rocks and ragged hills fet off the more cultivated scenes? But however you find fault, in the name of Not with INDENTED wave Prone on the ground, as fince, IX, 496. Shakefp. in As you like it, Act. IV. fpeaking of a fnake, And with indented glides did flip away. Liquid fire, I, 229. Shakefp. in Othell. A&t. V. has the fame expreffion; fo has Virg. Ecl. VI, 33. Et liquidi fimul ignis. Liquid air, VII, 264. Spencer, B. I. c. 1. 1. 45. Virgil. Georg. I, 404. Liquid light, VII, 362. and Lucret. V, 282. The pure marble air, III, 564. Shakesp. in Othello, A& III. Now by yond marble heav'n. In Timon, A& IV. The marbled manfion all above. à Graec. paquaigeir, refplendere, páguaç®, marmor. Hom. II. . 275. ära μαρμαρέην: which the fcholiaft interprets, λευκήν. Hence Virg. Aen. VI, 729. Aequor marmoreum. Shining, re fplendent like marble. Horat. I, 19. Urit me Glycerae nitor Splendentis Pario marmore purius. Minims of nature, VII, 482. Proverb. XXX, 24. Quatuor ifta funt minima terrae, according to Spencer, B. 6. c. 10. f. 28. the Vulgate. To make one minime of thy poor handmayd. There is an order of Monks, who took the name of Minims thro' affected humility. Shakefp. in Midsum. A& III. Lyfander to Hermia, Get you gone, you dwarf, You minimus. Mr. Theobald reads, you minim you. Mifcreated, II, 683. Spencer, B. 1. c. z. f. 3. that mif created fair. B. 2. c. 7. f. 42. bis mifcreated mold. Shakefp. Hen. V. A& I. Or 4 of the Muses keep your hands from the context; be cautious how you pluck up what you may think excrefcencies, Or nicely charge your understanding foul With open titles mifcreate. O FOR that warning voice, IV, 1. Shakefp. in Romeo and Juliet. A&t H. O FOR a faulkner's Voice, To lure this tafel gentle back again. Prolog. to K. Henry V. O FOR a mufe of fire &c. In arms they flood Of golden PANOPLY, VI, 527. In celeftial PANOPLY all armed, VI, 760. In allufion to St. Paul's Epiftle to the Ephefians, VI, 11. idúcage Thr HANOIAIAN 78 98. i. e. Armor covering the whole foldier what the Latins called Armatura gravis. Herodian, L. 7. Αναλαβόνες ἂν τὰς ΠΑΝΟΠΛΙΑΣ Κ φράξαντες αὐτὲς οἱ τρατιῶται κ. τ. λ. Now let us PLAY, As meet is, after fuch delicious fare, IX, 1027. The whole paffage feems an imitation of Hom. II. . 441. II. . 514. The word play, is ufed in the fame fenfe as the Latins ufe Ludere, and the Greeks Παίζειν. Fis anus, et tamen Vis formofa videri LUDISque et bibis inpudens. Hor. IV. 13. LUSISTI fatis, edifti fatis, atque bibifti. L. 2. 2. 214. Turba Menandreae fuerat nec Thaidos olim Tanta, in quâ populus LUSIT Erichthonius. Propertius. Natives and fons of heav'n, FOSSESS'D before By none, V. 790. i. e. Slaves to none. the flaves, anuala, poffeffions, mafter, xxiv. See Ariftoph. Plut. . 4. So the Athenians called things poffeffed: The The excrefcencies, left with these you tear in pieces the poet himself. Jam parce fepulto, Parce pias fcelerare manus. The morn begins Her rofy PROGRESS fmiling, XI. 175: Shakefp. in K. Henry IV. A& III. The beavenly-barnefs'd team Begins his golden PROGRESS in the eaft. Sceptred King, II, 43. Hom. Il. á. 279. Eunalux® βασιλούς. Thou my SHADE Infeperable, muft with me along, X, 249. Hor. L. 2. 8. fpeaking of thofe who attended Maecenas as unbidden guests. Quos Maecenas adduxerat UMBRAS. And L. 1. Ep. 5. Locus eft et pluribus UMBRIS. 'Tis a pretty allufion of conftant attendants in the funfhine of fortune, and who cannot then be easily shaken off. SHAVES with level wing the deep, II, 634. Virgil. V, 217. RADIT iter liquidum celeres neque commovet alas. Now morn her rofie fteps in th' eaftern clime Advancing, sow'D the earth with orient pearl, V, 1. In Ariftot. poet. Κεφ. κα. Σπείρων θεοκτίσαν φλόγα. prima novo fpargebat lumine terras. Virgil, Et jam The violence of Ramiel, VI, 371. Virgil, XI, 376. Violentia Turni, i. e. the violent Turnus himself. SECT SECT. IV. T feems no wonder, that the masculine and little please our effeminate taft. And the more I confider our ftudies and amufements, the greater is the wonder they fhould ever please at all. The childish fancy and love of falfe ornaments follow us thro' life; nothing being fo difpleafing to us, as nature and fimplicity. This admiration of false ornaments is visibly seen even in our relish of books. After fuch examples, can we still admire, that rattle of the Mufes, a jingling found of like endings tag'd to every line? Whilft we have ftill preferved fome noble remains of antiquity, and are not entirely void of true genius's among our own nation, what tast must it fhew, to fly for amusements to the crude productions of an enslaved nation? Yet this is our reigning taft: from hence our lawgivers are taught to form their lives and conduct, with a thorough contempt of ancient learning, and all thofe, whose inclinations lead them thro' fuch untrodden paths. But this perhaps will not appear fo furprising, when 'tis confidered, that the more liberal fciences and humane letters, are not the natural growth of thefe Gothic and northern regions. We We are little better than fons and fucceffors of the Goths, ever and anon in danger of relapfing into our original barbarity. And how far the corruption of even our ' public diverfions may contribute 1. Because these may be abused, fome, contrary to all rules of logic, have argued therefore they should entirely be abolish'd; as if, because my little finger pain'd me, I should have my whole arm cut off. Prynne, with the whole tribe of puritans, reason'd after this manner. What then fhall we think of St. Paul, who cites the plays of the Athenian stage in his gravest epistles? He has a whole line from the Thais of Menander in his first epiftle to the Corinthians, XV, 33. Φθείρεσιν ἤθη χρῆσθ ̓ ὁμιλίαι κακάι. 'Tis well known the Jews had many dramatic pieces among them, (tho' not perhaps defign'd for the ftage) taken from stories out of their own chronicles; fuch feems the book of Job. To me it appears almost evident, that St. Jude alludes to a kind of dramatic poem; [yet Michael the archangel when contending with the Devil, he disputed about the body of Mofes, durft not bring againft him a railing accufation, but faid, the Lord rebuke thee. .7.] where Michael and the Devil were introduced difputing about the burial of Mofes. The story might be taken from some old Rabbinical comment upon the last chapter in Deuteronomy, and the subject might be, The death of Mofes. But not play-books only, but all books of elegance have these, worse than Goths and Vandals, attacked: and these indeed must be firft deftroyed, before their own barbarity can take place. How contrary a character was that of the Apoftle Paul? How politely does he address the Athenians with citations |