tragedy and comedy. Soon after a greater variery was introduced in the fubjects of the former of thefe poems. Thofe who judge of their pleafures only from habit, exclaimed, that thefe fubjects were foreign to the worship of Bacchus; but the greater number thronged with till more eagerness after the new pieces.

Phryniches, the ciiciple of Thefpis, made choice of that kind of verfe which is moft fuitable to the drama, was the author of fome other changes, and left tragedy in its infancy.

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ichylus received it from his hands enveloped in a rude vestment, its vifage covered with falfe colours, or a mask inexpreffive of character, without either grace or diguity in its motions, infpiring the cefire of an intereft which it with difficulty excited, till attached to the buffooneries which had amufed its infant years, and exprefling its conceptions fonetimes with elegance and dignity, but frequently in a feeble and low ftyle, polluted with grofs obfcenities.

The father of tragedy, for fo this great man may be called, had received from nature a frong and ardent mind. His filence and gravity anounced the autterity of his character. He had fignalized his courage in the battles of Marathon, Salamis, and Platea, in which to many Athenians didinguished themselves by their valour. From his earlieft years he had been attentive to the leflons of thofe poets who, living near to the heroic times, conceived ideas as fublime as the illuftrious deeds which were then achieved. The history of thote remote ages prefented to his lively imagination fignal fucceffes and reverfes of fortune, thrones drenched with blood, impetuous and devouring paflions, fublime virtues, atrocious crimes, and dreadful acts of vengeance; every where he beheld the imprefs of grandeur, and frequently that of ferocity.

The better to ensure the effect of thefe icenes, it was necessary to detach them from the whole in which they were included by the ancient poets; and this had been already done by the authors of the dithyrambics and the earliest tragedies; but they had neglected to bring them near to us. As we are infinitely more affected by those woes to which we are witteffes, than by thofe of which we only hear the recital, fchylus employed all the refources of theatrical reprefentation to bring the time and place of the fcene before the eyes of the fpectator. The illufion then became a reality.

In his first tragedies he introduced a fecond actor; and afterward, copying the example of Sophocles, who had just entered on his theatrical career, he admitted a third, and fometimes even a fourth. By this multiplicity of perfonages, one of his actors became the hero of the piece, and attracted to himself the principal intereft; and as the chorus now held only a fubaltern flation, Æfchylus took care to fhorten its part, and perhaps even carried this precaution too far.

He is cenfured for having admitted mute characters into his drama. Achilles, after the death of his friend, and Niobe, after the deftruction of her children, appear on the ftage and remain during feveral fcenes, motionlefs, with their heads covered with a veil, and without uttering a word; but if their eyes had overflown with tears, and they had poured forth the bitterett lamentations,

could

could they have produced an effect fo terrible as this veil, this filence, and this abandonment to grief?

In fome of his pieces the expofition of his fubje& has too much extent, and in others is deficient in perfpicuity. Though he frequently offends against the rules that have been fine eftablished, he appears to have had a glimple of almost all of them.

We may fay of Eichylus what he has himfelf faid of his hero Hippomedon, Before him ftrides

Gigantic Terror, tow'ring to the skies. He inceffantly infpires a profound and falutary terror, for he only overwhelms the mind with violent fhocks, to raife it again immediately by the idea which he gives us of its frength. His herces prefer being crushed by the thunderbolt to committing an act of bafenefs, and their courage is more inflexible than the fatal law of neceffity. He nevertheless knew to fet bounds to thofe emotions which he laboured fo earnestly to excite, and conftantly avoided polluting the stage with blood; for he wished to produce fcenes that fhould be terrible, but not horrible.

He rarely caufes tears to flow, or excites pity, either becaufe Nature hath refufed him that gentle fenfibility which pants to communicate itfelf to others; or rather, perhaps, becaufe he feared to render his auditors effeminate. He has never exhibited on the flage a Phædra or a Sthenoba, nor ever painted the delicious joys or wild furies of love. He beheld in the different tranfports of that paffion only weaknefs or guilt of pernicious tendency to morals, and he wished that nothing might demolish our esteem for thofe whole fate we are compelled to lament.'

The author goes on to characterize the tragedies of fchylus with refpect to fable, manners, fentiment, diction, decoration, and mufic: the paflage is curious, but too long for quotation. With the following poetical defcription of a marriage, we muft conclude our extracts from this entertaining work:

Love prefided at the festivals of Delos; and the numerous youth which the god had affembled around him, acknowledged no other laws than his. Sometimes, in concert with Hymen, he crowned the conftancy of faithful lovers; fometimes he excited a tender languor and anxiety in hearts before infenfible; and by thefe multiplied triumphs prepared the way for the most glorious of all-the marriage of Ifmene and Theagenes.

As I was a witness to the ceremonies with which this union was accompanied, I fhall proceed to relate them, and defcribe practices which the laws, cuftom, and fuperftition have introduced, to provide for the fecurity and happiness of the most facred of engagements; and if, in this account, fome apparently frivolous circumftances fhould be found, they will acquire importance and dignity from the fimplicity of the times from which they derive their origin. • Silence and tranquillity began to be restored at Delos. The multitude of rangers diminished like a river, which, after having overflowed the plain, gradually retires into its bed. The inhabit

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ants

ants of the island had rifen before the dawn; they were crowned with flowers, and inceffantly offered up, in the temples, and before their houses, facrifices to render the gods propitious to the marriage of Ifmene. The moment when it was to be concluded was arrived. We were affembled in the houfe of Philocles: the door of the apartment of Ifmene opened, and we faw her and Theagenes come out of it, followed by their parents, and a public officer, who had juft drawn up the inftrument of their engagement. The conditions of this engagement were fimple; in it no provifion had been made for any difcution of intereft between their relatives, nor any cause of divorce between the contracting parties: and with refpect to the marriage portion, as Theagenes was already related to Philocles, it was thought fufficient to mention a law of Solon's, which, to prevent the property of a family from being carried out of it, enacts that heireffes fhall marry their nearest kinfmen.

• We were dreffed in magnificent habits, which we had received from Ifmene. That which Theagenes wore was her own work. Her ornaments were, a necklace of precious ftones, and a purple robe embroidered with gold. Both wore on their hair, which flowed on their shoulders, and was perfumed with effences, crowns of poppy, fefamum, and other plants facred to Venus. Thus habited, they mounted a chariot, and proceeded towards the temple. Ifmene had Theagenes on her right, and on her left a friend of Theagenes, who was to follow him in this ceremony. The people who thronged around them fcattered flowers and perfumes in their way. They cried out; Thefe are not mortals; it is Apollo and Coronis; it is Diana and Endymion; it is Apollo and Diana. They fought to procure us favourable omens, and to prevent fuch as were of evil portent. One faid: I faw this morning two turtles long hover in the air, and at length reft together on a branch of that tree. Another faid: Drive away the folitary crow, and let her go far hence to mourn the lofs of her faithful companion; for the brings the most ill-boding of auguries.

The bride and bridegroom were received at the gate of the temple by a priest, who prefented to each of them a branch of ivy, the fymbol of the bonds by which they were to be for ever united. He then conducted them to the altar, where every thing was prepared for the facrifice of a heifer to Diana, to the chafte Diana, whom, as well as Minerva, and the other divinities who had never fubmitted to the yoke of Hymen, they thus endeavoured to appeafe. They also implored Jupiter and Juno, whose union and loves fhall be eternal; the Heavens and the Earth, the concurrence of which produces fertility and plenty; the Parcæ, because they hold in their hands the life of mortals; the Graces, because they embellish the pleafures of happy marriages; and, laftly, Venus, from whom Love derives his birth, and who beftows happiness on mortais.

The priest, after having examined the entrails of the victims, declared that the gods approved the marriage. To conclude the ceremonies, we proceeded to the Artemifium, where the lovers de pofited each a lock of their hair on the tomb of the last Theori of

the

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the Hyperboreans. That of Theagenes was wound about a handful of grafs, and that of lfmene round a fpindle. This cuftom reminded them of the first inftitution of marriage, at which time it was intended to fignify that the husband was to be occupied in the labours of the field, and the wife to manage the household affairs.

⚫ Philocles now took the hand of Theagenes, and, joining it to the hand of Ifmene, pronounced thefe words: I beftow on you my daughter, that you may give legitimate citizens to the republic.' The bride and bridegroom then fwore to each other an invio`lable fidelity; and their parents, after having received their oaths, ratified them by new facrifices.

Night began to come on when we came out of the temple to return to the houfe of Theagenes. The proceffion, lighted by numberless torches, was accompanied by bands of muficians and dancers; the houfe was hung with garlands, and fplendidly illuminated.

As foon as the new-married couple fet their feet on the threshold of the door, a basket of fruit was, for a moment, placed on their heads, as a prefage of the plenty they were to enjoy. We at the fame time heard the name of Hymenæus re-echoed on all fides. This was a young man of Argos, who formerly restored to their country fome Athenian maidens who had been taken by pirates. He obtained for his reward one of the captives, of whom he was paffionately enamoured; and fince that time the Greeks contract no marriage without celebrating his memory.

Thefe acclamations followed us into the banqueting-hall, and continued during the fupper; when fome poets entered, and recited epithalamiums.

A child half covered with branches of hawthorn and oak, appeared with a basket of loaves, and fang a hymn beginning with these words: "I have changed my former ftate for a happier." The Athenians fing this hymn at one of their feftivals, to celebrate the time in which their ancestors, who had before fed on wild fruits, enjoyed in fociety the gifts of Ceres. They fing it likewife at marriages, to fignify that men, after having left their wild ftate in the woods, enjoyed the fweets of love. Female dancers, dreffed in light robes, and crowned with myrtle, afterwards entered, and expreffed by their motions the tranfports, tender languor, and intoxication of the most delicious of paffions.

When this dance was ended, Leucippe lighted the nuptial torch, and conducted her daughter to the apartment prepared for her. A number of fymbols reminded limene of the duties which were formerly annexed to the new condition of life on which the entered. She carried one of those earthen vessels in which barley is parched; one of her attendants held a fieve; and over the door was hong an inftrument ufed to bruife grain. The new-married couple ate of a fruit the fweetness of which was confidered as the emblem of their union.

In the mean time, giving a loose to the tranfports of an immoderate joy, we raised tumultuous fhouts, and befieged the door, which was defended by a faithful friend of Theagenes. A number

of

of young perfons danced to the mufic of feveral inftruments. This noife was at length interrupted by the Theoria from Corinth, who had undertaken to fing the evening bymeneal. After having congratu lated Theagenes, they added:

"We are in the fpring of our years; we are the fairest of the maidens of Corinth, fo renowned for their beauty: yet is there not one of us, O limene! whofe charms can compare to thine. Lighter than the Theffalian courfer, exalted above her companions like the lily, the pride of the garden, Ifmene is the ornament of Greece. All the loves are enthroned in her eyes, and all the arts live under her fingers. O maid! O charming woman! to-morrow will we repair to the enamelled mead, and cull flowers to compofe for thee a crown: we will hang it on the most beautiful of the neighbouring plane trees, under the fhade of which we will pour forth perfumes in thy honour, and on its bark we will infcribe these words: Offer to me your incenfe, for I am the tree of Ijmene. We falute thee, happy bride! we falute thee, happy bridegroom. May Latona give you fons who fhall refemble you. May Venus ever animate you with her fires. May Jupiter bellow on your children's children the felicity which furrounds you. Repofe in the bofom of pleasure, and henceforth breathe only the most tender love. We will return with the morning's dawn, and again will we fing: Olymen, Hymenæus, Hymen!"

The next day, as feon as it was light, we repaired to the fame place, and heard the maidens of Corinth fing the following hymeneal:

"We celebrate you in our fongs, O Venus, ornament of Olympus! Love, the delight of the earth! and thou, O Hymen, fource of life! we celebrate you in our fong, Love, Hymen, Venus! O Theagenes! awake; turn your eyes on your love. Youthful favourite of Venus, happy and worthy husband of Ifmene; O Theagenes! awake; turn your eyes on your fpoufe; forvey the splendour of her beauty, the animated frefhnefs which embellishes all her charms. The role is the queen of flowers. Ifmene is the queen of beauties. Already her trembling eyelid opens to the rays of the fun. O Theagenes! happy and worthy hufband of Ifmene, awake!"

This day, which the two lovers confidered as that on which they began to live, was almoft entirely employed, on their part, in receiving affectionate congratulations of the inhabitants of the island on their marriage. All their friends might make them prefents: they also made prefents to each other; and received, in conjunction, thofe of Philecles, the father of Theagenes. They were brought with great ceremony. A child, in a white robe, opened the proceffion, bearing a lighted torch; next came a girl, with a basket on her head: fhe was followed by feveral domeftics, who carried veffels of alabafter, boxes of perfumes, different kinds of effences, odorous ointments, and a variety of thofe luxuries which a tafte for convenience and elegance has converted into neceffaries.

In the evening, Ifmene was carried back to her father; and, lefs in conformity with cuftom than to exprefs her real fentiments, tellified to him the regret the felt at leaving her paternal houfe: the