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As society's friend, I with rigour should scan Those scribes that stand forth as the tutors of man. Thus whenever morality hitches the toe,

Delinquent with crab-stick shou'd straight be laid low,

nicles, have since been proved altogether nugatory, particularly in the person of Jane Shore, whom he is stated to have condemned to death by starvation; whereas Sir Thomas More, a writer of the greatest probity living in the reign of Henry VIII., not only acquaints us with the then existence of Mrs. Shore, but that he saw and had a long conversation with her, being a lapse of many years subsequent to the death of King Richard. But if we refer back a century or two anterior to this monarch's reign, how very little do monastic charters, or the gaudy ornaments of a missal, which are the best guides to the curious, afford an insight into the humours of the age, when compared to what posterity will glean from the dramatic effusions of a Foote, Murphy, Coleman, Macklin, Sheridan, and Cumberland, or the didactic narratives of a Fielding, Smollet, Goldsmith, together with the labours of many writers of the present period, who, if not endowed with such transcendant talents, are nevertheless close imitators of the existing state of society in their native country.

Since to one that's allur'd with the Right-'midst

a throng

Whole legions inculcate with rapture The Wrong.
So the scribe who disseminates one germ of vice,
To the practice of evil will thousands entice;
Wherefore, such as appear thus our morals to
slaughter,

I protest, by the Lord, shall experience no quarter.
My chorus concluded, the curtain must rise,
When writers dramatic in crowds meet my eyes;

As
my prompter, with care I the Muse keep in view,
And, in hope that I never may swerve from her cue,
The acts of my melo-drame straight I'll rehearse,
And extol as it suits me—or play quart and tierce.
From hence, tho' departed to death's chill abode,
A Macklin still lives in his Love-a-la-Mode;
While the banner of fame must for aye be unfurl'd
When Thespians enact sterling Man of the World.
Inurn'd I must here, too, a Murphy enrol,

Whose tragical Muse cou'd the passions control,

And Cumberland's genius, scarce tinctur'd with fail

ing,

For sentiment fam'd, must be ever prevailing.

From flights senatorial Sheridan's brain

With energy pictures true comedy's vein;
A Rivals, Duenna, and Critic, must rule

In regions dramatic-while Scandal's just School,
Display'd in our writer, when wielding the pen,
A knowledge consummate of manners and men. (r)

(r) One note will be sufficient to condense the names of Macklin, Murphy, Cumberland, and Sheridan, whose respective dramatic talents have so uniformly been sanctioned by public applause, that it is but to mention each writer, and the meed of praise must consequently follow. Macklin, though not a voluminous contributor to scenic representations, has condensed multum in parvo, by showing a complete knowledge of the practices of the stage, and an acute perception of human life: his characters are drawn with the hand of a master, who felt no diffidence in the accomplishment of the task which he had proposed to himself to execute. Murphy, treading in the old school of the drama, has left to posterity the lasting memorials of what may be produced by a combination of genius and classical

I

Inur'd to the boards-not divested of

grace,

The veteran Waldron shall here claim a place,
While all traits of beauty dramatic conjoin
To blazon with honour departed Burgoyne.
For musical flight Dibdin took his degree,
When fitting in Padlock true Harmony's Key;
Nor ever shall candour while talents claim praise
In silence contemplate the versatile lays

acquirements; his tragic powers are of the first class, and must continue to interest, while Melpomene finds a sanctuary in a British theatre. The versatile talents of Cumberland, and the rapidity of his pen, sometimes prompted him to write without sufficient consideration, and a few of his theatrical labours were in consequence condemned by the audience; but while his West Indian, Wheel of Fortune, and his Jew, are performed, their trifling demerits will always be forgotten, and such pieces receive the sanction of a gratified public. To praise the acknowledged sterling pieces of Sheridan, would only be an echo of the above lines; his claims to theatrical excellence are indelibly stamped upon the minds of the amateurs of the drama, and it is only to be regretted that an individual, thus gifted, should have proved so sparing of the great talents which nature has bestowed upon him.

Of Colman, whose irony aptly can hit
Our follies, thus fraught with intuitive wit. (s)

the

(s) The stage veteran Waldron, a downright enthusiast in his profession, very respectably exerted his talents in the dramatic line; while the late General Burgoyne, uniting all the acquirements of a polished gentleman, an intimate acquaintance with high life, and the most finished style of composition, has enriched stage with specimens of genteel comedy, which fully entitled him to that universal praise he enjoyed while living, and the fame which has followed him in death. Of the late Mr. Dibdin, whether considered as a writer or musical composer for the stage, it is impossible to say too much; his genius in either walk was prolific in the extreme; and when I state that no man, perhaps, ever yet produced so much for the gratification of all classes of society, I shall not only keep within the pale of veracity, but offer a just panegyric to one of the most powerful supporters of operatic exhibitions that has appeared since the first establishment of a British place of scenic entertainment. To the voluminous labours of the elder Colman the theatric boards are highly indebted; but it is to his son, the present dramatist, that every praise is due: his wit is intuitive, and it is impossible to find, in private society, any companion so aptly formed by nature for social enjoyments; indeed, in speaking of this gentle

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