ſelf, proper enough to diſpoſe men to a more religious Life. My Diſgraces never gave me this ſort of compaſſion. Nor has Nature made me ſenſible enough of my own misfortunes. The loſs of my Friends might be able to excite in me thoſe tender ſorrows and nice afflictions, out of which Devotion is form'd in proceſs of time. I would not adviſe any one to reſiſt that Devotion which ſprings from compaſſion, nor that which gives us an aſſurance. The one agreeably affects the Soul; the other ſettles the Mind in a ſweet repoſe: but all men, and particularly the unfortunate, ought to defend themſelves with care from a ſuperſtitious Devotion, which would mix its black melancholy vapours with thoſe of Diſgrace.
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Of Antient and Modern
TRAGEDY.
THERE never were ſo many Rules to write a good Tragedy by; and yet ſo few good ones are now made, that the Players are oblig'd to revive and act all the old ones. I remember that the Abbé d'Aubignac wrote one according to the Laws he had imperiouſly preſcrib'd for the Stage[1]. This Piece had no ſucceſs: notwithſtanding which he boaſted in all companies, that he was the only French Writer who had exactly follow'd the precepts of Aristotle: where-
- ↑ Francis Hedelin, Abbot d'Aubignac, publiſh'd in the year 1657, a Treatiſe intitled, La Pratique du Theatre, or the Practiſe of the Stage.
