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OBSERVATIONS on the FIRST ACT of SHAKESPEAR's 

 TEMPEST. By a young Gentleman^ an Under - graduate 

 in the Univerjity of Dublin. Communicated by the Reverend 

 D I G B Y M A R S H, i^. r. C. Z). ^W M. R. I. A. 



OxMONG literary compofitions, fome are directed folely to Read March 

 the underfanding, others to the pa/Jions and imagination. To '°' '^ 

 difcover the excellencies and defeds of the former belongs pro- 

 perly to the logician; the latter alone are the peculiar objedl of 

 criticifm. A good critic therefore muft unite a perfedt knowledge 

 of the human heart with foundnefs of judgment and delicacy 

 of tafte. For this art is chieHy valuable as it tends to lay open 

 the conftitution of our nature, as it traces the pleafure or dif- 

 guft we receive from compofitions of genius to thofe fecret firings 

 in the frame of man, which found in harmony or difcord accord- 

 ing to the fkilfulnefs of the hand that touches them. Confidered 

 in this view, criticifm yields to few fciences, in the importance 

 of its end, the qualifications it requires, or the extenfive province 

 which it commands. Among its various objeds dramatic poetry 



feems 



