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praise. The deity and I were always mentioned together, in those flattering panegyrics which I daily received; and even in many of them, I was impioufly preferred. I lightened as much as poffible the burdens of the ftate; I concluded a peace with all my neighbours; and can say with truth, that I was often fleeplefs myfelf, in order that my fubjects might reft in tranquillity..

I had already a fon born to me in the lifetime of my father; but his mother died a few minutes after his birth: I had lamented her fincerely, and I had buried her magnificently; and the whole of my affection now centered in her child. Although in confequence of my acceffion to the throne, I became the fole mafter of innumerable beauties, the poffeffion of them occupied but very little of my attention; I looked upon my kingdom, and upon the welfare of my people, to be the noblest object of my affection and care.

But love had quitted me only for a feafon; I was yet in poffeffion, at my forty-eighth year, of all the health, the vigour, and the cheerfulness of youth. At this period, I beheld a virgin throw herself proftrate upon the steps of my throne; a virgin, whofe equal I had never yet feen. An eye of more sweetness, a shape of more elegance, and a bofom of more allurement, it was impoffible to conceive; and when the began to speak, the tones of her voice must have prepoffeffed in her favour, even those who were ignorant of the language which the used. Long before the cause of her affliction was known, every one present was eager to redress At; and had her fuit been as totally inconfiftent with justice, as it was in reality conformable to it, I am very much afraid that it would not have been denied.

Her complaint was against an avaricious uncle, who want ed to fell her to a fuperannuated wretch, equally deformed both in body and in mind, who intended that the should ferve as the flave of his pleasures, or rather as a provocative to his impotent defires. What was my fentence, you may eafily fuppofe.

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But you will not, I imagine, fo readily conjecture with what uneafinefs and melancholy I was feized, when she was about to retire from my prefence. The feelings of a youth of fixteen, when deprived of the object of his first love, were only a jeft in comparison of mine. Had I not been restrain

ed by the dignity of my ftation, I would have willingly run after her, and difcovered my paffion, by throwing my arms about her delicate neck, and printing a thousand kiffes upon her coral lips.

I ordered her, however, to be called back. She turned about, and it was like the appearance of the fun, when in the midst of some day of darkness and of gloom, he breaks forth in his beauty, and the clouds fly before him.

I have fet thee at liberty, fair Gulmanac, faid I; and as a proof of thy freedom, it is now in thy option to give to thy fovereign, before all this affembly, either a favourable or an unfavourable reply. Could you condefcend to ac cept of a place among my women?

She blushed

"My monarch commands me.

"But what if he is not inclined to command ?

"It must always afford the highest happiness to his slave, "to be able to gratify the least of his withes."

From that moment, fhe alone was the mistress of my. heart. The whole women of my haram were immediately dismissed; for I thought it was injustice to deprive others, from a vain affectation of magnificence and parade, of that which I myself could no longer enjoy. Gulmanac's power over me, was from henceforth as unlimited, as that which I exercifed over any of my subjects.

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-A man was foon afterwards brought before me, accused of an intention to murder his nephew; and what made the affair peculiarly remarkable, this very nephew appeared as his defender. He contradicted the accufers with warmth and with eagerness; related the many good offices his uncle had done him; and pleaded his caufe in a much more powerful manner, than it was poffible the accufed perfon could have done it himself. He delivered this defence with fuch eloquence and grace, and difplayed, in the courfe of it, fo much knowledge of mankind, and fuch an uncommon attachment to humanity and virtue, that he gained at once both my affection and efteem. I raised him immediately from the mediocrity of his station; gave him 'one poft of honour after another; and found him in each of them so use ful and incorruptible, that I at last declared him my grand Vifier, and gave him the name of Ebu Mahmud.

My fon, in the mean time, grew up. He was the most beautiful youth in the whole kingdom; and by far the most expert in every manly accomplishment; nor did his foul ap pear unworthy of the body which it inhabited. He had al ready diftinguished himfelf in two fuccefsful expeditions "a gainst fome of my neighbours who had taken up arms; and amid all the fame and triumph which attended his return, he forgot not that modefty which is becoming in a youth, nor that respect and obedience which is proper for a fon.

Where is the perfon, who at this feason would not have esteemed me the happiest of mortals; and not only concluded, that my happiness was complete, but even confidered it as beyond the reach of alteration.-A wife of fuch beauty and worth; a vifier of fuch experience and fidelity; and both of them the more clofely attached to my intereft, the more intimately I knew, and the higher I raised them: A fucceffor, who appeared rather to dread than to with for my death; a nation which adored me: Bleft with peace abroad, and profperity at home; and though now arrived at the middle period of life, ftill enjoying all the health and the vigour of youth. To all this was added another bleffing, which is feldom found in a cottage, and fcarcely ever on a throne; but that which of all others is the most valuable, the bleffing of a confcience without reproach. How enviable was then my fituation; how unneceffary appeared to me the warning of my father; and how fuperfluous the prefent with which it was accompanied! But alas! it was not long after. wards, before I difcovered the utility of both.

To be concluded in our next.

3

Remarks on fome English Plays, from Mifcellanies in profe and verfe.

Meafure for Meafure.

THERE are fome very high-strokes of genius in this play, which, upon the whole, is admirable, and bears all the marks of the writer's usual fuperiority over our other dramatic poets.

The additional lines, fo much approved of by our critics, are truly modern, and fufficiently diftinguish themselves from the original text. To intimate the Duke's kind purpose to Ifabella, Shakespeare said just

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enough in one fignificant line, which is only fpun out, in the five finical modern ones, for no other reafon, but that the fag end of the act may have a rhyme to jingle at it, to please a London audience. The conduct of the catastrophe, in fpite of our moft wretched critic's cenfure, is admirably judicious, interefting, and entertaining.

The Indian Emperor, a Tragedy,

(From what is called a Select Collection of Plays, in three vo lumes, by Mr. Donaldfon, Bookfeller, Edinburgh.)

As bookfellers, in general, are the dullest of mankind, there can be no wonder, that their felect collections are very ill chofen. One of our poets gives a pleasant enough reafon for this character of booksellers.

"Unlearned men, of books affume the care,

"As eunuchs are the guardians of the fair."

The ill taste of London has been gratified with great variety. It is hard to fay when it was at the worl, Heroic plays, as they were called, were long in vogue, till exploded by The Rehearsal. A new train of dramatic writings fucceeded, without the genius, and with all the abfurdities of Dryden. Vide Bufiris, Zara, Mahomet, Barbaroffa, the Chriftian Hero, &c. &c. A new Rehearsal is much wanted.

All for Love, a Tragedy.

In this elaborate play, Dryden imitates Shakespeare; and, by that imitation, excels himself, though still far fhor of the judgment, genius, and happy expreffion of that great mafter. How wretched our modern prologues and epilogues, compared to those of Dryden! How wretched Dryden's plays, compared to thofe of the older poets! But the taste of every age feems to be happily fuited to the talents of cotemporary poets. We have been charmed with the quaint prologues and epilogues of Garrick; and we are daily pleased with the flat laboured productions of our nameless dramatic poets.

Theodofius, or the Force of Love, a Tragedy, by Lee. A RAPTUROUS romantic play: It pleafes men, women, and children, who have not formed their tafte upon the fenfe and genius of Shakespeare, but on modern novels and plays.

Oroonokoo, a Tragedy, by Southerne.

Tuis is the only good play in the booksellers felect collection.

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Efay on the Art of Idlenefs, continued.

I HAVE endeavoured to give a flight sketch of the art of idleness; and I now proceed to lay in its colours and its fhadows, in hope that I may gradually finish a picture fit for the cabinet of the curious, and fuch as has not hitherto been ever put upon the eafel, far lefs exhibited to the view of the public.

Could my adventurous pencil fortunately produce any thing that could enhance the value of the Bee, my industry would be redoubled in its service; for I highly efteem the industry of the Bee, and would willingly fow and rear a fucceffion of flowers, to fill its combs with honey, and provide for the winter.

The art of idlenefs will be beft and eafieft fet forth by the productions of artifts: I fhall in this paper therefore give another fpecimen of a difciple of idlenefs, that my readers, who wish to go to school, may have a VOL. III.

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