1

puted, and if it is afked 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 Samp-
fon is commanded to come to the feftival and
entertain the revellers with fome feats of
ftrength: Thefe commands he refifts, 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 in-
cident can fhew more management and address
in the poet, than this of Sampfon's refufing the
fummons of the idolaters and obeying the vifi-
tation of God's fpirit.

And now I may confidently appeal to the judicious reader, whether the Sampson Agonistes 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 coldnefs in fome of it's parts, but to say that nothing paffes between the first act and the laft, which haftens or delays the death of Sampfon, is not correct, because the very

10

incidents

incidents are to be found, which conduce to the catastrophe, and but for which it could not have come to pass.

The author of the Rambler profeffes to examine The Sampson 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 purpose 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 beft rule he can collect from that treatife, I am afraid he will find it too fhort a measure for the poet he is examining, or the critic he is quoting. Ariftotle had faid that every whole hath not amplitude enough for the conftruction 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 says 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 should add that Ariftotle 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 Sampfon Agonistes I have already spoken in general; to particularize paffages of striking beauty would draw me into too great length; at the fame time, not to pafs over fo pleafing a part of my undertaking, in abfolute filence, I will give the following reply of Sampfon 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 chara&er I may fay in few words, that Sampfon poffeffes all the terrific majefty of Prometheus chained, the mysterious diftrefs of Oedipus and the pitiable wretchednefs of Philoctetes. His properties, like thofe of the firft, are fomething above human; his misfortunes, like thofe 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.

N°. CXII.

I

To the OBSERVER.

SIR,

Etiam mortuus loquitur.

2

I am rightly advised, the laws of England have provided no remedy for an injúry, which I have received from a certain gentleman, who fets me at defiance, and whom I am not conscious of having offended in the smallest article in life. My cafe is as follows: Some time ago I went into the South of France for the recovery of my health, which (thank God) I have fo far effected, that I fhould think I was

at this very moment enjoying as good a stock of fpirits and ftrength, as I have enjoyed for many years of my life paft, if I was not outfaced by the gentleman in question, who fwears I am dead, and has proceeded fo far as to publish mẹ dead to all the world with a whole volume of memoirs, which I have no remembrance of, and of fayings, which I never said.

I think this is very hard upon me, and if there is no redress for fuch proceedings, but that a man must be printed dead, whenever any fanciful fellow chufes to write a book of memoirs, I must take the freedom to say this is no country to live in; and let my ingenious biographer take it how he will, I fhall still maintain to his face that I am alive, and I do not fee why my word in fuch a cafe fhould not go as far as his.

There is yet another thing I will venture to fay, that I did never in the whole course of my life utter one half or even one tenth part of the finart repartees and bon-mots he is pleased to impute to me: I don't know what he means by laying fuch things at my door; I defy any one of my acquaintance to fay I was a wit, which I always confidered as another name for an ill-tempered fellow. I do acknowledge that I have lived upon terms of acquaintance with my biographer, and have passed fome focial hours

in