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but does not know him at the time, and then most happily recognizes him in the moment when she is ready to plunge a poinard in his heart. This is the situation which Aristotle thinks the finest and most pathetic that can be invented. The mother is saved from: a scene of horror, and the innocent son is reseued from immediate death. Euripides's tras gedy has perished in the wreck of time, but the subject appeared to be so truly tragical, that various authors in Italy and France have at different times tried their strength in this bow of Ulysses. Voltaire mentions them by name, but says, they all disfigured the story by episodicals and uninteresting love-plots. length Scipio Maffei produced a simple and well-connected fable. This was the platform upon which Voltaire went to work. His tragedy has been always justly admired. Our English

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English Merope has not the same claim to ap plause. In the preface, Aaron Hill says, in his usual lofty tone, that he has retouched for Mr. Voltaire's use the characters in his high boasted Merope. This looks like a spirit of emulation, and naturally leads us to expect great alterations and considerable improvements. Nothing of the sort occurs; the translator follows his author in a regular series, scene by scene, The dialogue, indeed, is somewhat varied, that is, the speeches do not expand to an unnatural length, according to the French manner. On this head Aaron Hill speaks as follows: “Our unpolished London

stage (as Voltaire assumes the liberty of "calling it) has entertained a nobler taste of "dignified simplicity than to deprive drama"tic poetry of all that animates the passions, "in pursuit of a cold, starved, tame, absti

66 nence,

nence, which, from an affectation to shun "figure, sinks into flatness, an elaborate es

cape from energy into a grovelling, weari "some, bald, barren, unalarming, chillness of

26.

expression, that emasculates the mind instead

"of moving it." After this high-flown rant, we expect that dignified simplicity which has been mentioned with an air of superiority, and yet we have nothing but a strained, farfetched, and uncommon use of words, without harmony in the versification, in many places grating to the ear. There is extant a letter from Lord Bolingbroke to the author, "We in which that great master of stile says, "have doubted (Mr. Pope and I) whether fin some sentences the utmost effort of lan"guage has not obscured the beauty and

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"force of thought." This certainly was the constant error of Aaron Hill's stile; we perceive in all his works an elaborate attempt to avoid flatness: His notion was, that to be impressive, the language must be forced and distorted; and yet, notwithstanding these defects, the tragedy of Merope was received with the warmest applause, Mrs. Pritchard in the character of the mother, and Garrick, in that of her son, made the spectators pant with terror and pity, and at last drew tears of joy from every eye. The house was crowded during the run of the play, and, after great success,

was closed at the usual time.

CHAP.

CHAP. XV.

GARRICK'S Marriage with VIOLETTI-Resigns the Part of OTHELLO to BARRY, and acts that of IAGO-The Play of MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING grows into great Vogue on Account of the frequent Passages alluding to GARRICK's Mar riage EDWARD THE BLACK PRINCE, a Tragedy, by WILLIAM SHIRLEY, a Merchant at Lisbon-Defects of the Play.

IN the month of July, Garrick entered on a new scene of life. He married the fair Violetti, a native of Vienna, who chose to grace herself with an Italian name. She was an elegant figure, and, as a dancer, greatly admired for the uncommon charm, which she displayed in all her movements. Previous to this match, it is certain that Garrick was on the point of

marrying

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