THE STRATAGE M. A COMEDY. BY FARQUHAR. As Mr. Pope declared an honest man the noblest S work of God, fo Mr. Addifon pronounced a good tragedy to be the nobleft work of man; whether he advanced this opinion from intending to raise fuch a masterly and permanent monument to his own reputation upon the ftory of Cato; or if he did, how much he failed in the great attempt, wè fhall not at prefent pretend to determine; but rather yield to Dryden's affertion, that an epic poem is undoubtedly the moft arduous and comprehenfive effort of human genius. The tragic mufe confeffedly claims great preeminence over her fifter the comic; yet if we confider, that a knowledge of ourselves and the world are the beft poffeffions of our minds, the laughing lady, tho' fhe muft yield precedence to dignity, may certainly, upon juft principles, boaft a greater fhare of utility; the elevated paffions and incidents with which we are treated by the former may warm, melt, and aftonifh our feelings; while the latter, playing with fancy in its natural, or fome other familiar fphere, exhilerates our fpirits, puts judgment in good humour, and pleasantly prepares us to receive fome occafional neceffary lafhes of correction, applied to our vices or follies. There There is one remark relative to the dramatic fifters well worth notice; that, as the elder is less general, fo fhe is more lafting; her characters and paffions are the fame through ages; while the younger is forced to draw exifting peculiarities; which, when their parent, fashion vanishes, difappear with her, and become obfolete; thus the comedies of Shakespeare and Ben Johnson exhibit mafterly genius, yet as the originals they took their pictures from are unknown, their force and beauty are in a great measure loft. When Mr. Garrick's Fribble was first played, a small hat helped confiderably to mark the petiteness and infignificancy of his figure; what fort of a hat must he wear now to diftinguish him from the prefent Lili putian head-covers. We are told, that Wilkes played all his fine gentlemen in full-bottomed wigs, as Cibber did the fops alfo; how ftrange would any thing of that kind appear at prefent, when even bishops wear crop eared bobs; the coxcomb and fine lady of every seven years vary confiderably in almost every point of converfation and deportment, as they do every fingle year in regard of dress; wherefore the writer of the prefent day, if he has genius fuitable, must have great advantage of his predeceffors, prevailing manners and originals being on his fide. There have been inftances of men very little converfant in life writing tolerable tragedies; but I don't remember one, nor do I believe an inftance can be given, of any perfon writing a comedy of merit, merit, whofe intercourfe with, and knowledge of fociety has not been pretty extenfive. Unities of time and place and place are, ftrictly applied, critical trammels, ferving no purpose but to check the noble flights of genius; the fame latitude of imagination, which can move us from a chamber to a street, and thence to a grove, may undoubtedly reconcile much greater transitions; avoiding this very allowable liberty has made moft of our modern tragedies fo barren of incident, that they are heavy and palling to a degree; but tho' moderate freedom is contended for, poetical licentioufnefs fhould be avoided; a child to be born in the first act, and appear fixteen or seventeen years old in the fifth, as we find in the Winter's Tale, throws contempt upon probability, and overftrains the utmost ftretch of credibilty; fuch a lapse of time is totally unwarrantable; indeed as comedy is a delineator of familiar life, the unities fhould be much more punctually obferved in her compofitions than thofe of tragedy. Thus much premifed, let us proceed to the inveftigation of Mr. Farquhar's laft production; an odd, yet it is hoped, not very blameable compofition for a dying author; whofe genius, like an expiring taper, has here thrown out feveral ftronger flashes of light, than when in a perfect ftate of existence. The STRATAGEM, more properly fo called than Beaux Stratagem, takes its name and birth from the declining circumftances of two genteel fpirited young fellows, who, from their own ac count, count, have spent their fortunes, and rather chofe to retire from the circle of gay life, before neceffity fubjected them to contempt; having feen many examples of worthy, fenfible men, who, wanting full pockets, were not only fhunned, but publicly ridiculed by coxcombs of their former acquaintance, whofe finances remained ftill unimpaired. The defign of our adventurers, travelling to pick up a fortune in a matrimonial way, tho' not strictly honourable, is no way chimerical or improbable; and laying the firft fcene in a public-houfe, gives an opportunity of opening the play, and its general defign, with humour as well as propriety. The bustle of Boniface and the pertnefs of Cherry are extremely characteristic, nor can any thing be better supported than the forward, self-sufficient, talkative landlord is with his guests in the firft fcene; the praise of his beer, his punctuality respecting its age, its killing his wife, with the help of ufquebaugh, his refignation upon that circumftance, his tranfition to the characters of lady Bountiful, the other ladies, and Mrs. Sullen, is a well-expreffed chain of connected, humorous nothingness, which is not a little enlivened by making every perfon old Bonny mentions, a fubject of appeal to the tankard; his curiofity in founding Archer about his mafter, and Archer's whimsical reserve work a comic effect. The scene of explanation between Aimwell and Archer feems rather effentially the effect of their fituation and scheme then merely a defigned information to the audience; and Boniface comes in VOL. I. happily G happily to prevent its being tedious; the conversation concerning fupper is well wrought up, and Archer's objections to pig and onions judiciously thrown in, whether we confider them as involuntary ones, forgetting his affumed station, or as defign of giving Aimwell a better opportunity of fhewing himfelf the mafter. Boniface's comments and conjectures upon the money which Aimwell commits to his care, are fuch as might be expected from fuch a person, who appears, under cover of specious, open bluntnefs, to be a rogue himself, and an encourager of other rogues-Cherry's diflike of his principles recommends her-but when the recals the words, my father! and fays "I deny it-my mother was a "good free-hearted, generous woman; and I can't "tell how far her good-nature might have tended for "the good of her family,"-fhe trefpaffes too much upon the bounds of delicacy. Archer's enfuing dialogue with her is spirited, pleafing and natural; females of an inn are deemed lawful game both for genteel and fervile travellers ; what he says to her is common-place flattery, therefore well-adapted to a gallant footman; her replies are the right ftrain of bar-maid fmartnefs and wit; her catching at a flip of expreffion when he says"There's a swarm of Cupids, my little Venus, "which has done the business much better,”—that being rather above the reft of his ftile-is well thrown in, and his confufion upon the unexpected questions refpecting his name, parifh, &c. not only gives Cherry a plaufible reason for viewing him as a |