de la tragedie." [Hift. du Theat. Franc. par M. de Fontenelle.] The latter part of this affertion is clear from the piece referred to; and the other, which refpects Greece, feems countenanced by Ariftotle himself [wep. wOINT. x. É] It is true, comedy, though its rife be every where, at least, as early as that of tragedy, is perfected much later. Menander, we know, appeared long after fchylus. And, though the French tragedy, to fpeak with Ariftotle, oxe τὴς ἑαυτῆς φύσιν in the hands of Corneille, this cannot be faid of their comedy, which was forced to wait for a Moliere, before it arrived at that pitch of perfection. But then this is owing to the fuperior difficulty of the comic drama. Nor is it any objection that the contrary of this happened at Rome. For the Romans, when they applied themselves in earneft to the ftage, had not to invent, but to imitate, or rather tranflate, the perfect models of Greece. And it chanced, for reasons which I fhall not stay to deduce, that their poets had better fuccefs in copying their comedy, than tragedy.

284. TURPITER OBTICUIT] Evidently because, though the jus nocendi was taken away, yet that was no good reafon why the chorus fhould entirely ceafe. M. Dacier mistakes the matter. Le chœur se tût ignominiexsement, parceVOL. I.

R

que

que la loi reprima fa licence, et que ce fut, à proprement parler, la loi qui le bannit; ce qu' Horace regarde comme une espece de flétriffure. Properly Speaking, the law only abolished the abuse of the chorus. The ignominy lay in dropping the entire use of it, on account of this reftraint. Horace was of opinion, that the chorus ought to have been retained, though the ftate had abridged it of the licence, it fo much delighted in, of an illimited, and intemperate fatire. Sublatus choras fuit, fays Scaliger, cujus illæ videntur esse præcipuæ partes, ut potiffimum quos liberet, læderent.

286. NEC MINIMUM MERUEre decus veSTIGIA GRAECA AUSI DESERERE ET CELEBRARE DOMESTICA FACTA.] This judgment of the poet, recommending domestic subjects, as fitteft for the ftage, may be inforced from many obvious reasons. As, 1. that it renders the drama infinitely more affecting: and this on many accounts. 1. As a subject, taken from our own annals, muft of courfe carry with it an air of greater probability, at leaft to the generality of the people, than one borrowed from those of any other nation. 2. As we all find a personal intereft in the fubject. 3. As it of course affords the beft and eafieft opportunities of catching our minds, by frequent references to our manners, prejudices, and cuftoms. And of how

great

great importance this is, may be learned from hence, that, even in the exhibition of foreign characters, dramatic writers have found them felves obliged to facrifice truth and probability to the humour of the people, and to drefs up their perfonages, contrary to their own better judgment, in fome degree according to the mode and manners of their refpective countries [s]. And, 4. as the writer himself, from an intimate acquaintance with the character and genius of his own nation, will be more likely to draw the manners with life and spirit.

II. Next, which fhould ever be one great point in view, it renders the drama more gene

[s] "L'étude égale des poëtes de différens tems à (6 plaire à leurs fpectateurs, a encore influé dans la "maniere de peindre les caracteres. Ceux qui paroif"fent fur la fcene Angloife, Efpagnols, Françoife,

font plus Anglois, Efpagnols, ou François que "Grecs ou Romains, en un mot que ce qu'ils doivent "être. Il ne faut qu'en peu difcernement pour "s'appercevoir que nos Céfars et nos Achilles, en "gardant même un partie de leur caractere primitif,

prennent droit de naturalité dans le païs où ils font "transplantez, semblables à ces portraits, qui fortent "de la main d'un peintre Flamand, Italien, ou

la

François, et qui portent l'empreinte du païs. On veut plaire à fa nation, et rien ne plait tant que "refemblance de manieres et de genie." [P. Brumoy, vol. i. p. 200.]

rally useful in its moral deftination. For, it being converfant about domeftic acts, the great inftruction of the fable more fenfibly affects us; and the characters exhibited, from the part we take in their good or ill qualities, will more probably influence our conduct.

III. Laftly, this judgment will deserve the greater regard, as the conduct recommended was, in fact, the practice of our great models, the Greek writers; in whofe plays, it is obfervable, there is fcarcely a single scene, which lies out of the confines of Greece.

But, notwithstanding these reasons, the practice hath, in all times, been but little followed. The Romans, after fome few attempts in this way (from whence the poet took the occafion of delivering it as a dramatic precept), soon relapfed into their old ufe; as appears from Seneca's, and the titles of other plays, written in, or after the Auguftan age. Succeeding times continued the fame attachment to Grecian, with the addition of an equal fondness for Roman, fubjects. The reafon in both inftances hath been ever the fame: that ftrong and early prejudice, approaching fomewhat to adoration, in favour of the illuftrious names of those two great ftates. The account of this matter is very eafy; for their writings, as they furnish the bufinefs of our younger, and the amusement of

our riper, years; and more especially make the ftudy of all thofe, who devote themselves to poetry and the ftage, infenfibly infix in us an exceffive veneration for all affairs in which they were concerned; infomuch, that no other fub jects or events feem confiderable enough, or rife, in any proportion, to our ideas of the dignity of the tragic fcene, but fuch as time and long admiration have confecrated in the annals of their ftory. Our Shakespeare was, I think, the first that broke through this bondage of claffical fuperftition. And he owed this felicity, as he did fome others, to his want of what is called the advantage of a learned education. Thus uninfluenced by the weight of early prepoffeffion, he ftruck at once into the road of nature and common fenfe: and without defigning, without knowing it, hath left us in his historical plays, with all their anomalies, an exacter refemblance of the Athenian ftage, than is any where to be found in its most profeffed admirers and copyifts.

I will only add, that, for the more fuccessful execution of this rule of celebrating domestic acts, much will depend on the æra, from whence the fubject is taken. Times too remote have almoft the fame inconveniences, and none of the advantages, which attend the ages of Greece and Rome, And for thofe of later date, they