8i ON' ekgLbh plays. May i8, 



I'he Chrijlian Hero, a 'tragedy, by Lillo. 



The compofition of this pky is as full nf dullnefs and abfurdity as Ma- 

 homet, and lefs intercfcing in the plot. 



Lady yane Gray, a Tragedy, ly Rowe. 



I CANNOT read an hiftorieal play, without thinldng of a comparifon wirh 

 Shakefpeare, by whom the charaders of nature are perfeiftly preferved, 

 and yet raifed above the pitch of nature, by the force of a great and 

 inimitable genius. 



Do7i Schajlian King of Portugal, a T'ragedy, hy 

 Dry den. 



This play is full of abfurdities and unnatural flights; yet we may dif- 

 tingnifli them as the abfurdities of a poet and a man of genius, unlike 

 the nonfcnJe of the moderns. The m.oral is rigorous indeed. 



Jane Shore, a "Tragedy, hy Rowe. 



How ftrangely different is the Gloucefter of Shakefpeare from the Glou- 

 ccfter of Rowe. An audiei ce of true judgment and tafte, could not 

 bear this comparifon on the fame theatre. 



The Country Wife, a Comedy, by Wycherley. 



There are wit, humour, eafy and lively converfation, variety of cba- 

 raifter, and pleafing adventure in this play. But there is a very unpar- 

 donable want of delicacy and decency. A lewd young fellow gains full 

 credit to a report, that he had, by a fafhionable misfortune, loft his vi- 

 rility. By this means he cuckolds all the hufliands, and lies with all 

 the women of the drama. There are, however, weak fcenes in the 

 play, improbabilitio-;, and, I think, the charafttrs both of Pinchwife 

 and Spurkifli are outre. 



To make a dance of cuckolds at the end of this play, is a judicious 

 condudl in the author, but a fhamelcfs exhibition on a public theatre. 



Erratum iu this Number, p. 66. 



In the mufic, laft note but one, tenoz, for G re»d E. It is roqiicrted 

 'his mav be corredtd by the peji. 



