der their calamities,
than those in which they recover themselves out of them.

'The best Plays of this kind are _The Orphan_, _Venice Preserved_,
_Alexander the Great_, _Theodosius_, _All for Love_, _Oedipus_,
_Oroonoko_, _Othello_, &c.

'King _Lear_ is an admirable Tragedy of the same kind, as Shakespeare
wrote it: But as it is reformed according to the _chimerical notion_ of
POETICAL JUSTICE, in my humble opinion it has lost half its beauty.

'At the same time I must allow, that there are very noble Tragedies,
which have been framed upon the other Plan, and have ended happily; as
indeed most of the good Tragedies which have been written since the
starting of the above-mentioned Criticism, have taken this turn: As _The
Mourning Bride_, _Tamerlane_[38], _Ulysses_, _Phaedra and Hippolytus_,
with most of Mr. Dryden's. I must also allow, that many of
Shakespeare's, and several of the celebrated Tragedies of Antiquity, are
cast in the same form. I do not therefore dispute against this way of
writing Tragedies; but against the Criticism that would establish This
as the _only_ method; and by that means would very much cramp the
English Tragedy, and perhaps give a wrong bent to the genius of our
writers.'

'This subject is further considered in a Letter to the Spectator[39].

"I find your opinion, says the author of it, concerning the
_late-invented_ term called _Poetical Justice_, is controverted by some
eminent critics. I have drawn up some additional arguments to strengthen
the opinion which you have there delivered; having endeavoured to go to
the bottom of that matter....

"The most perfect man has vices enough to draw down punishments upon his
head, and to justify Providence in regard to any miseries that may befal
him. For this reason I cannot think but that the instruction and moral
are much finer, where a man who is virtuous in the main of his character
falls into distress, and sinks under the blows of fortune, at the end of
a Tragedy, than when he is represented as happy and triumphant. Such an
example corrects the insolence of human nature, softens the mind of the
beholder with sentiments of pity and compassion, comforts him under his
own private affliction, and teaches him not to judge of mens virtues by
their successes[40]. I cannot think of one real hero in all antiquity so
far raised above human infirmities, that he might not be very naturally
represented in a Tragedy as plunged in misfortunes and calamit