My candour must strike ev'ry playwright, I'm cer tain; The piece, therefore, closing, I drop the green curtain. have appeared, which, I believe, without a single exception, received the most flattering applause that could possibly accompany such species of compositions. Romance Writers. Majorem fidem homines adhibent eis quæ non intelligunt. Cupi dine humani ingenii libentius obscura creduntur. Pliny. Men are usually prone to believe that which they least comprehend; and, through the instability of human wit, obscure things are thus more easily accredited. ASSIST me, ye gods, this dread task to subdue, view; The names wou'd engross quarto volume;-while folio Wou'd not contain titles of works, wondrous olio: My task, then, must be to select from the crowd, While the phalanx, by hundreds, in note I'll en shroud. Ah! prove then, ye Nine, and Apollo propitious! Unaided by you my gall'd nag will grow vicious; When I shall my saddle incontinent lose, And reap, for my pains, the loud laugh of the muse. (e) (e) Nothing more powerfully displays that men are all but children of a larger growth, than the extraordinary predilection which is more or less manifested by every rank of society for the perusal of the marvellous. Nay even though we pretend to deride the idea of supernatural agency, we are, nevertheless, fond of listening to the detail of any narrative, avouched as a fact, though it is in direct opposition to the tenets we profess. Under these circumstances it is not surprising that Milton, Locke, and Dr. Johnson, should have felt interested in the perusal of romances, and the fables of knights errant and their persecuted dulcineas. Within the last twenty years the leading features of romance writing have undergone a complete change, as no production of this nature can go down, the drama of which is not performed in a catholic country, and the burthen of the tale connected with some wandering spirit of the night. On this perilous sea, then, my vessel I'll steer; clear! To Clara Reeve and Sir Horace Walpole we are greatly indebted for this species of composition, which afterwards received additional strength from the German productions respecting the Illuminati, Rosicrucians, &c. &c., while, with giant strides, a Radcliffe and Monk Lewis appeared with lucubrations that made the former tales of the nursery appear as so many insignificant pigmies. In the old romances we find no mention of ghosts; but, in lieu of such flitting agency, if we refer to the black letter translations, for the which we are indebted to Sir John Bourchier, Knight, Lord Berners, we shall perceive many which possess a great share of merit. The Mort D'Arthur abounds with picturesque scenes, particularly one, where the effect of the "stroke dolorous," is described. "Huon of Bourdeaux" has conferred obligations on many subsequent writers, which they had not the gratitude to acknowledge. His wild and picturesque stories of Judas whirling about in the sea, and of Cain in the desert, with an attendant friend, have supplied M. Petit de la Croix with the most interesting parts of his Persian Tales; nor has Huon's "Castle of Adamant" been spared by the same plagiarist.—There is a romance little known, called " Galienus Restored," which, from the specimen given by an ingenious French writer, must be very inte |