by much the more numerous; and, what perhaps had a greater effect than any of thefe, the women's parts were performed by boys. So powerful was the effect of those circumstances, that Cartwright is the only dramatist of that age whofe works are tolerably free from indecency. Maffinger's error, perhaps, appears more strongly, because his indelicacy has not always the apology of wit; for, either from a natural deficiency in that quality, or from the peculiar model on which he had formed himself, his comic characters are lefs witty than those of his cotemporaries, and when he attemps wit, he frequently degenerates into buffoonery. But he has fhewed in a remarkable manner the juftness of his tafte, in declining the practice of quibbling; and as wit and a quibble were fuppofed, in that age, to be infeparable, we are perhaps to feek, in his averfion to the prevailing folly, the true cause of his fparing employment of wit.

Our poet excells more in the description than in the expreffion of paffion; this may be afcribed in fome measure to his nice attention to the fable: while his fcenes are managed with confummate skill, the lighter shades of character and fentiment are loft in the tendency of each part to the catastrophe.

The prevailing beauties of his productions are dignity and elegance; their predominant fault is want of paffion.

The

The melody, force, and variety of his verfification are every where remarkable: admitting the force of all the objections which are made to the employment of blank verfe in comedy, Maffinger's poffeffes charms fufficient to diffipate them all. It is indeed equally different from that which modern authors are pleased to ftile blank verfe, and from the flippant profe fo loudly celebrated in the comedies of the day. The neglect of our old comedies feems to arife from other causes, than from the employment of blank verse in their dialogue; for, in general, its conftruction is fo natural, that in the mouth of a good actor it runs into elegant profe. The frequent delineations of perishable manners in our old comedy, have occafioned this neglect, and we may foresee the fate of our present fashionable pieces, in that which has attended Johnfon's, Fletcher's, and Maffinger's: they are either entirely overlooked, or fo mutilated, to fit them for reprefentation, as neither to retain the dignity of the old comedy, nor to acquire the graces of the

new.

The changes of manners have neceffarily produced very remarkable effects, on theatrical performances. In proportion as our best writers are farther removed from the prefent times, they exhibit bolder and more diversified characters, because the prevailing manners admitted a fuller difplay of fentiments, in the common intercourse

of

of life. Our own times, in which the intention of polite education is to produce à general, uniform manner, afford little diverfity of character for the ftage. Our dramatifts, therefore, mark the diftinctions of their characters, by incidents. more than by fentiments, and abound more in ftriking fituations than interefting dialogue. In the old comedy, the catastrophe is occafioned, in general, by a change in the mind of fome principal character, artfully prepared, and cautiously conducted; in the modern, the unfolding of the plot is effected by the overturning of a fcreen, the opening of a door, or by fome other equally dignified machine.

When we compare Maffinger with the other dramatic writers of his age, we cannot long hefitate where to place him. More natural in his characters, and more poetical in his diction, than Johnson or Cartwright, more elevated and nervous than Fletcher, the only writers who can be fuppofed to conteft his pre-eminence, Maffinger ranks immediately under Shakespeare himfelf*.

It must be confeffed, that in comedy Maffinger falls confiderably beneath Shakespeare; his wit is lefs brilliant, and his ridicule lefs delicate

I omit Milton, because his Samfon is an exotic, not captivating to the eyes of Englishmen ; and whatever detached beauties Comus may poffefs, it is incomparably heavy, confidered as a dramatic piece.

and

and various; but he affords a fpecimen of elegant comedy*, of which there is no archetype in his great predeceffor. By the rules of a very judicious critic†, the characters in this piece appear to be of too elevated a rank for comedy; yet though the plot is fomewhat embarrassed by this circumftance, the diverfity, fpirit, and confiftency of the characters render it a most interesting play. In tragedy, Maffinger is rather eloquent than pathetic; yet he is often as majestic, and generally more elegant than his master; he is as powerful a ruler of the understanding, as Shakefpeare is of the paffions: with the disadvantage of fucceeding that matchlefs poet, there is ftill much original beauty in his works; and the most extenfive acquaintance with poetry will hardly diminish the pleasure of a reader and admirer of Maffinger.

The Great Duke of Florence.

+ See the Effay on the Provinces of the Drama.

OBSERVA

OBSERVATIONS on the BILLS of MORTALITY for the Towns of MANCHESTER and SALFORD; by THOMAS HENRY, F. R. S. Acad. Philof. Amer.; Philadel.; Med. Lond. & Phyfic. Edinb. Soc.

READ JANUARY 18, 1786.

N the year 1773, feveral perfons, many of

IN

whom are now Members of this Society, fubfcribed, for the purpose of obtaining an accurate account of the ftate of the population of the towns of Manchester and Salford*, which should contain the number of houfes, families, males, females, &c. The refult of this inquiry, which was inftituted with a view to the opinion, at that time propagated, of the general decline of population in the kingdom, proved that, instead of being diminished, as was fuppofed to be the cafe with the inhabitants of London, the number of perfons, refiding in Manchester and Salford, was greatly increased: that the

* Manchester and Salford, though diftin&t townships, are only separated by the river Irwel, and communicate by means of feveral bridges. In the year 1757 the number of inhabitants was no more than 19839.

number