| Citation |
RAG.781.013
10 Jul 1781:12 (7/389)
Letters of the late Thomas Lord Lyttleton: from a late
London edition, just published. (Continued from our last.)
Letter XVII.
. . . [11 lines] The waiter returned, and desired to know if
I chose prose or verse. This I thought looked well; and my
preference being declared for the latter, I was, in a few
minutes presented with a small volume, which I found to be a
Presbyterian hymn-book, entitled Horae Lyricae, by a Dr.
Watts. My expectations were a little chagrined upon the
occasion: however, I turned over a few pages, looking
cursorily at the contents in my way, when I dropped upon a
little odd composition, the subject of which was no less
singular than applicable to myself. The title of it was,
"Few Happy Matches."--From the character of the author, who
was a dissenting minister, I had conceived that the reasons
of matrimonial infelicity, would be trite, whining, and
scriptural, and that I should find some bouncing anathemas
against such offenders as your humble servant: but it turned
out quite otherwise; the idea is a fanciful one; and I dare
affirm, that, if Apollo and the Nine Muses had racked their
brains for a twelvemonth, they could not have hit upon such
a conceit.
The poet supposes that human souls come forth in pairs of
male and female from the hands of the Creator, who gives
them to the winds of heaven to bear them to our lower world,
where, if they arrive safe, and meet again, they
instinctively impel the bodies they animate towards each
other, so as to produce an Hymenial union, which, being
originally designed by their author, must be necessarily
happy. . . [43 lines discussing Watts' theory and the
author's reaction to it.]
Letter XVIII. . . [9 lines] How it could ever enter into
your head to think Chace Price a wit, puzzles and perplexes
me. He has no more pretensions to it than he has to grace.
He is a good-humoured jolly buffoon, that writes a bawdy
song, and sings it; says things that nobody besides would
choose to do. . . [3 lines] He is never without a point in
view, or a game to play; and he never sings a song, or tells
a smutty tale, without some design. . . [3 lines] Do you
think, when Bolingbroke, Swift, Arbuthnot, Pope, etc. etc.
were assembled together, that the conversation of such a
bright constellation of men was like the ribaldry of Mr.
Price. Their wit did not consist in roaring a bawdy-catch,
etc. it was the "feast of reason, and the flow of soul."
. . . [3 lines] If I were to sing one of Mr. Price's
ballads, or to repeat one of his stories; you would receive,
I fear, but little pleasure from the exhibition, because I
could not give them the accompaniments of noise and grimace,
which form their principal merit. . . [8 lines and 3
paragraphs]
Garrick is himself upon the stage, and an actor every
where else. Foote is a mimic every where; excellent,
delightful, on the theatre and in private society; but still
a mimick. . . [14 lines and 2 paragraphs]
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