beft judges as to what amount' fupplies fhould be granted upon an emergency: yet he muft maintain, that the collected opinion of that House was equal in wifdom to, and much higher in authority than, the opinion of a few perfons, who may, for a time, be the confidential fervants of the Crown and therefore, the confidence which he was willing, and which he thought was advise able to allow to the King's Minifters, fhould be limited with regard to its duration; and that confidence did not feem to him to come within the scope of this cafe. He would fuppofe, for instance, that, on the approach, or at the continuance, of any hoftilities between this and any power in Europe, that House would vote, on credit, a certain fum, by way of fupply, and truft the application of it for a year; but then. they would require the next year a minute and specific account of its application; and would exercise their discretion with regard to the granting of fresh fupplies. Upon this the cafe was otherwife; for we are now on what is called a pacific period; and yet we are, inftead of reducing our establishment, in-, creafing it. This certainly required an explanation. If it was. intended that part of the expences of our late armament should be covered by this vote, or included in it, his Majesty's servants fhould avow it, or otherwife it would be impoffible for the: public to understand for what their money is voted; and if thefe extraordinary expences were voted by that Houfe, without a full explanation for what purpose it was intended, he feared they would not very well anfwer the description which they ufually gave of themselves, viz. "Guardians of the public. purfe, for the benefit of the public." If there was any reason to apprehend that peace is but precarious, and that the generalpolitics of Europe are at present in a doubtful state, the House ihould be fo informed. If these extraordinary supplies were voted totally in the dark, the House, by that vote, would, in his opinion, defert their duty. He hoped that these fuggeftions would procure for that Houfe, and the public, a more explicit defcription of the cause of this upply, than was at prefent before the Houfe. This was abfolutely neceffary; for if this augmented force was to be confidered merely as the peace eftablishment in future of this country, and that it would always hereafter be abfolutely neceffary, for the fafety of the ftate, then a great deal more difcuffion would belong to the fubject. But if it was admitted, that, from the general profpect of affairs, we had reafon to apprehend danger, then he should moft cordially affent to this refolution. A fhort converfation then enfued between Mr Hopkins, Mr Rofe, and Mr Fox, of little moment, Mr Pitt having declared that no augmentation of the peace eftablishment was intended, but "That it is the opinion of his Majefty's fervants, that the prefent aspect of affairs in Europe, renders it expedient to maintain, for a certain period, an armament fomewhat exceeding the common peace eftablishment of this country." Mr Fox declared himself perfectly fatisfied with the explanation. The refolution was read a second time and paffed. Remarks on fome English Plays, continued from Vol. V. page 144. ·The Lyar-By Samuel Foote, Efq; THERE are fome things diverting, but many more trifling in this piece. Extravagance and pleasantry are blended through the whole of it. There is much good humour in the first fcene, part of which has been fuppreffed by the managers. The footman's familiarity and pleafantry are not unnatural, as ufual in modern comedy, and are well accounted for by the curious hiftory of his life. Chrononbotonthologos-By Mr Carey. A burlefque on modern tragedy, in fome paffages pleasant enough; but every attempt to imitate the Rehearsal has hitherto been very defective, though there is great abundance of new matter for fuch exquifite criticism and juft ridicule. The plays of Young alone, though yet acted, and admired by many, afford more examples of unnatural flights, quaint conceits, and every species of dramatic absurdity, than all the plays ridiculed in the Rehearsal. Midas, a Burletta-By Kane O'Hara, Efq; WHAT power of acting, mufic, or fong, what fhew of scenery, can make this piece an entertainment to any audience above the age of pupillarity? When one has feen no theatrical entertainment but a puppet-fhew, or a harlequin, he may be excuf ed for being highly diverted at mere grimace, or the coarfe jokes of punch and his wife. But I often wonder that an au dience accustomed to fee the plays of Shakespeare, can endure the bulk of other tragedies; or that the spectators of a Beggar's Opera can fuffer this, and almoft every one of the other comic operas in our language, to pafs one night without damnation. Yet a mafs of fuch mean mufical pieces have flourished, of late years, on our theatres; founds without fenfe or humour, and mere musical notes without a fingle spark of poetical genius. The Citizen-By Arthur Murphy, Efq; WHEN Our moderns try to write in the ftyle of natural character and conversation, they fall into a medley of infipidity and affectation. They can bear no comparifon to the old poets, Shakespeare, Johnfon, and Fletcher, whom they mean to imi tate. The Toy-Shop-By DodЛley. THERE is in this piece a mixture of quaintnefs with good fenfe and fome wit: but it is fo full of ferious thought and ftudied expreffion, that I cannot conceive how any art of acting can make it a proper or agreeable entertainment on the stage. " The Englishman in Paris-By Foote. THIS is a lefs negligent piece than most of Foote's. There is a good deal of characteristic humour and pleasantry in it, very unlike the great bulk of modern comedy. And what is farce but a fhort comedy? The Englishman Returned from Paris-By Foote PROPRIETY, eafe, and humour, diftinguish Foote's prologues, from the ftudied strains of his contemporaries. The "invita Minerva" of Horace is moft fignificantly expreffed by Shakefpeare: "Extremely ftrain'd, and conn'd with cruel pain." This line is perfectly applicable to the bulk of modern writing of all kinds; vide Warburton, Johnson, Gibbon, and almost all our dramatic pieces, except Douglas. This play is abfurd in the plot, loose, and ill digefted in the fcenes, with a bafe tendency to promote national pride and prejudices, difgraceful and baneful to Ergland in this unhappy age. Some paffages, which the author intended to obviate this cenfure, are fuppreffed by the wife ftage managers. See page 1 1. and 116. OR LITERARY WEEKLY INTELLIGENCER FOR WEDNESDAY, November 16, 1791. Additional Remarks on the Poetry of Buchanan. (Continued from Vol. V. p. 322.) THE next fection is entitled Elegiarum Liber, and confifts of nine different articles. The first of these contains an hundred and ten lines, and describes the miferable fituation of the teachers of literature at Paris. It is probable that at this time Buchanan was himself an under-profeffor in the university; for he speaks with much afperity of the profeffors, and complains of the harfhnefs of their difcipline in the most pointed terms. He obferves that the plowman, and even the slave who works in fetters, enjoy at night an agreeable slumber; that the failor fleeps in the midst of the ocean; in short, that all nature is at reft excepting the profeffors and students in the univerfity of Paris. He concludes with a folemn peroration against Apollo, the Mufes, and the beggarly profeion of learning; and protests that Calliope would not have remained a maid till this time if The had not been pennylefs. The fecond elegy is in a very different ftile, it is written on the kalends of May, and exhibits one of the finest scenes of rural and VOL. VI. G paftoral description that can poffibly be imagined :—it extends to an hundred and forty-five lines. The third elegy is a very ftrange compofition. It is infcribed to one of the fenators of Bourdeaux, and ought to have been entitled, A modeft Defence of Fornication. How any man in the character of a public teacher ventured to publish fuch a performance it is not very easy to conceive yet we must remember that the manners of that age were much lefs refined than ours. There is, indeed, nothing in the poem pofitively indecent; but there is fo much more understood than expreffed, that we can hardly believe Buchanan expected its perusal would invigorate the chastity of a young ftudent*. In this very piece, however, he declaims, in the feverest file, against batchelors, and describes, with the most interefting eloquence, the tranfcendent felicity of poffefling a virtuous and dutiful wife. The reader may perhaps imagine that fuch difcordant materials cannot compofe a very coherent production: but there was nothing which Buchanan feared to attempt, and very little which he failed to perform. A fhort fpecimen may be agreeable to the reader ;-addreffing the fena tor, he fays, "Cum mare, cum tellus homines populetur, et ignis, Cumque hominem in pejus folertia callida femper Tun' prohibere audes veneris commercia? lenas * Of all the modes of writing that have been invented, perhaps that of conveying impure ideas, in terms that are not difgufting, is the moft reprehenfible; as it tends to corrupt the pure, who would turn away with averfion from the fhocking fenfualities in which the depraved alone can take pleasure. In this refpect, and in feveral others, those who read the works of Buchanan muft feel, that however much they may admire the literary character of this great man, it is inpoffible to look upon his oral character with the fame degree of veneration.- -EDIT. |