Brutus and Lucius, iņ Julius Cæsar, A. IV. S. 3. in this scene are some very beautiful touches. Flavius in Timon of Athens,-Thoroughgood, Trueman and Barnwell, in George Barnwell,-Jarvis, in The Gamester, Humphry and The Bevils, in The Conscious Lovers, Mortimer and Jarvis, in The Fashionable Lover,-John Moody, in The Provok'd Husband,-Sir George Thunder and John Dory, in Wild Oats,-Captain Bertram and Jack Junk, in The Birth Day, and Lieutenant Worthington, and Corporal Foss, in The Poor Gentleman, which three last are evidently taken from Uncle Toby, and Corporal Trim. To these I add The Stranger and Francis, in the Play of The Stranger.

RICH and POOR: There is an excellent passage on this head in King Lear, A. III. S. 3. and A. IV. S. 1.-See also Lady Randolph, and Douglas, and Old Norval,-The Mountaineers, A. H. S. 2. The Stranger,-The School of Reform,-A Cure for the Heart-ache,The Quaker,-Rosina; and I think I recollect, that in the Play of False Colours, there is a scene where a lady of rank, leads her father to visit the cottages of the Poor ;-and, on this head, I recommend to perusal, for imitation, both on the Stage and off, The Cheap Repository Tracts, particularly The Shepherd of Salisbury Plain, Sorrowful Sam, and Tom White; nor can I forbear recommending Gilpin's Dialogues, between Doctor Lucas, and John Mitchell, and between Dr. L, and Farmer Hardcastle.

FRIENDS: Hamlet, and Horatio,-Antonio, and Bassanio;Essex and Southampton, Altamont, and Horatio, Damon and Pythias, and Osway and Ethelbert, taken from the same story. An instance of friends in a humbler sphere, are the Soldiers, Lenox and Sinclair, in Sprigs of Laurel.

A friend observed to me once, that he thought one lesson, and that the chief, to be learned from almost all Tragedies, is PATIENCE; if the guilty persons had had patience, the catastrophes had never. befallen them. If, in this light, we consider Othello, Lear, Macbeth, Cymbeline, Henry the VIIIth, The Winter's Tale, Julius Cæsar, Timon of Athens, Douglas, &c. &c. we shall see, that a want of patience has been the cause of almost all the wickedness and misfortunes which have happened. It will indeed frequently require some ingenuity to point out and illustrate this moral. But so, likewise, do all parables, fables, and instructive tales; and he is a bad teacher, who, when

he has proposed a fable, does not, at the same time, shew the ap plication.

There is an excellent and beautiful Sermon of Bishop Horne's, entitled PATIENCE POURTRAYED, vol. ii. Discourse X. which I most cordially recommend to the reader's perusal in this place.

W.

Mrs. More says,

"

P. 40. Thin, I will not say empty benches would too probably be the reward of the conscientious reformer." Preface, p. 8.

Mr. Styles, speaking likewise of those who wish to reform the theatre, says, "I think I could venture to assure them, that a blameless Stage would afford them no amusement." p. 44.

X. p. 41. Mr. Hill objects to the Oratorios performed at our theatres: "Let the language of our praises be scriptural, and, at least in my opinion, it will never be in our power to lift up the holy song, by every aid that vocal and instrumental music can produce, beyond what the sacred subject demands. But if, for the sake of these enjoyments, I am to hire such places, built for such purposes; and pay those people to sing for me Songs so sacred, when with the same lips · and instruments, and from the same principle of hire, they can employ the same powers on Songs so abominably profane,-I will never disgrace my person, or spend my property, by visiting a synagogue like theirs." Warning, p. 35.

Mr. Hill appears to me to be here entertaining different sentiments from what he had before stated. Speaking of Comedy, he says, (p. 5.) "The charms of Music are next brought forward to aid the comic song, and to enrich the fascinating scene. And what sort of songs are theirs? Should we not be shocked, were the least offensive of them to be introduced into the houses of our God?—And why not? Things are the same in themselves wherever they may be exhibited; the grand question is how we act--not where we act. As for the mere places, I conceive that if we could convert a playhouse, or any of the other haunts of wickedness and dissipation, to the accommodation even of the worship of God itself, or for any other purposes which are pure and good, the most scrupulous conscience could scarcely recoil at the event." Mr. H.'s practice certainly here is conformable to his principles, for when he was at Edinburgh, in 1798, he preached in the Circus there. I must con

fess, however, that I do not altogether acquiesce in his sentiments respecting places. It appears to me best to keep sacred places apart for sacred purposes, and common ones for common purposes. We are apt to associate ideas with places; and I had rather, therefore, attend a sacred Oratorio in a Church, than in the theatre, though I would not keep away, merely because it was performed there. The subjects, too, which may, with the utmost propriety, occupy our thoughts and conversation at another time, may be not only out of place and time, but very improper in a Church, to which we should resort only with holy thoughts. It may, perhaps, with some justice be remarked, that when an Oratorio is performed in a Church, it is to be lamented that it seems to be considered by many, as merely a public place of amusement to frequent, in order to see and be seen; but the same remark, I fear, may be too often made with justice, when the Church is opened for public worship.

The late Mr. Newton, in his Series of Discourses on the passages selected for Handel's Oratorio of The Messiah, seems to object entirely to that, and to the performance of it at Westminster Abbey; doubting its having a devotional effect upon many, and censuring the setting such subjects to music as are there treated. See Sermons I. and IV.

In opposition to these opinions, I will merely oppose those of three others, whose good sense and piety are not likely to have been misled either by enthusiasm on the one hand, or by a too great love of worldly pleasure on the other.

Bishop Horne, in his Sermon on The Antiquity, Use, and Excellence of Church Music, preached at the opening of a new Organ in the Cathedral at Canterbury, alluding to the performances in Westminster Abbey, says, "A performance, however, has lately been exhibited, and, to our honour, has been exhibited in Britain-(its sound still vibrates in the ears of many who hear me) which furnished the best idea we shall ever obtain on earth of what is passing in heaven. It did justice (and that is saying very much indeed) to a composition of the great master, to which may be applied the observation of a learned writer upon a chorus in an anthem penned by the same hand, that "nothing less is suggested by it to the imagination, than all the powers of the universe associated in the worship of its Creator." Volume of sixteen Sermons, p. 319.

T

Mr. Jones (of Nayland) alluding to the same performance, as I suppose, says, "A great admirer and practitioner of sacred music," (the late Rev. Sir John Dolben) "who was also a man of great piety and devotion, was present at a grand Church performance, with which he felt his mind so wrapt and elevated, that in describing the sensation afterwards, he made use of this emphatical expressionI thought I should have gone out of the body." Sermon on The Nature and Excellence of Church Music. Works, vol. vi. p. 135.

My third authority is Dr. Hey, himself a musician, as well as a Divine: "Sacred music has been successfully cultivated. It has been said, that the Opera is the highest entertainment arising out of the polite arts, as uniting music, painting, poetry, fine and graceful action, grandeur, dancing, &c. all which are supposed to heighten one another, and to receive additional effect from the sympathy of the spectators; but what Opera had ever the effect of the sacred music in Westminster Abbey for four years together? I sincerely believe, that nothing of the kind, but what is founded on religion, will ever be able to attract such numbers, to produce such expensive contributions, to delight and elevate for such a length of time.” Lectures, vol. ii. p. 171.

I cannot, however, forbear observing, that when Oratorios are performed, I think they should be kept free from any mixture of baser materials. I do not consider Alexander's Feast, nor even Milton's L'Allegro and Il Penseroso, nor Acis and Galatea, as proper performances to be mixed with sacred subjects; much less Mad Bess, introduced to shew off the vocal powers of some favourite singer, and Solo Concertos, &c. to shew off the skill of some instrumental performer.

Mr. Styles seems to think, that the spectacle of the theatre is its príncipal attraction: "It has often struck me, when meditating on this subject, that, could we banish from the theatre the illusion with which its scenery, the dress, and language of the performers captivate the mind, we should lose all temptation to visit it for amusement.” p. 128. And he then proceeds, humourously, by quoting Rousseau, to ridicule the "daubed curtain," &c. &c. and, in the same way, we might ridicule all paintings, and all the arts and sciences whatever, even Mr. Walker's transparent Orrery, of which Mr. Hill speaks with so much approbation. But, though the scenery, dress, &c. certainly add to the beauties of a good play, and make many a bad

one attractive, yet I conceive that there is a delight, independant of these, ever attached to the Drama: else how is it that those, who have seen a play with all its attractions in London, will attend a performance of the same, by a strolling company, in a barn, with all these things of the most homely, and often ridiculous kind? How is it, that a single person will collect together an audience in a room, without any of these concomitants, and amuse them for an evening? But if, according to Mr. S. the scenery, &c. are the great attractions ; then corrupt principles and sentiments are not so essential to the Stage. "It cannot indeed be denied (says Mr. S.) that some dramatic pieces have been received with approbation, which abound in just sentiments, and which contain some good moral principles; but their success must be attributed to other causes than their moral tendency; for had they been filled with the most obnoxious general sentiments, their dramatic beauty, and their construction for Stage. effect, would have rendered them quite as popular. The talents of the writer, and not his principles, have secured him applause." p. 31.. see also p. 9. Mr. Styles's argument, then, amounts to no more: than this, that talents in the writer, and dramatic beauty, and con-: struction for Stage effect, are necessary to make a drama popular; and, indeed, I do not think, that corrupt principles would go down with the corrupt without these; and, with these, even pure morals may be rendered attractive to the corrupt. HOW DESIRE ABLE

THEN IS IT TO GAIN THE STAGE TO THE CAUSE OF VIRTUE ALONE!!

ར.

p. 41. Mr. Gilpin, in his Amusements of Clergymen, wishes to have different theatres for the different ranks of life: "In my Eutopia, I mean to establish two-one for the higher-the other for the lower orders of the community. In the first, of course, there will be: more elegance, and more expense; and the drama must be suited to the audience, by the representation of such vices, and follies, as are found chiefly among the great. The other theatre shall be equally suitable to the lower orders." Dialogue II. p. 124.

With great respect for Mr. Gilpin's opinion, it does not appear to me to be adviseable, that the rich and the poor should be so widely separated in their amusements, but that it is highly expedient, if not absolutely necessary, that the places of amusement of the lower classes should be open to the inspection and influence of the higher; and a