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the name of Comedy, in contradiction to the Tragic Mufe for in the beginning they were the fame. The foundation, upon which Comedy was built, we have already explained to be the practice of fatirical repartee or altercation, in which individuals exposed the follies and frailties of each other on public occafions of worship and feftivity.

The firft regular plan of Comedy is faid to have been the Margites of Homer, expofing the idleness and folly of a worthless character; but of this performance we have no remains. That divifion, which is termed the Antient Comedy, belongs to the labours of Eupolis, Cratinus, and Ariftophanes, who were contemporaries, and flourished at Athens about four hundred and thirty years before the Christian æra. Such was the licence of the Mufe at this period, that, far from lafhing vice in general characters, The boldly exhibited the exact portrait of every individual, who had rendered himself remarkable or notorious by his crimes, folly, or debauchery. She affumed every circumftance of his external appearance, his very attire, air, manner, and even his name; according to the observation of Horace,

Poetæ

quorum Comoedia prifca virorum eft:

Si quis erat dignus defcribi, quod malus, aut fur,
Quod machus foret, aut ficarius, aut alioqui ·
Famofus, multa cum libertate notabant.

The Comic Poets, in its earliest age,

-

Who formed the manners of the Grecian ftage-
Was there a villain who might justly claim
A better right of being damn'd to fame,

Rake, cut-throat, thief, whatever was his crime,
They boldly ftigmatis'd the wretch in rhime.

Eupolis is faid to have fatirized Alcibiades in this manner, and to have fallen a facrifice to the refentment of that powerful Athenian: but others fay he was drowned in the Hellefpont, during a war against VOL. IV.

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the Lacedemonians; and that in confequence of this accident the Athenians paffed a decree, that no Poet fhould ever bear arms.

The Comedies of Cratinus are recommended by Quintilian for their eloquence; and Plutarch tells us, that even Pericles himself could not efcape the cenfure of this Poet.

Ariftophanes, of whom there are eleven Comedies ftill extant, enjoyed fuch a pre-eminence of reputation, that the Athenians by a public decree honoured him with a crown made of a confecrated olive-tree, which grew in the citadel, for his care and fuccefs in detecting and expofing the vices of thofe, who governed the commonwealth. Yet this Poet, whether impelled by mere wantonness of genius, or actuated by malice and envy, could not refrain from employing the fhafts of his ridicule againft Socrates, the most venerable character of Pagan antiquity. In the Comedy of The Clouds, this vir tuous Philofopher was exhibited on the ftage under his own name, in a cloak exactly refembling that which Socrates wore, in a mask modelled from his features, difputing publickly on the nature of right and wrong. This was undoubtedly an inftance of the most flagrant licentioufnefs; and what renders it the more extraordinary, the audience received it with great applaufe, even while Socrates himself fat publickly in the theatre. The truth is, the Athenians were fo fond of ridicule, that they relifhed it even when employed against the gods themselves, fome of whose characters were very roughly handled by Aristophanes and his rivals in reputation.

We might here draw a parallel between the inhabitants of Athens and the natives of England, in point of constitution, genius, and difpofition. Athens was a free ftate like England, that piqued itself upon the influence of the democracy. Like England, its

wealth

wealth and strength depended upon its maritime power; and it generally acted as umpire in the difputes that arose among its neighbours. The people of Athens, like thofe of England, were remarkably ingenious, and made great progrefs in the Arts and Sciences. They excelled in Poetry, Hiftory, Philofophy, Mechanics, and Manufactures; they were acute, difcerning, difputatious, fickle, wavering, rafh, and combuftible, and, above all other nations in Europe, addicted to ridicule; a character which the English inherit in a very remarkable degree.

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If we may judge from the writings of Ariftophanes, his chief aim was to gratify the spleen and excite the mirth of his audience; of an audience too, that would seem to have been uninformed by Tafte, and altogether ignorant of decorum; for his pieces are replete with the moft extravagant abfurdities, virulent flander, impiety, impurities, and low buffoonery. The Conic Mufe, not contented with being allowed to make free with the gods and philofophers, applied her fcourge fo feverely to the magiftrates of the commonwealth, that it was thought proper to reftrain her within bounds by a law, enacting, that no person should be ftigmatised under his real name; and thus the Chorus was filenced. In order to elude the penalty of this law, and gratify the tafte of the people, the Poets began to fubftitute fictitious names, under which they exhibited particular characters in fuch lively colours, that the refemblance could not poffibly be mistaken or overlooked. This practice gave rife to what is called the Middle Comedy, which was but of fhort duration : for the legislature, perceiving that the firft law had not removed the grievance, against which it was provided, iffued a fecond ordinance, forbidding, under fevere penalties, any real or family-occurrences to be represented. This reftriction was the immediate

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caufe of improving Comedy into a general mirror, held forth to reflect the various follies and foibles incident to Human Nature; a fpecies of writing called the New Comedy, introduced by Diphilus and Menander, of whofe works nothing but a few fragments remain.

ESSAY XV.

HAVING communicated our fentiments touching the origin of Poetry, by tracing Tragedy and Comedy to their common fource, we fhall now endeavour to point out the criteria, by which Poetry is diftinguithed from every other fpecies of writing. In common with other arts, fuch as Statuary and Painting, it comprehends imitation, invention, compofition, and enthufiafm. Imitation is indeed the bafis of all the liberal arts: invention and enthusiasm constitute Genius, in whatever manner it may be difplayed. Eloquence of all forts admits of Enthufiafm. Tully fays, an orator should be vehemens ut procella, excitatus ut torrens, incenfus ut fulmen; tonat, fulgurat, et rapidis Eloquentiæ fluctibus cuneta proruit et proturbat. "Violent as a tempeft, impetuous as a torrent, and glowing intense like the red bolt of heaven, he thunders, lightens, overthrows, and bears down all before him, by the irrefiftible tide of Eloquence." This is the mens divinior atque os magna fonaturum of Horace. This is the talent,

·Meum qui pectus inaniter angit, Irritat, mulcet, falfis terroribus implet,

Ut magus.

With paffions not my own who fires my heart;
Who with unreal terrors fills my breaft,

As with a magic influence poffefs'd.

We are told, that Michael Angelo Buonaroti used to work at his ftatues in a fit of enthufiafm, during which he made the fragments of the ftone fly about him with furprising violence. The celebrated Lully being one day blamed for fetting nothing to mufic but the languid verfes of Quinault, was animated with the reproach, and running in a fit of enthufiafm to his harpfichord, fung in recitative and accompanied four pathetic lines from the Iphigenia of Racine with fuch expreffion, as filled the hearers with aftonishment and horror.

Though Verfification be one of the criteria that diftinguish Poetry from Profe, yet it is not the fole mark of diftinction. Were the Hiftories of Polybius and Livy fimply turned into verfe, they would not become Poems; because they would be deftitute of those figures, embellishments, and flights of imagination, which difplay the Poet's Art and Invention. On the other hand, we have many productions that juftly lay claim to the title of Poetry, without having the advantage of verfification; witnefs the Pfalms of David, the Song of Solomon, with many beautiful hymns, defcriptions, and rhapfodies, to be found in different parts of the Old Teftament; fome of them the immediate production of divine infpiration : witnefs the Celtic fragments, which have lately appeared in the English language, and are certainly replete with poetical merit. But though good verfification alone will not conftitute Poetry, bad verfification alone will certainly degrade and render difguftful the fublimeft fentiments and fineft flowers of imagination. This humiliating power of bad verfe appears in many tranflations of the antient poets; in Ogilby's Homer, Trapp's Vir

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