"do not like your faultlefs people." Then taking him by the hand, added, "Make not yourself uneafy thefe acci"dents over a bottle are nothing among "friends." A provifion fhip of the first colony of Scots that attempted to fettle at Darien, in which were thirty gentlemen paffengers, fonie of them of noble birth, having been thipwrecked at Carthagena, the Spaniards believing, or pretending to believe, that they were fmugglers, caft them into a dungeon, and threatened them with death. The company deputed Lord Bafil Hamilton from Scotland, to implore King William's protection for the prifoners. The King, at firit, refuted to fee him, becaufe he had not appeared at Court when he was last in London. But when that difficulty was removed by explanation, an expreffion fell from the King, which thewed his fenfe of the generous conduct of another, although, influenced by the English and Dutch Eaft-India Companies, he could not refolve to imitate it in his own. For Lord Bafil's audience having been put off from time to time, but, at laft, fixed to be in the Council-chamber after a Council was over, the King, who had forgot the appointment, was paffing into another room, when Lord Bafil placed himself in the paffage, and said, That he came commiffioned by a great "body of his Majesty's fubjects to lay their "misfortunes at his feet, that he had a "right to be heard, and would be heard.” The King returned, liftened with patience, gave inftant orders to apply to Spain for redrefs, and then turning to thofe near him, faid, "This young man "is too bold, if any man can be too "bold in his country's caufe." I had this Anecdote from the prefent Earl of Selkirk, grandfon to Lord Bafil. For the EUROPEAN MAGAZIN E. Among the JEUX D'ESPRITS Occafioned by Mrs. Prozzi's late Publication, th following deferves to be preferved from Oblivion. "A DESCRIPTION OF MR. SAYER'S NEW PRINT, ENTITLED, FRONTISPIECE FOR THE SECOND EDITION OF DR. JOHNSON's LETTERS." - SCENE, a room furnished with books, and hang with portraits.-Firit, that of Mr. Eotwell.-Second, the veracious Eg tit Sir John Hawkins.-N. B. The oval in which his graceful, benignant, and knightly countenance night have been exprelled, is occupied by the characteritic diffyllable. MYSELF. Our egregious Biographer, opening alio his own ponderous volume, difplays the words"When I was in the Commiffion of the "Peace."-The third pertonge is Mr. Courteney, who, from certain attendant fymbols, fhould feem to have broken both the head of Prifcian, and the neck of Pegafus. Under thefe reprefentations is a fandicape, with Mr. Bofwell conducting his fellow-traveller about the Hebrides. At a table fits Mrs. Piozzi, who had been tranfcribing Dr. Johnton's letters, but is now looking round with terror towards his ghot, which appears in the act of offering her a deprecatory purfe of gold. Overhead is a picture of Mr. Thrale, her first husband. His face is obfcured by a fiddle and fiddleftick, with this label near them, "Thralia, ve mifera nimium vicina Cremone!" At the bottom of the plate are the following vei fes: « Madam (my debt to nature paid), "I thought the grave with hallow'd shade "Wou'd now protect my name: "Yet there in vain I feek repofe, "My friends each little fault difclose, "And murder Johnfon's fame. "First, Boswell, with officious care, "Shew'd me as men would fhew a bear, "And call'd himfelf my friend; "Sir John with nonfenfe ftrew'd my hear fe, "And Courteney pefter'd me with verse; "You torture without end. "When Streatham fpread its plenteous board, "I cpen'd Learning's valued hoard, "And as I feafted profed. "Good things I faid, good things 1 eat, "I gave you knowledge for your meat, "And thought th' account was clos'd, "If obligations ftill I owed, "You fold each item to the croud, le : "I fuffer'd by th "For God's fake, Mauam, let me rest, "Nor longer vex your quondam guest→→ Ill pay you for ale." your Τα C 178-, he dared, uncalled, to rush into the prefence of his CREATOR. With profpe&ts as fair, and with hopes as fanguine, as e'er glowed in the breast of youth, he began his career of life; but blinded by the delufive phantom, PLEASURE, ere that life had reached its meridian, he fell a facrifice to complicated evils, the offspring of his own Mifcondua. READER, whoe'er thou art, whether poffeffed by a vain curiofity to contemplate this record; or, led by the fympathy of a feeling bofom, to drop a tear on this (alas !) unhallowed turf: Let the untimely FATE of this young man wain thee to fhun that pernicious, that fatal VICE, GAMING. To the EDITOR of the EUROPEAN MAGAZINE. SIR, ONSCIOUS of your tafte for fo famous an author as Mr. Voltaire, I take the liberty of fending you a letter which I have tranflated from the French, and which, I truft, never before appeared in print. I fhall efteem myself particularly happy if it meets your approbation, as well as that of a generous public. I am, Sir, your humble fervant, J. D. France, March 12, 1788. TRANSLATION of a LETTER from MR. DE VOLTAIRE to MADAME LA COMTESSE DU BARRY. Ferney, Jan 3, 1774. Madam, MRS. De la Borde told me you ordered her to embrace me twice,for you. § Quoi! deux baifers a la fin de ma vie, Quel paffefert daignez m'envoyer, *He was buried in a crofs-way. Deux c'en est trop, adorable Egerie +, J'en ferois mort de plaifir le premier. She fhewed me your Miniature: do not be offended, Madam, when I took the liberty of returning the two Kiffes. Vous ne pouvez empêcher cet homage, Foible tribut de quiconque a des yeux, C'est aux mortel d'adorer votre image, L'original étoit fait pour les Dieux. I have heard many airs in Pandora, of Mrs. de la Borde's compofition: they appear, Madam, worthy of your protection. The reward you give to merit adds to that luftre with which you already fhine. Vouchfafe, Madam, to accept the profound respect of an old hermit, whofe heart poffeffes fcarcely any other fentiment than that of gratitude. I am, &c. DE VOLTAIRE. § Thefe veríes cannot by any means be translated, or even imitated, to retain their original beauty. †The nymph Egerie infpired Numa in his wife diftribution of Roman, justice. Mrs De la Borde compofed the mufic to the words of the opera of Pandora, written by Mr. De Voltaire, who was eager of having it performed under the protection of Madame la Comteffe du Barry. Mrs. De la Borde was chambermaid to the Countess du Barry. VOL. XIII. K k T To the EDITOR of the EUROPEAN MAGAZINE. SIR, BEING an admirer of dramatic writings, and obferving, in the courfe of my reading, an analogy exist ng in many paffages of our Poets, wherever I found a thought or metaphor fimilar to any I bad before perused, I instantly compared them, and without deliberation condemned the latter of plagiarifm. "fame occasion."-This applicati on is Dean's Yard, Westminster, SIMILAR PASSAGES. But what are curfes? curfes will not kill→ Pax quæritur Bello. Motto to the Commonwealth's Great Seal. Yet fought not fame but peace in fields of blood. Prologue to Tamerlane. From this aufpicious day the Parthian name The difingenuoufnels of this accufation I foon became fenfible of. Confcicus to myself that though literary theft is too prevalent with the ignorant, who, infected with the defire of being thought men of literary mer t, have used thefe clandeftine means to impofe on their friends and t e public; yet the authors from whom the following paffages are felected (for the amusement of your readers) are men of fuch approved abilities, and real natural geniuses, that their reputation is increafed by the fimilarity of many thoughts that occur in their writings. Falfe critics endeavour only to find out faults; but leave fine imagery and pure effufions of natural imaginations to remain unobferved. Many productions of real merit, in which the beauties have predominated over the imperfections, when judged by thefe rules, have been condemned as unworthy public intpection. To thofe, therefore, who are of that opinion, (which I myself once entertained) I take the liberty of recommending the follow- There fpoke at once the Hero and the Son. ing remark of Dr. Johnion on those critics who imagined that Shakespeare was deeply read in ancient authors, and, therefore, not only borrowed thoughts but even plots from their models. The limits of its fway. Tamerlane, AA II. Scene z. That the Antients thought Thule was the extreme boundary of the world, or the north-weit, appears from Virgil, Georg, J. line 30. Tibi ferviat ultima Thule. Brothers, Act III. How fpoke a Hero, and how mov’d a God. Slavery of Greece, verfes in the Microcojim. An analogy exists between the latter part of the preceding verfe and one of Mr. Broome's, in an epiitle to Mr. Pope. -and like a God he moves. By Heaven, you shall not stir. Line 66. "Some have imagined that they have "difcovered deep learning in many imi"tations of old riters; but the examples "which I have known urged were drawn " from books tranflated in his time; or were fuckedly cieplences of thought "as will happen to all, who consider the "fame funcces, or fuch remarks on "life, or axioms of morality, as float in converfation, and are tranfinitted through the world in proverbial fentences. I have found it remarked, that Mercy, the darling attribute of Heaven. in this important fentence, Go before, « I'll follow, w read a tranflation of "Ipa frquar. I have been told, that "when Caliban, after a pleafing dream, "fays, I cried to fleep again, the au"ther imitates Anacreon, who had, like every other man, the fame with on the Brothers, Act IV. By Heaven, you ftir not, I must be heard. Venice Preferv`ð. Speak of mercy, Brothers, A& IV. The quality of mercy is not strain'd : Merchant of Venice. I am Perfeus' Wife, &c. Brothers, A& v. An inftance fomewhat of this nature occurs in the Orphan, when Monimia acquaints Caftalio that Polydore has enjoyed her under the character of Caftalio. Erixene.-Earth, open and receive me ! Or Earth gape open wide and eat him quick. - Τότε μοιχανοι ευρεία χθων. Ætherias, tantum radice in tartara tendit. Guards there, feize the Prince- nor he who threatens Edward. Earl of Warwick. My eyes are dry- Alas! Grecian Daughter, A&t III. The fituation of a dying Man is beau. tifully defcribed by Ovid in the fixth Book of the Metamorphofis, line 304. Hom. II. IV. 182. & multis aliis locis. In vultu color eft fine fanguine : lumina mæsiis Hear how with fhouts they rend the skies. -ferit æthera clamor. Cowards in ill, like Cowards in the field, Brothers, A&t III. Grecian Daughter, Act IV. But I am in So far in blood, that fin will pluck on fin. Mr. Steevens in his Note on this paffage fays the fame reflections occur in Macbeth. I am in blood Stepp'd in fo far, that should I wade no more, Stant immota genis ; nihil est in imagine vivi.] A like affault. By me the youth of Greece The reader, by comparing the preceding fpeech with the following one of Mucius Scævola to King Porfenna, from Livy -but which (for the fake of your unlatinized readers) I have rendered into English-will find a great fimiliarity exist Things had begun make ftrong themfelves ing between them. by ill. Demetrius.-Ev`n as an aged oak Push'd to and fro, the labour of the storm, Yet ftill he lives, and on the mountain groans, Ac veluti annofo validam cum robore quer. cum Alpini Boreæ, nunc hinc, nunc flatibus illinc Eruere inter fe certant; it ftridor, & alté Confternunt terram concuffo ftipite frondes: 1pfa hæret fcopulis: & quantum vertice ad auras I am a Roman citizen-my name is Mucius-My intent was to have flain an enemy : nor am I lefs prepared to fuffer that punishment you think proper, than I was to perpetrate the deed. A Roman's part is to act and fuffer magnanimously. I am not the only person thus affected towards your perfon.-There are many candidates for this glorious act. If you chute to incur the hazard of endangering your person every hour, prepare: adverfaries are now at the very porch of your palace. All the young men of Rome are now your enemies: you have nothing to dread in the field: you alone are the object of their enmity. Livy. For the EUROPEAN MAGAZINE. IT has long been difputed between the tion ? What then is the value of regularity? It has long fince been agreed, that that object which can be taken in by the eye at once, and of which the fize and the nature are immediately perceived, inproffes us mott ftrongly with the idea of magnificence. Beauty, by its very definition, confifts in fymmetry and proporton; and when the unity of defign is perfectly maintained, the full effect of the compofition is preferved, and nothing intervenes to turn the current of our paitions. For theft cafons, perhaps, fome of the nobleft dramas of Racine would not be inferior in their effect as a Whole to thofe of Shakespeare. Racine is very much the poet of the heart. There was a gentlenefs in his perfonal character, as well as a richness in his imagination, that rendered the pathetic very congenial to him. His lanuage is not merely tranfparent, it is sweet and harmonious. It has a thou fand nameless graces; and it has a uniform dignity and fweeping majesty that has never been equalled. His characters are drawn with as much vigour as accuracy; and though in the pathetic he be molt at home, there is a fimplicity and elegance in his fublime that renders it particularly fplendid. He never falls beneath himself. He is the Virgil of the theatre. And fhould we adventure to prefer dramatical to heroic poetry, this is to fay, that he is greater than Virgil. But I place Virgil, Shakespeare, Racine, and all the poets that ever existed, below Otway in this one attribute, the mastery of the paflions. It is imperti ment to fay, this is but one excellence. The writer who has reached the fu-premett pitch of an excellence fo important as this, is certainly to be ranked in the very first clafs of posts. The Orphan is not inferior to any production of human genius. When poor Monimia fills the theatre with her moan; when the wears the countenance of diftraction and defpair, what eye is not woln with tears? what breaft does not burit with fighs? what foul is not frozen with horror? what heart does not crack with overwhelming grief? But why did I apologize for Otway, as if the pathetic were his only excellence? His language, though unpruned by art, is rich and fonorous. He can reprefent equally well the fire of ambition, the roughnets of the foldier, and the honeft inflexibility of one unhackneyed in the ways of men. Chamont, Caftalio, and Polydore, though not all of them drawn Very much at large, are yet drawn with juftnets and fire. It is common to prefer Venice Preferv'd even to the Orphan, and to confider it as the chef d'oeuvre of this writer. The mournful complaints of Belvidera are but a small part of this work. Never was a character drawn with more richnels of imagination, or that gave greater fcope to the actor, than that of Jather. And if the part of Pierre be inferior to that of his friend, it would yet be fufficient whereon to build the reputation of a meaner name. One only remaining poet has rifen to great diftinction in the English drama. It is Rowe. He has not indeed fufficient boldness, and originality of thinking for that |