aid by Greece to the memory of Aeschylus,
Sophocles, and Euripides. Statues were erected to them by public edict,
and their works were recorded as matters of state in the archives of the
nation. This part of the history is worthy of very particular
consideration. That great, wise, and high spirited free nation, who
understood man's nature, and national policy of the best kind, as well
as any other people that ever existed, knew the efficacy of the stage in
meliorating the morals, the manners, and the opinions of a people, and,
therefore, made use of it as a great state engine. Their poets
studiously interwove the public events of Greece into their dramatic
poetry, and made their tragedies national concerns, which, as such, were
sanctioned by law and supported out of the public treasury. Thus the
glories of their heroes were registered and rewarded--the influence of
their example extended--a lively ambition to excel in valour, virtue,
and wisdom was disseminated by the sentiments which the genius and skill
of the poets put into the mouths of their leading characters, and young
men endeavoured to model themselves by those characters and sentiments.

Dramatic criticism was not left by the Greeks, as it is by the moderns,
to operate at random, or yielded up to the will or the caprice of vain,
ignorant, presumptuous, or corrupt pretenders. A bench of judges to the
number of ten, selected for their learning, integrity, and acknowledged
excellence, were appointed by law to preside at theatric
representations, and to determine what was fit for the public to hear,
and what not. These were sworn to decide impartially, and they were
vested with an authority which extended to the infliction of summary
punishment on impure, mischievous, or offensive pieces. They had the
power to punish with whipping, and were authorised to bestow great
rewards for merit. Thus, Sophocles was awarded a dignified and lucrative
government for one of his pieces, and an unfortunate comic poet of the
name of Evangelus was publicly whipped. This circulated a spirit of
correctness, and a chaste and delicate taste through the people, as was
evidenced in the case already mentioned, of one of the tragedies of
Euripides, which was instantly censured for the introduction of a
vitious sentiment in favour of riches. How unlike our playhouse critics
of modern times were those Athenians. By them, no regard was paid to
private solicitation, to personal partiality, or t