1796.]

To this I anfwer, that the fuperiority of the intellectual abilities of men, ap pears to be decided, by the experience of all ages, and all nations. In all the different ages and countries of the world, no woman has appeared, of whom we have any account, who has manifefted abilities equal to thofe which have been exhibited by many men. I conceive that the difadvantages under which women labour, in point of education, will not fatisfactorily, or rationally, account for this unvaried fuperiority on the part of the men, taken collectively. What has induced the great Author of nature to caufe the intellectual powers of women to be inferior to thofe of men, it may not be cafy for us to determine. Such ideas, however, may be formed of the reafon of this, as may not be wholly unfatisfactory. The fupreme Being appears to have given fuch powers to his crea.. were fuited to the different fituations in which they were to be placed and fuch talents as thofe which were poffeffed by Bacon, and by Newton, would probably not qualify a woman the better for nurfing children, or for difcharging the proper duties of a mother or a wife.

tures as

:

Your female correfpondent fays, "we will allow, that, upon the AGGREGATE, from a FAIR CALCULATION, the balance of intellectual attainment would, PROBABLY, be found on the fide of the men. When the literary and fcientific productions of men and women, taken collectively, are compared, this feems much fuch a candid acknowledgement as it would be if a comparifon were made, as to fize, between one of the common houfes in St. Paul's churchyard and the cathedral; and a man, on fuch an occafion, were to fay, "I am inclined to believe, and think it PROBABLE, that, upon a FAIR ADMEASUREMENT, that houfe would be found not to be quite fo large as St. Paul's cathedral." Your correfpondent has mentioned the names of feveral celebrated women, who have diftinguished themfelves at different periods; but not one of thefe will admit of any comparifon with many men who might be enumerated. Among others, he has mentioned queen Elizabeth. That princefs was cotemporary with William Shakfpeare, and with Francis Bacon; and the had much more inftruction in literature than ever Shakspeare had; but I confider her as a mere child in underftand. ing, compared either with Shakspeare or with Bacon.

697

To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine.

SIR,

I NOW proceed to perform the pro

mife I made, of prefenting the public with farther particulars relative to the poetry of Spain and Portugal.

Towards the clofe of the fifteenth century, was born Mofen Juan Boscan Almogavar, the reformer of Spanish poctry; and, in the year 1503, his more celebrated affiftant and friend Garcilato de la Vega. Bofcan was tutor to the great duke of Alva: "the heroic virtues that adorned the mind of the pupil prove with what diligence and fuccefs the tutor performed his duty;" fo fays one of his biographers. Let not the reader deteft the poet Bofcan because he had the misfortune to educate the deteft

able duke of Alva! Alexander had liftened to the leffons of Ariftotle, and the fon of Antoninus muft have heard the precepts of his father; but no culture can render the night-fhade inno

cent.

Before this period, the poetry of Spain was harsh and barbarous; fome of their old ballads, indeed, possess that fimplicity which is fuperior to all art, and which no art can bestow; there is, however, in the art of verfification fomething which, though it may fail to charm us, will at least prevent us from being difguted; how would the infipidity of Addion's poems have been received, had they been dreffed in the rhymes of Dr. Donne ?

Bofcan himself tells us, in his dedication to the duchefs de Soma, that it was by the advice of Andres Nabagero, the Venetian ambaffador, that he introduced Italian metres and Italian tafte into the Caftilian poetry. "We were converfig together at Grenada (favs he) upon literary fubjects, and particularly upon

the

the difference of languages, when he obferved to me, that in the Caftilian tongue we had never attempted fonnets, and other kinds of compofition ufed by the beft authors of Italy; and he not only faid this to me, but urged me to fet the example. A few days afterwards, I departed for my home, and muling upon many things during the long and folitary journey, frequently thought upon what Nabagero had advised: and thus I began to attempt this kind of verfe. At first I found fome difficulty, becaufe it is very complex (muy artificiofo) and has many peculiarities different from our own: afterwards, from the partiality we. naturally feel towards our own productions, I thought that I had fucceeded well, and gradually grew warm and eager in the purfait. This, however, would not have been fufficient to ftimulate me to proceed, had not Garcilafo encouraged me, whofe judgment, not only in my opinion, but in that of the whole world, is efteemed as a certain rule."

This innovation, like all other im provements, was not introduced without oppofition. Inigo Lopez de Mendoza, the celebrated marquis of Santillana, had made ufe of the Italian metres many years before. Don Diego de Mendoza, of the fame noble houfe, had the honour of co-operating with Bofcan and Garsilafo in a more fuccefsful attempt; though fuch is the caprice of Fame, that he is better known in England as the author of Lazarillo de Tormes, than as the hiftorian, the poet, and one of the reformers of his country's literature: to the difgrace of mankind, whatever work is lively and loofe, will certainly be popular. The fame of Garcilafo has eclipted that of his affiftants, and he is to this day efteemed the best of the Spanish poets; yet the little volume of Garcilafo's productions is more diftinguished by melody of verfification than fublimity of thought. The volume confifts of 184 pages, of which 110 are taken up by three eclogues! In the prefent æra of tafte, no poet poffeffed of common fenfe would ever commit a paftoral, and none but a Spanish or Portuguese poet would ever have extended one to upwards of feventeen hundred lines!

All perfons of unvitiated taftes love the country; defcriptions of rural scenery, and images drawn from rural life, never weary us; but a fhepherd, and a crook, and a pipe, is quite as unnatural as one of the cannibal giants of romance, and infinitely lefs agreeable as a com

The Spanish

panion by the fire-fide. Parnaffus is very much infefted by thefe gentry, and they are equally troublesome on the Portuguese fide of the mountain. Yet, if the following defence of thepherds be not convincing, it is at least curious and amufing. It is prefixed to the Eclogues of Francifco Rodriguez Lobo.

"Nature has hidden in rough fhells, at the bottom of the fea, thofe pearls to which man has affixed fuch value; fhe has hidden that gold with which our fouls are fettered, in the bowels of the earth, amid barbarous nations, and in diftant countries: he has guarded the fea with rocks, and fown it with dangers, to place boundaries to our defires, and lengthen the period of our lives but Evil, to deprive us of our tranquillity, laid open thefe fecrets, and hid from us the true knowledge where real tranquillity is to be found. Then did this malignant fpirit disfigure the fhepherds with coarfe vile garments, and reprefent their life of contentment, as a life of mean and defpicable labour; and by thefe magical delufions were we taught to defpife the only treafure which the earth affords to render the mind happy : but when this fafcinationis removed, and we fee things clearly, how much more beautiful appear the various colours with which the fields are apparelled, and the trees, and the fun, and the horizon beautiful when he fets, than all the deceitful trappings of Vanity! How much more delightful to our ears is the fong of innocent birds, than the found of flattering tongues, that endeavour to entrap our reafon! Is not the rock that hangs over the ftream, in whofe caverns the birds dwell, and under whofe fhade the fishes fport, more to be admired than the fumptuous and fuperb edifice, that cannot fo well refift the force of the tempeft, or the fecret fap of time? Where can life pafs more delightfully or more tranquilly than among the flecks and herds? How much more fecure is the enjoyment of thefe than the hopes of the court, and the deceits of the city! And if we have fo often fighed for that happy age of gold, it is for this advantage, exceeding all others, that men lived then like fhepherds, and followed their flocks, and cultivated the earth and this truth is clearly proved; for the firft man whom God created held this office, and the title which God gave him, was that of lord of the animal world; and Abel, the firft martyr, in whom the church began, and the other children of Adam, tended their flocks: fo likewife did Abraham

and

*796.]

and Ifaac, and Jacob with his beloved Rachel, and Efau; Jofeph and his brethren were fhepherds, as they confeffed to Pharaoh. Mofes and Zipporah, Saul and David, kings of Ifrael, and Mefa, king of Moab, had executed this honourable office; and king Cyrus had exercifed it among the ancient Perlians. Romulus and Remus, the founders of Rome, with Fauftulus, who educated them, kept fheep; and among thofe valiant Romans, the fame of whofe exploits has echoed over the world, we read of many whofe names difcover their origin, fuch as the Vituli, the-Vitellii, the Porcii, the Capri, the Tauri, and the Bubulci. Many perfons have rifen to the higheft dignities, from the paftoral ftate: Giges, king of Lydia; Sophy, king of the Turks; Primiflaus, king of Bohemia; Tamerlane, emperor of the Scythians; Juftin, emperor of the Romans; Viriatus, captain of the Portuguefe; and Sixtus the firft, the Roman pontiff: and, in truth, what is the life of a fhepherd, but the fimilitude of empire? but a fyftem of government, with moderation and mildnefs? For what can be more fimilar to the government of a kingdom than the management of a flock? To defend them from wild beasts, to fecure them from robbers, to guide them to good pastures, cool fhades, and clear waters; to threaten them with his voice, to chastise with the crook those who ftray; to amuse them with the pipe and with the fong, to cure them with herbs when they are fick; to be clothed with their wool, to feed upon their milk, and thus to pafs peaceably through life? Among the vain deities whom the blinded Gentiles worshipped, Apollo, Mercury, Daphne, and Pan, and Proteus, and Paris, and Polyphemus, were fhepherds; and the true God whom we ferve, is frequently ftyled a fhepherd, in the holy Scriptures; fo ancient and fo honourable is the paftoral life, which the avarice of inen has now made defpicable! "Much knowledge is certainly neceffary for a fhepherd; an acquaintance with the nature of foils and paftures, the virtues of herbs, the changes of weather, the movements of the heavenly bodies, the effects of the fun, and the qualities of animals; and this life, though the moft quiet, produces in its employments all things neceffary for our fubfiftence: wool, milk, fkins, the flesh of animals, herbs, grain, fruit. What life, then, can be more delightful than the paftoral life? MONTHLY MAG. No. IX.

699

or what prejudice can be greater than that which denies this truth?

"What ftyle can be more conformable to reafon, or lefs vitiated, than the fimple style of the fhepherd and therefore is it that the ancient writers have delivered their precepts in the paftoral language, as being moft pure and natural. Under this allegory, Solomon veiled the myfteries of our faith, in his Songs to his beloved; inftructing us, by his Lofty theme, and by a ftrain of poetry as fub lime in itfelf, as it is humble in its fimitude; which example alone would be fufficient, with the men of this age, to dignify paftoral productions. In this ftyle the Greeks and Romans, and the Italians, the Spaniards, and our Portuguese, have written works, many in number, and rare in quality; marvellous works, to enumerate which would be another new undertaking! Therefore, curious reader, I prefent to you the manners and language of fhepherds, as the true doctrine of wisdom." I do noť give you gilded pills of poifon, nor offer to you flowers that conceal a viper; inftead of thefe you have pearls in the thell, and plain honefty inftead of polished falfehood."

So curiously has this ingenious Portuguefe defended paftoral poetry! But though we may agree with him that the life he defcribes is the moft natural and most honourable state of man, we shall be very far from acknowledging, that either his eclogues, or thofe of any other poet, fairly reprefent it.

Garcilafo de la Vega, in the most enormous of his eclogues, has introduced almost action enough for a drama. Albanio opens it, with a foliloquy of lamentations, and then he falls afleep. Salicio then enters, finging a translation of Horace's favourite ode, "Beatus ille qui procul negotiis," of which there are above twenty verfions in the Spanish language. In the middle of it, he ftops fhort, on feeing a man fleeping, dilates upon the excellence of fleep; and then, recognizing Albanio, informs the reader, that he knows him, that he was once very happy, and is now very miferable, but that he had not yet learned the cause. Albanio now talks in his sleep, and Salicio interrupts and wakes him. He now requefts him to relate his history, and Albanio tells a very long ftory of his being the intimate friend of a young female relation, with whom he ufed to hunt; how he one day told his love; the left 4 U

him,

him, and he is dying with defpair. After they are gone out, Camilla enters, and lies down by a fountain to take her fifla -her evening's nap. Albanio finds her, and feizes her, but releafes her on her folemn promise to remain and hear him, which the, as foon as released, breaks, and runs away, and Albanio runs mad. Salicio now enters, with Nemorofo: Ne morofo tells a long story about a magician, which is a panegyric upon the family of Alva; and the eclogue concludes with their refolution to get Albanio cured by this magician.

In this very ill-planned poem, Garcilafo has perpetuated his friendship for Bofcan, and perhaps no lines in the poem can be perufed with more pleafure than thefe, in which he bears teftimony, to the virtues of his friend:

"Then, hand in hand,

A youth approach'd, with Phœbus; in his face
The skilful eye might read benevolence
And wifdom; he was perfected in all
The lore and various arts of courtesy
That humanize mankind: the graceful port,
And the fair front of open manliness,
Difcover'd Bofcan; and that fire illumin'd
His generous face that animates his fong,
With never-fading fplendour there to shine.

Garcilafo has, in his fecond eclogue, introduced a Moorish metre, which has been feldom imitated, and, indeed, which did not deferve to be imitated at all: it is making the middle of the fecond line rhyme to the end of the firft: the middle of the third to the end of the fecond, &c. Sir Philip Sidney, who was always trying experiments in verfification, and making innovations instead of improvements, has left us fome specimens of this:

Thy fafety fure is wrapped in deftruction,
For that conftruction thine own words do bear ;
A man to fear a woman's moodie eye
Makes reafon lie a flave to fervile fenfe,
A weak defence, where weakness is thy force;
So is remorce in folly dearly bought..

This novelty, however, is to the eye and not to the ear; it is only rhyming regularly in short and irregular lines. A peculiarity fimilar to this, though infinitely fuperior, is much ufed by the Welsh poets; and the Welsh bard, Edward Williams, has given a very happy fpecimen in English :

Retir'd amongst our native kills,
And far from ills of greatness,
We live, delighted with our lot,
And trim our cat with neatness.

We wisdom feek and calm content,

They both frequent our dwelling; From there a deathlefs comfort firings, The joys of kings excelling.

TO A MIRROR.

Since ftill my paffion-pleading ftrains
Have fail'd her heart to move,
Show, Mirror! to that lovely maid,
The charms that make me love.
Reflect on her the thrilling beam
Of magic from her eye,
So, like Narciffus, the fhall gaze,
And, felf-enamour'd, die.

The fonnets of Garcilafo are the mon interefting of his works: there are some as beautiful, but none fuperior, to the following:

As when the mother, weak in tenderness,

Hears her fick child with prayer and tears

implore

Some feeming good, that makes his pain the lefs,

Yet, with fhort ease! the future evil more; Even as her fondness yields to his vain will She haftes to gratify her fickly fonAnticipating then the coming ill,

Sadly the fits, and weeps what she has done. Thus have I pamper'd my diftemper'd mind; And yielded thus to fancy's wayward mood, Poor dupe of Fancy! felf-condemn'd to find

The future anguifh in the prefent good. Thus do I waste a wretched life away, And nightly weep the errors of the day!

Bofcan paraphrafed the Hero and Leander of Mufæus, of course he injured it; for to paraphrafe is to dilate, and to dilate, to weaken. He furvived his friend, Garcilafo (who was killed in battle) but a few years: they both died young; but their celebrity will always laft; for though Spain may hereafter produce better poets, the glory of reforming the national poetry muft till remain.

T. Y.

To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine.

SIR,

OBSERVING that you have begun to accommodate your readers with mufical critiques, on a new plan; and not doubting but the improved ftyle in which they are executed, will attract your mufical readers, and excite their attention to any obfervations which you fhall think proper to offer to their perufal, on the fcience of harmony or its profeffors; I here tranfmit to you fome remarks on the life, genius, and character, of the late Dr. Arne.

Dr. Thomas Auguftine Arne was born May 28, 1710, and was the fon of Mr. Thomas Arne, upholsterer, in Kingftreet, Covent-garden, the perfon fuppofed to be depicted by Mr. Addifon, in his well-known character of the Politician, in No. 155 and 160 of the Tatler. Mr. Thomas Arne defigned his fon for the law, and put him, at an early period of life, to the ftudy of that profeffion, but the volatile temper and elegant caft of genius, which foon began to develope themfelves in the young ftudent, were ill fitted to the dry application neceffary to legal proficiency and advancement; and he quitted the fcience felected for him by his father, and chofe one more congenial to his tafte and difpofition. His new courfe of ftudy commenced privately. He procured himself a violin, and, unaided by any tutor, made, in a fhort time, fo confiderable a progrefs on that inftrument, that he was qualified to acquit himself in a band and nothing could exceed the furprize of his father, when, being one amongst the audience at a refpectable concert, he discovered his fon flourishing in the orchestra as one of the principal performers. Coke on Littelton did not fo eafily yield to Handel and Corelli in the father's judgment as in the fon's, and he was at firft much irritated at a circumftance which feemed to counteract the golden views he had entertained for him; but the young mufician devised fuch fatisfactory arguments for his conduct, that his father at length confented to his relinquishing the ftudy of the law, and the harmony of the orcheftra fuperceded the diffonance of the

701

ftyle of his execution, which indicated his tranfcendent tafte and genius, recommended him to the notice and favour of Farinelli, Senefino, Geminiani, and the other great Italian musicians of that time; and through their friendship he obtained the freedom of the King's Theatre, where, by a conftant attendance, and an acutenefs of obfervation, he added to his own rich and prolific conception, all the elegancies and beauties for which the mufic of Italy is diftinguifhed. The first regular engagement into which our young musical genius entered as a public performer, was that of leader of the band at the theatre royal Drury-lane. In this fituation he was diftinguished for feveral years, and the excellence of his performance would have procured a long life to his name, even had he never exerted his rare talents as a compofer.

;

At the age of eighteen, Mr. Arne compofed the opera of Rofamond, which, though a charming production, had not its merited fuccefs; but he was too confident of the powers with which nature and study had furnished him, to be in any degree difcouraged, and he foon after fet to mufic the mafque of Alfred, at the inftance of the then Prince of Wales, his prefent Majefty's father, which was reprefented on the 1ft of August, 1740, in the gardens of Clifden, in commemo ration of the acceffion of George the Firft, and in honour of the birthday of the Princess of Brunswick at which performance the prince and princefs of Wales, with their whole court, were prefent. This compofition did its author confiderable credit, but it was his next production which fixed the balis of his profeffional fame. The mufic of the mafque of Comus is as inimitable as the poetry, and will ferve to unite the names of Milton and Arne fo long as harmony is cultivated. To thefe pieces fucceeded the opera of Eliza, the opera of Artaxerxes, the mafque of Britannia, the oratorio of the Death of Abel, Judith, and Beauty and Virtue; the mufical eng te tainment of Thomas and Sally, the Prince of the Fairies, the fongs in As You Like It, the Merchant of Venice, the Arcadian Nuptials, King Arthur, the Guardian Outwitted, and the Kofe, befides a fet of harpsichord concertos, innumerable cantatas, fongs, catenes, and glees, and the two great productions with which he closed his ingenious labours, Caraclacus and Elfrida

The degree of Doctor of Mufic was 4 U 2 conferred