It is called the axialer*, or Aquila Marina, as also Avis Ossifraga; and thence, as I presume, contracted first perhaps into Osphrey, and then, with regard to the ease of pronunciation, into Osprey. Minshew, Skinner, and Cotgrave, all give us the name of this Bird; as do our Latin Dictionaries in the words Haliaeetus and Ossifraga. Pliny has left us this description of its acute sight, and eagerness after its after its prey. Haliæetus clarissimâ oculorum acie, librans ex alto sese, viso in mari pisce, præceps in mare ruit, et, discussis pectore aquis, rapit.' If it may be granted that we are come to the truth of the text by this change of one letter, it may not be disagreeable to go a little farther, to explain the priety of the Poet's allusion. Why does he say that Coriolanus will be to Rome, as the Osprey to the Fish: He'll take it By Sov'reignty of Nature? pro In Does he mean, that Coriolanus in war is as superior to all other Warriors, as the Eagle, the King of Birds, is to all other Birds? Surely there must be something more significant designed here. short, I believe, Shakespeare intended to go deeper in his comparison. He has a peculiarity, you know, in thinking; and wherever he is acquainted with Nature, is sure to allude to her most uncommon effects and operations. I am very apt to imagine, into a consumption, of which he died, Jan 22, 1749, a few weeks after his arrival in London. Mr. Concanen's original Poems, though short, have considerable merit; but much cannot be said of his, "Wexford Wells." He has several Songs in "The Musical Miscellany, 1729, 6 vols ;" and was concerned with Mr. Edward Roome and other gentlemen in altering Broome's "Jovial Crew" into a Ballad Opera, in which shape it is now frequently performed. He was occasionally a writer in " The London Journal;" was the Author of "The Specultists, 1730;" and in 1731 published a Miscellany, called "The Flowerpiece," * Εἶδος αἰεὶς ὁ ἁλιαἱεῖος ἐν θαλάττη διαιτώμενος. Schol. Aristoph. ad Aves, ver. 892. Ὁ δὲ ἀλιαίελος καὶ περὶ τὴν θάλατίαν διατρίβει, xai va xuvaïa xXOTTE. Aristot. de Animal. lib. S. ch. 3. It is also mentioned by Oppian in his Halieuticks, 1. 1. ver. 425. Pliny, in his Natural History, Dydymus ad Homer. II. p. ver. 674. &c. therefore VOL. II. therefore, that the Poet meant, Coriolanus would take Rome, by the very opinion and terror of his name; as Fish are taken by the Osprey, through an instinctive fear they have of him. But, that I may not seem to impose an opinion merely chimerical, I will give you the authorities upon which I have adopted it. "The Fishermen,' says our old Naturalist, William Turner *, are used to anoint their baits with Osprey's fat, thinking thereby to make them the more efficacious; because, when that Bird is hovering in the air, all the Fish that are beneath him (the Nature of the Eagle, as it is believed, compelling them to it) turn up their bellies, and, as it were, give him his choice which he will take of them.' Gesner goes a little farther in support of this odd instinct, telling us, 'that, while this Bird flutters in the air, and sometimes, as it were, seems suspended there, he drops a certain quantity of his fat, by the influence whereof the Fish are so affrighted and confounded, that they immediately turn themselves belly upwards; upon which he sowses down perpendicularly, like a stone, and seizes them in his talons - To this, I believe, Shakespeare alludes in this expression of the Sov'reignty of Nature. And so much by way of explication.. I do not know whether I shall have occasion to retract any part of these conjectures; but I shall be better determined as you either concur with, or differ from, Sir, your affectionate friend, and very humble servant, LEW. THEOBALD." "Piscatores nostrates escis fallendis piscibus destinatis, haliæeti adipem illinunt aut immiscent, putantes hoc argumento escam efficaciorem futuram; quod haliæeto sese in aëre librante, pisces quotquot subsunt (naturâ Aquile ad hoc cogente, ut creditur); se resupinent, et ventres albicantes, ceu optionem eligendi illi facientes, exhibeant." De Avibus, p. 196. ተ "Volitare per aërem, et in eo veluti pendere videri interdùm, tùm demittere adipis aliquid in Aquam, unde statim pisces attoniti vertantur supini: etiam mox rectà præcipitem ferri instar lapidis, et unum ex illis altero pede adunco suo accipere." lbid. LETTER LETTER II. For Mr. M. CONCANEN * at Mr. WoODWARDS at the half moon in Fleetstreet. London. DEAR SIR, Newarke, Jan. 2, 1726-7. having had no more regard for those papers which I spoke of and promis'd to Mr. Theobald, than just what they deserv'd, I in vain sought for them thro' a number of loose papers that had the same kind of abortive birth. I used it to make one good part of my amusement in reading the English Poets, those of them I mean whose vein flows. regularly and constantly, as well as clearly, to trace them to their sources; and observe what ore, as well as what slime and gravel they brought down with them. Dryden I observe borrows for want of leasure, and Pope for want of genius: Milton out *That Mr. Warburton was an associate with Theobald and Concanen in the attack made on Pope's fame and talents, is indisputable; having been introduced at the weekly meetings; a favour which in this Letter he speaks of in very high terms of complacency and thankfulness.—Mr. Warburton, however, was not at that time, as has been generally supposed, an Attorney; but an assistant to a Relation in a School at Newark, having taken Deacon's orders in 1723. "This Letter was found, about the year 1750, by Dr. Gawin Knight, First Librarian to the British Museum, in fitting up a house which he had taken in Crane-court, Fleet-street. The house had, for a long time before, been let in lodgings, and in all probability Concanen had lodged there. The original Letter has been many years in my possession, and is here most exactly copied with its several little peculiarities in grammar, spelling, and punctuation. April 30, 1766. M. A.”— "The above is copied from an indorsement of Dr. Mark Akenside, as is the Letter, from a copy given by him to esq.-I have carefully retained all the peculiarities above mentioned. contained any thing that might affect the moral character of the writer, tenderness for the dead would forbid its publication. But, that not being the case, and the learned Prelate being now beyond the reach of criticism, there is no reason why this literary curiosity should be longer with-held from the publick: "Duncan is in his grave; "After life's fitful fever he sleeps well; "Treason has done his worst: nor steel, nor poison, "Can touch him further." -If it of pride, and Addison out of modesty. And now I speak of this latter, that you and Mr. Theobald may see of what kind those Idle collections are, and likewise to give you my notion of what we may safely pronounce an imitation, for it is not I presume the same train of ideas that follow in the same description of an Ancient and a modern, where nature when attended to, always supplys the same stores, which will autorize us to pronounce the latter an imitation, for the most judicious of all poets, Terence, has observed of his own science Nihil est dictum, quod non sit dictum prius: For these reasons I say I give myselfe the pleasure of setting down some imitations I observed in the Cato of Addison. Addison. A day, an hour of virtuous liberty, Is worth a whole eternity in bondage. Act 2. Sc.1. Tully. Quod si immortalitas consequeretur præsentis periculi fugam, tamen eo magis ea fugienda esse videretur, quo diuturnior esset servitus. Philipp. Or. 10. Addison. Bid him disband his legions Restore the commonwealth to liberty Tully. Pacem vult? arma deponat, roget, deprecetur. Neminem equiorem reperiet quam me. Philipp. 58. Addison. —But what is life? 'Tis not to stalk about and draw fresh air From time to time 'Tis to be free. When Liberty is gone, Life grows insipid and has lost its relish. Sc. 3. Tully. Non enim in spiritu vita est: sed ea nulla est omnino servienti. Philipp. 10a. Addison. Remember O my friends the laws the rights The gen'rous plan of power deliver'd down From age to age by your renowned forefathers. O never let it perish in your hands. Act 3. Sc. 5. Tully. -Hanc [libertatem scilt] retinete, quæso, Quirites, quam vobis, tanquam hereditatem, majores nostri reliquerunt. Philipp. 4a. Addison. 1 Addison. The mistress of the world, the seat of empire, The nurse of Heros the delight of Gods. Tully. Roma domus virtutis, imperii dignitatis, domicilium gloriæ, lux orbis terrarum. de oratore. The first half of the 5 Sc. 3 Act. is nothing but a transcript from the 9 book of lucan between the 300 and the 700 line. You see by this specimen the exactness of Mr. Addison's judgement who wanting sentiments worthy the Roman Cato sought for them in Tully and Lucan. When he wou'd give his subject those terrible graces which Dion. Hallicar: : complains he could find no where but in Homer, he takes the assistance of our Shakespear, who in his Julius Caesar has painted the conspirators with a pomp and terrour that perfectly astonishes. hear our British Homer. Between the acting of a dreadful thing Mr. Addison has thus imitated it: O think what anxious moments pass between Filled up with horror all, and big with death. I have two things to observe on this imitation. 1. the decorum this exact Mr. of propriety has observed. In the Conspiracy of Shakespear's description, the fortunes of Cæsar and the roman Empire were concerned, And the magnificent circum stances of "The genius and the mortal instruments "Are then in council. is exactly proportioned to the dignity of the subject. But this wou'd have been too great an apparatus to the desertion of Syphax and the rape of Sempronius, and therefore Mr. Addison omits it. II. The other |