CHARACTERS. 
forded him of illustrating his former 
theories. 
Some of his peculiar notions, too, 
with respect to the imitative arts, 
seem to have been much confirmed, 
by his’ observations while abroad. 
In accounting for the pleasure we 
receive from these arts, it had early 
occurred to him asa fundamental 
principle, that a very great part of 
it arises fram the difficulty of the 
imitation ;, a principle which was 
probably suggested to him by that 
of the difficulté surmontée, by which 
some French critics had attempted 
to explain the effect of versification 
and of rhyme. ‘This principle Mr. 
‘Smith pushed to the greatest possible 
length, and referred to it, with sin- 
‘gular ingenuity, a great variety of 
phenomena in all the different fine 
arts. It led him, however, to some 
conclusions, which appear, at first 
view at least, nota little paradoxi- 
cal; and I cannot help thinking, 
that it warped his judgment in 
many of the opinions which he was 
accustomed to give on the subject 
of poetry. 
The principles of dramatic com- 
position had more particularly at- 
tracted his attention; and the his- 
tory of the theatre, both in ancient 
and modern times, had furnished 
him with some of the most remark- 
able facts on which his theory of the 
imitative arts was founded, Irom 
this theory it seemed to follow asa 
consequence, that the same circum- 
stances which, in tragedy, give to 
blank verse an advantage over prose, 
should give to rhyme an advantage 
over blank verse; and Mr, Smith 
had always inclined to that opinion. 
Nay, he had gone so far as to ex- 
tend the same doctrine to comedy ; 
and to regret, that those excellent 
pictures of life and manners which 
Vou. XXXVIL. 
[*49 
the English stage affords, had not 
been executed after the model of 
the French school. Theadmiration 
with which he regarded the great 
dramatic authors of France tended 
to confirm him in these opinions ; 
and this admiration (resulting ori- 
ginally from the general character 
of his taste, which delighted more 
to remark that pliancy of genius, 
which ‘accommodates itself to esta= 
blished rules, than to wonder at 
the bolder flights of an undisciplined 
imagination) was increased, to a 
great degree, when he saw the 
beauties that had struck him in the 
closet, heightened by the utmost 
perfection of theatrical exhibition. 
In the last years of his life, he somer 
times amused himself, at a leisure 
hour, in supporting his theoretical 
conclusions on these subjects, by 
the facts which his subsequent stu- 
dies and observations had suggested ; 
and he intended,, if he had lived, to 
have prepared the result of these 
labours for the press. Of this work 
he kas left for publication a short 
fragment; the first part of which is, 
in my judgment, more finished in 
point of style than any of his come 
positions ; but he had not proceeded 
far enough to apply his doctrine to 
versification and to the theatre. As 
his notions, however, with respect 
to these, were a favourite topic of 
his conversation, and were intimate- 
ly connected with his general prins 
ciples of crilicism, it would have 
been improper to pass them oyer in 
this sketch of his life; and I even 
thought it proper to detail them at 
greater length than the comparative 
importance of the subject would 
have justified, if he had carried bis 
plans into execution. Whether his 
love of system, added to his par- 
tiality for the French drama, may 
ie 
