Any of these our harmless men,
For they have done no ill.

Let thou and I the battle try,
And fet our men afide;
Accurft be he, lord Piercy faid,
By whom this is deny'd.'

When thefe brave men had distinguished themselves in the battle and in fingle combat with each other, in the midst of a generous parley, full of heroic fentiments, the Scotch carl falls; and with his dying words encourages his men to revenge his death, reprefenting to them, as the most bitter circumftance of it, that his rival saw him fall.

With that there came an arrow keen

Out of an English bow,

Which ftruck earl Douglas to the heart
A deep and deadly blow.

Who never fpoke more words than these,
Fight on my merry men all,

For why, my life is at an end,

"Lord Piercy fees my fall.'

Merry Men, in the language of those times, is no more than a chearful word for companions and fellow-foldiers. A paffage in the cleventh book of Virgil's Ancids is very much to be admired, where Camilla in her laft agnnies, inftead of weeping over the wound the had receiv ed, as one might have expected from a warrior of her fex, confiders only, ike the hero of whom we are now fpeaking, how the battle fhould be continued after her death.

Tum fic expirans Accam ex æqualibus unam
Alloquitur; fida ante alias quæ fola Camillæ,
Quicum partiri curas; atque hæc ita fatur :
Hactenus, Acca foror, potui: nunc vulnus acerbum
Conficit et tenebris nigrefcunt omnia circum:
Effuge, et hæc Turno mandata noviffima perfer;

Suc

Succedat pugnæ, Trojanofque arceat urbe :
Jamque vale.-

A gathering mist o'erclouds her chearful eyes;
And from her cheeks the rofy colour flies,
Then turns to her, whom, of her female train,
She trufted moft, and thus fhe speaks with pain.
Acca, 'tis paft! he swims before my fight,
Inexorable death; and claims his right.
Bear my last words to Turnus, fly with speed,
And bid him timely to my charge fucceed;
Repel the Trojans, and the town relieve;
Farewel.

EN.

DRYDEN.

Turnus did not die in fo heroic a manner; tho' our poet feems to have had his eye upon Turnus's fpeech in the last verse.

The Latian chiefs have seen me beg my life.

EN.

DRYDEN.

Earl Piercy's lamentation over his enemy is generous, beautiful, and paffionate; I muft only caution the reader not to let the fimplicity of the ftile, which one may well pardon in fo old a poet, prejudice him against the greatnefs of the thought.

Then leaving life, earl Percy took
The dead man by the hand,
And faid, earl Douglas, for thy life
• Would I had loft my land,

O Chrift! my very heart doth bleed
With forrow for thy fake;
For fure a more renowned knight
'Mifchance did never take.'

That beautiful line, Taking the dead man by the hand, will put the reader in mind of Eneas's behaviour to

wards

wards Laufus, whom he himself had flain as he came to the rescue of his aged father.

At verò ut vultum vidit morientis, & ora,

Ora modis Anchifiades pallentia miris ;

Ingemuit, miferans graviter, dextramque tetendit.

The pious prince beheld young Laufus dead;

ÆN.

He griev'd, he wept; then grafp'd his hand and faid, &c.

DRYDEN.

I fhall take another opportunity to confider the other parts of this old fong.

C

No. LXXI. TUESDAY MAY 22.

-Scribere juffit amor.

DVID.

Love bid me write.

THE intire conqueft of our paffions is fo difficult a work, that they who defpair of it should think of a lefs difficult task, and only attempt to regulate them. But there is a third thing which may contribute not only to the case, but also to the pleasure of our life; and that is refining our paffions to a greater elegance, than we receive them from nature. When the paffion is love, this work is performed in innocent, tho' rude and uncultivated minds, by the mere force and dignity of the object. There are forms which naturally create respect in the beholders, and at once inflame and chaftife the imagination. Such an impreffion as this gives an immediate ambition to deferve, in order to please.

This caufe and effect are

beautifully defcribed by Mr. Dryden in the fable of Cimon and Iphigenia. After he has reprefented Cimon fo stupid, that

He whistled as he went, for want of thought

he makes him fall into the following fcene, and fhews its influence

influence upon him fo excellently, that it appears as natural as wonderful.

It happen'd on a fummer's holiday
That to the greenwood-fhade he took his way;
His quarter-ftaff, which he cou'd ne'er forfake,
Hung half before, and half behind his back.
He trudg'd along unknowing what he fought,
And whistled as he went for want of thought.
By chance conducted, or by thirst constrain'd,
The deep receffes of the grove he gain'd,
Where in a plain, defended by the wood,
Crept thro' the matted grafs a crystal flood,
By which an alabafter fountain food:
And on the margin of the fount was laid,
(Attended by her flaves) a fleeping maid,

Like Dian, and her nymphs, when, tir'd with fport,
To reft by cool Eurotas they refort:

The dame herself the goddess well exprefs'd,
Not more diftinguifh'd by her purple veft,
Than by the charming features of her face,
And ev'n in flumber a fuperior grace:
Her comely limbs compos'd with decent care,
Her body thaded with a flight cymarr;
Her bofom to the view was only bare:
The fanning wind upon her bofom blows,
To meet the fanning wind the bofom rofe;

The fanning wind and purling ftreams continue her repose.
The fool of nature flood with ftupid eyes
And gaping mouth, that teftify'd furprise,
Fix'd on her face, nor could remove his fight,
New as he was to love, and novice in delight:
Long mute he ftood, and, leaning on his ftaff,
His wonder witness'd with an idiot laugh;

Then would have fpoke, but by his glimm'ring fenfe
Firft found his want of words, and fear'd offence:
Doubted for what he was he fhould be known,

By his clown-accent, and his country tone.'

}

But left this fine defcription fhould be excepted againft, as the creation of that great mafter, Mr. Dryden, and not an account of what has really ever happened in the world; I fhall give you, verbatim, the epiftle of an ena

moured

moured footman in the country to his mistress. Their furnames fhall not be inferted, because their paffion demands a greater refpect than is due to their quality, James is fervant in a great family, and Elizabeth waits upon the daughter of one as numerous, fome miles off of her lover. James before he beheld Betty, was vain of his ftrength, a rough wrestler and quarrelfome cudgelplayer; Betty a public dancer at may-poles, a romp at ftool-ball: he always following idle women, fhe playing among the peasants: he a country bully, the a country coquette. But love has made her conftantly in her miftrefs's chamber, where the young lady gratifies a secret paffion of her own, by making Betty talk of James; and James is become a conftant waiter near his master's apartment, in reading, as well as he can, romances. I cannot learn who Molly is, who it feems walked ten miles to carry the angry meffage, which gave occasion to what follows:

< My dear Betty,

May 14, 1711.

REMEMBER your bleeding lover, who lies bleeding at the wounds Cupid made with the arrows ⚫he borrowed at the eyes of Venus, which is your sweet • perfon.

6

Nay more, with the token you fent me for my love and fervice offered to your fweet perfon; which was your base respects to my ill conditions; when alas ! there is no ill conditions in me, but quite contrary; all love and purity, especially to your fweet perfon; but all this I take as a jeft.

But the fad and difmal news which Molly brought me ftruck me to the heart, which was, it feems, and is, your ill conditions for my love and respects to you.

For the told me, if I came forty times to you, you would not speak with me, which words I am fure is a · great grief to me.

Now, my dear, if I may not be permitted to your fweet company, and to have the happiness of speaking