very unequal in their merit. His best and most esteemed pieces are, the Cid, Horace, Polyeucte, and Cinna. Racine, as a tragic poet, is much superior to Corneille. He wanted the copiousness and grandeur of Corneille's imagination; but is free from his bombast, and excels him greatly in tenderness. Few poets, indeed, are more tender and moving than Racine. His Phædra, his Andromaque, his Athalie, and his Mithridate, are excellent dramatic performances, and do no small honour to the French stage. His language and versification are uncommonly beautiful. Of all the French authors, he appears to me to have most excelled in poetical style; to have managed their rhyme with the greatest advantage and facility, and to have given it the most complete harmony. Voltaire has, again and again, 'pronounced Racine's Athalie to be the "Chef d'Oeuvre" of the French stage. It is altogether a sacred drama, and owes much of its elevation to the majesty of religion; but it is less tender and interesting than Andromaque. Racine has formed two of his plays upon plans of Euripides. In the Phædra he is extremely successful, but not so, in my opinion, in the Iphigenie; where he has degraded the ancient characters, by unseasonable gallantry. Achilles is a French lover; and Eriphile, a modern lady*. *The characters of Corneille and Racine are happily contrasted with each other, in the following beautiful lines of a French poet, which will gratify several readers : CORNEILLE, Illum nobilibus majestas evehit alis Vertice tangentem nubes: stant ordine longo RACINE. Hunc circumvolitat penna alludente Cupido, Nec mortale sonans. Rapido fluit impetu vena, Vena Sophocleis non inficianda fluentis. Racinius Gallis haud visos ante theatris Mollior ingenio teneros induxit amores. Magnanimos quamvis sensus sub pectore verset Voltaire, in several of his tragedies, is inferior to none of his predecessors. In one great article, he has outdone them all, in the delicate and interesting situations which he has contrived to introduce. In these lies his chief strength. He is not, indeed, exempt from the defects of the other French tragedians, of wanting force, and of being sometimes too long and declamatory in his speeches; but his characters are drawn with spirit, his events are striking, and in his sentiments there is much elevation. His Zayre, Alzire, Meropé, and Orphan of China, are four capital tragedies, and deserve the highest praise. What one might perhaps not expect, Voltaire is, in the strain of his sentiments, the most religious, and the most moral, of all tragic poets. Though the musical dramas of Metastasio fulfil not the character of just and regular tragedies, they approach however so near to it, and possess so much merit, that it would be unjust to pass them over without notice. For the elegance of style, the charms of lyric poetry, and the beauties of sentiment, they are eminent. They abound in well contrived and interesting situations. The dialogue, by its closeness and rapidity, carries a considerable resemblance to that of the ancient Greek tragedies; and is both more animated and more natural, than the long declamation of the French theatre. But the shortness of the several dramas, and the intermixture of so much lyric poetry as belongs to this sort of composition, often occasions the course of the incidents to be hurried on too quickly, and prevents that consistent display of characters, and that full preparation of events, which are necessary to give a proper verisimilitude to tragedy." Polleat, et magni generosa superbia Pori Non semel eniteat, tamen esse ad mollia natum Templum Tragœdiæ, per FR, MARSY, ORIGINAL POETRY. SONNET TO APRIL. EMBLEM of life! see changeful April sail Then, smiling thro' the tear that dims her eyes, The smiles of Fortune flatter to deceive, So, Hope exultant spreads her äery sail, Nottingham, April 13, 1804. H. K. WHITE. SONNET. WRITTEN BY WILLIAM HAYLEY, ESQ. MARCH, 1804. In return for his interesting Correspondence with Foreign Academies. THANKS to the Friend of universal Art, Who shews me how a just and gen'rous mind, By boundless sympathy, and zeal refin'd, May thro' the veins of emulation dart And in such ties the social nations bind, ON THE DEATH OF JAMES HARE, Esq. M. P. HARK! 'twas the knell of death! what spirit flied? Shall not his genius life's short date prolong? Oh no! that mind for every purpose fit, Rest, spirit! rest; for gentle was thy course, Of the keen darts thy matchless satire threw. Yet not alone thy genius I deplore, Nor o'er thy various talents drop the tear, ON THE EYES. Tell not me of size or hue, But, though sparkling with delight, Or by bashfulness cast low; Staines. They'll surely please." A FEMALE BOOKWORM. MEMORANDA DRAMATICA. DRURY LANE. APRIL 7.---The Sailor's Daughter; the production of Mr. Cumberland, a gentleman who has given several excellent dramas to the stage, and many that deserve a very different epithet. Of the present attempt we cannot speak in favourable terms. It has the same fault with many of his late comedies. It exhibits the story of a modern novel, in feeble sentimental dialogue, without the support of dramatic situation, or any originality of comic character. We were once or twice charmed with a thought newly imagined, and a sentence elegantly turned; but the impression thus made was soon effaced by the general meagreness of the plot and dialogue, the loose construction of the scenes, and the total absence of spirit, humour, and novelty, from all the characters. There was some opposition on giving it out for a second performance, and after five or six unattractive representations, it was altogether laid aside, 16.---The Hypocrite, written originally by Cibber, under the title of The Nonjuror, to expose the cant of the Puritans in the time of Cromwell, and altered by Bickerstaffe, with a view to guard the world against another set of religious canters of a more modern date, was revived for the benefit of Mrs. Jordan, who undertook the character of Charlotte. This part, like many others which this lady has lately assumed, is not within the compass of her talents, and the selection of it was therefore very injudicious. The other characters afforded nothing worthy of particular notice, except Miss Pope's Old Lady Lambert, and the Cantwell of Dowton, which was indeed an excellent piece of acting. A new farce called The Middle Dish; or, the Irishman in Turkey, succeeded; but it was a dish so little to the taste of the audience, that it was speedily removed from the table, never more to be served up. 23.---Mr. Bannister performed Charles, in the School for Scandal, for his benefit. We remember him in it some years ago, at the Haymarket, for Miss Farren's benefit; he plays it with spirit and effect, if not with all the ease and elegance which the character certainly requires. After the comedy, Mr. Colman's Review was acted for the first time at this theatre. Bannister was highly whimsical in Caleb Quotem; the other novelties were Collins and Mrs. Jordan, in John Lump and Grace Gaylove. Loony Mactwolter again appeared in his true native humour, in the person of the unrivalled and inimitable John stone. COVENT-GARDEN. MARCH 24.---Mr. LEWIS presented this evening, for his benefit, a new broad comedy (a fresh distinction in dramatic christening) called The Will for the Deed. It comes from the rapid and never-tiring pen of Mr. T. Dibdin, and to those who can enjoy a hearty laugh, without too rigidly examining into the souree of it, this hasty, but ingenious and whimsical Olio, will afford a most delectable treat. The country manager, whose conversation is made up from the titles of plays, and the pseudo-herald-painter, who deals in mottos, like Mrs. Malaprop's hard words, "so ingeniously misapplied without being mispronounced," are very humourous sketches, and the other characters are distinguished by |