court immediately faid, "We muft certainly part man and wife."--To which Sir William, laughing, replied, "How fo, my dear? I fhould be forry to have occation for either of us married folks to be parted."--" Phaw, Sir William," faid her lady fhip, fmiling, you would not have Captain and Mrs. Percy go together in their phaeton." "Will your lady fhip accept of me for your cicifbeo?"" faid Harry.-" Do you think you can truft me with him, Sir William?"" By your afking that queftion, my dear," replied Sir William, " you feem to doubt whether you can trust yourself to Captain Per-As the folutions, Page 156, to Hency but I will venture to fay you may." This produced a laugh throughout the company, and the carriages and horfes were foon after ordered, and we fet out, all of us, as follows-Lady Harcourt and Henry in our phacton; Sir William, Mifs Wallis, and myself in theirs; Mifs Sedly, Mr. Thornton, and Sir Edward Afhby on horfeback. As we stopped fometimes to look at the beautiful profpects that prefented themselves to our view, we did not get to that charming place till near two o'clock. After about an hour spent in walking over fome part of it, we returned to the Hermitage, where a cold collation was prepared for us. The Frenchhorns played feveral pieces while we were at dinner, and there being a very fine echo at the fpot the men had fixed on, it was delightful. rietta Dr's enquiry (Page 16) of the Ufe of the Hole in the Lids of Tea Pots, are neither of them phi lofophical or fatisfactory, I take the liberty of offering you mine, as follows, and am, Sir, Biddeford. W Your humble fervant, before it be poured upon the tea, in which ftate its parts, by the fire it contains, are put into the utmost degree of motion, by the communication of the motion, of the fire from which it was taken, which motion is abfolutely neceffary to produce the intended effect, as will appear; and the then motion of its component parts throws off fuch particles as cohere the leaft together; thofe particles, viz. (the fteam) acquiring a prodigious degree of expantion and elafticity, would lift When our repaft was finished, they, up the lid of the pot for a vent, were with the fervants that attended us at it not for the hole, and the hand in our entertainment, fat down to theirs; pouring out the tea might be liable to and till they had done, we walked o- fome difagreeable incident by the pafver the parts we had not before; after fage of the fteam outwards round the which the gentlemen gallanted us to lid. Alfo the want of fuch a hole the water, and feated us in the boats: would occafion the spout to pour very the French-horns were again at the unfreely; for by a little exhausture of fame place they were before, and on the interior fluid, the vacuity is enthe water had a very pleafing effect.-larged, and the contained air (in teaWe afterwards drank our tea in the Hermitage, and in half an hour after returned to Maple-Park in the fame manner we had fet out, when wifhing the agreeable owners a good night, we got home at half an hour after nine. pots where the lids ftop clofe) becomes proportionably rarefied and thin, and the weight of the incumbent atmofphere becomes more and more fenfible upon the furface of the veffel, as the want of refiftance in the internal air is On the Originality of Shakespeare's Style. increafed, and the effect would be manifeft by that portion of the atmofphere, or a conical fruftum of air that bears on the spout, and will keep the liquor back. Moreover, without the hole in clofe covers, the discharge of fteam would be prevented, and a communication of the external air with the main furface of the fluid cut off, whence the fluid would be loaded, and the freedom of the motion of its parts (acquired by heat, as mentioned above, which pervades the pores of the tea, breaks its finest and moft folid parts into the fmalleft atoms, and difunites thofe particles which yield the moft powerful fenfation on the palate, and being incorporated with the water, conftitute what is called the ftrength and flavour of the tea) prevented. SELECT ESSAYS relating to the GE- SPEARE. ESSAY III. On the Originality of SHAKESPEARE'. NEX 489 Shakespeare is fo much an original, that it is in vain to attempt to explain his meaning by other printed authorities, and it is dangerous fometimes to do it even by his own. He is the only dramatic writer that gives not only different fentiments, but a different language to different characters. The very idiom in which his English kings and heroes fpeak, differs from thofe of Greece and Rome. The file of Othello has not the least resemblance to that of Macbeth, nor the language of Hamlet to that of Lear. Was this diverfity of tile to be examined by an ordinary critic, who knows nothing of Shakespeare, he would pronounce his feveral plays to be wrote by feveral authors; but a more difcerning one would fay of his fpeeches, " Facies non omnibus una-nec diverfa 1amen :" tho' the resemblance can be found out by no other characteristic but that of excellency. Shakespeare had but few predeceffors in the dramatic art, to whom he could be beholden; and we find even few of his cotemporaries who can be called even fecond to him. Maflinger is, if any deserve that rank; but he is longo proximus intervallo *. Ben Johnfon, in his tragedies, has not the leaft fpark of a great writer. Maffinger mult have been esteemed a very great writer, had it not been for Shakespeare. Some parts of Shakespeare's comedies are as fine models for profe writing, as his tragedies are for poetry.Several of his comic characters fpeak with a freedom and eafe to which no modern author has attained; and I am convinced that had any of his epiftolary or literary compofitions defcended to pofterity, we should have found him to be as great a profe-writer as he was a poet. TEXT to the tranflation of the Bible and the Common-Prayer Book, the works of Shakespeare are undoubtedly the leading criterion of our language. He enriched it with phrafes, and fometimes with words, that are now claffical in England, and have been adopted by all fucceeding writers. If he failed in any thing, it was his introducing fome provincial expreffions, that not being understood in or near the capital, have occafioned moft of, or all the fcarifications which his editors have committed. A Middlefex or Oxfordshire man, for instance, does not conceive that in Staffordshire a wretch was a common expreffion for a young girl or woman; that a card in Some may think it amazing that our our Northern parts fignifies a brawling language was far from owing any im vagabond, and to bury means to pail or provement to the abilities of Ben Johnto take by might, with a thousand pro- fon, who was a man of learning, and vincialities of this kind, the true ex-great critical knowledge: but we are planation of which would render the to reflect that his learning was attendvery first edition of Shakespeare the ed by pride, and his knowledge by most complete by far that has yet appeared. VOL. X. Though near, at a long distance behind. 3 R whim whim. Confcious of having ftudied the ancients, and in fome of his plays having equalled, if not out-done their moft correct characters of conduct, and imagining that the public paid lefs homage to his learning, than they did to Shakespeare's genins, he wrapped himself up in a fullen kind of oddity, and was, in fact, the very Morofe he defcribes. Difdaining either to speak or to write in the common way, he ftudied phrases that never can be brought into common ufe, and, departing entirely from the character of the English language, he preffed it into the fervice of the ancients, though Plautus feems to have been his favourite, and his model. He even took the whimsical turn of verfifying Cicero, Sallutt, and other authors of antiquity, and bringing them upon the flage with great pomp and gravity; witnefs his tragedy of Cataline but though the fenfe of thofe authors is minutely preferved, the whole is a piece of bufkined burlefque, and the audience would have been equally entertained, had the fpeeches been in Latin. Notwithstanding this, Johnfon, till within thefe fifty years, was a more venerable name in English poetry than Shakespeare; for being himfeif a man both of wit and learning, with a keen turn for fatire, he received great incenfe from the writers of thofe days, partly through efteem, and partly through fear.-Hence it is that we know a great many more particulars of him than of Shakespeare. Notwithstanding this, the latter was always the favourite of the public, for this plain reafon, because they understood his language. (To be continued.) REMARKS on the VIOLATION of the IN the liberty to reprehend them a little, Nothing can be a greater argument of a bafe and thoughtless mind, than this vicious and finful habit which fome have acquired, of irreverently and inconfiderately calling upon the Great Creator, and abufing that great and adorable Being, who ought never to be mentioned but with the profoundelt awe, and the higheft veneration. I am fhocked to hear that name, which is great, wonderful, and holy, prostituted to the meaneft, and abused to the most execrable purposes. Never, never fhall I forget the fate of poor Corintho, who was fo feverely punished by a ftroke * from heaven for this crime ! hood. * Two indigent perfons, whom I fhall call Ifykah and Corintho, were fome years fince N the converfation of the fair fex, gleaning corn in the field in this neighbourWhilft thus employed in their avoca(that mot amiable part of the tion, a heavy form arofe, accompanied with creation) I will beg leave to point out terrible thunder and lightning, which greatly a piece of indecorum, which not only alarmed them. They were far from home, fhocks a delicate ear, but is an abfo-and obliged to take fhelter under a tree, as no Jute breach of Chriftianity itself. The ladies, I hope, will excufe me if I take houfe was near. The ftorm continued, the vivid lightning, loud thunder roared from above, and feemed to rock the earth, and make the On the Violation of the third Commandment. crime !-It is perverting the faculties of fpeech, and an abufe of that noble organ the tongue, which was bestowed on us, rational creatures, for better and wifer purposes. The name of the great fovereign of the universe is a facred, divine, and worthy epithet, and fhould never be pronounced but with emotions, with impreflions of awe, and on the most folemn occafions. It is the most worthy, the most excellent, and the most honourable appellation we are acquainted with how impious then to abufe and villify fo adorable a name! If we are ftrictly forbid to make ufe of it but in our pious addreffes, petitions, and devotional exercises, what plea can thofe have who daringly prophane it, perhaps a hundred times a day, on every trifling and infignificant incident? Who daringly and preiumptuously abuse it in their vain, and perhaps ludicrous conversation? Nor does it end here; it is become (the violation of the facred law is become) fo epidemical, that like a raging pefti. lence, it has fpread its contagion far and wide, and to make the mifchief the more univerfal, fome of the fair fex introduce the prophanation into the vault of heaven: both trembled, and were fore afraid; but Corintho was greatly terr fied, and almost diftracted with fear. On feeing an unusual fath of lightning, which feemed to threaten deftruction to all around, The cried out, in agonies inexpreffible," Lord! Lord! Lord! what shall we do? If there comes fuch another we fhall both be killed!"'-Be fore she had fcarce done fpeaking, another flash, more dreadful than the former, launched from the angry clouds, and struck her inftan taneously, a blackened corfe to the ground. May this dreadful example of divine vengeance be a means to deter every one from making ufe of the facred name irreverently. for the Creator has declared that he "will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain!" 491 their very writings, when they mention an exclamation, or have occafion to make use of an interjection. Shocking! Among the lower order of females, ignorance of the impropriety of the expreflion fomewhat palliates the crime; but for thefe to tranfgrefs who are no ftrangers to the finfulnefs of the term, and who are perfe&ly acquainted with their duty to the Creator in its full extent, it is fhocking! it is inexcufable! Let them reflect but a monent, and they would fee how injurious fuch expreflions are to themselves, and how pernicious they may be to others.Let the orthodox Chriftian confult his Bible, (thofe facred oracles of truth) and he will foon be convinced that this term, which many inconfiderately atter, is abfolutely prohibited in the evangelical law, i. e. to be uted ireverently, and it is very evident that it is both fhameful and wicked. fhort, it is an expreflion highly unbecoming, as well as unpolite, and therefore I hope the fair fex (whofe welldoing and happinets I have fincerely at heart) will, in future, no more fuffer fuch improper and unbecoming fpeeches to drop from their lips. In The divine and inconceivably great Author of the univerie, to whom we itand indebted for creation, prefervation, and redemption, and all the innumerable bleffings of life we enjoy, furely deferves our highest gratitude for his unparalleled and unipeakable beneficence, and inftead of mocking, flighting, or rafhly calling upon that adorable Being, our lips fhould always fpeak the language of our hearts, and utter nothing incompatible to reafon and religion. Confider the benefits, the gifts, and comforts you are inceffantly receiving from the hand of God--that inexhauftible and never *.* With fubmiffion, we humbly conceive failing fource of all good. Confider, that the exclamation of this woman was a devout application, or pious addrefs to heaven for deliverance from he impending form, and instead of being cenfured as taking the name of the Lord in vain," carries with it a firm hope and confidence in the interpofition of providence, which every one ought to have in fimilar circumstances. and be wife! Let thy heart overflow Eafi-Lavington. Solution to the Enigmatical Lift of | An Enigmatical lift of LADIES NAMES WOMEN'S CHRISTIAN NAMES. P. in HUNTINGDON. 1. A mufical inftrument. 2. A pleasant season changing a letter or confonant. 3. A favourite dish, and a poet. 4. A weapon leaving out a letter, and a fhallow water. 5. Half a wilderness, and a corpo ration town. 6. A man's chriftian name, and an offspring. 7. Half a fish, and a tender organ leaving out a letter. 8. A town's name in Suffex. 9. Three fourths of a young horfe, a numerical letter, a vowel, and part of a fruit. 10. A liquid letter, and three ninths of an antient town in Warwickshire. 11. An Indian wood. 12. Half an animal, and a distance changing a letter. 13. Three fourths of a wild fruit, and a confonant. 14. Five eighths of a fish, and two fixths of what England is. 15. A confonant, a veffel, and part of an island. 5. A feat in a church, and an affir-Huntingdon. mation reverfed. 6. The he of any fpecies expunging a letter, and the appellation given to a IGNOTES. town or village which fends members An Enigmatical Lift of WOMEN'S to parliament. 7. One of the minor prophets men tioned in fcripture changing a letter, and a funeral rite. 8. The name of a planet expunging a letter, and the retreat of ferocious beafts. 9. A large fowl changing a letter, and to bow, reversed. 10. A place mentioned in the fcriptures, three ninths of a certain plant, à confonant, and a meteor, adding a letter. 11. A confonant, a vowel, and the contrary to good. 12. A much efteemed liquor, changing a letter, and a vulgar term for an impofition. Market-Lavington. CHRISTIAN NAMES. 1. Three fifths of a heathen god, and a vowel. 2. The name of a planet expunging a letter, and a confonant. 3. An odoriferous flower which moit people are fond of. 4. A paffage over a river, and a co fonant. 5. Three fifths of matrimony,! confonant, and an interjection. 6. A sweet paffion of the mind. 7. The appellation given to a prote tant. 8. Half of a chattering bird, a valky, and a negative changing a letter. 9. A vowel, half of an animal, a man's name changing a letter, and a ELIZ. L-G. I confonant. POETI |