Whether God form'd Men after this Model, to prevent 'em from attaining too great Felicity in this Life, or to prevent the vaft Genius and Wit of fome Men, from exalting them too high A above their Fellow-Creatures, or to vindicate himself from any Imputation of Partiality in his Gifts and Favours to Mankind, or what other Purposes he defign'd to answer by it, I pretend not to determine: But thus, we fee, it is. A Man fhall be a great Wit, and a very polite Writer; he shall excel too very highly in the Difcretion and Conduct of Life; and his Candour, Modefty, and Inoffenfiveness of Manners fhall conciliate to him good Will from all Degrees: But thefe Excellencies fhall be damp'd by a certain Timorousness of Heart, that fhall hinder him from pufhing his Talents with Vigour into active Life, and keep him in fome measure upon a Level with other Men. eafy to multiply Inftances to this Purpole. There has fearce liv'd any very confpicuous Perfon, whofe History would not ferve to illuftrate the Affertion laid down. Whether it be for the Benefit of Mankind in general, and to preferve a kind of Equality in their Happiness, or not, that great Endowments fhould be attended with fuitable Defects; it is, at least, the Condition of our Nature. Nothing better is to B be expected, and the Peace and Wel fare of Society may be well enough confulted under this Oeconomy of human Frailty. For Weakneffes, purely natural, and which flow only from the Imperfection of Humanity itself, are often innocent, or not very hurtful; or if hurtful, are fo for the most part to ourfelves, very feldom to others. C The Gaiety, the Humour, and gal-D lant Spirit of another shall raise him to an Height of Reputation, which few Men ever arrive at: But he fhall not be able to continue in that diftinguifh'd Situation, for want of being Master of the Art of keeping Money; for while he is poor and profufe, it is impoffible he fhould influence in publick Affairs, or gain Credit in Affemblies, or carry his Authority, with Men in Power, much farther than their good Will or Pity. So little Power has Eloquence to perfuade, when not back'd by Riches, F and fo near a Connection is there between the Weight of Men's Words and Speeches, and the Number of their Acres: Hence, perhaps, the Rife of the Race of Wifeacres, A Third fhall come into the World with more Charms and Beauties about her, than a Woman can well make an honeft Use of; fhe fhall have all the Wit, Addrefs and Subtlety, that make way to Power and Distinction in Courts: But her violent Spirit, and a precipitate Mind, fuddenly fufceptible of ftrong Hatred and Refentment, or fome other Failing, fhall foon caft a Veil over her. Accomplishments, and reduce her to a fort of doubtful Character. It were Α & G H But there are fome artificial Foibles and Allays of our own making, which breath Mischief to Mankind; and of this Sort the Chief is Bigotry. Bigotry! which is the Bane of Virtue, and the Destruction of Common Sense! Bigotry! which, whenever it meets with uncommon Endowments, renders them useless or pernicious to the Publick. Bigotry! which makes Men, otherwise worthy and good, prefer Superftition and Slavery to true Religion and Freedom. Bigotry! which allures Parricides into a Belief, that they are acting the Part of Patriots, Bigotry! which, when it has once taken deep Root in the Mind, liftens no more to the Calls of Reason, grows deaf to all Obligations of Oaths and Sacraments, and is not to be controll'd by any Sense of Truth, Juftice or Honour. Bigotry fet apart, Men feldom deviate from the Rules of Integrity, without propofing fome real or imaginary Advantages to themselves. But Bigotry drives Men headlong into Danger, without offering a Temptation. Bigotry makes Men enterprizing and defperate without being ambitious, and leads them into the most flagitious Projects with difinterested Hearts. I am, Sir, Your bumble Servant, AUG. 1737. Cm PLAYS: Written in the Year 1724. E qui de brouillant mal une penible intrigue, ́A Et dit, je fais Orefic, ou bien Agamemnon: Que d'aller par un tas de confufes merveilles, "Sans rien à l'efprit, etourdir les oreilles. T IS a ftrange Thing that at a B Juncture when the Demand is made for good Tragedies, greateft (not to mention the Profit) the Stage fhou'd be abfolutely without them. This want of Taste must be thrown either on the Audience or the Writers, tho' rather on the latter, because the better our modern Pieces have been, the more they have been received. It will be worth while to examine the Affair with the utmoft Exactness. 'Tis plain our Authors (I wou'd be underftood at this Inftant of Time) want both Art and Judgment, for either would make a good Play: For Example, the E. of Effex without Peetry, and molt of R-we's Plays without a Plet. By Art I understand the Difpofition of Parts in respect to Plotting, that natural Experience which refults from studying the antient and modern Criticks, and a proper Allowance for Diverfities of Taftes, Times, and NatiAll this is the Labour of Years, and will coft the Judgment many a Pang before it is fettled." ons. alter the Cafe. The Reason of their Hafte is * A young Man writes a Play as follows: He forthwithtakes a Story about Love, (a Paffion as improper as moft;) he adds to this an immeafurable Length of Time, Entrances and Exits without Occasion, Scenes here, there, and every where, Murders without Reafon, and Punishthe Sake of the Verfes, and Soliloquies, ments without Juftice, Defcriptions for, and Afides, because he knows not where forgetting a Simile at the End of eachto put fuch and fuch Defcriptions; not A&t. Wou'd a Man perfuade me that, it to Pieces, 'tis any Thing; compound fuch a Thing as this is a Play? Take, happen that a good Genius, merely it, 'tis nothing. And if ever it shou'd thro' Idleness, fhou'd write in this Manner, I fhou'd be as much grieved, as to lee a Louvre built over a CommonD me, if I offer my poor Advice to diSewer. The young People will pardon, rect them in their Studies of this Kind, E F Under the Word Genius, I won'd have the Reader apprehend all Defcriptions of Paffions, all Sentiments, and Verfification; in fhort, the written Part of the Play. Thefe proceed more imG mediately from the Man himself, from the Harmony of his Ear, the Clearnels It would be barbarous to fay our young Men are incapable of writing a good Tragedy; but 'tis plain they are le. A few Years well applied wou'd The first exprefs Treatife on Tragedy is Ariftotle's Poetiques. 'Tis a System fo full, that all our modern Criticks have fcarce been able to improve it. What has been added (like Experiments to his Natural Philofophy) has been owing more to Time and Experi. énce than to Genius. The Solidity of his Poetiques has made the Style purely philofophical; of courfe it requires half a dozen Readings to be understood. It has occafioned many fine Pieces of Criticism, not much known, fuch as thofe of Caftelvetro, Riccoboni, Piccolomini, Vittorio, Majoragius, &c. One wou'd chufe to read it with Dacier's admirable Verlion and Comment. Rapin is more fuperficial in his Remarks, or rather more general. From hence (taking in all occafional Paffages from the Greek Criticks) may be collected an exact Notion of their Stage, and confequently of their Three Tragedians. His Rhetoric is as excellent in its Kind, (I wou'd recommend Caffandre's Tranflation along with it) tho' 'tis writ ten in a more diffus'd Style: The whole is well worth Reading. Bishop Sanderfen us'd to fay, Ariftotle's Rhetoric made made him a Man. The moft ufeful Parts are his Chapters on Terror and Pity, tho' the others on the Paffions deferve to be study'd, and one on Prologues." His Book of Ethics, Longinus, Dig nyfius, the Six Rhetoricians, &c. are of vaft Ufe for forming the Judgment, and have a number of Things directly ap pofite to the Stage. plication) and. I hope to fee Shakespear, & imitated, not in this or that beautiful Paffage, but in the true Spi"A rit and Manner of Thinking. We are now qualify'd for the Greek Drama; It may be beft to begin with B Sophocles first, and fo advance upwards to Efchylus. The best Way will be to draw a Scenary of every Play as you go' along; after that, compare the Authors between themselves; which may be better done, by collecting the Opinions of C the Ancients, and reconciling them, than by prefuming to do it yourself, a modern Poet being hardly capable to judge of their Language. Ihall fay nothing of Seneca, he being rather a Declaimer than a Poet. More Ufe may be made of the Latin D Comedies, in finding out their Notion of Plotting, and uniting the Parts, The Italians abound very much with good Criticks; and of late Years, if we will believe Riccoboni, they are not without excellent Tragedies; that they E are more conformable than any to Ari Hotle's Rules, tho' Taffoni faid formerly that few had paffed a Mediocrity. The beft Authors are Triffino, Rucelai, SpeTone Speroni, Maffei, &c. It requires much Judgment to read the French Plays, and alter them to the English Tafte. On the whole, I cannot but prefer them to our own, tho' they are over-run and half fpoiled with N. B. I have omitted Horace's art of Qualis ab incepto procefferit, & fibi conftet, 3. Non fatis eft pulchra effe poemata, dul- Et quocunque volunt animum auditoris agunto. 4. Defcriptas fervare vices, operumq; colores Cur ego, fi nequeo, ignoroque, Poet falutor? ANSWER to PHILOLOGUS's Query in And this is true, not only in Promunciation but in Syntax. For I believe it will be difficult to affign any other Reas fon, why, contrary to all the Rules of Concord, one Sort of Adjectives in Hea brew fhould be joined to Subitantives of a different Number, and plural Neuters R in Greck require a fingular Verb. Love; which was firft introduced by I P. Corneille, the Reftorer of their Theatre, to pleafe the young King. Their Rhyme (ho' impoffible to be haken off) is another fignal Diladvantage. 'Twill be ill Manners to mention their Dramatic Poets, for even no English Lady can be without them. The fame may be faid of M. Abbe d'Aubignac, Menardiere, and the Criticks. I come how to the last and most material Point: The Rudying our own Criticks and Poets. But, this I fhall leave to every Man's Judgment and G Another Y. Z. Apprehend (with Submiffion to bet ter Judgment) that the Confonant in the middle of fuch Words, as, kuni, Body, cavil, City, &c. does not really found double, or join to the first Syllable; and that its feeming to do fơ in Pronunciation, is occafion'd by the fharp, acute Accent which is placed on the firft Syllable of thole Words, more particularly than on others: The H general Rule being this, v. A Con fonant between tv.o Vowels goes to the latter Syllable. Nor do I know of any Exception to this Rule, uniefs in rived or compounded Words, 3. Having long confidered this Objection, ID concluded at laft, That the true Answer to it muft arife from the fenfible Refraction of Light, when, in its Paffage thro' the Atmofphere of the Moon, it touches almoft she Moon TIOLIA in a concentric Circle, as long as the Globe's Atmosphere might not alter the Swiftnefs of that Ray of Light. 9. But an horizontal Ray of Light that has its Paffage free, finks all along under its ●wn Horizon; and defcribes, within the At-A mofphere, a Line of an hyperbolical Kind. Whereas, in that Part of its Way, in which the Refraction can have no fenfible Effect, it defcribes two Lines that are fenfibly Straight. And their Inclination to one another is meafured by an Angle which is equal to twice the horizontal Refraction. And fo, in our Atmosphere, that Angle amounts to about B 1° 8' or 178° 52'. 10. In order then that we may the better argue concerning the Refraction of Light in the Atmosphere of the Moon; let us confider, in this Difcourfe, the Effects of the horizontal Refraction of Light in our Atmosphere. For thefe Effects, which depend partly upon the Height at which our Atmosphere ceases to refract the Rays of Light, would appear very fingular and curious; if the Ecliples of the Sun, or of fixed Stars, by the Interpofition of the Earth, were obferved, for Inftance, from the Globe of the Moon. And the like may be faid of the Refraction of Light in other Planets alfo, C D 11. That Height is by Sir Ifaac Newton, P.463 made of 35 or 40 Miles. For he cal culated with great Pains, upon a phyfical HyFothefis, a Table of the Refractions of Light, from the Zenith to the Horizon. In the making of which I fufpect he took no fufficient Notice of the Condenfation of our Air, by the great Coldness which reigns in its upper E Regions: whofe Effect is fo great, that no fuch Table can serve univerfally. 12. It is true that the higher we fuppose our refracting Atmosphere to be, the greater is the Number of Feet which must be added to the real Semidiameter of the Earth, as feen from any Distance whatsoever. But that Addition to make up the apparent Semidiameter of the Earth is very inconfiderable. For IF find that if the Height (FX or Fx) of our refracting Atmosphere, be of 35 or 40 Miles (as Sir Ifaac Newton does fuppofe) the Addition (QP or QP) to the Semidiameter of the Earth, to make up her apparent Semidiameter, is but of 13397 Feet, or of 14367 Feet: Which, at the Distance of 64 Semidiameters from her Center, fubtend an Additional Angle of G 35,1775, or of 30",35,616. But this can afford no fufficient Anfwer to the Objection mentioned N° 2. And knowing already the Parallax of the Sun; we must have our Recourfe to the Refraction in the Atmosphere of the Moon; or to the Di ftance of the Moon from the Earth; or to a Complication of these two Caufes at once. 4 na in Lunar Eclipfes. Therefore increafing the Distance of the Moon will not account for the Phenomena: But, on the contrary, fo much the greater will be the Neceflity of having Recourfe to the Increase of the Sun's Parallax. And the Confequence of this will be a Neceffity of a proper Refraction in the Atmosphere of the Moon, we may account for the Phenomena in Solar Eclipfes; or for the Proportion of 100 to 365, which Sir Newton gives to the Diameters of the Moon and of the Earth; and to which Proportion the Projections for Solar Eclipfes being fitted duly, they will then anfwer nearly to the. Phenomena. And by this means Measure itfelf of the Refraction of Light in the Atmo fphere of the Moon will be found, fince I have found the Sun's Parallax already. But that Refraction may be found alfo immediately. or directly, by the Length or Duration of the fenfibly close Contact of a fixed Star, with the apparent Limb or Dife of the Moon. 14. And fince Obfervators may live in vapious Climates, and at different Heights above the Level of the Sea; and the Refractions in our Atmosphere may be different in Summer and in Winter; I contrived a Method how t find thofe Refractions, not by an Hypothesis,' but by actual Obfervations. These Obfervations would be very useful, at leaft for Aftronomers living in Royal Obfervatories, where, fhould think, nothing ought to be neglected, that can contribute towards making their Obfervations accurate. I 15. Let C be the Center of the Earth OFF NO; ON her Diameter; and OXH Point O, and prolonged in infinitam on each or OxH a Ray of Light horizontal in the Side of O. Let OX or Ox be the Curve defcribed by the Ray, as long as its Curvature is of any the leaft Confideration. And let XH or xH Tangent of the Curve OX or Ox be fenfibly rectilinear, And thus the i right Line OXx will make with the Hori- ¦ zon of the Point O an Angle of 17 Minutes, equal to half the Refraction of an horizontal Ray in our Atmosphere. And let the Line COP cut at right Angles HX and Hx in and P, and the Circle OQFN in Q. 16. Taking then for Radius CP, let us conceive about the Center C the Circle PoVBADGYNYGDABVP. And this Circle will give the Apparent Dife of the Earth as increafed by the Refraction. And let us confider the Earth as unmovable, while fome Stars, or the Sun, or the Moon, or fome other Planet, or a Comet, may feem to pafs behind the Earth: Any one of their vifible Points defcribing its proper Curve BK xs, pг DKKÞ, or DB, or GG, or AECIA, &c. 17. In all the Space which is without the Cone formed by the infinite Tangent HL or HL (of the refracting Atmosphere) and hav 13. The Distance of the Moon from the Earth is certainly greater than Sir If. New-Hing H for Vertex, and HC for Axis'; the hea ton took it to be. And fo much the more we fuppofe it increafed; fo much the more, cateris paribas, muft we diminish the Breadth of the Shadow which Sir Ifaac wants to increase, that it may answer the Phenoma» venly Motions obferved from the Point H will |