fonages of tragedy; it having been gen nerally thought that they ought always to be kings, princes, or heroes: but furely it is a falfe maxim, to fuppofe that fubjects taken from familiar life may not be proper to raise both terror and compaffion. Romeo and Juliet I produce as a proof, that one of the most affecting tragedies on the English theatre is formed without the affiftance of those great perfonages; for the prince has. little or nothing to do in the play. Mr. Rowe's Fair Penitent, though not an excellent tragedy, is also fufficient to contradict the notion; and Otway's Orphan may be mentioned as an additional proof. Venice Preferved is, indeed, of a more public nature; but the chief diftrefs lies. amongst perfons of middling rank. It muft, nevertheless, be allowed, that the fineft tragedies which have ever been written, written, have kings and princes, &c. for their heroes. Concerning the other perfonages of a tragedy, although they fhould be dif-tinguished from one another, yet, as the chief distress does not fall on them, it is not of fuch great importance what characers they confift of. A villain, as the abbé du Bos obferves, should never be the principal perfonage; and the greatest fault in that admirable tragedy, Venice Preferved, is the two principal perfons in * Monf. d'Alembert has a remarkable opinion concerning the fubject of this tragedy. "Rappellez vous, Monfieur, un de nos chefsd'œuvre en ce genre, la Conjuration de Venife de l'abbé de St. Real, & l'efpece d'intérêt qu'il nous infpire (fans l'avoir peut-être voulu) pour ces homines qui ont juré la ruine de leur patrie; on s'afflige prefque après cette lecture de voir tant de courage, & d'habileté devenus inutiles; on fe reproche ce fentiment, mais il nous faifit mal gré 6 in it being villains. This weakens our pity; for such a character as Pierre can never intereft us; and although Jaffier is drawn in much more amiable colours, yet his turning a confpirator and cutthroat, makes his catastrophe but a punifhment for his wickedness: And when the principal event of a tragedy is but the reward of virtue, or the punishment of vice, our paffions will no longer be roused. It is not the death of a Jaffier, or a Pierre hardened in villainy, that gré nous, & ce n'eft que par réflexion qu'on prend part au falut de Venife. Je vous avouerai à cette occafion (contre l'opinion affez généralement établie) que le fujet de Venise sauvée me paroît bien plus propre au théatre que celui de Manlius Capitolinus, quoique ces deux pieces ne different guere que par les noms, & l'état des perfonnages; des malheureux qui confpirent pour se rendre libres, font moins odieux que des fénateurs qui cabalent pour fe rendre maîtres." Lettre à M. J. J. Rouffeau, p. 25. See moves us to fhed tears; but the untimely end of a young Romeo fnatched away in the vigour of youth, at the very moment when he was tafting the greatest happiness human nature is capable of receiving. Had Romeo been a villain, we should not have pitied him; but he is painted in beautiful colours, a generous, open, brave, humane young nobleman, that cannot but intereft the fpectator in his favour. If there is one person that is deeply moved with compaffion at the representation of Macbeth, there will be forty at that of Romeo and Juliet, or King Lear. But though a villain is fo improper perfonage for the hero of a tragedy, yet they are very proper ones for inferior characters, and by whofe means the cataftrophe may be brought about. Thus Iago Jago is introduced with great propriety, in Othello; and his villany is a fine contraft to the brave and open Moor: The fame may be faid of Zanga. Nobody is concerned at the death of Barbaroffa, who could not intereft us; but every one is in fufpence when Selim is going to be murdered; and that young prince is in fact the chief perfonage. It is allowable*, therefore, to introduce the perfonages of villains into a poem, On peut donc introduire des perfonnages fcélerats dans un poëme, ainfi qu'on met des bourreaux dans le tableau qui represente le martyre d'un faint: Mais comme on blameroit le peintre qui dépeindroit aimables des hommes auxquels il fait faire une action odieuse, de même on blameroit le poëte qui donneroit à des perfonnages fcélerats des qualités capables de leur concilier la bienveillance du spectateur. Cette bienveillance pourroit aller jufqu'à faire plaindre le fcélerat, & à diminuer l'horreur du crime pár la compaffion |