In the general purport of his moral he feldom, if ever, fails; but he works occafionally with unclean tools, and, like Juvenal in the lower ages, chaftifes vice by an open exposure of its turpitude, offending the ear, whilft he aims to mend the heart. This habit of plain fpeaking was the fashion of the times he wrote in, and the audience demanded and would have it; that he may be ftudied by the pureft readers we should conclude, when we are told he was the pillow companion of a Chriftian faint, as the wellknown anecdote of Chryfoftom will teftify. If we cannot entirely defend the indelicacy of his mufe, we cannot deny but that a great fhare of the blame refts with the fpectators: A dramatic poet cannot model his audience, but in a certain degree muft of neceffity con

II

form

form to their tafte and humour: It can be proved that Ariftophanes himfelf laments the hard task impofed upon him of gratifying the public at the expence of decency; but with the example of the poet Cratinus before his eyes, who was driven from the ftage because he fcrupled to amufe the public ear with tawdry jefts, it is not to be wondered at, if an author, emulous of applaufe, fhould fall in with the wishes of the theatre, unbecoming as they were: Let me add in further palliation of this fault, that he never puts obfcenity but in the mouths. of obfcene characters, and fo applies it as to give his hearers a difguft for fuch unseemly habits. Morality I confefs deferves a purer vehicle, yet I contend that his purpofe was honeft, and I dare believe went farther towards reforming the loofe Athenians, than all the indecifive pofitions of the philofophers, who being enlifted into fects and factions fcarce agreed in any one point of common morality.

This part of his defence would have been very eafily handled a century or two ago; Ben Jonfon for inftance could have helped his argument out with his own example, if occafion had required; but the task falls very heavy upon an advocate in this age, which is of purer ears than to liften to obfcenity; and though

though my particular difficulties have thereby been encreased, I fhall never repine under the weight of any burthen, which the merit of my contemporaries lays upon me.

. His wit is of various kinds; much is of a general and permanent ftamp; much is local, perfonal and untransferable to pofterity: No, author still retains fo many brilliant paffages, yet none has suffered fuch injury by the depredations of time: Of his powers in ridicule and humour, whether of character or dialogue, there might be no end to inftances: If Plautus gives us the model of Epicharmus, he does not equal him; and if Ter nce tranflates Menander, his original does not approach him in thefe particulars: I doubt if the fum total of wit and humour in all their stage-lacqueys would together balance the single character of Cario in the Plutus. His fatire, whether levelled against the vices and follies of the people at large, against the corruption of the dæmagogues, the turpitude and chicanery of the philofophers, or the arrogant felf-fufficiency of the tragic poets, cuts with an edge that penetrates the character, and leaves no fhelter for either ignorance or criminality.

Ariftophanes was author of above fixty comedies, though they are erroneously stated under

that