Our sense is nonsense, through their pipes con veyed; Scarce can a poet know the play he made, very singular strain of effrontery, which Mr. Malone transfers from the preface of a tragedy called "The Fatal Discovery; or, Love in Ruins," published in 4to, 1698 : "Here I am afraid he makes but a coarse compliment, when this great wit, with his treacherous memory, forgets that he had given away his laurels upon record twice before, viz., once to Mr. Congreve, and another time to Mr. Southerne. Pr'ythee, old Edipus, expound this mystery! Dost thou set up thy transubstantiation miracle in the donation of thy idol bays, that thou hast them fresh, new, and whole, to give them three times over? "For the most mortal stroke at us, he charges us with downright murdering of plays, which we call reviving. I will not derogate from the merit of those senior actors of both sexes, of the other house, that shine in their several perfections, in whose lavish praises he is so highly transported; but, at the same time, he makes himself but an arbitrary judge on our side, to condemn unheard, and that under no less a conviction than murder, when I cannot learn, for a fair judgment upon us, that his reverend crutches have ever brought him within our doors since the division of the companies [1695]. 'Tis true, I think, we have revived some pieces of Dryden, as his 'Sebastian,' Maiden Queen,' 'Marriage à la Mode,' King Arthur,' etc. But here let us be tried by a Christian jury, the audience, and not receive the bowstring from his Mahometan Grand Signiorship. "Tis true, his more particular pique against us, as he has declared himself, is in relation to our reviving his 'Almanzor.' There, indeed, he has reason to be angry for our waking that sleepy dowdy, and exposing his nonsense, not ours; and if that dish did not please him, we have a Scotch proverb for our justification, viz., 'twas rotten roasted, because, etc., and the world must expect, 'twas very hard crutching up what Hart and Mohun before us could not prop. I confess, he is a little severe, when he will allow our best performance to bear no better fruit than a crab vintage. Indeed, if we young actors spoke but half as sourly as his old gall scribbles, we should be crab all over." 25 Thus Itys first was killed, and after dressed 30 Not ill they acted what they could not spoil. * Mr. Betterton's Company in Lincoln's Inn Fields.—D. Drury Lane Playhouse.-D. 40 EPISTLE THE FOURTEENTH. TO MY FRIEND MR. MOTTEUX, ON HIS TRAGEDY CALLED BEAUTY IN DISTRESS, PETER ANTHONY MOTTEUX was a French Huguenot, born at Rohan, in Normandy, in 1660. He emigrated upon the revocation of the Edict of Nantes; and, having friends in England of opulence and respectability, he became a merchant and bookseller of some eminence; besides enjoying a place in the Post Office, to which his skill as a linguist recommended him. This must have been considerable, if we judge by his proficiency in the language of England, certainly not the most easy to be commanded by a foreigner. Nevertheless, Motteux understood it so completely, as not only to write many occasional pieces of English poetry, but to execute a very good translation of "Don Quixote," and compose no less than fifteen plays, several of which were very well received. He also conducted the "Gentlemen's Journal." On the 19th February 1717-18, this author was found dead in a house of bad fame, in the parish of St. Clement Danes, not without suspicion of murder. Motteux appears to have enjoyed the countenance of Dryden, who, in the following verses, consoles him under the censure of those who imputed to his play of "Beauty in Distress" an irregularity of plot, and complication of incident. But the preliminary and more important part of the verses VOL. XI. E regards Jeremy Collier's violent attack upon the dramatic authors of the age for immorality and indecency. To this charge, our author, on this as on other occasions, seems to plead guilty, while he deprecates the virulence, and sometimes unfair severity of his adversary. The reader may compare the poetical defence here set up with that in the prose dedication to the "Fables," and he will find in both the same grumbling, though subdued, acquiescence under the chastisement of the moralist; the poet much resembling an overmatched general, who is unwilling to surrender, though conscious of his inability to make an effectual resistance. See also vol. viii. p. 462. [Motteux, who did other good work besides that mentioned. has recently been the subject of a useful monograph by M. Van Laun in a new edition of his Don Quixote.-ED.] EPISTLE THE FOURTEENTH. 5 10 'TIS * [Printed by Edd., including Christie, "thoughts."-ED.] The poet here endeavours to vindicate himself from the charge of having often, and designedly, ridiculed the clerical function. 15 |