Who will fay the expectation is not here prepared for fome catastrophe, we know not what, but awful it must be, for it is Sampfon which denounces the downfal of the idol, it is God who infpires the denunciation; the crisis is important, for it is that which shall decide whether God or Dagon is to triumph,, it is in the strongest sense of the expreffion -dignus vindice nodus-and therefore we may boldly pronounce Deus interfit!

That this interpretation meets the fenfe of the author is clear from the remark of Manoah, who is made to say that he receives thefe words as a prophecy. Prophetic they are, and were meant to be by the poet, who in this use of his facred prophecy imitates the heathen oracles, on which feveral of their dramatic plots are conftructed, as might be. fhewn by obvious examples. The interview with Manoah then is conducive to the catastrophe, and the drama is not in this fcene devoid of incident.

Dalilah next appears, and if whatever tends to raise our intereft in the leading character of the tragedy, cannot rightly be called epifodical, the introduction of this perfon ought not to be accounted fuch, for who

but

1

but this person is the cause and origin of all the pathos and distress of the story? The dialogue of this fcene is moral, affecting and fublime; it is also strictly characteristic.

The next scene exhibits the tremendous giant Harapha, and the contraft thereby produced is amongst the beauties of the poem, and may of itself be termed an important incident: That it leads to the catastrophe I think will not be disputed, and if it is asked in what manner, the Chorus will fupply us with an answer

He will directly to the Lords I fear,
And with malicious counsel ftir them up

Some

way or other further to afflict thee.

Here is another prediction connected with the plot and verified by it's catastrophe, for Sampfon is commanded to come to the feftival and entertain the revellers with fome feats of ftrength: Thefe commands he resists, but obeys an impulse of his mind by going afterwards, and thereby fulfils the prophetic declaration he had made to his father in the fecond act. What incident can fhew more management and addrefs in the poet, than this of Sampfon's refufing the fum

mons

mons of the idolaters and obeying the vifitation of God's fpirit.

And now I may confidently appeal to the judicious reader, whether the Sampson Agonifes is fo void of incident between the opening and conclufion as fairly to be pronounced to want a middle. Simple it is from first-to laft, fimple perhaps to a degree of coldness. in fome of it's parts, but to fay that nothing paffes between the firft act and the last, which haftens or delays the death of Sumpfon, is not correct, because the very incidents are to be found, which conduce to the cataftrophe, and but for which it could not have come to pass.

The author of the Rambler profeffes to examine The Sampfon Agonistes according to the rule laid down by Ariftotle for the difpofition and perfection of a tragedy, and this rule he informs us is that it fhould have a beginning, a middle, and an end. And is this the mighty purpofe for which the authority of Ariftotle is appealed to? If it be thus the author of the Rambler has read The Poetics, and this be the best rule he can collect from that treatife, I am afraid he will find it too short a measure for the poet he is examining,

examining, or the critic he is quoting. Ariftotle had faid that every whole hath not am-. plitude enough for the construction of a tragic fable; now by a whole, (adds he in the way of illuftration) I mean that, which hath beginning, middle, and end. This and no more is what he fays upon beginning, middle and end; and this, which the author of the Rambler conceives to be a rule for tragedy, turns out to be merely an explanation of the word whole, which is only one term amongst many employed by the critic in his profeffed and compleat definition of tragedy. I fhould add that Aristotle gives a further explanation of the terms, beginning, middle and end, which the author of the Rambler hath turned into English, but in fo doing he hath inexcufably turned them out of their original fenfe as well as language; as any curious critic may be convinced of, who compares them with Ariftotle's words in the eighth chapter of the Poetics.

Of the poetic diction of The Sampson Agoniftes I have already fpoken in general; to particularize paffages of ftriking beauty would draw me into too great length; at the fame time, not to pafs over so pleasing a

part

part of my undertaking in absolute filence, I will give the following reply of Sampson to the Chorus

Wherever fountain or fresh current flow'd
Against the eastern ray, translucent, pure
With touch ethereal of heaven's fiery rod,
I drank, from the clear milky juice allaying.
Thirft, and refresh'd; nor envy'd them the grape,
Whofe heads that turbulent liquor fills with fumes.

Of the character I may fay in few words, that Sampson poffeffes all the terrific majesty of Prometheus chained, the mysterious diftrefs of Oedipus, and the pitiable wretched-. nefs of Philoctetes. His properties, like those of the firft, are fomething above human; his misfortunes, like those of the fecond, are derivable from the difpleasure of heaven, and involved in oracles; his condition, like that of the laft, is the most abject, which human nature can be reduced to from a ftate of dignity and fplendor.

Of the catastrophe there remains only to remark, that it is of unparalleled' majefty. and terror.