fuffering might not be found with the inhabitants of Pompeia, but rather with thofe of the contemporary cities, who, perhaps at that time, as we do now, lamented its fevere fate,

LETTER LX.

Naples.

A

SI fauntered along the Strada Nuova lately, I perceived a groupe of people liftening, with much attention, to a perfon who harangued them in a raised folemn voice, and with great gesticulation. I immediately made one of the auditory, which increafed every moment; men, women, and children bringing feats from the neighbouring houses, on which they placed themselves around the orator. He repeated ftanzas from Ariofto, in a pompous recitativo cadence, peculiar to the natives of Italy; and he had a book in his hand, to affift his memory when it failed. He made occafional commentaries in profe, by way of bringing the Poet's expreffion nearer to the level of his hearers capacities. His cloak hung loose from one shoulder;

his right arm was difengaged, for the purposes of oratory. Sometimes he waved it with a flow, fmooth motion, which accorded with the cadence of the verses ; fometimes he preffed it to his breast, to give energy to the pathetic fentiments of the Poet. Now he gathered the hanging folds of the right fide of his cloak, and held them gracefully up, in imitation of a Roman fenator; and anon he fwung them across his left fhoulder, like a citizen of Naples. He humoured the ftanza by his voice, which he could modulate to the key of any paffion, from the boisterous burfts of rage, to the foft notes of pity or love. But when he came to defcribe the exploits of Orlando, he trusted neither to the pow ers of his own voice, nor the Poet's genius; but throwing off his cloak, and grafping his cane, he affumed the warlike attitude and ftern countenance of that hero; reprefenting, by the moft animated action, how he drove his fpear through the bodies of fix of his enemies at once; the

point

point at the fame time killing a seventh,
who would also have remained transfixed
with his companions, if the fpear could
have held more than fix men of an ordi-
nary fize upon it at a time.

Il Cavalier d'Anglante ove pui fpeffe
Vide le genti e l'arme, abbaffò l'asta,
Ed uno in quella, e pofcia un altro meffe
E un altro, e un altro, che fembrar di pasta,
E fino a fei ve n'infilzò, e li reffe

Tutti una lancia; e perche' ella non basta
A piu Capir, lafciò il fettimo fuore
Ferito fi che di quel colpo muore *.

This ftanza our declaimer had no occafion
to comment upon, as Ariofto has thought
fit to illuftrate it in a manner which feemed
highly to the taste of this audience. For,
in the verfe immediately following, Or-
lando is compared to a man killing frogs
in marshy ground, with a bow and arrow

:

The knight of Aglant now has couch'd his fpear,
Where closely preft the men and arms appear
First one, and then another, helpless dies;
Thro' fix at once the lance impetuous flies,
And in the feventh inflicts so deep a wound,
That prone he tumbles lifelefs to the ground.

HOOLE.

made for that purpofe; an amusement very common in Italy, and still more so in France. Non altrimente nell' eftrema arena. Veggiam le rane de' canali e foffe

Dal cauto arcier ne i fianchi, e nella schiena L'una vicina all' altera effer percoffe, Ne dalla freccia, fin che tutta piena Non fia da un capo all' altero effer rimosse †. I must however do this audience the juftice to acknowledge, that they feemed to feel the pathetic and fublime, as well as the ludicrous parts of the ancient bard.

This practice of rehearfing the verses of Ariofto, Taffo, and other poets, in the ftreet, I have not observed in any other town of Italy; and I am told it is lefs common here than it was formerly. I remember indeed, at Venice, to have frequently feen mountebanks, who gained their livelihood by amusing the populace at St. Mark's Place, with wonderful and

+ Thus, by fome standing pool or marshy place,
We fee an archer flay the croaking race
With pointed arrow, nor the flaughter leave,
Till the full weapon can no more receive.

HOOLE. romantic