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excellent was this great Man in the Scenic Art, that his Name at length became, as we learn from the fame Author, the Proverbial Criterion of Perfection in every Art and Science; infomuch that whoever grew remarkably eminent in any, was call'd the ROSCIUS of his Profeffion. Itaque hoc jamdiu eft confecutus, ut, in quo quifque artificio excelleret, is in fuo genere Roscius diceretur *. Confidering the Delight and Use that accrue to a rational Creature, from obferving a natural Representation of the Paffions by which his own Species is perpetually agitated, and confequently the Effect that a well-regulated Stage must have upon the Tafte of a whole Nation, I am pleafed that both the Roman and English Roscius have been fo highly applauded and efteemed in their respective Countries, and that the greatest Men in both have not only been enchanted with them upon the Stage, but have taken Delight to rank them among their Friends in private Society.-I have much to fay

* Cicer. de Orat. lib. 1.

to

to you about fome Italian Buffoonry they are exhibiting at one of our Theatres, but shall referve that till I have the Pleafure of feeing you, which, I have the Satisfaction to hear, will be very foon.

1 am, &c. &c.

LET

LETTER XVII.

GR

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REAT is the Joy I feel, EUGENIO, that you so highly relish the Converfation of my Friend EUPHEMIUS, more especially too as I was the fortunate Perfon who introduced you to each other, for which, I must infift upon it, you are both of you greatly indebted to me. I think indeed EUPHEMIUS is bleffed with a Grace in Converfation, and a Tafte in Society, fuperior to any Man with whom I ever had the Happiness of being acquainted. There arifes from the Vivacity of his Fancy, the Delicacy of his Sentiments, and the beautiful tho' unaffected Arrangement of his Words, delivered with a Freedom of Countenance and Sweetness of Voice, fuch an inexpreffible Charm as pleasingly bewitches the Attention of all who hear him. He can defcant upon ferious Affairs with the moft becoming

Air of Gravity and Confideration, without the leaft Mixture of Austerity or Philofophical Affectation; and in the more easy Hours of focial Pleasure, he can raife innocent and inftructive Mirth from the flightest Accident that happens, and convert the most common Subjects into a thousand Turns of Wit and Humour. One would imagine that SHAKESPEAR had been acquainted intimately with fuch a Man, when he drew in fo lively a manner the Character of BIRON in his Love's Labour's loft.

66

A merrier Man, "Within the Limits of becoming Mirth, "I never spent an Hour's Talk withal. "His Eye begets Occafion for his Wit; "For ev'ry Object that the one doth catch, "The other turns to a Mirth moving Jeft, "Which his fair Tongue (Conceit's Expofitor) "Delivers in fuch apt and gracious Words, "That aged Ears play Truant at his Tales, "And younger Hearings are quite ravished; "So fweet and voluble is his Difcourfe."

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dreffing the Fair, when I have heard flow from him, as HOMER phrases it,

επεα νιφάδεσσιν εοικότα χειμερίησιν.

Iliad. lib. г.

lin. 222.

or, as Mr. POPE translates it, [Words]
"Soft as the Fleeces of defcending Snows,"
which beautiful Expreffion DRYDEN has
copied and greatly improved, when he
applies it to the foft Subject I am fpeaking
of, making LEONORA, in his Spanish
Fryar, defcribe the Addreffes of TORRIS-
MOND in the following manner;

"But when he spoke what tender Words he faid,
"So foftly, that like Flakes of feather'd Snow,
"They melted as they fell."

A&t. I.

This foftly Breathing the Fervor of one Soul into another, is an Art in which EUPHEMIUS is fo happily skilled, that Infenfibility herself, in the fhape of a Woman, would almoft lofe her Nature in hearing him, and perceive the pleafing Infection, would he attempt the Miracle. I have often obferved, that this enchanting turn in Conversation prevails only in those

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