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With downcaft mien, and eye in tears fuffus'd,
Where Zulima returns; her looks declare
My doom is fix'd, and Azraël waits his prey.
Enter Z ULIMA.

Zor. Thou need'ft not tell me that the foldiers phrenzy
Still mocks restraint, and clamours for my life
Thy weeping eyes my destiny reveal.

Zul. Alas, my injur'd friend! far other griefs
Confpire against your happiness; at length
The demon of adverfity has lanc'd

His sharpeft arrow.

This horror on thy brow?

Zor.

Whence these fatal words?

Zul.

I cannot fpeak;

Grief choaks my pow'rs of utt'rance.

Zor.

Give it way,

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Zor.

Is murder'd.
Murder'd!

And end this horrible fufpenfe.

Zar. Almaimon-mercy-Speak

Strike, ftrike me to the ground fome pitying angel!
Zul. Would I had flept in everlasting peace

Ere my fad eyes the dreadful fight had view'd,
Had feen that honour'd form, whofe bloody robe
Too well I knew, disfigur'd all with wounds.
Zer. Enough; the measure of my woes is full,
And heav'n has feal'd my doom-I will not weep;
Down, fwelling forrow.

Zul.

Zor.

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Talk'ft thou of patience?—Yes, I will be patient,
Not one fad figh fhall heave my struggling bosom.
Zul. Yet ftand not thus in fpeechless grief abforb'd,
With looks that speak unutterable anguish.
Perhaps my fire, Moralmin, has encounter'd
An equal fate; his venerable form

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Perhaps lies mangled, to the birds of heav'n
A deftin'd victim; yet I do not charge
The kies with cruelty, but bear my lot
With patient refignation.

Doft thou talk
Of refignation to a wretch fo curft,
So agoniz'd as I am? Hence, vain comforter!
Nor mock my forrows more.-Away-my foul
Is mated to defpair.-Thou parent earth,
Receive thy wretched daughter! On thy bofom
Here will I lie, and drown thee with my tears,
Till thou entomb me in eternal reft.

[Falling down.

Zul. Oh fcene of matchless woe! behold her droop,

Like fome fair bloffom, which the winds of heav'n

Have torn in anger from its parent tree,
And to the duft hurl'd proftrate.

Zor. (half rifing.)

Zul.

Zor.

Zul.

Zor.

Saidft thou murder'd ?
All mangled too! Some pitying pow'r untune
Each lab'ring fenfe, hurl headlong from her throne
Uprooted reafon! Come, terrific madness!

Come, let me clafp thee! In thy native fiercenefs
Clothe my wild eye balls, fire my heated brain,
And let the ravings of my frantic lips

Become my defperation!

Dwell not, princess,

Oh dwell not thus, in fearful meditation
On forrows irretrievable. Exert

The native energy of noble minds,
And rife fuperior-

Woman! canft thou free me
From memory's fcorpion fting? controul the course
Of Destiny and Death, or wake the flain
To fecond being? No; releafe me, heav'n!
Release a wretch to mifery predeftin'd,

And in the tomb, befide my murder'd lord,
Let my pale corse be laid!

This is thy cruelty.

Accurfed Ofman !

Vindictive lightnings

Blaft his perfidious head! Stern pow'rs of vengeance!
Since nor distress nor innocence can bend
Your flinty rigour, be feverely juft
And ftrike him to the center! From your

dens,

Ye blackest demons, rife, his double heart
Haunt with your furies; place before his view
His aggravated crimes, then drag him down
To everlafting punishment!

[Exeunt. The most beautiful fcenes in this tragedy are, in our opinion, those which are founded on the difcovery and remorse of Ofman. They are not, like the catastrophe, and other parts of the fable, marvellous; but they are uncommon, yet not improbable. The conduct both of the Emperor and confpirator is extraordinary, but not unnatural. We are forry to say that we find little elfe to admire or approve, though there are feveral circumstances that remind us of other popular dramas. The conferences between Almaimon and Zirvad are counterparts of Friar Laurence and Romeo; Almaimon's attempt on the life of Zoraida is a fecond edition of Oroonoko with kmoinda; and the propofed marriage of Zoraida with Selim, is a repetition of a fimilar fituation in the Diftreft Mother. In a word, the play and the obfervations taken together, Zoraida appears to be a tragedy, written by a receipt.

ART.

ART. III. Fanatical Divinity expofed; and the Gofpel of Chrift vindicated; or, Remarks on a Sermon occafioned by the Death of the Rev. John Parfons, Rector of St. Martin's, Birmingham, and preached by the Rev. William Toy Young, Curate of the faid Parith. With a Dedication to the Author of Pietas Oxonienfis. By Alumnus. 8vo. 1 s. Vallance, &c. 1779.

TH

HE Spectator hath given us a curious account of bites, of various characters and defcriptions. The literary bite comes frequently in our way, and reminds us of the common proverb, Fronti nulla fides: i. e. There is no depending on title-pages.

Our Mr. Alumnus [which, by the way, is only Latin for a Nurfeling] hath very dextroufly followed his worthy predeceffors in the trade and mystery of biting; for, inftead of expofing fanatical divinity,' he hath muftered up all the light infantry of his wit, and brought forward all the heavy troops of orthodoxy, zeal, and damnation, in order to guard the ftandard of fanaticifm, and push its dreadful triumphs beyond the lines of common sense and Christian charity.

"But, perhaps, it may be faid, this knight of the fanatic poft fkulks behind the entrenchment of equivocation. As he appears to know something of fmall Latin, he may make use of the word, expofe, in a different fenfe from that in which a mere English reader might be ready to conftrue it. To expofe, may mean to bring forward to public view-to difplay-to illuftrate, &c." This, indeed, is literally true of the prefent performance, and with this interpretation, one part of the titlepage tells us no lie. But our Author's bite lies chiefly in the word, fanatical. It is in this word that he expofes his fagacity and erudition. Here begin-and here end the higher triumphs of his wit and humour! O! what a glorious thing is Latin! If thou art difpofed, gentle reader, to doubt it, perufe what follows, and thou wilt be convinced that there is more in it than thou waft aware of.

• You will wonder (fays Alumnus in his dedication to the author of Pietas Oxonienfis) you will wonder, perhaps, Sir, at one branch of the title prefixed to this pamphlet. An explanation of that matter will involve in it my apology too. You are not ignorant, that it is become a popular practice with the adverfarics of the Gofpel, when they are at a lofs for argument in defence of their errors, and when hard pushed by

the fword of the fpirit, which is the word of God, to fly to the trite and paltry fubterfuge of fhouting, "enthufiafm! fanaticism!" Now, I thought, it might not be amifs, for once, to turn the tables on our opponents; and having wrefted out of their hands a blunt weapon, with which, however, they do much mischief among the ignorant (thei gnorant!) and pro

fane,

fane, to direct it againft themselves, by evincing that to be fanaticism whigh they call religion, and vice verfà.

Now this is one of the most curious and original defigns that was ever conceived by a daring genius: and if the execution were but answerable to the intention, we fhould, notwithstanding our long and well-known predilection for heresy, moft cheerily clap the Author on the back, and cry out with Shakefpeare.

"It is fport to fee the engineer hoift with his own petar.” But it is not good manners to interrupt our Author in his bold attempt; let him go on.

*

A fyftem which aggrandizes natural reason on the ruins of revelation, celebrates a thing called virtue to the difcredit of that faving faith in the fon of God, by which finners are juftified, and from whence fprings the fruits of holiness; and establishes human merit to the depreciating the gratuitous mercy of the Moft High; and the all-fufficient facrifice of the Redeemer :-a fyftem, I fay, of this nature is perfectly congenial with the fpirit of Deifm, and hath for its real birth-place, the Fanum, i. e. the Temple of a Heathen-prieft, or the Portico of a Stoicphilofopher, rather than the temple of truth. He who adopts, or he who propagates such a spurious theology, is to all intents and purposes, fanaticus, a fanatic [2. E. D.]—the light that is in him is darkness, and the zeal that actuates him is compofed of fparks of his own kindling.-Fanaticifm, THEREFORE [viz. by the logic of Latin], is to be found, not with the humble and fober enquirer after truth, who, with his Bible in his hand, and his heart elevated to the fountain of wisdom, prays, "What I know not teach thou me;" but with felfilluminated rationalists, and felf-juftifying moralifts. their fyftem which makes fo much of Self, Reafon, Virtue, Works; and fo little of the Lord Jefus Chrift, is (and be it from this time forth for ever called) fanatical divinity.'

And

Thus (as the Author expreffes himself) the tables are turned, with a witnefs! And by the authority aforefaid—what if it be the authority of a "word-catcher who lives on fyllables;" it is to all intents and purposes,' as infallible as the authority of a general council-be it enacted, and it is hereby enacted, that from this time forth and for evermore,' fenfe and nonfenfe fhall change hands, caft over, and figure into each other's places. Glorious revolution! and to add to the wonder of fo Arange and fingular an event, all is to be brought about by the feeble etymology of a Latin word, of which Varro and Voffius cannot agree in fettling the derivation. This, in truth, is

* Excellent logic! gratuitous mercy! all-fufficient facrifice! i. e. the free-gift was dearly fold and paid for to the uttermost farthing!

literally,

literally, and without a figure," to make the weak things confound the ftrong, and things that are not to bring to nought things that are."

So much for our Author's learning; and we have laid a tax on his gratitude, for having expofed what might otherwife have been undiscovered by the eyes of any-but critics by pro fellion, "whofe fenfes have been long exercised" by the minuteft of all poffible enquiries.

We cannot do this writer ample juftice (a matter we are always fcrupulous in discharging!) without expofing fome good qualities of his heart, as well as of his head, in order to exhibit the tout ensemble of his character.

-n,

As a fpecimen of his decency, take the following very modeft conceffion: Could reafon fubferve these beneficial and important ends, in which is comprised every thing that relates to our felicity here, and the confummation of it hereafter, then But then too we might court, yea deify her as our all. (horrefco referens) we might inftantly confign our Bibles to the flames; throw by the lamp of revelation as a fuperfluous and unneceffary guide; take a Bolingbroke, a Hume, or a Priestley, for our oracle; join in the profane cry with a Wagainst the influences of the Holy Ghoft; think and fpeak as degradingly of the Son of God, as the execrable and abandoned author of an Effay on IVoman; hail a restoration of the halcyon days of Gentilifm and infidelity, and unite in a folemn apotheofis of dame Reafon.' [N. B. The fingular modefty of this delectable paragraph is chiefly obvious, in not printing Dr. Warburton's name at full length! We are the more particular in noting it, left the decency of Alumnus fhould, like his learning, pafs unobferved.]

For the Author's moft unaccountable and fuperlative difinterestedness, we need go no farther than his own declaration. Reader, you may eafily perceive what the world's reafon, prudence, and virtue are, by their effects on our modern rationalifts and prudentialifts. They are three idols which fpring from that accurfed, many-headed hydra, felf. They are three phantoms which delude their fafcinated votaries into the inextricable mazes of pride and enthufiafm; and for any thing they can do in a way of enlightening, fanctifying, and faving, a finner, they are in fact three nothings. And yet, when placed upon the head of felf, they form a kind of triple crown.'-To be fure, our Author, like other faints, is befide himself!

His humility and candour will serve to bring up the rear of I am (fays this meek fervant of the truth, his other virtues. who hath renounced felf) bold to declare, and am ready to demonftrate, that no life was ever begun well, fpent well, or conthofe cluded well, where the governing principles of the heart were REV. Mar. 1780.

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