Account. of Rapture when he fpeaks of them. But as he praifes these he knows not why, there are others whom he depretiates with the fame Vehemence and upon the fameWe may fee after what a different MannerStrada proceeds in his Judgment on the Latin Poets; for I intend to Publifh, in this Paper, a Continuation of that Prolufion which was the Subject of the last Thursday. I fhall therefore give my Reader a fhort Account, in Profe,. of every Poem which was produced in the learned Affembly there defcribed; and if he is thoroughly converfant in the Works of those ancient Authors, he will fee with how much Judgment every Subject is adapted to the Poet who makes use of it, and with how much Delicacy every particular Poet's way of Writing is characterised in the Cenfure that is paft upon it. Lucan's Representative was the first who recited before that Auguft Affembly. As Lucan was a Spaniard, his Poem does Honour to that Nation, which at the fame time makes the Romantick Bravery in the Hero of it more probable. ALPHONSO was the Governor of a Town Invested. by the Moors. During the Blockade they made his only Son their Prifoner, whom they brought before the Walls, and expofed to his Father's fight, threatning to put him to Death, if he did not immediately give up the Town. The Father tells them if he had an hundred Sons he would rather fee them all Perish than do an Ill Action, or be- . tray his Country. But, fays he, if you take a pleafure in deftroying the Innocent, you may do it if you please: Behold a Sword for your Purpose. Upon which he threw his Sword from the Wall, returned to his Palace, and was able, at fuch a Juncture, to fit down to the Repaft, which was prepared for him. He was foon raised by the Shouts of the Enemy and the Cries of the Befieged. Upon returning again to the Walls, he faw his Son lying in the Pangs of Death; but far from betraying any Weakness at fuch a Spectacle, he upbraids his Friends for their Sorrow, and returns to finish his Repast. UPON the Recital of this Story, which is exquifitely drawn up in Lucan's Spirit and Language, the whole Affembly declared their Opinion of Lucan in a confused Murmur. The Poem was praised or cenfured according G 4 to to the Prejudices which every one had conceived in favour or difadvantage of the Author. These were fo very great, that fome had placed him in their Opinions above the higheft and others beneath the loweft of the Latin Poets. Moft of them however agreed, that Lucan's Genius was wonderfully Great, but at the same time too haughty and headftrong to be governed by Art, and that his Stile was like his Genius, learned, bold and lively, but withal too tragical and bluftering. In a Word, that he chofe rather a great than a juft Reputation; to which they added, that he was the firft of the Latin Poets who deviated from the Purity of the Roman Language. THE Reprefentative of Lucretius told the Affembly, that they fhould foon be fenfible of the Difference between a Poet who was a Native of Rome, and a Stranger who had been adopted into it: After which he entered upon his Subject, which I find exhibited to my Hand in a Speculation of one of my Predeceffors. STRADA, in the Perfon of Lucretius, gives an Account of a Chimerical Correfpondence between two Friends by the help of a certain Load-stone, which had fuch a Virtue in it, that if it touched two several Needles, when one of the Needles fo touched began to move, the other, though at never fo great a diftance, moved at the fame time, and in the farne manner. He tells us, that the two Friends, being each of them poffeft of one of these Needles, made a kind of Dial-plate, inscribing it with the four and twenty Letters, in the fame manner as the Hours of the Day are marked upon the ordinary DialPlate. They then fixed one of the Needles on each of thefe Plates in fuch a manner that it could move round without Impediment, so as to touch any of the four and twenty Letters. Upon their feparating from one another into diftant Countries, they agreed to withdraw themfelves punctually into their Closets at a certain Hour of the Day, and to converfe with one another by means of this their Invention. Accordingly when they were fome hundred Miles asunder, each of them shut himself up in his Closet at the time appointed, and immediately caft his Eye upon his Dial Plate. If he had a mind to write any thing to his Friend, he directed his Needle to every Letter Lefter that formed the Words which he had occafion for, making a little paufe at the end of every Word or Sentence to avoid Confufion. The Friend, in the mean while, faw his own Sympathetick Needle moving of it felt to every Letter which that of his Correfpondent pointed at: By this means they talked together a crofs a whole Continent, and conveyed their Thoughts to one another in an Inftant over Cities or Mountains, Seas or Defarts. THE whole Audience were pleased with the Artifice of the Poet who reprefented Lucretius, obferving very well how he had laid aileep their Attention to the Simplicity' of his Style in fome Verfes, and to the want of Harmony in others, by fixing their Minds to the Novelty of his Subject, and to the Experiment which he related. Without fuch an Artifice they were of Opinion that nothing would have founded more harsh than Lucretius's Diction and Numbers. But it was plain that the more learned Part of the Affembly were quite of another mind. These allowed that it was peculiar to Lucretius above all other Poets, to be always doing or teaching fomething, that no other Stile was fo proper to teach in, or gave a greater Pleasure to thofe who had a true Relifh for the Ro-" man Tongue. They added further, that if Lucretius had not been embarraffed with the Difficulty of his Matter, and a little led away by an Affectation of Antiquity, there could not have been any thing more perfect than his Poem. CLAUDIAN fucceeded Lucretius, having chofen for his Subject the famous Contest between the Nightingale and the Lutanift, which every one is acquainted with, fpecially fince Mr. Philips has fo finely improved that Hint in one of his Paftorals. HE had no fooner finifhed but the Affembly rung with Acclamations made in his Praife. His fift Beauty, which every one owned, was the great Clearnefs and Perfpicuity which appeared in the Plan of his Poem. Others were wonderfully charmed with the Smoothnefs of his Verfe, and the flowing of his Numbers, in which there were none of thofe Elifions and Cuttings-off fo frequent in the Works of other Poets. There were feveral however of a more refined Judgment, who ridiculed that Infufion of Foreign G 5 Foreign Phrafes with which he had corrupted the Latin Tongue, and fpoke with Contempt of the Equability of his Numbers that cloyed and fatiated the Ear for want of Variety: To which they likewife added a frequent and unfeasonable Affectation of appearing Sonorous and Sublime. A The Sequel of this Prolufion fhall be the Work of another Day. 4 N° 120. Wednesday, July 29. nothing Lovelier can be found In Woman, than to study Houshold Good, SIR, A A Bit for the Lion. Milton. S foon as you have fet up your Unicorn, there is no queftion but the Ladies will make him pufh very furiously at the Men; for which reafon I think it is good to be before-hand with them, and make the Lion roar aloud at Female Irregularities. Among thefe, I wonder how their Gaming has fo long escaped your Notice. You who converfe with the fober Family of the Lizards, are perhaps a Stranger to thefe Virago's • but what wou'd you fay, fhould you fee the Sparkler fhaking her Elbow for a whole Night together, and thumping the Table with a Dice-Box? Or how would you like to hear the good Widow-Lady her felf return⚫ing to her Houf at Mid-night, and alarming the whole Street with a moft Enormous Rap, after having fat up till that time at Crimp or Ombre? Sir, I am the Husband of one of thefe Female Gamesters, and a great Lofer by it both in my Reft and my Pocket. As my Wife reads your Papers, one upon this Subject might be of ufe both so her, and Your humble Servant. I fhould ill deferve the Name of Guardian, did I not caution all my fair Wards against a Practice which when it runs to Excefs, is the most shameful, but one, that the Female World can fall into. The ill Confequences of it are more than can be contained in this Paper. However, that I may proceed in method, I fhall confider them, First, as they relate to the Mind, Secondly, as they relate to the Body. COULD we look into the Mind of a Female Gamester, we fhould fee it full of nothing but Trumps and Matta dores. Her Slumbers are haunted with Kings, Queens and Knaves. The Day lies heavy upon her till the Play-Seafon returns, when for half a dozen Hours together all her Faculties are employed in Shuffling, Cutting, Deling and Sorting out a Pack of Cards, and no Ideas to be discovered in a Soul which calls it felf rational, excepting little fquare Figures of painted and fpotted Paper. Was the Understanding, that Divine Part in our Compofition, given for fuch an Ufe? Is it thus that we improve the greatest Talent Human Nature is endowed with? What would a Superior Being think, were he fhown this intellectual Faculty in a Female Gamefter, and at the fame time told that it was by this fhe was diftinguished from Brutes, and allied to Angels? WHEN our Women thus fill their Imaginations_with Pipps and Counters, I cannot wonder at the Story I have lately heard of a new-born Child that was marked with the five of Clubs. THEIR Paffions fuffer no lefs by this Practice than their Understandings and Imaginations. What Hope and Fear, Joy and Anger, Sorrow and Difcontent break out all at once in a fair Affembly upon fo noble an Occafion as that of turning up a Card Who can confider without a Se cret Indignation that all thofe Affections of the Mind which fhould be confecrated to their Children, Husbands and Parents, are thus vilely prostituted and thrown away upon a Hand at Loo. For my own part, I cannot but be grieved when I fee a fine Woman fretting and bleeding: inwardly from fuch trivial Motives; When I behold the Face of an Angel agitated and difcompofed by the Heart of a Fury. OUR |