Sect. IX.J Drama. 55 



niiments of genius. The tragedies of Lcssing have 

 a high character among his countrymen, parti- 

 cularly his Emilia Galotti, Philotas^ and Sarah 

 Sampso7i. The tragic productions of Babo are 

 also much distinguished. The most remarkable 

 of these are Otto of JFiltksbach, Dagobert, and 

 Conscience. But perhaps no tragic writer of 

 Germany has gained a reputation more extensive 

 and commanding than Schiller, whose Robbers 

 and Don Carlos evince powerful talents, and have 

 gained unusual popularity. Beside these, Schle- 

 gel, Weisse, Leisewitz, von Reitzenstein, and 

 Gerstenberg, have produced tragedies of high re- 

 putation. The tragedies of Klopstock are also 

 represented as models of sublimity, in senti- 

 ment, language, and action. In comedy, Cruger, 

 iKhnger, Wetzel, Grossmann, Schroeder, Engel, 

 and Iffland, are spoken of as having merit of a 

 very conspicuous and popular kind. The last, 

 in particular, is one of the most liberal contri- 

 butors to the drama of modern times. Towards 

 the close of the century, no dramatic writer in the 

 German language was so generally popular as 

 Kotzebue, whose principal works are so generally 

 known, that an attempt to enumerate them, or 

 draw their character, is altogether unnecessary^, 



* Several of the dramas of Kotzebue, as well as those of Schil- 

 ler, Goethe, and some other Germaa writers, have been the sub- 

 ject of much criticism with respect to their moral tendency. It 

 is impossible, in this place, to enter into a discussion of the me- 

 rits of this inquiry. It isprobable, however, that every sober and 

 reflecting mind will perceive much to censure on this ground, 

 particularly in the writings of the three popular dramatists above 

 mentioned. It is not objected to these writers, that their charac» 



