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It is no wonder that thofe fcenes fhould be very furprifing which were contrived by two poets of different nations, and raised by two magicians of different fexes. Armida (as we are told in the argument) was an Amazonian enchantrefs, and poor Signior Caffani (as we learn from the perfons reprefented) a Chriftian-conjurer (Mago Chriftiano), I must confefs I am very much puzzled to find how an Amazon fhould be verfed in the black art, or how a good Chriftian, for such is the part of the magican, fhould deal with the devil.

To confider the poet after the conjuror, I fhall give you a taste of the Italian from the first lines of his preface Eccoti, benigno lettore, un parto di poche fire, che fe ben nato di notte, non è pero aborto di tenebre, mà fi farà conofcere figlio d'Apollo con qualche raggio di Parnaffo. Behold, gentle reader, the birth of a few evenings, which, though it be the offspring of the night, is not the abortive of darkness, but will make itfelf known to be the fon of Apollo, with a certain 6 ray of Parnaffus.' He afterwards proceeds to call Mynheer Handel the Orpheus of our age, and to acquaint us, in the fame fublimity of ftile, that he compofed this opera in a fortnight. Such are the wits to whofe taftes we fo ambitiously conform ourselves. The truth of it is, the fineft writers among the modern Italians exprefs themfelves in fuch a florid form of words, and fuch tedious circumlocutions, as are ufed by none but pedants in our own country; and at the fame time fill their writings with fuch poor imaginations and conceits, as our youths are ashamed of be fore they have been two years at the univerfity. Some may be apt to think that it is the difference of genius which produces the difference in the works of the two nations; but to fhew there is nothing in this, if we look into the writings of the old Italians, fuch as Cicero and Virgil, we fhall find that the English writers, in their way of thinking and expreffing themfelves, refemble thofe authors much more than the modern Italians pretend to do. And as for the poet himself, from whoi the dreams of this opera are taken, I must intirely agree

with Monfieur Boileau, that one verfe in Virgil is worth all the Clincant or Tinfel of Taffo.

But to return to the fparrows; there have been fo many flights of them let loose in this opera, that it is feared the houfe will never get rid of them; and that in other plays they may make their entrance in very wrong and improper fcenes, fo as to be feen flying in a Lady's bed-chamber, or perching upon a King's throne; befides the inconveniencies which the heads of the audiences may fometimes fuffer from them. I am credibly informed, that there was once a defign of cafting into an opera the ftory of Whittington and his cat, and that in order to it, there had been got together a great quantity of mice; but Mr. Rich, the proprietor of the play-houfe, very prudently confidered that it would be impoffible for the cat to kill them all, and that confe. quently the princes of the ftage might be as much infelted with mice, as the prince of the ifland was before the cat's arrival upon it; for which reafon he would not permit it to be acted in his houfe. And indeed I cannot blame him; for, as he faid very well upon that occafion, I do not hear that any of the performers in our opera pretend to equal the famous pied piper, who made all the mice of a great town in Germany follow his mufic, and by that means cleared the place of those little noxious animals.

Before I difmifs this paper, I muft inform my reader, that I hear there is a treaty on foot with London and Wife (who will be appointed gardeners of the playhoufe) to furnish the opera of Rinaldo and Arinida with an orange-grove; and that the next time it is acted, the finging-birds will be perfonated by tom-tits; the undertakers being refolved to fpare neither pains nor money for the gratification of the audience. C.

No. VI.

No. VI. WEDNESDAY, MARCH 7.

Credebant hoc grande nefas, & morte piandum,
Si juvenis vetulo non affurrexerat

Juv.

'Twas impious then (fo much was age rever'd)
For youth to keep their feat, when an old man appear'd.

common.

I Know no evil under the fun fo great as the abuse of the understanding, and yet there is no one vice more It has diffused itself through both fexes, and all qualities of mankind; and there is hardly that perfon to be found, who is not more concerned for the reputation of wit and fenfe than honesty and virtue. But this unhappy affectation of being wife rather than honeft, witty than good-natur'd, is the fource of most of the ill habits of life. Such falfe impreffions are owing to the abandoned writings of men of wit, and the awkward imitation of the rest of mankind.

For this reafon Sir Roger was faying last night, that he was of opinion, none but men of fine parts deserve to be hanged. The reflections of fuch men are fo delicate upon all occurrences which they are concerned in, that they fhould be expofed to more than ordinary infamy and punishment for offending against fuch quick admonitions as their own fouls give them, and blunting the fine edge of their minds in fuch a manner, that they are no more fhocked at vice and folly than men of flower capacities. There is no greater monfter in being than a very ill man of great parts; he lives like a man in a palfy, with one fide of him dead: While perhaps he enjoys the fatisfaction of luxury, of wealth, of ambition, he has loft the taste of good-will, of friendship, of innocence. Scarecrow, the beggar in Lincoln's Inn-fields, who difabled himself in his right leg, and asks alms all day to get himself a warm fupper and a trull at night, is not half fo defpicable a wretch as fuch a man of sense. The beggar has no relifh above fenfations; he finds reft more agreeable than motion; and while he has a warm

fire and his doxy, never reflects that he deferves to be whipped. Every man who terminates his fatisfactions and enjoyments within the supply of his own neceffities and paffions, is, fays Sir Roger, in my eye, as poor a rogue as Scarecrow. But, continued he, for the lofs of public and private virtue, we are beholden to your men of parts forfooth; it is with them no matter what is done, fo it be done with an air. But to me, who am fo whimfical in a corrupt age as to act according to nature and reason, a selfish man, in the most shining circumstance and equipage, appears in the fame condition with the fellow above-mentioned, but more contemptible in proportion to what more he robs the public of, and enjoys above him. I lay it down therefore for a rule, that the whole man is to move together; that every action of any importance is to have a profpect of public good; and that the general tendency of our indifferent actions ought to be agreeable to the dictates of reason, of religion, of good breeding: without this, a man, as I before have hinted, is hopping instead of walking; he is not in his intire and proper motion.

While the honeft knight was thus bewildering himself in good starts, I looked attentively upon him, which made him, I thought, coliect his mind a little. What I aim at, fays he, is to represent that I am of opinion, to polifh our understandings and neglect our manners, is of all things the most inexcufable. Reafon fhould govern paffion, but inftead of that, you fee, it is often fubfervient to it; and as unaccountable as one would think it, a wife man is not always a good man. This degeneracy is not only the gift of particular perfons, but at fome times of a whole people: and perhaps it may appear upon examination, that the moft polite ages are the leaft virtuous. This may be attributed to the folly of admitting wit and learning as merit in themselves, without confidering the application of them. By this means it becomes a rule, not fo much to regard what we do, as how we do it. But this falfe beauty will not pass upon men of honeft minds and true taste. Sir Richard Blackmore fays, with as much good sense as virtue, "It is a "mighty

"mighty difhonour and fhame to employ excellent fa"culties and abundance of wit to humour, and please 66 men in their vices and follies. The great enemy of "mankind, notwithstanding his wit and angelic facul"ties, is the most odious being in the whole creation." He goes on foon after to fay very generously, that he undertook the writing of his poem "to refcue the Mufes "out of the hands of ravishers, to restore them to their "fweet and chaite manfions, and to engage them in an " employment fuitable to their dignity." This certainly ought to be the purpose of every man who appears in public; and whoever does not proceed upon that foundation, injures his country as faft as he fucceeds in his ftudies. When modesty ceafes to be the chief ornament of one fex, and integrity of the other, fociety is upon a wrong bafis, and we fhall be ever after without rules to guide our judgment in what is really becoming and ornamental. Nature and reafon direct one thing, paffion and humour another: to follow the dictates of the two latter, is going into a road that is both endlefs and intricate; when we purfue the other our paffage is delightful, and what we aim at easily attainable.

I do not doubt but England is at prefent as polite a nation as any in the world; but any man who thinks, can eafily fee that the affectation of being gay and in fashion, has very near eaten up our good fenfe and our religion. Is there any thing fo juft, as that mode and gallantry fhould be built upon exerting ourfelves in what is proper and agreeable to the inftitutions of justice and piety among us! And yet is there any thing more common than that we run in perfect contradiction to them! All which is fupported by no other pretenfion, than that it is done with what we call a good grace.

Nothing ought to be held laudable or becoming but what nature itself fhould prompt us to think fo. Refpect to all kind of fuperiors is founded, methinks, upon inftinct; and yet what is fo ridiculous as age! I make this abrupt tranfition to the mention of this vice more than any other, in order to introduce a little story; which I think

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