Tis labour from the claffic brain.
Read your own ADDISON'S CAMPAIGN,

E'en he, nay, think me not fevere,
A critic fine, of Latin ear,

Who tofs'd his claffic thoughts around
With elegance on Roman ground,
Juft fimmering with the mufe's flame
Woes but a cool and fober dame;
And all his English rhimes exprefs
But beggar-thoughts in royal drefs.
In verfe his genius feldom glows,
A POET only in his profe,

Which rolls luxuriant, rich, and chafte,
Improved by Fancy, Wit, and Tafte.

I task you for yourself, my friend,
A fubject you can ne'er defend,
And you cajole me all the while
With differtations upon ftile.
Leave others wits and works alone,
And think a little of your own,

For FAME, when all is faid and done,

Tho' a coy miftrefs, may be won,

And half the thought, and pains, and time,

You take to jingle eafy rhime,

Would make an ODE, would make a PLAY,

Done into English, MALLOCH's way,

Stretch out your more Heroic feet,

And write an ELEGY complete.

Or, not a more laborious task,

Could not you pen a Claffic MASQUE ?

AUTHOR.

With will at large, and unclogg'd wings,

I durft not foar to fuch high things,

For I, who have more phlegm than fire,

Muft understand, or not admire,

Might make a better work fucceed,

And with the helps which they fhall give,
I and the Magazine shall live.

FRIEND.

Yes, live, and eat, and nothing more.

Concerning the Advantage of Meafure in modern Comedies, or in Translations from thofe of the Antients.

SIR,

You

OUR correfpondent's propofal of tranflating PLAUTUS into the English tongue, in Measure, has induced me to add to my last letter thefe further thoughts, which had at times formerly occurred to me, relative to that Subject. Says QUINTILIAN, " Verba "ex Græco formata, cur tantopere afpernemur, nihil "video, nifi quod iniqui judices adverfus nos fumus " ideoque paupertate fermonis laboramus." That is, "By

too much contempt for words imitated from the Greek, "we often prove unfavourable judges to our own intereft, and therefore labour under a poverty of "language."

language." The fame obfervation may be applied to the ftate of comedy amongst us at prefent; for, by too much neglect in not imitating the Antients in regard to tile and measure in comedy, we now labour under a fcarcity of fuch, as may be read in the closet with any fatisfaction. Among the Romans, the ftream of popular criticism ran ftrongly in favour of pure Roman words; however obfolete they might be, if they were but Roman, it was enough in the eftimation of the public; and therefore their authors, with as much fcrupuloufnefs, admitted into their works a word newly imitated from the Greek, as the Ruffians admit a foreigner into their military service. With us the cry is now, Away with pedantry; and in comedy, follow after nature; copy nature; this is the goddess our modern critics pretend to adore confequently our writers, under pretence of being more natural, ftrip her to the bare backfide; and in comedy present to our view nothing but plain profe, and not only mere prose, but also the flatteft profe, and even words and fayings, and conversations of the loweft, vileft, and moft vulgar kind. Away with pedantry, fay I too; that is, let not the mere authority of the antients. prefcribe to us, without confulting reafon and propriety: but yet I must hold fo far with QUINTILIAN, that thofe things which have been well invented, it is ufeful for us to follow. Such I apprehend to be the present matter of aiming at an elegant diction, and fome eafy kind of measure in comedy, though both the one and other should be fomething fuperior to what is ever really obfervable in life. If folely to aim at the reprefentation of nature, be of itself a fufficient recommendation, commend me to the fimple ingenuity of the painters at EDINBURGH; for while we abfurdly denote a publican by the fign of a lion or a horse, they proclaim to all the world, that good cheer is to be found within, by fketching all over their front walls in vile daubing, many a magnificent three legged black pot, with skinny

fhanks

to water.

fhanks of mutton fticking out, and the Brue boiling over; while at their fides the too generous bottled fmall beer, after spinning an enormous curve, falls into a pot of horn, and makes the mouth of every paffenger But if painters will not think it fufficiently praiseworthy to exprefs the most vulgar fubjects in the moft cheap and ordinary colours; why in comedy fhould it be efteemed fufficient to exhibit even the loweft characters, if strictly copied from nature, or the better kind of characters in the coarfeft and flattest language which common converfation can admit? For my own part, although I have the greateft reverence for the naked scenes of nature, yet fo far as it refpects mankind, I think that nature not only admits, but ftands in need of fome small affiftance from the hand of man: and comedy, which reprefents man's nature, will then always give the moft fatisfaction to thofe, whom it is worth while to pleafe, when it is fomewhat refined above what is obfervable in real life. In fuch cafes, fallacy is rendered fo agreeable, that we never object, nor even attend to the impofition which is put upon us, but are rather delighted the more, and love thofe very arts by which we are deceived. The advantage derived to comedy from thus painting above the common rưn of nature, is very visible in all the conftituent parts of it. It will perhaps be readily allowed in regard to the choice of the fubjects themfelves, and of the characters, and fentiments attributed to them; why then fhould it be denied to the language, or to the meafure alone? Surely the fame reafons which may be urged in favour of any one part, may be equally urged in favour of any other. Let us examine in order, and at full length, how refinement affects each of thefe conftituent parts.

It is in the fcenes of low life, that we fee the pureft workings of nature. Subjects of this kind have their characters the moft ftrongly marked of any; for nature in thefe, having full play, fhoots out vigoroufly into all

its various forms. Whereas education affimilates men to one another by the force of art, diffimulation and culture: decorum and the established modes of life lay a constraint upon natural inclination, and form men, like horses, to the manege. Neverthelefs although the one is the creature of nature, and the other of art, yet we find it a daily complaint, that modern comedy deals too much in low life; which fhews the unprejudiced fenfe of mankind, and how advantageous they efteem fome artificial refinement to be in regard to the fubjects themselves. Neither is it only among ourselves, but among the Romans too there was too much founda tion for the fame complaint, at leaft in the comedies of PLAUTUS. Not a few of his witticifms are but of little higher ftamp than what paffes between the quack doctor and his merry-andrew in a country village. After being quite jaded with the petulance and dicacity of his guzzling parafites and favourite flaves, how is one refreshed at meeting with a scene, where more refined characters are introduced? fuch as the first scene of CISTELLARIA, the third of MOSTELLARIA, the first scenes of STICHUS, and a great part of TRINUMNUS. These are worked up with a delicacy, which fhews that PLAUTUS was capable of better things than he executed; and that he defcended below his genius, in order to please the Roman mob. He, like many other men of wit, was obliged to live by his wit, and therefore forced to fuit himself to the taste of the multitude. Nevertheless a fhort fpecimen of fuch low-lived nature may be very ufefully intermixed, in order to give relief to better subjects; and then only does it seem to be altogether injudicious, when it is either dwelt upon too long, or at improper feafons. In this laft particular, PLAUTUS is not lefs faulty than in the former, for yery frequently the most interesting part of the plot ftands ftill, while two flaves exercise. their talents of Buffoonery upon one another. For ex

ample,

1