Cato.

any thing like the character; however, we fuppofe he did it for the fame reason a strolling player of fixty, once gave for retaining the part of the School Boy, I have done it, says he, forty years ago, and therefore think I have a right to do it now. DYER has afforded us fatisfaction in this character, and Mr. WROUGHTON, tho' la, la, was more fufferable than in any other part we have feen him play.

Mr.

Juba is a well-disposed young prince, and seems to have ideas of establishing fame on worthy principles; his attachment to Cato would, however, redound much more to his honour, if there was not reafon to fuppofe his love for Marcia the foundation of it. In point of action, he cannot be rendered very striking, being too much in the stile of mediocrity; the best we remember to have seen was Mr. DIGGES, who gave him much more force and variety than Mr. SMITH, though we think the latter a tolerable Numidian prince.

Sempronius is a rogue of very black dye, who does not fcruple to attempt giving the last stab to expiring liberty, and who wants to betray the most virtuous citizen, merely on account of being refused the object of his amorous paffion. He is a fair-faced villain, and couches dark designs under the veil of patriotic professions; extent and weight of expression are effential to this part, wherefore, we are induced to pronounce Mr. MOSSOP the best within our knowledge; Mr. SPARKS was extremely reNnn spectable,

VOL. I.

Cato.

spectable, and we have received some pleasure from Mr. CLARKE, in this treacherous fenator.

Syphax is a rogue also, and disloyal to his prince, but he is fo upon rather astronger principle than Sempronius, for having conceived a fixed antipathy against the Romans, whose polished manners he interprets effeminacy, and being enraged at Juba's attachments to Cato, he endeavours to perfuade him therefrom, which being declined with harsh terms, the testy old Numidian takes the perfonal, affront close to heart, and thoroughly connects himself with Sempronius's views. This character we deem better drawn than any other in the piece, and supported with great uniformity of spirit.

Mr. THE. CIBBER, in our judgment, formed a more adequate idea of Syphax than any other performer; his dissimulation and testiness was defcribed excellently by that judicious comedian; but he retained so much of the cant, which is now happily exploded, that we could only applaud him for what he meant, not what he did. Mr. GIBSON is a mighty lukewarm reprefentative of the old Numidian, but unless Mr. HULL should venture on him, is as well as any other perfon at present in Covent Garden. Indeed, to say truth, take it for all in all, there never was such a mangled spectacle seen at a Theatre Royal, as this tragedy was in April, 1770, at that house; and however strange the affertion may feem, it is strictly true, that Mr. GARDNER manifested more characteristic merit in Lucius, than any other person in the whole drama. Of all

the

Cato.

the Decius's we have seen, we don't recollect one sufficiently to authorize particular mention.

Marcia is a lady possessed of just and elegant sentiments, a worthy offspring of the great Cato, except where she is rendered rather ridiculous by the metamorphose and fall of Sempronius: Mrs. WorFINGTON gave that importance to the character by her figure and action, which Mr. ADDISON left for the actress to supply; Mrs. BELLAMY sustained the part very well, so did Mrs. HAMILTON; as to Miss MILLER, lately, she was inoffensive, and that's as high as most of the young performers can reach.

Lucia is a very tender-hearted fair one, violently enamoured, yet says or does very little worthy the the least notice; a good tragic actress might be rendered infipid by such a part, no wonder then that Mrs. MATTOCKS should move through it without any degree of praise; Mrs. STEPHENS's manner and expression is better calculated to make things of this fort agreeable, than any other theatrical lady we know.

Party is of a very dangerous nature to dramatic representations, but both whigs and tories taking this piece as a compliment to themselves, strenuoufly fupported it, and gave a fanction it never deserved, for we must absolutely deny its theatrical excellence; it is certainly a moral, colloquial poem of great merit, but a tragedy full of defects; it should be immortal in the closet, but cannot justly claim poffeffion of the stage.

AS You LIKE It.

A COMEDY by SHAKESPEARE.

may proper

T HIS paftoral comedy, for fuch it ly be ftiled, opens with Orlando and Adam, the former a young gentleman, recounting to the latter, steward of the family, the scanty provision made for him by the will of his father, and the cruelty of his elder brother, who treats him with much contempt, not only neglecting his education, but putting him under the fevere neceffity of associating with menial fervants; this, he confefses, rankles in his mind, and he expresses a commendable determination to bear it no longer. Here his elder brother, Oliver, appears, and accosts him in a churlish manner, to which he replies at first with complacence, but, upon irritation, makes spirited retorts, and their conference rises to a quarrel, which the old man endeavours to foften; Orlando claims his small patrimony, or more respectful usage; the former seems most agreeable to Oliver, who partly promifes it, and then not only dismisses his brother with much malevolence, but forbids Adam his house alfo.

From an interview between Oliver and Charles, the wrestler, we find that Duke Senior is banished by his brother, but that Rosalind, on account of the affection Celia, Duke Frederic's daughter, bears her, does not go into exile with him; upon Charles's mention As you Like it. mention that he hears Orlando has a private intention of wrestling with him, suggests to Oliver a most brutal idea, no less than the destruction of his innocent brother, and this he cultivates by bribing the wrestler to exert all his superior strength against him, with the utmost malevolence; and after this ready agent of his malice disappears, gives a most extraordinary reason for his hatred of Orlando, no other than the many amiable qualities of that youth, which he is either unable or unwilling to imitate.

Rofalind and Celia succeed this worthy blade, the former expressing a dejection of spirits, on account of her father's exile, the latter offering cordial confolation, which prevails, and produces sportive mention of love, which Celia rather feems to think dangerous to play with; fome speeches, when fortune is proposed as a fubject of their mockery, we cannot help transcribing, on account of the truth and pleasantry of those ideas they create. "Benefits, fays Rofalind, are mightily misplaced, and the bountiful, blind lady doth most mistake in her gifts to women:" to which Celia prettily replies, " 'Tis true, for those that she makes fair, she scarce makes honest, and those that she makes honest she makes very ill-favoured:" however, we think, according to a custom of SHAKESPEARE'S, they play too long upon words, and wear imagination threadbare; the clown appears as a messenger, and defires Celia to go to her father, in that familiar stile adopted by such gentry; his assuring the truth of what he

has