verty and Langour of Thought, the unnatural Wit, and inartificial Structure of his Dramas.

S the Stoick Philofophers difcard all Paffions in general, they will not allow a Wife Man fo much as to pity the Afflictions of another. If thou feeft thy Friend in Trouble, fays Epictetus, thou may't put on a Look of Sorrow, and condole with him, but take care that thy Sorrow be not real. The more rigid of this Sect would not comply fo far as to fhew even fuch an outward Appearance of Grief; but when one told them of any Calamity that had befallen even the nearest of their Acquaintance, would immediately reply, What is that to me? If you aggravated the Circumstances of the Affliction, and fhewed how one Misfortune was followed by another, the Answer was still, All this may be true, but what is it to me?

FOR my own part, I am of Opinion, Compaffion does not only refine and civilize Human Nature, but has fomething in it more pleafing and agreeable than what can be met with in fuch an indolent Happinefs, fuch an Indifference to Mankind as that in which the Stoicks placed their Wif dom. As Love is the moft delightful Paffion, Pity is nothing elfe but Love foftned by a De-. gree of Sorrow: In fhort, it is a kind of pleafing

*

Anguish,

Anguilh, as well as generous Sympathy, that knits Mankind together, and blends them in the fame common Lot.

THOSE Who have laid down Rules for Rhetorick or Poetry, advise the Writer to work himfelf up, if poffible, to the Pitch of Sorrow which he endeavours to produce in others. There are none therefore who stir up Pity so much as thofe who indite their own Sufferings. Grief has a natural Eloquence belonging to it, and breaks out in more moving Sentiments than can be supplied by the finest Imagination. Nature on this Öccafion dictates a thousand Paffionate Things which cannot be fupplied by Art.

IT is for this Reafon that the fhort Speeches or Sentences which we often meet with in Hiftories, make a deeper Impreffion on the Mind of the Reader, than the most laboured Strokes in a well written Tragedy. Truth and Matter of Fact fets the Perfon actually before us in the one, whom Fiction places at a greater Distance from us inthe other. I do not remember to have seen any Ancient or Modern Story more affecting than a Letter of Ann of Bologne, Wife to King Henry the Eighth, and Mother to Queen Elizabeth, which is still extant in the Cotton Library, as written by her own Hand.

SHAKESPEAR himself could not have made her talk in a Strain so suitable to her Condition and Character. One fees in it the Expoftulations of a flighted Lover, the Refentments of an injured Woman, and the Sorrows of an imprisoned Queen. I need not acquaint my Reader that this Princess was then under Profecution for Disloyalty to the King's Bed, and that she was afterwards publickly beheaded upon the fame Account, though this Profecution was believed by many to proceed, as the her felf intimates, rather VOL. VI. B

from

from the King's Love to Jane Seymour, than from any actual Crime in Ann of Bologne.

Queen Ann Boleyn's last Letter to King Henry.

SIR,

Cotton Lib. C
Otho C. 10,

OUR Grace's Displeasure, and 'my Imprisonment, are Things 'fo ftrange unto me, as what to write, or what to excufe, I am altogether ignorant. Whereas you fend unto me (willing me to confefs a Truth, and fo obtain your Favour) by fuch an one, whom you know to be mine ancient profeffed Enemy, I no fooner receiv'd this Meffage by him, than I rightly conceived your Meaning; ⚫ and if, as you fay, confeffing a Truth indeed may procure my Safety, I fhall with all Willingness and Duty perform your Command.

BUT let not your Grace ever imagine, that your poor Wife will ever be brought to acknowledge a Fault, where not fo much as a Thought thereof preceded. And to fpeak a Truth, never Prince had Wife more Loyal in all Duty, and in all true Affection, than you have ever found in Ann Boleyn; with which Name and Place I could willingly have contented my felf, if God and your Grace's Pleasure had been so pleased. Neither did I at any Time fo far forget my felf in my Exaltation, or received Queenship, but that I always looked for fuch an Alteration as now I find; for the Ground of my Preferment being on no furer Foundation than your Grace's Fancy, the leaft Alteration I knew was fit and fufficient to draw that Fancy to fome other Subje&t. You have chofen me from a low Eftate to be your Queen and Companion, far beyond my Defert and Defire. If then you found me Worthy of fuch Honour, ' good your Grace let not any light Fancy, or bad

Coun

• Counsel of mine Enemies, withdraw your 'Princely Favour from me; neither let that Stain, that unworthy Stain, of a Disloyal Heart towards your good Grace, ever caft fo foul a Blot on your moft Dutiful Wife, and the Infant-Princess your Daughter. Try me, good King, but let me have a lawful Tryal, and let not my fworn Enemies fit as my Accufers and Judges; Yea let me receive an open Tryal, for my Truth fhall fear no open Shame; then thall you fee either mine Innocency cleared, your Sufpicion and Confcience fatisfied, the Ignominy and Slander of the World stopped, or my Guilt openly declared. So that whatsoever God of you may determine of me, your Grace may be 'freed from an open Cenfure, and mine Offence 'being fo lawfully proved, your Grace is at li" berty, both before God and Man, not only to Execute worthy Punishment on me as an un'lawful Wife, but to follow your Affection, al'ready fettled on that Party, for whofe fake I am now as I am, whofe Name I could fome good while fince have pointed unto, your Grace being not ignorant of my Sufpicion therein. 'BUT if you have already determined of me, and that not only my Death, but an infamous Slander muft bring you the enjoying of your defired Happinefs; then I defire of God, that he will pardon your great Sin therein, and likewise mine Enemies, the Inftruments thereof; and that he will not call you to a ftrict Aceount for your ' unprincely and cruel Ufage of me, at his general Judgment Seat, where both you and my felf must fhortly appear, and in whofe Judgment I doubt not (whatsoever the World may think of me) mine Innocence fhall be openly known, and fufficiently cleared.

B 2

'MY

'My laft and only Requeft fhall be, that my felf may only bear the Burthen of your Grace's Difpleafure, and that it may not touch the innocent Souls of those poor Gentlemen, who (as I understand) are likewife in ftrait Imprifonment for my fake. If ever I have found Favour in your Sight, if ever the Name of Ann Boleyn hath been pleafing in your Ears, then let me obtain this Requeft, and I will fo leave to trou'ble your Grace any further, with mine earnest Prayers to the Trinity to have your Grace in his good Keeping, and to direct you in all your "Actions. From my doleful Prifon in the Tow< er, the fixth of May;

N° 398.

Your most Loyal

and ever Faithful Wife, Ann Boleyn

Friday, June 6.

Infanire paret certa ratione modoque.

CYNT

Hor.

YNTHIO and Flavia are Perfons of Diftin&tion in this Town, who have been Lovers thefe ten Months last past, and writ to each other for Gallantry Sake, under thofe feigned Names; Mr. Such a one and Mrs. Such a one not being capable of raifing the Soul out of the ordinary Tracts and Paffages of Life, up to that Elevation which makes the Life of the Enamoured fo much fuperiour to that of the rest of the World. But ever fince the beauteous Cecilia has made fuch a Figure as the now does in the Circle of Charming Women, Cynthio has been fecretly one of her Adorers. Lætitia has been the finest Woman in Town these three Months, and fo long Cynthio has acted the Part of a Lover very aukwardly in the prefence of Flavia. Flavia

has