THE REAL HISTORY OF THE GOLD MEDAL GIVEN TO THE AUTHOR OF THE DR TRAGEDY OF DOUGLAS. From Whyte's Poems, 3d Edition. R JOHNSON affected to diflike the Tragedy of Douglas, which, as Bofwell fays, "He called a foolish Play," partly from national prejudice, being written by a Scotchman, and partly because, as he had heard, it was wonderfully admired by his friend Sheridan, whom, as Bofwell gives it from the Doctor's own mouth, he wantonly and infolently treated in a coffee-houfe at Oxford, because he prefented its author with a Gold Medal;" which Johnfon, quaintly enough, phrafes "counterfeiting Apollo's Coin."-There is fomething fufpicious in the story of this puny gafconade. Sheridan was not remarkably pacific in cafes of infults offered; for though, as Hamlet, his favourite character, fays of himself, he was not fplenetive or rafb, yet had he in him fomething dangerous which wifdom well might fear; and as to the circumitance of the Medal it would feem both the Doctor and Biographer were but partially informed. ... When the Tragedy of Douglas firft came out, Mr Sheridan, then Manager of the Dublin Theatre, received a printed copy of it from London, which having, according to cuftom, previously read to his company, he caft for reprefentation; for it is true he highly admired it, and apprized the performers, it was his intention to give the author his third night, as if the play had been originally brought out at his own houfe; an unprecedented act of liberality in the Manager, which, it was thought, would be wonderfully productive to the author. The first night, as the play had received the fanction of a British audience, the house was crammed, and the fecond night kept pace with the first. The printers meanwhile were not idle; it now iffued from the Irish prefs, and, unfortunate. ly for the poor author, a prefbyterian clergyman, with an ecclefiaftical anathema against him annexed. Things inftantly took a new turn; the play was reprobated, and confidered as a profanation of the clerical character, a faction was raised against it, and the third night, which was expected to be an overflow, fell miferably short of expences. The Manager was in an awkward fituation; he was the caufe of raifing expectations at least innocently that could not be anfwered, and flood committed to the author and his friends in a business which unforeseen accidents had utterly defeated. . . . An unfeeling mind selffatisfied with the intention might. have let it reft there ; but it was not an unfeeling mind that dictated the measure. Something must be done; and though the writer of this account was at the time a very young man, Mr Sheridan was pleafed to communicate to him his difficulties on the occafion. The firft idea was to write a friendly letter to the Rev. Author, and accompany it with a handfome piece of plate. To this I took the liberty to object; for as Į understood he was not a family man, it might run him to expence in fhowing it, which in fuch a cafe was a very natural piece of vanity, and furely in itfelf no way reprehenfible. I rather thought fomething he could conveniently carry about with him would answer better; fuppofe a piece of Gold in the way of a Medal. Mr Sheridan thanked me for the hint, and advifing with Mr Robert Calderwood, a filverfmith of the firft eminence, a man of letters and good tafte, he threw out the very fame idea, influenced by pretty much the fame reafons: It was executed accordingly; the intrinfic value fomewhere about twenty guineas. On one fide was was engraven a Laurel Wreath, and on the reverse, as nearly as I remem ber, at the distance of almott forty years, the following infeription: Thomas Sheridan Manager of the Theatre-Royal, Smock-alley, Dublin, prefents this Small token of his gratitude to the Author of Douglas, for his having enriched the Stage with a Perfect Tragedy. Soon after I carried it with me to London, and thro' the favour of Lord Macartney, it was delivered to the Minifter, Lord Bute, for his country. man the author of Douglas. But even this alfo he was near being deprived of; for on the road, a few miles from London, I was stopped by I a highwayman, and preferved the of my purfe, at the imminent peril of well-meant offering, by the facrifice my life. It was confidered merely as a fort of compenfation for the difappointment in regard of the third night's profits, and certainly no proof of oftentation in the Manager: on what principle of decency then could Dr Johnfon treat his old friend with that wanton infolence which he boasts he thought proper to indulge on the occafion?* BOOKS AND PAMPHLETS PUBLISHED IN LONDON IN JUNE 1798. Tranfactions of Societies. "RANSACTIONS of the Linnæan TRA Theology. An Apology for Brotherly Love, with a Vindication of Mr Wilberforce. In Letters to Mr Daubeny. By Sir R. Hill. 8vo. 55. bds. Cadell and Davies. Naval Sermons, by S. Clarke. 8vo. 45. fewed. Payne, The Divine Government a Ground of South Wales. By D. Collins, Efq. 4t.0 Carey's New Itinerary, or Book of Eton. 8vo. 8s. bds. Cadell and Davies. Obfervations on the Manners and Cuftoms of Italy. By N. Brooke. 8vo. 6s. bds. Ibid.. Athenian Letters. 2 vols. 4to. with Plates, published by Lord Hardwicke. 21 28 boards. Ibid. Hiftory of Gravefend and Milton. Small 410. Biography. Rejoicing; two Sermons. By W. The Life of Edmund Burke. By R. Bif Hurn. Is. Chapman. Cautions against Innovation. A Ser mon by W. Van-Mildert. Is. Riving tons. Sermon before the Humane Society. A pril 15. By A. Thompfon. Is. Dilly. A Picture of Chriftian Philofophy. By R. Fellowes. 2s 6d. White. Differtation on the Learning and Infpiration of the Apoftles, By W. Jeffe. Is 6d. Robinsons. Sermon on the confecration of the Co Jours prefented by Lady Loughborough. By P. Willis. Is. Cadell and Davies. Hiftory. Travels. Topography. View of Hindooftan. By T. Pennant, Efq. 2 vols. 4to. 21 12s 6d. boards. White. Account of the English Colony in New fet. 8vo. 8s. boards. Cawthorne. Secret Memoirs of Count de Parades, a Spy in England. 2s 6d. Baldwin. Philofophy. Effay on the Principle of Population as it affects the future Improvement of Society. 8vo. 6s. boards. Johnfon. Obfervations on Zoonomia. By T. Medicine. Chemistry. Brown, Efq. 8vo. 8s. bds. Johnson. Juftification of the Right of Phyficians to be admitted Fellows of the Royal College. By C. Stanger, M. D. 8vo. 78. boards. Ibid. A On the Claims of the Moderns to fome Discoveries in Chemistry and Phyfiology. By G. D. Yeats, M. B. 8vo. 78 6d. boards. Debrett. A Syftem of Diffections, with Plates. * Boswell's Life of Dr Johnfon, vol. ii. pp. 20. 45. Part Picturefque. Two Appendixes of an Effay on Defign in Gardening. By G. Mafon. In Reply to U. Price. Is. White. Obfervations on the Western Parts of England, relative to Picturefque Beauty. By W. Gilpin. 8vo. Il 5s. Cadell and Davies. Poetry. The Drama. The Gardens; from the French of De The Villain's Death Bed; or the Times. 410. 2s 6d. Bil. Joan of Arc. By R. Southey. 2d edit. 2 vols. fm. 8vo. 128. Longman. Milton's Comus,-with Notes of various Commentators. By H. J. Todd. 8vo. bds. Rivingtons. Arminius; a Tragedy. By A. Murphy. 2s 6d. Wright. Botheration, or Ten vears Blunder; a Farc. By W. C. Oulton. Is. Caw thorne. The Forrefter; a Drama. By J. Bayley. Is 6d. Lee and Hurft. Ios 6d. Caftle of St Donats. 3 vols. Aberford. By H. Summerfett. 3s 6d. fewed. Hatchard, The Secluded Man. By Mr Holden. 2 vols. Izmo. 75. fewed. Lane. The Solemn Injunction. By Ann Mufgrave. 4 vols. 12mo. fewed. 189. Ibid. Anecdotes of a well-known Family. By Mrs Parfons. 3 vols. 12mo. fewed. Longman. The young Philofopher. By Mrs C. Smith. 4 vols. 12mo. 168. fewed. Cadell and Davies. Report of the House of Commons on the Treatment of Prisoners of War. 2s 6d. Reflections on armed Affociations. By IS. The Republican Judge. By P. Portupine. 25. Wright. Pepper and Salt; a Letter to the armed Affociations. Is. Longman. Speech of R. G. Harpur on the foreign Peace in our Power. By C. Baring, Fifth Report of Society for bettering the Condition of the Poor. Is. Becket. School Books and Books of Amusements On the Syntax of the Latin Verbs. By Pity's Gift. Tales felected from Pratt's Reflections on the prefent condition of the Female Sex. By Prifcilla Wakefield. 38. fewed. Johnson. Supplement to Hogarth illuftrated. By J Ireland. Large 8vo. 1l 16s. bds. Nicol. The Indian Obferver. Elays by H. Boyd, Efq. Published by L. D. Campbell. 8vo. 10s 6d. Cadell and Davies. Journal of Occurrences in the Temple during the Confinement of Louis XVI. By M. Cléry, Valet. In French or English. 8vo. 6s. Letter to Lord Kenyon on Perjury. By A. Hook, Eiq. 18. Murray and Co. HIS 56 HISTORY OF ADONAI AND ALMANZA; AN ORIENTAL TALE. WHEN the empire of the Califfs was progrefs in knowledge, they thought it upon the decline, and many princes and ftates on its remote borders began to fhake off the yoke of the Saracens, there was born in the delightful plains of Damafcus, plains upon which bounteous nature fmiles, and pours forth her richeft gifts, where groves of orange-trees delight the eye, and embalm the air, whilst the vernal breeze fpreads odours from each bufh; a child, who, in his earlieft infancy gave figns of what he would one day prove; his father and mother, a fimple fhepherd and fhepherdefs, could not behold him without raptures, and even his dawning charms made them conceive hopes that he would in time at tain to grandeur, and raife them to a more exalted condition than that in which providence had placed them. As he grew up, the livelinefs of his parts, and his perfonal beauty railed admiration in all who faw him. In his perfon he was tall, but fo exact was the fymmetry and proportion of all his limbs, that height did not in the leaft diminish gracefulness; his forehead was high; his eyes, in which the mildnefs of the dove was confpicuous, fhone like oriental gems, or like the fun's rifing beams, reflected by a crystal ftream; his hair, which was of a light brown, fell in graceful ringlets upon his neck, and when he fmiled, new glory feemed to render the verdure of the plain more vivid, and the flowers of various hue appeared more glowing to the eye. Whilft he was yet but a trippling, certain faquirs, who came from Damafcus, had fometimes opportunities of seeing and converfing with him; his beauty excited their admiration, and his penetrating genius filled them with aftonishment. He had received fome inftruction in the law of the holy prophet, from his father and mother, and when the faquirs quefiioned him, he gave anfwers which filled them with wonder at the depth of his genius. Such efteem did the graces, that nature had powered upon the perfon of this wonderful young man, and the beauties of the mind, which he poffeffed in equal perfection, excite in them, that they gave him the book of glory to read, and fo ready was his apprehenfion, that he immediately comprehended its fublimeft myfteries, and learned from the perufal of it, to speak with an eloquence equal to that with which it is wrote. Observing that he had made fo great a was a pity that fuch talents fhould be loft to the world, for want of an opportunity to difplay them; fo they propofed to him to become one of their order, and go with them to the city of Damafcus, thinking by fuch an acquifition they and their brother Dervifes would acquire wealth and reputation. Adonia was at firft fhocked at the thoughts of quitting his parents, as he knew they doated upon him to fuch a degree, that they could hardly furvive his lofs. The faquirs, however, ufed fuch perfuafions, that ambition, which was his ruling paffion, prevailed on him to confent to quit his parents without taking leave of them; as he knew their heart ftrings would almoft burft at parting with him. Thus was parental affection flifled in the heart of Adonia by ambition, which at laft abforbed all his other paffions, and made him at laft forego love, friendship, and even life itself. Upon his arrival at Damafcus, he foon diftinguished himself among the Dervifes; he was liftened to among the people with admiration, and fo powerful was his eloquence, that he was looked upon as a worthy fubftitute of Mahomet, and heard by the inhabi tants of Damafcus, with as much attention as Hali was by the Perfians. Crowds foon followed him, and the order of faquirs grew rich, by the contributions which his eloquence drew from the peaple. This was according to agreement thared among the order; but he received fums of gold upon another account, which he thought himself entitled to keep, as he owed it entirely to his perfonal merit. Often when he walked the ftreets of Damafcus, he was met by a page, belonging to the Haram of fome great perfonage, who prefented him with a purfe of fequins, and a note, by which the donor affured him of her affection for him ; telling him at the fame time, that he could brave the flames for his fake, if he was not afraid of involving in the same deftruction, one who was dearer to her than herself. Sometimes the women themselves met him, aud lifting up their veils, fixed their eyes upon him, which fpoke the tenderness of their fentiments, and vowed that they loved him fo paffionately, that they could with pleasure die at the flake for him, if they were but to die alone. Having spoke thus, they gave him a tender embrace, and flipt a purfe of fequins into his hands at part ing, ing. Adonai was not naturally avaricious, but he was rejoiced to find himfelf by thefe means enabled to effect his ambitious purposes; for he longed for an opportunity of fignalizing himself, and that foon offered. There was at that time two powerful factions in Damafcus, which fruggled greatly for fupreme power in the city; namely, that of Zopyr the Sheick, who was fet over the town by the Califf Abubekir, and that of Seid, who oppofed the measures of Zopyr, and exerted himself to the utmoft, to wreft the power out of his hands, because he had refused him his daughter Palmyra, whom he paffionately loved, and would have married. The two parties, tho' they had never come to a decifive engagement, had frequent fkirmishes, and had hitherto thwarted and counterbalianced each other's power; fo that it remained undecided, whether the Califf should reign over Damafcus, or whether it fhould revolt, and become a particular principali ty. This point would not have remained long undecided, if the oppofing faction had not wanted a chief, capable of conducting a confpiracy, and directing the operations of war: for Seid was a young man without experience, and the party in the oppofition was called his, only because he had furnished an opportunity of declaring against Zopyr, as having refufed his daughter to the laft defcendant of a former Sheick, whofe name was more revered in Damafeus than his own. But as foon as Adonai became known to the faction, this difficulty vanished, for he had received from nature fo many fhining qualities, that no obfcurity of condition could prevent, or party that wanted a chief from acknowledging, his fuperiority, and fubmitting to him as their mafter. Seid happening to fee Adonai in one of the public fquares of the city, whilft he explained certain paffages of the alcoran to the people, was fo firuck with the gracefulness of his gesture, and the eloquent difcourfes that flowed like honey from his lips, that his heart burned within him, to make an alliance with a man, who appeared to him to be a genius or enchanter, endued of powers more than human. When Adonai had done fpeaking, Seid followed him till they both came to a palace of one of his friends; Seid there accofting Adonai, told him who he was, and entreated him to enter. I have, Laid he, conceived for you a friendship and efteem at first fight, greater than Ed. Mag. July 1798. any other man has ever been able to excite in me during a long acquaintance; thofe of the party which has efpoused my cause, will receive you as an angel defcended from heaven to their affiftance; fomething tells me they will make you their chief, and that we fhall then be fure of fuccefs. Follow me into this palace; a confiderable number of my moft intimate friends are now met here in fecret confultation, and deliberate upon the measures to be taken in order to deliver Palmyra from the bondage in which he is detained by a cruel father, and free Damafcus from his tyranny. This faid, Adonai followed Seid, and after they had paffed a court,, furrounded with cypress trees, and in the midst of which there was a fountain, where the image of a green dragon conftantly fpouted forth water, they entered a large hall hung with the richeft tapestry, where the friends of Seid fat upon velvet sophas, under which was spread a carpet of goldembroidery; they appeared by their countenances to deliberate upon matters of the higheft moment. When Adonai entered, they all ftarted from their seats, and appeared to be ruck with admiration, as if they had feen a vifion from heaven; for fuch was the beauty of Adonai, that most of those who faw him for the first time, thought they saw an angel, or a being fomething more than human. Seid introduced Adonai to his friends, telling them, that he there prefented to them a man, from whose affiftance they might hope for fuccefs to their cause; they all made a profound obedience to Adonai, and expressed their high opinion of him, by declaring that he feemed born to laed others, and that the party which was headed by him could not fail of fuccefs. No fooner were they feated, but Seid opened to Adonai their intention of feizing Palmyra in the palace of Zopyr, and carrying her off, and that then they proposed to feize Zopyr, caft him into chains, and that when they had quelled all thofe of his faction, make another Sheick in his room. When he had thus spoken, Adonai declared himself against using any violence at firft, but gave them to understand, that he had a Talisman, by means of which he engaged to bring Palmyra out of her father's house, and make Seid happy in her poffeffion. The admiration of all present was increased, by this difcourfe of Adonai; they all promised to second him in the attempt, and if he fucceeded, to make him Sheick H in |