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The king,

Ariel to Profpero..

His brother, and yours, abide all three diftracted;
And the remainder mourning over them,

Brimfull of forrow and difmay; but chiefly,

Him that you termed the good old lord Gonzalo;
His tears run down his beard, like winter drops

From caves of reeds; your charm so firongly works them,
That if you now beheld them, your affections

Would become tender.

Profpero. Doft thou think fo, Spirit?

Ariel. Mine would, fir, were I human.

Profpero. And mine fhall.

Haft thou, which art but air, a touch, a feeling
Of their afflictions, and shall not myself,

One of their kind, that relifh all as sharply,

Paffion'd as they, be kindlier moved than thou art?

Though with their high wrongs I am ftruck to the quick,
Yet with my nobler reason, 'gainft my fury

Do I take part. The rarer action is

In virtue than in vengeance. They being penitent,

The fole drift of my purpose doth extend

Not a frown further. Go, release them, Ariel;
My charms I'll break, their fenfes I'll reftore,

And they shall be themselves.

This laft paffage clofes the moral scene of the piece moft beautifully; in rifing, by degrees, to the fummit of all Ethic and Chriftian virtue, humanity and forgiveness. I fhall, therefore, alfo conclude my remarks upon this performance, with an allufion to a paffage in Horace, where he draws a contrast between Mævius and Homer, which is perfectly applicable to our author, when compared with almost any other Dramatic writer who has ever attempted the marvellous :

"One with a flash begins, and ends in smoke;
"The other out of fmoke brings glorious light,
"And without railing expectation high,

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Surprizes us with dazzling miracles."

Rofcommon's Tranflation of the Art of Poetry.

A

MIDSUMMER

NIGHT'S DREAM.

Dramatis Perfonæ.

ME N.

THESEUS, Duke of Athens.

LYSANDER, in love with Hermia.
DEMETRIUS, in love with Hermia.
PHILOSTRATE, Master of the Sports to Thefeus,
OBERON, King of the Fairies.

Puck, a Fairy.

WOMEN.

HIPPOLITA, Princess of the Amazons, betrothed to

Thefeus.

HERMIA, Daughter to Egeus, in love with Lyfander. HELENA, in love with Demetrius.

A

Midfummer Night's Dream.

I

Shall not trouble my readers with the Fable of this piece, as I can fee no general moral that can be deduced from the Argument; nor, as I hinted before*, is there much fentiment to be collected even from the Dialogue. But whatever harvest can be gleaned from this unfruitful field, I fhall endeavour to pick up, as becomes a faithful fteward of the farm.

ACT I.
I. SCENE I.

Thefeus to Hermia.

To you your father should be as a God,

One that compofed your beauties; yea, and one
To whom you are but as a form in wax

By him imprinted; and within his power

To leave the figure, or disfigure it.

In this fpeech, the pious notion of the Antients, with regard to this relation, while genuine Nature was their fole Preceptor, is fully expreffed. Here the duty of children to their parents, is indeed carried to the height; and yet, methinks, not at all too far. They are the objects of our earliest affections, of our first deference, of our primary obligations. Even fuperftition, in this cafe, as far at leaft as implicit obedience extends, exceeds not true devotion.

The Decalogue was originally written on two tables; five in each. The firft refers folely to Religion; the second, to Morality, only. To honour our parents, therefore, as falling within the former line of obligations, is, by this diftinction, made one

* Preface to the Tempest, paragraph 4th.

of

of our pious duties; as through them we honour the Creator, who ordained this relation between us. This precept, then, should feem to have a double tie upon us, as partaking both of piety and morals; and therefore, however the latter bond may chance to be cancelled, the first ought never to be difpenfed with.

In fine, there is fomething fo fond and endearing in the idea and exercife of a child's obedience and deference towards a parent, that how rotten must the root be, or how blighted the branches, if fuch a tree should fail of producing its natural fruit!

Thus far, by way of general reflection, only; for I muft, notwithstanding, admit, that the particular inftance of the daughter's compliance, exacted by the father, in this piece, of refigning an husband of her own choice, upon equal terms, and accepting another, chofen arbitrarily for her, by caprice merely, was too severe a trial of obedience. Egeus here, like Abraham, would facrifice his child at the altar, not only without the command of God, but contrary to his exprefs purpose, proclaimed aloud by the voice of Nature, and further confirmed from the deductions of virtuous affection, free will, and rational election.

When I faid that the duty of a child was natural, I did not mean to inveft the parent with an authority which was not fo; and I cannot blame Hermia, therefore, upon the fevere laws of Athens being declared to her, for the chafte and fpirited refolution fhe frames to herself on that occafion.

So will I grow, fo live, fo die, my lord,
Ere I will yield my virgin patent up
Unto his lordship; to whofe unwished yoke
My foul confents not to give fovereignty.

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Lyfander, the fuitor elect of Hermia, here makes an obfervation upon the state of love, which is too often verified in life: That a fympathy of affections,

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