170 ACCOUNT of the GERMAN THEATRE.^ 



courfe of their ftory leads ; they exhibit every concomitant 

 fcene in which thofe perfons may be fuppofed to have been 

 concerned. The more inventive imagination an author pof- 

 fefTes, the more he is liable to this fault, if that imagination is 

 not chaftened by learning, and regulated by tafte. Richard- 

 son, who may perhaps be ranked next to Shakespeare among 

 our authors of untutored genius, is an inflance of this in later 

 times. His painting is always in nature ; but his canvas is 

 often filled with unneceflary figures, which add to the fize, 

 while they diminifh the effect of the picture. Shakespeare 

 (as might more readily be expected) is in this particular ex- 

 tremely faulty \ and his German admirers have not corrected 

 this fault in their imitations of him. They are more defective 

 than he in what may be called the unity of dialogue, ;'. e. in 

 making their perfonages fpeak only what is natural and im- 

 portant to their fituations, and to the conduct of the piece ; an 

 error to which feveral of their fcenes owe a degree of languor, 

 as well as length, which is apt to fatigue the reader, and mufh 

 have required very good fpeaking indeed, not to have tired the 

 audience. 



The ftyle of thefe volumes is in general bold, forcible and 

 rich ; in fome places perhaps rather too florid and ornamented. 

 This is apt to ftrike us more in profe, in which moft of the 

 pieces in thefe collections are written, and into which they are 

 all tranflated, than it does in verfe ; becaufe elevation of lan- 

 guage is more expected in the latter than in the former. It has 

 been generally held as a maxim in dramatic dialogue, that the 

 pathetic mould be exprefTed in the fimpleft language ; that de- 

 icription and moral fentiment may admit of the pomp of verfe 

 and the ornaments of eloquence, but that paflion and diftrefs 

 do not allow of fuch decorations, becaufe they bring the mind 

 into a fituation which fwelling or figurative language does not 

 fuit. This is evidently jufl to a certain degree. The mind, 

 occupied with, and full of its own feelings, has no leifure to 



'ftudy 



