"Why not compel me then, malicious power! "The look, that guides its paffion to the heart? Age creeps like ivy o'er my wither'd trunk, "Its bloom all blasted, and its vigour shrunk ; "A tomb, where nothing but a name remains "To tell the world whose ashes it contains." The original is fo fuperiorly beautiful, that to prevent a bathos I fhall infert it after the tranflation. NECESSITAS, cujus cursus tranfverfi impetum Eques Romanus lare egreffus meo Domum revertas mimus : Nimirum boc die Uno plus vixi mihi quam vivendum fuit. Fortuna, immoderata in bono æque atque in malo, Si tibi erat libitum literarum laudibus The play which this pathetic prologue was attached to was a comedy, in which Laberius took the character of a slave, and in the course of the plot (as usual) was beaten by his master: In this condition, having marked his habit with counterfeited ftripes, he runs upon the stage, and cries out amain-Porro, Quirites! libertatem perdimus-In good faith, Countrymen, there is an end of freedom. The indignant spectators sent up a fhout; it was in the language of our present playhouse. bills, a burst of applause; a moft violent burst of applause from a moft crowded and brilliant boufe, overflowing in all parts. Laberius not yet content with this atonement to the manes of his knighthood, fubjoins the following pointed allufion: Neceffe eft multos timeat, quem multi timent-The man, whom many fear, muft needs fear many. All eyes were now turned turned upon Cæfar, and the degraded Laberius enjoyed a full revenge. We may naturally fuppofe this conduct loft him the favour of Cafar, who immediately took up Publius Syrus, a Syrian flave, who had been manumitted for his ingenious talents, and was acting in the country theatres with much applaufe: Cæfar fetched him out of his obfcurity, as we bring up an actress from Bath or York, and pitted him against Laberius. It was the triumph of youth and vigour over age and decay, and Cæfar with malicious civility faid to Laberius, Favente tibi me victus es, Laberi, a SyroYou are furpaffed by Syrus in spite of my support. As Laberius was going out of the theatre he was met by Syrus, who was inconfiderate enough to let an expreffion escape him, which was very disrespectful to his veteran competitor: Laberius felt the unbecoming infult, and, turning to Syrus, gave him this extemporary anfwer "To ftand the first is not the lot of all; " 'Tis now your turn to mount, and mine to fall 8 Non poffunt primi esse omnes omni in tempore ; I need not remind the learned Reader in what credit the fayings of this Publius Syrus have been justly held by all the literati from Seneca to Scaliger, who turned them into Greek; and it is for the honour of the fraternity of the ftage, that both he and Sophron, whofe moral sentences were found under Plato's pillow when he died, were actors by profeffion. I fhall now only add that my Newspaper contains a very interefting defcription of two young actors, Hylas and Pylades, who became great favourites with Auguftus, when he was emperor, and made their first appearance at the time this journal was written. If the Reader fhall find any allufion to two very promifing young performers, now living, whofe initials correfpond with the above, I can promise him that our contemporaries will not fuffer by the comparison. I may venture to say in the words of Doctor Young The Roman wou'd not blush at the mistake. N. LXXXVIII. N° LXXXVIII. R. Samuel Johnfon, in his life of Rowe, pronounces of The Fair Penitent, that it is one of the most pleafing tragedies on the stage, where it ftill keeps its turns of appearing, and probably will long keep them, for that there is fcarcely any work of any poet at once fo interefting by the fable, and fo delightful by the language. The ftory, he observes, is domeftic, and therefore eafily received by the imagination, and affimilated to common life; the diction is exquifitely harmonious, and foft or fprightly as occafion requires. Few people, I believe, will think this character of The Fair Penitent too lavifh on the fcore of commendation; the high degree of public favour in which this tragedy has long stood, has ever attracted the best audiences to it, and engaged the talents of the beft performers in its difplay. As there is no drama more frequently exhibited, or more generally read, I propose to give it a fair and impartial examination, jointly with the more unknown and lefs popular tragedy from which it is derived. The Fair Penitent is in fable and character fo closely copied from The Fatal Dowry, that it is impoffible not to take that tragedy along with it; and it is matter of fome furprize to me that Rowe fhould S 4 |