ACCOUNT of the GERMAN THEATRE. 179 



an anagram of Caron, with the letters a little tranfpofed. The 

 diftrefs of the play arifes from the falfehood of a lover, who 

 leaves his miitrefs after being engaged to marry her. Neither 

 the delineation of the characters, nor the management of the 

 plot in the firft two acts, is entitled to much applaufe \ but the 

 laft act, which paffes in fight of the corpfe of Maria, is wrought 

 up with uncommon force, and muft, on the ftage, be produc- 

 tive of high effect. His third performance, Stella, is ftrongly 

 marked with that enthufiaftic fentiment and refined fenfibility, 

 which, in the Sorrows of Werter, he has fo warmly indulged ; 

 and in point of immoral effe<5t, the drama is equally reprehen- 

 fible with the novel. Its conclufion is in the boldefl Ityle of 

 this fentimental refinement ; fince it gives to the hero two 

 wives, with whom he is to fhare that heart, to which the inci- 

 dents of the play have fhewn the claims of both. 



After Lessing and Goethe, Brandes feems to be the 

 author in thefe volumes next entitled to notice, and indeed, in 

 my opinion, the lead exceptionable of them all. His two come- 

 dies, Le Comte d'Olbach, and L* Hotel Garni, are highly interefling 

 in their fable, fpirited and natural in their dialogue, and con- 

 tain fituations and incidents truly theatrical, and extremely af- 

 fecting. 



Among the comedies of thefe volumes, is a very pleafant 

 one, entitled Le Creancier, by Mr Richter. A paragraph in 

 his preface is worthy of notice, as it ftrongly marks the pre- 

 vailing tendency of the German tafle in theatrical perform- 

 ances. " In thefe days, fays he, when all the world reads 

 " Shakespeare and Goethe, a drama like mine, which con- 

 " tains no outrageous paflions, of which the flyle is neither 

 " metaphorical nor bombaftic, which ventures to follow the 

 " good old Ariftotelian rules, fo long exploded among us, 

 " can hardly hope to pleafe the Ariftarchufes of our modern 

 " fchool. 



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