Solution of an Enigmatical Mountain.

SOLUTION of the ENIGMATICAL | weak and delicate, exult under the

of that frequent and beautiful phænomenon called a rainbow; I fhould, therefore, be glad if any of your philofophical correfpondents would gratify me, as well as many others, with a folution of the cause of it, in a future publication of your Magazine.

I am, Sir,

Your's, &c.

Chrift, &c. thofe exhibitions acquired the general name of Myfteries. At first they were, probably, a kind of dumb fhows, intermingled, it may be, with a few short fpeeches; at length, they grew into a regular series of connected dialogues, formally divided into act; and scenes. Specimens of these in their most improved state (being at best but poor artless compofitions) may be

Woodford, Effex. CHARLOTTE H-D. feen among Dodfley's old plays, and

in Ofborne's Harleyan Mifcel. How they were exhibited in their most fim

To the EDITOR of the LADY's MA-ple form, we may learn from an antient

SIR,

B

GAZINE.

Query I. Was the finny tribe, and other inhabitants of the waters, deftroyed with the rest of the animals at the general deluge or not?

novel, (often quoted by our old dra matic poets *) intitled " A merrye jeft EING in company last night with of a man that was called Howlefome gentlemen, and the conver-glafs †, &c. being a translation from fation turning upon matters of litera- the Dutch language, in which he is ture, the following queftions, among named Ulenspiegle."--Howleglafs, a variety of others, were propofed to whofe waggish tricks are the fubject of the ladies, which very much puzzled this book, after many adventures, the whole company. comes to live with a priest, who make him his parifh-clerk. This prieft is defcribed as keeping a leman, or concubine, who had but one eye, to whom Howleglafs owed a 'grudge for reveal ing his rogueries to his mafter. Th ftory thus proceeds-—“ And then is the meane feafon, while Howleglafs wa paryfhe clarke, at Eafter they fhoul play the Refurrection of our Lorde and for becauf. then the men were no larned, nor could not read, the pric toke his leman, and put her in th grave for an aungell; and this feet Howleglafs, toke to him iij of the fin pleft perfons that were in the town that played the iij Maries; and t perfon (i. e. parfon or rector) play Chrifte, with a banner in his hand Then faide Howleglafs to the fym perfons," When the aungell alco

II. Whether the planets, and other luminous bodies, are habitable worlds, as many authors of reputation have lately afferted?

I fhould be glad to see these curious queries difcuffed by fome of your correfpondents, in your useful and entertaining Magazine.

AMELIA.

OBSERVATIONS on the OLD ENGLISH
DRAMATIC PIECES called MYSTE-
RIES. By DR. PERCY.

T is well known that dramatic po

Ietry, in this and most other nations of Europe, owes its origin, or at least its revival, to thofe religious fhows, which in the dark ages were ufually exhibited on the more folemn festivals. At thofe times they were wont to reprefent, in the churches, the lives and miracles of the faints, or fome of the more important ftories of fcripture ; and as the moft myfterious fubjects were frequently chosen, such as the Incarnation, Paffion, and Refurrection of

you whom you feke, you may fay, perfon's leman with one iye." T it fortuned that the tyme was co that they must playe, and the aung afked them whom they fought, then fayd they, as Howleglafs

Obfervations on Dramatic Pieces called Myfteries.

235

much as hiftorical poems do from epic; as the Pharfalia does from the Æneid. What might contribute to make dra

foon after the myfteries ceafed to be exhibited, there was published a large collection of poetical narratives, called The Mirrour of Magiftrates, wherein a great number of the moft eminent characters in English hiftory are drawn relating their own misfortunes. This book was popular, and of a dramatic caft, and therefore, as an elegant writer has well obferved, might have its influence in producing hiftoric plays.Thefe narratives probably furnished the fubjects, and the antient mysteries fuggefted the plan.

fhowed, and learned them afore, and then anfwered they, "We feke the prieft's leman with one iye."--And then the prieste might heare that hematic poetry take this turn was, that was mocked. And when the priestes leman heard that, fhe arofe out of the grave, and would have fmyten with her fift Howleglafs apon the cheke, but the miffed him, and fmote one of the fymple perfons that played one of the iij Maries, and he gave her another; and then toke fhe him by the heare [hair]; and that feeing his wyfe, came running haftely to fmite the prieftes leman; and then the pricfte feeing this, cafte down hys baner, and went to helpe hys woman, fo that the one gave the other fore ftrokes, and made great noyfe in the churche. And then Howleglafs feeing them lying together by the eares in the bodi of the churche, went his way out of the lage, and came no more there."

That our old writers confidered hiftorical plays fomewhat diftinct from tragedy and comedy, appears from vil-numberlefs paffages in their works."Of late days (fays Stow) inftead of thofe ftage-playes, have been used comedies, tragedies, interludes, and hiftories, both true and fained." Survey of London.

As the old myfteries frequently required the reprefentation of fome allegorical perfonage, fuch as Death, Sin, Charity, Faith, and the like, by degrees the rude pocts of thofe unletter. ed ages began to form complete dramatic pieces, confifting entirely of fuch perfonifications. Thefe are entitled Moral Plays or Moralities. The myfteries were very inartificial, representing the fcripture ftories fimply, according to the letter. But the moralities are not devoid of invention; they exhibir outlines of the dramatic art; they contain something of a fable or plot, and even attempt to delineate characfers and manners.

The old myfteries, which ceased to be acted after the reformation, feem to have given rife to a third fpecies of #tage exhibition, which, though now confounded with tragedy and comedy, were by our firft dramatic writers confidered as quite diftinct from them both; thefe were hiftorical plays or kitories, a fpecies of dramatic writing which refembled the old myfteries, in reprefenting a series of historical events fimply, in the order of time in which hey happened, without any regard to he three great unities. These pieces em to differ from tragedy, just as

Beaumont and Fletcher, in the prologue to the Captain, fay,

"This is not comedy,
"Nor tragedy,
"Nor hiftory."

Polonius, in Hamlet, commends the actors, as the best in the world, "either for tragedie, comedie, hiftorie, paftorall, &c."--And Shakespeare's friends, Heminge and Condell, in the firft folio edition of his plays, in 1623, have not only entitled their book, "Mr. William Shakespeare's Comedies, Hiftories, and Tragedies," but in their table of contents have arranged them under those three feveral heads, placing in the clafs of hiftories, King John, Richard II. Henry IV. two parts, Henry V. Henry VI. three parts, Richard III. and Henry VIII.

This distinction deferves the attention of the critics; for if it be the first canon of found criticism to examine any work prefcribed for his obfervance, then we ought not to try Shakespeare's hiftories by the general laws of tragedy or comedy. Whether the rule itself be vicious or not, is anHh 2

other

other enquiry; but certainly we ought
to examine a work only by those prin-
ciples according to which it was com-
pofed. This would fave a great deal
of impertinent criticism.

SKETCHES of the CHARACTERS of
LEWIS XIV. and of MADAME DE
MAINTENON.

L

By a LADY., LEWIS XIV. EWIS was a monarch, but no heHe was liberal and magnificent, an able politician, and a generous patron of arts and fciences: but had he fucceeded to the throne in the circumstances of his grandfather, he would never have fat upon it. He wanted the bravery, fortitude, magnanimity, and perfeverance of Henry the Fourth, and would have lived and died a pretender.

conduct, extremely fit to ferve her in-
terefts in this life, and, I hope, to in-
She was uni-
fure them in the next.
formly good in herfelf, but her good-
nefs principally related to that fame
felf. She was willing enough, it is
true, to do kind offices for others in
cafes indifferent, but was incapable of
friendship at the minuteft hazard of her

own concerns.

Her whole power and influence, during her elevation, were expended folely on the maintenance of that ftation, and the fecurity of its emoluments.If prudence, as it is deemed by some mean-minded philofophers, be the Pantheon of Virtue, Madame de Maintenon certainly bids faireft for the most perfect character I know of. Even her chastity was but a portion of her prudence, not her virtue, and more a measure than a moral. This latter part of her character is, I think, fufficientHe had a paffion for glory, but this ly vouched by a paffage in one of her own letters to her confeffor, preserved arofe rather from vanity than ambiat St. Cyr, written at the time of tion, and had too much of the antient barbarity mixed up with it: the great-Lewis's courtship--" I always take nefs of an action fupplying the place of the juftice or advantage of it with him. His behaviour to the republic of Venice was a vain-glorious, inglorious proceeding, unbecoming a brave or a politic prince. It was fufficient to have rendered that ftate a perpetual enemy to him, to his family, and to his nation.

A warlike refentment of injury, or a rivalry of deminion, may fubfift for

care to fend his majefty away dijappointed and dilatisfied, but never def ponding."

Are not fuch evolutions as these the arts of a finished martinet in intrigue? but it fatisfied the confciences of the

devotee and her divine both: it feems that it was but fair play to ftake her chaftity against a crown.

mited to a fe&. Hence arofe her difcontents, and her so oft lamented te

Her religion was but ritual; it might have been Catholic, but not uniever between powers, without perfon.verfal; it wanted charity; it was lial refentment, or national enmity; but infolence, like a blow, can never be forgiven till returned or revenged. I dioufnefs of life. For a religion merefhould be apt to fufpect the meannefsly mechanical is not fufficient to fupof that foul, which would not itfelf be port the wearied foul through its lanfhocked at a bafe fubmiffion exacted by it from its equal.

Lewis le Grand, like fome other great perfons recorded in ftory, happened to have lived too long, for he unhappily furvived his family, his fortune, and his fame.

MADAME DE MAINTENON. Maintenon was endowed with a dif

guer.

The UNFORTUNATE ACQUISITION.
A TALE.

Riches are oft by guilt, and bafenefs earned:
Or dealt by lucky chance, to fhield a knave,
Or throw a cruel fun-fhine on a fool.

ARMSTRONG.

thofe who know the true ufe of riches, wealth is a bleffing;

Tof

pofition of mind, and a regulation of but we continually fee in our com.

merce

The Unfortunate Acquifition.

237

Devil his due, Dick had, fome-how picked up very elegant notions of liv

merce with the world, that the affluent, for want of difcretion, reduce themfelves to fituations for which they can-ing: but the ftrength of his intellects

not deferve our compaffion. People was justly suspected, as the plan which who in the midst of their profperity, he formed was much too extenfive for are plunged into diftreffes, not from his income. A fortune double to that any imprudences in their own conduct, which his uncle left him would have but by a feries of misfortunes, equally been barely fufficient to anfwer the deanexpected, and unmerited,-fush peo-mands of his Demon; as Pope fomewhere expreffively calls tafte.

ple are, indeed, objects of pity, and it is the wifh of every benevolent heart to relieve them.

While Dick was enjoying his fortune, as he thought, like a man of fpirit, every body who knew him plainly perceived that he was wafting

attack. Finding all their efforts ineffectual, to make him fee himself in a proper light, they quitted him as a man

By a confiderable legacy, upon the death of an old hunks, from whom, tho' he was nearly related to him, heit like a puppy. Some of his former had not looked for a fhilling, Dick friends--people whom he now defpifed, Humphreys (a young fellow left an were urged by fheer good nature, in orphan, at an early age, and fupported spite of his defertion, to wait upon him, by the generous affiftance of a few per- in order to remonflrate with him, about fons who had a real regard for his pa- the imprudence-not to fay folly, of rents, and extremely compaffionated his behaviour. They were received his condition) became fo changed, on with coldness, heard with impatience, a fudden, that thofe who knew him and difmiffed in a manner which gave before his twenty thousand pounds de-them no encouragement to renew the volved to him, hardly could believe their eyes. He was not only very much altered in his appearance, rufhing into the extremity of the fashion, and quit-" inflexible to good, and obftinately ting all his decent companions, in or- wrong," and gave him up to the devices der to keep, what is abfurdly called, of his own heart. the best company, he also adopted quite Dick, tho' his great ambition was a new fet of manners; affumed airs of to make a figure in the world, was importance, and beheld, with a fort the most unfit mortal exifting to spend of contempt, all those with whom he his fortune with dignity, or indeed, to had before been moft intimately ac-keep it long in his poffeffion. His quainted. The friends who had ge- plan of life was, it has already been nerously maintained him, were cauti-faid too expenfive, and he had neither oully avoided, as impertinent perfons who put him too forcibly in mind of his former condition (a condition which he wished to forget, as it could not be thought on without many humiliating reflections) inflead of being gratefully remembered for their liberalities to kim.-No: Dick had fhaken hands with gratitude, and having a very falfe idea of fame, he foolishly imagined it was impoffible for a man to make a figure if he did not at the fame time make a blaze.

Tyrannically governed by this falfe, this foolish idea, Dick ftarted into the polite world, with a brilliancy which did more honour to his tafte, than to his understanding: for, to give even the

judgment to form a more prudential one, nor refolution fufficient to have acted agreeably to it, being of fo ductile a difpofition that every defigning man, not very deep, had great advantages over him. Surrounded by fuch men, from morning to night, (all of them directing their adulation to his weak fide, all flattering his tafte in the groffeft language, but language perfectly well adapted to the ears against which it was pointed) he was the most egregious dupe to be imagined, and toffed about his guineas and bank notes, yet not with a becoming air. He literally paid dear for his tafte; and while he feafted upon the high-flown panegyrics of his painters and fulptors,