Page:The lives of the poets of Great Britain and Ireland to the time of Dean Swift - Volume 4.djvu/112

102 and that the forcible ſollicitations of an agreeable perſon, who not only demonſtrates a value, but a paſſion for what the poſſeſſor ſlights, may be ſufficiently prevalent with an injured wife to forfeit her honour.

Though this event may often fall out, that the brutality of a huſband produces the infidelity of a wife, yet it need not be ſhewn upon the ſtage; women are not generally ſo tame in their natures, as to bear neglect with patience, and the natural reſentments of the human heart will without any other monitor point out the method of revenge. Beſides, every huſband ought not to be deemed a brute, becauſe a too delicate, or ceremonious wife, ſhall, in the abundance of her caprice, beſtow upon him that appellation. Many women who have beheld this repreſentation, may have been ſtimulated to imitate lady Brute in her method of revenge, without having ſuffered her provocation. This play verifies the obſervation of Mr. Pope,

The next play which Sir John VanburghVanbrugh [sic] introduced upon the ſtage was Æſop, a Comedy; in two Parts, acted at the Theatre-Royal in Drury-Lane 1698. This was originally written in French, by Mr. Bourſart, about ſix years before; but the ſcenes of Sir Polidorus Hogſtye, the Players, the Senator, and the Beau, were added by our author. This performance contains a great deal of general ſatire, and uſeful morality; notwithſtanding which, it met with but a cold reception from the audience, and its run terminated in about 8 or 9 days. This ſeemed the more ſurpriſing to men of taſte, as the French comedy from which it was taken, was played to crowded audiences for a month together. Sir