CLEANDER to HYDASPES.

REMEMBER to have given thee an account some time since, of the character of EURIPIDES. It is with pleasure I can acquaint thee now, that by the means of SOCRATES, I am admitted into his esteem and confidence. He entertained me the other day with a play he has written on the fate of ORESTES, after the murder of his mother; which is wrought up with all the interesting circumstances, which the imagination of the poet, or the passions of human nature, can afford. As soon as the distress is raised to the height, and the expectation of the spectator with it, APOLLO descends from heaven in the last scene; and when you look for confusion, misery, and bloodshed, puts an end to it, to the satisfaction of all parties. Nothing (said I) can be finer or more affecting "than this performance; and yet I own myself no friend to what you poets call the Deity from the machine.' It is true, here is a difficulty worthy of his presence; nevertheless, I am better pleased to see things unravelled by the ordinary operation of second causes, than by a sudden interposition. The gods, you know, may do anything; and though I can trust them in the hands of so judicious a writer as yourself, I am in pain whenever they "are introduced on the stage, lest they should do a great deal more "than their business. The practice therefore should be discouraged; "and methinks I am unwilling it should have the sanction of your example. Could you have managed the story before us, as you have done some others, the whole would have been of a piece,

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piece, and the tragedy would have concluded with as much nature "" as it is conducted." " If you consider the plot, (answered EURI"PIDES,) you will find it impossible to have turned it otherwise. "And to speak my sentiments with freedom, when the play is drawing to a close, the attention of the audience on the rack, "unable to divine the consequences, it is an agreeable surprize to bring things at once to an happy issue, and send them away in good temper. Such pieces make a deeper impression on the mind, "than those in which you are prepared before-hand for the event. "I entirely approve what you say concerning the celestial machinery of the theatre. And we may observe, they are the fondest " of it who shew in every line a remarkable poverty of invention, "but value themselves on a fruitful fancy, because their deities appear "in all the wantonness of miracles. In truth, how can the frequent recourse to this machinery be an instance of genius? It had "its birth from simple necessity, and should be used only in the last extremity; yet (like several of the arts of life, which were equally "mean in their original) has been applied to the purposes of elegance and ornament. Believe me, I should be sorry to deserve "the censure." "" Mistake me not (returned I):-To censure you "as a lover of these extravagancies, who are the truest master and "observer of nature in the drama, would be as ridiculous, as to upbraid SOCRATES with the follies of the sophist. You may be "convinced then, that, if I have common sense, I could not mean "it; and, upon recollection, I am persuaded, there is no way of finishing your ORESTES, but that which you have chosen." "I

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"was fully possessed of your meaning, (replied he,) yet am obliged "to you for your polite manner of explaining it. At the same time "I take it as a proof of friendship, that you communicate every remark which occurs to you at first reading, even though it be "crude and inaccurate. I assure you it pleases me to find, that my

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tragedy is exempted from the imputation you have justly thrown upon many others. If I do not deceive myself, it is of that kind, "which alone renders the descent of a god excusable, (since I think "it can in no case be commendable,) and may be vindicated, as well "from the affection of the spectators for the wonderful, as from the reasons I have mentioned." "I wish (interrupted I) you would "forbear appealing to the vicious taste of the times in your defence, especially when you are supported by better arguments." "You

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may laugh at it, (said he,) but it is of considerable weight. A "dramatick writer, and a popular orator, are nearly in the same "circumstances. They must each of them consult the humour of "their contemporaries; or else they will never have an hearing ; " and impartial posterity must make allowances.'

"The affection for the wonderful, (continued I,) prevails very strongly in the present age. And those, who are desirous "to enjoy reputation, while they live, always sacrifice the maturest "result of their own judgment, in accommodation to the caprice "of their country men. HERODOTUS has interwoven some of "the traditional romances of antiquity into his narration from that "powerful motive. The schools of the sophists and philosophers "abound in allegories. The theatre, instead of exhibiting to us "stories of an established date, or undoubted authority, (such as "the banishment of PISISTRATUS's family from Athens,) is alto"gether conversant with the heroes and demi-gods of fable."

"You would gladly (answered EURIPIDES) bring history upon "the stage) as it might give a fair opportunity for enforcing the principles of liberty, and a love of our country. But in some "instances the nature of tragedy, and in all the temper of the Athe"nians forbids it. The nature of tragedy cannot bear it, because "there

VOL. II.

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