5i Poetry. [Chap. XX. 



gedj, which was usually executed by calm ob- 

 servers instead of those who participated in the 

 action of the scene. 



Of the Italian writers of Comedy the author 

 knows too little to attempt any distinct account. 

 Few, if any, among them are more celebrated than 

 Goldoni, the most voluminous dramatic writer of 

 the eighteenth century. A large portion of the 

 pieces exhibited on the Italian stage are from his 

 pen. His comedies are so numerous that it would 

 be difficult to make a selection, and of such ac- 

 knowledged merit that they need no additional 

 encomium *. 



The dramatic writings of Germany first began 

 in the eighteenth century to assume a respectable 

 and interesting aspect. Indeed, till within the 

 last forty years scarcely any thing had been pro- 

 duced, in this department of composition, which 

 could be considered as doing honour to German 

 genius, or which was much knoWn beyond the 

 bounds of that empire. But within this period 

 some writers of high reputation have appeared, 

 and raised the dramatic character of their country 

 to great eminence. 



Goethe stands among the most celebrated Ger- 

 man dramatists. His Sisters^ his Stella, and his 

 Jphigeiiia, are considered as very honourable mo- 



* Charles Goldoni was born at Venice in 1707, and died at 

 Paris in 1792. He is said to have been equal to the greatest co- 

 mic poets of modern times in dramatic talents, and superior to 

 theni all in the fertility of his genius. His works were printed 

 at Leghorn in 1791, in 31 volumes 8vo. He has been generally 

 called the Moliere of Italy ; and Voltaire, in one of his letters t« 

 the marquis Albergati^ styles him " the painter of Nature.'' 



