33° On Tragical Representations, 
appear to deserve them. Some touching pictures 
of innocent and virtuous distress, to which a 
pure and benevolent sympathy attaches itself, 
have rescued bim perhaps from our utter disgust, 
The innocent, the gentle Monimia, and the more 
dignified virtue of Belvidera, relieve the horror 
of the villains with whom ‘they are unhappily 
associated, and support in us an interest through 
the whole drama. 
The tragedy of the Robbers, and other pro- 
ductions of the German drama, have the vice of 
Otway, but with more extravagance and scorn 
of nature, and therefore are more repulsive of 
the heart. With them to create ,what,God never 
designed, and what human wickedness never me- 
ditated, is Genius; .and to terrify is Sublime, 
If the system of Du Bos, therefore, be true, 
these are the perfection of the drama; but, in 
defiance of his principle, they do not attracts 
they repel; and their admirers mistake astonish- 
ment for an impression of the grand; and a 
horror and revulsion from scenes of dreadful suf- 
fering, for an impression of the pathetic. 
But on this system, the interest in. the repre- 
sentation ought to be proportioned, not only to 
the bustling of theascene, but to the bustling 
disposition of the spectators. © This must be al- 
lowed, if the abhorrence of indolent repose, and 
the delight in being stirred, be the secret cause 
