JCCO imr of the GERMJN THEA TRE. 17^ 



Emilie, in genuine expreffion of paffion, and pointed force of 

 dialogue, may be compared to fome of the beft which the mo- 

 dern ftage can boaft. 



In the developement of the fecret foldings of the heart, 

 Lessing feems deeply fkilled, and the opening fcenes of this 

 tragedy contain fome of thofe little incidents that mark an in- 

 timacy with human nature, which genius alone can claim. But 

 in its progrefs we find, in fome degree, a want of that ftrong 

 and juft delineation and fupport of charadler, but chiefly of 

 that probable conduct and interefling fituation, which are the 

 great and peculir.r requifites of dramatic excellence. It feems 

 alfo defedlive in the pathetic, for which certainly the fubje<5l 

 aflforded very great room, and which, in a fimilar fituation, 

 our countryman Rowe has contrived fo ftrongly to excite. 



Of Lessing's performances in thefe volumes, the next in 

 merit, though, in my opinion, at a confiderable diftance, is 

 Sara Samfon^ an Englifli ftory, of which the idea feems chiefly 

 taken from Clarijfa, though one character in it, that of a vio- 

 lent and profligate woman, is evidently borrowed from Millwood 

 in George Barnwell. I mufl: venture to doubt, whether a cha- 

 racter of this fort be proper for filling a principal place in tra- 

 gedy. There is a degree of infamy in the vice of fuch a per- 

 fon that is fcarcely fuitable to the dignity of the higher drama, 

 and which difgufls us with its appearance. The Marwood of 

 Lessing is introduced in fuch a manner as to heighten that 

 difguft. The amiable female of the piece, Sara Samfoti, is no 

 exception from the general defeifl of female character in this 

 collection. And her father, who is placed in the tender fitua- 

 tion of which feveral authors have made fo affecfling a ufe, the 

 parent of a child feduced from honour, though ftill alive to 

 •virtue, is infipidly drawn, and awkwardly introduced. In this 

 tragedy, is an incident, of which Lessing feems to be fond, 

 as he has repeated it with very little variation in another tra- 

 gedy called VEfprit Fort, a dream, related by the heroine, pre- 



VoL. II. Z diaive 



