Volume III Part 3 (1/2)
”Thus eight o'clock is marked agreeable to reverie; nine o'Clock, design to please no body; ten o'clock, reading of letters, &c.”
To which is added, as from Damon to Iris, a description of the case of the watch.
6. The Lady's Looking-Gla.s.s, to dress themselves by. Damon is supposed to send Iris a looking-gla.s.s, which represents to her all her charms, viz. her shape, complexion, hair, &c. This likewise, which is not properly a novel, is taken from the French.
7. The Lucky Mistake, a new novel.
8. The Court of the King of Bantam.
9. The Adventures of the Black Lady. The reader will distinguish the originals from translations, by consulting the 2d and 3d tomes of Recueil des pieces gallantet, en prose et en verse. Paris 1684.
We have observed, that in the English translation of Ovid's Epistles, the paraphrase of Oenone's Epistle to Paris is her's. In the preface to that work Mr. Dryden pays her this handsome compliment.
”I was desired to say, that the author, who is of the fair s.e.x, understood not Latin; but if she does not, I'm afraid she has given us occasion to be ashamed who do.”
Part of this epistle transcribed will afford a specimen of her verification.
Say lovely youth, why wouldst thou, thus betray, My easy faith, and lead my heart away.
I might some humble shepherd's choice have been, Had I not heard that tongue, those eyes not seen; And in some homely cot, in low repose, Liv'd undisturb'd, with broken vows and oaths; All day by shaded springs my flocks have kept, And in some honest arms, at night have slept.
Then, un-upbraided with my wrongs thou'dit been, Safe in the joys of the fair Grecian queen.
What stars do rule the great? no sooner you Became a prince, but you were perjured too.
Are crowns and falsehoods then consistent things?
And must they all be faithless who are Kings?
The G.o.ds be prais'd that I was humble born, Ev'n tho' it renders me my Paris' scorn.
And I had rather this way wretched prove, Than be a queen, dishonest in my love.
[Footnote 1: Memoirs prefixed to her Novels, by a lady.]
[Footnote 2: Memoires ubi supra.]
[Footnote 3: Memoirs ubi supra.]
[Footnote 4: A noted boxer.]
[Footnote 5: A Turk, famous for his performances on a wire, after the manner of rope-dancers.]
Sir GEORGE ETHEREGE,
A Celebrated wit in the reign of Charles and James II. He is said to have been descended of an ancient family of Oxfords.h.i.+re, and born about the year 1636; it is thought he had some part of his education at the university of Cambridge, but in his younger years he travelled into France, and consequently made no long stay at the university. Upon his return, he, for some time, studied the Munic.i.p.al Law at one of the Inns of Court, in which, it seems, he made but little progress, and like other men of sprightly genius, abandoned it for pleasure, and the gayer accomplishments.
In the year 1664 the town was obliged with his first performance for the stage, ent.i.tled the Comical Revenge, or Love in a Tub, the writing whereof brought him acquainted, as he himself informed us, with the earl of Dorset, to whom it is by the author dedicated. The fame of this play, together with his easy, unreserved conversation, and happy address, rendered him a favourite with the leading wits, such as the duke of Buckingham, Sir Charles Sedley, the earl of Rochester, Sir Car Scroop.
Being animated by this encouragement, in 1668, he brought another comedy upon the stage, ent.i.tled She Would if She Could; which gained him no less applause, and it was expected, that by the continuance of his studies, he would polish and enliven the theatrical taste, and be no less constant in such entertainments, than the most a.s.siduous of his cotemporaries, but he was too much addicted to pleasure, and being impelled by no necessity, he neglected the stage, and never writ, till he was forced to it, by the importunity of his friends. In 1676, his last comedy called the Man of Mode, or Sir Fopling Flutter, came on the stage, with the most extravagant success; he was then a servant to the beautiful d.u.c.h.ess of York, of whom Dryden has this very singular expression, 'that he does not think, that at the general resurrection, she can be made to look more charming than now.' Sir George dedicates this play to his Royal Mistress, with the most courtly turns of compliment. In this play he is said to have drawn, or to use the modern cant, taken off, some of the cotemporary c.o.xcombs; and Mr. Dryden, in an Epilogue to it, has endeavoured to remove the suspicion of personal satire, and says, that the character of Flutter is meant to ridicule none in particular, but the whole fraternity of finished fops, the idolaters of new fas.h.i.+ons.
His words are,