*

Mr. Addifon was firft known to the World by the Excellency of his Latin Poetry, which he dedicated to that great Patron and Encourager of polite Learning, the late Earl of Halifax. His first Attempt in English Verfe, of a publick nature, was a Poem to his Majefty King William III. prefented to the Lord Keeper Somers, in the Year 1695. And his Lordship, out of a due regard to Mr. Addifon's great Merit, procur'd him a confiderable Penfion from the King, to enable him to Travel into Italy, and other polité Parts of the World, for the polishing of his Talents, and refining of his Literature. This qualified Mr. Addifon, to ferve his Country in feveral eminent Employments, for he fucceeded Mr. Locke as one of the Commiffioners of Appeals in the Excise, wasUnder Secretary to Two Secretaries of State; and Secretary of State in Ireland under Two Lords Lieutenants. Upon the Death of the late Queen he was made Secretary to the Regency; and fince his Majefties Acceffion to the Throne, he was one of the Lords Commiffioners of Trade, from whence he was advanc'd to be One of his Majefty's Principal Secretaries of State.

To pafs by Encomiums on the personal Merit of this great and modeft Man; I proceed to his Talents. In the Writings of Mr. Addifon there appears an uncommon Beauty; an Elegance of Style; an Improvement of Diction; a Strength of Reafon; an Excellency of Wit; and a Noblenefs and Sublimity of Thought, equall'd by few, if any of our Modern Poets.

Befides his excellent Compofures of Latin and English Poetry, his Criticisms upon Milton, and the large hare he had in the Tatler, Spectator and Guarė

dian,

* Mufæ Anglicana, Vol 2.

dian, he has honour'd the Stage with two Dramatick Productions in a different way.

I. ROSAMOND; an Opera, perform'd at the Queen's Theatre in the Hay-Market, 1702. Infcrib'd to her Grace the Dutchefs of Marlborough: 'Tis obferv'd that this Opera, for the Beauty of its Diction, exceeds any English Performance of the Kind; but being very ill fer to Mufick, it had not the Succefs due to its Merit.

4

II. CATO; a Tragedy, acted at the Theatre Royal, in Drury-lane 1712. This Play was acted with the greatest Approbation of any that has been reprefented on the Theatre, in this or any preceding Age; yet did not its Succefs exceed its Deferts. The Pretenders to Criticifm charge Mr. Addifon with an Extravagancy of Zeal in the Caufe of Liberty; and an Irregularity of Drama in not bringing Cato on the Stage till the middle of the Second Act.

Thefe are Mr. Addifon's Dramatick Performances; and the Beauties of the former are finely exprefs'd in the following Lines, by Mr. Tickell.

No Charms are wanting to thy artful Song,
Soft as Corelli, and as Virgil Strong.

From Words fofweet, new Grace the Notes receive,
And Mufic borrows Helps, fhe n'd to give.

Who reads thy Work, fhall own the Sweet Surprize,
And view thy Rofamond with Henry's Eyes.

As for the latter,I think it modeftly recommended by the fame Gentleman, in a Copy of Verses written to Mr. Addifon from Queen's College, Oxon:

Thy Oxford Jmiles this glorious Work to fee,
And fondly triumphs in a Son like thee:

B

The

The Senates, Confuls, and the Gods of Rome,
Like old Acquaintance at their native Home,
In Thee we find; each Deed, each Word expreft,
And ev'ry Thought that fwell'd a Roman Breaft.
We trace each Hint, that could thy Soul infpire,
With Virgil's Judgment, and with Lucan's Fire;
We know thy Worth, and give us leave to boast,
We moft admire, because we know thee moft.,

For gentle Ifis claims the Ivy Crown,
To bind th' immortal Brows of Addison.

Garth.

WILLIAM ALEXANDER, Earl of Sterling.

A

Nobleman of Scotland, who liv'd in the Reign of King James I. He was very much in Favour with his Soveraign; and by his Writings he has fhew'd Pofterity that he had a juft Right to it; tho' his Plays may be rather term'd Hiftorical Dialogues, than Dramatick Performances,

My Lord feems often to have a peculiar Fancy to Punning; but this was more the Vice of the Age, than of the Poet; and an Objection to his Verfe is their being alternate, like the Quartains of the French Poet Pibrach; and Sir William Davenant's Gondibert, which meafure of Verfe is found fault with. To fhew that this. Nobleman fometimes wrote in a very good Strain, I give you the following Lines.

Love is a Foy, which upon Pain depends;

A Drop of Sweet drown'd in a Sea of Sowres:
What Folly does begin, that Fury ends;
They hate for Ever, who have lov'd for Hours.

In my Lord's Recreations of the Mufes, printed in the Year 1637, and Dedicated to King James, are four Plays, to which he gives the general Denomination of Monarchick Tragedies; they are the Alexandrian Tragedy, Cræfus, Darins, and Julius Cafar.

1. The Alexandrian Tragedy. This Play is built upon the differences about the Succeffion, that arofe between Alexander's Captains after his Decease, &c. and is far from being after the Model of the Ancients, as Mr. Langbain will have it; but he has borrow'd very freely their Thoughts, many times tranflating. whole Speeches from Seneca, Virgil, and others. In this Play the Author feems to mistake the very Effence. of the Drama, which confifts in Action; for there is fcarce one Action perform'd in view of the Audience, but feveral Perfons come in and relate Adventures perform'd by themfelves or others. The two first Acts are entirely foreign to the Bufinefs of the Play; but upon the whole it must be allow'd that my Lord: was a very good Historian, and from his Plays the Reader may gather a great deal of the Affairs of Greece and Rome. For the Plot of this Play, confult Quintus Curtius, and the Thirteenth Book of Justin, Diodorus Siculus, l. 18. Orofins, l. 3. c. 21. Jofephus, l. 12. c. 1. Raleigh's Hift. 1. 4. c. 3, &c.

IL CROESUS; a Tragedy, the most moving Play of the Four. It is chiefly borrow'd from Herodotus, lib. Clio. Juftin, l. 1. c. 7. Plutarch's Life of Solon, Salian, Torniel. In the Fifth Act there is an Episode of Abradates, and Panthaa, which the Author has. taken from Zenophon's Cyropaideia: or, The Life and Education of Cyrus, lib. 7. The Ingenious Scudery · has likewife built upon this Foundation in his diverting Romance, call'd Grand Cyrus. p. 5. b. 1.

III. DARIUS; a Tragedy. This was his Lord fhip's first Dramatick Performance, it being Printed at Edinburgh, in the Year 1603. It was at firft.com pos'd of a mixture of English and Scotch Dialect; and even then was commended by feveral Copies of Verfes, But the Author has fince not only polish'd his Native Language, but alter'd the Play itself. As to the Plot, confult Quintus Curtius, lib. 3, 4, & 5. Juftin, 1. 11. c. 5, &c. Diodorus, 1. 17. Arrian, de Expeditione Alexandri, l. 2. Plutarch's Life of Alexander, Salian, A. M. 2719, &c.

But

IV. JULIUS CASAR; a Tragedy. In the Fifth Act of this Play, my Lord brings Brutus, Caffius, Cicero, Anthony, &c. together after the Death of Cafar, almoft in the fame Circumstances as ShakeSpear has done in his Play of this Name. Shakespear's Anthony and Brutus ravifh you, while my Lord's Brutus, Cicero and Anthony incline you to fleep. This is much the moft regular of all my Lord's Plays, at leaft, in the Unity of Action': But after the Death of Cafar it is unneceffary to hear of the Confequence of it, either in the Grief of Calphurnia, or the Factions of the Noblemen and Commons. The Story of this Play may be found in the Roman Hiftories, Plutarch and Suetonius in the Life of Cafar, Appian de Bellis Civilibus, lib. 2. Florus, lib. 4. c. 2. Salian, Torniel, &c.

My Lord is very Sententious in his Dramatick Performances; and his Style, as he owns himself, hot pure, for which he pleads his Country.

Mr.