ferves, in his elaborate account of the Greek Theatre, that Tragedy is nothing more than an Abridgement of the Epic Poem: And Efchylus himself ufed to fay that he had only copied in relief what he found so finely delineated in the Iliad and Odyssey.

But however great the merit of Eschylus may be, (and very great it certainly is) yet Ancient Tragedy wanted many of its effential parts, till Sophocles and Euripides came to finish it. Thefe Great Men have ftood unrivalled. Their beauties and various excellencies, though they may lie in a different track, feem not neverthelefs to have raised the one above the head of the other. In a word, this Poem in their hands appears to have arrived at the highest pitch of Human Perfection.

And fo much, by way of a fhort fketch, of the rife and progrefs, of the Lyric, the Elegiac, and the Tragic Poem.

a Some time before the death of Afchylus about 450 years before Chrift.

LETTER

LETTER XXVII. Continued.

WE

E come next to COMIC Poetry. At the feast of Bacchus before mentioned, befides the Dithyrambic Ode, there were fung fome wild and fcurrilous Compofitions called oaxa, tending to mirth, ridicule, and buffoonery. Now as Tragedy took its rife from the former, the latter in like manner gave birth to Comedy.*

2 Και η μεν (Τραγωδία) απο των εξαρχοντων τον διθυραμβον, ή δε (Κωμωδία) απο των τα φαλλικα See the Poetics, IV. The Festivals, at which they used to fing the Dithyramb and these Pax, were usually held in Villages; when they exposed in this kind of compofition the faults and foibles of licentious individuals. The word Comedy then may be derived from Kwun and won-Others would derive it from won, and Kapos or Kaual, because on such occafions they used to fing and live riotoufly.-The reward that was given to those who came off conquerors in this fort of literary conteft was a cask of Wine: Hence it was at first called Tęvywdia; but it foon changed its name into Kauwdia-And it is probable (as our great Critic conjectures) that this last was the old and common name both for Tragedy and Comedy; till they came to be diftinguished by their peculiar appellations, and cultivated as two forts of Poetry. See the Differt, upon Phalaris, p. 308.

A due

2

A due feparation between these two kinds of Poetry, I mean the Tragic and Comic, did not probably take place before the time of Æfchylus; for is it not likely that the rant of Thefpis favoured almost as much of the one as of the other? both of them being originally all of a piece 211 Σατυρική και Ogxnsxn, dancing and finging after a wild manner: And indeed we find that KOMOI was a name fometimes given to the Plays of Thefpis.

Comedy was at first looked upon as unfit for reforming or improving the manners of mankind, and as totally incapable of that elegance and refinement which it afterwards attained. Hence no doubt the reason why it continued fo long in a rude state: For it confifted for a long time of nothing more than finging ludicrous and unpolished verses, and then dancing to them-fimilar, perhaps, to what our Great Navigator found at Otaheitè, and in the neighbouring Islands — But to go on.

We are left rather in an uncertainty respecting him who invented this fpecies of

a See Captain Cook's Second Voyage, page 156, and 174. et feq. 4ta.

Poetry,

a

Poetry, and who firft formed the Comic Drama: A regular plot or fable is faid to have been first compofed by Epicharmus and Pharmis, who lived in Sicily in the time of Gelo and Hiero, and but very few years before #fchylus began to diftinguish himfelf. But, like most other branches of Polite Literature, it had made but few and flow steps towards perfection, before it found its way into Athens, where the Sciences and fine Arts were beginning to shine with uncommon fplendor. In Athens Crates, Eupolis, Cratinus, were among the firft who applied themselves to Comedy, and improved it: But thefe are men of whom we know little befides their names

Έλεος οἷον ακγομεν, ὅδε τι ιδμεν.

• See the Poetics, III. — See also V.

About 480 years before the time of our Saviour.

Indeed a great many refpectable Authors unanimously attri bute to Epicharmus the invention of Comedy. A few others are of opinion that this honour belongs to Sufarion. If these are in the right, the origin of Comedy must be about 40 years older than that of Tragedy: If the advocates for Epicharmus are so, (which is most probable) it is about 20 years later. Sufarion was of Megara in the neighbourhood of Attica, and Epicharmus of Megara in Sicily. See Poetics III. See, this point learnedly difcuffed in Bentley's Differtation upon Phalaris, p. 199. & feq.

About 400 years before the Chriftian Era, the Athenians were entertained with the witty productions of Ariftophanes. To him it may be faid that Comedy was as much indebted for its regulation and improvement, as Tragedy had been to Efchylus. The Margites of Homer was of fingular affiftance and advantage to this Poeti yap Magyesrins (as Ariftotle has it) αναλόγον έχει, ωαπερ Ιλιας και Οδύσσεια προς τας τραγωδίας, ούτω και ούτος προς τας Κωμωδίας.

2

But Ariftophanes, whatever his wit and humour may have been, seems to have miftaken the proper end of Comedy: For inftead of expofing the follies and foibles of men, and reprehending fuch vices as are too trivial or too fantastical to be noticed by the Magistrate, he affumed a privilege which by no means belonged to him, and took upon him to call them to an account, in plain and direct terms, for every public transaction they were engaged in: And befides, his fcurrilous abufe of the worthieft character that lived

* See as before, Ch. IV.-The Margites was a ludicrous Poem of Homer, which has not reached our times. It is fupe pofed to have been written in the Iambic as well as in the Hexameter meafure. There is no forming an opinion of it from the four or five lines that are now extant.