_Shakespear_ found the Stage, and all the People of his Days, infected
with these Puerillities, and he very well knew how (though perhaps he
never read it in _Epictetús_) [Greek: ] to attune, or harmonize his
Mind to the Things which happen.

I now remember one of these shining Strokes, which I have seen quoted
in several Works of Taste, and even in the Treatise of Studies by the
late Mr. _Rollin_. This _Morceau_ is taken from the beautiful Funeral
Oration of the great _Turenne_: The whole Piece is very fine, but it
seems to me that the Stroke I am speaking of should not have been made
Use of by a Bishop.--This is it:

"O Sovereigns! Enemies of _France_, ye live, and the Spirit
of Christian Charity forbids me to wish your Deaths,
&c.--But ye live, and I mourn in this Pulpit the Death of a
virtuous Captain, whose Intentions were pure, &c.--"

An Apostrophe in this Taste would have been very proper at _Rome_ in
the Civil Wars, after the Assassination of _Pompey_; or at _London_
after the Death of _Charles_ the First. But is it decent, in a Pulpit,
to wish for the Death of the Emperor, the King of _Spain_, and the
Electors; to put them in Balance with the General of a King's Army,
who is their Enemy? Or ought the Intentions of a Captain, which can be
no other than to serve his Prince, to be compared with the Politick
Interests of the crown'd Heads against which he serves? What would be
said of a _Frenchman_, who had wished for the Death of the King of
_England_, because of the Loss of the Chevalier _Belleisle_, whose
Intentions were pure?