538 
youth. The poems are written in the 
Cumberland dialeét, defcriptive, generally, 
of the manners and fcenery of the coun- 
try: they have that fimplicity, and thofe 
delicate touches of nature, which never 
fail to intereft the heart. From Poetry, 
we proceed to 
THE DRAMA. 
Mr. WALKER, a member of the Ar- 
cadian Academy at Rome, has publithed, 
ijn oge quarto volume, an Hifforical Me- 
moir on Ttalian Tragedy, from the earleft 
Period to the prefent Time; ilufirated with 
Specimens and Anolyfes of the moft celebrated 
Tragedies ; and inter/perfed with occafional 
Obfervations an the Lialian Theatre, and 
biographical Notices of the principal tragic 
Writers of Italy. This work will be truly 
acceptable to the lovers of Italian litera- 
ture ; and we doubt not but the labours of 
Mr: Walker, Mr. Rofcoe, and Sir Richard 
Ciayton, will direéi the attention of their 
countrymen to the treafures of learning, 
which are fo abundantly fcattered through 
that claffic climate. - 
Toe Baiile of the Nile is a dramatic 
poem, written on the model of the Greek 
tragedy ; the idea is profefiedly taken from 
the Perfg of AE{chylus, and the author has 
‘been fomewhat more fuccefsful in his imi- 
tation than moft who have aimed at it be- 
fore him. 
The Captive of Spilourg,altered from the 
French drama, Le Souterrain, is publifhed, 
with a neat preface by the tranflator. 
Every now and then we hear a charge 
brought againft the managers of our na- 
tiona! theatres, of having detained the ma- 
nufcripts of authors who fend them their 
plays for approbation ; afterwards of re- 
turning them, with a polite refufal to 
have any farther concern with them, and, 
almof immediately, of bringing on the 
fiage fome drama, immateriaily altered, 
perhaps, from the rejected manufcript. 
More than one inftance of this kind have 
lately been made public; and the managers 
have not condefcended to vindicate them- 
felves (at leaft their vindication has not 
reached us) from the difagreeable and ig- 
nominious charge. 
Mr. REyNOLDS's Cheap Livingis faid 
to have been pirated in this manner from 
The School for Ingratitude, a comedy in 
five acts, which has lately been publifhed. 
The author infinuates, in no equivocal 
terms, that unfair ufe has been made of 
his manufcript by the managers of Drury- 
lane; he ftates, that the coincidence of 
character, featiment, and expreffion, be- 
tween his own comedy and that which is 
aturributed to Mr. Reynoids, * are as 
} Retrofpett of Domeftic Literaturé....Pottry....Dramai 
much beyond the power of chance, as i¢ 
the fyttem of the univerfe.” There cer- 
tainly is not much in the School for Ingra- 
titude that, inoureftimation; would beat alf 
worth borrowing ; but this does not alter 
the nature of the grievance ; and we are 
decidedly of opinion, that any unfair ufe 
which managers make ‘of any manu- 
{cript fent for their approbation, is an in- 
fringement of copy-right, and an-action- 
able offence. 
Falfe and True is a play in three aéts, 
which was performed at the Hay-market 
theatre with fome applaufe: there are a 
few good {cenes in it, but the charaéters 
are extravagant, and overcharged. 
Mr. SoaveEN is already known as a 
writer for the ftage ; he dramatifed Mrs. 
RaDCLIFFE’s Italian with fome little 
fuccefs: he has attempted the fame with 
Mr. Lewis’s Mozé, and has fpoiled it. 
‘The play is called Aurelio and Miranda ¥ 
the charaéters, in his original, are Am- 
brofio and Matilda. 
‘The poverty of our own dramas conti- 
nues to prompt our activity in tranflating ¢ 
KOTZEBUE, one of the moft popular dras 
matifis in Germany, has alfo eftablithed 
his popularity in England. We noticed 
feveral of his plays on a former occafion ; 
to the number we are now enabled to add 
others, none of which will derogate from 
the celebrity of the author. 
Mr. THOmpPpson has tranflated Ade- 
laide of Wulfngen, a tragedy in four aéts, 
exemplifying the barbarity which pre- 
vailed during the thirteenth century ; and 
Mifs PLUMPTRE has tranflated, with 
much fpirit and accuracy, The Count of 
Burgundy. The plet of the former of thefe 
plays is complex and horrible in the laft 
degree ; on both which accounts, it is not 
likely to be fo favourite a compofition in 
this country as the Jatter, where the fable 
is remarkably fimple, and where the ex- 
cellence of the piece confifts in delicate des 
lineation of chara¢ter. . 
The Reconciliation is the the name of 
one of Kotzebue’s plays, drawn from 
the catafirophe: two brothers, through 
the amiable interference of benevolent 
phyfician, Dr. Blum, are reconciled to 
each Otner, after a law-fuit of fifteen 
years. ‘Thefe domeftic ftories are thode 
whofe intereft is moft permanent: Kot- 
zebue, therefore, in making them the 
foundation of his dramas, is ereCting are-= 
putation which cannot be fhort-lived. 
Mifs Plumptre and Mr. Thompfon 
‘have both employed themfelves in tran{- 
lating, from the original German of the 
{ame author, Tbe Virgin of ibe Sun. Here 
Kotzebue 

