Our sense is nonsense, through their pipes con

veyed;

Scarce can a poet know the play he made,
"Tis so disguised in death; nor thinks 'tis he
That suffers in the mangled tragedy.

very singular strain of effrontery, which Mr. Malone transfers from the preface of a tragedy called "The Fatal Discovery; or, Love in Ruins," published in 4to, 1698 :

"Here I am afraid he makes but a coarse compliment, when this great wit, with his treacherous memory, forgets that he had given away his laurels upon record twice before, viz., once to Mr. Congreve, and another time to Mr. Southerne. Pr'ythee, old Edipus, expound this mystery! Dost thou set up thy transubstantiation miracle in the donation of thy idol bays, that thou hast them fresh, new, and whole, to give them three times over?

"For the most mortal stroke at us, he charges us with downright murdering of plays, which we call reviving. I will not derogate from the merit of those senior actors of both sexes, of the other house, that shine in their several perfections, in whose lavish praises he is so highly transported; but, at the same time, he makes himself but an arbitrary judge on our side, to condemn unheard, and that under no less a conviction than murder, when I cannot learn, for a fair judgment upon us, that his reverend crutches have ever brought him within our doors since the division of the companies [1695]. 'Tis true, I think, we have revived some pieces of Dryden, as his 'Sebastian,' Maiden Queen,' 'Marriage à la Mode,' King Arthur,' etc. But here let us be tried by a Christian jury, the audience, and not receive the bowstring from his Mahometan Grand Signiorship. "Tis true, his more particular pique against us, as he has declared himself, is in relation to our reviving his 'Almanzor.' There, indeed, he has reason to be angry for our waking that sleepy dowdy, and exposing his nonsense, not ours; and if that dish did not please him, we have a Scotch proverb for our justification, viz., 'twas rotten roasted, because, etc., and the world must expect, 'twas very hard crutching up what Hart and Mohun before us could not prop. I confess, he is a little severe, when he will allow our best performance to bear no better fruit than a crab vintage. Indeed, if we young actors spoke but half as sourly as his old gall scribbles, we should be crab all over."

25

Thus Itys first was killed, and after dressed
For his own sire, the chief invited guest.
I say not this of thy successful scenes,
Where thine was all the glory, theirs the gains.
With length of time, much judgment, and more
toil,

30

Not ill they acted what they could not spoil.
Their setting sun* still shoots a glimmering ray, 35
Like ancient Rome, majestic in decay;
And better gleanings their worn soil can boast,
Than the crab-vintage of the neighbouring coast.+
This difference yet the judging world will see;
Thou copiest Homer, and they copy thee.

* Mr. Betterton's Company in Lincoln's Inn Fields.—D. Drury Lane Playhouse.-D.

40

EPISTLE THE FOURTEENTH.

TO MY FRIEND

MR. MOTTEUX,

ON HIS TRAGEDY

CALLED

BEAUTY IN DISTRESS,
PUBLISHED IN 1698.

PETER ANTHONY MOTTEUX was a French Huguenot, born at Rohan, in Normandy, in 1660. He emigrated upon the revocation of the Edict of Nantes; and, having friends in England of opulence and respectability, he became a merchant and bookseller of some eminence; besides enjoying a place in the Post Office, to which his skill as a linguist recommended him. This must have been considerable, if we judge by his proficiency in the language of England, certainly not the most easy to be commanded by a foreigner. Nevertheless, Motteux understood it so completely, as not only to write many occasional pieces of English poetry, but to execute a very good translation of "Don Quixote," and compose no less than fifteen plays, several of which were very well received. He also conducted the "Gentlemen's Journal." On the 19th February 1717-18, this author was found dead in a house of bad fame, in the parish of St. Clement Danes, not without suspicion of murder.

Motteux appears to have enjoyed the countenance of Dryden, who, in the following verses, consoles him under the censure of those who imputed to his play of "Beauty in Distress" an irregularity of plot, and complication of incident. But the preliminary and more important part of the verses VOL. XI.

E

regards Jeremy Collier's violent attack upon the dramatic authors of the age for immorality and indecency. To this charge, our author, on this as on other occasions, seems to plead guilty, while he deprecates the virulence, and sometimes unfair severity of his adversary. The reader may compare the poetical defence here set up with that in the prose dedication to the "Fables," and he will find in both the same grumbling, though subdued, acquiescence under the chastisement of the moralist; the poet much resembling an overmatched general, who is unwilling to surrender, though conscious of his inability to make an effectual resistance. See also vol. viii. p. 462. [Motteux, who did other good work besides that mentioned. has recently been the subject of a useful monograph by M. Van Laun in a new edition of his Don Quixote.-ED.]

EPISTLE THE FOURTEENTH.

5

10

'TIS
Is hard, my friend, to write in such an age,
As damns not only poets, but the stage.
That sacred art, by heaven itself infused,
Which Moses, David, Solomon, have used,
Is now to be no more: the Muses' foes
Would sink their Maker's praises into prose.
Were they content to prune the lavish vine
Of straggling branches, and improve the wine,
Who, but a madman, would his faults* defend?
All would submit; for all but fools will mend.
But when to common sense they give the lie,
And turn distorted words to blasphemy,
They give the scandal; and the wise discern,
Their glosses teach an age, too apt to learn.
What I have loosely, or profanely, writ,
Let them to fires, their due desert, commit:
Nor, when accused by me, let them complain;
Their faults, and not their function, I arraign.t
Rebellion, worse than witchcraft, they pursued ;
The pulpit preached the crime, the people rued. 20
The stage was silenced; for the saints would see
In fields performed their plotted tragedy.

* [Printed by Edd., including Christie, "thoughts."-ED.] The poet here endeavours to vindicate himself from the charge of having often, and designedly, ridiculed the clerical function.

15