Ful. Tut, she may bear that: few wise women's honesties

Will do their courtship hurt.

Jonson has made Fulvia's attendant express herself in the same terms, but as coming from the dry gravity of a conscript father. This gives an air of humour to the whole: and is justly adapted to the vein of loquacity, characteristic of my lady's woman. (Whalley, perhaps, did not know that this "bald senator" was Scipio Africanus.) This scene will come under the censure which Dryden passes on some others in this play, and on a scene of our author's Sejanus. Jonson himself, says that critic, "in Sejanus and Catiline, has given us this oleo of a play, this unnatural mixture of comedy and tragedy. In Sejanus you may take notice of the scene betwixt Livia and the physician, which is a pleasant satire upon the artificial helps of beauty: in Catiline you may see the parliament of women; the little envies of them to one another, and all that passes betwixt Curius and Fulvia; scenes admirable in their kind, but of an ill mingle with the rest." WHAL.

The world, it may be hoped, will one day have enough of the critical opinions of Dryden. Just at the time in which he wrote this, it happened to suit him to decry what he calls "the unnatural mixture of comedy and tragedy;" afterwards, it became convenient to think it the properest thing in the world; and the Spanish Friar was produced, on which, as Dr. Johnson says, he prided himself not a little. When he introduced the vile buffoonery and licentiousness of the despicable Dominick, among his battles and murders, the " unnatural mixture" probably, no longer "sounded in his ears, just as ridiculously as the history of David with the merry humours of Goliah :" (Essay on Dram. Poet.) though it subsequently fell again under his displeasure. -But, omitting this, it appears to me that the criticism of Dryden is as injudicious as it is inconsistent. The brothel loves of Torrismond and Leonora indeed are neither forwarded nor retarded by the comic scenes; but the introduction of Livia's physician in Sejanus, and still more of Fulvia and Sempronia in Catiline, is a main part of the story, and absolutely necessary to the progress and success of the plot. Dryden allows that the "6 scenes are admirable';" and unquestionably the curious and pertinent learning displayed in the act before us, which is written with all the sprightliness and vigour of the best ages of English prose, may be sought in vain in the dramas of our author's contemporaries. Sempronia is most exquisitely described by Sallust; Jonson wrought, therefore, after a finished model; but he has not disgraced it. She was the wife of D. Brutus, and, as is generally

Gal. She's liberal too, madam.

Ful. What, of her money or her honour, prithee?

Gal. Of both; you know not which she doth spare least.

Ful. A comely commendation!

Gal. Troth, 'tis pity

She is in years.

Ful. Why, Galla?

Gal. For it is.

Ful. O, is that all! I thought thou'dst had a

reason.

Gal. Why, so I have: she has been a fine lady, And yet she dresses her self, except you, madam, One of the best in Rome; and paints, and hides Her decays very well.

Ful. They say, it is

Rather a visor, than a face, she wears.

Gal. They wrong her verily, madam; she doth sleek

With crumbs of bread and milk, and lies a-nights
In as neat gloves-But she is fain, of late,
To seek, more than she's sought to, the fame is,
And so spends that way.

Ful. Thou know'st all! but, Galla,

Of

supposed, the mother of the Brutus "who stabbed Cæsar." Her beauty, (which was now in the wane,) her accomplishments, her wit, her ambition, and her notorious profligacy and extravagance, made her a fit tool for Catiline, who employed her in the furtherance of his designs with considerable success. Fulvia, Sallust says little, but that she was of noble birth. It appears from other authorities, that she was an abandoned strumpet: subsequently she became the wife of Clodius, a man' not ill-suited to her; after his death she married Marc Antony, whom she involved in war by her turbulent passions. Jonson has used the few hints which the historian afforded him, with great ingenuity, and, amidst a rigid adherence to facts, expanded her character with much liveliness of incident and genuine humour.

What say you to Catiline's lady, Orestilla?
There is the gallant!

Gal. She does well. She has

Very good suits, and very rich; but then
She cannot put them on; she knows not how
To wear a garment. You shall have her all
Jewels and gold sometimes, so that her self
Appears the least part of her self. No, in troth,
As I-live, madam, you put them all down
With your mere strength of judgment, and do
draw, too,

The world of Rome to follow you! You attire
Your self so diversly, and with that spirit,
Still to the noblest humours, they could make
Love to your dress, although your face were
away, they say.

Ful. And body too, and have the better match

on't.

Say they not so too, Galla?

Re-enter Servant.

Now! what news

Travails your countenance with?

Serv. If t please you, madam,

The lady Sempronia is lighted at the gate.
Gal. Castor, my dream, my dream!

Serv. And comes to see you.

Gal. For Venus' sake, good madam, see her.

Ful. Peace,

The fool is wild, I think.

Gal. And hear her talk,

[Exit Sery.

Sweet madam, of state-matters and the senate.

Appears the least part of her self.] The thought is from Ovid, Pars minima est ipsa puella sui. WHAL.

Enter SEMPRONIA.

Sem. Fulvia, good wench, how dost thou ?
Ful. Well, Sempronia.

Whither are you thus early addrest?

Sem. To see

Aurelia Orestilla; she sent for me.

I came to call thee with me; wilt thou go ?
Ful. I cannot now, in troth; I have some letters
To write and send away.

Sem. Alas, I pity thee.

I have been writing all this night, and am
So very weary, unto all the tribes,

And centuries, for their voices, to help Catiline
In his election. We shall make him consul,
I hope, amongst us. Crassus, I, and Cæsar
Will carry it for him.

Ful. Does he stand for it?

Sem. He's the chief candidate.

Ful. Who stands beside ?-

Give me some wine, and powder for my teeth. Sem. Here's a good pearl, in troth.

Ful. A pretty one.

Sem. A very orient one!-there are competitors,

Caius Antonius, Publius Galba, Lucius
Cassius Longinus, Quintus Cornificius,
Caius Licinius, and that talker Cicero.
But Catiline and Antonius will be chosen ;
For four of the other, Licinius, Longinus,
Galba and Cornificius, will give way:
And Cicero they will not choose.

Ful. No! why?

Sem. It will be cross'd by the nobility.

Gal. How she does understand the common

business!

[Aside.

Sem. Nor were it fit. He is but a new fellow, An inmate here in Rome, as Catiline calls him,* And the patricians should do very ill

To let the consulship be so defiled

As 't would be, if he obtain'd it! a mere upstart,
That has no pedigree, no house, no coat,
No ensigns of a family!

Ful. He has virtue.

Sem. Hang virtue! where there is no blood, 'tis vice,

And in him sauciness. Why should he presume
To be more learned or more eloquent
Than the nobility? or boast any quality
Worthy a nobleman, himself not noble?

Ful. 'Twas virtue only, at first, made all men noble.

Sem. I yield you, it might at first, in Rome's

poor age,

When both her kings and consuls held the plough,

Or garden'd well; but now we have no need
To dig, or lose our sweat for't. We have wealth,
Fortune, and ease; and then their stock to

spend on,

Of name, for virtue; which will bear us out 'Gainst all new comers, and can never fail us, While the succession stays. And we must glorify A mushroom! one of yesterday! a fine speaker! 'Cause he has suck'd at Athens! and advance him,

To our own loss! no, Fulvia; there are they

He is but a new fellow,

An inmate here in Rome, as Catiline calls him.] Marcus Tullius inquilinus civis urbis Romæ. SALLUST. A new fellow was what the Romans called novus homo; the first of his family who bore any public office, one that had not the images of his ancestors to shew. WHAL.