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النشر الإلكتروني

When his hard creditors,

Urg'd and affifted by Lothario's father,

(Foe to thy house and rival of their greatness)
By fentence of the cruel law forbade

His venerable corpfe to reft in earth,

Thou gavf thyself a ransom for his bones z

With piety uncommon didft give up

Thy hopeful youth to flaves, who ne'er knew mercy.

It is not however within the reach of this, or ang other defcription, to place Altamont in that interefting and amiable light, as circumstances have already placed Charalois; the happy and exulting bridegroom may be an object of our congratulation, but the virtuous and suffering Charalois engages our pity, love and admiration. If Rowe would have his audience credit Altamont for that filial piety, which marks the character he copied from, it was a small oversight to put the following expreffion into his mouth

Ob, great Sciolto! Oh, my more than father!

A closer attention to character would have reminded him that it was poffible for Altamont to express his gratitude to Sciolto without setting him above a father, to whofe memory he had paid fuch devotion.

From this contraction of his plot, by the defalcation of fo many pathetic incidents, it became impoffible

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impoffible for the author of the Fair Penitent to make his Altamont the hero of his tragedy, and the leading part is taken from him by Horatio, and even by Lothario, throughout the drama. There are several other reasons, which concur to fink Altamont upon the comparison with Charalois, the chief of which arifes from the captivating colours in which Rowe has painted his libertine: On the contrary, Maffinger gives a contemptible picture of his young Novall; he makes him not only vicious, but ridiculous; in foppery and impertinence he is the counterpart of Shakespear's Ofrick; vain-glorious, purseproud, and overbearing amongst his dependants; a fpiritless poltroon in his interview with Romont. Lothario (as Johnfon obferves) with gaiety which cannot be hated, and bravery which cannot be defpifed, retains too much of the spectator's kindness. His high spirit, brilliant qualities and fine perfon are fo defcribed, as to put us in danger of falfe impreffions in his favour, and to fet the paffions in oppofition to the moral of the piece: I fufpect that the gallantry of Lothario makes more advocates for Califta than she ought to have. There is another confideration, which operates against Altamont, and it is an indelicacy in his character, which the poet should have provided againft: He marries Califta with the full perfuafion

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perfuafion of her being averfe to the match; in

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his first meeting with Sciolto he says

Ob! could I hope there was one thought of Altamont,
One kind remembrance in Califa's breaf-

-I found her cold

As a dead lover's ftatue on his tomb ;

A rifing form of paffion fbook her breaft,

Her eyes a piteous fhower of tears let fall,

And then he figh'd as if her heart were breaking.
With all the tendereft eloquence of love

I beg'd to be a fharer in her grief:

But fhe, with looks averse and eyes that froze me,
Sadly replied, her forrows were her own,

Nor in a father's power to difpofe of.

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I am aware that Sciolto attempts to parry these facts by an interpretation too grofs and unbecoming for a father's character, and only fit for the lips of a Lothario; but yet it is not in nature to fuppofe that Altamont could miftake fuch fymptoms, and it fixes a meanness upon him, which prevails against his character throughout the play. Nothing of this fort could be discovered by Maffinger's bridegroom, for the ceremony was agreed upon and performed at the very first interview of the parties; Beaumelle gave a full and unreserved affent, and though her character fuffers on the score of hypocrify on that account, yet Charalois is faved by it: Lefs

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hypocrify appears in Califta, but hers is the deeper guilt, because she was already dishonoured by Lothario, and Beaumelle's coquetry with Novall had not yet reached the length of criminality. Add to this, that Altamont appears in the contemptible light of a fuitor, whom Calista had apprized of her averfion, and to whom she had done a deliberate act of difhonour, though his person and character must have been long known to her. The cafe is far otherwife between Charalois and Beaumelle, who never met before, and every care is taken by the poet to fave his hero from fuch a deliberate injury, as might convey contempt; with this view the marriage is precipitated; nothing is allowed to pass, that might open the character of Charalois to Beaumelle: She is hurried into an affignation with Novall immediately upon her marriage; every artifice of feduction is employed by her confidante Bellaperte, and Aymer the parafite of Novall, to make this meeting criminal; the falls the victim of paffion, and when detection brings her to a sense of her guilt, fhe makes this penitent and pathetic appeal to Charalois

Oh my fate!

That never would confent that I should fee
How worthy thou wert both of love and duty

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Before I loft you; and my mifery made

The glass, in which I now behold your virtue-
With juftice therefore you may cut me off,
And from your memory wash the remembrance
That e'er I was; like to fome vicious purpose,
Which in your better judgment you repent of,
And ftudy to forget-

Yet you shall find,

Tho' I was bold enough to be a frumpet,

I dare not yet live one: Let those fam'd matrens,
That are canoniz'd worthy of our fex,
Tranfcend me in their fandity of life,

I yet will equal them in dying nobly,
Ambitious of o honour after life,

But that, when I am dead, you will forgive me.

Compare this with the conduct of Calista, and then decide which frail fair-one has the better title to the appellation of a Penitent, and which drama conveys the better moral by its catastrophe.

There is indeed a groffness in the older poet, which his more modern imitator has refined; but he has only fweetened the poison, not removed its venom; nay, by how much more palatable he has made it, fo much more pernicious it is become in his tempting sparkling cup, than in the coarse deterring dofe of Maffinger.

Rowe has no doubt greatly outstepped his original in the striking character of Lothario, whe

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