1753. Jews ACT. Remarks on THE BROTHERS. the age of 18, or upwards, to receive the Sacrament of the Lord's-Supper within one month before the bill for fuch naturalization be exhibited; whereby many perfons of confiderable fubftance profeffing the Jewish religion are prevented from being naturalized by bill to be exhibited in parliament for that purpofe: And the act of the 13th of his prefent majesty, whereby perfons profeffing the Jewish religion, who have refided, or fhall refide for 7 years or more, in any of his majefty's colonies in America, are naturalized upon their complying with the terms therein mentioned, without their receiving the Sacrament of the Lord's-Supper: It is therefore enacted, That perfons profeffing the Jewish religion may, upon application for that purpose, be naturalized by parliament without receiving the Sacrament of the Lord's-Supper, the faid act of the 7th of James I. or any other law, ftatute, &c. to the contrary in any wife notwithstanding. 255 tronage, or prefentation, or other right or intereft whatsoever, of, in, or to any benefice, prebend, or other ecclefiaftical living or promotion, fchool, hofpital, or donative whatfoever; and all and fingular eftates, terms, and other interefts whatfoever, of, in, or to any benefice, proAbend, or other ecclefiaftical living, &c. which, from and after the faid June 1, fhall be made, fuffered, or done, to or for the ufe or behoof of any fuch perfon or perfons, or upon any truft or confidence, mediately or immediately, to or for the benefit or behoof of any fuch perfon or perfons, fhall be utterly void and of none effect. B Provided always, That no perfon fhall hereafter be naturalized in purfuance of this act, unless in the bill to be exhibited for that purpose there be a clause inserted, declaring, that fuch perfon fhall be liable to the difabilities expreffed in the act made in the first year of his late majesty king George I. entitled, An act to explain an act made in the 12th year of king William III. entitled, An act for the further D limitation of the crown, and better fecuring the rights and liberties of the fubject. Provided alfo, That no perfon shall be naturalized by virtue of any act to be made or paffed, in pursuance of this act, who fhall not, for 3 years or upwards, before the time of the exhibiting the bill for that purpose, have refided in his majefty's dominions of Great Britain or Ireland, without being abfent out of the fame for a longer space than 3 months at any one time during the faid 3 years. Part of a Letter from a Gentleman in the A GREEABLE to your request, I fhall give you my opinion concerning the two plays you were fo kind to fend me, viz. The Earl of Effex, and The Brothers *. I pretend not to examine by the rules Cof criticifm. The judgment I pretend to in dramatick performances arifes from this, viz. how far they please me. When a perfon of a tolerable natural capacity, without prejudice, does not like a play, tho' he cannot directly determine from what fource that diflike arifes, yet you may venture to affirm it has its defects.-Such is my cafe with regard to The Brothers. I was far from being charmed with it; but that I might not barely tell you, I did not like it, without affigning any reafons, I confidered it more attentively, to discover, if poffible, why it affected me fo very little. The reafons I take to be thefe. E Provided alfo, That no perfon fhall be naturalized by virtue of any act to be made or paffed in purfuance of this act, unless proof fhall be made by two credi. F ble witneffes, that fuch perfon profeffeth the Jewith religion, and hath for 3 years paft profeffed the fame. And it is further enacted, That from and after June 1, 1753, every perfon profelfing the Jewish religion fhall be difabled, and is hereby made incapable to purchase, either in his or her own name, or in the G name of any other perfon or perfons, to his or her ufe, or in truft for him or her, or to inherit or take by defcent, devife, or limitation, in poffeffion, reversion, or remainder, any advowfon or right of pa * See an account of these two plays in In the firft place, I cannot apprehend any moral can be drawn from it, either directly, or by juft inference. It must be owned, that this is an objection that may be charged upon many of our plays; but ftill I take it to be a capital error. Dr. Young, 'efpecially as a clergyman, fhould have been fenfible, that the great end of all dramatick compofitions ought to be a rational entertainment, not an idle amusement. The dramatis perfonæ are few; and yet made fewer by two, who are merely fhadows, contributing nothing to the action of the play, viz. Antigonus and Delia And much the fame may be faid of Pericles. They barely prevent foJiloquies. Surprizing and affecting incidents are fo thinly fown thro' the play, that in my opinion, it is thereby rendered very languid.-There does not appear to me a perfect confiftent character, excepting that of Perfeus, which is that of a finished villain.-That difplay of Athenian eloquence in the third A&t I look upon as a tedious fufpenfion of the action. The : our Mag. for March laft, p. 99, 121. The fpe&tators did not want to be informed; and it gives one an abhorrence to fee guilt plead in its defence with more fuccefs than innocence. But what furprised me the most of all was to find fo strange a cataftrophe. However it may happen in the world, I cannot but think poetical juftice (as far at leaft as relates to the A punishment of guilt) abfolutely neceffary. When vice comes off with impunity, we rife up greatly diffatisfied. It raifes pity to fee innocence fuffer, but indignation to fee vice triumph. The poet makes but poor amends, by telling us in the epilogue (fee p. 138.) what ought to have been feen in the play. I own I fhould have been much more pleased if (like Shakespear) he had tranfgreffed the unity of time, and thewed us Perfeus a captive in the triumphal entry of Amilius.-The conclufion is fo abrupt, that we are left in the utmoft anxiety. The king, I think, at laft departs from his character; he fees his fon die, and clofes with a calmness I did not look upon as natural. C Befides, we ought to be a little more cautious of exhibiting fcenes of fuicide upon our stage. The language is nervous and laboured; but it feems to me to want that genteel, eafy and flowing elegance which we find in Effex. But perhaps most of thefe, objections proceed from chagrin, rather than cool judgment, as I expected D from fo celebrated a character as Dr. Young fomething extraordinary, and beyond the reach of common dramatick writers. I was fo exceffively pleafed with all his other works (of which perhaps I was a better judge) that I was vexed that he did not appear to me fo far to excel in this. The are near 2000 houfes, it being reputed the 6th biggest city in England. publick buildings make a grand appearance, particularly the Guildhall, which is large, but very old. It had formerly a caftle, as alfo walls 1650 paces in compafs; but both caftle and walls are long fince deftroyed. The cathedral is a large edifice, the exa& model of that at Bruffels, with an elegant choir of very curious workmanship, 120 feet long. The whole length of the church is 394 feet, the breadth 78, and the tower 162 feet high. The streets are broad and well paved, of which the Foregate-ftreet is remarkably regular and beautiful. Here is a noble B hofpital, in the building of which Robert Berkley laid out 2000l. and endowed it with 4000l. for 12 poor men. Befides the king's fchool, founded by Henry VIIL here is a grammar free-fchool, with two others, for the fame learning. It is remarked, that the Severn, tho' generally rapid elsewhere, glides gently by this city. Here is a very good water-house and quay. This city was erected into an epifcopal fee by the Saxon king Ethelred, anno 679. The bones of thofe who were flain in the battle between the forces of Charles II. and thofe of the parliament under Oliver Cromwell, in which the former were totally routed, are often dug up in a garden juft without the fouth gate; and in the park above is a great work, with four baftions, called the Royal Mount, from whence a vallum and ditch run both ways to encompafs that fide of the city. Coals are carried here on horfes backs in panniers, like thofe of our higlers, only they are open at top; and they are fold here by the horfe-load, as they are in London by the chaldron. In this city the knights of St. John of Jerufalem had a monaftery without the fouth gate, in the London road, now in poffeffion of Mr. Wylde: It is a fine old houfe of timber; and the hall, roofed with Irish oak, which makes one fide of it, was built for the reception of pilgrims. The Earl of Effex pleafes me much : But I should have been more pleafed, if E the author had acquitted himself so well (as I think him very capable of it) on a fubject unattempted before. "In our last we gave a beautiful MAP of ORCESTER is fuppofed to be one Wof the cities built by the Romans, for curbing the Britons who dwelt beyond the Severn. The tower on the bridge being ruinous, was pulled down. Here I G - EXPLANATION of the PROSPECT. Martin's. JOUR 257 1753. JOURNAL of the PROCEEDINGS and DEBATES in the POLITICAL CLUB, continued from As we never omit baving a Debate I continued from p. 169. Efau. He fold his birthright for a mels of pottage, and when he was under a most urgent neceflity: But we are going to give it away for nothing, and when we are under no neceffity. Our national debt is, it is true, become monftroufly great, fo great that, I believe. we should be under great difficulty to find means for fupporting another war, fhould fuch a misfortune foon happen; but till then we can be under no neceffity, and even then we B fhould not, I think, part with our birthright for nothing. HOPE fome of the gentlemen, who are advocates for this bill, will rife up and inform the houfe, what terrible crime the people of this kingdom have committed; for I I muft fuppofe, that they have been guilty of fome heinous offence, becaufe we have of late had fome fort of bill offered every year to parliament for depriving them of their birthright: I fay, depriving them, Sir; for the communication of a privilege is, in fo far as that com- D munication reaches, a taking it away from thofe who had before the fole right to it. Attempts have formerly been made to rob them of their birthright as Englishmen, but this bill I muft look on as an attempt to rob them of their birthright as Chriftians. We know what a curfe Efau brought upon himself and his potterity, by felling his birthright to his brother Jacob for a mefs of pottage, when he was faint and at the point of dying for hunger: His pofterity were to ferve the pofterity of Jacob: Ought we not to fear, that this may be the fate of our pofterity, as we are now about to fell our birthright to the pofterity of that fame Jacob? Sell, I fhould not fay, Sir, for we are going to act more foolishly than June, 1753. Sir, when I fay we fhould not give away our birthright for nothing, I muft fuppofe, that we might fell it for fomething; and I am warranted in this fuppofition from what C is told us by our hiftories. The Jews never did obtain the protection or countenance of the crown, even for living and trading in this kingdom, without a very valuable confideration; and our hiftories tell us, that they offered 200,000l. to Oliver Cromwell for a naturalization. Moreover, I have heard, that they offered a much larger fum both in the reigns of king William and queen Anne. I may therefore fuppofe with reafon, that they would now give a larger fum than they ever before E offered, as the birthright of Englishmen is become much more valuable, and as the Jews have of late vaftly increased in riches as well as numbers in all parts of Europe, efpecially in this country. But they may now with the poet say, F-quod optanti divum promittere nemo Auderet, volvenda dies en attulit ultro. For could it ever have been expected, that what they have fo often offered fuch large fums of money for, fhould at laft be freely granted for nothing, and even without their afking, fo far as appears, and what I indeed believe Kk |