The works of Richard Hurd, volume 2 (of 8) - Richard Hurd

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A.
Addison, Mr., his judgment of the double sense of verbs, i. [359].
his Cato, defended, [102].
not too poetical, ib.
its real defects, ib.
his criticism on Milton proceeds on just principles, [393].
how far defective, [396].
Aeneis, prefigured under the idea of a temple, i. [333].
the destruction of Troy, an episode, why, i. [139].
Aglaophon, his rude manner of painting; why preferred to Parrhasius and Zeuxis, i. [346].
Allegory, the distinguished pride of ancient poetry, i. [343].
a fine instance from Virgil, [333].
Ancients, immoderately extolled, why, i. [346].
Antigone, the chorus of it defended, i. [158].
Aphorisms, condemned in the Roman writers, i. [184].
why used so frequently by the Greeks, [185].
Apollonius Rhodius, why censured by Aristophanes and Aristarchus, i. [267].
Apotheosis, the usual mode of flattery in the Augustan age, i. [333].
Aristotle, his opinion of Homer’s imitations, i. [67].
of Euripides, [116].
of the business of the chorus, [145].
of the sententious manner, [186].
his fine Ode, corrected, [188]. n.
translated, [189].
of the origin of tragedy, [94].
a passage in his poetics explained, [123].
his censure of the Iphigenia at Aulis, considered, [131].
he was little known at Rome in Cicero’s time, [191].
why Horace differs from him in his account of Aeschylus’s inventions, [240].
a supposed contradiction between him and Horace reconciled, [262].
his judgment of moral pictures, [375].
his admiration of an epithet in Homer, on what founded, ii. [126].
Art and Nature, their provinces in forming a poet, i. [273].
Atellane fable, a species of Comedy, i. [192].
different from the satyric piece, [195].
the Oscan language used in it, [198].
why criticised by Horace, [206].
in what sense Pomponius, the Inventor of it, [198].
Athenaeus, of the moralizing turn of the Greeks, i. [187].
Auctor ad Herennium, defines an aphorism, i. [184].
Augustus, fond of the old Comedy, i. [228]. n.
B.
Bacon, Lord, his idea of poetry, ii. [178].
Balzac, Mr., his flattery of Louis le juste, i. [344], [345].
Beauty, the idea of, how distinguished from the pathetic, i. [110].
Bentley, Dr., corrections of his censured, i. [71], [72], [106], [142].
an interpretation of his confuted, [110].
a conjecture of his confirmed, [349].
Bos, M. de, how he accounts for the effect of Tragedy, i. [119].
for the degeneracy of taste and literature, [264].
what he thought of modern imitations of the ancient poets, ii. [224].
Bouhours, P., his merit as a critic, pointed out, i. [393].
wherein censured, [395].
Brumoy, P., his character, i. [133].
commends the Athalie and Esther of Racine, [145].
justifies the chorus, ib.
accounts for the sententious manner of the Greek stage, [185].
an observation of his on the imitation of foreign characters, [247].
Bruyere, M. de la, an observation of his concerning the manners, ii. [135].
Busiris, in what sense a ridiculous character, i. [208].
C.
Caesar, C. Julius, his judgment of Terence, i. [225].
Casaubon, Isaac, his book on satyric poetry recommended, i. [194].
an emendation of his confirmed, [208].
Character, the object of comedy, ii. [56].
of what sort, [40].
of what persons, ib.
plays of, in what faulty, [48].
instances of such plays, [53].
Characters, of comedy, general; of tragedy, particular, why, ii. [48].
this matter explained at large, to [54].
Chorus, its use and importance, i. [145].
its moral character, [156].
more easily conducted by ancient than modern poets, [161].
improvements in the Latin tragic chorus, [179].
Cicer, M. Tullius, of the use of old words, i. [89].
of self-murder, [162].
of poetic licence, [174].
of the language of Democritus and Plato, [180].
of the music of his time, [182].
of the neglect of philosophy, [191].
of the mimes, [205].
of Plautus’s wit, [220].
does not mention Menander, [229].
mentions corporal infirmities as proper subjects for ridicule, [231].
of a good poet, [249].
of decorum, [251].
of the use of philosophy, ib.
Cid, of P. Corneille, its uncommon success, to what owing, i. [398].
Clowns, their character in Shakespear, i. [186].
Comedy, Roman, three species of it, i. [192].
—— the author’s idea of it, ii. [30].
conclusions concerning its nature, from that idea, [37].
attributes, common to it and tragedy, [42].
attributes, peculiar to it, [45].
its genius, considered at large, [57].
M. de Fontenelle’s notion of it, considered, [75].
idea of it enlarged since the time of Aristotle, [65].
polite and heroic, what we are to think of it, [86].
on high life, censured, ib.
of modern invention, ib.
accounted for, [87].
why more difficult than tragedy, ib.
Comparison, similarity of, in all writers, why necessary, ii. [194].
why more so in the graver than lighter poetry, [198].
Corneille, P., his objection to Euripides’s Medea, confuted, i. [163].
his notion of comic action considered, ii. [41].
Criticism, the uses of it, ii. [105].
its aim, [391].
when perfect, ib.
D.
Dacier, M., criticisms of his considered, i. [94], [168], [173], [174], [175], [240], [244], [245], [268], ibid.
the author’s opinion of him, as a critic, [62], n. and [272].
his account of the opening of the Epistle to Augustus censured, [326].
Dance, the choral commended, i. [178].
Davenant, Sir William, his Gondibert criticised, ii. [235].
Demetrius Phalereus, characterizes the satyric piece, i. [193].
Description, natural and moral, why similar in the form as well as matter in all poets, ii. [191], [192].
Dialogue, Socratic, the genius of, i. [252].
Dio Cassius, instances from him of the gross flattery paid to Caesar, i. [330].
Diomedes, of the Satyric and Atellane fables, i. [195].
of the use of the Satyric piece, [203].
a passage in him corrected by Casaubon, [208].
his character of the Atellanes, [234].
distinguishes the different kinds of the Roman drama, [241].
Dionysius, of Halicarnassus, of the use of words, i. [92].
of Plato’s figurative style, [254].
Doctus, the meaning of, explained, i. [350]-352.
Donatus, distinguishes the three forms of comedy, i. [192], [193].
Drama, see Tragedy, Comedy, Farce.
—— Peruvian, some account of, ii. [66], [67].
Chinese, [67].
Greek and Roman, its character, [69].
the laws of, in what different from those of history, ii. [179].
Dulce, its distinction from pulchrum, i. [109].
Duport, Pr., his collection of moral parallelisms in Homer, and Sacred Writ, of what use? ii. [140].
E.
Electra, of Euripides, vindicated, i. [125].
a circumstance in the two plays of that name by Euripides and Sophocles compared, [259].
Elfrida, of Mr. Mason, i. [148].
the best apology for the ancient chorus, ibid.
Envy, how it operates in human nature, i. [329].
how it operated in the case of Mr. Pope, [328].
Epic Poetry, admits new words, i. [73].
its plan how far to be copied by the tragic poet, [137].
in what different from history, ii. [179].
Episode, its character and laws, ii. [185].
Epistle, didactic and elegiac, Intr. to vol. i. [17].
Didactic, the offspring of the satyr, ibid.
its three-fold character, [24].
Elegiac, the difference of this from the didactic form, [23], [24].
Eratosthenes, his idea of the end of poetry, ii. [4].
Euripides, his character, i. [116].
his Medea commended, [121].
Electra vindicated, [125].
Iphigenia in Aulis vindicated, [131].
the decorum of his characters, [132].
his Hippolytus led Seneca into mistakes, [150].
an observation on the chorus of that play, [161].
and of the Medea, [162].
Quintilian’s character of him, [191].
a circumstance in his Electra compared with Sophocles, [259].
his genius resembling Virgil’s, ii. [152].
Expression, why similar in different writers without imitation, ii. [204].
F.
Fable, why essential to both Dramas, ii. [42].
why an unity and even simplicity in the fable, [43].
a good one, why not so essential to comedy as tragedy, [45].
Farce, the author’s idea of it, ii. [30].
its laws, [96].
its end and character, how distinguished from those of tragedy and comedy, [98].
Feeling, rightly made the test of poetical merit, i. [390].
Fenelon, of the use of old words, i. [91].
Fiction, poetical, when credible, ii. [130].
the soul of poetry, ii. [11].
Flattery of the Roman Emperors excessive, i. [330].
imported from the Asiatic provinces, [331].
Fontenelle, M. de, his opinion of the origin of comedy, i. [244].
his notion of the drama, ii. [75], &c.
his comedies criticised, [90].
his pastorals censured, ibid.
his opinion of the uses of criticism, [105].
G.
Geddes, J. Esq., his notion of the most essential principles of Eloquence, i. [381].
Gellius, Aulus, his opinion of Laberius, i. [206].
Genius, original, a proof of, in the particularity of description, ii. [126].
similarity of, in two writers, its effects, [225].
Georgic, the form of this poem, what, ii. [183].
Greeks, their most ancient writers falsely supposed to be the best, i. [347].
H.
Heinsius, his idea of true criticism, i. [65].
his explanation of a passage in Horace, [148].
thought one part of the Epistle to the Pisos inexplicable, [269].
his transposition of the Epistle censured, [272].
Hippolytus, of Euripides; an observation on the chorus, i. [161].
of Seneca, censured, [149].
Hobbes, Mr., his censure of the Italian romancers in their unnatural fiction, ii. [238].
Hoeslinus, his opinion of the fourth book of the Aeneis, ii. [154].
Homer, first invented dramatic imitations, i. [42].
his excellence in painting the effects of the manners, ii. [157].
Horace, explained and illustrated, passim.
his Epistle to the Pisos, a criticism on the Roman drama, Introd. to vol. i. [15].
the character of his genius, [24].
his Epistle to Augustus, an apology for the Roman poets, [325].
design and character of his other critical works, [407].
what may be said for his flattery of Augustus, [330].
fond of the old Latin poets, [349].
his knowledge of the world, [379].
Hume, David, Esq., his account of the pathos in tragedy, considered, i. [118].
his judgment of Fontenelle’s discourse on pastoral poetry, [218].
Humour, the end of comedy, ii. [57].
two species of humour, [59].
one of these not much known to the ancients, ibid.
neither of them in that perfection on the ancient as modern stage, [60].
may subsist without ridicule, [62].
yet enlivened by it, [64].
Hymns, profane and sacred, why similar, ii. [138].
I. and J.
Invention, in poetry, what, ii. [111].
principally displayed in the manner of imitation, [158].
Jester, a character by profession amongst the Greeks, i. [235].
Imitation, primary and secondary, what, ii. [113].
the latter not easily distinguishable from the former, ibid.
shewn at large in respect of the matter of poetry, [115] to [176].
of the manner, [176] to [215].
in painting, sooner detected than in poetry, why, [162].
how it may be detected, [208] and Letter to Mr. Mason, throughout.
Why no rules delivered for it in the Discourse on imitation, [214].
confessed, no certain proof of an inferiority of genius, [215], [216].
accounted for from habit, [217].
from authority, [221].
from judgment, [222].
from similarity of genius, [224].
from the nature of the subject, [226].
its singular merit, [228].
not to be avoided by literate writers without affectation, [234].
Incolumi gravitate, a learned critic’s interpretation of these words, i. [201].
Innovation, in words, why allowed to old writers, and not to others, i. [88].
Intrigue, when faulty in comedy, ii. [39].
Jonson, Ben, a criticism on his Catiline, i. [135].
his Every man out of his humour censured, ii. [52].
his Alchymist and Volpone criticized, [101].
the character of his genius and comedy, [103].
Iphigenia at AULIS, of Euripides, vindicated, i. [131].
Julius Pollux, shews the Tibia to have been used in the chorus, i. [177].
Junctura Callida, explained, i. [74].
exemplified from Shakespear, [77].
K.
Knowledge of the world, what, i. [379].
L.
Laberius, his mimes, what, i. [205].
Lambin, his comment on communia supported, i. [133].
Landskip-painting, wherein its beauty consists, i. [71].
Lex Talionis, i. [127].
Licence, of particular seasons in Greece and Rome, its effect on taste, i. [234], [235].
of ancient wit, to what owing, [231].
Lipsius, his extravagant flattery, i. [332].
Longinus, his opinion of imitators without genius, i. [250].
accounts for the decline of the arts, [265].
his opinion of the mutual assistance of art and nature, [273].
his method of criticizing, scientific, [392].
wherein defective, [394].
Love, subjects of, a defect in modern tragedy, why, ii. [34].
passion of, how described by Terence and Shakespear, ii. [144].
by Catullus and Ovid, [151].
by Virgil, [152].
Lucian, the first of the ancients who has left us any considerable specimens of comic humour, i. [225].
his ΑΛΕΚΤΡΥΩΝ and ΛΑΠΙΘΑΙ, [235].
M.
Machinery, essential to the epic poetry, why, ii. [166].
Malherbe, M., the character and fortune of his poetry, i. [358].
Manners, why imperfect in both dramas, ii. [60].
description of, whence taken, [129].
Markland, Mr., an emendation of his confirmed, i. [71].
Marks, of Imitation, ii. Letter to Mr. Mason.
Mason, his Elfrida, commended, i. [148].
Medea, of Euripides, commended, i. [121].
its chorus vindicated, [162].
of Seneca, censured, [122].
Menage, his judgment of ancient wit, i. [230].
his intended discourse on imitation, [405].
Menander, why most admired after the Augustan age, i. [223].
did not excel in comic humour, [225].
his improvements of comedy, ii. [72].
Milton, his angels, whence taken, ii. [116].
his attention to the effects of the manners, [158].
Mimes, the character of them, i. [205].
defined by Diomedes, [206].
Moderns, bad imitators of Plato, i. [234].
Moliere, his comedies farcical, ii. [100].
his Misanthrope and Tartuffe commended, [101].
Money, love of, the bane of the ancient arts, i. [264].
Morning, descriptions of, in the poets compared, ii. [123].
when most original, [126].
Music, old, why preferred by the Greek writers, i. [181].
why by the Latin, [182].
—— of the stage, its rise and progress at Rome, i. [168].
defects of the old music, [182].
N.
Narration, oratorial, the credibility of, on what it depends, ii. [130]. n.
Novels, modern, criticized, ii. [18].
O.
Ode, its character, i. [94].
its end, [270].
the poet’s own odes, apologized for, ibid.
Opinion, popular, of writings, under what circumstances to be regarded, i. [355].
D’Orville, Mr., his defence of the double sense of verbs examined, i. [358].
Osci, their language used in the Atellanes, i. [196].
Otway, his Orphan censured, i. [68].
Ovid, the character of his genius, Introd. to i. [23], [24].
a conjecture concerning his Medea, i. [143].
makes the satyrs to be a species of the tragic drama, [192].
his account of the mimes, [205].
P.
Painting, Landskip, wherein its beauty consists, i. [71].
Portrait, its excellence, ii. [49].
difference between the Italian and Flemish schools, i. [256].
its moral efficacy, [375].
inferior to poetry, in what, ii. [130].
wherein superior to poetry, [146].
expresses the general character, [160].
hath an advantage in this respect over poetry, [162].
unable to represent moral and œconomical sentiments, [168].
Passions, the way to paint them naturally, ii. [131].
Pastoral poetry, its genius, and fortunes, i. [214].
Pathos, the supreme excellence of tragedy, i. [116]., [397].
how far to be admitted into comedy, ii. [73].
the pleasure arising from, how to be accounted for, i. [119].
Paterculus, Velleius, an admirer of Menander, i. [229].
his character of Pomponius, [197].
Pausanias, describes two pictures of Polygnotus, ii. [161].
Perron, Cardinal, his manner of criticizing Ronsard, i. [394].
Plato, his opinion of Homer’s imitations, i. [67].
commends the Aegyptian policy in retaining the songs of Isis, [181].
his Symposium criticized, [235].
his manner of writing, characterised, [255].
his Phaedrus censured, ibid.
his objection to poetry answered, [256].
Plautus, why Cicero commends his wit, and Horace condemns it, i. [220].
copied from the middle comedy, [228].
his apology for the Amphitruo, why necessary, ii. [42].
preferred to Terence in the Augustan age, i. [228].
Plots, double, in the Latin comedies, admired, why, i. [354].
Plutarch, his admiration of Menander, i. [229].
Poetry, the art of, wherein it consists, ii. [3].
the knowledge of its several species, necessary to the dramatic poet, i. [94].
more philosophic than history, [257].
tragic, its peculiar excellence, [397].
hath the advantage of all other modes of imitation, in what, ii. [172].
—— descriptive, an identity in the subject of, no proof of imitation, ii. [118].
—— pure, the proper language of Passion, i. [104].
Poets, old, much esteemed by Horace, i. [349].
their apology, [380].
bad soldiers, [384].
dramatic, a rule for their observance, i. [105].
bad, characterized by Milton, [378].
Polygnotus, his simple manner, why admired, under the emperors, i. [346].
his expedient to explain the design of his pictures, ii. [161].
Pomponius, in what sense Inventor of the Atellane poem, i. [198].
Pope, Mr., honoured after death, by whom, i. [329].
his censure of a passage in the Iliad, defended, [359].
his judgment of the 6th book of the Thebaid, ii. [191].
his censure of the comparisons in Virgil considered, [201].
his opinion of imitation, [234].
Poussin, Gaspar, his landskips, in what excellent, i. [70].
Prodigies, inquiry into, the author’s opinion of that discourse, ii. [206].
an observation quoted from it, ib.
Pulchrum, how distinguished from Dulce, i. [109].
Q.
Quintilian, his judgment of new words, i. [88], [93].
of Varius’ tragedy of Thyestes, [95].
of the pathetic vein of Euripides, [116].
of Ovid’s Medea, [144].
of the state of Music in his time, [182].
of Euripides’ use of sentences, [190].
of the old Greek comic writers, [223].
of Terence’s wit, [225].
and elegance, [226].
of the licentious feasts of Bacchus, &c., [235].
of Aeschylus, [239].
of the false fire of bad writers, [250].
his opinion of the necessary inferiority of a copy to its original, how far to be admitted, ii. [114].
his rule for oratorial narration, [130]. n.
R.
Randolph, his Muse’s Looking-glass, censured, ii. [53].
Rhyme, how far essential to modern poetry, ii. [11].
Riccoboni, L., his observation of the difference betwixt the Greek and French drama, ii. [43]. n.
a good critic, though a mere player, ib.
Robortellus, his explanation of a passage, inforced, i. [110].
Romans, much addicted to spectacles, i. [389].
Ruisdale, his waters, i. [71].
S.
Salmasius, what he thought of the method of the Epistle to the Pisos, Intr. to vol. i. [25]. n.
Saperet, the meaning of this word in A. P., i. [169].
Satyrs, a species of the tragic drama, i. [192].
distinct from the Atellane fables, [195].
—— of elder Greece, what, i. [194].
—— why Horace enlarges upon them, i. [202], [203].
their double purpose, [200].
style, [210].
measure, [219].
Scaliger, J., what he thought of the Epistles of Horace, Intr. to i. [24]. n.
of the ancient Mimes, i. [205].
his wrong interpretation of the Art of Poetry, to what owing, Intr. to i. [16].
Scene, of comedy, laid at home; of tragedy, abroad; the reason of this practice, ii. [55].
Scholars, their pretensions to public honours and preferments, on what founded, i. [399].
Scholia, of the Greeks, i. [187].
Aristotle’s translated, [189].
Seneca, the philosopher, his account of the mimes of Laberius, i. [206].
—— his Medea, censured, i. [121], [143].
his Hippolytus censured, [149].
his Aphorisms quaint, [191].
Sentences, why so frequent in the Greek writers, i. [185].
Sentiments, religious, moral, and œconomical, why the descriptions of, similar in all poets, ii. [136], [145].
Sermo, the meaning of this word, i. [327].
Shaftesbury, E., of, his opinion of Homer’s imitations, i. [67].
of the writings of Plato, [252].
his Platonic manner liable to censure, [253].
Shakespear, excels in the callida junctura, i. [77].
how he characterizes his clowns, [200].
his want of a learned education, [248].
advantages of it, ib.
his excellence in drawing characters, wherein it consists, ii. [53].
his power in painting the passion of grief, [133].
his description of œconomical sentiments, original, [144].
Statius, his character, ii. [190].
his book of games criticized, [191].
Shirley, a fine passage from one of his plays, i. [86].
Sidney, Sir Philip, his character, i. [116].
his encomium on the pathos of tragedy, [397].
Socrates, his office in the symposia of Xenophon and Plato, i. [236]. n.
his judgment of moral paintings, [375].
Sophocles, the chorus of his Antigone defended, i. [158], [163]. n.
a satyric tragedy ascribed to him, [193].
a circumstance in his Electra compared with Euripides, [259].
Stephens, H., his observations on the refinement of the French language, i. [90].
Strabo, a passage from him to prove the Tuscan language used in the Atellanes, i. [198].
Style, of poetry, defined, ii. [10].
Subjects, public, how to acquire a property in them, i. [219].
domestic, why fittest for the stage, [247].
real, succeed best in tragedy; feigned, in comedy, why, ii. [46].
T.
Tacitus, a bold expression of his, justified, i. [103].
Telemaque, why no new similes in this work, ii. [203].
Telephus, a tragedy of Euripides, i. [107].
another tragedy of that name glanced at by Horace, [108].
Tempe, Aelian’s description of, translated, ii. [119].
Temple, Sir William, his sentiments on the passion of avarice, i. [265].
his notion of religious description in modern poets, ii. [166].
Terence, why his plays ill received, i. [224].
fell short of Menander in the elegance of his expression, [225].
a remarkable instance of humour in the Hecyra, ii. [62].
the characteristic of his comedies, his Hecyra vindicated, i. [354], [355].
a passage in his Andrian compared with one in Shakespear’s Twelfth-Night, ii. [144].
his opinion of the necessary uniformity of moral description, [194].
Tragedy, the Author’s idea of, ii. [30].
conclusions, concerning its nature, from this idea, [31].
attributes, common to it and comedy, [42].
attributes peculiar to it, [45].
—— admits pure poetry, i. [101].
why its pathos pleases, [119].
on low life, censured, ii. [84].
a modern refinement, [86].
accounted for, [87].
Trapp, Dr., his interpretation of communia, i. [134].
his judgment of the chorus, [146].
Truth in Poetry, what, i. [255].
may be followed too closely in works of imitation, ib.
U.
Varro, M. Terentius, assigns the distinct merit of Cæcilius and Terence, i. [353].
Vatry, Abbé, his defence of the ancient chorus, i. [148].
Victorius, of the satyric Metre, i. [219].
Virgil, his method in conducting the Aeneis justified, i. [139].
his address in his flattery of Augustus, [332].
his introduction to the third Georgic explained, [333].
three verses in the same, spurious, [341]. n.
his moral character, vindicated, [403].
his poetical, vol. ii. Discourse on poetical imitation, throughout;
his book of games defended from the charge of plagiarism, [187].
why few comparisons in his works, but what are to be found in Homer, [201].
Uncti, the meaning of, in the Epistle to Augustus, i. [349].
Voltaire, M. de, his judgment of machinery, what, ii. [166]. n.
Upton, Mr., his criticism on the satyrs, examined, i. [202].
W.
Warburton, Mr., his edition of Mr. Pope; Intr. to i. [26].
and of Shakespear, Ded. to Epistle to Augustus, [287]. and [80].
his judgment of the intricacy of the comic plot, ii. [39].
of the scene of the drama, [55].
of comic humour, [61].
of the double sense in writing, i. [365].
of the similarity in religious rites, ii. [165].
Whole, its beauty consists not in the accurate finishing, but in the elegant disposition, of the parts, i. [69].
Wit, ancient, licentious, i. [230].
why, [231].
Words, old ones, their energy, how revived, i. [89].
X.
Xenophon, an elegant inaccuracy in a speech in the Cyropaedia, i. [99]. n.
his fine narration of a circumstance in the story of Panthea, unsuited to the stage, [143].
his symposium explained, [235]. n.
a conversation on painting from the Memorabilia, translated, [375].
Z.
Zeuxis, his pictures, in what repute under the Emperors, i. [346].

THE END OF THE SECOND VOLUME.

Nichols and Son, Printers,
Red Lion Passage, Fleet Street, London.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] Empedocles. See Plutarch, vol. I. p. 15. Par. 1624.

[2] See Strabo, l. i. p. 15. Par. 1620.

[3] Adv. of Learning, vol. i, p. 50. Dr. Birch’s Ed. 1765.

[4] Aristotle was of the same mind, as appears from his definition of comedy, which, says he, is ΜΙΜΗΣΙΣ ΦΑΥΛΟΤΕΡΩΝ; [κ. ε.] that is, the imitation of characters, whatever be the distinct meaning of the term φαυλότεροι. It is true, this critic, in his account of the origin of tragedy and comedy, makes them both the imitations of ACTIONS. Οἱ μὲν σεμνότεροι ΤΑΣ ΚΑΛΑΣ ἐμιμοῦντο ΠΡΑΞΕΙΣ, οἱ δὲ εὐτελέστεροι ΤΑΣ τῶν φαύλων. [κ. δ.] Yet, even here, the expression is so put, as if he had been conscious that persons, not actions, were the direct object of comedy. And the quotation, now alledged from another place, where a definition is given more in form, shews, that this was, in effect, his sentiment.

[5] The neglect of this is one of the greatest defects in the modern drama; which in nothing falls so much short of the perfection of the Greek scene as in this want of simplicity in the construction of its fable. The good sense of the author of the History of the Italian Theatre (who, though a mere player, appears to have had juster notions of the drama, than the generality of even professed critics) was sensibly struck with this difference in tragedy. “Quant à l’unité d’action, says he, je trouve un grande difference entre les tragedies Grecques et les tragedies Françoises; j’apperçois toûjours aísément l’action des tragedies Grecques, et je ne la perds point de vûe; mais dans les tragedies Françoises, j’avoüe, que j’ai souvent bien de la peine à demêler l’action des episodes, dont elle est chargée.” [Hist. du Theatre Italian, par Louis Riccoboni, p. 293. Paris 1728.]