editor, who can imagine that he is restoring poetry, while he is amufing himself with alterations like thefe ; For For This is the ferjeant, Who like a good and hardy foldier fought; This is the fergeant, who Like a right good and hardy foldier fought. Difmay'd not this Our captains Macbeth and Banquo ?—Yes; Difmay'd not this Qur captains brave Macbeth and Bauquo ?—Yes. Such harmless induftry may, furely, be forgiven, if it cannot be praised: inay he therefore never want a monofyllable, who can ufe it with fuch wonderful dexterity. Rumpatur quifquis rumpitur invidia! The reft of this edition I have not read, but, from the little that I have feen, think it not dangerous to declare that, in my opinion, its pomp recommends it more than its accuracy. There is no diftinction made between the ancient reading, and the innovations of the editor; there is no reafon given for any of the alterations which are made; the emendations of former critics are adopted without any acknowledgment, and few of the difficulties are removed which have hitherto embarraffed the readers of Shakespeare. K 4 I would I would not, however, be thought to infult the editor, nor to cenfure him with too much petulance, for having failed in little things, of whom I have been told, that he excels in greater. But I may without indecency, obferve, that no man fhould attempt to teach others what he has never learned himself; and that those who, like Themistocles, have ftudied the arts of policy, and can teach a small state how to grow great, fhould, like lim, difdain to labour in trifles, and confider petty accomplishments as below their ambition. THE ADVENTURER. NUMB. 34. SATURDAY, March 3, 1753. Has toties optata exegit gloria panas. SIR, T To the ADVENTURER. ζυγ. Fleet-prifon, Feb. 24. O a benevolent difpofition, every state of life will afford fome opportunities of contributing to the welfare of mankind. Opulence and fplendor are enabled to difpel the cloud of adverfity, to dry up the tears of the widow and the orphan, and to increase the felicity of all around them: their example will animate virtue, and retard the progrefs of vice. And even indigence and obfcurity, though without power to confer happiness, may at least prevent misery, and apprize those who are blinded by their pasGions, that they are on the brink of irremediable calamity. Pleafed Pleafed, therefore, with the thought of recovering others from that folly which has embittered my own days, I have prefumed to addrefs the Adventurer from the dreary manfions of wretchedness and defpair, of which the gates are fo wonderfully conftructed, as to fly open for the reception of ftrangers, though they are impervious as a rock of adamant to fuch as are within them: Facilis defcenfus Averni ; Noctes atque dies patet atri janua Ditis: Sed revocare gradum, fuperafque evadere ad auras, The gates of Hell are open night and day; VIRG. DRYDEN, Suffer me to acquaint you, Sir, that I have glittered at the ball, and fparkled in the circle; that I have had the happinefs to be the unknown favourite of an unknown lady at the mafquerade, have been the delight of tables of the first fashion, and the envy of my brother beaux; and to defcend a little lower, it is, I believe, ftill remembered, that Meffrs. Velours and d'Espagne ftand indebted for a great part of their prefent influence at Guildhall, to the elegance of my fhape, and the graceful freedom of my carriage. Sed quæ præclara et profpera tanti, Juv. See the wild purchase of the bold and vain, As As I entered into the world very young, with an elegant perfon and a large eftate, it was not long before I difentangled myself from the fhackles of religion; for I was determined to the purfuit of pleasure, which according to my notions confifted in the unreftrained and unlimited gratifications of every paffion and every appetite; and as this could not be obtained under the frowns of a perpetual dictator, I confidered religion as my enemy; and proceeding to treat her with contempt and derifion, was not a little delighted, that the unfashionableness of her appearance, and the unanimated uniformity of her motions, afforded frequent opportunities for the fallies of my imagination. Conceiving now that I was fufficiently qualified to laugh away fcruples, I imparted my remarks to thofe among my female favourites, whofe virtue I intended to attack; for I was well affured, that pride would be able to make but a weak defence, when religion was fubverted; nor was my fuccefs below my expectation: the love of pleasure is too ftrongly implanted in the female breaft, to fuffer them fcrupulously to examine the validity of arguments defigned to weaken reftraint; all are easily led to believe, that whatever thwarts their inclination must be wrong: little more, therefore, was required, than by the addition of fome circumstances, and the exaggeration of others, to make merriment fupply the place of demonftration; nor was I fo fenfelefs as to offer arguments to fuch as could not attend to them, and with whom a repartee or catch would more effectually anfwer the fame purpose. This being effected, there remained only "the "dread |