L before evening to vanquish the Greeks, wherever they could find them. Unfortunately they came upon them, at a time when already they were entirely enervated by the very forts they had made to render themselves robust. ef Even supposing these exercises of boxing, pancratium, and extravagant racing, had not brought on the monstrous deformities already mentioned, the too abundant perspiration, and too great effusion of sweat, which such practices could not fail to excite, must have been more than sufficient to debilitate the human body, by depriving it of a great part of the juices necessary to its preservation. Accordingly, Galen assures us, in the most positive terms, that, from Hippocrates down to himself, no Greek physi cian had approved of the temperament constitution, or regi men of the Athlea. It is truly absurd to oppose, as had been done to the testimony of all the physicians of Greece, the insignificant authority of such a writer as Lucian, who has composed a dialogue on the gymnastic art, in which, by an inconceiveable ignorance of ancient history, he ventures to introduce Solon, as if that legislator had been a zealous partisan to the Athletæe, to whom, on the contrary, he was a decided enemy. Solon reduced to almost nothing the rewards which were destined for the champion, and taught the Athenians, that it was infinitely more advantageous to employ the funds of the state, in bringing up orphans, than in supporting wrestlers, useless in times of peace, and still more useless in time of war; for, according to the expression of Euripides, they were the worst of all the Grecian soldiers. It has hitherto been thought, that the combats of the gladiators at Rome, were a spectacle beyond comparison more cruel, than the gymnastic combats of the Greeks: but the truth is, the one were as cruel as the other. The wounded gladiators might be healed by able chiurgeons; and Galen saved the life of most of those who had received wounds at Pergamus, where he resided. But the Grecian champions could not be cured, because, in their combats, entire members were torn off. They lost eyes, teeth, nose, chin, and ears; and, in short, looked like men hardly escaped from the paws of a tiger or a leopard. Can we conceive any thing more atrocious than to see champions naked, disgustful with blood, tearing each others bodies with gantlers, and inflicting so many contusions on the face, that all the features were altered to such a degree, that a mother after these exploits, could not recognize her son, and brothers were un able to know one another by sight? On these accounts, it is certain, as Isocrates assures us, that none but the vilest of the populace from the obscurest villages of Greece, would embrace so infamous a trade, for want of having learned another that might hava enabled them to live with less trouble and less renown. With regard to horse-races, they produced upon these animals the same effects that the gymnastic exercises did upon the human species, that is to say, their race was totally enervated throughout all Greece, where they had the consummate folly to bring upon the course, fillies so young, that one single trial of that kind, ruined them for ever. The English have greatly degraded the breed of their horses, by the Newmarket races, and others of a similar kind through the kingdom; but had they imitated the Greeks, and made fillies enter the lists, there would not at this day have remained in all Britain a single horse worth riding. Pindar, speaks of a race at the Pythian games, where there were, says he, no less than forty chariots broken to pieces, and forty charioteers overturned on the sand; which made, to use an expression of Sophocles, a shipwreck by land. This signifies, in other words, that there were then destroyed, without any benefit to the state, a great number of men and useful animals, whereof some were crushed to death upon the spot, and others languished in long continued pain. Thus were all the horrors of war exhibited in the midst of peace. DRURY LANE THEATRE. OROONOKO. What there is in this play to call for a revival it is quite beyond us to conjecture. We know that it has been performed with sufficient success from its first appearance almost to the present hour: but we are inclined to believe that neither the writer nor the school, stand so high in the public opinion as they did, even a very few years since. We have often enough asserted that what is truly excellent in our drama must be selected from the writers previous to the usurpation: but Southern either as a wit or a poet, is, in our opinion immeasurably inferior to many of his contemporaries. Gray it is said, thought highly of his pathetic powers; and there are few men to whose opinion we are inclined to pay a more respectful deference:-but the pathetic powers of Southern are all in situation and circumstance: he understood well enough what would be effective in representation; but this was all:-he has a fullness of words but not of feeling-and of that halo of poetry and passion which encircled our elder dramatists, and in the language of one of them "struck a glorious beam" on every thing they wrote, not a solitary ray is discoverable. We know not if the Managers have adopted Hawkesworth's alteration of this play, and the thing was not worth examination: the underplot has not, we believe, for some years been permitted to disgust the audience and disgrace the theatre. Southern himself we are to suppose would not have objected against this, for we are told, that in his old age, and he was eighty six when he died, he expressed his regret, that he had been induced by the bad taste of the times to mingle together comedy and tragedy. The bad taste of the times! "The reason why the seven stars are no more than seven is a pretty reason" but nothing to this. The truth is, this puling nonsense has been handed down to us, because it fell in with the bad taste" of those times. Southern might have kept his conscience clear. The mingling comedy and tragedy, beautifully and in nature was beyond the powers of almost any man of his age! but in Southern, Oroonoko for example, the "comedy is gross, indecent, and offensive farce, and promises from its ontset, to agree as effectively with the serious parts of the drama, as the front of an elephant with the hind quarters of a lady's lap-dog. 66 The only sketch of character in the whole play agreably to our conception, is Aboam, long a favourite of Garrick's, and ably represented on this occasion by Mr. Rae. By preserving the honour and dignity of Oroonoko, in his misfortunes, the author insured success with the "grounded understanders." It is not in any way fitted to call forth the peculiar excellencies of Mr. KEAN; but in gratitude for what better poets have done for him, he did much for the poet. The first and last scene with Imoinda, were inimitably beautiful. As to Miss SOMERVILLE she looked as she could "break her fast, dine, sup, and sleep upon the naked name of love," and if this was not quite all that the author designed it was enough. Just after Ben Jonson's magnificent Masque of Blackness had ap peared, in which her Majesty and the chief beauties of James's court had faken part, and to the representation of which it was essential they should appear with "faces and arms painted black;" Sir Dudley Carleton wrote to Winwood giving him full particulars, and he concludes by gravely assur ing him, it became them nothing so well as their own red and white.” Now we suspect Miss Somerville and the actresses generally, to be somewhat of Sir Dudley's opinion, and should hold themselves much indebted to thern, for permitting "my Lord Governor's slave" to retain the “natural ruby of her cheek" considering the apparent provoking necessity for the contrary. A REMARKABLE INSTANCE OF SENSIBLE REPARTEE IN A LUNATIC. A Gentleman of the name of Man, who resided at Deptford, and had a place in the Custom-house, having constantly finished his business at two o'clock, used generally to go home then to dinner: In his walk he frequently met a Gen 6 theman who lived in that neighbourhood, who was known to be disordered in his intellects, but whose conduct had always been inoffensive. It happened one day that the madman met him on the causeway, and having a large stick in his hand, when he came opposite to Mr. Man, made a sudden stop, and striking one end of the stick to the ground, whilst he held it with both his hands, he sternly pronounced who are you, Sir?' The other, not at all alarmed, and willing to sooth his assailant with a pun, replied, why, Sir, I am a double man; I am man by name and man by nature.' < Are you so,' says the insane; why I am a man beside myself, and we two will fight you two.' Immediately upon which he knocked Mr. Man into the ditch, and deliberately walked off. WHIMSICAL METHOD OF PUNISHING LIBELLERS IN RUSSIA. Every body knows that the government of Russia is arbitrary, and consequently ever watchful over the few daring subjects who presume to make any advances towards that li berty, to which, as natives of the earth, all men seem so duly intitled. The punishment inflicted upon such uncon stitutional delinquents is, however, not so severe as one might expect: but, in my opinion, much more exemplary than is to be found in a country celebrated for the equity of decisions, and the salutary purpose of its laws.-While I resided at Moscow, there was a gentleman who thought fit to publish a quarto volume in vindication of the liberties of the subject, grossly reflecting upon the unlimited power of the Czar Peter, and exposing the iniquity of the whole legislature (if it may be so called) of that empire. The of fender was immediately seized by virtue of a warrant signed by one of the principal officers of state; he was tried in a summary way, his book determined to be a libel, and he himself, as the author, condemned to eat his own words.' This sentence was literally carried into execution on the following day. A scaffold was erected in the most populous part of the town; the imperial provost was the executioner, and all the magistrates attended at the ceremony. The book was severed from the binding, the margins were cut off, and every leaf was rolled up, as near as I can recollect, in the form of a lottery ticket, when it is taken out of the wheel at Guildhall by the blue-coat boy. The author of the libel was then served with them separately by the provost, who put them into his mouth, to the no small diversion of the spectators. The gentleman had received a complete mouthful before he began to chew; but he was obliged, upon pain of the severest bastinado, to swallow as many of the leaves as the Czar's serjeant surgeon and physician thought it possible for him to do without immediate hazard of his life. As soon as they were pleased to determine that It would be dangerous to proceed, the remainder of the sen tence was suspended for that time, and resumed again the next day, at the same place and hour, and strictly conformable to the same ceremony. I remember it was three days before this execution was over; but I attended it constantly, and was convinced that the author had actually swallowed every leaf of the book. Thus, I think, he may be very justly said to have eaten his own words. Some part of this punishment seemed to give the culprit little or no concern; but I could not help observing, that now and then he suffered great torture: which, from an accurate attention, I dis covered to arise from particular leaves on which the strongest points of his arguments were printed. TO THE MOCKING bird. Oh! sweet and loveliest of the tuneful throng, Harmonious sounding with a soothing pow'r, All sweetly like the whisper'd words of love, Scorning the mateship of the wailing dove. The Amusing Chronicle is published at No. 6, Gilbert's Passage, Portugal Street, and served at the houses of the subscribers, in the same manner as wspapers and magazines. G. Stobbs, Printer, Catherine Street, Strand. |