TO STUDENTS AT LAW.

SIR MATTHEW HALE'S OPINION OF PLAYS. 1 When a student in the Inns of Court, Sir Matthew Hale took up a resolution which he punctually observed, that he would never more see a play, having spent all his money on them at Oxford, and having experienced that it was so great an alienation of his mind from his studies, by the recurring of the speeches and actions into his thoughts, as well as the loss of time when he saw them. He had often disputes with the learned Selden, who was his great friend, and used to say he found great refreshment by it; but Sir Matthew told him he had so much knowledge of the inconvenience of them, that he would not see one for 1001. But he said he was not of Mr. Pryone's judgment, for he did not think it unlawful, but very fit for gentlemen, sometimes, but not for students.

A BENCHER.

TRAGI-COMEDIES. . DRYDEN has been said by some persons to have written his Tragi-Comedies upon his own judgment of the excellence of that neutral drama. In a manuscript letter of his, however, he says, “ I am afraid you discover not your own opinion concerning my irregular way of Tragi-Comedy (or my Doppia Favola).”. I will never defend that practice, for I know it distracts the hearers : but I know withal that it has hitherto pleased them, for the sake of variety, and for the particular taste which they have to Low Comedy. This has been the excuse of dramatic authors, from the earliest times down to the present day.

The Drama's laws the Drama's patrons give,
And they who live to please, must please, to live. K.

HAMLET. “And let the kettle to the trumpets speak,” &c. M. DE BROSSES, in his Supplement to the Remains of Sallust, tom., 1. p. 377, seems to have imitated this pompous formula of the King, in the last scene of Hamlet : Le sénat répondoit aux trompettes par des acclamations lugubres : les chevaliers répondoient au sénat : l'armée aux chevaliers : toute la populace à l'armée.

T. M. VOL. IV.

Nn

POETRY.

IMPROMPTU, ON HEARING OF THE TREATY CONCLUDED BETWEEN TAL FRENCH

AND BRITISH FORCES IN PORTUGAL.

« Si Nalura negat, facit INDIGNATIO Cersum."-JUVENAL,

AND is it so ? Has Well'sley fought for this?
For this has Well’sley conquer'd? Is it so,
That Britain's sous have pour'd their gen'rous blood
In Freedom's glorious cause, and crush'd the foe, '
The Gallic tyrant's vile, rapacious slaves,
Crush'd them, alas ! in vain ! -crush d them, alas!
To make them more than conquerors? To convey
Safe to the shores the predatory baud,
Rich with the spoils of England's friends ? Forbid,
Forbid it Heav'n! Forbid it honour, shame,
And ev'ry patriot flame that glows divine
Within the breast of Britons! Can it be?
So low is Britain fallen? Oh ! forbear
The mean ungrateful thought! Tell not abroad
To Britain's foe the tale of Britain's shame, .
Lest they should triumph in her foul disgrace,

And scoffing cry,-“ Where now is Britain's glory?" 16th Sept. 1808.

A BRITON,

QUATORZAIN.
WRITTEN IN RICHMOND PARK.
O'ER these lone woodlands I delight to roam,
When night bespangles the pellucid sky,

And the pale moon strikes my romantic eye
With her mild beam, beguiling me from home!
For then my thoughts, ungovernably free,

Assume a nobler energy and height,
Pause on the time when Marianne, with me,

Here sought a refuge for the sweet delight!
Yet not, alas ! for bliss thus soft 1 steal,

Now thro' the alleys of the silent grove,
For Mem'ry bids me sadly to reveal,

The tedious story of my injur'd love!
And as I wander through each sacred shade,

I trace the semblance of the beauteous maid.
Grafton-street, June, 1808.

CANZONET.
SWEET is the sound, in lowly dell,
Of the bard's romantic shell;
But to me more sweet's the call
Of yonder dazzling waterfall!
Dear to me are Lesbia's eyes
Truly dear are Friendship's sighsm
But to these are dearer far
The twinkling of yon argent star!
Mild the queen of night appears
Wand'ring thro' the southern spheres;
But not half so mild's her beam
As yonder wood's meand'ring stream!
Far more bright are Phæbus' rays
Than the sparkling diamond's blaze;
But the glistning eyes of Sarah,
Brighter are than Sol, and fairer !!!
Teach me then, O Muse! to prize
Nought but those bewitching eyes;
Make ny Sarah's gentle calls
Sweeter than the waterfall's.
Make my lover's glittering eyes
Surpass the star in yonder skies !
Then will all her smiles appear
Than Diana's far more clear!
Heavenly Muse! thou art to me
A source of endless ecstasy !
Yea! thou hast a Beauty wrought,

Whose charms outstrip the force of thought !
Grafton-street, Sept. 1808.

SONG.
SLOW, pleasant, and tranquil, my time pass'd away,

'Till Delia I saw and approv'd;
No swain was so cheerful, so blithsome, and gay,

But how chang’d since the moment I lov'd! ..
Now in secret I sigh, and bemoan my lost heart,

No pleasures can soften my grief; .
'Tis Delia alone can assuage all my smart,
'Tis her kindness must give me relief.

Bat if she rejects my food plaiat with disdais,

And colly regards my soft prayer,
Of her cruelty then I will never complain,

But ead my sad days in despair.

- HENRY.

WRITTEN IN RICHMOND PARK.

TO XY LYRE.
YES! once again I'll clasp my ragrant lyre,

That long hath lain neglected and forlorn,
And as I taste the mellow draugbt of morn,
Will strike its chords and join the woodland choir :
Here 'neath these reverend oaks will I retire

From those wbo treat me with indecent scorn;

For though perhaps to poverty I'm born,
My bosom glows with independent fire!
Hail ! little friend! my sweetest pleasure, bail !

For she is gone who succour'd thee with care;
O’er every action of my life prevail,

And smooth the ragged brow of dark despair!
Or, should the clouds of disappointment lor's,

Bid me look calmly on the threatening show'r !
Grafton-street, June, 1808.

A BURLESQUE SONNET. : A SONNET -how ridiculously vain

Is the request in these degenerate times !

When scarce a poet can produce two rhymes
Without tormenting for an hour bis brain!
Or filling his dull eyes with deadliest pain,

By searcbing Walker* for the various chimes!
One could as soon arrest the sun that climbs
The heavens, as mould a Sonnet in a pleasing strain !
Well, how sublime! Why, Lofft! upon my soul

I am unequall'd in this wondrous lay!
What wou'd that snivelling Sonnetteer t now say,
Cou'd be get loose from death's terrific goal ?

Why, he would naturally yield to me,

Without the least reserve, the victory, Grafton-street, Sept. 1908..

. .J. G.

* Walker's Rhyming Dictionary.

+ -Petrarch.

THE LONDON THEATRES.

DRURY-LANE Opened for the season on Saturday the 17th of September, with the Honey inoon and Rosina.

20. Hamlet. Opbelia, by a young Lady (her 1st appearance ou any stage). Irishmaa in London.

22. Love in a Village. Young Meadows, Mr. Gibbon; Hodge, Mr. SCRIVEN (fron Edinburgh, his įst appearance in London). Citizen. Oid Pbilpot, Mr. Penley.

[Mr. J. Smitb announced for Young Meadows ; but, for what cause we know not, be did not perform.]

24. Country Girl-Ella Rosenberg.

The Company is the same as last season ; and the interior has undergone no alteration,excepting that some additions have been made to the private boxes, before too numerous. The new Ophelia is a Mrs. Corri, wife of the musician. She has been well instructed, and has a good voice, but præterea nihil. Mr. Scriven, the Hodge, has been long a favourite comedian in the North, and his merits, though not extraordinary, fully entitle him to a respectable cast of characters in London. He was very well received.

COVENT GARDEN
Opened on the 12th of September, with Macbeth and Raising the
Wind. Lady Macbeth by Mrs. Siddons.

14. Woodman-Portrait of Cervantes.
16. Isabella-Escapes.
19. Pizarro-Portrait of Cervantes.

This Company also remains as it stood last year; with the loss of Miss Smith, who winters it in Dublin. The dreadful Fire, of which we insert the most authentic account we can procure, put a stop to the representations for one week. On Monday the 26th the proprietors, opened the Opera House, with Douglas and Rosina ; those pieces requiring but few dresses, and but two or three scenes.

HAYMARKET. AUGUST.

23. African-Blind Boy.

24. Mr. and Mrs. LISTON's Night.] Pannel. Don Gusman, Mr. Noble; Don Carlos, Mr. Thompson; Don Pedro, Mr Carles; Don Fer. dinand, Mr. Palmer. jun. Lazarillo, Mr. Farley; Octavio, Mr. Treby; Muskato, Mr. Liston. Marcella, Mrs. St Leger ; Aurora, Mrs. Man thews; Beatrice, Mrs. Gibbs. Who Wins ? Matthew Mole, Mr. Grove; Widow Bellair, Mrs. Taylor.-Critic.

25. Africans-Seeing is Believing-Plot and Counterplot. : 27. Ib.Mrs. Wiggins--Tom Thumb.

29. [Mr. Young's Night.] Pizarro. (Pizarro, (for that night, only) Mr. Chapman ; Alonzo, Mr. Abbot, (from Bath,'his ist ap