Cleopatra, upon being informed of Antony's marriage with Octavia, having firft ftruck the mefJenger of ill news, and drove him off the fcene, fpeaks thus to her women :

Lead me from hence

I faint-Oh, Iras, Charmian-'Tis no matter-
Go to the fellow, good Alexas, bid him
Report the feature of Octavia; her years,
Her inclination *.-Let him not leave out

The colour of her hair. Bring me word, quickly- [Ex.Alex.
Let him for ever go +-Let him not, Charmian,
Though he be painted, one way, like a Gorgon,
The other way's a Mars-Bid you Alexas
Bring word how tall the is-Pity me, Charmian,
But fpeak not to me t. Lead me to my chamber.

Queen Elizabeth, according to Sir James Melville's report, made the fame kind of minute inquities from him, about her rival, the queen of Scots.

On board Pompey's veel. Pompey, Octavius, Antony, Lepidus, and Menas.

27

Menas afide to Pompey.

Wilt thou be lord of the whole world?

Pompey How hall that be?

Menas. Thou art, if thou dar'ft be, the earthly Jové ;
Whate'er the ocean pales, or fky inclips,

3 Is thine, if thou wilt ha't.

Pompy Shew me which way.

Menas. These three world-fharers, these competitors §,
Are in thy veffel-Let me cut the cable,
And when we are put off, fall to their throats
All then is thine.:

Pompey Ah, this thou should'ft have done,

And not have spoken on't--In me, 'tis villainy;
In thee 't had been good fervice-Thou must know,
'Tis not my profit that does lead mine honour;
Mine honour, it-Repent that e'er they tongue

Her character or natural disposition.

Meaning Antony.

This is natural. In great misfortunes we refuse comfort,
Antony, Octavius, and Lepidus.

Hh 2

Hath

Hath fo betrayed thine act-Being done unknown,
I fhould have found it afterwards well done;

But must condemn it now.

The dangerous falvo which men fometimes apply to their confciences, in profiting of another's crime, at free coft, as they imagine, is fully expofed in this Scene. But, in morals, there is no difference between the receiver and the thief; and as the wages of fin are pronounced to be death, in the Scripture fenfe of the word, the delinquent who accepts the emoluments of vice, muft expect to be included under the fame fentence.

ACT III. SCENE I.

Moral writers have been diftinguished into two claffes of philofophy; whereof one fet of them are faid to elevate human nature to the rank of angels, while the other depreciates it to the vileness of thofe, who had once been fo. But our author reprefents it more impartially, neither inclining to one fide or the other; for there is not, perhaps, a virtue or a vice in mankind, which he has not pointed out to us, in the several characters he has occafionally introduced into his general drama. In this Scene he has afforded us an inftance in the latter predicament, by a defcription of that invidioufnefs with which men are apt to regard fuperior merit in others; more especially in those talents, which they are ambitious of fhining in themselves.

When Silius advises Ventidius to compleat his conqueft over the Parthians, in order to recommend himself the more eminently to the favour of Antony, his general, the old foldier makes a reply, which fhews him not only to have been verfed in camps, but in courts also.

Oh, Silius, Silius,

I've done enough. A lower place, note well,

May make too great an act. For learn this, Silius,

Better to leave undone, than by our deed

Acquire too high a fame, when he we ferve's away.
Cæfar and Antony have ever won

More in their officer than perfon. Soffius,
One of my place in Syria, his lieutenant,
For quick accumulation of renown,

Which he atchiev'd by th' minute, loft his favour-
Who does i' th' wars more than his captain can,
Becomes his captain's captain; and ambition,
The foldier's virtue, rather makes choice of lofs,
Than gain which darkens him.

I could do more to do Antonius good,

But 'twould offend him; and in his offence
Should my performance perish.

SCENE II.

Here follow two paffages, which for elegance of thought, or beauty of expreffion, it is not in the power of poetical imagery or language to exceed.

When Octavia is taking leave of her brother Octavius Cæfar, with all the fhews of a tender affection, Antony fays,

The April's in her eyes. It is love's Spring,

And these the fhowers to bring it on. Be chearful.

And afterwards, when the endeavours to speak to him, but cannot, her difficulty is thus defcribed:

Antony. Her tongue will not obey her heart, nor can
Her heart inform her tongue-the jewan's down feather,
That ftands upon the fwell at full of tide,

And neither way inclines.

Octavius, upon feeing his fifter returning in a private character to Rome, without having afforded him timely notice to fend forth a proper retinue to escort her, fays,

Nay, the duft

Should have afcended to the roof of Heaven,

Raifed by your populous troops; but you are come
A market-maid to Rome; and have prevented

The oftentation of our love; which, left unfhewn,
Is often left unloved.

Octavius Cæfar,

Hh3

There

There is fomething more to be understood, in this laft fentiment, than can be perceived on a careless perufal of it. A warn affection within, naturally infpires correfpondent emotions without. These are a fort of fetting of the jewel, which not only ornaments, but helps to preferve it. In all the refined paffions, the delicacy of a fentiment infures our conftancy, even more than the strength of it. The nice obfervances, the petits foins, which in fuch cafes may be almost deemed petites morales, alfo, increase the mutual pleasures and confidences of love and friendfhip. They are the comets which feed the fun. Even virtue itself, all perfect as it is, requires to be infpirited by paffion; for duties are but coldly performed, which are but philofophically fulfilled. i

Cheer your heart

Octavius to his Sifter.

Be not you troubled with the time which drives
O'er your content thefe ftrong neceffities;

But let determined things to deftiny

Hold unbewail'd their way.

Here is very good advice given, if by the word deftiny be understood Providence, which must certainly. have been what the Antients meant by it, whenever they had any meaning about it at all; for most of the heathens made ufe of the expreffion, as too many Christians often do of an higher one, without affixing any manner of determinate idea to it in their minds. But the old wifeacres were not fatisfied to leave nonfense where they found it; they picked up the common speech, and elevated vulgar phrafes into philofophical principles. Hence the doctrines, that Nature created the world, and that Fate governed it, &c.

SCENE VII.

Here follows a thought, which, though falfe in the fentiment, is but too true in the practice; and which, therefore, all men fhould be taught to be aware of.

Antony

Antony, taking leave of his friends, after his fhameful flight at Actium:

Pray ye, look not fad,

Nor make replies of loathnefs-Take the hint
Which my defpair proclaims. Let them be left,
Which leave themselves.

As my gentle Readers may expect to be treated with a little of the All for Love of Antony, in this Play, I fhall here quote a paffage relative to this fubject, which we meet with in the prefent Scene.

When Cleopatra appears before him, after his defeat, he addreffes himself to her thus:

O, whither haft thou led me, Egypt? See

How I convey my fhame out of thine eyes, [Turning from her.
By looking back on what I've left behind,
'Stroyed in difhonour.

Cleopatra, Oh, my lord, my lord

Forgive my fearful fails; I little thought
You would have followed.

Antony. Egypt, thou knew't too well

My heart was to thy rudder tied by th' tring f.
And thou fhould't tow me after. O'er my ipirit,
Thy full fupremacy thou knew'it; and that
Thy beck might from the bidding of the gods
Command me.

1 Cleopatra. Oh, pardon, pardon.

[Weeps.

Antony › Fall not a tear, I fay; one of them rates

All that is won and loft-Give me a kiss

Even this repays me.

Shakespeare, in the above inftance, appears to have been more galant than Milton, who does not suffer Adam to expoftulate fo mildly with Eve

Book x. 1. 867.

"Out of any fight, thou ferpent." However, we are to confider the infinite difference between the worlds that were loft upon those occafions. But as I do not think that the first man was more excufable for following the advice, than the other was for pursuing the galley of his miftrefs, when fuch Which, was occafioned by his quitting the fea-fight at Actium, to purfue Cleopatra's galley when it was failing away.

Heart-firing.