is country in the brightest era of its literary, philosophical, and
political achievements, is one of those singular and melancholy
circumstances of which it seems impossible at first sight to give any
explanation. Since the deep foundations of the English mind were stirred
by the Reformation, what an astonishing succession of great men in every
branch of human thought have illustrated the annals of England! The
divine conceptions of Milton, the luxuriant fervour of Thomson, the vast
discoveries of Newton, the deep wisdom of Bacon, the burning thoughts of
Gray, the masculine intellect of Johnson, the exquisite polish of Pope,
the lyric fire of Campbell, the graphic powers of Scott, the glowing
eloquence of Burke, the admirable conceptions of Reynolds, the profound
sagacity of Hume, the pictured page of Gibbon, demonstrate how mighty
and varied have been the triumphs of the human mind in these islands, in
every branch of poetry, literature, and philosophy. Yet, strange to say,
during two centuries thus marvellously illustrated by genius, intellect,
and capacity in other departments of human exertion, there has not been
a single great dramatic poet. Shakspeare still stands alone in solitary
and unapproachable grandeur, to sustain, by his single arm, the tragic
reputation of his country. Authors of passing or local celebrity have
arisen: Otway has put forth some fine conceptions, and composed one
admirable tragedy; Sheridan sketched some brilliant satires; Miss
Baillie delineated the passions with epic power; and genius of the
highest order in our times, that of Byron and Bulwer, has endeavoured
to revive the tragic muse in these islands. But the first declared that
he wrote his dramatic pieces with no design whatever to their
representation, but merely as a vehicle of noble sentiments in dialogue
of verse; and the second is too successful as a novelist to put forth
his strength in dramatic poetry, or train his mind in the school
necessary for success in that most difficult art. The English drama, in
the estimation of the world, and in its just estimation, still stands on
Shakspeare, and he flourished nearly three hundred years ago!

It was not thus in other countries, or in former times. Homer was the
first, and still is one of the greatest, of dramatic poets; the _Iliad_
is a tragedy arranged in the garb of an epic poem. AEschylus borrowed,
Prometheus-like, the divine fire, and embodied the energy of Dante and
the soul of