He adds, in allufion to his own abominable attempt-Above all, be sure to fecure the daughter, whofe beauty,' Le tells them, is incomparable." The charms of Miranda could not be more exalted than by extorting this teftimony from fo infenfible a monster.

Shakespeare feems to be the only poet who poffeffes the power of uniting poetry with propriety of character; of which I know not an inftance more ftriking, than the image Calyban makes ufe of to exprefs filence, which is at once highly poetical, and exactly fuited to the wildnefs of the fpeaker:

Pray you tread foftly, that the blind mole

Is the third man that e'er I faw; the firt Why fpeaks my father fo ungently? This That e'er I figh'd for!-

Here we perceive the beginning of that paffion, which Profpero was defirous the fhould feel for the prince; and which the afterwards more fully expresses upon an occafion which difplays at once the tenderness, the innocence, and the fimplicity of her character. She difcovers her lover employed in the laborious task of carrying wood, which Profpero had enjoined him to perform. Would,' fays he, the lightning had burnt up thofe logs, that you are enjoined to pile!"

It is by felecting fuch little and almoft imperceptible circumftances that Shakefpeare has more truly painted the paffions than any other writer: affection is more powerfully expreffed by this úmple wifh and offer of affiftance, than by the unnatural eloquence and witticisms of Dryden, or the amorous declamations of Rowe.

The refentment of Profpero for the matchlefs cruelty and wicked ufurpation of his brother; his parental affection and folicitude for the welfare of his daughter, the heirefs of his dukedom; and the awful folemnity of his character, as a skilful magician; are all along preferved with equal confiftency, dignity, and decorum. One part of his behaviour deferves to be particularly pointed out: during the exhibition of a mask with which he had ordered Ariel to entertain Ferdinand and Miranda, he starts fuddenly from the recollection of the confpiracy of Calyban and his confederates against his life, and difmiffes his attendant fpirits, who inftantly vanish to a hollow and confufed noife. He apto this agitation of mind, which his danpears to be greatly moved; and fuitably ger has excited, he takes occafion, from the fudden difappearance of the vifionary fcene, to moralize on the diffolution of all things

-The

Thele our actors, As I foretold you, were all fpirits: and Are melted into air, into thin air. And, like the butelefs fabric of this vifion, The cloud-capt towers, the gorgeous palaces, The folemn temples, the great globe itself, Yea, all which it inherit, fhall diffolve; And, like this unfubftantial pageant faded, Leave not a rack behind

To thefe noble images he adds a fhort bat comprehensive obfervation on hurun life, not excelled by any paffage of the moral and fententious Euripides

We are fuch futf

A dreams are made on; and our little life In rounded with a fleep!————

Thus admirably is an uniformity of charafter, that leading beauty in drama

tic poely, preferved throughout the Tempeit. And it may be farther remarked, that the unities of action, of place, and conitantly violated by Shakelpeare, exof time, are in this play, though almoft aly oblerved. The action is one, great, and entire, the reitoration of Profpero to his dukedom; this bufinefs is tranfacted in the compafs of a final ifland, and in or near the cave of Profpero; though, indeed, it had been more artful and regular to have confined it to this fingle ipot; and the time which the ac tion takes up, is only equal to that of the reprefentation; an excellence which ought always to be aimed at in every well-conducted fable, and for the want of which a variety of the most entertaining incidents can fcarcely atone.

TO THE ADVENTURER.
DIAR BROTHER,

THE thirit of glory is, I think, al

on fit ftill long enough to write books, to be a noble appetite.

My ambition is to be thought a man of life and spirit, who could conquer the ald if he was to fet about it, but who Pas too much vivacity to give the necefLay attention to any fcheme of length. la, in fhort, one of thofe heroic Adventurers, who have thought proper to Cinguish themselves by the titles of Brk, Blood, and Nerve. When I am the country, I am always on horfeack, and I leap or break every hedge and gate that ftands in my way when I am in town, I am conftantly to be n at fome of the public places, at the proper times for making my appearance; 2:at Vauxhall, or Marybone, about ten, Very drunk for though I do not love wine, I am obliged to be confumedly drunk five or fix nights in the week; ray fometimes five or fix days together, for the fake of my character. Wherever I come, I am fure to make all the confusion, and do all the mischief I can; not for the fake of doing mifchief, but only

amongst them; and have had bonne

fortune,' let me tell you. I do love the little rogues hellifhly: but faith I make love for the good of the public; and the town is obliged to the for a dozen or two of the fineft wenches that were ever brought into it's feraglios. One, indeed, I loft and, poor fend foul! I pitied her! but it could not be helped-felf-prefervation obliged me to leave her I could not tell her what was the matter with her, rot ms if I could; and fo it got fuch a head, that the devil himself could not have faved her.

There's one thing vexes me; I have much ado to avoid having that infignificant character, a good-natured follow, fixed upon me; fo that I am obliged in my own defence to break the boy's head, and kick my whore down ftairs every time I enter a night-houfe: I pick quar rels v hen I am not offended, break the windows of men I never faw, demolish lamps, bilk hackney-coachmen, overturn wheelbarrows, and form night. cellars: I beat the watchman, though

he bids me good morrow, abuse the conftable, and infult the juftice: for thefe feats I am frequently kicked, beaten, pumped, profecuted, and imprifoned; but Tim is no flincher; and if he does not get rame, blood! he will deferve it. I am now writing at a coffee-houfe, where I am just arrived, after a journey of fifty miles, which I have role in four hours. I knocked up my blockhead's horfe two hours ago. The dog whipped and spurred at fuch a rate, that I dare Lay you may track him half the way by the blood; but all would not do. The devil take the hindmoft, is always my way of travelling. The moment I difmounted, down dropt Dido, by Jove and here am I all alive and merry, my old boy!

I'll tell thee what; I was a hellish ass t'other day. I fhot a damn'd clean mare through the head, for jumping out of the road to avoid running over an old woman. But the bitch threw me, and I got a curfed flice on the cheek againft a flint, which put me in a passion; who could help it, you know? Rot me! I would not have loft her for five hundred old women, with all their brats, and the brats of their brats to the third generation. She was a fweet creature! I would have run her five-and-twenty miles within an hour, for five hundred pounds. But the is gone!-Poor jade! I did love thee, that I did.

Now what you fhall do for me, old boy, is this-Help to raife my name a little, d'ye mind: write fomething in praife of us fprightly pretty fellows. I affure you we take a great deal of pains for fame, and it is hard we fhould be bilkt. I would not trouble you, my dear; but only I fear I have not much time before me to do my own bufnefs; for between you and I, both my conftitution and estate are dainnably out at elbows. I intend to make them fpin out together as evenly as poffible; but if my purfe fhould happen to leak fafteft, I propofe to go with my last half-crown to Ranelagh gardens, and there, if approve the fcheme, I'll mount one of the upper alcoves, and repeat with an heroic air

you

I'll boldly venture on the world unknown; It cannot ufe me worse than this has done."

I'll then shoot myself through the head; and fo good by t'ye.

Yours, as you ferve me,

TIM. WILDGOOSE.

I fhould little deferve the notice of a perfon fo illuftrious as the hero who honours me with the name of Brother, if I fhould cavil at his principles or refute his request. According to the moral philofophy which is now in fashion, and adopted by many of the dull dogs who

write books,' the gratification of appetite is virtue; and appetite, therefore, I fhall allow to be noble, notwithstanding the objections of those who pretend that, whatever be it's object, it can be good or ill in no other fenfe than ftature or complexion; and that the voluntary effort only is moral by which appetite is directed or restrained, by which it is brought under the government of reason, and rendered fubfervient to moral purpofes.

But with whatever efforts of herois virtue my correfpondent may have laboured to gratify his thirft of glory, I am afraid he will be difappointed. It is, indeed, true, that like the heroes of antiquity, whom fucceffive generations have honoured with statues and panegyric, he has spent his life in doing mifchief to others, without procuring any real good to himself: but he has not done mifchief enough; he has not facked a city or fired a temple; he acts only against individuals in a contracted sphere, and is loft among a crowd of competitors, whofe merit can only contribute to their mutual obfcurity, as the feats which are perpetually performed by innumerable adventurers must foon become too common to confer diftinction.

In behalf of fome among thefe candidates for fame, the legislature has, indeed, thought fit to interpofe; and their atchievements are with great folemnity rehearfed and recorded in a temple, of which I know not the celeftial appellation, but on earth it is called Justice Hall, in the Old Bailey.

As the rest are utterly neglected, I cannot think of any expedient to gratify the noble thirft of my correfpondent and his compeers, but that of procuring them admiffion into this clafs; an attempt in which I do not defpair of furcefs, for I think I can demonftrate their right, and I will not fuppofe it poffible that when this is done they will be excluded.

Upon the moft diligent examination of ancient hiftory and modern panegyric, I find that no action has ever been held honourable in fo high a degree, as killing men: this, indeed, is one of the

feats