Genius.

We heard it once asserted by _David Hume_, Esq;[B] that Mr. _Malloch_
was destitute of the Pathetic. In this Observation however we beg leave
to differ with him. In the fourth Act the whole Board of Portuguese
Privy Counsellors are melted into Tears. The Trial of the Prince moves
the Hearts of those Monsters of Iniquity, those Members of Inquisition,
when the less humane Audience are in Danger, from the Tediousness of two
insipid Harangues of falling fast asleep. This majestic Scene is too
exactly copied from a Trial at the _Old Bailey_, to have even the Merit
of Originality. And indeed it is to the Lenity of the King of _Portugal_
that we owe by far the greater Part of this amazing Play. The good Man
lets his rebellious Subjects out of Prison to chat with him, when a
wiser Monarch would have kept them close confined in _Newgate_. The
incomparable Action of that universal Genius Mr. _Garrick_ alone, saved
this Act from the Damnation it deserved. Had not he, like a second
_AEneas_, carried the old doating and decrepid Father on his Back, he
must have lain by the Way. Tho' we must observe another Character in
this Play seemed better suited to the Impetuosity and Fire of this
Actor. We could not but smile at the Humour of a merry Wag in the Pit,
who at the Conclusion of one of the most tiresome Pleadings, with some
Degree of Impatience and Emotion called out, _Encore, encore_.

In the fifth Act we were melted with the Sight of two young Children
which the King embraced, which the Prince embraced, which _Elvira_
embraced. Mr. _Addison_ in the 44th No. of the _Spectator_, has some
Remarks so judicious and lively on the Practice of introducing Children
on the Stage, that we must beg leave to transcribe the Passage.

"A disconsolate Mother with a Child in her Hand, has frequently drawn
Compassion from the Audience, and has therefore gained a Place in
several Tragedies; a modern Writer who observed how this had taken
in other Plays, being resolved to double the Distress, and melt his
Audience twice as much as those before him had done, brought a Princess
on the Stage with a little Boy in one Hand, and a Girl in the other. A
third Poet being resolved to out-write all his Predecessors, a few Years
ago introduced three Children with great Success; and as I am informed a
young Gentleman who is fully determined to break the most obdurate
Heart, has a Tragedy by him where the first Person that appears on the
Stage is an af