J C COUNT of the GERMAN THEATRE. 173 



I think we may venture to pronounce thefe dramas favourable 

 both to moral principle and to the pradice of virtue. To the 

 former, they are allovred, even by their adverfaries, to be 

 friendly ; to the latter, it may perhaps be contended that they 

 do not always contribute, or at bed that they only produce 

 that momentary impreflion, which pafTes over the mind like a 

 golden dream, amufing to the fancy, but without any efFecfl on 

 our adlual conduct or difpofitions. The French dramas of this 

 fpecies, and fome of the German ones in this coUedtion, 

 which feem to have been formed on thefe models, have a good 

 deal of that pompous wordy declamation of virtue and fenfibi- 

 lity, which, like every fpecies of bombaftic writing, is extreme- 

 ly popular at its firfl; introdudlion, and generally maintains a 

 number of partizans, even when affailed by the weapons of 

 criticifm or good fenfe. Such a common-place fort of weak- 

 nefs hurts equally the good effedts of the drama, as a lefTon of 

 morals, and the entertainment to be derived from it as a work 

 of tafte. To the enemies of virtue, the ridicule is open 5 to 

 her friends, the exhibition is painful ; it is like the dotage of 

 a perfon we love, which, though we cannot laugh at, we are 

 conftrained to bluih for. Befides, in moral effedl, it lofes the 

 advantage which, as I obferved above, this fpecies of drama 

 pofTefles, of approaching nearer than any other to ourfelves. 

 When we fee fo little truth or life in the pidure, when the fen- 

 timents foar fo airy a height, we feel them as thofe of another 

 world, which, if we fhould even admire, we will never concern 

 ourfelves to imitate. 



It muft, however, be confefled, that though fuch weak- 

 paflages will naturally produce thofe effeds among people of 

 better informed judgments and more ripened tafte ; yet, by 

 the lefs refined part of an ordinary audience, they are often 

 received with that genuine feeling and applaufe, which, as 

 they are produced by virtue, are friendly to her interefts. At 

 the reprefentatioa of fome of thofe fcenes, where very lauda- 

 ble, 



