Percy's Friar of Orders Gray,' some of which I advise you to commit to memory. LETTER XXV. Dramatic Compositions. MY ESTEEMED Children, We will now proceed to notice the dramatic poets and writers, for this is esteemed a branch of poetry, though comedies and farces, with many tragedies, are written in prose. In DRAMATIC poetry, beginning with the first authors, who were Greeks, Eschylus is harsh and obscure; Sophocles more masterly, correct, and sublime; Euripides soft and tender. In Greek tragedies, the action is simple, and the incidents few. In France, Corneille and Racine have somewhat improved, though not much, on the Greek drama. They have introduced many more incidents into their plays than were found in the ancient tragedies. Corneille is remarked by the French critics for his sublimity; Racine for describing the tender emotions; but the merit of both appears to be overrated. Voltaire is more animated than Racine, and more interesting than either he or Corneille. In this as well as in every other department of the drama, Shakspeare unquestionably stands alone. His was the infancy of the art, and the whole field was open to him. Next to Shakspeare, our best tragic writer is undoubtedly Otway; and after Otway, Rowe and Young rank highest in the list of English tragic writers. Aristophanes was a mere farce writer, a buffoon, almost destitute of the only qualities that can render buffoonery tolerable-wit and humour. Plautus was much superior, and some of his dramas have both plot and character. Terence, who is re garded as a translator of Menander, is intolerably flat and tedious, and there is a sameness in all his dramas which renders the perusal of them irksome. A considerable difference is to be observed between the French and the English comedy. The French are more regular, perhaps more tame: the English are irregular, but interesting and full of plot: I am afraid I must add, that the French are more decorous and chaste. Moliere is himself a host: he abounds in character, wit, and humour, his plots are ingenious, lively, and interesting; and in his plays in general we find little to offend a modest ear, or throw ridicule upon virtue. In taking a short general view of the English comic writers, Shakspeare must occupy not only the first, but the highest place. His dramas, after a lapse of two centuries, are still gazed at with unabated ardour by the populace, and still read with admiration by the scholar. They interest the old and the young, the gallery and the pit, the people and the critic. His plots are lively, and command attention; his characters are still new and striking, and his wit is fertile even to exuberance. Ben Jonson may be regarded as next in order of time to Shakspeare, but in genius he is greatly his inferior. Beaumont and Fletcher wrote rather on the model of Shakspeare than of Jonson; yet in their plots they are somewhat more regular than the former; but the composition is incorrect, though they contain many beauties. The plays of Congreve, like those of Jonson, are deficient in plot: the characters too are not well discriminated; they are only depicted in the sentiment, for they all speak the same language. They abound in wit, and but little in what is properly called humour. Farquhar and Vanburgh had both better notions of what a comedy should be than Congreve. The comedies of Mrs. Centlivre are lively and interesting; and it is no small commendation to say, that even at this distance of time two of her's still continue to be popular, "The Wonder," and "A Bold Stroke for a Wife." Sir Richard Steele must rank among our best comic writers. The hint of his Conscious Lovers is taken from Terence; but how infinitely it is improved-Perhaps no man since the days of Shakspeare ever possessed such powers for the drama as the late Mr. Sheridan. LETTER XXVI. MY ESTEEMED Children, An EPIC poem is a description of some action. As in the drama, so in epic poetry, the characters should be properly adapted to the plot, and should seem to rise naturally out of it. Each individual must be possessed of peculiar features, to distinguish him from others. Homer excels in this feature; but the characters of Virgil are more general, and not so easily distinguished. Homer is not only the first epic poet, but one of the first of poets. Pope calls the Iliad "the oldest book extant, except the Bible." And the Iliad and Odyssey are wonderful productions. They may be regarded as models for all epic writers. All the different incidents are disposed in the most regular manner, and Achilles, the principal hero, is never out of our view through the whole. Homer excels all poets in characteristic expression; that which Virgil describes in a short sentence, furnishes Homer with matter for a long conversation. Homer's Iliad and Odyssey undoubtedly gave birth to Virgil's Æneid. Yet the Eneid has quite a distinct character from both the poems of Homer, and the Roman poet is essentially different from the Greek. Homer wrote in a rude and barbarous age; Virgil at a period when manners were civilized, and science very generally diffused. The grand characteristic therefore of Virgil, as opposed to Homer (and perhaps to all other poets), is elegance and knowledge. Virgil combines the plot of the Odyssey with that of the Iliad, and there is, perhaps, no where to be found so complete a subject for an epic poem: the unity is exactly preserved through the whole; but there is almost no character marked in the Æneid, and the personages are only made known to us by their names. We must admit, however, that Virgil excels in narration; and perhaps there never was a more finished specimen of poetry in this line, or one more abounding in animated and interesting description than the second Eneid. The third is also beautiful, and has all the charms of variety and entertainment; some passages of the Fourth are also incomparable. The next epic poem of consequence which the genius of Rome produced, is the 'Pharsalia' of Lucan. He is universally allowed to hold an inferior rank both to Homer and Virgil; and his failure is generally ascribed to the recent date of the facts which form the subject of it, and the want of the usual machinery. The truth is, that Lucan wanted the invention of Homer, and the polish and elegance of Virgil. The next epic poem which demands your attention is Tasso's Jerusalem Delivered. It is founded on a grand, heroic, and venerable enterprize. The author's invention is noble and fertile: the events are striking and sufficiently diversified, by the tenderness of love and the fierceness of war: the heroes are well characterized. Godfrey is represented as generous, moderate, and brave: Tancred is tender and impassioned: Rinaldo, who is the principal hero, is drawn after Homer's Achilles. The machinery of Tasso is more interesting than that of any other poet. The fourth and ninth books contain some incomparable passages and descriptions; but some have thought that his demons act too promi nent a part. His descriptions, however, are fine, and towards the conclusion, the language is harmonious and elegant. Camoens, the epic poet of Portugal, was contemporary with Tasso; an excellent translation of his Lusiad was published by Mickle. The poem has infinite merit; every part of it interests and entertains; and it is justly entitled to the appellation of epic. The subject is the discovery of India by Vasco de Gama. The characters in general are tolerably well drawn, the subject is novel and grand; while it affords an admirable scope for description, and for the introduction of very interesting scenes. If Paradise Lost is emphatically styled the epic poem of religion, this justly may be denominated that of commerce; and if we read Homer and Virgil for pleasure, and to admire the poetry, we cannot read this without acquiring a knowledge of nature and of the globe. As the Henriade of Voltaire was written by a person of extraordinary genius, we are led to expect something uncommon: but the French language is illadapted to epic poetry. The subject of the poem is the triumph of Henry IV. over the arms of the League. It opens with an interview between Henry, and Elizabeth, Queen of England, though Henry never was in England. The whole is employed on the subject of a civil war of the most detestable and bloody kind, which presents ideas too shocking to excite admiration. He is unhappy with respect to the machinery, and has introduced such allegorical beings, as Discord, War, Fanaticism, La Politique, and Love. It is however full of the most noble and generous sentiments, and in these consists its greatest merit. Milton's Paradise Lost pleases more in detached parts than in the whole. Had the Paradise Lost been comprised in six books instead of twenty-four, no poem, ancient or modern, could have been brought into competition with it. It is aThesaurus of poetical |