neither present on the first performance,
nor absent from the theatre;--but, placing himself on a bench in the
green-room, his body motionless, his soul in tumult, he kept by his side
a friend, whom he dispatched every minute towards the stage, to bring
him news of what was passing there. He thus secured, he conceived,
progressive information of his fate, without the risk of hearing it
from an enraged multitude. But such was the vehemence of applause,
that shouts of admiration forced their way through the walls of the
green-room, before his messenger could return with the gladsome tidings.
Yet, not till the last sentence was spoken, and the curtain fairly
dropped upon Cato and his weeping friends, did the author venture to
move from the inanimate position in which he was fixed. This acute dread
of failure now heightened the joy of success, and never was success
more complete.

"Cato," says Pope, in a letter to one of his friends, written at the
time, "was not so much the wonder of Rome in his days, as he is of
Britain in ours."

The most fortunate of all occurrences took place, from the skill with
which Addison drew this illustrious Roman--he gave him so much virtue,
that both Whigs and Tories declared him of their party; and instead of
any one, on either side, opposing his sentences in the cause of freedom,
all strove which should the most honour him.

Both auditors and readers, since that noted period, much as they may
praise this tragedy, complain that it wants the very first requisite of
a dramatic work--power to affect the passions. This criticism shows,
to the full extent, how men were impassioned, at that time, by their
political sentiments. They brought their passions with them to the
playhouse, fired on the subject of the play; and all the poet had to
do was to extend the flame.

It is a charge against this drama, that the love scenes are all insipid;
but it should be considered, that neither Cato nor his family, with
strict propriety, could love any thing but their country.--As this is
a love which women feel in a much less degree than men, and as bondage,
not liberty, is woman's wish, "Cato," with all his patriotism, must ever
be a dull entertainment to the female sex; and men of course receive but
little pleasure from elegant amusements, of which women do not partake.

The language and sentiments contained here are worthy of the great
Addison and the great Cato; and if, as it is objected, the character