1 76 J C COUNT' of the GER MAN THEA TR E. 



" Le Dramaturgie de Hambourg." His plays, accordingly, 

 though not exadly conformable to the Ariftotelian flandard, 

 approach pretty near to it in the obfervation of the unities. 

 He is faid to have got into a difpute with Goethe on this fub- 

 jedl, in which, from a degree of timidity in his nature, he ra- 

 ther yielded to his antagonifl. I am not fure if he has pro- 

 fited by confining himfelf more than fome other of his coun- 

 trymen within the bounds of the regular drama. The fable 

 of Emilie de Galottt, as well as of his other tragedies, is more 

 regular than happy, and the denouement neither natural nor 

 pleafing. It is founded on circumftances fomewhat fimilar to 

 thofe in the flory of Virginia. A Prince of Guaftalla is defpe- 

 rately enamoured of Emilie de Galotti, who is juft about 

 to be married to a man of rank and fortune, the Count Appi- 

 ANi. On the day of his marriage, he is way-laid by order of 

 a wicked minifter of the prince, and murdered. His bride is 

 brought to the Prince's country-feat, where, to prevent any 

 chance of her difhonour, her father kills her. 



After the firft reading oi Emilie, I was difpofed to wonder 

 at the reputation it had acquired ; but a fecond placed it higher 

 in my eftimation. This was naturally the cafe in a performance 

 where the whole was neither fo perfeifl nor fo interefling as 

 fome of the fcenes in detail were forcible and ftriking. The 

 heroine Emilie de Galotti is but imperfed^ly drawn, and 

 not very well fupported. Indeed, it may in general be obferved 

 in thefe pieces, that the charaders of the female perfonages 

 are by much the moft defedlive, both in beauty and in force. 

 This may perhaps be afcribed to the ftate of fociety in Ger- 

 many, where the fex is lefs an objedl of confideration and re- 

 fpe(5l than in France, and fome other parts of the Continent. 

 But there is another lady in this tragedy, the Countefs d'Orfma, 

 the betrayed and abandoned miflrefs of the Prince, whofe cha- 

 ratfler the poet has delineated with great ability ; and one 

 icene, in which (he is introduced along with the father of 



EmiliE) 



