790 Co-incidence of Shakefpear, with Seneca, and Lucretius. [November, 
To thé Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
BIR, 7 
N addition to what has been faid of the 
Hundredth Plalm, by OC. GREGORY, 
in your laft, page 609, let me add, that 
‘T. Johnfon, in a ‘* Selection of Pfalms for 
the Ufe of Bedford and Charlotte Chapels, 
accompanied with the Mufic,” 1777, af- 
cribes the rooth, or ** Savoy,’’ to Dr. Bow- 
land, (not Dowland) as O. G. calls him. 
’ I know not whether Johnfon was af- 
- fifted by Dr. Dupuis, but the latter was. 
for many years organift, and the former 
many years, and till within a few weeks 
paft, clerk of Charlotte Chapel. 
T have feen this tune attributed alfo to 
Dr. Blow, Dr. Bull, Handel, and M. Lu- 
ther; however, Dr. Miller, in his ‘‘ Pfalms, 
1790," afcribes it to the laft on the autho- 
rity of Tallis, Blow, Handel, and Sir J. 
Hawkins. INGENUUS. 
Page 619, firft col. 1. 3, for Squires, read 
Nately Skewers, which is there called by 
the latter name, i. e. Skezvers only. 
Sept. 19, 1799+ 
Se : 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SIR, 
O much has been written on the learn- 
ing of Shakefpear, that perhaps it is 
not werth while to difcufs it further, tho’ 
I fee a late correfpondent of your’s has de- 
clared his opinion that it might be proved 
to have been much more contiderable than 
the critics have allowed. S§ucha notion he 
would probably attempt to fupport, by 
tracing imitations in Shakefpear, from au- 
thors in various languages, who were not 
tranflated in his time. The following 
imitation or co-incidence might feem ftrik- 
ing in this view. Seneca the tragedian, in 
his ‘* Hercules furens,’? makes the hero 
deplore the ftains he had contracted by the 
horrid deeds of his madnefs, in thefe bom- 
baftic lines : 
Quis Tanais, aut quis Nilus, aut quis Perfica 
Violentus unda Tigris, aut Rhenus ferox, 
Tagufve, Ibera turbidus gaza fluens, 
Ablyere dextram poterit ? Arétoum licet 
Meotis in me gelida transfundat mare, 
Et tote Tethys per meas currat manus, 
Herebit,altum facinus. 
What a refemblance is there in this no 
lefs bombaftic paflage of Macbeth? = 
Will all great Neptune’s ocean wafb this blood 
Clean from my hand? No, this my hand will 
rather we 
The multitudinous fea incarnardine) 
Making the green, one red. 
It is here obfervable, that while Seneca 
runs ouf into an enumeration of fimilar 
particulars which enfeebles the leadin 
thought by expanfion, Shakefpear fubjoins 
to it a new idea which augments the ex- 
travagance of the firft. ; 
In the following fine pafiages, I recog- 
nize no more than a coincidence of fenti- 
ment between two great geniufes. Lu- © 
cretius, fpeaking of the probable origin of 
religious terrors among mankind, naturally 
adverts to the awful phenomena of 2 ~ 
ftorm, 
Preterea, cui non animus formidine Divam 
Contrahitur? cui non conrepunt membra 
pavore,y 
Fulminis horribili cum plaga torrida tellus 
Contremit, et magnum percurrunt murmura 
celum? 
Non populi gentefque tremunt? Regefque 
fuperbi 
Conripiunt Divém perculfi membra timore, 
Ne quid ob admiffum fedé, di@umve fuperbé 
Penarum grave fit folvendi tempus adaétum ? . 
‘ Lib. v2 4217. 
.'Thefe very ideas are reprefented by 
Shakefpear as occurring to Lear’s unfet- 
tling mind in the form. 
Let the great Gods 
That keep this dreadful pother o’er our heads, 
- Find out their enemies now. Tremble, thou 
wretch - 
That haft within thee undivulged crimes 
Unwhipt of juftice' Hide thee, thou bloody 
hand, 
Thou Perjure, and thou Simular of virtue, 
That art inceftuous ! Caitiff, fhake to pieces, 
That under covert and conyenient feeming 
Haft pra&tifed on man’s hfe! Clofe penteup 
guilts, 
Rive your concealing continents, and afk 
Thefe dreadful fummoners grace. 
Parallels of this kind, foberly purfued, 
and taken from the beft authors, appear to » 
me extremely pleafing. Hoping that thefe 
will prove agreeable to your readers, 
I remain, &c. N. N. 
hia — 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SIR, 
NY of your readers would favour me 
by communicating, through the me- 
dium of your Magazine, where the bef 
accounts of the celebrated earl of Effex’s 
lord lieutenancy in Ireland, and the mea-'’ 
fures adopted by him for the fuppreffion 
of Tyrone’s Rebellion, in the reign of 
Elizabeth, is to be found. 
My inquiry arifes from being in poflef- 
fion of a manufcript of confiderable anti- 
quity intituled *«* A Declaracion- of the 
principall Actions and feveral Journies 
made by the Righte Honourable the Lord 
Lieutenante and Goynour Genevrall ns 
1S 
