With regard to theatricals, I have witnessed the representation of a
tragedy, lately published, called _Sappho_, by a young poet of the name of
Grillparzer. This tragedy is strictly on the Greek model. Its versification
in iambics is so beautiful that it is regarded as the triumph of the
_Classics_ over the _Romantics_; and by this piece Grillparzer has proved
the universality of his genius; for he wrote a short time ago a dramatic
piece in the _romantic_ style and in the eight rhymed trochaic metre called
_die Anhfrau_ (the ancestress) where supernatural agency is introduced.
This I have read; it is a piece full of interest; still it was thought too
_outre_ by the _Classiker_. It was supposed that this was the peculiar
style of the author, and that he adopted it from inability to compose in
the classic taste, when behold! by way of proving the contrary, he has
given us a drama simple in its plot, where all the unities are preserved,
and where the subject one would think was too well known to produce much
interest; he has given, I say, to this piece (Sappho), from the extreme
harmony of its versification and the pathos of the sentiments expressed
therein, an effect which I doubt any tragedy of Euripides or Sophocles
surpasses. The character of Sappho and her passion for Phaon; his
indifference to her and attachment to the young Melitta, an attendant and
slave of Sappho's, and Sappho throwing herself into the sea after uniting
Phaon and Melitta, constitute the plot of the drama. But simple as the
plot, and old as the story is, it excites the greatest interest, and never
fails to draw tears from the audience. What can be more artless and
pathetic, for instance, than these lines of the young Melitta when she
regrets her expatriatioa:

Kein Busen schlaegt mlr bier in diesem Lande,
Und meine Freunden wohnen weit von hier.

In English:

No bosom beats for me in this strange land,
And far from here my friends and parents dwell.

I have no doubt that some of these days _Sappho_ will be translated into
the idiom of modern Greece and acted in that country. The actress, who did
the part of Sappho, gave it full effect, and the part of the young Melitta
was fairly performed; but I did not approve of the acting of the performer
who played Phaon. He overstepped the modesty of nature and the intention of
the author; for he was in his gesture and manner grossly rude and insolent
to poor Sappho, whereas, tho' his love to Melit