་ quadrangular table, diametrically oppofite to the mace-bearer. The vifage of that venerable herald was, according to cuftom, most gloriously illuminated on this joyful occafion, The mayor and aldermen, thofe pillars of our conftitution, began to totter; and if any one at the board could have fo far articulated, as to have demanded intelligibly a reinforcement of liquor, the whole affembly had been by this time extended under the table. The celebration of this night's folemnity was opened by the obftreperous joy of drummers, who with their parchment thunder, gave a fignal for the appearance of the mob, under their feveral claffes and denominations. They were quickly joined by the melodious clank of marrow-bone and cleaver, while a chorus of bells filled up the confort. A pyramid of stack-faggots cheered the hearts of the populace with the promife of a blaze: The guns had no fooner uttered the prologue, but the heavens were brightened with artificial meteors, and ftars of our own 'making; and all the High-street lighted up from one end to another with a galaxy of candles. We collected a largefs for the multitude, who tippled elemofynary until they grew exceeding * vociferous. There was a pafte-board pontiff, ⚫ with a little fwarthy dæmon at his elbow, who, by his diabolical whispers and infinuations, tempted his holiness into the fire, and then left him to fhift for himself. The mobile were very farcaftic with their clubs, and gave the old gentleman feveral thumps upon his triple head-piece. Tom Tyler's phiz is fomething damaged by the fall of a rocket, which hath almost spoiled the gnomen of his countenance. The mirth of the commons grew fo very outrageous, that it found work for our friend of the Quorum, who by the help of his Amanuenfis, took down all their names and ⚫ their crimes, with a defign to produce his manuscript at the next quarter-feffions, &c. &c. &ri' I fhall fubjoin to the foregoing piece of a letter; the following copy of verfes tranflated from an Italian poet, who was the Cleveland of his age, and had muhitudes of admirers. The fubject is an accident that happened under the reign of Pope Leg, when a fire-work, that had been prepared uponthe caftle of St. Angelo, began to play before its time, being kindled by a flash of lightning. The author hath written a poem in the fame kind of ftile as that I have already exemplified in profe. Every line in it is a riddle, and the reader must be forced to confider it twice or thrice before he will know that the Cynic tenement is a tub, and Bacchus his caft-coat a bog fbead, &c. 'Twas night, and heav'n, a Cyclops all the day, And Argus now did countless eyes difplay: In every window Rome her joy declares, All bright, and ftudded with terrestrial stars, A blazing chain of lights her roofs entwines, And round her neck the mingled luftre shines; The Cynic's rolling tenement confpires, With Bacchus his caft coat, to feed the fires. The pile, fill big with undifcover'd fbows, Whilft now the multitude expect the time, The The clouds invelop'd heav'n from human fight, Tall groves of trees the Hadrian tow'r furround, grone. With joy, great Sir, we view'd this pompous While heav'n, that fat fpectator still till now, } And fo'tis fit, when Leo's fires appear, No 618. WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 10. Neque enim concludere verfum Dixeris effe fatis: Neque fiquis fcribat, uti nos, HOR. Sat. iv. I. i. ver. 40. 'Tis not enough the measur'd feet to clofe; Nor will you give a poet's name to those, Whofe humble verfe, like mine, approaches profe. Mr. SPECTATOR,^; You having, in your two laft Spectators, given – the town a couple of remarkable letters in ⚫ very different ftiles: I take this opportunity to offer to you fome remarks upon the epiftolary way of writing in verfe. This is a fpecies of poetry by itself; and has not fo much as been hinted at in any of the arts of poetry, that have ever fallen into my hands: Neither has it in any age, or in any nation, been fo much cultivated, as the other feveral kinds of poefy. A man of Genius may, if he pleafes, write letters in verfe upon all manner of fubjects, that are capable of being embellished with wit and language, and may render them new and agreeable by giving the proper turn to them. But in fpeaking at prefent of epiftolary poetry, I would be understood to mean only fuch writings in this kind, as have been in ufe among the ancients, and have been copied from them · by fome moderns. Thefe may be reduced into two claffes: In the one I fhall range love Y 3 letters, letters, letters of friendship, and letters upon mournful occafions: In the other I fhall place fuch epiftles in verfe, as may properly be called familiar, critical, and moral; to which may be • added, letters of mirth and humour. Ovid for the first, and Horace for the latter, are the best originals we have left. He that is ambitious of fucceeding in the Ovidian way, fhould first examine his heart well, and feel whether his paffions (especially thofe of the gentler kind) play eafy, fince it is not his wit, but the delicacy and tenderness of his fentiments, that ⚫ will affect his readers. His verfification likewise fhould be foft, and all his numbers flowing and querulous. The qualifications requifite for writing epiftles, after the model given us by Horace, are of a quite different nature. He that would excel in this kind must have a good fund of ftrong mafculine fenfe: To this there must be joined a thorough ⚫ knowledge of mankind, together with an infight into the bufinefs, and the prevailing humours of the age. Our author must have his mind well feafoned with the fineft precepts of morality, and be filled with nice reflections upon the bright and the dark fides of human life: He must be a mafter of refined rallery, and underftand the delicacies, as well as the abfurdities of converfation. He muft have a lively turn of wit, with an easy, and concife manner of expreffion: Every thing •he fays, must be in a free and difengaged manner. He must be guilty of nothing that betrays the air of a reclufe, but appear a man of the world throughout. His illuftrations, his comparifons, and the greateft part of his images must be drawn from common life. Strokes of fatire and criticifm, as well as panegyric, judicioufly thrown in (and as it were by the by) give a wonderful life and ornament to compofitions of this kind. |