Poetry. 221 



of modern times. Towards the close of the cen- 

 tury no dramatic writer in the German language 

 was so generally popular as Kotzebue, whobc 

 principal works are so generally known, that an 

 attempt to enumerate them, or draw their charac- 

 ter, is altogether unnecessary/" 



The dramatic writers of the rest of Europe, dur- 

 ing the age under consideration, were few, and oi 

 these few only a small portion gained any consi- 

 derable celebrity. With the dramatists of Spain 

 and Portugal the author has no acquaintance. In 

 Sweden, the dramatic works of Dahlin, Gyllen- 

 borg and Kellgren; in Denmark, those of Baron 

 Holberg f and in Russia, those of Somorokof are 

 among the most conspicuous and esteemed. 



There are several characteristic features which 

 belong to the dramatic compositions of the eigh- 

 teenth century, in which they differ from those oi" 

 any preceding age. It may be proper to take 



'*» Several of the dramas of Kotzebue, as well as those of Schiller, 

 and some other German writers, have been the subject of much criticism 

 with respect to their moral tendency. It is impossible, in this place, to en- 

 ter into a discussion of the merits of this inquiry. It is probable, how- 

 ever, that every sober and reflecting mind will perceive much to censure 

 on this ground, particularly in the writings of the two popular dramatists 

 above mentioned. It is not objected to these writers that their characters are, 

 in general, unnaturally drawn, but that such characters ought never to have 

 been exhibited at all; not that their incidents are impossible or incredible, 

 but that such incidents, whether in fiction or in real life, have always been 

 powerful means of corrupting the principles, and undermining the virtue 

 of those by whom they were frequently contemplated. 



n Baron Holberg was one of the most extraordinary characters of the 

 age. He was born in Norway, towards the close of the seventeenth cen- 

 tury ; was the son of a private sentinel, and learned to read without a mas- 

 ter. Being deprived of his father at nine years of age, he persisted in pur- 

 suing his studies, travelled from school to school, and begged his learning 

 and his bread. Early in life he made the tour of Europe on foot, and 

 went over to England, where he resided two years at the University of 

 Oxford. Furnished with a large portion of the learning of Europe, he, at 

 length, settled at Copenhagen, where his numerous writings gained him 

 much public notice, and liberal governmental favours. He composed 

 eighteen comedies. Those in his own language are said to excel ; and those 

 which have been translated into French are represented as having great 



merit. He died about the year 1754. Goldsmith's Inquiry into the pre- 

 sent State of Polite Learning, 



