Page 55
No 108. Saturday, December 17, 1709.
Pronaque cum spectant animalia caetera terram, Os homini sublime dedit, coelumque tueri Jussit.— Ovid. Met.
Sheer-Lane, December 16.
IT is not to be imagined, how great an effect well-dis∣posed lights, with proper forms and orders in assem∣blies, have upon some tempers. I am sure I feel it in so extraordinary a manner, that I cannot in a day or two get out of my imagination any very beautiful or disagree∣able impression which I receive on such occasions. For this reason, I frequently look in at the play-house, in or∣der to enlarge my thoughts, and warm my mind with some new ideas, that may be serviceable to me in my lu∣cubrations.
In this disposition I entered the theatre the other day, and placed myself in a corner of it, very convenient for seeing, without being myself observed. I found the au∣dience hushed in a very deep attention, and did not que∣stion but some noble tragedy was just then in its cri∣sis, or that an incident was to be unravelled which would determine the fate of an hero. While I was in this su∣spence, expecting every moment to see my friend Mr. Betterton appear in all the majesty of distress, to my un∣speakable amazement, there came up a monster with a face between his feet; and as I was looking on, he raised himself on one leg in such a perpendicular posture, that the other grew in a direct line above his head. It after∣wards twisted itself into the motions and wreathings of several different animals, and after great variety of shapes and transformations, went off the stage in the figure of an human creature. The admiration, the applause, the satis∣faction of the audience, during this strange entertainment, is not to be expressed. I was very much out of counte∣nance for my dear country-men, and looked about with some apprehension for fear any foreigner should be pre∣sent.