the wooden tusks: and though I could rather with he were able to grunt and growl, yet as that is impoffible, I have taught the urchin to fqueak prodigiously like a pig.

The fourth labour, his catching the hind of Menalus, whofe feet were of brals and horns of gold, I fear I muft omit; because I cannot break any common buck to run flow enough. But he is next to drive away thofe enormous birds of Stymphalus's Lake, which were of fuch prodigious bigness, that they inBercepted the light with their wings, and took up whole men as their prey. I have got a flock of them formed of leather covered with ravens feathers: they are a little unweildy, I must confefs; but I have difpofed my wires fo as to play them about tolerably well, and make them flap out the candles; and two of the largelt are to gulp down the grenadier, ftationed at each door of the ftage, with their caps, mufkets, bayonets, and all their accoutrements.

The fixth labour is an engagement with the Amazons; to reprefent whom, I have hired all THE WONDERFUL TALL MEN AND WOMEN that have been lately exhibited in this town. The part of Hyppolita their queen is to be played by the Female Sampfon, who, after the company has been amazed with the vaft proofs of her strength, is to be fairly flung in a wrestling bout by our invincible Harlequin.

I fhall then prefent you with a profpect of the Augean ftable, where you will have an arrangement on each fide of feven or eight cows hides ftuft with ftraw, which the fancy's eye may as eafily multiply into a thousand, as in a tragedy-battle it has been used to do half a dozen fcene-fhifters into an army. Hercules's method of cleaning this ftable is well known; I fhall therefore let loofe a whole river of pewter to glitter along the ftage, far furpaffing any little clinking cafcade of tin that the play houfe or Vauxhall can boaft of.

As he is next to feize upon a bull breathing out fire and flames, I had prepared one accordingly, with the palate and noftrils properly loaded with wildfire and other combustibles; but by the unfkilfulness of the fellow inclofed in it, while he was rehearfing Bull's part, the head took fire, which pread to the carcafe, and the fool narrowly escaped fuffering the terment of Phalaris. This

accident I have now guarded against, by having lined the roof and jaws with thin plates of painted iron.

To perfonate Geryon, who had three bodies, I have contrived to tie three men together back to back; one of them is the FAMOUS NEGRO who fwings about his arms in every direction; and these will make full as grotefque a figure as the man with a double mark. As Harlequin for his eighth labour is to deliver this triple-form monster to be devoured by his cannibal oxen, I fhall here with the greatest propriety exhibit the NOTED Ox with fix legs and two bellies; and as Diomede muft be ferved up in the fame manner as a meal for his flesh-eating hories, this will furnish me with a good pretext for introducing the BEAUTIFUL PANTHER-MARE.

After thefe I fhall transport you to the orchard of the Hefperides, where you will feaft your fight with the green paper trees and gilt apples. I have bought up the old copper Dragon of Wantley as a guard to this forbidden fruit; and when he is new burnished, and the tail fome what lengthened, his afpect will be much more formidable than his brother dragon's in Harlequin Sorcerer.

But the full difplay of my art is referved for the laft labour, the descent through a trap-door into HELL. Though this is the most applauded scene in many of our favourite pantomimes, I do not doubt but my HELL will out-do whatever has been hitherto attempted of the kind, whether in it's gloomy decoration, it's horrors, it's flames, or it's devils. I have engaged the engineer of Cuper's Gardens to direct the fire-works: Ixion will be whirled round upon a wheel of blazing faltpetre; Tantalus will catch at a refluent flood of burning rofin; and Sifyphus is to roll up a ftone charged with crackers and fquibs, which will bound back again with a thundering explofion at a distance you will difcover black fteams arising from the River Styx, reprefented by a stream of melted pitch. The NOTED FIRE-EATER alfo Thall make his appearance, fmoking out of red-hot tobacco-pipes, champing lighted brimstone, and swallowing his infernal mess of broth. Harlequin's errand hither being only to bring away Cerberus, I have inftructed THE MOST AMAZING NEW ENGLISH CHIEN SAVANT to act the part of this three-headed dog, with the affittance of two artificial

noddles

noddles faftened to his throat. The fagacity of this animal will furely delight much more than the pretty trick of his rival, the human hound, in another

entertainment.

Thus I have brought my Hercules through his twelve capital enterprizes; though I purpofe to touch upon fome other of the Grecian hero's atchievements. I fhall make him kill Cacus the three-headed robber, and shall carry him to Mount Caucafus, to untie Prometheus, whose liver was continually preyed upon by a vulture. This laft mentioned incident I cannot pafs over, as I am refolved that my vulture fhall vie in bulk, beauty and docility, with the fo much applauded STUPENDOUS OSTRICH: and towards the end I doubt not but I fhall be able to triumph over the SORCERER'S GREAT GELDING, by the exhibition of my Centaur Neffus, who is to carry off the LITTLE WOMAN that weighs no more than twenty-three pounds, in the character of Deianira; a burthen great enough for the oftler who is to play the brute-half of my Centaur, as his back must be bent horizontally, in order to fix his head against the rump of the man-half.

The whole piece will conclude with Harlequin in a bloody fhirt, fkipping, writhing, and rolling, and at length expiring, to the irregular motions of the fiddle-ftick: though, if any of the fireoffices will enfure the houfe, he fhall mount the kindled pile, and be burned to ashes in the prefence of the whole audience.

Intrigue is the foul of thefe dumb fhews, as well as of the more fenfelefs farces: Omphale, therefore, or Deianira, muft ferve for my Colombine; and I can so far wrest the fable to my own purpose, as to fuppofe that thefe dangers were encountered by Harlequin for their fakes. Eriftheus, the perfecutor of Her

cules, will be properly characterifed by Pantaloon; and the fervant, whofe bufinefs it is, as Homer fays, to shake the regions of the gods with laughter,' fhall be the WONDERFUL LITTLE NORFOLK-MAN, as in all books of chivalry you never read of a giant but you are told of a dwarf. The fellow with Stentorian lungs, who can break glaffes and fhatter window-panes with the loudness of his vociferation, has engaged in that one scene, where Hercules laments the lofs of his Hylas, to make the whole houfe ring again with his bawling; and the wonderful man, who talks in his belly, and can fling his voice into any part of a room, has promifed to anfwer him in the character of Echo.

I cannot conclude without informing you, that I have made an uncommon provifion for the neceflary embellishments of finging and dancing. Grim Pluto, you know, the black-peruked monarch, must bellow in bafs, and the attendantdevils cut capers in flame-coloured stockings, as ufual; but as Juno cherished an immortal hatred to our hero, fhe fhall defcend in a chariot drawn by peacocks, and thrill forth her rage; Deianira, too, fhall vent her amorous fighs to foft airs: the Amazons, with their gilt-leather breaft-plates and helmets, their tinpointed fpears and looking-glafs fhields, hall give you the Pyrrhic dance to a preamble on the kettle-drums; and at Omphale's court, after Hercules has refigned his club, to celebrate her triumph, I thall introduce a grand dance of di ftaffs, in emulation of the Witches dance of broomsticks. Nothing of this kind fhall be omitted, that may heighten either the grandeur or beauty of my entertainment: I fhall therefore, I hope, find a place fomewhere in this piece, as I cannot now have the WIRE-DANCER, to bring on my DANCING-BEARS.

A

I am, Sir, your humble Servant, LUN Tertius,

O

Rose.

B

fhould be delivered with difcriminating circumstances. If they have not a neceffary and apparent connection, the ideas which they excite obliterate each other, and the mind is tantalized with an imperfect glimpse of innumerable objects that just appear and vanish; if they are too minutely related, they become tirefome; and if divefted of all their circumftances, infipid; for who that reads in a table of chronology or an index, that a city was fwallowed up by an earthquake, or a kingdom depopulated by a peftilence, finds either his attention engaged, or his curiofity gratified?

Thofe narratives are moft pleafing which not only excite and gratify curioity, but engage the paffions.

History is a relation of the most natural and important events: hiftory, therefore, gratifies curiofity, but it does not often excite either terror or pity; the mind feels not that tendernefs for a falling state, which it feels for an injured beauty; nor is it fo much alarmed at the migration of barbarians, who mark their way with defolation, and fill the world with violence and rapine, as at the fury of a husband, who, deceived into jealousy by falfe appearances, ftabs a faithful and affectionate wife kneeling at his feet, and pleading to be heard.

Voyages and Travels have nearly the fame excellencies and the fame defects: no paffion is ftrongly excited except wonder; or if we feel any emotion at the danger of the traveller, it is tranfient and languid, because his character is not rendered fufficiently important; he is rarely discovered to have any excellencies but daring curiofity; he is never the object of admiration, and feldom of efteem.

Biography would always engage the paffions, if it could fufficiently gratify curiosity: but there have been few among the whole human fpecies whofe lives would furnish a fingle adventure; I mean fuch a complication of circumstances, as hold the mind in an anxious yet pleafing fufpence, and gradually unfold in the production of fome unforefeen and important event; much lefs fuch a feries of facts, as will perpetually vary the fcene, and gratify the fancy, with

new views of life.

But Nature is now exhausted; all her wonders have been accumulated, every recels has been explored, deferts have

been traverfed, Alps climbed, and the fecrets of the deep difclofed; time has been compelled to reftore the empires and the heroes of antiquity; all have paffed in review; yet fancy requires new gratifications, and curiosity is still unfatisfied.

The refources of Art yet remain: the fimple beauties of nature, if they cannot be inultiplied, may be compounded, and an infinite variety produced, in which by the union of different graces both may be heightened, and the coalition of different powers may produce a proportionate effect.

The Epic Poem at once gratifies curiofity and moves the paffions; the events are various and important; but it is not the fate of a nation, but of the hero in which they terminate, and whatever concerns the hero engages the paffions; the dignity of his character, his merit, and his importance, compel us to follow him with reverence and folicitude, to tremble when he is in danger, to weep when he fuffers, and to burn when he is wronged: with these viciffitudes of paffion every heart attends Ulyffes in his wanderings, and Achilles to the field.

Upon this occafion the Old Romance may be confidered as a kind of Epic, fince it was intended to produce the fame effect upon the mind nearly by the same means.

In both these species of writing truth is apparently violated: but though the events are not always produced by probable means, yet the pleasure arifing from the story is not much leffened; for fancy is ftill captivated with variety, and paffion has fearce leifure to reflect, that the is agitated with the fate of imaginary beings, and interefted in events that never happened.

The Novel, though it bears a nearer refemblance to truth, has yet lefs power of entertainment; for it is confined within the narrower bounds of probability, the number of incidents is neceffarily diminifhed, and if it deceives us more, it furprifes us lefs. The diftrefs is indeed frequently tender, but the narrative often ftands ftill; the lovers compliment each other in tedious letters and fet fpeeches; trivial circumftances are enumerated with a minute exactnefs, and the reader is wearied with languid deferiptions and impertinent declamations.

But

But the most extravagant, and yet perhaps the most generally pleafing of all literary performances, are thofe in which fupernatural events are every moment produced by Genii and Fairies; fuch are the Arabian Nights Entertainments, the Tales of the Countefs d'Anois, and many others of the fame clafs. It may be thought strange, that the mind fhould with pleasure acquiefce in the open violation of the most known and obvious truths; and that relations which contradict all experience, and exhibit a ferious of events that are not only impoffible but ridiculous, fhould be read by almost every taste and capacity with equal eagerness and delight. But it is not, perhaps, the mere violation of truth or of probability that offends, but fuch a violation only as perpetually recurs. The mind is fatisfied, if every event appears to have an adequate caufe; and when the agency of Genii and Fairies is once admitted, no event which is deemed poffible to fuch agents is rejected as incredible or abfurd; the action of the ftory proceeds with regularity, the perfons act upon rational principles, and fuch events take place as may naturally be expected from the interpofition of fuperior intelligence and power: fo that though there is not a natural, there is at least a kind of moral probability preferved, and our firft conceffion is abundantly rewarded by the new fcenes to which we are admitted, and the unbounded profpect that is thrown open before us.

But though we attend with delight to the atchievements of a hero who is transported in a moment over half the globe upon a griffon, and fee with admiration a palace or a city vanish upon his breaking a feal or extinguishing a lamp: yet if at his first interview with a miftrefs, for whofe fake he had fought

fo many battles and paffed fo many regions, he should falute her with a box on the ear; or if immediately after he had vanquished a giant or a dragon, he fhould leap into a well or tie himself up to a tree; we should be difappointed and difgufted, the ftory would be condemned as improbable, unnatural, and abfurd, our innate love of truth would be applauded, and we fhould expatiate on the folly of an attempt to please reafonable beings, by a detail of events which can never be believed, and the intervention of agents which could never have exifted.

Dramatick Poetry, efpecially tragedy, feems to unite all that pleafes in each of thefe fpecies of writing, with a ftronger refemblance of truth, and a clofer imitation of nature: the characters are fuch as excite attention and folicitude; the action is important, it's progrefs is intricate yet natural, and the catastrophe is fudden and ftriking; and as we are prefent to every tranfaction, the images are more ftrongly impreffed, and the paffions more forcibly moved.

From a dramatic poem to thofe short pieces, which may be contained in fuch a periodical paper as the Adventurer, is a bold tranfition. And yet fuch pieces, although formed upon a fingle incident, if that incident be fufficiently uncom mon to gratify curiofity, and fufficiently interesting to engage the paffions, may afford an entertainment, which, if it is not lafting, is yet of the highest kind. Of fuch, therefore, this paper will frequently confift: but it should be remembered, that it is much more difficult and laborious to invent a ftory, however fimple and however short, than to recollect topics of inftruction, or to remark the fcenes of life as they are fhifted before us.

I

Have before remarked, that it is the peculiar infelicity of those who live by intellectual labour, not to be always able equally to improve their time by application: there are feafons when the power of invention is fufpended, and the mind finks into a ftate of debility from which it can no more recover itself, than a perfon who fleeps can by a voluntary effort awake. I was fitting in my ftudy a few nights ago in thefe perplexing circumstances, and after long rumination and many ineffectual attempts to ftart a hint which I might purfue in my lucubration of this day, I determined to go to bed, hoping that the morning would remove every impediment to ftudy, and restore the vigour of my mind.

I was no fooner afleep than I was relieved from my diftrefs by means which, if I had been waking, would have increafed it; and inftead of impreffing upon my mind a train of new ideas in a regular fucceffion, would have filled it with aftonishment and terror. For in dreams, whether they are produced by a power of the imagination to combine images which reafon would feparate, or whether the mind is paffive, and receives impreffions from fome invifible agent, the memory feems to lie wholly torpid, and the understanding to be employed only about fuch objects as are then prefented, without comparing the prefent with the pait. When we fleep, we often converfe with a friend who is either abfent or dead, without remembering that the We grave or the ocean is between us. float like a feather upon the wind, or we find ourselves this moment in England and the next in India, without reflu&ting that the laws of nature are fufpended, or enquiring how the scene could have been fo fuddenly shifted be

DRYDEN.

OVID.

fore us. We are familiar with prodigies; we accommodate ourselves to every event, however romantick; and we not only reafon, but act upon principles which are in the highest degree abfurd and extravagant.

In that ftate, therefore, in which no prodigy could render me unfit to receive inftruction, I imagined myself to be still fitting in my ftudy, penfive and difpirited, and that I fuddenly heard a small fhrill voice pronounce thefe words

Take your pen; I will dictate an Adventurer.' I turned to fee from whom this voice proceeded, but I could difcover nothing: believing, therefore, that my good genius or fome favouring mufe was prefent, I immediately prepared to write, and the voice dictated the following narrative.

I was the eldest fon of a country gentleman, who poffeffed a large eitate; and when I was about nineteen years • of age, fell with my horfe as I was hunting; my neck was dislocated by the fall, and for want of immediate 'affiftance I died before I could be carried home: but I found myself the 'next moment, with inexpreffible grief and aitonishment, under the shape of a mongrel Puppy in the ftable of an inn, that was kept by a man who had been butler to my father, and had 'married the cook.