From the broad slopes, with murm'ring lapse they glide
In soft meanders, down the mountain's side;
But lower fall'n streams, with each other crost,
From rock to rock impetuously are tost,
'Till in the Rhone's capacious bed they're lost.
United there, roll rapidly away,
And roaring, reach, o'er rugged rocks, the sea.
In the third act, the poet, by the mouth of a Roman hero, gives the
following concise definition of true courage.
True courage is not, where fermenting spirits
Mount in a troubled and unruly stream;
The soul's its proper seat; and reason there
Presiding, guides its cool or warmer motions.
The representation of besiegers driven back by the impetuosity of the
inhabitants, after they had entered a gate of the city, is strongly
pictured by the following simile.
Imagine to thyself a swarm of bees
Driv'n to their hive by some impending storm,
Which, at its little pest, in clustering heaps,
And climbing o'er each other's backs they enter.
Such was the people's flight, and such their haste
To gain the gate.
We have observed, that Mr. Frowde's other tragedy, called Philotas, was
addressed to the earl of Chesterfield; and in the dedication he takes
care to inform his lordship, that it had obtained his private
approbation, before it appeared on the stage. At the time of its being
acted, lord Chesterfield was then embassador to the states-general, and
consequently he was deprived of his patron's countenance during the
representation. As to the fate of this play, he informs his lordship, it
was very particular: "And I hope (says he) it will not be imputed as
vanity to me, when I explain my meaning in an expression of Juvenal,
Laudatur & al-get." But from what cause this misfortune attended it, we
cannot take upon us to say.
Mr. Frowde died at his lodgings in Cecil-street in the Strand, on the
19th of Dec. 1738. In the London Daily Post 22d December, the following
amiable character is given of our poet:
"But though the elegance of Mr. Frowde's writings has recommended him to
the general publick esteem, the politeness of his genius is the least
amiable part of his character; for he esteemed the talents of wit and
learning, only as they were, conducive to the excitement and practice of
honour and humanity. Therefore,
"with a soul chearful, benevolent, and virtuous, he was in conversation
genteelly delightful; in friendship punctually sincere; in death
christianly resigne
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