devotion to the fair fex, in whose cause, as the Champion of the defenceless, and Protector of the oppreffed, he was always ready to take arms. A lady's interest being often the object, and fometimes her person the prize of a combat, she was supposed to inspire his courage; and, as he was to be not less distinguished for Politeness than Valour, he affected an air of fubmiffive obedience, while fhe, by the courtefy of Knighthood, was allowed to affume a ftile of fuperiority and command. To carry thefe manners into ancient Greece and Rome, and weave them into a conspiracy there, betrays want of judgment. This drama is carried on in the strain of Romance. The lady enjoins her Lover to kill Auguftus; that adventure atchieved, he is to hope for her hand; his glory is to be derived from her acknowledging him worthy of it; fhe is continually exhorting him to deferve the honour of being beloved by her. The fate of Auguftus, of the Roman empire, all the duties of the citizen and the friend, are to depend on her decifion. decifion. She fays to Auguftus, when he has discovered the confpiracy, as a fufficient vindication of her lover, Qui, tout ce qu'il a fait, il l'a fait pour me plaire, The author certainly intended to recom mend Cinna to his fpectators merely as a loyal lover, according to the phrase of romance : in every other light he appears contemptible, and indeed fuffers himself to be used with the greatest contempt and indignity. As Shakespear laboured to fhew that the motives of Brutus were untinctured by any bad paffion; every movement in the nind of Cinna has on the contrary the cha r of baseness, and whether he confpires or w her he repents of it, he is still, as he acknowles himself to be, Un efprit malheureux, Qui ne forme qu'en che un deffein genereux. From this unhap. Wretch, who bafely conceives a generous des let us turn to Brutus. There we shall fee different mment judgment and genius of the artists. Brutus and Cinna are drawn in the fame fituation, confpiring against the foremost man of all this world: in the one we have the features and complexion of a Villain, in the other the high-finished form of a noble Patriot. UPON |
