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Original Poetry.

The months, with all their fongs, and fruits

and flow'rs,

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Vapours, and fullen clouds, and frofts, and fnows,

In ceafelefs change, to Britain's ftudious youth

Well he describes; and Britain's studious youth

Shall blefs his toils--- nor lefs with Ev'NİNG TALES,

With critic rules, and foft poetic lays,
Moulds tender hearts, than with a modeft
fkill

To art and science lifts the manly breast.
Nature's fair walks invite the various mind
Of man, who all around, beneath, above,
Views what may fire the genius, to pursue
Studies diverfe, yet ufeful, which unite,
Like the rich hues, whofe fair varieties
Each into other melting, all confpire
To crown with one grand arch the lofty

heav'n ;.

Or, like the many-darting rays of light, Which quick converge, and form one luftrous point,

Thy task is toil and patience, to furvey*
The form, pofition, and proportions due
Of mountains, and their natures thence de-
duce.

Hence fhall determine well the diftant eye,
What treasures fleep within, or flates or lime,
Granites, or porph'ries; nor fhall vain afcent
Thy feet beguile; to thee refearch fhall bring
Its pleasures due, to others profit bring.
'Twas thus, where circled in immortal snow,
Alps rear their tow'ring fummits, Sauffuret

rais'd

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To the MEMORY of Miss K.

She was fair as lilies of the vale!

Her voice was heavenly! on her faded cheek, With racking pain and lengthened fickness pale,

Sat calm-eyed faith and patience ever. meek.

Domestic love would watch the livelong day, Smoothing her fleepless pillow, fhe, the while,

In thankful filence wore the hours away, Reviving hope with many a tender smile.

Calendar of Nature." "The Use of Natural Hiftory in Poetry," and "Evenings at Home," &c. by Dr. Aikin.

The leading object of Mr. A.'s Tour in'to Scotland, was a mineralogy furvey of the country.

† A celebrated Mineralogift, Author of a work entitled, "Voyoge dans les Alps."

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123

And when he took her laft, her long farewell,

No death-bed terrors on her spirit hung;

But dying kiffes from her cold lips fell,

And eager bleifings faulter'd on her tongue.

Think not her angel form shall sleep in dust! It lives enshrined in ev'ry kindred foul Till heaven's last trumpet wake the flumb'ring juft,

And friends no more fhall part, while countless ages roll. L. A.

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If love and ftedfaft truth seward my pain. While love and spotless purity are thine, The blifs of angels cannot rival mine.

SONNET

TO AN INFANT.

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[ 124 ]

ORIGINAL ANECDOTES AND REMAINS

EMINENT

OF

PERSONS.

[In our next Number we propose to commence an extenfive feries of interesting articles, under the head of WALPOLIANA, being a collection of original Bon-mots, Anecdotes, &c. by Horace Walpole, late Earl of Orford, taken from bis MSS. notes, and from numerous converfations; with Extracts from many of his unpublished Letters. This valuable article will be furnished by a literary Gentleman, who was honoured with the Earl's intimate acquaintance for fifteen years, from 1782 to his death.]

GOLDONI, THE MODERN ITALIAN

CHAR

DRAMATIST.

(Communicated by Mr. Damiani.) HARLES Goldoni was born at Venice, in the year 1707. He gave early indications of his humourous character, as well as his invincible propenfity to thofe ftudies, which have rendered his name immortal. His father, perceiving that the darling amufement of his fon was dramatic performances, had a fall theatre erected in his own houfe, in which Goldoni, while yet an infant, amufed himfelf, with three or four of his companions, by acting comedies. Before he was fent to school, his genius prompted him to become an author. In the feventh and eighth years of his age, ere he had fcarcely learned to read correctly, all his time was devoted to the peruling comic writers, among whom was Cicognini, a Florentine, little known in the dramatic commonwealth. After having well studied thefe, he ventured to sketch out the plan of a comedy, which needed more than one eye-witnefs of the greateft probity, to verify its being the production of a child.

After having finished his grammatical ftudies at Venice, and his rhetorical ftudies at the Jefuit's College in Perugia, he was fent to a boarding-fchool.at Rimini, to study philofophy. The impulfe of nature, however, fuperfeded with him the ftudy of Ariftotle's works, fo much in vogue in thofe times. He frequented the theatres with uncommon curiofity; and paffing gradually from the pit to the kage, entered into a familiar acquaintance with the actors. When the feafon of comic performances was over, and the actors were tɔ remove to Chiozza, young Goldoni made his efcape in their company. This was the firft fault he committed, which, according to his own confeffion, drew a great many others after it. His father had intended him to be a phyfician, like himself: the young man, however, was wholly averfe to the ftudy. He propofed afterwards to make him an

advocate, and fent him to be a practitioner in Modena. An horrid ceremony of ecclefiaftical jurifdiction, at which he was prefent, infpired him with a melancholy turn, and he determined to become a Capuchin. His father, perceiving the whimfical inconftant humour of his fon, feigned to fecond this propofal, and promiled to go and prefent him to the guardian of the Capuchins in Venice, in the hope that after fome stay in that extenfive and merry city, his melancholy fit would ceafe. The fcheme fucceeded; for the young man, indulging in all the fashionable diffipation of the place, was cured of his foolish refolution. It was however neceflary for him to be fettled in fome employment, and he was prevailed upon by his mother, after the death of his father, to exercife the profeffion of a lawyer in Venice. By a fudden reverfe of fortune he was compelled to quit at once both the bar and Venice. He then went to Milan, where he was employed by the refident of Venice in the capacity of fecretary, where becoming acquainted with the manager of the theatre, he wrote a farce, entitled, Il Gondoliere Venezian, the Venetian Gondolier; which was the firft comic production of his that was perforined and printed. Some time after, Goldoni broke with the Venetian refident, and removed to Verona. There was in this place, at that time, the company of comedians of the theatre of St. Samuel of Venice, and among them the famous actor Cofali, an old acquaintance of Goldoni, who introduced him to the manager. He began therefore to work for the theatre, and became infenfibly united to the company, for which he compofed feveral pieces. Having removed along with them to Genoa, he was for the first time feized with an ardent paffion for a lady, who foon afterwards became his wife. He returned with the company to Venice, where he difplayed, for the firft time, the powers of his genius, and executed his plan of reforming the Italian ftage. He wrote the Momola, Courtifan, the Squanderer, and other pie

cess

Account of Goldoni.

es, which obtained univerfal admiration. Feeling a strong inclination to refide fome time in Tulcany, he repaired to Florence and Pifa, where he wrote The Footman of two Mafters, and, The Son of Harlequin loft and found again. He returned to Venice, and fet about executing more and more his favourite fcheme of reform. He was now attached to the theatre of S. Angelo, and employed himself in writing both for the company, and for his own purpofes. The conftant toils he underwent in thefe engagements impaired his health. He wrote, in the courfe of twelve months,fixteen new comedies, befides forty-two pieces for the theatre; among these many are confidered as the beft of his productions. The first edition of his works was published in 1753, in 10 vols. 8vo. As he wrote afterwards a great number of new pieces for the theatre of S. Luca, a feparate edition of thefe was published, under the title of The New Comic Theatre: among thefe was the Terence, called by the author his favourite, and judged to be the mafter piece of his works. He made another journey to Parma, on the invitation of Duke Philip, and from thence he paffed to Rome. He had compofed 59 other pieces fo late as the year 1761, five of which were defigned for the particular ufe of Marque Albergati Capacelli, and confequently adapted to the theatre of a private company. Here ends the literary life of Goldoni in Italy. Through the channel of the French ambaffador in Venice, he had received a letter from Mr. Zenuzzi, the first actor in the Italian theatre at Paris, containing a proposal for an engagement of two years in that city. He accordingly repaired to Paris, where he found a felect and numerous company of excellent performers in the Italian theatre. They were, however, chargeable with the fame faults which he had corrected in Italy; and the French fupported, and even applauded in the Italians, what they would have reprobated on their own stage. Goldoni wished to extend, even to that country, his plan of reformation, without confidering the extreme difficulty of the undertaking. Scurrilities and jefts, which are ever accompanied by actions, geftures, and motions, are the fame in all countries, and almost perfectly underftood even in a foreign tongue: while the beauties of fentiment and dialogue, and other things which lead to the under standing of characters and intrigues, require a familiar acquaintance with the

125

The

tongue of the writer. The firft attempt
of Goldoni towards his wifhed-for re-
form, was the piece called The Father for
Love; and its bad fuccefs was a fuffi-
cient warning to him to defift from his
undertaking. He continued, during the
remainder of his engagement, to produce
pieces agreeable to the general tafte,
and published twenty-four comedies;
among which The Love of Zelinda and
Lindor is reputed the best. The term of
two years being expired, Goldoni was
preparing to return to Italy, when a
lady, reader to the dauphinefs, mother
to the late king, introduced him at court,
in the capacity of Italian mafter to the
princeffes, aunts to the king. He did
not live in the court, but reforted there,
at each fummons, in a post-chaise, sent
to him for the purpofe. Thefe journies
were the caufe of a diforder in the eyes,
which afflicted him the rest of his life
for being accustomed to read while in the
chaife, he loft his fight on a furdden, and
in fpite of the most potent remedies, could
never afterwards recover it entirely. For
about fix months lodgings were provided
him in the chateau of Verfailles.
death, however, of the dauphin, changed
the face of affairs. Goldoni loft his
lodgings, and only, at the end of three
years, received a bounty of 100 louis in
a gold box, and the grant of a penfion of
four thousand livres a year. This fet-
tlement would not have been fufficient
for him, if he had not gained, by other
means, farther fums. He wrote now
and then comedies for the theatres of
Italy and Portugal; and, during these
occupations, was defirous to fhew to the
French that he merited a high rank
among their dramatic writers. For this
purpose, he neglected nothing which
could be of ufe to render himfelf mafter
of the French language. He heard,
fpoke, and converfed fo much in it, that,
in his 62d year, he ventured to write a
comedy in French, and to have it repre-
fented in the court theatre, on the occa-
fion of the marriage of the king. This
piece was the Bourru Bienfaifant; and it
inet with fo great fuccefs, that the author
received a bounty of 150 louis from the
king, another gratification from the per-
formers, and confiderable fums from the
bookfellers who published it. He publifhed,
foon after, another comedy in Frenc
cailed L'Avare Faftueux. After the
death of Louis XV. Goldoni was ap
pointed Italian teacher to the princess
Clotilde, the prefent princefs of Pied-
mont; and after her marriage he attend.

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126

Additions and Corrections to Account of Mr. Wilkes.

ed the late unfortunate princess Elizabeth in the fame capacity. The approach of old age obliged him to quit Verfailles, and to live in Paris, the air of which, lefs fharp, was better adapted to his conftitution. The last work of Goldoni was The Volponi, written after his retirement from court, from which time he bad a lafting adieu to writing. Unfortunately for him, he lived to fee his penfions cut off at the revolution, like others, and he spent his last days in poverty and diftrefs. He died in 1792, at a crifis when, according to the expreffion of a deputy in the Convention, the French nation was ready to repay him every debt of gratitude. Goldoni is on a par with the greatest comic poets of modern times, with regard to dramatic talents, and is thought fuperior to them all with regard to the fertility of his genius. His works were printed at Leghorn in 1788---91, in 31 vols. 8vo. He has been generally called the Moliere of Italy, and Voltaire, in one of his letters to Marquis Albergati, ftiles him, The Painter of Nature. Goldoni is one of thofe authors whofe writings will be relifhed in the most remote countries, and by the lateft pofterity. His profound knowledge of the human heart, his extenfive defcription of the vices and virtues of men, in all ages and ftations, will juftify my concluding this imperfect eulogy with applying to him the following lines of Horace:

Aeque pauperibus prodeft, locupletibus aeqie:

Acque neglectum pueris, fenibufque nonebit.

ADDITIONS AND CORRECTIONS

To the Life of the late John Wilkes, Efq. Chamberlain of the City of London, Alderman of Farringdon Without, F. R. S.

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MR R, John Wilkes was born in Lon

don. He was the eldest fon of Mr. Nathaniel Wilkes, and has been fuppofed, from no better authority perhaps than the name, to have been defcended, by the father's fide, from Colonel Wilkes, a man of fome celebrity during the civil wars, who fided with the parliament against Charles I. His brother Ifrael is faid.to be ftill alive, and to refide at New York. His mother was a diffenter, and he himfelf is reported to have been educated in diffenting principles, both civil and religious; certain it is, that from the time of his first launching into public life, he

uniformly profeffed himself attached to the caufe of freedom. His address to the electors of Berwick, for which place he became a candidate in 1754, breathes a noble fpirit of independence, and confutes the calumnies of those, who, adverting to his conduct at a later period, confidered him as a patriot by accident, and more attached to his own interefts, than the caufe of his country..

He received a confiderable part of his education abroad, at Leyden or Utrecht: and a decifive proof of the reputation he had acquired at that period, was given by that eminent metaphysician, Mr. Andrew Baxter, who dedicated to Mr. Wilkes the "Appendix of his Enquiry into the Nature of the Human Soul." In this dedication, Mr. Baxter fpeaks of a philofophical converfation which paffed between them in the Capuchin's garden at Spa, in the fummer of 1745. Baxter was long a refident at Utrecht, as tutor to fome young men of rank studying at that univerfity. He continued his correfpondence with Mr. Wilkes; and addreffed to him a very friendly and affectionate letter during his laft illness in 1750.

Soon after finishing his education, Mr. Wilkes returned to England, and married Mifs Mead, a lady of confiderable fortune; the however was not the daughter of the celebrated Dr. Mead. That phyfician was twice married; but of the two daughters who furvived him, one became the wife of Dr. Wilmot, the other of Dr. Nicholls. Mrs. Wilkes was of a family enriched by trade, and faid to have been related to this eminent practitioner.

By this lady, from whom he afterwards feparated, Mr. Wilkes had an amiable and accomplished daughter, who is ftill alive, and between whom and himfelf there exifted the most cordial regard; a warm paternal affection on his part, and unbounded duty and attachment on hers. During all his political ftruggles, and perfonal afflictions, her care and attention were uniform and undiminished, and he has recorded her filial piety, in an infcription at his cottage in the Ifle of. Wight.

The perfonal bravery of Mr. W. was unquestionable; in addition to his duel with Mr. Martin, mentioned in the last Monthly Magazine, he fought another with Lord Talbot, and conducted himself in both with great spirit.

The feverity of reprehenfion with". which he treated the Scotch nation, begat him many enemies among the hatives of

the

Additions and Corrections to Account of Mr. Wilkes.

the northern parts of the inland; Dunn, who seems to have been a maniac, wished to bereave him of his life by assassination, and Forbes, an officer, by fingle combat. When his papers were seized, a letter from his friend, Earl Temple, was found, in which the bitterness of his enmity to the North Britons was cenfured. This fame nobleman fupported Mr. W. during his conteft with government, in a manner highly honourable to himfelf. His counfel and his purfe, on this occafion, were equally at the fervice of the public. Mr. Pitt (afterwards Lord Chatham) deferted him, but he remained firm; and it is to Lord Temple that we are in a great meafure indebted for the abolition of general warrants. Mr. W. has the fole merit, by a vigorous and uniform pe feverance, of procuring the odious decifion refpecting the Middlefex election, to be refcinded from the journals of the house of commons.

Unfortunately for both parties, an unlucky difpute took place between the Rev. Mr. Horne, (now John Horne Tooke, Efq.) and Mr. Wilkes; and the former * foon after afferted, "that Mr. Wilkes did commiffion Mr. Robert Walpole to folicit for him a penfion of one thousand pounds on the Irish establishment for thirty years." The apparent extravagance of the demand, and the feeming apoftacy implied by the application, appeared at that time of day fuch, as to render the whole charge almost incredible; fince that period, however, we have witneffed, almost without furprise, a man of great talents indeed, but who had neither fuffered perfecution nor imprisonment in the public caufe, receive no lefs than three penfions, two † for three lives, of 11601. and 13401.; and a third for two lives, of 1200l. per ann. under the title of remuneration! Junius calls this period of Mr. W's life, "a moment of defpair."

Mr. Wilkes, who was a high-bred man, and profeffed elegant and engaging manners, was intimate with many diftinguished perfons; and on the trial of Mr. Tooke, fat on the bench, and converfed very familiarly with Earl Mansfield, whose character as a judge he had treated

See "Junius's Letters," 8vo. ed. Letter LIII. dated July 31, 1771, p. 288.

Thefe are faid to have been fold for

37,0001,

MONTHLY MAG. No. XXVIII.

127

with no common degree of feverity. This was deemed inconsistent at least, and was animadverted upon accordingly with much warmth by Mr. T.

He was naturally attached to men of talents, and cultivated their fociety and converfation, He himself was an au thor, and fome of his letters are 'writ ten with great spirit and animation. It is greatly to be lamented, that his hiftory of England, from the revolution to the elevation of the Brunswick line, was never compleated; the truth is, however, that a continuance of pecuniary diftrefs. could alone have induced him to proceed in fo laborious an undertaking; for, notwithstanding his frequent appearance on the public ftage, he was naturally indolent, and his studies were alwaysdesultory.

and

Although he had refided for a confiderable time in France, Mr. W. was, ftrictly speaking, an Anti-Gallican; carried his patriotifin, or prejudice (for on this subject there will be different opinions) fo far, as to object to French wines at the city feafts.

He died in the 71ft year of his age, having been born October 17, 1727, O. S. His body was interred in a vault in Grofvenor chapel, South Audley-ftreet. Eight labouring men, dreffed in new black. clothes, in confequence of an intimation during his life, conveyed his corpfe to the place of interment, and he is faid to have directed a tablet to be erected to his memory, with an infcription implying that he was "A Friend to Liberty."

In mentioning Mr. W's. political principles fome difcrimination is neceffary. He does not appear to have confidered liberty in the abftract, but to have bottomed all his notions on the practical benefits arifing from the revolution. In fhort, he was a whig of the old school.

It is much to his honour, that on fome occafions he demanded the inftructions of his conftituents, and on all, profeffed a determination to obey them it would alfo be injuftice to omit, that the rumours relative to the immenfe fortune he left be

:

hind him, are entirely groundless. After
fatisfying a variety of bequests, Mifs
WILKES, the refiduary legatee, will have
but a very small fum to receive: luckily,
however, the is abundantly provided for,
ther's family.
as fhe enjoys a large income from her mo-

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