EJay on Maffinger. I'dp 



to whom he relates his ftory*; but, above all, 

 the meeting of Pifander and Cleoraf, after he 

 has excited the revolt of the flaves, in order to 

 get her within his power. Thefe fcenes are 

 eminently diftinguifhed by their novelty, correft- 

 nefs, and intereft j the moft minute critic will 

 find little wanting, and the lover of truth and 

 nature can fuffer nothing to be taken away. 



It is no reproach of our author, that the 

 foundation of feveral, perhaps all of his plots 

 may be traced in different hiftorians or novellifts; 

 for in fupplying himfelf from thefe fources, he 

 followed the practice of the age. Shakefpeare, 

 Johnfon, and the reft, are not more original, in 

 this refped, than our poet ; if Cartwright may 

 be exempted, he is the only exception to this 

 remark. As the minds of an audience, un- 

 acquainted with the models of antiquity, could 

 only be affected by immediate application to 

 their paffions, our old writers crowded as many 

 incidents, and of as perplexing a nature as pof- 

 fible, into their works, to fupport anxiety and 

 expectation to their utmoft height. In our re- 

 formed tragic fchool, our pleafure arifes from 

 the contemplation of the writer's artj and in- 

 ftead of eagerly watching for the unfolding of 

 the plot, (the imagination being left at liberty 

 by the fimplicity of the aftion,) we confider 



• A Very Woman. f Bondman. 



Vol. III. K whether 



