Page images
PDF
EPUB

join us. Bring the Brothers with you, and gratify us by reading it, I am curious to compare it with the Adelphi of Terence. Baron accepted the invitation, and went the following day to M. de Roquelaure's hotel, where he found two countesses and a marchioness, who expressed a polite impatience to hear him read his comedy. Notwithstanding this, they sat a longer time than is usual, and when they got up from dinner, the ladies called for cards. "How, cards!" cried M. de Roquelaure, with surprise, "you forget that Baron has come on purpose to read his new comedy."-" No, no, Monsieur," replied one of the countesses, we do not forget it. Whilst we play, Baron may read his piece, and thus we shall kill two birds with one stone." At these words the author jumped up, and hastened to the door; then turning to the company, he said, " My piece was not written to be read to gamblers." M. Poinsinet has dramatised this incident in his comedy of the Circle.

ADHERBAL, KING OF NUMIDIA. A tragedy, written by Grange Chancel, 1694.

"When I thought I had put the finishing hand to my tragedy," said the author, "I took the liberty to present it to the Princess of Conti. Although the piece was full of faults, the princess saw something in it worthy of her attention, which induced her to send it to the celebrated Racine, and to beg he would have the goodness to read this first production of a gentleman, who was her page; and to give his opinion of it ingenuously. Racine kept the piece eight days, then took it to the princess, and said he had read it with astonishment, although, in fact, it was very defective in many places; but if her royal highness would permit him to consult with the author, he would put it, in a little time, in a state to be performed with success. I was happy at having an opportunity of being acquainted with the truly great Racine, and went to him almost every day; it is but justice to say that I learnt more from his conversations, than from all the books I had ever read. He occasionally took a pleasure in conversing with me upon the different subjects which had occupied his attention. There was not a spot either in the region of fable or history, that had not attracted his attention, and in which he had not found some interesting situations, which he kindly pointed out to my notice. My tragedy being revised, I presented it to the players. It was resolved that it should take the name of Adherbal, instead of Jugurtha; because Perchantré had very recently, written a play under that title, which had not met with a favourable reception. My Adherbal was represented. The

Prince of Conti, who had the goodness to be present on the first night, gave a further proof of his kindness, by placing me near him, observing that my youth would stop the mouths of the critics.Racine, who from devotion, or policy, had refrained from going to the theatre, particularly since the king had discontinued his visits, came the first night, and appeared to be extremely pleased at the applause which my play received.".

AGESILAUS, a tragedy, by Peter Corneille, 1666.

Despreaur has been reproached for having printed an epigram against Agesilaus and Attila, both written by the great Corneille, which Chapelain has praised, without knowing who was the author. Après l'Agésilas, Hélas

Mais après l'Attila,
Hola !

It is said Corneille laughed at it, and appeared to misunderstand the point of the epigram, and ingeniously turned it to his advantage, maintaining that the author meant to say, that the first of these pieces attained the end of tragedy, because it, in an exemplary manner, excited piety; and that the other was the ne plus ultra of the tragic art.

SOLILOQUY.

THOUGH a soliloquy, in the perturbation of passion, is undoubtedly natural, and indeed not unfrequent in real life, yet Congreve, who himself has penned several good soliloquies, yields, with more candour than knowledge, that they are unnatural; and he only pretends to justify them from necessity. This he does in his dedication of the Double Dealer, in the following words :-“When a man, in a soliloquy, reasons with himself, and pros and cons, and weighs all his designs, we ought not to imagine, that this man either talks to us, or to himself; he is only thinking, and thinking (frequently) such matter as it were inexcusable folly in him to speak. But because we are concealed spectators of the plot in agitation, and the poet finds it necessary to let us know the whole mystery of his contrivance, he is willing to inform us of this person's thoughts, and to that end is forced to make use of the expedient of speech, no other better way being yet invented for the communication of thought."

FOOTE'S COMEDY OF THE NABOB.

ABOUT the year, 1772, a general outcry had been raised against several members of the East India company, who, from small beginnings, and obscure origins, had raised immense fortunes in a very short period. What made this more disgusting to the public, and particularly to the higher orders of the English, was, that these new men, from the extent of their purses, and the extravagance of their tempers, not only ousted many of the old families from their seats in parliament, but erected palaces about the country, and blazed forth in a style of magnificent living that eclipsed the steadier but less brilliant lights of the hereditary gentry.

On his return from Scotland, Foote seized upon this popular subject, so congenial to his own vanity, as well as to his talents, and in the summer of 1772 brought out a new comedy called The Nabob. In this piece, in the person of Sir Mathew Mite, the son of a cheese monger, who is supposed to have made an immense fortune in the East Indies, he ridicules all the expensive vices and follies generally attached to such a character. This raised a violent party-resentment, and two gentlemen, who had been in high situations in the East Indies, undertook personally to chastise the author for this insolence.

In pursuance of this design, they furnished themselves with oak cudgels, and sallied out for Suffolk Street, being resolved to make his own house the scene of his chastisement and disgrace. They arrived there about one o'clock, and, on their sending up their names, Foote received them in his drawing-room, with that politeness and urbanity which no man knew better how to practise than himself. This had such an immediate effect upon them, that they thought proper to change their mode of attack, and begin with remonstrance.

On their first entering the room, he saw their purpose, and, at the same instant, saw the course proper for him to take. He therefore redoubled his politeness, and "hoped the gentlemen would take some coffee, which was ready in the next room, before they opened their business." This, however, was civilly refused: "the business must be first settled." They then began to state "the insult which particular persons of character and fortune had sustained by the licentiousness of his pen; and for no other reason, than because Providence had favoured their industry and adventuring spirit with a suitable remuneration."

They were proceeding in this manner, but rising into choler and

irritability every moment, when Foote, gently interrupting them, requested "they would but hear him one word: which was, to beg that they would only state their grievances with temper, till he made his justification; and then, if they were not fully satisfied, he was willing to meet every consequence of their resentment."

This being agreed to, the gentlemen continued the declaration of their grievances at full length. When they had finished, Foote began by assuring them, in the most solemn and impressive manner, "that he had no particular person in view as the hero of his comedy: that he took up his story from popular report; and that, as he was by trade a wholesale popular-monger, he though he was perfectly secure from giving offence to individuals, particularly to the honourable part of the East India company's servants, by satirizing, in a general way, those who had acted otherwise.”

He followed up this apology by taking the manuscript of the comedy out of a drawer near him, which he read to them; and, by a happy display of ingenuity,so congenial to his character, he explained, so fully to their satisfaction, that it was only a general satire on the unworthy part of the nabob gentry, that his visitors called for coffee, and sat down to it in the most perfect good humour.

They continued chatting together till about four o'clock, when Foote begged the honour of their company to dinner, "having a small party (he said) to meet him, which he hoped would contribute to their entertainment." They were now too much attracted by the charms of his conversation, to refuse him a request of this nature: They staid to dinner, therefore, with the greatest pleasure, and felt their gratifications so much increased by the brilliancy of his wit, and the conviviality of his friends, that they did not leave the company till three o'clock in the morning.

The next day they talked of nothing but Foote: his wit, his humour, his politeness, and his hospitality; and how narrowly they had escaped from precipitating themselves into a quarrel, or a lawsuit, with such an unoffending pleasant fellow. In short, his peace was not only fully established with the East India corps, but they attended his theatre every night, and supported his piece through the whole course of the season.*

*The above anecdote was supplied by a very near relation of one of the party; who added, that his friend afterwards had Foote often to dine with him, at his house in town and in the country, and kept up a friendly intimacy with him to the close of our hero's life. COOKE's Life of Foote.

ORIGINAL POETRY.

RUNIC ODE.

1.

HEAR ye not the mystic sound
That o'er the murky air profound
Its harsh and grating tumults pours,
Like Hell's eterual jarring doors?
'Tis ODIN's car, who from the north,
Cloth'd in anger, issues forth,

'Tis ODIN, rolling on dark clouds from far,
Wing'd with red meteors, bringing wint'ry war.

[ocr errors]

See ye not yon glaring light,

Filling the mind with wild affright?

-'Tis ODIN's eye, that from the east,

Where glimmers morn, to farthest west,
Directs its ken from pole to pole,
Dazzling the astonish'd soul;

The midnight's gloom, the splendid glare of day,
Alike are lumin'd by his visual ray.

3.

Say! can yon hoar rock sustain

The fury of this hurricane?

See ye not yon trees uptorn,

Spreading as the rays of morn,

Whirling wildest ruin wide,

From Norway's rocks to flowery Clyde ?

'Tis ODIN breathes! 'tis ODI's powerful breath

That breaks existence, or that scatters death.

Milden-Hall.

C. E. MORTIMER.

THE WATERMAN'S COURTSHIP.

Dear Betsey, must I ever wait?
Or shall I quit th' uncertain state?
See, Hymen's boat's at hand;
As down the stream of Time we glide,
I hope, before the turn of tide,
To reach a happy land.

« PreviousContinue »