Profpero, confeffing the mad folly of trufting his reins of adminiftration into other hands, fays, The government I caft upon my brother, And to my fate grew firanger. And again, fpeaking of the fame perfon,. Being once perfected how to grant fuits, How to deny them; whom to advance, and whom The creatures that were mine; I fay, or changed them Of officer and office, fet all things in the ftate In continuation, And my truft, Like a good parent, did beget of him As my truft was; which had, indeed, no limit: But what my power might elfe exact; like one, To credit his own lie, he did believe He was, indeed, the duke; from fubftitution, And executing the outward face of royalty, With all prerogative. Hence his ambition growing, To have no fcreen between the part he played, And him he played it for, he needs will be Abfolute Milan. • In this account of the duke's weakness, with the natural confequences attending it, the poet has afforded a proper leffon to princes, never to render themselves cyphers in their government, by too dangerous a confidence in their favourites ; but ever to confider those perfons, to whom they depute the feveral offices of state, as minifters, in the literal sense of the word, only, not in the political one. When Profpero defcribes the hazards and difficulties of his forlorn voyage, Miranda tenderly exclaims, Alack! what trouble Was I then to you? To which he, in a kind of extasy of fondness replies, O! a cherubim Thou waft, that did preferve me. Thou didft fmile, (When I have decked the fea with drops full falt; P 3 Under Under my burden groaned ;) which raised in me Against what should enfue Here the poet finely points to that virtue of true manhood, which ferves to ftrengthen our fortitude and double our activity, when objects, whom the ties of nature, or the fympathy of affections, have endeared to us, require our folace or affistance in diftress or danger. While our cares center folely in our felves, we are but one; but become two, where the heart is fhared. Profpero. Here in this island we arrived, and here 'Here the too general diffipations of life are hinted at, and thofe parents cenfured, who transfer the pious duty of their children's education to mercenary preceptors; except in the meaner articles of it, the arts, exercises, and sciences. Too few attend to the higher and more interefting charge, of forming the mind and directing the heart to their proper objects; and fewer ftill, in deputing it to others, feem to regard the chief requifites, of character, or capacity, in thofe they intruft with this office, looking upon competent scholarship to be alone fufficient. • But a liberal education, as far as it extends in colleges and fchools, does dot always give a liberal mind; and as example is allowed to exceed precept, fo do those fentiments and principles which we imbibe in youth from the living manners of our tutors, "Grow with our growth, and ftrengthen with our ftrength." Thofe only, are capable of finking into the heart, and imbuing the mind; while mere didactic maxims remain a load upon the memory, alone. The firft only inspire us how to act, the latter but inftruct us how to speak. * • Profpero. And by my prefcience I find, my zenith doth depend upon This paffage furnishes a prudent and neceffary reflection to the mind of the reader, that man's fuccefs in life often depends upon fome lucky and critical occafion, which, fuffered to flip by, may ne'er return again. Shakespeare expreffes him felf felf more fully on this subject, in another place *. Some other poet too prefents us with a poetical image, to the fame purpose, where he fays that "opportunity is bald be bind t." We beg leave to fubjoin the General Poftfcript, as containing a just and ingenious account of the work, in the author's own words. There are many favourite pafges in Shakespeare, which moft of my readers have got by heart, and miffing here, may poffibly object to my having neglected to quote or obferve upon them, in their proper places. But my intention, in this work, was not to propound the beauties of the poet, but to expound the document of the moralift, throughout his writings. So far from being infenfible to the other excellencies of this author, I have ever thought him by much the greatest, poet of our nation, for fublimity of idea, and beauty of expreffion. Perhaps I may even think myfelf guilty of fome in-. juftice, in limiting his fame within the narrow confines of thefe, kingdoms; for, upon a comparison with the much venerated names of antiquity, I am of opinion, that we need not furrender the British palm, either to the Grecian bays, or the Roman laurel, with regard to the principal parts of poetry; as thought, fentiment, or defcription-And though the dead languages are confeffed to be fuperior to ours, yet even here, in the very article of diation, our author fhall measure his penwith any of the antient Styles, in their most admired compound. and decompound epithets, defcriptive phrafes, or figurative ex-. preffions. The multitudinous fea, ear-piercing fife, big war, giddy, maft, fky-afpiring, heaven-kiffing hill, time-honoured name, cloudcapt towers, heavenly-barnaffed team, rafh gunpowder, polished perturbation, gracious filence, goiden care, trumpet-tangued, thoughtexecuting fires; with a number of other words, both epic and comic, are instances of it. But with regard to the moral excellencies of our English Confucius, either for beauty or num ber, he undoubtedly challenges the wreath from the whole collective host of Greek or Roman writers, whether ethic, epic, dramatic, didactic, or hiftoric. Mrs. Montagu fays, very juftly, that "We are apt to confider Shakespeare only as a poet; but he is certainly one of the greatest moral philofophers that ever lived." And this is true; because, in his universal scheme of doctrine, he com "There is a tide in the affairs of men," &c. JUL. CES. A&t. iv. Scene 5. Poft occafio calva. prehends manners, properties, and decorums; and whatever relates to thefe, to perfonal character, or national description, falls equally within the great line of morals. Horace prefers Homer to all the philofophers, Qui, quid fit pulchrum, quid turpe, quid utile, quid non, And furely Shakespeare pleniùs et meliùs excels him again, as much as the living fcette exceeds the dead letter, as action is preferable to didaction, or reprefentation to declamation. Example is better than precept. A dramatic moral affords is the benefit of both, at once. Plato wished that virtue could affume a visible form. Dramatic exhibition gives one, both to virtue and to vice. The abftract idea is there materialized. The contraft of character, too, affords an additional strength to the moral; as we are led to love virtue, on a double account, by being made to abhor vice, at the fame time. The dramatie moralift poffeffes a manifeft advantage over the doctrinal one. Mere defcriptions of virtue or vice do not strike us, fo ftrongly, as the vifible reprefentations of them. Richard the Third's dream, Lady Macbeth's foliloquy in her fleep, the Dagger Scene in the fame play, Cardinal Beaufort's last moments, with many other paffages in our author, of the fame admonitory kind, avail us more than whole volumes of Tully's Offices, or Seneca's Morals. In this fcenic province of inftruation, our reprefentations are much better calculated to answer the end propofed, than thofe of the ancients were, on account of the different hours of exhibition. Theirs were performed in the morning; which circumftance fuffered the falutary effect to be worn out of the mind, by the bufinefs or avocations of the day. Ours are at night; the impreffions accompany us to our couch, fupply matter for our lateft reflections, and may fometimes furnish the fubject of our very dreams. t But Shakespeare feems to have extended his views ftill further; by frequently interfperfing allufions to the Scriptures, throughout his writings. I would not have the old Mysteries reftored to the ftage, nor should dramatic dialogue exceed into fermons; but I think, that fuch occafional hints or paffages, as this author has fupplied, when thrown in fparingly, and introduced with difcretion, may fometimes ferve to add a ftrength and dignity to the ftyle and fubject of such compofitions; befides the advantage of producing, perhaps, effeas of an higher nature, by calling our attention to more serious reflections, in the very midft of our pleasures and dissipations, without finking our fpirits, or damping our enjoyments; awaken awakening us to the contemplation of a religion fo pure, fo equally free from the feverities of difcipline, and the fuperftitions of devotion; of a system of theology, framed even as man himself would chufe; in fine, of a faith and do&rine, which has but stronger bound the focial ties, given an higher fanction to moral obligations, and proved our duty to be our intereft alfo. • Having now arrived at the last page of my task, I muft confefs the apprehenfions I am fenfible of, on presenting to the public a work of fo much difficulty and danger: though with regard to the firft of thefe articles, I acknowledge this to have been one in the class of thofe, of which Ferdinand in the Tempest fays, • There be fome sports are painful, but their labour Delight in them fets off. But in respect to the latter, I muft here throw myself not only upon the candor, but the indulgence of my readers; hoping that the many failures in the execution may be pardoned, on the fingle merit of the defign.' We may affirm, that few works were ever published, that exhibited fuch a number and variety of moral precepts, and obfervations, relative to the economy of life and manners, as this Illuftration; which conveys inftruction in the most agreeable form, and will be read with equal pleasure and advantage. VIII. Braganza. A Tragedy. Performed at the Theatre Royal in Drury-Lane. Written by Robert Jephfon, Efq. 8vo.^ss. 6d. Evans, Strand. THIS HIS tragedy is founded on the revolution which took place in Portugal in the year 1640, when by the valour and activity of a small number of confpirators, that kingdom was rescued from the oppreflive ufurpation of Spain, and the crown conferred on the duke of Braganza, a popular nobleman, and defcended from the ancient kings of the country. In what manner Mr. Jephfon has wrought up this fimple event into the form of a dramatic reprefentation, will appear from a general account of the fable, of which the following are the outlines. The first and fecond a&s are chiefly employed in converfations between feveral members of the confpiracy, in which they lament the unfortunate ftate of the kingdom, and communicate to each other the refolution that is formed, of affaffinating Velasquez, the Spanish governor, the enfuing night, and ad vancing |