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La mort aux malheureux ne cause point d'effroi ;

Je ne crains que le nom que je laisse après moi.

Oenone then ventures the proposal of accusing Hippolytus; Phedre rejects it with horror. I trust the reader will pardon me, if I quote a few lines more, which may give an idea of the art of Racine. Oenone says,

Mon zele n'a besoin que de votre silence, Tremblante comme vous, j'en sens quelques remords.

Vous me verriez plus prompte affronter

mille morts..

Mais, puisque je vous perds sans ce triste

remède,

Votre vie est pour moi d'un prix à qui

tout cede.

I ask every impartial reader, whether it was possible to shew, in a truer light, all the divers motions and feelings of a heart in the situation wherein Phedre's must be, according to her supposed character?

Here I must once more shew the illiberality of your critic's observations. The following are his words: "Racine has put the accusation into the mouth of the nurse, and says, 'J'ai cru que la calomnie avait quelque chose de trop bas et de trop noir pour la mettre dans les bouche d'une princesse. Cette bassesse m'a paru plus convenable à une nourrice.' It was likely enough that such trash as this should issue from the courtly sycophants of that age. The truth is, that, in such cases, princes and princesses are mere men and women," &c. What idea can your readers form of a critic who, to find an opportunity of insulting a poet and his whole nation, makes a false quotation from that same poet's works? The phrase in Racine's preface is as follows: “ J'ai cru que la calomnie avoit quelque chose de trop bas et de trop noir pour la mettre dans la bouche d'une prinnobles et si vertueux. Cette bassesse cesse, qui à d'ailleurs des sentimens si

m'a

paru plus convenable à une nourrice, qui pouvoit avoir des inclinations plus serviles, et qui néanmoins n'ertreprend cette fausse accusation que pour sauver la vie et l'honneur de sa maitresse." Where is now the sycophantic courtiership with which your critic chooses to brand Racine, one of the noblest characters that ever existed, equally celebrated for his piety, patriotism, loyalty, and talents?

I have said above that it was Ra

as

cine's aim to paint Phedre as a weak character, guilty against her will, and drawn forth by circumstances. It was, therefore, to be supposed that she would not long persevere in her crime. Accordingly, as soon she is acquainted with the terrible wrath of Theseus, she joins him with an intention to exculpate Hippolytus; At that moment Hippolytus ap- her husband's own mouth, that the but at that moment she learns, from pears, and Phedre exclaims,

Je parlerai. Théscé, aigri par mes avis,
Bornera sa vengeance à l'exil de son fils.
Un père, en punissant, Madame, est tou-
jours pere, &c.

Ah! je vois Hippolyte ;
Dans ses yeux insolents je vois ma perte

écrite.

Fais ce que tu voudras, je m'abandonne à

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young huntsman, whose coldness she cold to every other woman, is actually excused as long as she supposed he was in love with Aricia. Jealousy then joins her tortures to rejected love, and she retires without having discovered any thing. When Hippolytus is

dead, she owns her crime and dies. The motive your critic gives for her silence in Euripides, is a just and true one; but I must, in my turn, observe, that Racine has not invent ed her tardy remorse. That scene is imitated from Seneca, and is, consequently, not in opposition to the customs of the ancients.

I have now sufficiently proved that Racine has remained true to the 1st, 6th, and 7th rule laid down in the beginning.

The love of Hippolytus for Aricia is an episode which has been blamed, not only by yours, but by several first rate critics in France. Arnault and Fenelon found it defective. Boileau and La Harpe, on the contrary, were favourable to it. I might perhaps say here,

Who shall decide when doctors disagree?

But I think it not superfluous to mention shortly what La Harpe says in support of his opinion. We have seen above that Racine's aim was to excite pity towards Phedre. He was, therefore, obliged to make her as miserable as possible; and certainly if Hippolytus had only rejected her out of virtue, and because, being a lover of Diana's sports, his heart had never felt the passion of love, Phedre would not have been nearly so unfortunate as she is represented in Racine's tragedy. Phedre being his main character, (in which he differs from Euripides,) he had undoubtedly a right to deviate slightly from history in regard to Hippolytus, whom he considers only as a secondary personage. Critics ought never to lose sight of the manner in which an author has considered the subject he treats, if they wish to do full justice to his efforts. Oenone says to Phedre,

Il a pour tout le sexe une haine fatale, to which Phedre answers, Je ne me verrai point préférer de rivale. This is translated from Seneca, Genus omne profugit-Pellicis careo metu.

On which La Harpe very truly observes, that that line which in Seneca's tragedy is only a burst of passion, in Racine is teeming with an import ant situation, on which the denouement partly rests. The love of Hippolytus

may, therefore, be defective in hishisto rical character, but it is evidently well connected with the plot, and serves most effectually to render the character and situation of Phedre interesting.

Thus have I justified Racine as to my 2d, 3d, and 4th rule; the 5th and 8th remain, and here my surprise at your critic's observations has been carried to the highest pitch. He says, "The story of the seamonster raised by Neptune, in answer to the prayers of Theseus, is tolerable in Euripides, because it is within the superstitious belief of the country; but surely a Christian poet might have devised.simpler means of overturning a chariot than the agency of a heathen god." Never was there, in my opinion, any thing more absurd than such an accusation. Ought Racine, because he was a Christian poet, to have introduced Christianity in a Greek subject? Or ought he wholly to have abandoned the subject? The first supposition is ridiculous; according to the second we ought also to abstain from treating of either Turkish, American, or Chinese subjects. No Roman hero ought to appear on our stage. The story of the death of Hippolytus is adapted to the customs of the times. History mentions that he was overturned in his chariot by his horses taking fright on seeing a sca-monster. Neptune does not appear in Racine's tragedy, but it is natural that Theramene, who was a heathen, and acquainted with Theseus's imprecation, should attribute the appearance of the sea-monster to Neptune. How true has not Racine remained to the manners of the age, and, at the same time, to probability, in the following two lines of Theramene?

On dit qu'on a vu même en ce désordre affreux,

Un dieu qui d'aiquillons pressoit leurs flancs poudreux.

His whole speech is suitable to his character, and the spirit of the times. Your critic might as well have blamed Phedre for mentioning her father Minos and her grandfather the Sun. But Phedre speaks as Phedre must evidently have spoken, and that is one of the greatest perfections in the style of an author. Racine possesses the great art of putting himself aside, and never shewing the

poet but always the character. Corneille and Voltaire are not so perfect in this sense, and the English tragedians do not always sufficiently preserve the local colouring.

After having proved that Racine has not omitted any of the rules of nature in his tragedy of Phedre, I have still to show that he has well adapted them to the taste of the nation for whom he wrote. An uninterrupted and undisputed success of a century and a half might perhaps be a sufficient argument in his favour; but I wish to enter into some particulars. I once more repeat that I do not intend to blame any nation for not following the rules of the unities; let not then other nations blame the French for feeling greater pleasure in a dramatic performance, where those rules are perfectly preserved. The French are remarkably volatile; their minds cannot be easily fixed on more than one subject at once. If, therefore, a French author were to give to his piece underplots, like most English tragedies and comedies, the French would feel no interest either for one plot or the other. They wish to find a character perfectly and thoroughly delineated, and their dramatic pieces must not last above two hours and a quarter. It is therefore indispensable for those pieces to contain a small number of personages, and each personage to be immediately connected with the event of the piece. A Frenchman is not interested in the misfortunes of a dramatic character, in which, from the beginning, his interest has not been engaged. It is for that reason that the French give due credit to foreign dramatic pieces, as poetical histories; but they do not find an equal pleasure in their performance, because the rapid succession of characters and events fatigues their too lively organs. Of this I shall only give one example. Few passages on the English stage are more touching, in my opinion, than the scene in the fourth act of Macbeth, when Rosse brings Macduff an account of the murder of his wife and children. Nature itself speaks in all their words, and still that scene has one fault. No person in the audience can take any great interest in Lady Macduff, who only appears once in the whole piece, and Macduff himself is but a secondary character. If that same scene had passed between some

principal characters, and if Lady Macduff had been intimately connected with the plot, nothing would have been superior to it.

But, to return to Phedre, Racine has followed the rules of nature, preserved those of the French stage, and written in the most perfect French style and language that ever has existed. Thence I conclude, that Phedre may give more or less pleasure to a foreign audience, but will always remain an excellent tragedy, and an indisputable title to glory for the author. Paris, May 29, 1818.

J. C.

ARMORIAL BEARINGS IN THE CATHEDRAL CHURCH OF ST GILES, EDINBURGH.

MR EDITOR,

I READ with great pleasure in your Magazine for November last, some account of the venerable Cathedral Church of St Giles in this city, but was somewhat disappointed with the limited and uncertain information that has yet been furnished on the subject. This led me to examine the armorial bearings and inscriptions which I had formerly copied from this edifice while it was undergoing some repairs, to see if any light could be thrown by them upon the date of the present buildings, as it is well known that the patrons or founders of churches were in the habit of decorating them with the armorial ensigns of their families. And though not much information certainly can be drawn from one insulated coat of arms, (unless it is impaled to mark the bearer's marriage,) yet, by a number of concurring circumstances, a good deal may sometimes be gained.

I shall commence the following account, which will bring us within a few years of the building of the body of the church, by considering the King's pillar, which is the first from the window on the north side, and near the spot where the principal altar stood. On it are four coats of arms, viz. those of Scotland, or of James II. twice repeated, those of France, and those of King James and his Queen, Margaret, daughter of the Duke of Gueldres. James II. came to the crown in 1437, and was killed at the siege of Roxburgh Castle in 1460. This, in my opinion, sufficiently establishes the reign in which the pillar was built.

On the opposite pillar, on the south side of the altar, are also four coats of arms, viz. those of Preston of Craigmillar, of Nicolson, of Kennedy, and of the Good Town. As for Kennedy, I find James Kennedy, Bishop of Dunkeld, was Chancellor of Scotland in James the Second's time, and his nephew, Gilbert Kennedy of Dunure, was a great favourite of that King, and by him created Lord Kennedy. On the demi pillar, on the north side of the window, are the arms of Thomas Cranstown, Scutifer Regis, and a man of considerable consequence in James the Second's time. And on the south side are those of Isobel, Countess of Lennox, spouse of Murdoch Duke of Albany, a very pious lady, who, about 1450, endowed a great number of churches. She died in 1451. All the other armorial bearings that occur in this part of the church belong to the Good Town,' except one on the roof in the northwest corner, above the stair-case, with a cross Tau upon it. But as this is not a Scots bearing, I cannot say to whom it belongs. From these statements, it would appear, that this part of the church was built between 1437 and 1451; in my opinion not long before 1450.

The High Church Aisle has, I presume, been built almost entirely by the Prestons of Craigmillar, as their arms occur very frequently in it. The City's arms occur twice; and another armorial bearing, viz. a quarter one, 1 and 4, a bend; 2 and 3, à cheveron; but whose it is I have not yet ascertained.

I mean to examine the other parts of this church in the same manner with respect to armorial ensigns, and shall be happy to send you the result of my observations, should you deem such inquiries sufficiently interesting place in your Magazine. A. D. gr.

to occupy I am, &c.

Edinburgh, May 8, 1818.

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among your customary memoranda of natural history, or in some vacant corner of your instructive miscellany. You know that specimens of what has been denominated the wool-bearing animal have lately been transmitted from the rocky mountains of North America, to the professor of natural history in this city. This animal had not been described in any of the great works on natural history; and though it is a remarkable quadruped, not only from its haunts, which are among the high precipices of stupendous mountains, but from the great beauty and value of its fleece, it has till within a few years been altogether unknown to any of the numerous scientific individuals who have been so actively engaged in investigating the wonders of every quarter of the globe. The fact is, however, that this animal, which we are informed is intermediate between the goat and the antelope, has been long familiar to the traders who traverse the immense wildernesses which encompass its haunts, and I have repeatedly heard descriptions of it from individuals of that profession, who were not aware that in this part of the world it was so great a curiosity. What I wish particularly to state at present, however, is, that, in the course of these conversations, I have received from the same individuals the most positive assurances of the existence of another animal among the same mountains, of immense size, and equally unknown certainly to the naturalists of Europe. The fact of its existence rests upon the testimony of two different parties who had been sent on some errand into the interior vallies of those mountains. The first party came suddenly upon the animal in a deep and formerly unvisited recess, and were so alarmed at its prodigious size, (exceeding that of the largest elephant,) and at its unknown aspect, that they immediately retreated in great consternation to the encampment from which they had been dispatched. Another party was sent to the same spot to ascertain the fact; and though the animal was not observed, its footsteps could be distinctly traced, and each compartment of its hoof is stated to have admitted both the feet of the travellers. ought to be observed, that these parties were perfectly familiar with the appearance of the buffaloe, which in

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deed they were in the daily habit of killing; and that the animal which they saw cannot therefore be regarded as an individual of that tribe. It was seen, too, as I have already stated, in a very remote and central valley, and the intervals between its paces are described as having been of astonishing magnitude.

Now we know well that animals of immense size have inhabited the northern parts of our earth in former times, and the huge remains which are every day dug up, are more likely to have belonged to individuals of such an animal as that now alluded to, than to ny extinct species of a former world. Nor is there any part of the globe to which we should more naturally turn for proofs of the continued existence of such animals, (if they do still exist,) than the immense mountains where this individual was seen. These mountains have been untrodden in many of their solitudes by any even of the savage nations that inhabit these regions, for I am informed, that these tribes have one path by which they uniformly descend from the great interior wildernesses, to the encampments of our traders, for the purpose

powering amazement should we not
contemplate the image of a quadru-
ped, surpassing, according to our pre-
sent accounts, the largest and most
formidable that either browse in si-
lence beneath our primeval forests,
or roam unmolested in the deep val-
lies of the hottest and least frequented
regions of the globe; and the existence
of which would at the same time go
so far in illustrating some of the dark-
est passages in the past history of this
earth. My object, however, in trans-
mitting to you this notice is simply to
elicit such farther information, either
in the way of confirmation or of de-
nial as may set this interesting in-
quiry on more certain grounds; and
as many of the individuals who are
employed either in the service of the
Hudson's Bay or of the North West
Company, are daily arriving in this
country, I hope that this hint may
draw from such of them are were ac-
tually of the parties before mentioned,
a satisfactory account of their expedi-
tion and discovery. I am your's truly,

Edinburgh, June 6, 1818.

P.

AND PART OF FLANDERS, IN THE
MONTHS OF JULY AND AUGUST
1817. IN A SERIES OF LETTERS
FROM A GENTLEMAN TO A FRIEND
IN EDINBURGH.

Letter Second.

MY DEAR J

Ir is one thing to
Off Scarborough
Castle, Sunday, other to keep up
write long, and an-
July 27th.

of disposing of the produce of their JOURNAL OF A VISIT TO HOLLAND,
chase; and the majestic grandeur and
extreme solitude of the mountains
themselves, seem to harmonise with
the attributes of so wonderful an ani-
mal. I am well aware, at the same
time, how strongly fear and amaze-
ment might operate in exciting the
imagination of men who found them-
selves amidst the awful stillness of a
region so remarkable in every respect,
and how natural it was for them in
these circumstances to give preterna-
tural magnitude to some familiar but
bulky animal. Yet when I reflect on
the character and experience of the
individuals by whom this relation was
given, and on all the probabilities by
which their assertion is supported, I
confess, that I feel a strong inclina-
tion to give full credit to every parti-
cular of their testimony. You will
also be aware, that the existence of
such an animal, if well ascertained,
would be one of the most interesting
facts which it is possible in our pre-
sent state of knowledge to acquire;
and if the Ornithorinchus, or any
small prowler of the lakes of New
Holland, is beheld with wonder and
preserved with care, with what over-

the interest of the reader. A thousand things occur upon which I could enlarge, so that I feel a continual struggle between giving you another point of view, and in endeavouring to condense my subject. We had but little wind during the night, so that we were hardly up with the Coquet Isle in the morning, having still in view the Fern Isles, emphatically called the Scares, from the numerous sunken rocks to seaward, which, especially in former times, were the cause of many unfortunate shipwrecks. At a distance, on the Northumberland shore, we could also see the venerable ruins of Dun

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