Page:Elfrida, a Dramatic Poem - Mason (1752).djvu/14

be most universally relish'd and understood. The Lyric Muse addresses herself to the imagination of a reader; the Didactic to his judgment; but the Tragic strikes directly on his passions. Few men have a strength of imagination capable of pursuing the flights of Pindar: Many have not a clearness of apprehension suited to the reasonings of Lucretius and Pope: But ev'ry man has passions to be excited; and ev'ry man feels them excited by Shakespear.

But, tho' Tragedy be thus chiefly directed to the heart, it must be observed, that it will seldom attain its end without the concurrent approbation of the judgment. And to procure this, the artificial construction of the fable goes a great way. In France, the excellence of their several poets is chiefly measur'd by this standard. And amongst our own writers, if you except Shakespeare (who indeed ought, for his other virtues, to be exempt from common rules) you will find, that the most regular of their compositions is generally reckon'd their Chef d'œuvre, witness the All for Love of Dryden, the Venice preserv'd of Otway, and the Jane Shore of Rowe.

The scheme, you propos'd in your last, is I own practicable enough. Undoubtedly, most part of the Dialogue of the Chorus might be put into the mouth of an Emma or Matilda, who, with some little shew of sisterly concernment, mightbe