State of Blifs, and were caft into Hell upon their Difobedience. Befides this great Moral, which may be looked upon as the Soul of the Fable, there are an Infinity of Under-Morals which are to be drawn from the feveral parts of the Poem, and which makes this Work more ufeful and inftructive than any other Poem in any Language.

THOSE who have criticized on the Odysey, the Iliad, and Eneid, have taken a great deal of Pains to fix the Number of Months and Days contained in the Action of each of thofe Poems. If any one thinks it worth his while to examine this Particular in Milton, he will find that from Adam's firft Appearance in the fourth Book, to his Expulfion from Paradife in the twelfth, the Author reckons ten Days. As for that part of the Action which is described in the three firft Books, as it does not pass within the Regions of Nature, I have before observed that it is not fubject to any Calculations of Time.

I have now finished my Obfervations on a Work which does an honour to the English Nation. I have taken a general View of it under these four Heads, the Fable, the Characters, the Sentiments, and the Language; and made each of them the Subject of a particular Paper. I have in the next Place spoken of the Cenfures which our Auther may incur under each of these Heads, which I have confined to two Papers, though I might have en larged the Number, if I had been difpofed to dwell on so ungrateful a Subject. I believe, however, that the fevereft Reader will not find any little Fault in Heroick Poetry, which this Author has fallen into, that does not come under one of those Heads among which I have diftributed his feveral Blemishes. After having thus treated at large of Paradife Loft, I could not think it fufficient to have celebrated this Poem in the whole, without defcending to Particulars. I have therefore bestowed a Paper upon each Book, and endeavoured not only to prove that the Poem is beautiful in general, but to point out its Particular Beauties, and to determine wherein they confift. I have endeavoured to thew how fome Paffages are beautiful by being Sublime, others by being Soft, others by being Natural; which of them are recommended by the Palion, which by the Moral, which by the Sentiment;

and

and which by the Expreffion. I have likewife endeavoured to fhew how the Genius of the Poet fhines by a happy Invention, a diftant Allufion, or a judicious Imitation; how he has copied or improved Homer or Virgil, and raises his own Imaginations by the Ufe which he has made of feveral Poetical Paffages in Scripture. I might have inferted alfo feveral Paffages in Tafo, which our Author has imitated; but as I do not look upon Tafo to be a fufficient Voucher, I would not perplex my Reader with fuch Quotations, as might do more Honour to the Italian than the English Poet. In fhort, I have endeavoured to particularize thofe innumerable kinds of Beauty, which it would be tedious to recapitulate, but which are effential to Poetry, and which may be met with in the Works of this great Author. Had I thought, at my firft engaging in this Defign, that it would have led me to fo great a length, I believe I fhould never have entered upon it; but the kind Reception which it has met with among those whofe Judgments I have a value for, as well as the uncommon Demands which my Bookfeller tells me have been made for thefe particular Difcourfes, give me no reason to repent of the Pains I have been at in compofing them. L

N° 370. Monday, May 5.

M

Totus Mundus agit Hiftrionem.

ANY of my fair Readers, as well as very gay and well-received Perfons of the other Sex, are extremely perplexed at the Latin Sentences at the Head of my Speculations; I do not know whether I ought not to indulge them with Tranflations of each of them: However, I have to day taken down from the Top of the Stage in Drury-Lane a bit of Latin which often stands in their View, and fignifies that the whole World acts the Player. It is certain that if we look all round us, and be hold the different Employments of Mankind, you hardly fee

ore

one who is not, as the Player is, in an affum'd Character. The Lawyer, who is vehement and loud in a Caufe wherein he knows he has not the Truth of the Queftion on his fide,is a Player as to the perfonated Part, but incomparably meaner than he as to the Prostitution of himself for hire; because the Pleader's Falfhood introduces Injuftice, the Player feigns for no other end but to divert or inftruct you. The Divine, whose Paffions transport him to fay any thing with any View but promoting the Interefts of true Piety and Religion, is a Player with a still greater Imputation of Guilt, in proportion to his depre ciating a Character more facred. Confider all the different Pursuits and Employments of Men, and you will find half their Actions tend to nothing else but Disguise and Impofture; and all that is done which proceeds not from a Man's very felf is the Action of a Player. For this reafon it is that I make fo frequent mention of the Stage: It is, with me, a Matter of the highest Confideration what Parts are well or ill performed, what Paffions or Sentiments are indulged or cultivated, and confequently what Manners and Customs are transfused from the Stage to the World, which reciprocally imitate each other. As the Writers of Epick Poems introduce fhadowy Perfons, and reprefent Vices and Virtues under the Characters of Men and Women; fo I, who am a SPECTATOR in the World, may perhaps fometimes make use of the Names of the Actors on the Stage, to represent or admonish those who tranfact Affairs in the World. When I am commending Wilks for reprefenting the Tenderness of a Husband and a Father in Macbeth, the Contrition. of a reformed Prodigal in Harry the Fourth, the winning Emptiness of a young Man of Good-nature and Wealth in the Trip to the Jubilee, the Officioufnefs of an artful Servant in the Fox: when thus I celebrate Wilks, I talk to all the World who are engaged in any of thofe Circumftances. If I were to speak of Merit neglected, mifapplied or misunderstood, might not I fay Eafcourt has a great Capacity? But it is not the Intereft of others who bear a Figure on the Stage that his Talents were understood; it is their Bufinefs to impose upon him what cannot become him, or keep out of his hands any thing in which he would fhine. Were one to raise a

Sufpicion

Sufpicion of himself in a Man who paffes upon the World for a fine Thing, in order to alarm him, one might say, if Lord Foppington were not on the Stage, (Cibber acts the falfe Pretenfions to a genteel Behaviour fo very justly) he would have in the generality of Mankind more that would admire than deride him. When we come to Characters directly Comical, it is not to be imagin'd what Effect a well-regulated Stage would have upon Mens Manners. The Craft of an Ufurer, the Abfurdity of a rich Fool, the awkward Roughness of a Fellow of half Courage, the ungraceful Mirth of a Creature of half Wit, might be for ever put out of Countenance by proper Parts for Dogget. Johnson by acting Corbacchio the other Night, must have given all who faw him a thorough Detestation of aged Avarice. The Petulancy of a peevish old Fellow, who loves and hates he knows not why, is very excellently performed by the ingenious Mr. William Penkethman in the Fop's Fortune; where, in the Character of Don Cholerick Snap Shorto de Tefty, he answers no Questions but to those whom he likes, and wants no account of any thing from those he approves. Mr. Penkethman is alfo Mafter of as many Faces in the Dumb-Scene, as can be expected from a Man in the Circumftances of being ready to perish out of Fear and Hunger: He wonders throughout the whole Scene very mafterly, without neglecting his Victuals. If it be, as I have heard it fometimes mentioned, a great Qualification for the World to follow Business and Pleasure too, what is it in the Ingenious Mr. Penkethman to reprefent a Senfe of Pleasure and Pain at the fame time; as you may see him do this Evening?

AS it is certain that a Stage ought to be wholly fuppreffed, or judicioufly encouraged, while there is one in the Nation, Men turn'd for regular Pleasure cannot employ their Thoughts more usefully, for the Diverfion of Mankind, than by convincing them that it is in themfelves to raise this Entertainment to the greatelt Height. It would be a great Improvement, as well as Embellishment to the Theatre, if Dancing were more regarded, and taught to all the Actors. One who has the Advantage of fuch an agreeable girlish Perfon as Mrs. Bicknell, joined with her Capacity of Imitation, could in proper

Gesture

Gefture and Motion reprefent all the decent Characters of Female Life. An amiable. Modelty in one Aspect of a Dancer, an affumed Confidence in another, a fudden Joy in another, a falling off with an Impatience of being beheld, a Return towards the Audience with an unfteady Refolution to approach them, and a well-acted Solicitude to pleafe, would revive in the Company all the fine Touches of Mind raised in obferving all the Objects of Affection or Paffion they had before beheld. Such elegant Entertainments as thefe, would polifh the Town into Judgment in their Gratifications; and Delicacy in Pleasure is the firft ftep People of Condition take in Reformation from Vice. Mrs. Bicknell has the only Capacity for this fort of Dancing of any on the Stage; and I dare fay all who fee her Performance to-morrow Night, when fure the Romp will do her best for her own Benefit, will be of my mind.

T

N° 371.

Tuesday, May 6.

I

Famne igitur laudas quod de fapientibus unus
Ridebat?

Juv.

Shall communicate to my Reader the following Letter for the Entertainment of this Day.

SIR,

Y

OU know very well that our Nation is more famous for that fort of Men who are called Whims and Humourifts, than any other Country in the • World; for which reafon it is obferved that our English • Comedy excels that of all other Nations in the Novelty and Variety of its Characters.

AMONG those innumerable Sets of Whims which our Country produces, there are none whom I have regarded with more Curiofity than those who have invented any particular kind of Diverfion for the Entertainment of themfelves or their Friends. My Letter

'fhall