210 Poetry. 



on account of their plot and language, have de- 

 servedly continued to be favourites to the present 

 day/ If Rowe paint the passions with less force 

 and conformity to nature than Shakspeare and 

 Otway, he is free from the barbarisms of the 

 former, and the licentiousness of the latter. The 

 Cato, of Addison, is generally known ; and the 

 public seem now to be agreed in the opinion, that, 

 notwithstanding all the loftiness of sentiment, and 

 beauty of diction with which it abounds, as a Tra- 

 gedy, it is too " regularly dull," and unnaturally 

 stiff, for scenic representation. The Revenge, by 

 Dr. Young, displays no small share of that sub- 

 limity and fire which the illustrious author so re- 

 markably possessed. Of his several Tragedies, 

 this only keeps possession of the stage. The Gre- 

 cian Daughter, and the Gamester, of Moore, 

 will long remain very honourable monuments 

 of the dramatic powers of their author. The 

 Caractacus, of Mason, would have done credit 

 to the most favourable periods of ancient lite- 

 rature. Douglass, by Mr. Home, for several rea- 

 sons, attracted an unusual degree of public atten- 

 tion, when it first appeared; and has ever since 

 maintained a high character/ Among the Tra- 

 gedies of Thomson, Tancred and Sigismnnda 

 alone merits distinction. This, with regard to 



/ In these and the following remarks on dramatic poetry, the author 

 takes for granted that no reader will consider him as expressing an opi- 

 nion favourable to theatrical amusements. He is persuaded that the gene- 

 ral character and tendency of such amusements are highly immoral ; but 

 in this place, and always when he employs favourable expressions concern- 

 ing certain dramas, he begs to be understood as merely delivering opinions 

 of a literary kind. 



g Mr. Home was a clergyman of the church of Scotland. The cir- 

 cumstance of a person of his profession giving encouragement to the stage, 

 by writing for it, gave great and just offence, and made his tragedy an ob- 

 ject of much more attention and interest than it would otherwise have 

 been. He wrote several tragedies afterwards; but they were all unsuc- 

 cessful. It seemed as if his genius had been absorbed by his first produc- 

 tion. 



