"The Carthaginian sword with Roman blood Was drunk." I would ask Mr. D--s which gives him the best idea, a drunken king, or a drunken sword? Mr. Tate dresses up king Arthur's resolution in heroic: "Merry, my lord, o' th' captain's humour right, I am resolved to be dead drunk to-night." Lee also uses this charming word: "Love's the drunkenness of the mind."--"Gloriana." ] [Footnote 80: Dryden hath borrowed this, and applied it improperly: "I'm half-seas o'er in death."--"Cleom." ] [Footnote 81: This figure is in great use among the tragedians: "'Tis therefore, therefore 'tis."--"Victim." "I long, repent, repent, and long again."--"Busiris." ] [Footnote 82: A tragical exclamation.] [Footnote 83: This line is copied verbatim in the Captives.] [Footnote 84: We find a candlestick for this candle in two celebrated authors: "Each star withdraws His golden head, and burns within the socket."--"Nero." "A soul grown old and sunk into the socket."--"Sebastian." ] [Footnote 85: This simile occurs very frequently among the dramatic writers of both kinds.] [Footnote 86: Mr. Lee hath stolen this thought from our author: "This perfect face, drawn by the gods in council, Which they were long in making."--"Luc. Jun. Brut." "At his birth the heavenly council paused, And then at last cried out, This is a man!" Dryden hath improved this hint to the utmost perfection: "So perfect, that the very gods who form'd you wonder'd At their own skill, and cried, A lucky hit Has mended our design! Their envy hinder'd, Or you had been immortal, and a pattern, When Heaven would work for ostentation sake, To copy out again."--"All for Love." Banks prefers the works of Michael Angelo to that of the gods: "A pattern for the gods to make a man by, Or Michael Angelo to form a statue." ] [Footnote 87: It is impossible, says Mr. W----, sufficiently to admire this natural easy line.] [Footnote 88: This tragedy, which in most points resembles the ancients, differs from them in this--that it assigns the same honour to lowness of stature which they did to height. The gods and heroes in Homer and Virgil are continually described higher by the head than their followers, the contrary of which is observed by our author. In short, to exceed on either side is equally admirable; and a man of three foot is as wonderful a sight as a man of nine.] [Footnote 89: "My blood leaks fast, and the great heavy lading My soul will quickly sink."--"Mithridates." "My soul is like a ship."--"Injured Love." ] [Footnote 90: This well-bred line seems to be copied in the Persian Princess: "To be your humblest and most faithful slave." ] [Footnote 91: This doubt of the king puts me in mind of a passage in the "Captives," where the noise of feet is mistaken for the rustling of leaves:--