affections, as expressed by music alone, are also indistinct. Music has frequently been called in as the auxiliary of valour, but the musician may "beat the doubling drum with furious heat," without being able to conjure up a single spirit. The momentary elevation and vivacity inspired by martial sounds will subside on the approach of danger; and if warriors have no better incentive than music, their courage will expire with the last sound of the instrument, like that of Captain Macheath when he exhausted the contents of his bottle. MILTON, an enthusiastic admirer of music, has described devotional harmony as bringing "all heaven before his eyes;" but what rational religionist has ever been able to realize this poetic vision? The solemnity of sacred music, as it is called, may prepare some minds for the awful acts of supplication, thanksgiving, and adoration, but can impart no feeling of gratitude for blessings received from the Universal Benefactor, nor elevate the imagination to a nearer contemplation of the ineffable glory of God. Every aspiration of human art, however sublime, must › fail and prove inefficient in a communion with the Deity; and like the loftiest flights of the eagle towards the noonday sun, must flag, flutter, and sink, overcome by surrounding glory. 1 Whatever refinement, grace, or elegance, the other fine arts have introduced among us, they seem to have operated with a pernicious influence on our morals. Instead of that simplicity, sincerity, and purity of manners, for which our forefathers were celebrated, a certain exotic tinsel has been substituted for our sterling gold. PUBLIC AMUSEMENTS. Dare to have sense yourselves; assert the stage, As Cato's self had not disdain'd to hear.-POPE. Public amusements, especially those of the Drama, are peculiarly calculated to give us an insight into the manners and taste of a nation; as comedies are often satires on existing follies, and from the tenor of popular tragedies we may trace the refinement of the passions. Even farces and pantomimes are not to be overlooked, as they generally exhibit caricatures of the fashionable frivolities of the day. Theatric exhibitions present so many gratifications to the mind, that they will ever be favourites with a polished people. The eye is delighted with a variety of graceful forms, decorated in characteristic dresses, and displaying the affecting gestures of passion, or the more pleasing agility and grace of motion in the sprightly dance; the ear is charmed with the harmony of vocal and instrumental music; the magic influence of sympathy pervades the mind in unison with the dignified woe of the tragic muse, or the animating sallies of Thalia provoke irresistible mirth. To these charms may be superadded the interesting variety of graceful forms and animated countenances of the audience; while appropriate scenery, and the splendour of taperlight, give the whole an air of gaiety and plea sure. With all these attractions, however, it is questionable whether the stage has not contributed to immorality. Under proper regulations it would, as the poet has described it, be a powerful monitor "To wake the soul by tender strokes of art, But a candid inquiry will convince us that our most popular plays have a pernicious effect on the mind. Shakspeare's tragedies, Othello, Macbeth, Hamlet, and Richard the Third, contain several indecent passages and allusions, at once puerile and obscene. Those productions of lewd genius were written to gratify the infant taste of the English nation; but now, when it has confessedly attained maturity, let us reject such passages, which have a much greater affinity to dulness than the idolizers of the Avonian bard would admit. The introduction of the German drama, in the beginning of the present century, may be considered as a phenomenon in the world of dissipation. That the good sense of the English nation should tamely submit to this revolution of taste, is altogether inexplicable. When the Stranger was introduced to the public, many of our fair dames welcomed him to this hospitable metropolis. Their sympathy for the poor adultress, so ably defended by KOTZEBUE, was a striking proof of their sensibility:"a fellow-feeling makes one wondrous kind:" yet from the disrepute into which conjugal infidelity has since fallen, the system of our male and female misogynists does not obtain new proselytes! As KOTZEBUE eloquently pleaded the cause of adultery in The Stranger, so in his Natural Son (or as it has been styled by an English playwright, his Lovers' Vows) he has placed a kind, unwedded fair-one, in an equally affecting and amiable point of view. The Noble Lie, written by the same dramatist, is another proof of the felicity of his invention in the extenuation of guilt. It has been asserted, and with truth, that though our modern comedies are inferior in humour to those of CONGREVE and FARQUHAR, they are more chaste and delicate in sentiment. The obscene allusion, the impious witticism, and indecent gesture, are gradually vanishing from the English stage; yet enough remains to deserve the animadversions of the moralist. Indeed, with all our boasted refinement, the morality of our theatres seems to consist in varnishing the haggard face of Vice with cosmetics. Their purity, like the cleanliness of our fashionable belles, is not the removal of dirt, but the putting it artfully on as a beautifier ! Some dramatic writers complain of the neglect of managers; but if we may judge from those rejected pieces which have been published by the authors, there is little reason to regret the fastidiousness of theatrical criticism, as probably most of the plays which have been refused were unworthy of representation. Let it be remembered too, that some managers aspired to the reputation of dramatic writers, and it was but reasonable that they should give their own productions the preference. With respect to the actors and actresses of the principal theatres, several of them possess considerable talents; but one general defect is, their apparent consciousness of performing in the pre 3 |