476 Hint for a new Work.-Original Letter from Sir John Evelyn.

phers, would afford no trifling materials for fo important a purpose. A work of this kind, interfperfed with philofophical investigations into the probable primary motives of the actions, conduct, and behaviour of a man, who ftands high in the opinion of the learned world, and conducted with candour and impartiality, cannot fail of being interefting, amufing, and inftructive.

Apparent improprieties are not unfrequently to be accounted for on general, philofophical, as well as on particular, prudential, or œconomical principles. To call a man brutish, haughty-to fay he is impatient of contradiction, and more to the fame purpose, is much eafier than it is to prove him to be fo. In drawing the character of a moral agent, we ought never to feparate the action from the motive, nor the motive from the intention of the perfon acting; for, when we do this, we are using an outline which has no basis for its fupport, and drawing a conclufion that is as likely to be falfe as true. Perfonal cenfures feldom proceed with a good grace from thofe who are not free from perfonal infirmities. When I read of Dr. Johnson's learning, abilities, genius, and refined taste; when I reflect on the multiplicity of his publications; when I confider their utility, elegance, and, above all, their moral and religious tendency; I view with furprize and admiration the monument of his virtues on one fide, while the molehill of his imperfections fcarcely attracts my notice on the othef; and am ready to exclaim-of thofe who have been fo eminently good as Dr. Johnfon, how few have been fo harmleffly bad! By inferting the above hint in your useful Mifcellany, you will oblige an

OCCASIONAL CORRESPONDENT. Mr. URBAN,

Oxford, June 4. B Y inferting the following letter from Sir John Evelyn, of Wootton in Surrey, to Mr. Nicholas, of Horfleyplace near Guildford, you will oblige your conftant reader,

A.

"Dear Sir, Edinburgh, O&. 24, 1723. "I HAVE your favour of the 11th inftant, and hope you have received my Jetter in antwer to your first about Mr. Dawson's death. I believe as much application has been made to me for his place, as to the Ministry for the Teller's; befies your recommendation, which must always have a very great weight with me, I am folicited for this confiderable employment by Mr. Richardion,

of whom I have a very good opinion, and the three attornies, Mr. Bonwicke, Mr. Heath, and Mr. Sturt; but, as I have no prefent occafion for keeping courts, I do not think it neceffary_to come to any determination in this affair before my return, which I begin to reckon not far off, and count with pleafure upon feeing my friends again in South Britain before the Christmas holidays are over. In the mean time, it is fome comfort to have the weather continue fine fo much longer than one had reafon to expect, especially in this country, betwixt which and England, in that particular, I have not hitherto perceived the leaft difference. Saturday laft my Lord Advocate Dundafs, who is a great oppofer of the Argathelion party, entertained the English part of our commiffion at his houfe four miles off, and one of our number hunted with him in the morning. The plenty of hares, as well as of fiones, is no fmall hindrance to that fport in this country. I take it to be better for fhooting, there being ro want of moor-game and partridges; and to-day I faw woodcocks in my ride to Dalkith-park, a fweet spot of ground, encompassed with two rivers meeting at one corner, and having wood enough to make it refemble an English park more than any thing I have seen in Scotland.

Laft week my wife and I had the curiofity to fee Duke Hamilton's lodgings in Holyrood-house, which are very handfome, and have fome good pictures; one of Philip II. another of Duke James that was beheaded. But the chief fight was the little room in a corner tower, the remains of the old palace, where David Rizzio was at fupper with Queen Mary when he was murdered; and there are fill fome marks of blood, faid to be his, in the paffage beyond the outer room, to which place he was dragged. Having lately received a letter from Waftell, fignifying his acceptance of the place in my gift, the pretentment of him was figned yesterday, and he fhall have notice when his warrant comes down. I believe his fecurity may be taken in Lon don; and therefore he will do well to get two houtholders ready to be bound in a bond of rool. for his good behaviour. I am very forry you continue to give fo indifferent an account of Mrs. Nicholas, and hope for a better in your next. My wife joins with me in humble fervice and good withes for her recovery; and I am, dear Sir, your most hursble and obedient fervant, J. EVELYN,

Further Obfervations on Mr. Paley's Elements, &c.

MR. URBAN,

477

it upon principles different from those upon which it was effected.

That the leading men who conducted the Revolution profeffed the doctrine of non-refiftance is certain; but as no man, who has traced civil fociety to its origin, and who has well weighed the purposes which government is intended to ferve, ever imagined that any power but the fupreme is abfolutely irrefiftible; the only queftions which with them could, admit of a debate were, what perfons were intrufted with the fupreme power in this kingdom, and whether thofe perfons were then refifted. That in every ftate the legislature alone is fupreme, is a truth self-evident; and it is equally certain that in 1688, as well as at prefent, no law could be enacted in England but by the King, Lords, and Commons, in parliament affembled; that it was not therefore, the perfon who wore the diadem, nor the House of Peers, nor the House of Commons, separately confider

June 7. THE HE review of Mr. Paley's "Elements of moral and political Philofophy," given in your Magazines for November, December, and January, I have perufed with pleafure: it is candid, fenfible, and juft. Your reviewer has praifed every thing in that work which is entitled to praife, and has cenfured with judgement thofe parts of it which appear to be ill-founded, or of dangerous tendency: but, not expecting the publick to rest upon his authority, he has expresled neither his praife nor his cenfure in general terms; where he differs from the Archdeacon, he affigns his reafons for the difference; and, where he agrees with him, he fupports his doctrine by collateral arguments. The difference between the author and the critic feems to be greateft concerning the duty and extent of civil obedience; and no wonder, for if every man who can collect a party might, without a crime, refift the legislature, whenever from refifted, but the joint authority of all thofe ance more advantage than mifchief would, ia bis opinion, accrue to the community, it is certain that obedience could be enforced only by terror; that no government could be upheld but by a ftanding army, fufficiently powerful to reduce the whole nation; and that every fuch government would foon become de1potic.

This confequence is fo obvious, that to me it has long been a matter of aftonifhment that fuch a number of our moft celebrated political writers fhould labour inceffantly to prove the lawfulness of refiftance. That fubjects, when oppreffed, have a right to take up arins against the government which oppreffes them, is confidered as a truth undeniable; as the great palladium of British liberty; and as the only principle upon which the Revolution can be defended: whilft the contrary doctrine of paffive obedience or Non-refifiance is never mentioned but with contempt and derifion, as a principle invented by tyrannic monarchis and bigoted priefts to enflave the world, and as inferring the monftrous abfurdity, that a whole nation was created for the aggrandizement of one or two individuals. But the ableft advocates for that doctrine deny that it is fraught with any fuch abfurdity; they infilt that non-refiftance is not more favourable to governors than to those who are governed; and they are of opinion that no bonour is done to the Revolution, by attempting a defence of

eftates, to which paffive obedience was due; and that the monarch was irresist 4 ible only whilft the law directed his adminiftration. But when King James, by affuming a power of difpenfing with the law, fer himself above the legislature, the advocates for paffive obedience think that his fubjects were not merely at li berty, but that they were even bound in duty to oppofe his incroachments upon the fupreme authority, which alone their principles teach them not to refift: and fince that infatuated prince chose to leave the kingdom, rather than to remain in the exercife of the regal prerogative within the limits prefcribed by the conftitution, there was nothing left for the people to do, but to place a new fovereign in the vacant throne. Had he indeed been deprived of his crown, and driven from his kingdom, merely because he was a papist, or for enforcing any law, however oppreffive, which then exified, it would have been impoffible to reconcile fuch a revolution to the only principles upon which civil government can be permanently established; but the oppofition which was made to his difpenting power, was an oppofition made to ufurped authority, it was a duty which every man owed to the legislature, and was in no refpect inconfiftent with the doctrine of pasive obedience.

That the contrary doctrine of refiftance, efpecially when carried the length which Mr. Paley carries it, is not more

friendly

478

Barbarifm of mis-fpelling Shakespeare's Name.

friendly to the liberties of the people,
than neceflary to vindicate the Revolu-
tion, appears indeed fufficiently evident
from the quotation which your reviewer
has given us from Mr. Hume; but, if
he thought it expedient to call in autho-
rity to his aid, he might have quoted an
author fitter for his purpofe. The prin-
ciples of Mr. Hume and Mr. Paley are
at the utmoft variance; it is therefore
no wonder that their conclufions should
be different. But the celebrated Berke-
ley, Bishop of Cloyne, in an Effay upon
Submiffion to Civil Government (re-
viewed in your Magazine for O&tober,
1785), argues, like the Archdeacon of
Carlife, from the will of God as col-
lected from general expediency; and
from that principle has deduced the doc-
trine of non-refiftance, and obviated the
ufual objections to that doctrine by a
courfe of reafoning in which it would be
difficult to difcover a fallacy. The Vice-
dean of Canterbury, who, I am told, is
the fon of that great prelate, has fuccefs-
fully purfued the fame track, in a fer-
mon, published two years ago, against
violent innovations in the fate; and, al-
though he enters not fo deeply into the
fubject as his father (which in a dif-
courfe from the pulpit would have been
highly improper), he has yet faid enough
to convince every unprejudiced perfon, that
no friend to real liberty can be difpofed
to refift the fupreme power, or rafhly to
meddle with them that are given to
change. Thofe authors may, perhaps,
be ftigmatized with the name of tortes,
but they build upon the only foundation
which is fufficiently folid to bear the fu-
perftructure of civil government; their
writings fhew their attachment to the
illuftrious Houfe of Hanover; and they
have approved themselves friends to the
beft interefts of their countrymen, by
enforcing the duty of civil obedience by
arguments, which he, who admits the
principles of Mr. Paley, will find it no
eafy talk to refute.

A FRIEND TO SUBORDINATION.
PADILLA's Third Letter in our next.

of fpelling our great poet's name, ShakSpear, I cannot flatter myself that any thing this letter may contain will make the abfurdity more glaring. But as that is fometimes granted to importunity, which is refufed to juftice and conviction, I will even condefcend to the humble means of petition, nor think it a degradation, fhould it in any degree tend to check fo horrid an offence to every principle of just orthography and good

taste.

If we examine thofe depredators of elegance, who would rob our beloved Shakespeare of his "good name," by an application of the rules he has laid down, the investigation will abundantly confirm their difgrace:

Who is not mov'd with concord of fweet founds,

The motions of his fpirits are dull as night. And furely we can never fay that a man has mufic in himself, or is moved by any fweetnefs of found, who can prefer to Shake the odious diffonance of Shak. I venerate antiquarianifm as a science not merely amufing, but as productive of many and folid advantages It would, therefore, give me much pain to find it justly pourtrayed, as infenfible to every delicate emotion, and refembling the dulnefs of night.

With fuch fentiments I cannot but moft fervently intreat the liberal conductors of the newly-planned edition of our poet, a work which will confer honour both on our age and nation, that they will not, by the above vile adoption, debafe the fair offspring of munificence and genius." MISO-SHAK.

Mr. URBAN,

June 8.

F I have not already overloaded you with remarks on Shakespeare, pleate to infert the following. T. H. W. Taming of the Shrew.-"I remember (fays Barckley) a pretie experiment prac tiled by the Emperour Charles the Fift upon a drunkard. As this Emperour ca a time entered into Gaunt, there lay a drunken fellow ouerthwart the streetes, as though he had bene dead; who, leaft the hotfemen thould ride ouer him, was drawen out of the way by the legges, and could by no means be wakened; which when the Emperour faw, be caufed him to be taken vp and carried home to his pallace, and vied as he had appointed. He was brought into a faire chamber hanged with coftly arras, his clothes taken off, and laid in a ftately

bed

Further Remarks on Shakespeare's Plays.

bed meet for the Emperour himfelfe. He continued in fleepe vntill the next day almoft noone. When he awaked and had lyen wondring a while to fee himself in fuch a place, and diuerfe braue gentlemen attending upon him, they took him out of the bed, and ap parelled him like a prince, in verie coftly garments, and all this was done with verie great filence on everie fide. When he was ready, there was a table fet and furnished with verie daintie meats, and he fet in a chaire to eate, attended vpon with braue courtiers, and ferued as if the Emperour had bin prefent, the cupboord full of gold plate and diuerfe fortes of wines. When he faw fuch preparation made for him, he left any longer to wonder, and thought it, not good to examine the matter any further, but tooke his fortune as it came, and fell to his meate. His wayters with great reuerence and dutie obferued diligently his nods and becks, which were his fignes to call for that he lacked, for words he vfed none. As he thus fate in his maieftie eating and drinking, he tooke in his cups fo freelie, that he fel faft afleepe againe as he fate in his chaire. His attendants ftripped him out of his fresh apparel, and arrayed him with his owne ragges againe, and carried him to the place where they found him, where he lay fleeping vntil the next day. After he was awakened, and fell into the companie of his acquaintance, being afked where he had bene; he answered, that he had bene afleepe, and had the pleafanteft dream that ever he had in his life; and told them all that paffed, thinking that it had been nothing but a dreame."-A Difcourfe of the Felicitie of Man, by Sir Richard Bärckley, Knt. 1598, p. 24.

This frolic feems better fuited to the gaiety of the gallant Francis, or to the revelry of the boisterous Henry, than to the cold and diftant manners of the referved Charles, of whofe private character, however, historians have taken little notice.

Macbeth -The Witch, an unpublished tragi coomodie, by Thomas Middleton, whence Shakespeare is fuppofed to have taken the fongs, and fome hints for the incantations, in Macbeth, muk, from the evidence of the following paffage, have been written after the 39th of Elizabeth (1597), en the act was made against minstrel, fidlers, and pipers.

'T will be a worthie work,

479

To put down all theis pipers (fmokers): 'tis
great pitty,

There fhould not be à ftatut against them
As against fidlers.
AЯ 2. fc i.
But it is probable, from the familiar
mention of tobacco, to which Shakespeare
hath no allufion, that this performance
did not appear till feveral years after the
acceffion of James. Middleton, in his
dedication to this play, fays, it was "iga
norantly-ill-fated," which feems to be a
mild or tender way of owning that it was
damned by an ignorant audience.

Antony and Cleopatra. A& 2. íc. 7.
Pomp. This is not yet an Alexandrian feaft.
Ant. It ripens toward it. Strike the vessels,
Here is to Cæfar.
[bo.

Veffels probably mean kettle-drums, which
were beaten when the health of a perfon
of eminence was drunk; immediately
after, we have," make battery to our
ears with the loud mufic." They are
called kettles in Hamlet,

Give me the cups;

Aud let the kettle to the trumpet speak.
Johnson's explanation, 41
try whether
the cafks found as empty," degrades this
feaft of the lords of the whole world into
a ruftic revel.

[ftrike

King Lear. Act 2. fc. 2.
Kent. Stand, rogue, ftand, you neat flave,
Does "neat flave' mean any thing more
than corherd?

It was the lark, the herald of the morn.

Romeo and Juliet, 44 3. fc. 5. The mounting larke, daie's beralt, got on wing.

Browne's Britannia's Paftorals, book 1. S. 3.
Now the herald lark

Left his ground neft.

Ham.

Milion's Par. Reg. book 2. v. 281. a fea of troubles.

Hamlet, A3. fc. 1.

I.

Warburton's emendation is needlefs, as Menander uses the very fame expreffion

Εις πέλαγος αυτόν εμβαλεις γαρ πραγμαίων.
Fragm. p. 22. Amftel. 1719.

In mare moleftiarum te conjicies.
You will throw yourself into a fea of troubles.

Ofr. The king; Sir, hath laid, that in a dozen paffes between yourfelf and him, he (Laertes) fhall not exceed you (Hamlet) three hits; he (Laertes) hath laid on (out of) twelve for nine. At 2. fc. 2.

Laertes, being the most expert fencer, was to give Hamlet nine hits out of twelve patles. Johnfon's note feems more difficult to be understood than the paffage itfelf. But this learned annota

tor,

Strictures on the Travels of the Marquis de Chaiteirux.

tor, employed in unravelling fuch trivial
entanglements, is Hercules (pinning:

Et manu, clavam modò quâ gerebat,
Fila deduxit.

Joking apart, however, thefe little things are not to be neglected; and a Johnson, who was to caftigate others, fhould have been peculiarly correct himfelf. We want not a ftandard in our language, but fome one to erect and difplay the ftandard; and we may fay of verbal deductions, as of greater matters, that he who despises small things may fall by little and little. My compliments to L'ABBE. brother Kufter, from yours,

IN

de Chattellux in North America, every person must be ftruck with his partiality towards the allies of France; though, for the fake of humanity, one fhould be glad to think all the patriots in the new world were the virtuous heThe roes he represents them to be. Marquis, however, is a gentleman; and, in fpite of the national partiality which is to be found in all his countrymen, he is willing to allow merit in the Enghjb as encouragers of (cience. I am afraid, from all accounts, that the English army in America committed great exceffes; but I also fear, that every other army (efpecially in a civil war) would not be more moderate. M. de C. perhaps has forgot the dreadful ravages made by a French army in the Palatinate; fo fhocking, that I have been told the people there teach their children, with their catechifm, an abhorrence of the French

reading the Travels of the Marquis