Thus much may suffice to explain the Definition we at first laid down, of a dramatic Performance, except what relates to the last Clause of it, that it is form'd for the Delight and Improvement of Mankind. Of the first, viz. the Delight, I have said enough already: And as to Improvement, it ought to be the End of all Poetry in general, but of the Drama more particularly, whose Business it is to set before our Eyes the different Courses of Life; the Virtues and Vices, Happiness and Misery, that attend Mankind in each of them. The Drama is so exact a Picture of Human Life, that sometimes we are said to copy That; according to that noted Saying, Totus mundus agit Histrioniam; The World is but a theatrical Entertainment: Which Comparison is beautifully carried on by Lucian in his Dialogue, entituled, Χαρων, or Επισκοπαντεϛ. It ought, therefore, to be an invariable Rule, which is but sometimes follow'd, to direct the Plot to some moral End, and upon winding up the Catastrophe, to leave it upon the Audience with some useful Precept. How little this has been observ'd, by the Poets of the last and present Age, I am asham'd to say; most of whose Writings, but Comedies in particular, are so full of Filth and Obscenities, that, far from serving the Cause of Virtue, they are the very Panders of Lust and Impurities. I could wish to see some Remedy applied to so great an Evil. In the mean Time, let all good Men shun the Contagion; and let not the Infamy of it fall upon Poetry itself, but upon her impure Professors.
LECTURE XXIII, &c.
Of Comedy.
Having discours'd of the Nature and Genius of the Drama in general; the three great Unities, viz. of Action, Time, and Place; the Variety and Distinctness of the Characters; the Contrivance and Management of the Plot, and other Things of that Sort; Comedy comes next to be consider'd separately, as it falls under the general Rules of the Drama which are already mention'd, and as it is distinguish'd from Tragedy, which shall be treated of hereafter.
The Word Comedy is deriv'd from Κωμη, a Village, and ωδη, a Song; because, consisting only of a Chorus, and fram'd without Dialogue or Diversity of Characters, it was sung originally in Villages, and was therefore call'd a Country Catch; its first Appearance being entirely different from that Dress, which it afterwards assum'd, and still continues to wear: Or it was call'd Comedy from kômos and ôdê, because at Feasts (which were under the Care of the God Comus) it was usually one Part of the Entertainment.
When or where Comic Poetry had its Original, is a Question not to be determin'd, which Aristotle accounts for in this Manner;[393] Αι μεν ουν τεϛ τραγωδιαϛ μεταβασειϛ, και δι' ὡν εγενοντο, ου λεληθασιν. Ἡ δε κωμωσια , δια το μη σπουδαζεσθαι εξ αρχηϛ, ελαθεν. We are acquainted (says he) with the Alterations and Improvements made in Tragedy, and with the Authors of them; but Comedy, because less Regard was paid to it at first, we know little or nothing of. The Dignity of Tragic Poetry was the Reason why the Greeks began to improve it much earlier, and to take more Pains in it, and therefore its Rise and Progress is much better known. But altho' Tragedy was sooner refin'd, and brought under the Rules of Art, yet it is probable, that some rude Attempts in Comedy were more ancient: Because it seems natural to imagine, that Mankind, upon gathering in the Fruits of the Earth, and receiving the other Blessings of Providence, should be excited with Sentiments of Joy, affected with an innocent Gaiety, and led on to some festival Sports, before they could think of writing Poems upon the Miseries and Misfortunes of other Men; and because a Life plain, and without Shew, was more ancient than State and Magnificence[394].
Before I divide my Subject, I shou'd now, according to the Rules of Method, define it, which I wou'd comply with, if the several Parts of it wou'd properly fall under any one Definition, that wou'd equally extend to all of them. But as there were three Sorts of Comedy, and the Definition, which I propose to give, takes in only the two last and best of them, which are now in Use, it may be proper to observe, before I offer any Definition, that these three Sorts of Comedy were the Old, the Middle, and the New.
The old was of two Kinds, 1. There was the very oldest of all, of which not the least Remains are now left; but the Writers of it, as Aristotle tells us, were Epicharmus and Phormis, Sicilians; and Crates the Athenian. Their Performances were rough and artless, innocent and sententious. 2. There was, what we now more expresly call the old Comedy; the Masters in which were Eupolis and Cratinus, whose Works are lost, and Aristophanes, who was the last in that Way of Writing. It was sharp, and satirical, and extremely abusive; even Men of the first Rank, whether the Facts were true or false, if they were suspected only of any criminal Behaviour, were brought upon the Stage without any Disguise, call'd by their own Names, and us'd as severely as possible. This is what Horace alludes to in one of his Satires:
[395] Eupolis, atque Cratinus, Aristophanesque Poëtæ, Atque alii, quorum Comœdia prisca virorum est, Si quis dignus erat describi, quod malus, aut fur, Aut mœchus foret, aut sicarius, aut alioqui Famosus, multa cum libertate notabant.