ADVERTISEMENT.

I AM as ready as the most rigid Critic to confess, that nothing can be more simple and inartificial than the plans of the following Dramas. In the construction of them I have seldom ventured to

introduce any persons of my own creation; still less did I imagine myself at liberty to invent circumstances. I reflected with awe, that the place whereon I stood was holy ground. All the latitude I permitted myself was, to make such persons as I selected act under such circumstances as I found, and express such sentiments as, in my humble judgment, appeared not unnatural to their characters and situations.Some of the speeches are so long as to retard the action; for I rather aspired after Moral Instruction than the purity of Dramatic Composition. I am aware that it may be brought as an objection, that I have now and then made my Jewish characters speak too much like Christians, as it may be questioned whether I have not occasionally ascribed to them a degree of light and

* Never, indeed, except in DANIEL, and that of necessity; as the Bible furnishes no more than two persons, Daniel and Darius; and these were not sufficient to carry on the business of the piece.

knowledge greater than they probably had the means of possessing; but I was more anxious in consulting the advantage of my youthful readers by leading them on to higher religious views, than in securing to myself the reputation of critical exactness.

It will be thought that I have chosen, perhaps, the least important passage in the eventful life of David, for the foundation of the Drama which bears his name. Yet, even in this his first exploit, the Sacred Historian represents him as exhibiting no mean lesson of modesty, humility, courage, and piety. Many will think that the introduction of Saul's daughter would have added to the effect of the piece; and I have no doubt but that it would have made the intrigue more complicated and amusing, had this Drama been intended for the stage. There, all that is tender, and all that is terrible in the passions, find a proper place. But I write for the Young, in whom it will be always time enough to have the passions awakened; I write for a class of Readers, to whom it is not easy to accommodate one's subject, so as to be at once useful and interesting.

It would not be easy, nor perhaps proper, to introduce Sacred Tragedies on the English Stage. The pious would think it profane, while the profane would think it dull. Yet the excellent RACINE, in a profligate country and a voluptuous court, ventured to adapt the story of Athalia to the French Theatre; and it remains to us a glorious monument of its Author's courageous piety, while it exhibits the perfection of the Dramatic Art.