ysses.

There is no one who has not heard of the famous dramatic unities, and
the long-continued controversy which has been maintained between the
admirers of the Greek drama, founded on their strict observance, and the
followers of Shakspeare, who set them at defiance. In this, as in other
disputes, probably neither party will ever convince the other; and the
only effect of the contention is to fix each more immovably in its own
opinion. But, waiving at present the abstract question, which of the two
systems is in itself preferable, or essential to dramatic success, there
is a practical consideration of deep interest to society, with which we
are all concerned and the result of which throws no small light on the
theoretical principle. It is this. Placing the creators of the two
systems--AEschylus and Shakspeare--on a par; conceding to the author of
_Hamlet_ an equal place with that of the composer of the _Prometheus
Vinctus_; which of the two systems has had most success in the world;
has longest preserved its sway over the human mind; has best withstood
the causes of corruption inherent in all earthly change?

What a noble set of followers have, in all ages, graced the banners of
the Athenian bard! Sophocles, Aristophanes, Menander, and Euripides, in
Greece; Terence and Plautus in Rome; Metastasio, Goldoni, and Alfieri in
Italy; Corneille, Racine, Moliere, and Voltaire in France; Schiller,[N]
in himself a host, in Germany--contribute the brightest stars in the
immortal band. Their merits may be unequal, their talent various, their
pieces sometimes uninteresting; but, taken as a whole, their works
exhibit the greatest efforts of human genius. What has the Romantic
school to exhibit, after its inimitable founder, as a set-off to this
long line of greatness? The ephemeral and now forgotten lights of the
British stage--the blasting indecencies of Beaumont and Fletcher; the
vigorous ribaldry of Dryden; the shocking extravagances of the recent
French and Spanish stage; the _Tour de Nesle_, and other elevating
pieces, which adorn the modern Parisian theatre, and train to virtuous
and generous feeling the present youth of France. Shakspeare himself,
with all his transcendent excellences, is unable to keep his ground on
the British stage. Like all great men, whom accident or error has
embarked in a wrong course, he has been passed by a host of followers,
who, unable to imitate his beauties, have copied only his defects, till