This tragedy, by Voltaire, was translated,
and brought on the English stage, by Aaron
Hill—a man, whose various enterprises should be a caution to
adventurers; for, in the boundless range of his attempts, he was never once
completely successful.²

Mr. Hill was born in London,
1684, and was, by
descent, the legal heir of an estate in Wiltshire, of 2000l. a year. But the indiscretions of his father made this fortune, on his
death, of no value to the son; and he was left, in childhood, dependent on his
grandmother.³

At the age of fourteen, Aaron had passed
through Westminster School, and now gave evidence of that spirit of enterprise, which
never forsook him during life. His near relation, Lord Paget, was, at this time, ambassador
from England at the Ottoman court, and the youth resolved to set out, unprotected
and
alone, for Constantinople, to pay him a visit. He had never seen Lord Paget, yet that nobleman received him
kindly, and conceived a favourable opinion of his talents, from this juvenile
exploit.

That Mr. Hill possessed mental endowments,
of no very common kind, is certain; but he appears to have
b 2[Page 4] been so restless to display them,
and so blind to their just appreciation, that, in his haste to do good, he often did
ill, and never endeavoured to make a fortune that he did not lose one.

Not content with the high gratification of having beheld Turkey, Palestine, Egypt,
and other famed countries, during his stay abroad,—on his return to England he
had the hardihood, young as he was, to write his travels;⁴ and this puerile book made all he had
seen of less use to his reputation, than if he had staid at home and seen
nothing.

He now became a dramatic writer, and, with a mediocrity of success, joined to some
interest with persons in power, he was made the manager of Drury Lane Theatre, and of the Opera Theatre
in the Hay Market.⁵ But these situations were both relinquished in the course of a few months, on
account of some misunderstanding with the Lord Chamberlain;⁶ —and Mr. Hill immediately directed his attention
to the making sweet oil from the beech nut, which should preclude the necessity of
any such distillation from the olive.⁷

His ingenuity here embroiled him in disputes with his associates in the concern; and,
after the loss of time, content, and much money,—he turned his thoughts to an
epic poem.⁸

His biographer has, however,
declared, that his poetry was but the mere offspring of hours relaxed from drier
studies, and that he soon recalled his wandering fancy from the muses, and produced
a
tract upon the art of war—another upon agriculture.

[Page 5]

Again he wrote a poem—it was called "The Northern
Star,"⁹ and recorded the heroic actions of the
Czar Peter the Great. Several years
afterwards, he received a gold medal from the Empress Catharine for his
reward, and with it the promise of some papers, from which he was to write the
Memoirs of the Deceased Czar;—but the death of the Czarina deprived him of this
honour.

Soon after the above disappointment, Mr.
Hill contracted with the York Buildings Company, concerning woods of vast
extent in Scotland, which were to be converted into timber for the uses of the navy;
and great and various were his exertions on this occasion. The difficulties he
encountered in conveying these trees down the river Spey were numerous beyond
conception; he had the sagacity, however, to surmount them all, except the last; and
that one destroyed the whole undertaking.¹⁰

The want of a large sum of ready money was now the sole obstacle to his design of
establishing a plantation upon an extensive territory in the south of Carolina, where
he had purchased a grant from the Lords Proprietors;—and death deprived him of
all the advantages he was about to reap, from having contrived to make pot-ash in
England, equal to that which is brought, at much expense, from Russia.¹¹

Voltaire and Pope accomplished that notoriety for Aaron Hill, which all his own industry could
never have done so effectually without them. The first has sent him down to posterity
as his translator—the second as one of his dunces.¹²

b 3[Page 6]

"Zara" was first performed in the year 1735, and is memorable, as well
as for its own merits, for having first introduced Mrs. Cibber on the
stage;¹³ who, though
extremely young, had every talent of an actress so matured, that, in her whole life
to come, there was no charm, no grace, to be improved,—all those which she
possessed were so near perfection.

Mr. Hill, who is said to have been as
excellent a judge of the abilities requisite for a performer as if he had practised
the profession, received abundant praise for having encouraged Mrs. Cibber's attempt of this
part; for having instructed her in it, and even foretold her extraordinary
success:—but, as if no one event of this man's life should do him perfect
credit, he encouraged, instructed, and predicted also in favour of the young
gentleman who made his appearance that night in Osman,¹⁴ and
whose total failure in the part, rendered all Mr.
Hill's prescience at least doubtful.

It is impossible to read this play without being delighted, or to see it without
being weary. Love is seldom the passion, or religion the subject, which pleases
greatly on the stage—the one is hard for the actors to describe, the other is
difficult for the auditors to reflect upon.

The English critic accuses this play of being filled with bigotry—but surely it
is a pleasure to observe, that the author was no bigot. Divest him of the pernicious
character attached to Voltaire, change but
his well known opinions in regard to christianity, and suppose "Zara"
the work of a religious man,—[Page 7]it becomes instantly a production of
the most virtuous tendency.—It is surprising how the author, with his hatred to
fanatics, could have the forbearance here to describe them with such good hearts,
accompanied by such weak understandings! Remarkable instances of human imperfection
only, but no traits of intentional guilt, blemish the characters of this drama. They
are all amiable, and yet all are in an error.

It is objected by some commentators, that, in liberal notions, Voltaire has decidedly bestowed the
superiority upon the unbeliever Osman. The christians are certainly made the most
intolerant; but, surely, in that, the author meant no disgrace to them; for the
French nation, at the period this play was written, esteemed the persecution of
infidels and heretics as a holy employment, in which relaxation had been a crime.