[ ^o ] 



fiance, wrote his ///W, on purpofe, to teach mankind the mifchiefs 

 of difcord among princes ; and his Odyjfey to prove to them the ad- 

 vantages of flaying at home and taking care of their families. — 

 If, difmiffing thefc lofty notions of the end of tragedy, we ad- 

 mit with Arijlotle, that its objc6t and deflination are only to 

 afford that pleafure which refiilts from fiditions terror and pity — 

 T1J1/ uiro sAea jcaj (po/Sa (J/a ^A^titruc; ijdoi'jj!/, — in this point of view, 

 the recent date of the tranfadions, the frefhnefs of the impref- 

 fions they have excited, the confcioufnefs of the reality of the 

 incidents, of the diftrefs and calamity of the fufFerer?, for in- 

 flance, will encreafe the degree of pity and terror excited by the 

 Drama, as well as the curiofity and intereft of the fpeduors ; and 

 thus will augment the power in the fiage of communicating 

 pleafure. 



Yet, though I may be ready to allow, that utility and infiruc- 

 tion are not the prime or immediate end of poetry; few will 

 deny, that it may and ought to be rendered ufeful. It feem.s to be 

 a certain narrownefs of mind, which would debafe poetry to the 

 humble province, of merely amulTng a vacant hour. It feems 

 to be the general opinion of critics, that every perfect Drama 

 ought to have a particular moral, and that by how much 

 the more important and comprehenfive this moral, by fo much 

 the greater is its excellence. Now, what are politics, truly 

 underftood, but morality enobled and extended — the morality 



of 



