d's Tragedy_.--One characteristic of the excellent old poets is,
their being able to bestow grace upon subjects which naturally do not
seem susceptible of any. I will mention two instances. Zelmane in the
Arcadia of Sidney, and Helena in the All's Well that Ends Well of
Shakspeare. What can be more unpromising, at first sight, than the
idea of a young man disguising himself in woman's attire, and passing
himself off for a woman among women; and that for a long space of
time? Yet Sir Philip has preserved so matchless a decorum, that
neither does Pyrocles' manhood suffer any stain for the effeminacy of
Zelmane, nor is the respect due to the princesses at all diminished
when the deception comes to be known. In the sweetly-constituted mind
of Sir Philip Sidney, it seems as if no ugly thought or unhandsome
meditation could find a harbor. He turned all that he touched into
images of honor and virtue. Helena in Shakspeare is a young woman
seeking a man in marriage. The ordinary rules of courtship are
reversed, the habitual feelings are crossed. Yet with such exquisite
address this dangerous subject is handled, that Helena's forwardness
loses her no honor; delicacy dispenses with its laws in her favor,
and nature, in her single case, seems content to suffer a sweet
violation. Aspatia, in the Maid's Tragedy, is a character equally
difficult with Helena, of being managed with grace. She too is a
slighted woman, refused by the man who had once engaged to marry her.
Yet it is artfully contrived, that while we pity we respect her, and
she descends without degradation. Such wonders true poetry and
passion can do, to confer dignity upon subjects which do not seem
capable of it. But Aspatia must not be compared at all points with
Helena; she does not so absolutely predominate over her situation but
she suffers some diminution, some abatement of the full lustre of the
female character, which Helena never does. Her character has many
degrees of sweetness, some of delicacy; but it has weakness, which,
if we do not despise, we are sorry for. After all, Beaumont and
Fletcher were but an inferior sort of Shakspeares and Sidneys.

_Philaster_.--The character of Bellario must have been extremely
popular in its day. For many years after the date of Philaster's
first exhibition on the stage, scarce a play can be found without one
of these women-pages in it, following in the train of some
pre-engaged lover, calling on the gods to bless her happy