WN examining thefe pieces in de- 
i tail, and-appropriating them to 
their refpeftive authors, one is im- 
mediately ftruck with the name of 
Lefling, whom Germany fo mach 
reveres as one of the founders of 
her drama. He is the author of the 
* firft piece in Friedel’s colleétion, 
Emilie de Galotti,- another tragedy 
- inone att called PAzltas, a third 
called Sara Samfon, and a drame 
entitled Nathan le Sage. He is au- 
thor alfo of feveral other plays con- 
tained in the Theatre Allemand of 
Junker, one of which, Minna -de 
Barnhelm, is reckoned the chef 
d’zuvre of German comedy. I have 
perufed it with all the attention to 
which its high charatter entitled it, 
_ and indeed with a great degree of 
the pleafure, though not with all 
_ the admiration which that high cha- 
__raéter led me to expeét. It is of 
the graver or fentimental kind of 
comedy, where the charaéters main- 
tain.a war of generofity, from which 
. the embarrafiments and implications 
of the plot, not very intricate nor 
artificial ones, refult, ‘The princi- 
_ pal perfon is a Major Telheim, a 
difbanded officer, whofe’ merits his 
country had ill rewarded; a man of 
_ the moft confummate bravery, gene- 
) rofity and vittue, for whom thofe 
| qualities have gained the love of 
_ every foldier and domeftic around 
him. They have procured him a 
 ftill more valuable attachment, the 
_ Minna of Barnhelm, who, on hear- 
ing of the Major’s regiment being 
¢ Gifbanded, comes to Berlin to feek 
him, and to make him happy. The 
_ rival noblenefs of mind of thefe 
- two characters produces the princi- 
_ pal incidents of the piece, which 
however are vot always natural, 
“hor very happily imagined’; and be- 
MISCELLANEOUS ESSAYS. 
T1§ 
fides, as Fielding jocularly. fayss 
when comparing a fhallow book to 
a fhailow may, may be eafily feen 
through. But, with all theie de- 
feéts, and that want of comic force 
which the turn and fitwation of the 
principal characters naturally oc- 
cafions, the play muft pleafe and in- 
tereft every reader. There is fome- 
thing in the conftitution of the hu- 
man mind fo congenial to difinter- 
eftednef, generofity. and magnani- 
mity, that it never fails to’ be pleafed 
with fuch charafters, after all the 
deduétions which critical difcern- 
ment can make from them. Amidft 
the want of comic humotr which I 
have obferved in this play, I mutt. 
not omit, however, doing julftice to. 
a ferjeant-major of Telheim’s regi- 
ment, and to Juftin his valet, who 
are drawn with a ftrong and natural 
pencil. The ftory of the fpaniel, 
told by the latter, when his mafter’s 
poverty makes him with to difmifs 
*him from his férvice, is one of the 
beft imagined, and beft told, I re- 
member to have met with. There 
isa good deal of comic character and. 
lively dialogue in fome of Leffing’s 
lefs celebrated pieces in the collec- 
tion of Junker; but the plots are in 
general extravagant and farcical. 
In judging of Lefling as a tragic 
writer, one will do him no injuttice 
by making the tragedy of Eyilie de 
Galotti the criterion of that judg- 
ment. The othersin thefe volumes 
are very inferior to this, which is 
certainly, in point of compofition, 
chara¢ter and paffion, a perform- 
ance of no ordinary kind. Lef- 
fing was well acquainted with the 
ancient drama, and wifhed to bring 
the theatre of his country toa point 
of regularity nearer to that of the 
ancients. He publithed, for fome 
time, a periodical criticifim on the» 
atrical compofition, called, “ Le 
lz Drama; 
] 
