1

Ω πολύμοχθο Άρης, τι αποθ' αιματι

Και θανατω καλέχη, Βρομια παράμεσος εορίαις *;

« O direful Mars! why art thou ftill delight"ed with blood and with death, and why

an enemy to the feafts of Bacchus?" And a ftill more glaring inftance may be brought from the end of the third act of the Troades, in which the story of Ganymede is introduced not very artificially. To these may be added that exquifite ode in praise of Apollo, defcriptive of his birth and victories, which we find in the Iphigenia in Tauris ‡.

On the other hand, the choruses of Sophocles never defert the subject of each particular drama, and all their fentiments and reflections are drawn from the fituation of the principal perfonage of the fable. Nay Sophocles hath artfully found a method of making those poetical defcriptions, with which the chorufes of the ancients abound, carry on the chief defign of the piece; and has by these

* Ver. 793.

+ Ver. 795.

Ver. 1235. et feq.

means

means accomplished what is a great difficulty in writing tragedy, has united poetry with propriety. In the Philoctetes the chorus takes a natural occafion, at verse 694, to give a minute and moving picture of the folitary life of that unfortunate hero; and when afterwards at verfe 855, pain has totally exhausted the strength and fpirits of Philoctetes, and it is neceffary for the plot of the tragedy that he should fall asleep, it is then, that the chorus breaks out into an exquifite ode to fleep. As in the Antigone, with equal beauty and decorum in an addrefs to the god of love, at verse 791 of that play. And thus laftly, when the birth of Edipus is doubtful, and his parents unknown, the chorus fuddenly exclaims, "Tis

σε, τεκνον, τις σ' ελικλε των μακραίωνων ; &c. "From which, O my fon, of the im

*The fubject and fcene of this tragedy, fo romantic and uncommon, are highly pleafing to the imagination. See particularly his description of his being left in this defolate island, v. 280. His lamentation for the lofs of his bow. v. 1140. and alfo 1185. and his laft adieu to the ifland. 1508. One may here obferve by the way, that the ancients thought bodily pains, and wounds, &c. proper objects to be reprefented on the stage.

"mortal

"mortal gods, didft thou fpring? Was it "fome nymph, a favourite of Pan that haunts "the mountains; or fome daughter of Apollo, "for this god loves the remote rocks and

caverns, who bore you? Or was it Mer

cury who reigns in Cyllene; or did Bac« chus, Θεος ναιων επ' ακρων ορέων, a god "who dwells on the tops of the mountains,

beget you, on any of the nymphs that

poffefs Helicon, with whom he frequently fports?"*

THE judicious author of the tragedy of Elfrida, hath given occafion to a kind of controverfy among the more curious critics, concerning the utility of the chorus, which, after the model of the ancients, he hath endeavoured to revive. To imagine, that the great Grecian masters retained it only out of respect to its antiquity, and from no intrific valuableness or propriety of the thing, can scarcely be imagined. The fentiments of the excellent Brumoy are moderate and rational, and feem

* Οιδπ. τυραν. 1118.

to

to comprehend all that is neceffary to be faid on this fubject. "I know, fays he, the chorus is attended with inconveniences. Sophocles had the address to withdraw his chorus for a few moments, when their abfence was neceffary, as in the Ajax. If the chorus therefore incommodes the poet, and puts him under difficulties, he muft charge it folely to his own want of dexterity. What advantage, on the other hand, may he not reap, from a body of actors that fill the ftage; that render more lively, ftriking, and fenfible, the continuity of the action, and give it the air of greater PROBABILITY? For it is not natural or conceivable, that a great and illuftrious action, fuch as a revolution in a state, should pass without witneffes. We perceive and feel a kind of void on the stage, on account of the abfence of the chorufes; and the fuccessful attempt of Racine, who adopted and revived the use of them in his ATHALIA and ESTHER, were fufficient, one would imagine, to undeceive and convince us, of their importance, and utility. The ancients treated only of fuch L ftories

ftories as were publicly tranfacted; now the banishment of the chorus has been the necessary confequence of the custom of the moderns, in taking for their Representations all kinds of fubjects, and in filling and overcharging the action with incidents and furprises. For how could these various crowded events and incidents, have been poffibly introduced in a public place, expofed to the view of courtiers and the people; while the generality of our tragedies turn on particular and private affairs, removed from the view and notice of all men? The Athenian fpectators were ever accustomed to concern themselves in all public affairs, and to be witnesses and judges of them. The modern stage, by its difufe of the chorus, may perhaps have gained a great number of fine subjects for tragedy; yet, in return, it is burthened with confidents, it lofes the continuity of action, and is deprived of the magnificent fpectacle that ferves to fupport that continuity, and which is, if I may be allowed the expreffion, le fonds, ou l'accompagnement du tableau *.”

*Le Theatre de Grecs. Tom. i. 104. and 214. and 198. I THOUGHT