4

With Inborn Strength alone oppos'd Mankind,
With Heav'n in View, to all below it blind:
Regardless of his Friend's Applaufe, or Moan,
Alone Triumphant, fince he falls alone.

Thus when the Ruler of the Genial Day,
Behind fome dark'ning Planet forms his Way,
Defponding Mortals, with officious Care,
The Concave Drum, and Magick Brass pre-

(pare; `
Implore him to fuftain th important Fight,
And fave depending Worlds from endlefs
(Night.
Fondly they hope their Labour may avail,
To eafe his Conflict, and affift his Toil.
Whilft he in Beams of Native Splendor bright
(Tho'dark his Orb appear to Humane Sight)
Shines to the Gods with more diffufive Light.
To diftant Stars with equal Glory burns,
Inflames their Lamps, and feeds their Gol-
(den Urns.
Sure to retain his known fuperior Tract,
⚫ And proves the more illuftrious by Defect.

This is a very lively Image; but I must take the Liberty to fay, My Kinfman drives the Sun a little like Phaeton: He has all the Warmth of Phebus, but won't ftay for his Direction of it. Avail and Toil, Defect and Tract, will never do for Rhimes. But however, he has the true Spirit in him; for which Reafon I was willing to entertain any Thing he pleas'd to fend me. The Subject which he writes upon,naturally raises great Reflections in the Soul, and puts us in Mind A of the mixed Condition which we Mortals are to fupport; which, as it varies to Good or Bad, adorns or defaces our Actions to the Beholders: All which Glory and Shame must end in what we fo much repine at, Death. But Doctrines on

this Occafion, any other than that of living well, are the most infignificant and most empty of all the Labours of Men. None but a Tragedian can die by Rule, and wait till he difcovers a Plot, or fays a fine Thing upon his Exit. In real Life, this is a Chimera; and by Noble Spirits, it will be done decently, without the Oftentation of it. We fee Men of all Conditions and Characters go through it with equal RefoLution: And if we consider the Speeches of the mighty Philofophers, Heroes, Law-givers, and Great Captains, they can produce no more in a difcerning Spirit, than Rules to make a Man a Fop on his Death-Bed. Commend me to that natural Greatnefs of Soul, expreffed by an innocent, and confequently refolute Country Fellow, who faid in the Pains of the Cholick, If I once get this Breath out of my Body, you fall hang me before you put it in again. Honeft Ned! and fo he died.

But it is to be fuppofed, from this Place you may expect an Account of fuch a Thing as a New Play is not to be omitted. That acted this Night is the newest that ever was writ. The Author is my ingenious Friend Mr. Thomas DY This Drama is called, The Modern Prophets, and is a moft unanfwerable Satyr againit the late Spirit of Enthuiafm. The Writer had by long Experience obferved, That in Company, very grave Difcourfes have been followed by Bawdry; and therefore has turned the Humour that Way with great Succefs, and taken from his Audience all Manner of Superftition, by the Agitations of pretty Mrs. Bignall, whom he has, with great Subtilty, made a Lay-Sifter, as well as a Prophetefs; by which Means, fhe carries on the Affairs of both Worlds with great Succefs. My Friend deigns to go on with another Work against. Winter, which he intends to call,

E4

The

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34

The Modern Poets; a People no less mistaken in their Opinions of being infpired, than the other. In order to this, he has by him feveral Songs, befides many Ambiguities, which cannot be mitaken for any Thing but what he means them. Mr. D generally writes State-Plays, and is wonderfully ufeful to the World in fuch Repre5 fentations. This Method is the fame that was us'd by the Old Athenians,to laugh out of Countenance or promote Opinions among the People.My Friend has therefore, against this Play is acted for his own Benefit, made Two Dances, which may be alfo of an univerfal Benefit. In the First, 1 he has reprefented Abfolute Power in the Perfon of a Tall Man with an Hat and Feather, who gives his Firft Minifter, that ftands juft be fore him, an huge Kick; the Minifter gives the Kick to the next before; and fo to the End of the Stage. In the Moral and Practical Jeft; you are made to understand, That there is, in an Abfolute Government, no Gratification, but giving the Kick you receive from one above you, to one below you. This is performed to a grave and melancholy Air; but on a fudden the Tune moves quicker, and the whole Company fallinto a Circle, and take Hands; then at a certain fharp Note, they move round, and kick as kick can. This latter Performance he makes to be the Representation of a Free State; where, if you all mind your Steps, you may go round and round very jollily, with a Motion pleasant to your felves and thofe you dance with: Nay, if you put your felves out, at the worst you only kick and are kicked, like Friends and Equals.

From my own Apartment, May 4.

Of all the Vanities under the Sun, I confefs that of being proud of one's Birth is the greateft. At the fame Time, fince in this unreafomable Age, by the Force of prevailing Custom,

Things in which Men have no Hand, are imputed to them; and that I am ufed by fome People, as if Ifaac Bickerstaff, tho' I write my felf Efquire, was no Body: To fet the World_right in that Particular, I fhall give you my Genealogy, as a Kinfman of ours has fent it me from the Heralds-Office. It is certain, and obferved by the f

wifeft Writers, That there are Women who are not nicely Chaft, and Men not feverely Honeft, 5 in all Families; therefore let those who may 7 be apt to raise Afperfions upon ours, please to give us as Impartial Account of their own, and we shall be fatisfied. The Business of Heralds is a Matter of fo great Nicety, that, to avoid Miftakes, I fhall give you my Coulin's Letter Verbatim, without altering a Syllable.

Dear Coufin,

1574

Ince you have been pleafed to make your Self So famous of late, by your ingenious Writings, and Some Time age by your learned Predictions: Since Partridge of Immortal Memory is dead and gone, \? who, Poetical as he was, could not understand his own Poetry; and Philomathical as he was, could not read his own Destiny: Since the Pope, the King of France, and great Part of his Court, are either literally or metaphorically defunct: Since, I Say, thefe Things (not foretold by any one but your Self) have come to pals after fo furprizing a Manner; 'tis with no fmall Concern I fee the Original of the Staffian Race fo little known in the World as it is at this Time; for which Reafon, as you have, employed your Studies in Aftronomy, and the Oc cult Sciences; fo I, my Mother being a Welch Wo- ¦ man, dedicated mine to Genealogy, particularly that of our own Family,which, for its Antiquity and Number, may challenge any in Great Britain. They Staffs are originally of Staffordshire, which took its Name from them: The First that I find of the ES Staffs

1-Staffs was one Jacobstaff, a famous and renowned Aftronomer, who by Dorothy his Wife, had fue Seven Sons, viz. Bickerstaff, Longftaff, Wagstaff, Quarterstaff, Whiteftaff, Falstaff, and Tipftaff. He also had a Younger Brother who was twice married, and had Five Sons; viz. Diftaff, Pikeftaff, Mopftaff, Broomstaff, and Raggedstaff. As for the Branch from whence you Spring, Ifhall Say very little of it, only that 'tis the Chief of the Staffs, and called Bickerstaff, quafi BiggerItaff; as much as to say, the Great Staff, or Staff of Staffs and that it has applied it Self to Aftronomy with great Success, after the Example of our aforesaid Forefather. The Defcendants from Longtaff, the fecond Son, were a rakijh diforderly Sort of People, and rambled from one Place to another, till in Harry II.'s Time they fettled in Kent, and were called Long Tails, from the Long-Tails which were fent them as a Punishment for the Murder of Thomas a Becker, as the Legends fay. They have been always feeked after by the Ladies; but whether it be to show their Averfion to Popery, or their Love to Miracles, I can't fay. The Wagstaffs are a merry thoughtLefs Sort of People, who have always been opinionated of their own Wit; they have turned them felves mostly to Poetry. This is the most numerous Branch of our Family, and the pooreft. The Quarterftaffs are most of them Prize-fighters, or Deerfrealers: There have been fo many of them hanged lately, that there are very few of that Branch of our Family left. The Whiteftaffs are all Courtiers, and have had very confiderable Places. There have been fome of them of that Strength and Dexterity, That Five hundred of the ablft Men in the Kingdom have often tugged in vain to pull a Staff out of their Hands. The Halftaffs are frangely given to Whoring and Drinking: There are Abundance of them in and about London. And one Thing is very remarkable of this Branch, and that