Page:The lives of the poets of Great Britain and Ireland to the time of Dean Swift - Volume 4.djvu/243

Rh diſconcerts the deſign. The ſtory and incidents of this play are intereſting and moving, but Mr. Dennis has not wrought the ſcenes much in the ſpirit of a tragedian: This was a ſubject admirably ſuited for the talents of Otway. The diſcovery of Oreſtes’s being the brother of Iphigenia is both ſurprizing and natural, and though the ſubject is not well executed, yet is this by far the moſt affecting tragedy of our author; it is almoſt impoſſible to read it without tears, though it abounds with bombaſt.

The fourth play introduced upon the ſtage by Mr. Dennis, 1704, was, a tragedy called Liberty Aſſerted, dedicated to Anthony Henley, eſq; to whom he ſays he was indebted for the happy hint upon which it was formed. Soon after this he wrote another tragedy upon the ſtory of Appius and Virginia, which Mr. Maynwaring, in a letter to Mr. Dennis, calls one of our beſt modern tragedies; it is dedicated to Sidney Earl of Godolphin.

He altered Shakeſpear’s Merry Wives of Windſor, and brought it on the ſtage under the title of The Comical Gallant. Prefixed to this, is a large account of Taſte in Poetry, and the Cauſes of its Degeneracy addreſſed to the Hon. George Granville, Eſq; afterwards Lord Lanſdowne.

Our author’s next dramatic production was Coriolanus, the Invader of his Country, or the Fatal Reſentment, a Tragedy; altered from Shakeſpear, and acted at the Theatre-Royal in Drury-Lane. This piece met with ſome oppoſition the firſt night; and on the fourth another play was given out. The ſecond night’s audience was very ſmall, though the play was exceedingly well acted. The third night had not the charges in money; the fourth was ſtill worſe, and then another play was given out, not one place being taken in