[25] ON DRAMATIC POETRY. O form T a true judgment of the merit of any dramatic composition, we should first confider the offices and ends of the Drama; what are its pretenfions, and for what purposes it assumes a manner so different from any other kind of poetical imitation. The epic Poem and the Tragedy, says Aristotle, are purely imitations *; but the dramatic is an imitation of the actions of men, by the means of action itself. The epic is also an imitation of the actions of men, but it imitates by narration. The most perfect, and the best imitation, is certainly that which gives the most adequate, * Arift. Poet. C. 1. Chap. 3. lively, lively, and faithful copy of the thing imitated. Homer was so sensible of the fuperior force and efficacy of the dramatic manner, that he often drops the narrative to assume it; and Aristotle says, that for having invented the dramatic imitation, and not on account of his other excellencies, He alone deserves the name of Poet *. It is apparent therefore, how far this great Critic prefers this, to every other species of Imitation, The general object of Poetry, among the ancients, was the instruction of mankind, in religion, morals, philosophy, &c. To these great purposes were tuned the harps of Orpheus, Musæus, Hefiod, Callimachus, &c. Nor in Greece alone was Poetry the teacher, and the guardian, of the sanctities of human fociety. Our Northern bards assumed the same holy offices; the same sacred character. They directed the modes of divine worship: they taught the moral duties; inspired and celebrated heroic deeds; sung the praises of valour, and the charms of * Chap. 4. + Histoire des Celtes, 1. 2. c. 9. liberty; 4 liberty; and snatched from oblivion the bold achievements, and meritorious acts, of Patriots, and of Heroes. In the East, the Poet veiled his inventions in mysterious allegories and divine mythology; and rather endeavoured to raise the mind to heavenly contemplations, than to instruct it in human affairs. In Greece, the general mother of arts, arose the mighty Genius of Homer; of whom it may be said, as it is of Socrates with relation to Philosophy, that he brought Poetry from heaven, to live in cities among men. The moral of the fable of the Iliad is adapted to the political state of Greece, whose various chiefs are thereby exhorted to unanimity; the Odyssey, to the general condition of human nature; but the episodical part of his works he has enriched with mythology, physical allegory, the fine arts, and whatever adorns the mind of man, or benefits society; even rules of domestic economy, focial behaviour, and all the sweet civilities of life, are taught by this great master, master, of what may be called, in the most enlarged sense, the Humanities. Yet first in the rank of all the eminent perfections of this unequalled Bard, is placed the invention of the dramatic imitation, by a Critic, whose judgment was formed by philosophy, and a deep knowledge of human nature. He saw the powerful agency of living words, joined to moving things, when still Narration yields the place to animated Action. It is as a moral philosopher, not as the mere connoiffeur in a polite art, that Ariftotle gives the preference, above all other modes of poetic imitation, to Tragedy, as capable to purge the passions, by the means of pity and terror *. The object of the epic Poem is to inspire magnanimity; to give good documents of life; to induce good habits; and, like a wholesome regimen, to preserve the whole moral economy in a certain soundness and integrity. But it is not composed of ingredients of such efficacy, as to mitigate the violent distempers of the mind, * Chap. 6. † Du Poeme Epique par Bossu, l. 2. C. 19. nor nor can apply its art to the benefit of the ignorant vulgar, where those distempers are in their most exasperated state. An epic Poem is too abstruse for the people; the moral is too much enveloped, the language too elevated for their apprehenfion; nor have they leisure, or application, to trace the consequences of ill-governed passions, or erroneous principles, through the long series of a voluminous work. The Drama is happily constituted for this purpose. Events are brought within the compass of a short period: precepts are delivered in the familiar way of discourse: the fiction is concealed, the allegory is realized; and Representation and Action take the place of cold unaffecting Narration. A Tragedy is a fable exhibited to the view, and rendered palpable to the senses; and every decoration of the Stage is contrived to impose the delusion on the fpectator, by conspiring with the imitation. It is addressed to the imagination, through which it opens to itself a communication with the heart, where it is to excite certain paffions and affections; each character being perfo |