rfo ACCOUNT of the GERMAN THEATRE. 



lately affumed in point of moral bienfeance, which is equally 

 unfavourable to excellence of compofition and to decency of 

 manners. The fame remark might be extended to our ftage, 

 were it not now funk to fuch a ftate of degradation as hardly 

 to be worthy of notice. 



The collection of the German theatre by Junker, contains, 

 befides Sara Sampfon> which is common to both publications, 

 three trag. dies, fix comedies, a drame and a paftoral. That of 

 Friedel confifts of twelve volumes, containing twenty-feven 

 dramatic pieces, of which thirteen are tragedies, nine are called 

 comedies, and five drames, a fpecies of performance for which 

 we have not yet got in Engliih a very definite term. It holds 

 a fort of middle place between tragedy and comedy, borrowing 

 from the firft its paflions and fentiments, from the laft the rank 

 of its perfons, and the fortunate nature of its conclufion. 



This fort of drama was for fome time extremely popular in 

 France, and was thence adopted into the theatres of England 

 and Germany, but particularly into the latter, where it feems 

 to have been peculiarly adapted to that turn for high-wrought 

 fenfibility, which I have before mentioned as having become a 

 fort of national tafte in that country. Indeed, mod of the 

 comedies of thefe volumes might be clafTed under this denomi- 

 nation. 



There are three hiftorical plays, one of which, of the 

 higheft popularity in Germany, is Goetz de Berliching, founded 

 on the hiflory, or rather indeed detailing the hiftory, of a chief 

 of that name, in the war of the peafants in the time of the 

 emperor Maximilian. This play goes beyond the utmoft 

 licence of our Shakespeare, in its change of fcene and mul- 

 tiplicity of incident. Yet this was written as late as the year 



*773- 

 The principal authors of thefe collections are Lessing, 



Goethe and Brandes. The two firft are fufEciently known 5 

 the laft, Brandes, is the director of a company of German co- 

 medians : 



