he who had loft himself, could find a miftrefs. And for the fame reafon, the fol

lowing paffage in Corneille has been generally condemned :

Chimene. Mon pere eft mort, Elvire, et la miére épée

Dont s'eft armé Rodrigue à fa trame coupée.

pre.

Pleurez, pleurez, mes yeux, et fondez-vous en

eau,

La moitié de ma vie a mis l'autre au tombeau,
Et m'oblige à venger, aprés ce coup funeste,
Celle que je n'ai plus, fur celle qui me refte.

Cid, alt 3. fc. 3.

To die is to be banish'd from myself :
And Sylvia is myfelf; banish'd from her,
Is felf from felf; a deadly banishment!

Two Gentlemen of Verona, act 3. Sc. 3.

Countess. I pray thee, Lady, have a better

cheer:

If thou ingroffest all the griefs as thine,

Thou robb'ft me of a moiety.

All's well that ends well, act 3. Sc. 3.

K. Henry. O my poor kingdom, fick with civil

blows!

When that my care could not with-hold thy riots,

What

What wilt thou do when riot is thy care?
O, thou wilt be a wilderness again,
Peopled with wolves, thy old inhabitants.

Second part, Henry IV. at 4. fc. 11.

Cruda Amarilli, che col nome ancora
D'amar, ahi laffo, amaramente infegni.

Paftor Fido, at 1. sc, 2.

Antony, fpeaking of Julius Cæfar:

O world! thou waft the forest of this hart;
And this, indeed, O world, the heart of thee.
How like a deer, ftricken by many princes,
Doft thou here lie!

Julius Cæfar, at 3. fc. 3.

Playing thus with the found of words, which is still worse than a pun, is the meanest of all conceits. But Shakespear, when he defcends to a play of words, is not always in the wrong; for it is done fometimes to denote a peculiar character; as is the following paffage.

King Philip. What say'st thou, boy? look in the lady's face.

Lewis. I do, my Lord, and in her eye I find A wonder, or a wond'rous miracle;

The fhadow of myself form'd in her eye;

Which being but the fhadow of your fon,
Becomes a fun, and makes your fon a fhadow.
I do proteft, I never lov'd myself,

Till now infixed I beheld myself
Drawn in the flatt'ring table of her

eye.

Faulconbridge. Drawn in the flatt'ring table of her eye!

Hang'd in the frowning wrinkle of her brow!
And quarter'd in her heart! he doth espy
Himself Love's traitor: this is pity now,

That hang'd, and drawn, and quarter'd, there fhould be,

In fuch a love fo vile a lout as he.

King John, alt. 2. Sc. 5.

A jingle of words is the lowest fpecies of this low wit; which is fcarce sufferable in any cafe, and leaft of all in an heroic poem. And yet Milton in fome instances has defcended to this puerility:

And brought into the world a world of wo,
Begirt th' almighty throne

Befeeching or befieging

Which tempted our attempt

At one flight bound high overleap'd all bound.

With a fhout

Loud as from numbers without number.

One

One should think it unneceffary to enter a caveat against an expreffion that has no meaning, or no diftinct meaning; and yet fomewhat of this kind may be found even among good writers. These make a fixth clafs.

Sebaftian. I beg no pity for this mould'ring clay.
For if you give it burial, there it takes
Poffeffion of your earth:

If burnt and scatter'd in the air; the winds
That ftrow my duft, diffufe my royalty,

And spread me o'er your clime; for where one a

tom

Of mine fhall light, know there Sebastian reigns. Dryden, Don Sebaftian King of Portugal, at 1.

Cleopatra. Now, what news my Charmion?
Will he be kind? and will he not forfake me?
Am I to live or die? nay, do I live?
Or am I dead? for when he gave his answer,
Fate took the word, and then I liv'd or dy❜d.
Dryden, All for Love, at 2..

If fhe be coy, and scorn
and scorn my noble fire,
If her chill heart I cannot move;
Why, I'll enjoy the very love,

And make a mistress of my own defire.

Cowley, poem infcribed, The Requeft.

His whole poem, infcribed, My Picture, is a jargon of the fame kind :

'Tis he, they cry, by whom

Not men, but war itself is overcome.

Indian Queen.

Such empty expreffions are finely ridiculed in the Rehearsal:

Was❜t not unjust to ravish hence her breath,
And in life's stead to leave us nought but death?

A&t 4. fc. I.

VOL. II.

G g

CHA P.