to an old thepherd, who was ordered to get him cloaths that would fit him, and teach him to fpeak plain.

The fourth that stepped forwards was young Amyntas, the most beautiful of all the Arcadian fwains, and fecretly beloved by Amaryllis. He wore that day the fame colours as the maid for whom he fighed. He moved towards her with an eafy but unassured airs the blushed as he came near her; and when the gave him the fatal prefent, they both trembled, but neither could fpeak. Hav. ing fecretly breathed his vows to the gods, he poured forth fuch melodious notes, that though they were a little wild and irregular, they filled every heart with delight. The fwains immediately mingled in the dance, and the old fhep herds affirmed, that they had often heard fuch mufic by night, which they imagined to be played by fome of the rural deities. The good old man leaped from his throne, and after he had embraced him, prefented him to his daughter, which caufed a general acclamation. While they were in the midst of their joy, they were furprized with a very odd

appearance. A perfon in a blue mantle, crowned with fedges and rushes, stepped into the middle of the ring. He had an angling-rod in his hand, a pa nier upon his back, and a poor meagre wretch in wet cloaths carried fome oyfters before him. Being alked whence he came, and what he was, he told them he was come to invite Amaryllis from the plains to the fea-fhore; that his subftance consisted in sea-calves; and that he was acquainted with the Nereids and the Naiads. Art thou acquainted with the Naiads?' faid Menalcas; to them then fhalt thou return. The shepherds immediately hoitted him up as an enemy to Arcadia, and plunged him in the river, where he funk, and was never heard of fince.

Amyntas and Amaryllis lived a long and happy life, and governed the vales of Arcadia. Their generation was very long lived, there having been but four defcents in above two thousand years. His heir was called Theocritus, who left his dominions to Virgil, Virgil left his to his fon Spencer, and Spencer was fucceeded by his eldeft-born Philips.

Have made it a rule to myself not to publifh any thing on a Saturday, but what fhall have fome analogy to the duty of the day enfuing. It is an unfpeakable pleafure to me, that I have lived to fee the time when I can obferve fuch a law to myself, and yet turn my difcourfe upon what is done at the playhoufe. I am fure the reader knows I am going to mention the Tragedy of Cato. The principal character is moved by no confideration, but refpect to that fort of virtue, the fenfe of which is retained in our language under the word Public Spirit. All regards to his domeftic are wholly laid alide, and the hero is drawn as having, by this motive, fubdued instinct itself, and taking comfort from the diftreffes of his family, which are brought upon them by their adherence to the caule of truth and liberty. There is nothing uttered by Cato but what is worthy the beft of men; and

APRIL 18.

HOR. Er. 4. L. I. V. S.

the fentiments which are given him, are not only the most warm for the conduct of this life, but fuch as we may think will not need to be erafed, but confift with the happiness of the human foul in the next. This illuftrious character has it's proper influence on all below it; the other virtuous perfonages are, in their degree, as worthy, and as exemplary as the principal; the conduct of the lovers (who are more warm, though inore difcreet, than ever yet appeared on the stage) has in it a conftant fense of the great catastrophe which was expected. from the approach of Cæfar. But to fee the modesty of an heroine, whose country and family were at the fame time in the most imminent danger, preferved, while the breaks out into the most fond and open expreffions of her paffion for her lover, is an inftance of no common addrefs. Again, to obferve the body of a gallant young man brought

before

before us, who, in the bloom of his youth, in the defence of all that is good and great, had received numberless wounds; I fay, to obferve that this dead youth is introduced only for the example of his virtue, and that his death is fo circumftantiated, that we are fatisfied, for all his virtue, it was for the good of the world, and his own family, that his warm temper was not to be put upon farther trial, but his task of life ended while it was yet virtuous, is an employment worthy the confideration of our Young Britons. We are obliged to authors that can do what they will with us, that they do not play our affections and paffions against ourselves, but to make us fo foon refigned to the death of Marcus, of whom we were fo fond, is a power that would be unfortunately lodged in a man without the love of virtue.

Were it not that I speak on this occasion rather as a Guardian than a Cri, tic, I could proceed to the examination of the justness of each character, and take notice that the Numidian is as well drawn as the Roman. There is not an idea in all the part of Syphax which does not apparently arife from the habits which grow in the mind of an African; and the scene between Juba and his General, where they talk for and again a liberal education, is full of inftruction: Syphax urges all that. can be faid against philofophy, as it is made fubfervient to ill ends by men who abuse their talents; and Juba fets the less excellencies of activity, labour, patience of hunger, and itrength of body, which are the admired qualifications of a Numidian, in their proper fubordination to the accomplishments of the mind. But. this play is fo well recommended by others, that I will not, for that and fome private reafons, enlarge any farther. Doctor Garth has very agreeably raillied the mercenary traffic between men and women of this age, in the Epilogue by Mis. Porter, who acted Lucia. And Mr. Pope has prepared the audience for a new scene of paffion and transport on a more noble foundation than they have before been entertained with, in the Prologue. I fhall take the liberty to gra-. tify the impatience of the town by inferting these two excellent pieces, as carneits of the work itself, which will be printed within a few days.

PROLOGUE TO CATO

BY MR. POPE.

SPOKEN BY MR. WILKS.

TO wake the foul by tender strokes of art,

To raife the genius, and to mend the heart; To make mankind in confcious virtue bold, Live o'er each scene, and be what they behold: For this the Tragic Mufe first trod the flage, Commanding tears to ftream thro' every age; Tyrants no more their favage nature kept, And foes to virtue wonder'd how they wept. The hero's glory, or the virgin's love; Our author fhuns by vulgar fprings to move In pitying Love we but our weakness shew, And wild Ambition well deferves it's woe. Here tears fhall flow from a more gen'rous caufe,

Such tears as patriots fhed for dying laws: Hebids your breafts with ancient ardour rife, And calls forth Roman drops from British

cars,

The fpoils of nations, and the pomp of wars, Ignobly vain, and impotently great, Shew'dRome her Cato's figure drawn in state; As her dead father's rev'rend image paft, The pomp was darken'd, and the day o erçaft, The triumph ceas'd-tears gufh'd from ev'ry eye;

The world's great victor paft unheeded by; Her laft good man dejected Rome ador d,

And honour'd Cæfar's lefs than Cato's sword.

Britons attend: be worth like this approv'd, And fhew you have the virtue to be mov'd. With honeft fcorn the first-fam`d Cato view'd Rome learning arts from Greece whom the fubdu'd.

Our fcene precariously fubfifts too long
On French tranflation, and Italian fong:
Dare to have fenfe yourselves, affert the flage,
Such plays alone fhould pleafe a British car,
Be juft'y warm'd with your own native rage:

As Cato's felf had not difdain'd to hear.

EPILOGUE TO CATO.

BY DR. GARTH.

SPOKEN BY MRS. PORTER.

WHAT odd fantastic things we women do!

Who would not liften when young lovers

woo? What! die a maid, yet have the choice of two! There

Ladies are often cruel to their coft:

To give you pain,themselves they punish most. Vows of virginity fhould well be weigh'd; Too oft they'recancell`d, tho'inconvents made. Wou'd you revenge fuch rafh refolves-

you may

Be fpiteful-and believe the thing we say;
We hate you when you're eafily faid Nay.
How needlefs, if you knew us, were your fears!
Let Love have eyes, and Beauty will have ears.
Our hearts are form d, as you yourselves
would chufe,

Too proud to ask, too humble to refuse:
We give to merit, and to wealth we fell;
He fighs with mot fuccefs that fettles well.
The woes of wedlock with the joys we mix;
'Tis best repenting in a coach and fix.
Blame not our conduct, fince we but purfue
Thofe lively leffons we have learn'd from you:
Your breafts no more the fire of beautywarms;
But wicked wealth ufurps the power of
charms:

What pains to get the gaudy thing you hate, To fwell in fhew, and be a wretch in state! At plays you ogle, at the ring you bow: Ev'n churches are no fanctuaries now; There golden idols all your vows receive; She is no goddess who has nought to give.. Oh, may once more the happy age appear, When words were artlefs, and the foul finceres When gold and grandeur were upenvy'd things,

And crowns lefs coveted than groves and fprings!

Love then thall only mourn when Truth complains,

And Conftancy feel transport in it's chains;
Sighs with fuccefs their own foft anguish tell,
And cyes
fhall utter what the lips conceal;
Virtue again to it's bright ftation climb,
And Beauty fear no enemy but time:
The fair fhall liften to defert alone,
And every Lucia find a Cato's fon.

IT

HoR. ARS POET. V. 142.

T is a moft vexatious thing to an old man, who endeavours to fquare his notions by reafon, and to talk from reflection and experience, to fall in with a circle of young ladies at their afternoon tea-table. This happened very lately to be my fate. The converfation, for the first half hour, was fo very rambling, that it is hard to fay what was talked of, or who spoke least to the purpose. The various motions of the fan, the toffings of the head, intermixed with all the pret ty kinds of laughter, made up the greatest part of the difcourfe. At last this modifh way of faining and being witty fettled into fomething like converfation, and the talk ran upon Fine Gentlemen. From the feveral characters that were given, and the exceptions that were made, as this or that gentleman happened to be named, I found that a lady is not difficult to be pleafed, and that the town fwarms with Fine Gentlemen. A nimble pair of heels, a fmooth complexion, a full-bottom wig, a laced shirt, an embroidered fuit, a pair of fringed gloves, a hat and feather; any one or mose of these and the like accomplishments ennobles a man, and raifes him above the vulgar, in a female imagination. On the contrary, a modest serious

behaviour, a plain drefs, a thick pair of fhoes, a leathern belt, a waistcoat not lined with filk, and fuch like imperfections, degrade a man, and are fo many blots in his efcutcheon. I could not forbear fmiling at one of the prettiest and livelieft of this gay affembly, who excepted to the gentility of Sir William Hearty, because he wore a frize coat, and breaftfafted upon toast and ale. Í pretended to admire the fineness of her tafte; and to strike in with her in ridiculing thofe aukward healthy gentlemen, that seem to make nourishment the chief end of eating: I gave her an ac-count of an honest Yorkshire gentleman, · who (when I was a traveller) used to invite his acquaintance at Paris to break their faft with him upon cold roast beef and mum. There was, I remember, a little French marquis, who was often pleafed to railly him unmercifully upón beef and pudding, of which our countryman would difpatch a pound or two with great alacrity, while his antagonist was piddling at a mushroom, or the haunch of a frog. I could perceive the lady was pleafed with what I faid, and we parted very good friends by virtue of a maxim I always obferve, Never to contradict or reason with a sprightly feK

male,

male. I went home, however, full of a great many ferious reflections upon what had paffed: and though, in complaifance, I difguifed my fentiments, to keep up the good-humour of my fair companions, and to avoid being looked upon as a testy old fellow, yet out of the good-will I bear to the fex, and to prevent, for the future, their being impofed upon by counterfeits, I fhall give them the diftinguishing marks of ⚫ true fine gentleman."

a

When a good artist would exprefs any remarkable character in fculpture, he endeavours to work up his figure into all the perfections his imagination can form; and to imitate not fo much what is, as what may or ought to be. I fhall follow their example, in the idea I am going to trace out of a fine gentleman, by aflembling together fuch qualifications as feem requifite to make the character compleat. In order to this, I fhall premife in general, that by a fine gentleman I mean a man compleatly qualified as well for the fervice and good, as for the ornament and delight, of fociety. When I confider the frame of mind peculiar to a gentleman, I fuppofe it graced with all the dignity and elevation of fpirit that human nature is capable of: to this I would have joined a clear understanding, a reafon free from prejudice, a fteady judgment, and an extenfive knowledge. When I think of the heart of a gentleman, I imagine it firm and intrepid, void of all inordinate paffions, and full of tenderness, compaffion, and benevolence. When I view the fine gentleman with regard to his manners, methinks I fee him modeft without bafhfulness, frank and affable without impertinence, obliging and complaifant without fervility, chearful and in good-humour without noife. Thefe amiable qualities are not eafily obtained; neither are there many men that have a genius to excel this way. A finifhed gentleman is, perhaps, the most uncommon of all the great characters in life. Besides the natural endowments with

which this distinguished man is to be born, he must run through a long feries of education. Before he makes his appearance and fhines in the world, he must be principled in religion, instructed in all the moral virtues, and led through the whole courfe of the polite arts and fciences. He should be no stranger to courts and to camps; he must travel to open his mind, to enlarge his views, to learn the policies and interests of foreign ftates, as well as to fashion and polish himself, and to get clear of national prejudices, of which every country has it's fhare. To all these more effential improvements, he must not forget to add the fashionable ornaments of life, fuch as are the languages and the bodily exercises moft in vogue: neither would I have him think even dress itself beneath his notice.

It is no very uncommon thing in the world to meet with men of probity; there are likewife a great many men of honour to be found; men of courage, men of fenfe, and men of letters are frequent: but a true fine gentleman is what one feldom fees; he is properly a compound of the various good qualities that embellifh mankind. As the great poet animates all the different parts of learning by the force of his genius, and irradiates all the compafs of his knowledge by the luftre and brightness of his imagination; fo all the great and folid perfections of life appear in the finished gentleman, with a beautiful glofs and varnish; every thing he fays or does is accompanied with a manner, or rather a charm, that draws the admiration and good-will of every beholder.

ADVERTISEMENT.

FOR THE BENEFIT OF MY FEMALE

READERS.

N.B. The gilt chariot, the diamond ring, the gold fnuff-box, and brocade fword-knot, are no effential parts of a fine gentleman; but may be used by him, provided he cafts his eye upon them but once a day.

N° XXXV.