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" he does not fay it flies upon the waves as "nimbly as a wasp, or the like, but it seem"ed a wasp. But our author at the writing

of this was not in his altitudes, to com"pare ships to floating palaces; a compari"fon to the purpose, was a perfection he "did not arrive to, till his Indian Emperor's "days. But perhaps his fimilitude has "more in it than we imagine; this ship had

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a great many guns in her, and they, put "all together, made the fting in the wafp's "tail: for this is all the reason I can guess,

why it seem'd a wasp. But, because we "will allow him all we can to help out, let "it be a phenix fea-wafp, and the rarity of "such an animal may do much towards the heightening the fancy.

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"It had been much more to his purpose, "if he had defigned to render the fenfeless play little, to have searched for some such pedantry as this:

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c. Two ifs fcarce make one poffibility. "If justice will take all and nothing give, "Juftice, methinks, is not diftributive. "To die or kill you, is the alternative, "Rather than take your life, I will not live.

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" Obferve,

Obferve, how prettily our author chops logick in heroick verfe. Three fuch fuftian "canting words as diftributive, alternative,

and two ifs, no man but himself would "have come within the noife of. But he's * a man of general learning, and all comes into his play.

" "Twould have done well too, if he could have met with a rant or two, worth * the obfervation: fuch as,

Move swiftly, Sun, and fly a lover's pace,
Leave months and weeks behind thee in thy

race:

"But furely the Sun, whether he flies a lover's or not a lover's pace, leaves weeks **and months, nay years too, behind him in *his race.

"Poor Robin, or any other of the Philo mathematicks, would have given him fa*tisfaction in the point.

"If I could kill thee now, thy fate's fo low, "That I must stoop, ere I can give the blow. "But mine is fixt fo far above thy crown, "That all thy men,

"Piled on thy back, can never pull it down.

VOL. II.

D

"Now

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"Now where that is, Almanzor's fate is fixt, I cannot guess; but wherever it is, "I believe Almanzor, and think that all Abdalla's fubjects, piled upon one ano"ther, might not pull down his fate fo well

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as without piling: befides, I think Ab"dalla fo wife a man, that if Almanzor "had told him piling his men upon his

back might do the feat, he would 'fcarce "bear fuch a weight, for the pleasure of the exploit; but it is a huff, and let Abdalla "do it if he dare.

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"The people like a headlong torrent go, "And every dam they break or overflow.

But, unoppos'd, they either lofe their forte, "Or wind in volumes to their former course. · *....

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"A very pretty allufion, contrary to all fenfe or reafon. Torrents, I take it, let them "wind never fo much, can never return to "their former courfe, unless he can fup

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pofe that fountains can go upwards, which "is impoffible: nay more, in the foregoing page he tells us fo too. A trick of a very unfaithful memory,

"But can no more than fountains upward flow.

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"Which of a torrent, which fignifies a rapid stream, is much more impoffible. Be"fides, if he goes to quibble, and fay that "it is poffible by art water may be made "return, and the fame water run twice in

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one and the fame channel: then he quite "confutes what he fays; for, it is by being

oppofed, that it runs into its former "courfe for all engines that make water "fo return, do it by compulfion and oppo"fition. Or, if he means a headlong tor"rent for a tide, which would be ridiculous, "yet they do not wind in volumes, but come "fore-right back (if their upright lies "ftraight to their former course), and that "by oppofition of the fea-water, that drives "them back again.

"And for fancy, when he lights of any "thing like it, 'tis a wonder if it be not bor"rowed. As here, for example of, I find this "fanciful thought in his Ann. Mirab.

"Old father Thames raised up his reverend head, "But feared the fate of Simoeis would return; Deep in his ooze he fought his fedgy bed; "And fhrunk his waters back into his urn.

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"This is ftolen from Cowley's Davideis, p.9.

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"Swift Jordan ftarted, and ftrait backward filed, "Hiding amongst thick reeds his aged head. "And when the Spaniards their affault begin,, "At once beat those without and thofe within. "This Almanzor speaks of himself; and sure "for one man to conquer an army within the "city, and another without the city, at once, "is fomething difficult; but this flight is "pardonable, to fome we meet with in Gra "nada. Ofmin, fpeaking of Almanzor:

"Who, like a tempeft that outrides the wind, "Made a juft battle, ere the bodies join'd.

Pray what does this honourable perfon "mean by a tempeft that outrides the wind "A tempeft that outrides itself. To fuppofe "a tempeft without wind, is as bad as fup

pofing a man to walk without feet; for "if he supposes the tempeft to be fomething "diftinct from the wind, yet as being the ef"fect of wind only, to come before the cause

is a little prepofterous: so that, if he takes "it one way, or if he takes it the other, "those two ifs will scarce make one poffibi σε lity." Enough of Settle.

Marriage Alamode is a comedy, dedicated to the Earl of Rochefter; whom he acknowledges not only as the defender of his poetry,

but

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