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tred; if he was drunk, or married; he fpoke a fentiment: if a lady was angry, or pleafed; in love, or out of it; a prude, or a coquet; make room for a fentiment! If a fervant girl was chid, or received a prefent from her mittrefs; if a valet received a purse, or a horfewhipping; good heavens, what a fine fentiinent!

"This fault I fay was infinitely more abfurd than that of Congreve; for a peasant may blunder on wit, to whofe mind fentiment is totally heterogeneous. Befides, Congreve's wit is all his own; whereas most of the faid fentiments may be found in the Proverbs of Solomon.

"No wonder then this way of writing was foon abandoned even by him who was its chief leader. Goldsmith in vain tried to ftem the torrent by oppofing a barrier of low humour, and dulinefs and abfurdity, more dull and abfurd than English fentimental comedy itfelf.

It is very much to the credit of that excellent writer Mr. Colman, that, while other dramatifts were loft in the fashion of fentiment, his comedies always prefent the happieft mediums of nature; without either affectation of fentiment, or affectation of wit. That the able tranflator of Terence fhould yet have fufficient force of mind to keep his own pieces clear of the declamatory dulnefs of that ancient, is certainly a matter deferving of much applaufe. The Jealous Wife, and the Clandestine Marriage, with others of his numerous dramas, may be mentioned as the most perfect models of comedy we have to all the other requifites of fine comic writing they always add ju as much fentiment and wit as does them good. This happy hedium is the most difficult to hit in all com

pofition, and most declares the hand of a master.

"By the School for Scandal the ftyle of Congreve was again brought into fabion; and fentiment made way for wit, and delicate humour. That piece has indeed the beauties of Congreve's comedies, without their faults: its plot is deeply enough perplexed, without forcing one to labour to unravel it; its incidents fufficient, without being too numerous; its wit pure; its fituations truly dramatic. The characters however are not quite fo strong as Congreve's; which may be regarded as the principal fault of this excellent piece. Leffer faults are Charles's fometimes blundering upon fentiments; nay fometimes upon what are the worst of all fentiments, fuch as are of dangerous tendency,, as when Rowley advifes him to pay his debts, before he makes a very liberal prefent, and fo to act as an honest man ere he acts as a generous one.

"Roavley. Ah, fir, I wish you would remember the proverb

"Charles. Be just before you are generous.-Why fo I would if I could, but Juftice is an old lame hobbling beldame, and I can't get her to keep pace with Generofity for the foul of me."

"This fentiment, than which nothing can be more falfe and immoral, is always received by the filly audience with loud applaufe, whereas no reprobation can be too fevere for it. A leffer blemish lies in the verfes tagged to the end of the play, in which one of the cha racters addreffes the audience. The verfes are an abfurdity, the addrefs a fill greater; for the audience is by no good actor fuppofed to be prefent: and any circumstance that contributes to destroy the apparent

reality

T

CHARACTER of HANDEL as a COMPOSER.

[From Dr. BURNEY's Sketch of his Life. ]

HAT Handel was fuperior in the strength and boldness of his ftyle, the richness of his harmony, and complication of parts, to every compofer who has been most admired for fuch excellencies, cannot be difputed. And, while fugue, contrivance, and a full score, were more generally reverenced than at prefent, he remained wholly unrivalled.

"I know it has been faid that Handel was not the original and immediate inventor of feveral fpecies of mufic, for which his name has been celebrated; but, with refpect to originality, it is a term to which proper limits fhould be fet, before it is applied to the productions of any artift. Every invention is clumfy in its beginning, and Shakspeare was not the firft writer of plays, or Corelli the firft compofer of violin folos, fonatas, and concertos, though thofe which he produced are the best of his time; nor was Milton the inventor of epic poetry. The feale, harmony, and cadence of mufic, being fettled, it is impoffible for any compofer to invent a genus of compofition that is wholly and rigorously new, any more than for a poet to form a language, idiom, and phrafeology, for himfelf. All that the greatest and boldest musical inventor can do, is to avail himself of the best effu fions, combinations, and effects, of his predeceffors; to arrange and apply them in a new manner; and to add, from his own fource, what ever he can draw, that is grand, graceful, gay, pathetic, or, in any other way, pleating. This Handel did, in a moft ample and fuperior

manner; being poffeffed, in his mid-
dle age and full vigour, of every
refinement and perfection of his
time: uniting the depth and elabo-
rate contrivance of his own coun-
try, with Italian elegance and faci-
lity; as he feems, while he refided
fouth of the Alps, to have listened
attentively in the church, theatre,
and chamber, to the most exquifite
compofitions, and performers, of
every kind, that were then existing.

"And though we had cantatas
by Cariffimi, Aleffandro Scarlatti,
Gafparini, and Marcello; duets by
Steffani and Clari; vocal choruffes,
without inftrumental accompani-
ments, by Palestrina, and our own
Tallis, Bird, and Purcell; and,
with accompaniments, by Cariffimi
as well as Paolo Colonna; with
violin fonatas and concertos by Co-
relli and Geminiani; yet it may
with the utmost truth be afferted,
that Handel added confiderable
beauties to whatever style or species
of compofition he adopted, which,
in a larger work, it would not be
difficult to demonftrate, by exam-
ples. At prefent, I fhall only ven-
ture to give it as part of my mufi
cal profeffion de foi, that his air or
melody is greatly fuperior to any
that can be found in the otherwife
charming cantatas which Cariffimi
feems to have invented; that he is
more natural in his voice-parts, and
has given more movements to his
bafes than Alef. Scarlatti; that he
has more force and originality than
Gafparini or Marcello; that his
chamber duets are, at least, equal
to thofe of Steffani and Clari, who
were remarkable for no other fpe-
cies of compofition; and though

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the late Dr. Boyce used to say that Handel had great obligations to CoJonna for his choruffes with inftru mental accompaniments, it feems indifputable that fuch choruffes were infinitely more obliged to Handel than he to Colonna, or, indeed, than they were to all the compofers that have ever exifted. It is my belief, likewife, that the best of his Italian opera fongs furpafs, in variety of ftyle and ingenuity of ac companiment, thofe of all preceding and contemporary compofers throughout Europe; that he has more fire, in his compofitions for violins than Corelli, and more rhythm than Geminiani; that in his full, masterly, and excellent or

gan-fugues, upon the most natural and pleafing fubjects, he has furpaffed Frescobaldi, and even Sebaftian Bach, and others of his countrymen, the most renowned for abi lities in this difficult and elaborate fpecies of compofition; and, laftly, that all the judicious and unpreju diced muficians of every country, upon hearing or perufing his noble, majeftic, and frequently fublime full anthems, and oratorio choruffes, must allow, with readiness and rap ture, that they are utterly unac quainted with any thing equal to them, among the works of the greatest mafters that have exifted fince the invention of counter. point."

PHILO.

PHILOSOPHICAL PAPER S.

NATURAL HISTORY OF LIONS.
[From Dr. SPARRMAN's Voyage to the Cape of Good Hope.]

"Ih

T had not been dark two hours, before we heard the roaring of lions, which at times appeared to be pretty near us. This was the first time that I had heard this kind of mufic, and, as there were feveral performers, it might be properly called a concerto of lions. They continued roaring the whole night, whence my guide concluded, that they had affembled on the plains in order to copulate, and carry on their amours, by fighting and attacking each other after the manner of cats.

"To describe the roaring of the lion as nearly as I can, I must inform the reader that it confifted in a hoarfe inarticulate found, which at the fame time feemed to have a hollownefs in it, fomething like that proceeding from a fpeaking trumpet. The found is between that of a German u and an o, being drawn to a great length, and ap. pearing as if it came from out of the earth; at the fame time that, after listening with the greatest attention, I could not exactly hear The from what quarter it came. found of the lion's voice does not bear the leaft refemblance to thunder, as M. de Buffon, tom. ix. p. 22. from the Voyage of Boullaye le Gouz, affirms it does. In fact, it appeared to me to be neither peculiarly piercing nor tremendous;

yet, from its flow prolonged note,
joined with nocturnal darkness, and
the terrible idea one is apt to form
to one's felf of this animal, it made
one fhudder, even in fuch places
as I had an opportunity of hearing
it in with more fatisfaction, and
without having the leaft occafion
for fear. We could plainly per
ceive by our animals, when the
lions, whether they roared or not,
were reconnoitring us at a fmall di
ftance. For in that cafe the hounds
did not dare to bark in the least,
but crept quite close to the Hotten-
tots; and our oxen and horfes figh-
ed deeply, frequently hanging back,
and pulling flowly with all their
might at the ftrong ftraps with
which they were tied up to the wag-
gon. They likewife laid them-
felves down upon the ground and
ftood up alternately, appearing as
if they did not know what to do
with themfelves: and, indeed, I
may fay, just as if they were in the
In the mean
agonies of death.
time, my Hottentots made the nc-
ceffary preparations, and laid each
of them their javelins by the fide
of them. We likewife loaded all
our five pieces, three of which we
diftributed among thofe of our Hot-
tentots who spoke Dutch.

Fire and fire-brands are univerfally reckoned, and indeed were faid by my Hottentots, to be a

13

great

on the markfman. In another refpect, however, we that lay in the waggon and at a distance from the fire, were most liable to receive a vifit from the lions; or at least to fee our horfes and oxen, which were tied up to the waggon, feized by them. Otherwife, for the fingularity of the fpectacle, I fhould have been glad to have feen an attack of this kind, if it had not coft me more than a couple of my oxen. In fuch a cafe, indeed, my horses would probably firft have fallen a prey to this rapacious animal, as it is generally fuppofed that the lion gives them the preference.

great prefervative and defence fuch a cafe, the lion always rufhes against lions and other wild beasts: they could, however, themfelves mention inftances, in which the lion had leaped forward to the fire, and carried off fome one of them, who had been fitting round it and warming themselves. The animal too has fometimes taken its prey to fo fhort a distance, that the poor wretch's companions have plainly heard it champing and chewing his flefh. The Hottentots defired us who were placed in the waggon, not to be in too great hafte to fire in cafe a lion fhould take a leap among them, for fear that in the dark we might at the fame time hurt fome of them. They had concerted matters fo, that fome of them fhould rather attempt to pierce him through with their hafagais or fpears, while at the fame inftant the others fhould endeavour to cling about its legs.

"They looked upon it as a certain fact, and I have fince heard the fame from others, that a lion does not immediately kill the perfon he has got under him, unlefs he is excited to do fo by the refiftance he meets with. At length, however, it is reported, the royal tyrant gives the coup de grace on the victim's breast with a hideous roar. On this occafion I must do my Hottentots the juice to fay, that they did not fhew the leaft fear; though they conceived the old and commonly-received notion to be abfolutely true, that both lions and tigers would attack a flave or a Hottentot before they will a coloniit or a white man. Confequently Mr. Immelman and I had no fuch great reafon to be in fear for our own perfons, unless more than one lion fhould come to attack us, or that we fhould difcharge our picces too precipitately and mifs him; for in

"Among our oxen there was one which at this time, as well as fince upon other fimilar occafions, appeared extremely difquieted and reftlefs. It had, befides, a fingular and aftonishing habit of making an inward noife, which cannot be defcribed; and this was the cafe likewife with the ftone-horfe, in his own peculiar way. This, in fact, was fufficient to make us keep ourfelves in readinefs, though it happened not to be abfolutely neceffary: however, we quickly got accustomed to it, and feveral times laid ourfelves down to fleep, void of care, leaving our beafts to figh on unheeded. It is, indeed, a wonderful circumftance, that the brute creation fhould have been taught merely by nature to be in dread of the lion; for our horfes and oxen were all from places, where I am certain they could have no knowledge of this dreadful adverfary of theirs: fo that in this we muit admire the bounty of Providence, which, while it has fent fuch a ty rant as the lion amongst the aninial creation, has likewife taught them to difcern and diftinguish it with trembling and horror.

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