ACCOUNT of the GERMAN rHEAtRE. ipt 



" Thus far it was in human power to go, and thus far he has 

 " gone ; but here his courfe is clofed, and his genius cries out, 

 " All is confummatedy He difmifles his band, except two fa- 

 vourite officers, with an exhortation to ufe their invincible cou- 

 rage in the fervice of their country. To thefe two favourites, 

 whofe fouls are not fo deeply tindtured in blood, he bequeaths 

 his paternal domain, and defires them to leave him, and to devote 

 their future lives to virtue and obedience to the laws. " And 

 " I too, he concludes, will obey the laws ; I will bear the 

 " fternefl punifliment of their decree." And he goes to deliver 

 himfelf up to juftice. 



T HAVE ventured this long and particular account of the 

 tragedy in queftion, becaufe it appears to me one of the mofk 

 uncommon produdlions of untutored genius that modern times 

 can boaft. ConfefTedly irregular and faulty, both in plan and 

 condudl, it were needlefs, and perhaps unfair, to offer any re- 

 marks on its defedls. But its power over the heart and the ima- 

 gination muft be acknowledged. Every body has heard the 

 anecdote of its effedts on the fcholars at the fchool of Fribourg, 

 where it was reprefented foon after its firft appearance. They 

 were fo flruck and captivated with the grandeur of the cha- 

 rader of its hero Moor, that they agreed to form a band like 

 his in the forefts of Bohemia, had eleded a young nobleman 

 for their chief, and had pitched on a beautiful young lady for 

 his Amelia, whom they were to carry off from her parents 

 houfe, to accompany their flight. To the accomplifliment of 

 this defign, they had bound themfelves by the moft folemn and 

 tremendous oaths ; but the confpiracy was difcovered by an 

 accident, and its execution prevented. 



The energy of this tragedy's effe<5l is not to be wondered at, 

 efpecially on young minds, whofe imaginations are readily in- 

 flamed by the enthufiafm of gigantic enterprife and defperate 

 valour, whofe fenfibility is eafily excited by the fufferings of a 



great 



