in their way of thinking, or whether they have borrowed from our author, I leave the reader to determine, I shall adventure to affirm this of the fentiments of our author, that they are generally the most familiar which I have ever met with, and at the fame time delivered with the higheft dignity of phrafe; which brings me to fpeak of his diction.-Here I fhall only beg one poftulatum, viz. That the greatest perfection of the language of a tragedy is, that it is not to be underfood; which granted, as I think it must be, it will neceffarily follow, that the only way to avoid this is by being too high or too low for the understanding, which will comprehend every thing within its reach. Thofe two extremities of ftile Mr. Dryden illuftrates by the familiar image of two inns, which I fhall term the aerial and the fubterreftrial.

Horace goes farther, and fheweth when it is proper to call at one of thefe inns, and when at the other

Telephus & Peleus, cùm pauper & exul uterque, Projicit ampullas & fefquipedalia verba.

That he approveth of the fefquipedalia verba,is plain; for had not Telephus and Peleus ufed this fort of diction in profperity, they could not have dropt it in adverfity. The aerial inn, therefore, fays Horace, is proper only to be frequented by princes and other great men, in the highest affluence of fortune; the fubterreftrial is appointed for the entertainment of the poores fort of people only, whom Horace advises,

dolere fermone pedeftri.

The true meaning of both which citations is, that bombaft is the proper language of joy, and doggrel for grief; the latter of which is literally implied in the fermo pedeftris, as the former is in the fefquipedalia verba.

Quid

Cicero recommendeth the former of thefe. eft tam furiofum vel tragicum quàm verborum fonitus inanis, nullâ fubjecta fententiâ neque fcientiâ.' What can be fo proper for tragedy as a fet of big founding words, fo contrived together as to convey no meaning which I fhall one day or other prove to be

the

the fublime of Longinus. Ovid declareth abfolutely for the latter inn:

Omne genus fcripti gravitate tragoedia vincit. Tragedy hath, of all writings, the greateft fhare in the Bathos; which is the profund of Scriblerus.

I fhall not prefume to determine which of thefe two ftiles be proper for tragedy.It fufficeth, that our author excelleth in both. He is very rarely within fight through the whole play, either rifing higher than the eye of your understanding can foar, or finking lower than it careth to ftoop. But here, it may, perhaps, be obferved, that I have given more frequent inftances of authors who have imitated him in the fublime, than in the contrary, To which I anfwer, first, Bombaft being properly a redundancy of genius, inftances of this nature occur in poets, whofe names do more honour to our author, than the writers in the doggrel, which proceeds from a cool, calm, weighty way of thinking Inftances whereof are moft frequently to be found in authors of a lower clafs. Secondly, That the works of fuch authors are difficultly found at all. Thirdly, That it is a very hard talk to read them, in order to extract these flowers from them. And lastly, It is very difficult to tranfplant them at all; they being like fome flowers of a very nice nature, which will flourish in no foil but their own for it is eafy to tranfcribe a thought, but not the want of one. The EARL OF ESSEX, for inftance, is a little garden of choice rarities, whence you can scarce tranfplant one line fo as to preferve its original beauty. This must account to the reader for his miffing the names of feveral of his acquaintance, which he had certainly found here, had Jever read their works; for which, if I have not a juft efteem, I can at least fay with Cicero, "Quæ non con, "temno, quippe quæ nunquam legerim." However, that the reader may meet with due fatisfaction in thispoint, I have a young commentator from the uni verfity, who is reading over all the modern tragedies, at five fhillings a dozen, and collecting all that they have ftole from our author, which shall fhortly be added as an appendix to this work.

1

Dramatis

KING ARTHUR, a paffionate distendis Tyboys

fort of king, hufband to

Queen Dollallolla, of whom

the ftands a little in fear; >Mr. MULLART. father toHuncamunca, whom

he is very fond of; and in

love with Glumdalca.

TOM THUMB THE GREAT, a

little hero with a great foul, fomething violent in his

temper, which is a little abat-Young VERHUYCK. ed by his love for Hunca

munca,

GHOST of Gaffer Thumb, a

2}

whimfical fort of Ghoft, Mr. LACY.

LORD GRIZZLE, extremely zealous for the liberty of the

fubject, very cholerick in his Mr. JONES. temper, and in love with

Huncamunca,

MERLIN, a conjurer, and in

fome fort father to Tom Mr. HALLAM.
Thumb,

NOODLE, Courtiers in place,
DOODLE,

DOODLE, and confequently Mr. REYNOLDS.

of that party which is upper- (Mr. WATHAN. moft,

FOODLE, a courtier that is out?

of place, and confequently Mr. AYRES.
of that party that is under-
moft,

BAILIFF, and the party of

FOLLOWER,

PARSON, of the fide of the

church,

the plaintiff,

Mr. PETERSON.
Mr. HICKS.

}

>Mr. WATSON.

WO.

WOMEN.

QUEEN DOLLALLOLLA, wife to King Arthur, and mother to Huncamunca, a woman entirely faultlefs, faving that he is a little given to drink, a little too much a virago towards her hufband, and in love with Tom Thumb,

The PRINCESS HUNCAMUNCA, daughter to their majefties KingArthur and Queen Dollallolla, of a very sweet, gentle, and amorous difpofition, equally in love with Lord Grizzle and Tom Thumb, and defirous to be Imarried to them both, GLUMDALCA, of the Giants,

Mrs. MULLARt,

Mrs. JONES.

a captive Queen, beloved by Mrs. Dove. the King, but in love with

Tom Thumb,

Courtiers, Guards, Rebels, Drums, Trumpets,
Thunder, and Lightning.

SCENE, The Court of KING ARTHUR, and a Plain thereabouts.

TOM

TOM THUMB THE GREAT.

ACTI. SCENE I.

SCENE, the PALACE.

DOODLE, NOODLE.

DOODLE.

URE fuch a a day as this was never feen t
The fun himfelf on this aufpicious day,

Shines like a beau in a new birth-day fuit: This down the feams embroider'd, that the beams. All nature wears one univerfal grin.

Nood

a Corneille recommends fome very remarkable day wherein to fix the action of the tragedy. This the best of our tragical writers have understood to mean a day remarkable for the ferenity of the ky, or what we generally call a fine fummer's day: fo that, according to this their expofition, the fame months are proper for tragedy, which are proper for paftoral. Most of our celebrated Eng lih tragedies, as Cato, Mariamne, Tamerlane, &c. begin with their obfervations on the morning. Lee feems to have come the nearest to this beautiful defeription of our author's:

The morning dawns with an unwonted crimson,
The flowers all odorous feem, the garden birds
Sing louder, and the laughing fun afcends
The gaudy earth with an unusual brightness,
All nature fmiles.

CES. BORG.

Maliniffa in the new Sophonisba is alfo a favourite of the fung

-The fun too feems,

As confcious of my joy, with broader eye

To look abroad the world, and all things fmile

Like Sophonisba.

Memnon, in the Perfian Princefe, makes the fun decline rings that he may not peep an objects which would prophane his brightness.