Macaulay, who in most of his criticisms agrees with Johnson, says:"His Travels were followed by the lively Opera of "Rosamond." This piece was ill set to music, and therefore failed on the stage; but it completely succeeded in print, and is, indeed, excellent of its kind. The smoothness with which the verses glide, and the elasticity with which they bound, is, to our ears at least, very pleasing. We are inclined to think, that if Addison had left heroic couplets to Pope, and blank verse to Rowe, and had employed himself in writing airy and spirited songs, his reputation as a poet would have stood far higher than it now does. Some years after his death, ‘Rosamond' was set to new music by Doctor Arne, and was performed with complete success. Several passages long retained their popularity, and were daily sung, during the latter part of George the Second's reign, at all the harpsichords in England.”

Warton condemns the introduction of the comic characters. This story furnished Niccolini the subject of his beautiful tragedy of "Rosmunda."

Addison's choice of his subject may be considered as another proof of his fondness for the old English ballad, to which he has paid so beautiful a tribute in the Spectator. On this occasion he has altered the story to avoid the tragic catastrophe: and, perhaps, with the feeling, that while a Queen was on the throne, it would hardly do to paint a British Queen as she appears in this ballad, and in the still stronger story of Queen Eleanor's confession. For both these ballads see Percy's Reliques of Ancient English Poetry.—G.]

THE opera first Italian masters taught,
Enrich'd with songs, but innocent of thought.
Britannia's learned theatre disdains

Melodious trifles, and enervate strains;
And blushes, on her injur'd stage to see
Nonsense well-tun'd, and sweet stupidity.

No charms are wanting to thy artful song,
Soft as Corelli, but as Virgil strong,

From words so sweet new grace the notes receive,
And music borrows helps, she us'd to give.

Thy style hath match'd what ancient Romans knew,
Thy flowing numbers far excel the new;
Their cadence in such easy sound convey'd,

That height of thought may seem superfluous aid;
Yet in such charms the noble thoughts abound,
That needless seem the sweets of easy sound.

Landscapes how gay the bow'ry grotto yields, Which thought creates, and lavish fancy builds!

1

What art can trace the visionary scenes,
The flow'ry groves, and everlasting greens,
The babbling sounds that mimic echo plays,

The fairy shade, and its eternal maze,
Nature and art in all their charms combin'd!

And all Elysium to one view confin'd!

No further could imagination roam,

'Till Vanbrook fram'd, and Marlbro' rais'd the dome.
Ten thousand pangs my anxious bosom tear,
When drown'd in tears I see the' imploring fair:
When bards less soft the moving words supply,
A seeming justice dooms the nymph to die;
But here she begs, nor can she beg in vain,
(In dirges thus expiring swans complain)
Each verse so swells, expressive of her woes,
And ev'ry tear in lines so mournful flows;
We, spite of fame, her fate revers'd believe,
O'erlook her crimes, and think she ought to live.

Let joy transport fair Rosamonda's shade,
And wreaths of myrtle crown the lovely maid.
While now perhaps with Dido's ghost she roves,
And hears and tells the story of their loves,

Alike they mourn, alike they bless their fate,
Since love, which made 'em wretched, makes 'em great;
Nor longer that relentless doom bemoan,

Which gain'd a Virgil and an Addison.

Accept, great monarch of the British lays
The tribute song an humble subject pays.

So tries the artless lark her early flight,
And soars, to hail the God of verse, and light.
Unrival'd as thy merit be thy fame,

And thy own laurels shade thy envy'd name

Thy name, the boast of all the tuneful choir,
Shall tremble on the strings of ev'ry lyre;

While the charm'd reader with thy thought complies,
Feels corresponding joys or sorrows rise,

And views thy Rosamond with Henry's eyes.

DRAMATIS PERSONE.

MEN.

KING HENRY.

SIR TRUSTY, Keeper of the Bower.
PAGE.

MESSENGER.

WOMEN.

QUEEN ELINOR.

ROSAMOND.

GRIDELINE, Wife to Sir Trusty.

Guardian Angels, &c.

SCENE, Woodstock Park.