afperity; the fame original and peculiar humour.-The author proceeds to obferve, that They hold forth vice and folly to ridicule in fo lively and ingenious a manner, that it may be doubted whether they would not, even now, produce a more beneficial effect than any fpecies of comedy fince devised.' This is a point extremely questionable: the fatyrift, in fuch a cafe, might exclaim like Pope, Yes, I am proud; I must be proud to fee But this facred weapon,' to use his words, should be to all but heav'n-directed hands, denied.' That Aristophanes was not altogether worthy the trust; and that it may be wielded to the annoyance of innocence and virtue, no less than to the confufion of vice, the Clouds fufficiently evince. "Offenfive parts, it must be confeffed, there are; but whoever is the leaft converfant with the writings of Ariftophanes will never conceive them to have been the refult of a propenfity to ribaldry, much lefs of an incapacity to furnish fuperior entertainment. Nor can we imagine they were introduced merely in compliance with the then prevailing tafte of the Athenians. May we not therefore fairly fuppofe, that the groffnefs of thofe paffages, for which he has been cenfured, was purpofely adopted, to cover, in fome degree, his fatirical intention, and to make the battery he was preparing to open, fo as to give it greater effect ?" These offenfive parts' give no very high idea of the delicacy of taste generally attributed to the Athenians, at leaft in the days of Ariftophanes: they would now be heard with difguft by the upper gallery in a provincial theatre. The tranflator has judiciously foftened, or omitted, the most exceptionable. That the Grecian bard has often introduced ribaldry, as a cover to mafk his fatyric battery, and, like Touchstone, ufed his folly as a ftalking-horse, under the prefentation of that to fhoot his wit,' may probably be the cafe. That he at least fometimes facrificed his better judgment to please the vitiated taste of his audience feems evident from the first fpeech. Sir, may I utter fome of my old jokes, At which the audience never fail to laugh?' This is fpoken by Xanthias, the flave of Bacchus, who rides upon an afs, with a heavy bundle suspended from a ftaff which he carries on his fhoulder. Bacchus appears with C 4 a lion's a lion's skin thrown over his own proper drefs, and with a great club in his hand, meaning to pafs for Hercules.' It may be observed that, in this play, the Olympic deities are not exhibited in a more refpectable light than in the burletta of Midas. Yet the very fame people, who here laughed at the ludicrous reprefentation, not long afterwards, and partly perhaps through its author's means, facrificed Socrates, on fufpicion of his entertaining fome heterodox opinions relative to their divinityfhip. Can a ftronger inftance be given of the inconfiftency of human nature! unless we fuppofe the poet, like Rabelais, by affuming the fool's-cap, warded off the danger which a ferious expofure would almost inevitably have produced. A king's jefter, in former times, has often excited laughter by the fame fpeech that would have endangered a minifter's head. The first dialogue is replete with the fame kind of quibbling and low wit, to which Shakspeare condefcended for the entertainment of our ancestors, in the golden days of queen Elizabeth and her profound fucceffor. A fhort fpecimen will be fufficient. Xanthias, obliged to carry a heavy barthen, and prohibited from uttering his indecent jokes, complains of the double hardship. Bacchus replies, What faucinefs and delicate airs!-I Bac. When thou'rt born thyself? Bac. How fo?? Xanth. Why, to my forrow. Bac. Say carries not thy afs whate'er thou bear'st ? Who thump'd the door? fome centaur certainly I cannot find any authority for fuppofing, what the scholiaft on our author's comedy of Plutus, v. 545, has obferved with a reference to this paffage, that Jupiter was called Zraumos. It feems rather to be a parody ou fome well-known line of one of the poets of that time, who had made Bacchus pompously defcribe himself as the fon of Jupiter; in ridicule of which Ariftophanes calls him the fon of a cask? The · We The tranflator fuppofes Hercules fays this, laughing at the appearance of Bacchus, whofe perfon and difpofition we are to fuppofe very unfit for the character he had affumed.' fhould rather imagine that he alludes to Xanthias and his courfer; which in the prefentation might have appeared unruly, and kicked against the door. The flave's ridiculous figure, contrafted with the formidable idea conceived of the centaurs, muft probably have produced a laughable effect on the audience. The fpeech preceding that we have quoted will warrant either conjecture. The scene between Xanthias and Eacus, who is reprefented as a domestic of Pluto's, will poffibly give a higher idea of Ariftophanes' humour; it will at least fhew that the characteriftic qualities of the great and their menials, in his days, were not unlike the present. Eac. By Jove! thy mafter's quite the man of fashion. Xanth. Why how fhou'd he be otherwise ?-I'm sure Whoring and drinking are his fole pursuits. Eac, How happen'd it he did not rate thee well, And cudgel thee, when thou a flave dar'dst pass Thyfelf for him? Xanth. 'Twas well for him he did not. Eac. Why now thou treat'ft him as a fervant ought, And as I'd like to ferve my master., Xanth. Pray, Wou'dft like it? - Eac. "Tis the height of happiness To me when I can curfe him fecretly. Xanth. What! when well thrash'd thou goeft out muttering? Eac. E'en then it joys me. Xanth. Or when thou art bid Do twenty things at once? ac. Not I, by Jove! Xanth. But, my illuftrious brother when thou liften'it Eac. The wond'rous pleasure makes me almoft mad. ac. O Jupiter!-I can't contain myself.' The first part of this performance is chiefly employed in defcribing fome ludicrous adventures of Bacchus in the inferior regions; the latter, in contrafting the refpective merits, or rather defects, of Efchylus and Euripides. Their characters are faithfully drawn, though with fome degree of feverity, in the following chorus. How will the bard of furious foul His faming eyes in frenzy roll, To fee his wily foe preparing to engage!- Grand Grand fhall now the conteft be Of glitt'ring phrafeology; While one fhall ev'ry ftrain'd conceit refine, And thake his fhaggy mane, A low'ring frown his brow fhall wear As from the veffel's fide by storms are torn Its folid planks in well-wedg'd durance join'd, Or as afar the dreadful founds are borne When from earth's centre bursts th' imprison'd wind.— And tuneful tongue the other fraught, Studious of fmoothest harmony, Shall twist and torture ev'ry thought, In many a nicely-labour'd phrafe, Retorts upon his rivals founding lays.' The lyric parts, from the intermixture of burlefque images with genuine poetry, are peculiarly difficult to be rendered with fuccefs. The tranflator, however, though fome inaccuracies occur, has acquitted himself with credit; and his notes are fenfible and judicious. He had many difficulties to encounter the original is often obfcure; many of its allufions, that formerly might fet the house in a roar, are now irretrievably loft; and others, that by the zeal of commentators are fomewhat elucidated, no longer preferve their former poignancy. Such is the fate that will attend all thofe who merely paint the living manners!-If we do not think fo highly of the Grecian bard as his tranflator, we cannot but allow that a complete verfion of his comedies is to be defired, and hope that he will be induced to purfue an undertaking for which he feems perfectly qualified. We would then advise him to give the life of Aristophanes, connected with the manners and Folitics of the time. Many paffages in his plays would reflect and borrow light from an interefting period of history, and be an acquifition to the literary world. The The Patriot. A Tragedy. 800. 1s. 6d. Altered from the Italian of Metaftafio. Shepperson and Reynolds. THE HE author confeffes, that, though called an alteration this is only an humble tranflation of the Themistocles of Metastafio;' but it must be our bufinefs to ascertain its character with greater precifion. The plot and the fentiments are really those of the Italian: the conduct of the play is not very different; for in one place there is only a flight variation of a scene, and the two first acts of the opera are divided into four in the tranflation. The language is elegant and copious: indeed from its copioufnefs alone the play is extended to nearly the ufual fize of our English tragedies. In fome inftances new fentiments are introduced; and in one or two places a line of the original has unaccountably escaped the notice of the tranflator: even in the firft fcene, the following paffage is omitted in its proper place: The fentiments of the original are in general fo well preferved, and the language is fo eafy, and often fo highly ornamented, that we do not perceive, without the Italian before us, any difagreeable effects from the enlargement. Thofe who are acquainted with Metaftafio, must have frequently obferved an energy, and an abruptnefs, which, in fome fituations, add greatly to the delufion of the fcene; in others, they hurry on the bufinefs with too great precipitation. We think that the translator, Mr. Hamilton, has not always been attentive to the effects: the whole is uniformly extended, and confequently fome paffages have greater force, and in others the impreffion is more languid than it ought to be. The operas of Metaftafio are indeed the works of a glowing fancy: his language is the vivid representation of poetic infpiration. Every thing is dictated in a moment; and the fire of a first impreffion is not cooled by the polifh of critical accuracy. With the tranflator every circumftance is neceffarily different; fo that we are not furprifed, either that Mr. Hoole or Mr. Hamilton have been unequal to the expreffion of the manner, the coftumè, if we may be allowed the term, of the original. As the argument of this play is not generally known to the English reader, we fhall give a brief analyfis of it. After the battle of Salamis, we learn from Plutarch, that the Athenians, either fearing the power, or envying the glory of Themiftocles, liftened to the mifreprefentations of faction, and þanished their deliverer. The hero thought himself not safe |