Sos. May I trust your honour?

Merc. You may.

Sas. But what if you deceive me?

Merc. Then

May Mercury's difpleafure light on Safia!

Sos. Mark,-Now I am allow'd to fpeak with freedom, I am Amphitryon's Sofia.

Merc. What, again?

(Offering to ftrike.)

Sos. The peace is made, the covenant's ratified :›
I fpeak the truth.

Merc. Beware thee of a beating. (Threatening.)

Sos. Do as you pleafe, and what you please 'tis true, In fifts you are the mightier, yet I'll not

Be filent on this point, do what you may.

Merc. Nay, you fhall never make me, while you live, Other than Sofia.

Sos. Nor fhall you make me

An alien here.-We have no other Sofia

But me, who went to th' army with Amphitryon.
Merc. The fellow's mad.

Sos. 'Tis you that are distemper'd.

Why, what a plague! Am I not Sofia,

Amphitryon's flave? Did not the fhip, that brought me,
Arrive this night here from the Perfian port?

Did not my mafter fend me? Do not I
Stand here before our houfe now? Have I not
A lanthorn in my hand? Do I not speak?
Am I not broad awake? Did not this man
Bethump me with his fifts In troth he did;
My cheeks smart to my forrow ftill. Then why,
Why do I doubt? why don't I go directly
Into our house ?

(Makes up to the door.)
Merc. (Stepping between.) What! your house ?
Sos. 'Tis fo truly.'

After the proofs of identity produced on both fides, when

Sofia views Mercury he goes on.

"Ses. Now I view him well, by heav'ns

I fee my very figure, fuch as I

Have often feen it in a glass.-'Tis certain,

He's very like me. The fame hat, fame coat

He is as like me as I'm like myself.

The fhanks, feet, ftature, fhorn pate, eyes, nofe, teeth,
Lips, cheeks, chin, beard, neck-'tis myself all over!
Need I fay more to't?If his back be scar'd,
There's nothing can be liker than this likeness,

-Yet

-Yet furely, when I think on't, I'm the fame
I ever was I know my mailer, know

Our houfe: and verily I have not loft

My wits nor fenfes.-I'll not heed this fellow,
Say what he will, but knock here at the door.
Merc. Whither fo faft?

Sas. Why, home.

Merc. Tho' thou wer't now

To mount the car of Jove, and fly from hence,
Scarce fhould'st thou 'scape destruction.

Sos. May I not

Deliver my master's meffage to my mistress?

Merc. To thine deliver what thou wilt, I care not:
But I'll not fuffer thee t' approach our lady.—
And now, if once thou doft provoke me, fellow,
Depart thou shalt not without broken bones.

Sos. I'll be gone rather-Heav'ns have mercy on me!
Where did I lofe myself? where was I changed?
Why did I lose my form? or was I haply

So thoughtless as to leave myself behind here?
For certainly this fellow is poffeft

Of my whole image, which was mine before.
[My ftatue is erected in my ftead.]

What never will be done when I am dead,
Is done, while now I'm living-I'll return
Back to the port, and tell this to my master.-
But if he likewife know me not!- Jupiter,
Grant that he may not:fo fhall I directly
Cover my fhorn crown with the cap of freedom."

We agree with Mr. Thornton that the fimple and concife enumerations of particulars in the perfon of Sofia have more real humour than all Mr. Dryden's variations and additions to the fame fpeech.

Perhaps the generality even of learned readers are ignorant, that of all the antient dramatic poets Plautus is the most fentimental. As we have given the reader a fpecimen of his humour, we shall from the fame play present him with a proof of his excellence in the last-mentioned quality. It is the fpeech of Alcmena, when Jupiter, whom the thus miftook for her hufband, had left her.

Al. How fcanty are the pleasures in life's courfe,
If plac'd in oppofition to it's troubles!

For in the life of man to ev'ry one

'Tis thus allotted, thus it pleases heaven,

That Sorrow, her companion, still should tread
Upon the heels of Pleafure; and if ought
Of good befal us, forthwith there fhould follow
Of ill a larger portion-This I feel,

And know it of myself now, unto whom
A little spice of pleasure was imparted,
In that it was permitted me to see

My husband but one night :-he left me, and
Departed on a fudden, ere 'twas day.-
Here feem I now deserted and forlorn,
Since he I doat on, prizing above all,
Is abfent from me.-I have ta'en of grief
From the departure of my husband more
Than I receiv'd of pleasure from his coming.
In this, however, am I bleft at least,

That he has conquer'd, and is home return'd
With honours heap'd upon him :-that's a comfort.
Let him be abfent; so that he return
Crown'd with the acquifition of bright fame,
I'll bear it, his departure, with a mind
Refolv'd and ftedfaft :-if this recompence
Be giv'n me, that my husband fhall be ftiled
A conqueror in battle, I fhall think

I have enough.-Valour's the best reward:
"Tis Valour, that furpaffes all things elfe:
Our liberty, our fafety, life, eftate,
Our parents, children, country, are by this
Preferv'd, protected: valour ev'ry thing
Comprises in itself; and ev'ry good

Awaits the man, who is poffefs'd of valour.”

How elegantly fimple and fenfible is this foliloquy, when compared with the fpeech put into Alcmena's mouth by the English poet on the fame occafion, to which we muft refer the reader. Our tranflator, however, justly acknowledges, that there are many excellent additions in the imitations both of Moliere and Dryden, which were abfolutely neceffary for the modern tafte.

The Miles Gloriofus, which Mr. Thornton englishes The Braggard Captain, is the next comedy in this tranflation, though not in the original. He very juftly obferves, that cowardice is a principal ingredient in all the modern braggards exhibited upon the ftage, tho' omitted in the character drawn by Plautus, which is full of vanity on account of the captain's felf-opinion of the beauty of his perfon, but made productive of very natural comic incidents. Many paffages in this play, were

it not for the names of the interlocutors, might be thought to have been written in this age and country; witness the following dialogue between Periplectomenes, an old gentleman of an eafy benevolent difpofition, and Pleufides, a young Athenian. The latter had been repining at Providence, which draws from the old gentleman the following rebuke:

Per. Whoever blames the counfels of the gods,
And finds fault with them, is a fool and ignorant.-
No more then of these matters.-I'll to market,
That I may entertain you as I ought,

And as you should be treated,-with good cheer
And a kind hearty welcome.

Pleu. Shall I then

Have no remorfe in putting you to charge?
Whene'er a man is quarter'd at a friend's,
If he but stay three days, his company
They will grow weary of; but if he tarry
Ten days together, though the mafter bear it,
The fervants grumble.

Per. Wherefore have I fervants,
But to perform me fervice, not that they

Should bear authority o'er me, or hold me
Bounden to them ?-If what I like they like not,
I fteer my own course: though 'tis their aversion,
Still they must do't, or be it at their peril.-
But I will now proceed, as I intended,

To get provifions.

Pleu. If you're fo refolv'd,

Pray cater sparingly, at no great cost.

For me, I am content with any thing.

Per. Away now with fuch antiquated stuff,

The ordinary cant of common folks,

Who, when they are sat down, and supper's ferv'd,
Cry," What occafion was there for this charge
On our account ?-why fure, Sir, you was mad :—
For, look ye,. here's enough for half a score."-
With what's provided for them they find fault,
And yet they eat.

Pal. Faith 'tis their very way.-
How fhrewd is his difcernment!

-

Per. All the while,

These felf-fame gentry, be it e'er fo great
The plenty fet before them, never fay,-
"Here take this off;-away there with that dish ;-
Remove that gammon hence, it is not wanted ;-

Take

Take off that chine;-this conger will be good
When cold."--Remove!-Carry away!-Take off!
No, no, you never hear a word of this

From any of them;-but they ftretch them forward,
And hang with half their bodies o'er the table,
Straining to fnatch the daintieft bits.

Pal. Good foul!

How well has he described their fcurvy manners!

Per. What I have faid is fcarce an hundredth part
Of what I have in ftore, if leifure ferv'd.'

The next play in this collection is the Captives *, reputed by many to be the best of the author's comedies. The plot of an old gentleman's lofing his two fons, one a flave from the time he was four years old, the other a captive by war; and of his embracing the refolution to turn a fiave merchant, that he might try whether he could buy a captive whom he could exchange for his fon; the circumftance of his purchafing a noble captive of Elis, where his fon was prifoner, and, together with that captive, his other fon whom he had loft, and was a flave to the noble Ælian; are incidents finely imagined; nor is any piece upon the stage better conducted than the fubftitutión of the captive-mafter for the fervant, and the happy catastrophe which that ftratagem effects. The tranflator will pardon us, if we differ from him in the meaning of the line

Hæc res agetur nebis vobis fabula.

He thinks the fimple and plain fenfe of the paffage is,
This is the fubject matter of the play

We are about to reprefent to you.

We are of opinion that the res and the fabula are opposed to each other; and plain and fimple as the word res seems to be, it is perhaps the most difficult to tranflate, and carries more fignifications than any in the Latin language. The fylva rerum, an expreflion of which Cicero is particularly fond, cannot be rendered into English fo as to convey a full idea of the author's meaning. At first fight the variety of matter occurs; but we fhould comprehend Cicero's idea more accurately, were we to tranflate it the tree of knowledge. We do not throw out this obfervation from any difrefpect to the tranflator of Plautus, but by way of caution to others, who, whenever they are at a loss for the meaning of a term, run to Dictionaries, and inftantly clap down the firft upon the lift of the wordmonger. We

Tranflated by the ingenious Richard Warner, Efq;

fhould