And look'd, and saw a sable sorc'rer rise, Swift to whose hand a winged volume flies: Till one wide conflagration swallows all. 240 Thence a new world, to nature's laws unknown, Breaks out refulgent, with a heav'n its own: Another Cynthia her new journey runs, And other planets circle other suns. The forests dance, the rivers upward rise, 245 Whales sport in woods, and dolphins in the skies; REMARKS. Ver. 233. a sable sorc'rer] Dr. Faustus, the subject of a set of Farces, which lasted in vogue two or three seasons, in which both playhouses strove to outdo each other for some years. All the extravagances in the sixteen lines following were introduced on the stage, and frequented by persons of the first quality in England, to the twentieth and thirtieth time. P. Ver. 237. Hell rises, Heav'n descends, and dance on Earth;] This monstrous absurdity was actually represented in Tibbald's Rape of Proserpine. P. These absurdities were indeed brought on the stage by Tibbald, but not by Cibber; who again and again disclaimed and despised them, as may be seen in various passages of his Apology. It is therefore unjust to charge him with favouring and promoting such spectacles, which for a long time he resisted, and was forced, very unwillingly, to gratify by them the depraved appetite of the public; of which he much and loudly complains. Warton. IMITATIONS. Ver. 244. And other planets] 66 solemque suum, sua sidera nôrunt". Virg. Æneid. vi. P. Ver. 246. Whales sport in woods, and dolphins in the skies;] 66 Delphinum sylvis appingit, fluctibus aprum.” Hor. P. And last, to give the whole creation grace, "Son, what thou seek'st is in thee! Look, and find 'Mid snows of paper, and fierce hail of REMARKS. peas; Ver. 248. Lo! one vast egg] In another of these Farces, Harlequin is hatched upon the stage, out of a large egg. P. Ver. 261. Immortal Rich!] Mr. John Rich, Master of the Theatre Royal in Covent-Garden, was the first that excelled this way. IMITATIONS. Ver. 251. Son, what thou seek'st is in thee!] P. "Quod petis in te est -Ne te quæsiveris extra.” Pers. P. Ver. 256. Wings the red lightning, &c.] Like Salmoneus in Æneid. vi. "Dum flammas Jovis, et sonitus imitatur Olympi. nimbos, et non imitabile fulmen, Ære et cornipedum pulsu simulârat equorum." P. Ver. 258. o'er all unclassic ground:] Alludes to Mr. Addison's verse, in the praises of Italy: "Poetic And proud his mistress' orders to perform, Rides in the whirlwind, and directs the storm. "But lo! to dark encounter in mid air 265 New wizards rise; I see my Cibber there! REMARKS. Ver. 261. Immortal Rich!] To this gentleman's wonder-working exhibitions Fenton thus refers in his Prologue to Southerne's Spartan Dame: "We hop'd that Art and Genius had secur'd you; The Muses blush'd to see their friends exalting Those elegant delights of jig and vaulting." "Whilst we were acting (says Cibber somewhere in his Life) the best Plays in the language to empty houses, Rich, with his raree-shows, was drawing the whole town after him." Wakefield. Ver. 265. to dark encounter in mid air] 66 Mingle the dark encounter in mid air." Milton. Bowles. Ver. 266. New wizards] Yet it is plain from many passages in Cibber's Life, that he despised these fooleries and abuses of the stage; and there are many other passages in his Life strongly written to the same purpose. Neither Booth nor Cibber ever degraded themselves to the appearances mentioned in the two next lines. Warton. Ver. 266. I see my Cibber there!] The history of the foregoing absurdities is verified by himself, in these words, (Life, chap. xv.) "Then sprung forth that succession of monstrous medleys that have so long infested the stage, which arose upon one another alternately at both houses, out-vying each other in expense." He then proceeds to excuse his own part in them, as follows. "If I am asked, why I assented? I have no better excuse for my error than to confess I did it against my conscience, and had not virtue enough IMITATIONS. "Poetic fields encompass me around, And still I seem to tread on classic ground." As ver. 264 is a parody on a noble one of the same author in The Campaign; and ver. 259, 260, on two sublime verses of Dr. Y. P. Booth in his cloudy tabernacle shrin'd; On grinning dragons thou shalt mount the wind. Dire is the conflict, dismal is the din, Here shouts all Drury, there all Lincoln's-inn; 270 Contending theatres our empire raise, Alike their labours, and alike their praise. "And are these wonders, Son, to thee unknown? Unknown to thee? These wonders are thy own. REMARKS. enough to starve. Had Henry IV. of France, a better reason for changing his religion? I was still in my heart, as much as he could be, on the side of truth and sense; but with this difference, that I had their leave to quit them when they could not support me. But let the question go which way it will, Harry IV. has always been allowed a great man." This must be confessed a full answer; only the question still seems to be, first, How the doing a thing against one's conscience is an excuse for it? and secondly, It will be hard to prove how he got the leave of truth and sense to quit their service, unless he can produce a certificate that he ever was in it. P.t P. Ver. 266, 267.] Booth and Cibber were joint managers of the Theatre in Drury Lane. Ver. 267. Booth in his cloudy tabernacle skrin'd;] Alluding to Exodus, xl. 38. as Milton, Par. Lost, viii. 248. 66 she in a cloudy tabernacle Sojourn'd the while." Wakefield. Ver. 268. On grinning dragons thou shalt mount the wind.] In his Letter to Mr. P., Mr. C. solemnly declares this not to be literally true. We hope therefore the reader will understand it allegorically only. Ver. 269. Dire is the conflict, dismal is the din,] From Paradise Lost, vi. P.+ Of conflict; over head the dismal hiss Wakefield. These fate reserv'd to grace thy reign divine, 275 REMARKS. 280 Ver. 282.] Annual trophies, on the Lord-mayor's Day; and monthly wars, in the Artillery ground. P. Ver. 283. Tho' long my party] Settle, like most party-writers, was very uncertain in his political principles. He was employed to hold the pen in the Character of a Popish successor, but afterwards printed his Narrative on the other side. He had managed the ceremony of a famous Pope-burning on Nov. 17, 1680; then became a trooper in King James's army, at Hounslow-heath. After the Revolution he kept a booth at Bartholomew-fair, where, in the droll called St. George for England, he acted in his old age in a dragon of green leather of his own invention. He was at last taken into the Charter-house, and there died, aged sixty years. P. VARIATIONS. After Ver. 274. in the former Edd. followed, For works like these let deathless Journals tell, "None but thyself can be thy parallel.” w.t After Ver. 284. in the former Edd. followed, George Ridpath, author for several years of the Flying-post, a Whig paper; Nathaniel Mist, publisher of the weekly journal, a Tory paper. P. |