1 7 91- 0^ ENGLISH FLAY5. 295 



" I'm tir'd with waiting for this.chymic ^W( 

 " Wlich fools us young, and beggars us when old. 



It i« a pity that Dn'den could not have fecn the third volume of Co- 

 lonel Ddw'^ work, as that volume is, perhaps, the molt pathetic and 

 intereftjng hillorical com(;< filinn n(rw extant. The fite of this vcr)' Dj- 

 ra is, in particular, irrefiftilily a.feifting. There is another book, iiitlt- 

 led. Memoirs of bradut Khan, ttanfluted hy Captain Jonathan Srott, 

 and printed in 1786, which contains an accruntof the laft; year of th< 

 reign of Aureng-Zebe. Some letters written by that great monarch, '<t 

 fliort time before his deatli, are inferred, and contain a moft hiimiliatinfj 

 leffon to the mafters of mankind. Thcte works have not acquired, iii 

 almift any f't^ree, ihe approbation thty delcrve; and Mr. Cbbon ha* 

 gone out of his viay, to fnccr at Colonel Dow. But if Mr. Drydenhad 

 ever feen either of them, he would at oi;ce have dilcovered the nchefi 

 materials for tragic poetry. 



Ifahella, or the Fatal yiarriage ; n 1'rngcdy^ altered 

 from Southerne, by Hopkins. 



All. or great part that is orij^insj of this play, is aj^mirable. The fable is 

 fimple, probable, and very intcrelting. The language is pure and proper ; 

 thecharaiSers well diftinguilhcd ajid maintained, and the poetry is in fiom^: 

 paflages delightful. I fee no modern quaintncff, affeiitacion, raving, or 

 fcombaft ; but there are fo many laboured abfurdities in the laft ad, that 

 1 fufpedil the nii.dcrn managers have tamptrcd with it. 



Crtrifa ^leeti of Athens, a 'Tragedy, hy William V/hite^ 

 head, Efq[. 



There is fomething very fingular in this play. The poetry is good, th* 

 language is pure and proper. There vse. in it no e.Yiriivaga'it unnatural 

 flight?, no romantic love, ro niodern bcmbafl. I can hardly find faulc 

 With aiiy particular part of it, yet I cannot much applaud tlie whole. 



Plays ■written for a Private Ihcatre, hy IV. Davics. 



Neits, The Malady ; n Comedy, in thrje AB.u , 

 The Mode, a Comedy, in five uitls. 

 The Generous Con7ite,\eit, a Corned/, in five A Is. 

 Better Late than Never, a Comedy, in f:iie Ails, 

 1 be Man of Honour, a Comedy, infrue Acts. 



I have fome favour for this author, on accoi;nt of his good intentions to 

 reform a taftelefs age, and enfrtaiu us with I'pccimcns of genuiuc c.i- 

 r«td». 1 re»»l on till my ^atieiii\- failed, nad rill I wa? qui:.- cj„vnted 



