But as soon as the messenger of peace had made some low reply, in
which, methought, I heard the word Iberia, the heroine assuming a more
severe air, but such as spoke resolution, without rage, returned him
the olive, and again veiled her face. Loud cries and clashing of arms
immediately followed, which forced me from my charming vision, and
drove me back to these mansions of care and sorrow.[151]
[Footnote 143: A very coarse play by Edward Ravenscroft, produced in
1682, and often acted on Lord Mayors' days and other holidays.]
[Footnote 144: Charles Le Brun, who was born in 1619, and died in 1690,
was the son of a sculptor, of Scotch extraction. Under Colbert's
patronage he founded the Academy of Painting and Sculpture, at Paris,
and he received many honours from Louis XIV. Le Brun's painting of the
Defeat of Porus is 16 feet high and 39 feet 5 inches long.]
[Footnote 145: Porus was an Indian king who was defeated and put to
death by Alexander the Great. See Q. Curtius, viii. 12, 14.]
[Footnote 146: "Bell. Catil." cap. 61.]
[Footnote 147: Steele seems to have forgotten that he was Isaac
Bickerstaff, Esq.
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