Now, how a man could fight, and fall with his "face muffled up in his garment, is, I think, a little "hard to conceive! Befides, Juba, before he killed

him, knew him to be Sempronius. It was not by "his garment that he knew this; it was by his face then his face therefore was not muffled. Upon "feeing this man with his muffled face, Marcia falls "a-raving; and, owning her paffion for the fup"pofed defunct, begins to make his funeral oration. "Upon which Juba enters liftening, I fuppofe on "tip-toe; for I cannot imagine how any one can "enter listening in any other pofture. I would fain "know how it comes to pafs, that during all this "time he had fent nobody, no, not fo much as a "candle-fnuffer, to take away the dead body of

Sempronius. Well! but let us regard him liftening. "Having left his apprehenfion behind him, he, at "firft, applies what Marcia fays to Sempronius. But "finding at laft, with much ado, that he himself is "the happy man, he quits his eve-dropping, and "discovers himself just time enough to prevent his "being cuckolded by a dead man, of whom the "moment before he had appeared fo jealous; and "greedily intercepts the blifs which was fondly "defigned for one who could not be the better for " it. But here I muft afk a question: how comes "Juba to liften here, who had not liftened before "throughout the play? Or how comes he to be the "only person of this tragedy who liftens, when love "and treafon were fo often talked in fo publick a "place as a hall? I am afraid the author was driven upon all these abfurdities only to introduce this miferable miftake of Marcia, which, after all, is

" much

"much below the dignity of tragedy, as any thing "is which is the effect or refult of trick.

"But let us come to the scenery of the Fifth Act. "Cato appears firft upon the fcene, fitting in a "thoughtful pofture: in his hand Plato's treatife "on the Immortality of the Soul, a drawn fword on "the table by him. Now let us confider the place "in which this fight is prefented to us The place, "forfooth, is a long hall. Let us suppose, that any "one fhould place himself in this pofture, in the "midst of one of our halls in London; that he

fhould appear folus, in a fullen posture, a drawn "fword on the table by him; in his hand Plato's "treatise on the Immortality of the Soul, translated "lately by Bernard Lintot: I defire the reader to "confider, whether fuch a perfon as this would pafs, with them who beheld him, for a great

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patriot, a great philofopher, or a general, or "fome whimfical perfon, who fancied himself all thefe and whether the people, who belonged to "the family, would think that fuch a perfon had a defign upon their midriffs or his own?

"In fhort, that Cato fhould fit long enough in "the aforefaid pofture, in the midst of this large "hall, to read over Plato's treatife on the Immorta"lity of the Soul, which is a lecture of two long "hours; that he should propose to himself to be "private there upon that occafion; that he fhould "be angry with his fon for intruding there; then, "that he fhould leave this hall upon the pretence "of fleep, give himself the mortal wound in his "bedchamber, and then be brought back into that "hall to expire, purely to fhew his good-breeding,

and fave his friends the trouble of coming up to his bedchamber; all this appears to me to be "improbable, incredible, impoffible."

Such is the cenfure of Dennis. There is, as Dryden expreffes it, perhaps "too much horseplay in his raillery;" but if his jefts are coarse, his arguments are ftrong. Yet, as we love better to be pleased than be taught, Cato is read, and the critick is neglected.

Flushed with confcioufnefs of thefe detections of abfurdity in the conduct, he afterwards attacked the fentiments of Cato; but he then amufed himfelf with petty cavils and minute objections.

Of Addison's smaller poems, no particular mention is neceffary; they have little that can employ or require a critick. The parallel of the Princes and Gods, in his verfes to Kneller, is often happy, but is too well known to be quoted.

His tranflations, fo far as I have compared them, want the exactness of a scholar. That he understood his authors cannot be doubted; but his verfions will not teach others to understand them, being too licentiously paraphraftical. They are, however, for the moft part, fmooth and eafy; and, what is the first excellence of a tranflator, such as may be read with pleasure by those who do not know the originals. His poetry is polished and pure; the product of a mind too judicious to commit faults, but not fufficiently vigorous to attain excellence. He has fometimes a ftriking line, or a fhining paragraph; but in the whole he is warm rather than fervid, and fhews more dexterity than ftrength. He was however one of our earlieft examples of correctnefs.

:;:

The

The verfification which he had learned from Dryden he debased rather than refined. His rhymes are often diffonant; in his Georgick he admits broken lines. He uses both triplets and Alexandrines, but triplets more frequently in his tranflations than his other works. The mere ftructure of verfes feems never to have engaged much of his care. But his lines are very smooth in Rofamond, and too smooth in Cato.

Addison is now to be confidered as a critick; a name which the present generation is fcarcely willing to allow him. His criticifm is condemned as tentative or experimental, rather than scientifick; and he is confidered as deciding by tafte* rather than by principles.

It is not uncommon, for those who have grown wife by the labour of others, to add a little of their own, and overlook their mafters. Addison is now defpifed by fome who perhaps would never have seen his defects, but by the lights which he afforded them. That he always wrote as he would think it neceffary to write now, cannot be affirmed; his inftructions were fuch as the characters of his readers made proper. That general knowledge which now circulates in common talk, was in his time rarely to be found. Men not profeffing learning were not afhamed of ignorance; and, in the female world, any acquaintance with books was diftinguished only to be cenfured. His purpose was to infufe literary curiofity by gentle and unfufpected conveyance, into the gay, the idle, and the wealthy; he therefore pre

*Tafte muft decide. WARTON. C.

fented

fented knowledge in the moft alluring form, not lofty and auftere, but acceffible and familiar. When he fhewed them their defects, he fhewed them likewise that they might be eafily fupplied. His attempt fucceeded; enquiry was awakened, and comprehenfion expanded. An emulation of intellectual elegance was excited; and, from this time to our own, life has been gradually exalted, and converfation purified and enlarged.

Dryden had, not many years before, fcattered criticism over his Prefaces with very little parfimony; but though he fometimes condefcended to be fomewhat familiar, his manner was in general too fcholaftick for those who had yet their rudiments to learn, and found it not eafy to understand their mafter. His obfervations were framed rather for those that were learning to write, than for thofe that read only to talk.

An inftructor like Addison was now wanting, whofe remarks being fuperficial might be eafily understood, and being juft might prepare the mind for more attainments. Had he prefented Paradife Loft to the publick with all the pomp of fyftem and feverity of fcience, the criticism would perhaps have been admired, and the poem ftill have been neglected; but by the blandifhments of gentleness and facility he has made Milton an univerfal favourite, with whom readers of every clafs think it neceffary to be pleafed.

He defcended now and then to lower difquifi tions; and by a serious display of the beauties of Chevy-Chafe exposed himself to the ridicule of Wagftaffe, who bestowed a like pompous character on

Tom