an army as a parliament; or of commanding at sea as of reigning at land? What should hinder her from holding the helm of a fleet with the same safety and steadiness as that of a nation? And why may she not exercise her soldiers, draw up her troops in battle array, and divide her forces into battalions at land, squadrons at sea, &c. with the same pleasure she would have in seeing or ordering it to be done? The military art has no mystery in it beyond others, which women cannot attain to. A woman is as capable as a man of making herself, by means of a map, acquainted with the good and bad ways, the dangerous and safe passes, or the proper Situations for encampment. And what should hinder her from making herself mistress of all the stratagems of war, of charging, retreating, surprising, laying ambushes, counterfeiting marches, feigning flights, giving false attack's, supporting real ones, animating the soldiery, and adding example to eloquence by being the first to mount a breach. Persuasion, heat, and example are the soul of victory and women can shew as much eloquence, warmth and intrepidity, where their honour is at stake, as is requisite to attack or defend a them. And among themselves, the this very vulgar error gave birth to. When they mean to stigmatise a man with want of courage they call him effeminate; and when they would praise a woman for her courage they call her manly. But as these, and such like expressions, are merely arbitrary, and but a fulsome compli-, ment which the men pass on themselves, they establish no truth. The real truth is, that humanity and integrity, the characteristics of our sex, make us abhor unjust slaughter, and prefer honourable peace to unjust ware And therefore to use these expressions with propriety, when a man is possest of our virtues he should be called effeminate by way of the highest praise of his good nature and justice; and a woman who departs from our sex by espousing the injustice and cruelty of the men's nature should be called a man: that is, one whom no sacred ties can bind to the observation of just treaties, and whom no bloodshed can deter from the most cruental violence and rapine. town. But be this as it may, certain it is, that bare strength intitles the men to no superiority above us, as I have already remarked. Otherwise brutes would deserve the pre-eminence of strongest man ought to be the chief There can be no real difference in power. Whereas we plainly see pointed out between the inward or outward constitution of men and women, excepting what merely tends to giving birth to posterity. And the differences thence arising are no ways sufficient to argue more natural strength in the one than in the other, to qualify them more for military labours. Are not the women of different degrees of strength, like the men? Are there not strong and weak of Coth sexes Men educated in sloth and softness are weaker than women; and women, become hardened by necessity, are often more robust than men. We need go no farther than Chelsea for a proof that woman may be enured to all the hardships of a campaign, and to meet all the terrors of it, as well as the bravest of the opposite sex. that, generally speaking, the strongest are only fit to make drudges to the rest; and particularly in armies, they who have most of brutal vigour are often useful only for fascines to men much weaker than themselves to mount a breach. On the other hand, men who have less strength have very often the most brains. The wisest philosophers, the ablest poets, and the greatest princes have not always had the best constitutions. Henry was no match in strength with Sir John Falstaff. And a Marlborough perhaps might have routed an army with more ease than he could have wrestled with the meanest of his soldiers. It is quite idle then to insist so much on bodily strength, as a necessary qualification to military employWhat has greatly helped to confirm ments. And it is full as idle to imathe men in the prejudiced notion of gine that women are not naturally as women's natural weakness, is the capable of courage and resolution as common manner of expression which the men. We are indeed charged, 190 Since it would be rather fool-hardi- And yet it is far from being true without any exception, with being timorous, and incapable of defence; frighted at our own shadows; alarmed at the cry of an infant, the bark of a dog, the whistling of the wind, or a tale of hob-goblins. But is this universally true? Are there not men as void of courage as the most heartless of our sex? And yet it is known that the most timorous women often make a virtue of necessity, and sacrifice their own fears for the safety of as the men; and I myself could, with a husband, a son, or a brother. Fearful and weak as they are, they often behave more courageously than the men under pains, sickness, want, and the terrors of death itself. more ease and less repugnance, dare the frowns and fury of an already victorious army which I had forces to resist, than I could stoop to court the smiles of a corrupt minister whom Fear is almost an inseparable at- I had reason to despise. tendant on virtue. The virtuous are ever timid more or less; their own inoffensive disposition and the knowledge they have how much vice abounds among men, are sufficient to incline them to fear on every appearance of danger. Tis a passion natural to all: princes fear the rebellion of their subjects; generals the surprize of an enemy; and the very man who draws his sword to resent an injury, fears the shame of it, fears his adversary, and fears the law. Nay fear is even a virtue, in those who know themselves incapable of resisting what they fear; and is only blamable in such as have the power to repel the evil which threatens them. A lawyer, who has spent his whole life in poring over Coke upon Littleton, can no more, with reason, be accused of want of courage for refusing a challenge from an officer of the army, than a soldier can be called a coward for refusing to stake his fortune against a lady at quadrille. The manner women are bred in gives them room to apprehend every thing. They are admitted to no share of the exercises which would qualify them to attack or defend. They see themselves helplessly exposed to the outrages of a sex enslaved to the most brutal transports; and find themselves victims of contempt to wretches, whose prevalent strength is often exerted against them with more fury and cruelty than beasts practice to wards one another. Can our fear then be imputed to want of courage? Is it a defect? Or ought it not rather to be alleged as a proof of our sense? Need I bring Amazons from Scythia to prove the courage of_women? Need I run to Italy for a Camilla to shew an instance of warlike courage? Would the wife of Petus, who stabbed herself first to encourage her desponding husband to do the like, have been afraid to mount a breach? Would not she, who could snatch the knife from her bleeding breast and serenely give it to Thraseas with a-strike, Petus! it don't smart: would not she, I say, have been equally capable of animating with persuasion and example an army in the defence of her country? Let France boast its maid of Orleans; and other nations glory in their numberless store of warlike women. We need not go out of England to seek heroines, while we have annals to preserve their illustri ous names. To whom did England owe its deliverance from the tyrannic yoke of the Danes? But to pass over the many instances of warlike bravery in our sex, let it suffice to name a Boadicea, who made the most glori ous stand against the Romans in the defence of her country, which that great empire was ever a witness to. And if her endeavours did not meet with the success of an Alexander, a Cæsar, or a Charles of Sweden in bis fortunate days: her courage and conduct were such, as rendered her worthy to be considered equal, if not superior to them all, in bravery and wisdom; not to mention the nicer justice of her intentions. Thus far I think it evidently appears, that there is no science, office, or dignity, which women have not 1 all trusted." My ventures are not in one bottom thrusted. I have no other reason for altering this, than that I have passed over seve- an equal right to share in with the "My ventures are not in one bottom men since there can be no superiority but that of brutal strength shewn in the latter, to entitle them to engross power and prerogative to themselves: nor any incapacity proved in the former to disqualify them of their right, but what is owing to the unjust oppression of the men and might be easily removed. With regard however to warlike employments, it seems to be a disposition of Providence that custom has exempted us from them. As sailors in a storm throw overboard their more useless lumber; so it is but fit that the men alone should be exposed to the dangers and hardships of war, while we remain in safety at home. They are, generally speaking, good for little else but to be our bul. warks and our smiles are the most noble rewards which the bravest of them all ought to desire, or can deserve, for all the hazards they encounter, and for all the labours they go through in our defence during the most tedious campaigns. And you'd embrace the ocean to depart. [To be concluded in our next.] ANNOTATIONS on SHAKSPEAre. BEING EING about to publish an edition of Shakspeare, I shall feel happy by your circulating the following specimen. The work is nearly ready for the press, and waits but for the last hand being applied to a prefatory essay, proving that Reynolds approaches as near to Plautus, as Diamond does to Shakspeare, and that Skeffington would write better plays if he had ANY knowledge of the drama. MERCHANT OF VENICE. Your mind is tossing on the ocean." ful. Your mind is crossing of the ocean. "Do overpeer the petty traffickers." The whole sentence evinces that our author meaned to describe the pride of the Argosies. I therefore, without hesitation, prefer Do overbear the petty traffickers. "We'll make our leisures to attend on your's." I really see no mighty impropriety in this; the bard means,- 'We'll make our leisures to attend on your leisures !!!' "My wind cooling my broth, Would blow me to an ague." This is stark-staring fatuity. Anthonio is thinking of his vessels, and Salarino therefore takes this mode of arousing him from his lethargy: it should be thus My wind, cooling my broth, Would blow me to the Hague, where, it may be supposed, the vessels were riding at anchor. "I hold the world, but as a world, Bassanio; If I were not excessively delicate in changing a letter of such a writer as Shakspeare, I would slightly alter this into I told the world it was a world, Bassanio, That is, take care of the devil, Bassanio; ride fast, and take care of the devil. "Do cream and mantle like a standing "That all the yeanlings which were pool." streak'd and pied, This is a contradiction. I would Should fall as Jacob's hire." write, Do cream and mantle like a stagnant pool. I own that the Iricism would still remain, but an alteration is effected at all events, and every alteration is a step to improvement, unless indeed one changes for the worse. "Farewel, I'll grow a talker for this gear." Farewel, I'll grow a talker for this year. An error of typography. The old editions have it, I believe, correct; but I have not time to look into them. It is not the business of an editor to I could make little sense of this, till, by chance, meeting with a work of Bracton's, (the lawyer), I read, "It was the custom of this county formerly, when a farmer did lose a young sheep, a cow, or a pig, or they did become stricken in years, or did die, for the Lord to allow unto him two shillings and sixpence for and because of a dead gift or mortuary." From all which I infer that Shakspeare wrote, That all the younglings which were strick'd and died, Should fall, &c. beard." be muddling his brains over old and "You that did void your rheum upon my obsolete books; nor would I do it if it were my mind is too noble. I cannot avoid the relation of a story here, which will make the reader smile. An old gentleman, mounting Hampstead Hill, tarried at the Load of Hay, and exclaimed, "This terrible wind brings the rheum into my eyes." "Then why don't you," said the witty landland, "bring your eyes into the room." for wives, There are two kinds of sense, (be- "When you shall please to play the thieves sides the five); one is denominated common sense, the second nonsense. I'll watch as long for you then!-Come, Our commentators universally prefer the latter, and therefore never dream of explaining a passage by so slight a difference from the text as the following: Like one well studied in a St. Austin, A St. Austin is a prayer-book. "Adieu! tears exhibit my tongue." There has been violent controversy about this passage, though it be simply an instance of transposition, or, as it is termed by rhetoricians, dislocation." Shakspeare is fond of this kind of writing: thus, in the Taming of the Shrew, the oats have eaten the horses;" and indeed it is an excellent device, to give prose an air of blank verse: for example, "Three men thrust themselves into a hole" would be downright and obviously prose, almost to the hero of Moliere, who had spoken in that style all bis life without knowing it. But the expression becomes truly grand inverted thus: Into a hole three men thrust themselves. approach!" I never could, with certainty, comprehend the signification of this till I had read that facetious work of M. Louvet de Couvray, entitled La fin des Amours du Chevalier de Faublas. In one of the chapters whereof (I forget which) is this exposition: "adieu* a contraction of." à dieu je vous commend." I have been told that Entic's Dictionary would have given me as much information, which shews how much we are disposed to travel in search of what we have at home; like the man who sought for a cuckold in every parish but his own. "Hanging and wiving goes by destiny.” I have consulted Lowth, and, finding this line to be ungrammatical, esteem the whole an interpolation. MOMUS: EMILIUS AND SOPHIA; OR THE RECLUSE. [Continued from p. 129.] MAZING alteration! and how greatly incomprehensible! That which once constituted the glory, and the happiness of my life, now causes my shame and despair. How shall I describe such a fatal deviation? No. Never shall my pen disclose such a 2 B |