[ 48 ] 



able to ihem, cloathed ia correfpondent language and exprelTions.* 

 Now, it is faid by Art/lot k, that the manners in Tragedy fhould 



be good good — in the'ufual fenfe of moral goodnefs. — " The 



" reafon of this precept (fays his ingenious tranflator Mr. Twwng) 

 '■ Ariflotle has not given, but it appears from his fubftituting the 

 '' word (ixaCBpo!., hurtful, pernicious, for fA,ox^^pcc ttovi^^u, in his enu- 

 " meration of the greateft faults of poetry, at the end of chap. 25th, 

 " that, however he might differ from P/ato, as to the hurtful ten- 

 " dency of Tragedy, and of imitative poetry, in general, he 

 " agreed with him as to the danger of admitting poetical, embel- 

 " liflied, and flattering pidures of vice; in which, as one of the 

 '■' mofl: eloquent, and I might add one of the moft platonic of 



'■ modern writers, exprefTes it L'Auteur, pour faire parler 



" chacun, felon fon caradere, efl force de mettre dans la bouche 

 " des Mechans leurs maximes & leurs principes revetus de tout 

 '' I'eclat des beaux vers & debites d'un ton impofant & fenten- 

 " tieux pour I'inftrudion du parterre. — With refped to charaders 

 ''• of atrocious villainy, fuch as that oiGlenalvon in Douglas, which 

 " can only excite pure deteflation, the ideas of Plato^ anii per- 

 " haps of Arjfiotk, were nearly the fame, as thofe which this ad- 

 " mirable writer has expreft, in the concluding note of his 

 " Nouvelle Heloife. En achevant de relire ce recueil, je crois 

 " voir pour que I'interet, tout foible qu'il eft, m'en eft ft agreable 

 " & le fera je penfe- a tout ledeur d'un bon naturel, c'eft qu'au 



" moins 



* See Charles de Moor in the Robbers, Ficfco, in the play that bears his name, 

 the miftrefs and the lover, in the Minijier. 



