My former legs too, by their pace!
And by the whiskers, 'tis my face!
The self-same habit, garb, and mien!
They ne'er would bury me in green!

SCENE IV.

GRIDELINE and SIR TRUSTY.

GRID. Have I then liv'd to see this hour,
And took thee in the very bow'r?

SIR TRUSTY. Widow Trusty, why so fine?
Why dost thou thus in colours shine?
Thou should'st thy husband's death bewail
In sable vesture, peak, and veil.

GRID. Forbear these foolish freaks, and see
How our good king and queen agree.

Why should not we their steps pursue,

And do as our superiors do?

SIR TRUSTY. Am I bewitch'd, or do I dream?

I know not who, or where I am,

Or what I hear, or what I see;
But this I'm sure, howe'er it be,
It suits a person in my station
T'observe the mode, and be in fashion.
Then let not Grideline the chaste

Offended be for what is past,

And hence anew my vows I plight

To be a faithful courteous knight.

GRID. I'll too my plighted vows renew,

Since 'tis so courtly to be true.

Since conjugal passion

Is come into fashion,

And marriage so blest on the throne is,

Like a Venus I'll shine,

Be fond and be fine,

And sir Trusty shall be my Adonis.

SIR TRUSTY. And sir Trusty shall be thy Adonis.

The KING and QUEEN advancing.

KING. Who to forbidden joys would rove,

That knows the sweets of virtuous love!
Hymen, thou source of chaste delights,
Cheerful days and blissful nights,
Thou dost untainted joys dispense,
And pleasure join with innocence:
Thy raptures last, and are sincere,
From future grief and present fear.

BOTH. Who to forbidden joys would rove,

That knows the sweets of virtuous love!

САТО,

A TRAGEDY.

Ecce spectaculum dignum, ad quod respiciat, intentus operi suo, deus! Ecce par deo dignum, vir fortis cum malà fortunâ compositus! Non video, inquam, quid habeat in terris Jupiter pulchrius, si convertere animum velit, quam ut spectet Catonem, jam partibus non semel fractis, nihilominus inter ruinas publicas erectum. SEN. de Divin. Prov.

САТО.

THIS tragedy was first brought on the stage in 1713. The literary fame of its author had already been raised to a very high degree by his papers in the Spectator and his other writings, and was carried by this as high as it well could go. When and where Addison first formed the plan of this drama, how much he composed of it in early life, and what alterations he afterwards made in it, seem to be involved in a knot of conflicting statements, which it would now be difficult entirely to disentangle. We are told by Tickell, the first editor of his works," that he took up the design of writing a play upon this subject when he was very young at the university, and even attempted something in it there, though not a line as it now stands." Tonson states, that he wrote the first four acts abroad, and that he saw them at Rotterdam; which is confirmed by Pope, who says, that "the last act was not written till six or seven years after, when he came home." But Dr. Young speaks positively, and says, "he wrote them all five at Oxford, and sent them from thence to Dryden to my knowledge." Johnson informs us, that Addison, who for several years had the first four acts finished, was so unaccountably unwilling to resume his work, that he requested Mr. Hughes to add a fifth. Hughes, undertaking the supplement, brought in a few days some scenes for his examination; but he in the mean time had gone to work himself, and produced half an act, which he afterwards finished.

Besides these various statements, there is another by Pope still more puzzling. He tells us, that "the love-scenes were not in the original plan, but were thrown in afterwards in compliance with the popular practice of the stage." 66 Such an au

thority," says Dr. Johnson,

it is hard to reject; yet the love

is so intimately mingled with the whole action, that it cannot