120 
Original Letter of Bishop Warburton. 
Addison. -— But what is life ? 
’Tis not to stalk about, and draw fresh air 
From time to time- 
'Tis to be free. When Liberty is gone, 
Life grows insipid and has lost its relish. 
Act 3. scene 3. 
Tully. Non enim in spiritu vita est : 
Sed en nulla est omnino servieute. 
Philipp - 10. 
Addison. Remember, O my friends, the 
laws, the rights, 
The generous plan of power delivered 
down 
From age to age, by your renowned fore¬ 
fathers, 
O never let it perish in your hands. 
Act 3. sc. 5. 
Tully. Hanc (libertatem scilt) retinente 
quaeso, quirites, quam vobis, tauquam here- 
ditalem, majores nostri reliquerunt. 
Philip. 4. 
Addison. The mistress of the world, the 
seats of Empire, 
The nurse of heroes, the delight of Gods. 
Tully. Roma domus virtutis, imperii 
dignitatis, domicilimn gloriae, luce orbis 
terrarum. De Oratore. 
The first half of the 5th sc. 3d. act, 
is nothing hut a transcript from the 9th 
hook of Lucan, between the 300 and the 
700 lines. You see by this specimen 
the exactness of Mr. Addison’s judg¬ 
ment, who wanting sentiments worthy 
of the Roman Cato, sought for them in 
Tully and Lucan. When he would 
give his subject those terrible graces 
which Dion Hallicar complains he 
could find no where but in Homer, he 
takes the assistance of our Shakespeare, 
who in his Julius Csesar has painted 
the conspirators with a pomp and terror 
that perfectly astonishes. Hear our 
British Homer: 
Between the acting of a dreadful thing 
And the first motion, all the int’rim is 
Like a phantasma^ or a hideous dream. 
The genius and the mortal instruments 
Are then in Council , and the state of man 
Like to a little kingdom, suffers then 
The nature of an insurrection. 
Mr. Addison has thus imitated it. 
O, think what anxious moments pass be¬ 
tween 
The birth of plots, and their last fatal 
periods! 
O, ’tis a dreadful interval of time, 
Filled up with horror all, and big with 
death. 
I have two things to observe on this 
imitation : 1. the decorum this exact 
master of propriety has observed. In 
the conspiracy of Shakespeare’s descrip¬ 
tion, the fortunes of Csesar and the 
Roman Empire were concerned. And 
the magnificent circumstances of 
[Sept. 1, 
(( The genius and the mortal instruments 
Are then in Council.” 
is exactly proportioned to the dignity 
of the subject. But this would have 
been too great an apparatus to the de¬ 
sertion of Syphax and the rape of Sem- 
prouius, -vnd therefore Mr. Addison 
omits it. 
2 . The other tiling more worth our 
notice is, that Mi’. A. was so greatly 
moved and affected with the pomp of 
S.’s description, that instead of copying 
his author's sentiments , he has , before 
he ivas aware, given us only the marks 
of his own impressions on the reading 
him . 
For, 
“ O, ’tis a dreadful interval of time, 
Filled up with horror all, and big with 
death. 
are but the affections raised by such 
lively images as these. 
-— “ All the int’rim is 
Like a phantasma, or a hideous dream.” 
And 
u The state of man, like to a little kingdom, 
suffers then 
The nature of an insurrection. 
Again, when Mr. Addison would 
paint the softer passions, he has re¬ 
course to Lee, who certainly had a 
peculiar genius that way. Thus his 
Juba 
“ True, she is fair, O how divinely fair !” 
coldly imitates Lee, in his Alex : thus, 
“ Then he would talk : Good Gods, how 
. he would talk!” 
I pronounce the more boldly of this, 
because Mr. A. in his 39th specimen 
expresses his admiration of it. My 
paper fails me, or I should now offer to 
Mr. Theobald an objection against 
Shakespear’s acquaintance with the 
ancients, as it appears to me of great 
weight, and as it is necessary he should 
be prepared to obviate all that occur on 
that head: but some other opportunity 
will present itself. You may now. 
Sir, justly complain of my ill manners 
in deferring till now, which should 
have been first of all acknowledged 
due to you, which is my thanks for all 
your favours when in town, particu¬ 
larly for introducing me to the know¬ 
ledge of those worthy and most inge¬ 
nious gentlemen that made up our last 
night’s conversation. 
I am, Sir, with all esteem, 
Your most obliged friend 
and humble servant, 
W. Warburton. 
Newark. Jan. 2, 1726. 
(The 
