Page:The lives of the poets of Great Britain and Ireland to the time of Dean Swift - Volume 4.djvu/181

Rh and the characters graphically diſtinguiſhed. It contains likewiſe many beautiful ſtrokes of poetry.

When Narbal, a lord of the queen’s party, gives an account to Flaminius the Roman general, of the queen’s parting with her ſon; he ſays,

Flaminius conſiſtent with his character as a ſoldier, anſwers,

The character of Sameas the king’s cup-bearer, is one of the moſt villainous ever ſhewn upon a ſtage; and the poet makes Sohemus, in order to give the audience a true idea of him, and to prepare them for thoſe barbarities he is to execute, relate the following inſtance of his cruelty. :Along the ſhore He walk’d one evening, when the clam’rous rage Of tempeſts wreck’d a ſhip: The crew were ſunk, The maſter only reach’d the neighb’ring ſtand, Born by a floating fragment; but ſo weak With combating the ſtorm, his tongue had loſt The faculty of ſpeech, and yet for aid He faintly wav’d his hand, on which he wore A fatal jewel. Sameas, quickly charm’d Both by its ſize, and luſtre, with a look Of pity ſtoop’d, to take him by the hand; Then