our later comedies of any reputation, are much purified from the licentiousness of former times. If they have not the spirit, the ease, and the wit of Congreve and Farquhar, this praise they justly merit, of being innocent and moral."*

DR. VICESIMUS KNOX, another devout and able preacher, says, "The Bible, the Iliad, and Shakspeare's works are allowed to be the sublimest books that the world can exhibit.-The human heart in general, whether it beats in the bosom of him who has been inspired by education, or of the neglected child of poverty, is taught to exercise some of its most amiable propensities, by the indulgence of commiseration in scenes of fancied woe.† Were the Theatre under certain regulations, a man might go to it as he would to church, to learn his duty; and it might justly be honoured with the appellation which it has often assumed, and be called the school of virtue. Indeed, there is no class of people however refined and polished, which may not receive such benefits from a well written tragedy as scarcely any other mode of instruction can af ford. He who has entered into all the feelings of a Shakspeare, an Otway, a Rowe, an Addison, may be said to have assimilated with their souls, and

Lectures on Rhetoric, and the Belles Lettres, vol. ii. pp. 336-7-8.

"Useful mirth, and salutary woe."- Dr. Johnson's Prologue.

snatched a sacred spark, which cannot fail to kindle something in himself resembling the ethereal fire of true genius. His nature will be improved, and a species of wisdom and elevation of spirit, which was in vain sought for in academic groves, may at last be imbibed in the Theatres. Philosophy may catch a warmth of the Drama, which is capable of advancing it to nobler heights than she could otherwise have attained. Socrates, whose benevolence and wisdom appeared to have something of divinity, was the voluntary assistant of Euripides in the composition of his tragedies, and undoubtedly was of opinion that he taught philosophy to instruct the herd of mankind in the most effectual manner, when he introduced her to their notice in the buskin."*

The REV. ARCHIBALD ALISON, in his "Essays on Taste," says, "Had the taste of Shakspeare been equal to his genius, or had his knowledge of the laws of the Drama corresponded to his knowledge of the human heart, the effect of his compositions would not only have been greater than it now is, but greater perhaps, than we can well imagine; and had he attempted to produce, through a whole composition, that powerful and uniform interest

* Essays, vol. i. No. 15, p. 89. Dr. Styles pronounces a Threnodia over Dr. Knox, and laments that so sound a divine, and so good a preacher, should have written in defence of the Stage.

which he can raise in a single scene, nothing of that perfection would have been wanting, of which we may conceive this sublime art to be capable." And, again, in speaking of Corneille, "His object seems to have been, to exalt and to elevate the imagination; to awaken only the greatest and noblest passions of the human mind; and by presenting such scenes and such events alone, as could most powerfully promote this end, to render the Theatre a school of sublime instruction, rather than an imitation of common life."*

The number of churchmen who have written plays, or otherwise countenanced the Stage by their writings and example, is extraordinary. Sophonisba, the first Italian tragedy after the restoration of learning, is by the BISHOP TRISSINO, nuncio to Pope Leo X. It was first acted in Rome in 1515, on which occasion the Pope himself attended in state. The first Italian comedy, La Calandra, is by CARDINAL BIBIENA, and was first acted in 1490. The ABBE METASTASIO is the author of the numerous musical dramas so well

known, and equally remarkable for their pure morality and exquisite poetry. CARDINAL RICHELIEU was a warm patron of the Drama, and (out of jealousy of Corneille, as is said) wrote or assisted in the composition of tragedies, which have acquired him less fame than his diplomatic talents.

In England, considerably above one hundred clergymen are to be found in the list of dramatic authors, including many names eminent both for learning and piety. From among them I have selected the following. The first regular comedy in English, Gammer Gurton's Needle, was written by the REV. J. STILL, afterwards Bishop of Bath and Wells. DR. JOHN CHRISTOPHERSON, Bishop of Rochester and Dean of Norwich, in the reign of Henry VIII., is the author of a Latin tragedy, called Jephtha. DR. W. ALABASTER, Prebendary of St. Paul's, wrote a tragedy in Latin, called Roxana, in 1632. Wood, in his Ath. Oxon. says of him, "He was the rarest poet and Grecian that any one age or nation produced." DR. John Bale, Bishop of Ossory, called bilious Bale, from the acrimony of his controversial writings, is the author of above twenty dramatic pieces, four of which were published. DR. NICHOLAS BRADY, the coadjutor of TATE (who was also a dramatist) in the version of the Psalms, is the author of a tragedy, called The Rape, or the Innocent Impostors. The REV. THOMAS BROUGHTON, Prebendary of Salisbury Cathedral, is the author of a tragedy, called Hercules. The REV. WILLIAM CARTWRIGHT, who died in 1643, is the author of the Royal Slave, The Lady Errant, The Ordinary, and The Siege. He was an eminent preacher. The learned and

* Vide Baker's Biographia Dramatica.

pious Dr. Fell, Bishop of Oxford, said of him, "Cartwright was the utmost man could come to." DR. SAMUEL COXALL, Archdeacon of Salop, is the author of the Fair Circassian. DR. JOHN DALTON altered and adapted to the Stage, Milton's Comus. DR. DODD, who, though his end was unfortunate, was an able divine, and a religious man, wrote the oratorios of Ruth and Balaam, the tragedy of the Syracusan, and edited the Beauties of Shakspeare, with notes and annotations. DR. WARBURTON, Bishop of Gloucester, bestowed much time on an edition of Shakspeare, and in writing notes to his works. DR. PERCY, Bishop of Dromore, wrote an essay on the English Stage, and contributed many notes to the various editions of Shakspeare. The REVEREND LAURENCE ECHARD, author of the History of England, translated nine comedies of Plautus and Terence. DR. RICHARD EADES, Prebendary in Salisbury Cathedral, and Chaplain to Queen Elizabeth, is the author of several tragedies. The REVEREND PHINEAS FLETCHER is the author of a dramatic piece called Sicelides. DR. PHILIP FRANCIS, the translator of Horace and Demosthenes, is the author of two tragedies, Eugenia and Constantine. DR. FRANKLIN, Chaplain to King George III., translated seven tragedies of Sophocles, and is the author of the Earl of Warwick, Orestes, Electra, Matilda, The Contract, a comedy, Tragopodagra or the Gout, translated from Lucian, and a