Man (as if Human Nature were imperfect without it) hopes, and courts Admiration and Applause from his Attempts on the Muses. This is not the Obfervation of a Day. Horace remark'd above 1700 Years Mago fomething like it in his Epistle to Augustus Cafar. A Pilot only will a Veffel guide, And a Phyfician Medicines preferibe: But learned, and unlearned, fcribble Verfe, &c. The Excellence being, therefore, fo confefs'd, and the Ambition of it fo general, the Rules that direct our Course to it, and distinguish the right Read from the various divious Paths, muft certainly be agreeable to all, who have a Defire either of reading or writing with Satisfaction in this Way. For thus they may judge of, and arrive at Excellence, as being the only Proof of a Genius, and without which the moft exalted (if any Copy of Verfes can merit that Name without this Proof) is a rude and undigested Mafs; the greatest Qualifications imperfect, and with which they can only fhine in their true Luftre. If, therefore, you cannot find a better Argument, than what you have produc'd, for not vindicating the Art of Poetry from the fcandalous Empericisms of Quacks, you must own Idleness to be your Director. I own, (returned I) that you have given fufficient Reafons to fhew the Neceffity of Rules, if we wou'd not ftill pafs for Barbarians, with the politer Part of the World; yet I am afraid all you have faid, how rational foever, will not fatisfie too Many of our Authors, and most of our courteous Readers, nay even our University Men, who are, or are fuppos'd to be bred in the very Prefence of the Mufes, that Criticism is not ill-natur'd Thing. However I fhall endeavour, at my Leifure to fhew, the Prevalence of your Arguments by the Works of my Conviction. But as this Task is moft neceflary, fo is it also attended with an the the greatest Diffieulty, if I wou'd accomplish it with that eafie Addrefs, which a Difcourfe of this Nature requires to recommend it to the Taste of the Town, efpecially if I wou'd gratifie the Gouft of the Ladies, who have no fmall Influence on the Gentlemen in this, as well as in most of our other Pleafures. It is therefore, of the last Importance, to bring them over to the fide of Art, and good Senfe; and to do that, I must render the Difcourfe a little more familiar, than Criticifm has generally been. I agree perfectly with you (affum'd Laudon) and it were to be with'd, that as Mr. Fontinelle has render'd the feveral Syftems of Ptolony, Copernicus, and Tycho Brahe intelligible, and obvious to a Lady's Capacity, fome other Perfon, as great as he, wou'd attempt the fame in Criticifm. Laudon had fcarce done when Mrs. Lamode, her Husband, and the reft of the Company came in. She was no fooner got into the Dining-Room, and paft fome fhort Salutes to the Lady of the House, and the reft of the Company; but starting with an Air, peculiar to her felf, to Morifina. Ah! my Dear (faid fhe ) I am extreamly oblig'd to my good Stars, that I am come to you; this may be of Confequence to my Caufe, for if your Husband shou'd not agree to my Opinion, I am fure of your being of my Party. Ah, Madam (faid Morifina) your Ladythip stands in Need of no Second in any Caufe you think fit to efpoufe; fo much Wit, and fo much Beauty muft always be victorious; and while Mr. Lamode, and Mr. Trifle (for Tom Trifle is a conftant Attendant on Mrs. Lamode) are here, your Party, Madam, will never need a Reinforcement. Alas, my Dear Morifina (reply'd Mr. Lamode) Mr. Trifle declares against me, and Ifachar, like a true Husband, ftands Neuter in his Wife's Quarrel. Upon my Soul, Madam (cry'd out Trifle, with no little Concern) your Ladyship does me an infinite E 3 dea 1 deal of Wrong; I cannot diffent from your Lady hip without forfeiting all my Pretenfions to a good Understanding. I proteft, Gentlemen and Ladies, I only faid, I thought the laft new Opera miferably fpoil'd by having fo many of the Words put into our beaftly, barbarous Language; and that if Grimaldi, and the other incomparable Italians had not soften'd it with the gentle melodious Words of the Original, it cou'd not have been borne by Ears of any tolerable Gufto. I proteft my Love (affum'd fachar) I think Tom Trifle fomething in the right; for our Language is too rough for Harmony; and in my Opinion, it would be much better to have the Opera's perform'd all in kalian. For fuch a Medly of English and Italian reik deis the Entertainment too obnoxious to the Critics. Ah! Fie, Mr. Lamode (interiupted his Wife) don' affume, don't affume fo much, and fet your Judgment above the rest of the Beau Monde, who adorn the Boxes, and fill the Theatre at these admirable Performances. For my Part, I am infinitely pleafed with this pretty Variery of Italian and English; it looks Jike a Brocade of Silk in Cloth of Gold; nay, it transports me to Italy, and then removes me to Eng land, as the divine Voice and Language fucceeds our rough Tongue, and hoarfe Voice. Pray, Mr. Laudon, what is your Opinion of this Matter? For ours. is a rough ugly Language, not fit for the fine Italian Airs. I congratulate our Manly Tongue, affum'd Laydon, that cannot be debaş'd to the Mouths of wretched. Eunuchs of the most corrupt and degenerate Nation in the Work, entirely Slaves, and but half Men.. And in my Opinion, a Man of Senfe can have no Excufe for feeing an Opera, after the new Mode. For. this Italian Opera, so much cry'd up,. feems to me,, Like the Puns and Jefts of merry Fellows,. that with the Help of the Warmth of the Bottle, and the Heat of Converfation, make us laugh in the unbending Hour, when feverer Judgment is abfent, but is fearce memberld the next Day, but with Indignation, that ita it could furprife us into any Sort of Pleafure. The touch the Head by their Lightness, but never reachTM the Heart. But Harry Purcel feem'd to have the Genins of Greek Mufck; he touch'd the Soul; he made his Way to the Heart, and by that Means, left a Satisfaction in the Pleafure, when paft. He had the Art of Painting in Mufick, which Ariftotle mentions? of the Greek Muficians; witnefs his Froft Scene, where by the admirable Conjunction of Flats and Sharps, he makes you almost shiver both with his Inftrumental · and Vccal Mufick. So that, for my Part, Madam,I think, that if Italian Opera's are at all to be admitted, that they would be better in that Tongue, than in English. Firft, because the Mufical · Performances would be better; and next, because the Action of the Performers might perfwade the Imagi-uration, that there is that in the Words which could not be found there, if we understood them. But indeed we are not in Danger of understanding much when fung in English, by the admirable Management of those who fung in our Language. The Recitativo feems, much like the Harmony of Punch, both as to the Sound and Manner, as well as Action; and I must: needs fay, that the worst Play of the worft Poet that ever writ, is a more rational Diversion than an Opera, after the Way of Italy. For indeed to me the Enter-ainment in it felf feems fo very infipid and abfurd that it is fcarce poffible to make any Addition of Ab-furdities to it. Eh! Fie! (affum'd Mr. Lamode), how can fo well- bred a Gentleman be fo fingular in his Tafte, as noti to relish. what all the Town admires? And not ap prove what both France and Italy are ftriving for the Preheminence in? Now if the Town fhould fancy aMixture of three or four Languages, or more, protest I verily believe, that I fhould not be fo fingular as to diflike it, What think you, Sir, faid the to me? Madam, (faid I) 'tis a Dish I have the utmost Averfon to;, it turns my Stomach. We have Trash enough E. 4 of our own Growth, and we need not feek abroad for worse. The beft Wits of France have declar'd against Opera's: Rapin, Dacier, St. Everemont, and the reft, weigh more with me, than Lullie, Louigi, and the reft of the Trilling Throng, or all the Applaufes of the Parterre, the Amphitheatre, or the Lodges. That Glory of your Sex, Madam Dacier, in her excellent Confutation of Mr. La Mot, attributes the Corruption of the Taste of the Age, to the Reception and Vogue of Opera's. A Man indeed may very well wonder how an Opera, and Civil Reason, should be the Growth of the fame Climate. Horace was angry at the empty Shows of the Romans; what would he then have faid to this vain Entertainment, only directed to bewitch your Eyes and Ears; Mufic and Machine, the Circe and Calipfo, in Confpiracy against Nature and Good Senfe. Tis a Debauch the most infinuating, and the most pernicious. Tho' the Grecians were as much for Singing and Dancing, as any French or Italian whatever; yet their Mufic kept within Bounds, nor ever attempted to metamorphofe the whole Drama into an Opera. The Spectator has been right in his Cenfure of this monstrous Entertainment. It does not (fays he) want any great Measure of Senfe to fee the Ridicule of this monftrous Practice (that is, of finging partly English, and partly Italian); but it is not the Tafte of the Rabble, but of the Perfons of the greatest Politeness, which has establish'd it. He thou'd have faid, Perfons of the greatest Quality; for certainly Politenef's cannot be the Share of thofe who indulge an Abfurdity, which he confeffes wants but a little Measure of Senfe to discover. But then I think nothing can be more abfurd, than his preferring the ridiculous Qualities of an Opera after the Italian, to that after the Way of Harry Purcel. He laughs at the Singing Superfcriptions of Letters, Gene-. rals Singing the Word of Command; Ladies Delivering a Meffage in Mufic, and the like, of which every Itali an Opera is full. But however (fays he) this Italian Way of Acting in Recitativo, might appear at firft Hea ring, |