variety of high and ftormy paffion, which gives scope to the astonishing powers of this incomparable actrefs. Thefe fhe difplayed fo forcibly, that some who had not investigated the character fo closely as my correfpondent, thought "fhe "o'erftepp'd the modefty of nature in the force "and whirlwind of her paffion." But let it be remembered, that Califta is a woman haughty and impetuous in the highest degree, and that the defence of guilt is always loud in proportion as it is hollow. In this, indeed, lay the admirable art with which fhe played the scene with Horatio; fhe rose in violence as the accufation was preffed upon her, and met his reproof and admonition with the fiercenefs of refentment and of pride, struggling with the anguish of guilt and of fhame. Nor did fhe fail to give the Poet (as is ufual with her) fome merit not his own, by infufing into the latter part of the play that tenderness of which fhe knows fo well how to unlock the fprings. In the last interview with her father particularly, and in her dying speech to Altamont, fhe conveyed this impresfion fo ftrongly, that we quite forgot the blame which our juftice fhould have laid upon Calista, and our tears flowed for her misfortunes with all the intereft of compaffion, and all the confcioufnefs of virtue. But the language of encomium is fọ familiar to this Lady, that it were trite to continue it. In recalling her performance, I tried a much more difficult task, to remember fome defect. One trifling error I imagined I difcovered. In marking the fentiments of contempt and infolence, the fometimes used a voice, and affumed a countenance, rather of too familiar a kind. When the uttered the following lines, "And bleffes her good stars that she is virtuous”"Is this the famous friend of Altamont ?" a tale-bearing officious fellow" "Who guiltless dies because her fool ran mad” And the evening before, in Lady Macbeth, "Was the Hope drunk "In which you drefs'd yourself ?”— - Methought in her speaking of such paffages, there was a tone and look more allied to the Comic than the Tragic Mufe, and hardly dignified enough for the importance of the fituation, or the high feeling of the moment in which they were pronounced. It was an observation of fome of the great French actors upon Garrick, that that he spoke admirably well the language of paffion, but not quite as a hero would speak it. Though one might trace fomething of the cofume of Paris in this remark, yet undoubtedly there is a form which paffion puts on, different in different fituations. Perhaps, too, there is a certain deception in our ideas of what the station or character of the perfon fhould impress upon his feelings, which the very truth and genuine colour of nature may fometimes offend. We have all our prejudices, like Partridge, though they may not be altogether so fimple. It is very feldom, however, that we have any room for a complaint of this fort. It is only in a Garrick or a Siddons that nature preffes fo clofe on us, that the "galls our kibe.” Z L3 N° 26. SATURDAY, July 30, 1785. I HAVE obferved, that the authors of former periodical publications have commonly given fome account of their life and fituation in the world. Hitherto," for certain good caufes "and confiderations," I have been very sparing in these particulars. Stepping the other day into a box in the Playhouse, I was very much entertained with overhearing part of a converfation between two young ladies. I found they had been talking about the Lounger; and at the time I chanced to come in, they were difputing whether the author was a married or an unmarried man. "I don't trust much," faid one of the young ladies, "to his own hint in a late 66 paper; authors I know take liberties that "way: but he certainly must be a bachelor; for "had he been married, he would before now "have told us fomething about his wife and chil"dren."-"No," fays the other," he has cer"tainly a wife, and children too, I believe, "otherwife he could not have defcribed do"mestic fituations fo well as he does; he could "not"-Here fhe mentioned fome of my papers in a style which it would not be proper for me me to repeat. The two ladies at last agreed to refer their dispute to an elderly lady, Mrs. B. who fat by them. "My dear," said Mrs. B. addressing herself to the young lady next her, “ if "he is not married, he certainly ought to be." I am forry that for the present I must leave this matter in the fame uncertainty in which Mrs. B. has left it; possibly at some other time I may clear up the point, and amufe my readers with some other incidents in my life. Meanwhile it is to my present purpose to obferve, that, whether a married man or a bachelor, there is nothing in either of these fituations which can incapacitate me from carrying on my prefent undertaking. In the courfe of my observations, I have had occafion to remark, that there are Loungers in all fituations; fome with a wife and family at home, and others who, when they leave their house, may put the key in their pocket, all their friends and acquaintance being without doors. I remember a ftory of two gentlemen who were very fond of the game of backgammon; and being both excellent players, and nearly a match for each other, feldom met but they fell to it with great keennefs. One evening they encountered at a coffeehouse, and continued playing during the whole course of the night. The faunterers in the coffee-room, who were nume |