advantage it received from a happiness in its application, but retains its intrinfic greatness. This, I think, will appear, by comparing the answers of Afpafia and Lear, in the two last examples, with the following reply of Guiderius, to the rash and foolish Cloten, who had threatened to kill him.

Cloten.

Art not afraid?

Guid. Thofe that I rev'rence, thofe I fear, the wife ;

At fools I laugh, not fear them.

THIS fentiment had been noble on any occafion; on this, it is happy as well as great.

FROM thefe obfervations it is evident, that the variety and force of our fentiH 3

ments,

ments, particularly in the pathetic, muft depend on the variety and nature of their motives. In this the Painter is extremely confined; for among the infinite turns and workings of the mind, which may be exprefled by words, and become the fprings of fentiment, there are fo few to which he can give a shape or being; and his indications of peculiar and characteristic feelings, are fo vague and undecifive, that his expreffions, like their motives, must be [q] obvious and general.

[] f Painting be inferior to Poetry, Mufic, confidered as an imitative art, must be greatly inferior to Painting for as Mufic has no means of explaining the motives of its various impreffions, its imitations of the Manners and Paffions must be extremely vague and undecifive for inftance, the tender and melting tones which may be expreffive of the Paffion of Love, will be equally in unifon with the collateral feelings of Benevolence, Friendship, Pity, and the like-Again, how are we to diftinguish the rapid movements of Anger, from

It is obfervable, that the fame Critics, who condemn fo much in Shakespear a neglect of the unities, are equally forward in acknowledging the fingular energy and beauty of his fentiments. Now, it seems to me, that the fault which they censure, is the principal fource of the beauties which they admire. For, as the Poet was not confined to an [r] unity and fimplicity of action,

those of Terror, Distraction, and all the violent agitations of the Soul But, let Poetry co-operate with Mufic, and fpecify the motive of each particular impreffion, we are no longer at a lofs; we acknowlege the agreement of the found with the idea, and general impreffions become fpecific indications of the Manners and the Paffions.

that

[r] Aristotle, in his Poetics, chap. vi. observes, the first Dramatic Poets were irregular in the conduct of the Fable; but excelled in the Manners, and in the Diction that the Poets of his time, on the contrary, excelled in the conduct of the Fable, but were weak in the Manners, and declamatory in the Diction. By the

he created incidents in proportion to the promptnefs and vivacity of his genius. Hence, his fentiments fpring from motives exquifitely fitted to produce them to this they owe that original fpirit, that commanding energy, which overcome the improbabilities of the scene; and transport the heart in defiance of the understanding. I do not mean by this to justify our

Manners, are to be understood all thofe fentiments which become indications of Character. The advantage of these in Tragedy, according to Ariftotle, confifts in this, that they give us a rule, by which we may judge what the refolutions and actions of the perfons in the Drama will be. After this, he cenfures the Poets of his time, for being weak in the Manners. Αι γαρ νέων των πλείτων, anders Teayadian Hot. Dacier, his Commentator, has affed the fame cenfure on the French Drama-Aujourd hu, dans la plus part des piéces de nos Poetes, on ne connoit les mœurs des perfonnages, qu'en les voiant agir. As both the Greek and French Poets, here spoken of, were rigid obfervers of the dramatic Unities, thefe facts must strongly confirm what has been advanced on this fubject.

Poet

Poet in all his exceffes. It must be confeffed, that he has often carried the indulgence of his genius much too far: but, it is equally certain, that a rigid observance of the dramatic unities is not free from objections: for, as no one fimple and confined action can furnish many incidents, and thofe, fuch as they are, must tend to one common point, it neceffarily follows, that there must be a fameness and uniformity in the fentiments. What must be the result of this? Why, narration is fubftituted in the place of the action; the [r] weakness in the manners fupplied by elaborate defcriptions; and the quick and lively turns of paffion are loft in the detail, and

of declamation.

pom

in

de are

Hort. May we not add to the objection

jection, which has often struc

ges: these are

often