Very Solemnly and Religiously express'd! Lucian and Celsus could not have ridiculed the Resurrection better! Certainly the Poet never expects to be there. Such a light Turn would have agreed much better to a Man who was in the Dark, and was feeling for his Stockings. But let those who talk of Fumbling for their Limbs, take care they don't find them too fast. In the Fourth Act Mustapha dates his Exaltation to Tumult, from the second Night of the Month Abib.Id. p. 83.
Exod. 12, 13.[127] Thus you have the Holy Text abused by Captain Tom; And the Bible torn by the Rabble! The Design of this Liberty I can't understand, unless it be to make Mustapha as considerable as Moses; and the prevalence of a Tumult, as much a Miracle as the Deliverance out of Ægypt. We have heard this Author hitherto in his Characters, let us hear him now in his own Person. In his Dedication of Aurenge Zebe he is so hardy as to affirm that he who is too lightly reconciled after high Provocation, may Recommend himself to the World for a Christian, but I should hardly trust him for a Friend. And why is a Christian not fit to make a Friend of? Are the Principles of Christianity defective, and the Laws of it Ill contriv'd? Are the Interests and Capacities of Mankind overlook'd? Did our Great Master bind us to Disadvantage, and make our Duty our Misfortune? And did he grudge us all the Pleasures and Securities of Friendship? Are not all these horrid Suppositions? Are they not a flat Contradiction to the Bible, and a Satyr on the Attributes of the Deity? Our Saviour tells us we must forgive until Seventy times Seven; That is, we must never be tired out of Clemency and Good Nature. He has taught us to pray for the Forgiveness of our own Sins, only upon the Condition of forgiving others. Here is no exception upon the Repetition of the Fault, or the Quality of the Provocation. Mr. Dryden to do him right, do's not dispute the Precept. He confesses this is the way to be a Christian: But for all that he should hardly trust him for a Friend. And why so? Because the Italian Proverb says, He that forgives the second time is a Fool.Ibid.[128] This Lewd Proverb comes in for Authority, and is a piece of very pertinent Blasphemy! Thus in some Peoples Logick one proof from Atheism, is worth Ten from the New Testament. But here the Poet argues no better than he Believes. For most certainly, a Christian of all others is best qualified for Friendship. For He that loves his Neighbour as himself, and carries Benevolence and Good Nature beyond the Heights of Philosophy: He that is not govern'd by Vanity, or Design; He that prefers his Conscience to his Life, and has Courage to Maintain his Reason; He that is thus qualified must be a good Friend; And he that falls short, is no good Christian. And since the Poet is pleas'd to find fault with Christianity, let us examine his own Scheme. Our Minds (says he) are perpetually wrought on by the Temperament of our Bodies, which makes me suspect they are nearer Allyed than either our Philosophers, or School Divines will allow them to be.Ibid.[129] The meaning is, he suspects our Souls are nothing but Organiz'd Matter. Or in plain English, our Souls are nothing but our Bodies. And then when the Body dies you may guess what becomes of them! Thus the Authorities of Religion are weaken'd, and the prospect of the other World almost shut up. And is this a likely Supposition for Sincerity and good Nature? Do's Honour use to rise upon the Ruines of Conscience? And are People the best Friends where they have the least Reason to be so? But not only the Inclinations to Friendship must Languish upon this Scheme, but the very Powers of it are as it were destroy'd. By this Systeme no Man can say his Soul is his own. He can't be assured the same Colours of Reason and Desire will last. Any little Accident from without may metamorphose his Fancy, and push him upon a new set of Thoughts. Matter and Motion are the most Humorsom Capricious Things in Nature; and withall, the most Arbitrary and uncontroll'd. And can Constancy proceed from Chance, Choice from Fate, and Virtue from Necessity? In short a Man at this rate must be a Friend or an Enemy in spite of his Teeth, and just as long as the Atoms please and no longer. Every Change in Figure and Impulse, must alter the Idea, and wear off the former Impression. So that by these Principles, Friendship will depend on the Seasons, and we must look in the Weather Glass for our Inclinations. But this 'tis to Refine upon Revelation, and grow wiser than Wisdom! The same Author in his Dedication of Juvenal and Persius, has these words: My Lord, I am come to the last Petition of Abraham;Ded. p. 51.[130] If there be ten Righteous Lines in this vast Preface, spare it for their sake; and also spare the next City because it is but a little one. Here the Poet stands for Abraham; and the Patron for God Almighty: And where lies the Wit of all this? In the Decency of the Comparison? I doubt not. And for the next City he would have spared, he is out in the Allusion. 'Tis no Zoar, but much rather Sodom and Gomorrah, Let them take care the Fire and Brimstone does not follow: And that those who are so bold with Abraham's Petition, are not forced to that of Dives. To beg Protection for a Lewd Book in Scripture Phrase, is very extraordinary! 'Tis in effect to Prostitute the Holy Rhetorick, and send the Bible to the Brothell! I can hardly imagin why these Tombs of Antiquity were raked in, and disturb'd? Unless it were to conjure up a departed Vice, and revive the Pagan Impurities: Unless it were to raise the Stench of the Vault, and Poyson the Living with the Dead. Indeed Juvenal has a very untoward way with him in some of his Satyrs. His Pen has such a Libertine stroak that 'tis a Question whether the Practise, or the Reproof, the Age, or the Author, were the more Licentious. He teaches those Vices he would correct, and writes more like a Pimp, than a Poet. And truly I think there is but little of Lewdness lost in the Translation. The Sixth and Eleventh Satyrs are Particularly remarkable. Such nauseous stuff is almost enough to debauch the Alphabet, and make the Language scandalous. One would almost be sorry for the privilege of Speech, and the Invention of Letters, to see them thus wretchedly abused. And since the Business must be undertaken, why was not the Thought Blanched, the Expression made remote, and the ill Features cast into shadows? I'm mistaken if we have not Lewdness enough of our own Growth, without Importing from our Neighbours. No. This can't be. An Author must have Right done him, and be shown in his own shape, and Complexion. Yes by all means! Vice must be disrobed, and People poyson'd, and all for the sake of Justice! To do Right to such an Author is to burn him. I hope Modesty is much better than Resemblance. The Imitation of an ill Thing is the worse for being exact: And sometimes to report a Fault is to repeat it.
To return to his Plays. In Love Triumphant, Garcia makes Veramond this Compliment:
May Heaven and your brave Son, and above all,
Your own prevailing Genius guard your Age.Love Triumph. p. 3.[131]
What is meant by his Genius, in this place, is not easy to Discover, only that 'tis something which is a better Guard than Heaven. But 'tis no Matter for the Sense, as long as the Profaness is clear. In this Act, Colonel Sancho lets Carlos know the old Jew is dead, which he calls good news.
Carl. What Jew?
Sanch. Why the rich Jew my Father. He is gone to the Bosom, of Abraham his Father, and I his Christian Son am left sole Heir.Id. p. 11.[132] A very mannerly Story! But why does the Poet acquaint us with Sanchos Religion? The case is pretty plain: 'tis to give a lustre to his Profaness, and make him burlesque St. Luke with the better Grace. Alphonso complains to Victoria that Nature doats with Age.Id. p. 11.[133] His reason is, because Brother and Sister can't Marry as they did at first: 'Tis very well! We know what Nature means in the Language of Christianity, and especially under the Notion of a Law-giver. Alphonso goes on, and compares the Possession of Incestuous Love to Heaven. Yes, 'tis Eternity in Little.p. 34.[134]
It seems Lovers must be distracted or there's no diversion. A Flight of Madness like a Faulcons Lessening, makes them the more gaz'd at! I am now coming to some of the Poets Divinity. And here Vengeance is said to be so sweet a Morsel,
That Heaven reserves it for its proper Tast.58.[135]
This belike is the meaning of those Texts, that God is good and Gracious, and slow to anger, and does not willingly afflict the Children of Men! From expounding the Bible he goes to the Common Prayer. And as Carlos interprets the Office of Matrimony, For Better, for Worse, is for Virgin for Whore;p. 62.[136] And that the Reference might not be mistaken, the Poet is careful to put the Words in Italick, and great Letters. And by the way, He falls under the Penalty of the Statute for Depraving the Common Prayer.1st. Eliz. cap. 2.[137]