o6 Poetry, [CiiAP. XX 



The dramatic writers of the rest of Europe, du- 

 ring the age under consideration, were few ; and of 

 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 dramati<; w^orks ofDahlin, Gyllen- 

 borg, and Kellgren ; in Denmark, those of baron 

 Holberg*; and in Russia, those of Somorokof, 

 are among the most conspicuous and esteemed. 

 The character of tiie drama in America, towards 

 the close of the eighteenth century, began to be 

 more distinct and national than at any former 

 period. Instead of waiting altogether for the pro- 

 ductions of the English stage, and continuing to 

 be its servile echo, the American stage has exhi- 



ters are, in general, unnaturally drawn, but that such characters 

 ought never to have been e^ihibited at all ; not that their inci- 

 dents are impossible or incredible, but that such incidents, whe- 

 ther 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. 



* Baron Holberg was one of the most extraordinary characters 

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

 seventeenth century; was the son of a private soldier, and 

 learned to read without the help of a master. Being deprived of 

 his father at nine years of age, he persisted in pursuing his studies, 

 travelled from school to school, and beg2;ed his learning and his 

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

 came over to England, v.here he resided two years at the univer- 

 sity of Oxford. ^ Furnished with a large portion of the learning 

 of Europe, he at length settled at Copenhagen, v.here his nume- 

 rous writings gained him much public notice and liberal favours 

 from the government. He composed eighteen comedies. Those 

 in his own language are said to excel j and those which have 

 been translated into Fi ench are represented as having great merit. 

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

 icni State of Polite Learning. 



