any means exclude gaiety and ridicule; but it lays the chief stress upon tender and interesting situations; it aims at being sentimental, and touching the heart by means of the capital incidents; it makes our pleasure arise, not so much from the laughter which it excites, as from the tears of affection and joy which it draws forth.

In English, Steele's Conscious Lovers is a comedy which approaches to this character, and it has always been favourably received by the public. In French, there are several dramatic compositions of this kind, which possess considerable merit and reputation; such as the Melanide, and Préjugé à la Mode, of La Chaussée; the Père de Famille, of Diderot; the Cénie, of Mad. Graffigny; and the Nanine, and L'Enfant Prodigue, of Voltaire.

When this form of comedy first appeared in France, it excited a great controversy among the critics. It was objected to as a dangerous and unjustifiable innovation in composition. It is not comedy, said they, for it is not founded on laughter and ridicule. It is not tragedy, for it does not involve us in sorrow. By what name then can it be called; or what pretensions bath it to be comprehended under dramatic writing? But this was trifling, in the most egregious manner, with critical names and distinctions, as if these had invariably fixed the essence, and ascertained the limits, of every sort of composition. Assuredly, it is not necessary that all comedies should be formed on one precise model. Some may be entirely light and gay; others may be more serious; some may be of a mixed nature; and all of them, properly executed, may furnish agreeable and useful entertainment to the public, by suiting the different tastes of men. Serious and tender comedy has no title to claim to itself the possession of the stage, to the exclusion of ridicule and gaiety. But when it retains only its proper place, without usurping the province of any other; when it is carried on with resemblance to real life, and without introducing romantic and unnatural situations; it may certainly prove both an interesting and an agreeable species of dramatic writing. If it become insipid and drawling, this must be imputed to the fault of the author, not to the nature of the composition, which may admit much liveliness and vivacity.

"Il y a beaucoup de très-bonnes pièces, où il ne règne que de la gaiete : d'autres toutes sérieuses; d'autres melangées; d'autres, où l'attendrissement va jusqu'aux larmes. Il ne faut donner exclusion à aucun genre; 'et si l'on me demandoit, quel genre est le meilleur? je répondrois, celui qui est le mieux traité."-VOLTAIRE.

In general, whatever form comedy assumes, whether gay or serious, it may always be esteemed a mark of society advancing in true politeness, when those theatrical exhibitions, which are designed for public amusement, are cleared from indelicate sentiment, or inmoral tendency. Though the licentious buffoonery of Aristophanes amused the Greeks for a while, they advanced, by degrees, to a chaster and juster taste; and the like progress of refinement may be concluded to take place among us, when the public receive with favour dramatic compositions of such a strain and spirit, as entertained the Greeks and Romans, in the days of Menander and Terence.

INDEX.

A

Go.

ACCENTS, thrown further back from the termination in the English than in
any other language, 112. Seldom more than one in English words, 445.
vern the measure of English verse, 521.

Achilles, his character in the Iliad, examined, 590.

Action, much used to assist language in an imperfect state, 68. And by ancient
orators and players, 70. Fundamental rule of propriety in, 454. Cautions
with respect to, 455. In epic poetry, the requisites of, 575.

Acts, the division of a play into five, an arbitrary limitation, 624. These pauses
in representation ought to fall properly, 625.

Adam, his character in Milton's Paradise Lost, 614.
Addison, general view of his Essay on the Pleasures of the Imagination, 28. His
invocation of the muse in his Campaign, censured, 50. Blemishes in his style,
132, 133, 143. Ease and perspicuity of, 147, 148, 151. His beautiful descrip
tion of light and colours, 182. Instance of his use of mixed metaphor, 194.
Cha-
Improper use of similes, 217. His general character as a writer, 247.
racter of his Spectator, 256. Critical examination of some of those papers,
257. Remarks on his criticism of Tasso's Aminta, 536, note. His tragedy of
Cato critically examined, 623, 631, 636, 639.

Adjectives, common to all languages, 99. How they came to be classed with
nouns, ib.

Adverbs, their nature and use defined, 105. Importance of their position in a
sentence illustrated, 132.

Eneid of Virgil, critical examination of that poem, 594. The subject, 595.
Action, ib. Is deficient in characters, 596. Distribution and management
of the subject, 597. Abounds with awful and tender scenes, 597. The descent
of Aneas into hell, ib. The poem left unfinished by Virgil, 599.
echines, a comparison between him and Demosthenes, 327.

Eschylus, his character as a tragic writer, 610.

Elna, remarks on Virgil's description of that mountain, 47. And on that by
Sir Richard Blackmore, 48.

Affectation, the disadvantages of, in public speaking, 455.

Ages, four peculiarly fruitful in learned men, pointed out, 470.

Akenside, his comparison between sublimity in natural and moral objects, 34,
note. Instance of his happy allusion to figures, 181. Character of his Plea
sures of the Imagination, 545.

Alphabet of letters, the considerations which led to the invention of, 83. Remote
obscurity of this invention, 84. The alphabets of different nations derived
from one common source, 85.

Allegory, explained, 196. Anciently a favourite method of conveying instruc
tions, 198. Allegorical personages improper agents in epic poetry, 583, 611.
Ambiguity in style, whence it proceeds, 132.

Amplification in speech, what, 225. Its principal instrument, 226.
American languages, the figurative style of, 72, 178.

Anagnorisis, in ancient tragedy, explained, 626.

Annals, and history, the distinction between, 494.

Ancients and moderns distinguished, 472. The merits of ancient writers are now
finally ascertained, 472. The progress of knowledge favourable to the mo-
derns in forming a comparison between them, 473. In philosophy and history,
473. The efforts of genius greater among the ancients, 476. A mediocrity
of genius now more diffused, 475.

Antithesis in language explained, 220. The too frequent use of, censured, 221.

Apostrophe, the nature of this figure explained, 211. Fine one from Cicero,
550, note.

Arabian Nights' Entertainments, a character of those tales, 507.

Arabian poetry, its character, 516.

Aruthnot, character of his epistolary writing, 504.

Architecture, sublimity in, whence it arises, 33. The sources of beauty in, 57.
Arguments, the proper management of, in a discourse, 429. Analytic and syn-
thetic methods, ib. Arrangement of, 430. Are not to be too much multi-
plied, 432.

Ariosto, character of his Orlando Furioso, 508, 606.

Aristotle, his rules for dramatic and epic compositions, whence derived, 24. His
definition of a sentence, 129. His extended sense of the term metaphor, 185.
Character of his style, 233, 238. His institutions of rhetoric, 365. His defi-
nition of tragedy considered, 617. His observations on tragic characters, 633.
Aristophanes, character of his comedies, 653.

Arithmetical figures, universal characters, 82.

Ark of the covenant, choral service performed in the procession of bringing à
back to Mount Sion, 563.

Armstrong, character of his Art of preserving Health, 545.

Art, works of, considered as a source of beauty, 56.

Articles, in language, the use of, 90. Their importance in the English Language
illustrated, ib.

Articulation, clearness of, necessary in public speaking, 445.

Associations academical, recommended, 466. Instructions for the regulation
of, 466.

Athenians, ancient, character of, 321. Eloquence of, 322.

Atterbury, a more harmonious writer than Tillotson, 165. Critical examination
of one of his sermons, 394. His exordium to a 30th of January sermon, 418.
Attici and Asiani, parties at Rome, account of, 332.

Anthors, petty, why no friends to criticism, 24. Why the most ancient afford
the most striking instances of sublimity, 39. Must write with purity, to gain
esteem, 114.

B

Bacon, his observations on romances, 506.

Ballads, have great influence over the manners of a people, 506. Were the first
vehicles of historical knowledge and instruction, 514.

Bar, the eloquence of, defined, 360. Why more confined than the pleadings
before ancient tribunals, 362. Distinction between the motives of pleading at
the bar, and speaking in popular assemblies, 360. In what respects ancient
pleadings differ from those of modern times, 361. Instructions for pleaders,
363, 424.

Bards, ancient, the first founders of law and civilization, 514.

Barrow, Dr., character of his style, 235. Character of his sermons, 392.
Beaumont and Fletcher, their characters as dramatic poets, 658.
Beauty, the emotion raised by, distinguished from that of sublimity, 51. Is a
term of vague application, 52. Colours, ib. Figure, 53. Hogarth's line of
beauty, and line of grace, considered, 54. Motion, ib. A landscape the
most complete assemblage of beautiful objects, 55. The human countenance,
ib. Works of art, 56. The influence of fitness and design in our ideas of
beauty, ib. Beauty in literary composition, 57. Novelty, 58. Imita-
tion, 59.

Bergerus, a German critic, writes a treatise on the sublimity of Cæsar's Com-
mentaries, 37.

Berkeley, bishop, character of his Dialogues on the Existence of Matter, 501.
Biography, as a class of historical composition, characterized, 495.
Blackmore, Sir Richard, remarks on his description of Mount Etna, 48.
Blackwall, his character as a writer, 249.

Boileau, his character as a didactic poet, 548.

Bolingbroke, instances of inaccuracy in his style, 140, 152. A beautiful climax
from 150. A beautiful metaphor from, 186. His general character as a poli-
tician and philosopher, 187. His general character as a writer, 250, 461.
Bombast in writing, described, 50.

Bossu, his definition of an epic poem, 571. His account of the composition of
the Iliad, ib.

Bossuet, M. instances of apostrophes to personified objects, in his Funeral