The Covent Garden Theatre Part 11

Hyd.

You are right-- go on, go on,-- a good Sensible Fellow, and knows the Right and Privilege of the Town, go on, go on.

Pas.

You are a Being, composed of all the Virtues and Vices, Wisdom and Folly of Human Nature. All Men dread you; all Men Court you; All Men love You-- and yet All Men strive to be independent of You. For you are so inconsistent, that you are Constant in nothing, but Inconstancy---- So good Natur'd, so techy, so wise-- and sometimes so otherwise-- In Short, so much every thing, that were the whole Sisterhood of the imitative Arts in emulous a.s.sociation joyn'd, with the Genius of your own Great Shakespear at their Head, Directing their different Powers, and wing his own boundless Imagination into Satyr and Panegirick for the Purpose-- They could not be too Severe upon Your Vices-- nor could they do Iustice to your Matchless Virtues.

Omn.

Bravo, bravo Pasquin.

Bob.

A very good Peroration upon Honour; I believe he Stole it from the Robin Hood Society

Pas.

Grat.i.tude and Public Spirit, are the two n.o.blest Pa.s.sions, that ever warm'd the Heart of Man, or fired the Poets Imagination. They Should be the Springs of every Public Character, and are this Night of Pasquin.

inspired by them he has dar'd laugh at Female Folly and to lash a n.o.ble Vice that Lords it in Our most Polite a.s.semblies. For which, he who was late a Iudge and Public Censor in turn, now trembles at Your dread Tribunal. The first and last Appeal of Players, Poets, Statesmen, Fidlers, Fools, Philosophers and Kings. If, by the boldness of his Satyr, or the daring Novelty of his Plan and Fable, He has offended, He ought to meet with some degree of Candour, as his Offence was the Effect of a n.o.ble Grat.i.tude, and an Over-heated Zeal to Please His n.o.ble Guests & Patrons, whom he Scorn'd to treat with Vulgar Cates Season'd and Serv'd with Flattery and Common Dramatic Art. For this boldness of his Satyr, this is his Defence-- But, for his dulness, he has no Plea. If You Almighty Arbiters find him guilty of that Offence, censure him as freely as he has censured others. And, like the Roman Censor, he will cry out with Patriot Ioy, What Pity 'tis, a Blockhead can be d.a.m.n'd but once, to Please the Critics.

Finis.

THE AUGUSTAN REPRINT SOCIETY

_WILLIAM ANDREWS CLARK MEMORIAL LIBRARY_ University of California, Los Angeles

PUBLICATIONS IN PRINT

[Where available, Project Gutenberg e-text numbers are given in brackets.]

1948-1949

15. John Oldmixon, _Reflections on Dr. Swift's Letter to Harley . . ._ (1712) and _A. Mainwaring's The British Academy . . ._ (1712). [25091]

17. Nicholas Rowe, _Some Account of the Life of Mr. William Shakespeare_ (1709). [16275]

1949-1950

22. Samuel Johnson, _The Vanity of Human Wishes_ (1749), and two _Rambler_ papers (1750). [13350]

23. John Dryden, _His Majesties Declaration Defended_ (1681). [15074]

1950-1951

26. Charles Macklin, _The Man of the World_ (1792). [14463]

1951-1952

31. Thomas Gray, _An Elegy Wrote in a Country Churchyard_ (1751), and _The Eton College Ma.n.u.script_. [15409]

1960-1961

85-6. Essays on the Theatre from Eighteenth-Century Periodicals.

90. Henry Needler, _Works_ (1728).

1961-1962

93. John Norris, _Cursory Reflections Upon a Book Call'd, An Essay Concerning Human Understanding_ (1960)

94. An. Collins, _Divine Songs and Meditacions_ (1653). [In Preparation]

95. _An Essay on the New Species of Writing Founded by Mr. Fielding_ (1751).

96. Hanoverian Ballads.

1962-1963

97. Myles Davies, Selections from _Athenae Britannicae_ (1716-1719).

98. _Select Hymns Taken Out of Mr. Herbert's Temple_ (1697).

99. Thomas Augustine Arne, Artaxerxes (1761).

100. Simon Patrick, _A Brief Account of the New Sect of Lat.i.tude Men_ (1662).

101-2. Richard Hurd, _Letters on Chivalry and Romance_ (1762).

1963-1964

103. Samuel Richardson, _Clarissa: Preface, Hints of Prefaces, and Postscript._ [29964]

104. Thomas D'Urfey, _Wonders in the Sun, or, the Kingdom of the Birds_ (1706).

105. Bernard Mandeville, _An Enquiry into the Causes of the Frequent Executions at Tyburn_ (1725). [In Preparation]

106. Daniel Defoe, _A Brief History of the Poor Palatine Refugees_ (1709).

107-8. John Oldmixon, _An Essay on Criticism_ (1728). [In Preparation]