mercy on the stage; and numerous virtues, of which the legislature is silent, are recommended from the stage. In this it faithfully follows the directions of wisdom and religion. It derives its principles and examples from this pure source, and enrobes rigorous duty with a charming and enticing garment. How noble are the sentiments, resolutions, and passions, with which it swells our soul, how heavenly the ideas which it exhibits for imitation. When the benevolent Au strength must religion and the laws acquire by a close alliance with the stage, where all is intuition, where vice and virtue, happiness and misery, folly and wisdom, are represented to man in a variety of comprehensive and faithful pictures; where providence unfolds its riddles, and solves the mysterious knots of fate before our eyes; where the human heart, stretched on the rack of passion, confesses its inmost emotions; where all masks are stript off, every gloss is wiped away, and incorruptible truth is awfully sitting in judg-gustus, great as a god, offers his hand to the per ment. The jurisdiction of the stage begins where the dominion of the civil law terminates. When justice is blinded by the charms of gold, and riots in the pay of vice, when the crimes of those that are in power laugh at its impotence, and fear of man fetters the arm of the magistrates, then the stage takes up the sword and balance of justice, and drags vice before its dread tribunal. The spacious regions of fancy and history, the times past and future, are obedient to its nod. Daring criminals, long mouldered in dust, are now summoned by the omnipotent voice of poetry, and repeat an ignominious life for the awful instruction of posterity. Wretches, once the terror of their cotemporaries, pass before our eyes, impotent like the phantoms produced by a magic mirror, and we curse their memory with a voluptuous horror. Though morality should be. taught no longer, religion lose all credit, and the power of the law be dissolved, yet man would continue to be seized with awful dread on seeing Medea stagger down the steps of her palace, and be agitated with powerful emotions when the murder of her children is accomplished. A saJutary tremor will seize the beholder, and he will rejoice at having preserved his conscience pure, when Lady Macbeth, a dreadful night walker, | washes her hands, and calls in vain for all the perfumes of Arabia to dispel the odious scent of murder? It is no exaggeration if we maintain that these pictures, exhibited on the stage, finally incorporate themselves with the morals of the multitude, and in individual cases influence their sentiments. The impressions, produced by such exhibitions, are indelible, and the slightest touch is sufficient to resuscitate, as it were, the whole terrifying picture in the heart of man. Certain as it is that intuitive representation operates more powerfully than dead letters and cold recitation, it is equally certain that the stage produces a more powerful and lasting -effect than all systems of morality and the written law. But the stage in this does not merely aid the law-it has a much more spacious field to act upon. Thousands of vices, suffered by the law to remain unpunished, are chastised without || fidious Cinna, who imagines to read the sentence of death on his lips, and utters the generous request, Cinna, let us be friends!" who among the spectators would in that moment not be inclined to shake his mortal enemy kindly by the hand, in order to resemble the great Roman ?— When Francis Sickingen, going to chastise an oppressive prince, and to defend the rights of a fellow-man, on the road chances to look round, and descries the smoke of his burning castle, where he left his wife and child unprotected, and proceeds on his road, in order to be faithful to his word, how great must man appear in such a moment, and how contemptible the dread of invincible fate! Useful as the stage proves itself by representing virtue in the most amiable manner, it produces effects no less salutary by exhibiting the deformity of vice in its dreadful mirror. When the helpless and childish Lear, in a nocturnal tempest, knocks in vain at the house of his daughters, scattering his white locks into the air, and tells the furious elements how unnatural his reign had been; when he at last vents his furious pangs in the dreadful words, "I gave you all I had to give!" how abominable then must ingratitude appear to us, and how solemnly do we vow to love and to revere our parents! But the effects which the stage can produce extend still farther. It is active for our improvement, when religion and the law deem it beneath their dignity to bestow their fostering care upon human sentimen's. Social happiness is as much annoyed by folly as by crimes and vices. Experience teaches us, that in the texture of human affairs the greatest weights are frequently suspended by the smallest and most tender threads, and that we, on tracing human actions to their primary sources, must smile ten times, before we are once struck with horro. The more I advance in years, the smaller grows my catalogue of villains, whilst my register of fools grows more complete and numerous. If all the mortal transactions of one sex arise from one source, if all the enormous extremes of vice, which ever have branded individuals, are only altered forms, only higher degrees of one quality, which we at last unanimously behold with a 'smile of pity, why should nature not have led the other sex the same road? I know but one secret of preserving man from depravity, and that is this to guard his heart against weakness. other respects. Though it should not be capable of either destroying or even dininishing the sum of vices, must we not confess that it makes us acquainted with them? We must live with these slaves of vice, and associate with these fools. We must either shun or counteract them; undermine their influence, or fall under it. The stage renders them incapable of taking us by surprize. We are prepared against their designs. The stage has betrayed to as the secret of detecting and disarming them. It has stript off the deceitful mask that concealed the hypocrite, and laid open the net with which cunning and cabal encompassed us. It dragged deception and falsehood out of their crooked labyrinths, and exposed their countenance to the light. Though the dreadful remorse of the unfortunate Mrs. Haller, in Kotzebue's Stranger, should not deter one voluptuary from his criminal pursuits, and the pic. ture of the baneful effects of seduction should not be capable of quenching his guilty flanies, will it not enable unsuspecting innocence to see through the artful web of seduction, and teach it to tremble at the vows and the homage of the vile seducer? The stage does, however, direct our attention not to man and human characters alone, it also renders us attentive to the fate of man, and teaches us the great art of enduring its blows with firmness. The stage is highly capable of performing great part of this momentous task. It presents the mirror of truth to the numerous classes of fools, and with salutary ridicule lashes folly under whatever form it may appear. It effects in such instances, by means of satire, what in others it performs by exciting tender emotions or terror. If we were to attempt to estimate the respective value of tragedy and comedy by the measure of the effects which they produce, experience would perhaps adjudge the preference to the latter.Ridicule and contempt wound the pride of man more severely than indignation tortures his conscience. Our cowardice flies from the dread of horrors, but this very cowardice betrays us to the stings of satire. The laws and our conscience preserve us frequently from crimes and vices, whilst the perception of our follies requires a more refined sense, which we can sharpen no where more effectually than at the theatre. We may, without much reluctance, empower a friend to attack our morals and our heart, but we fiud it more difficult to forgive him a single laugh at our expence. Our transgressions admit of an observer and censor, but our follies scarcely can bear a witness. The stage alone is permitted freely to lash our weakness, because it spares our peevishness, and does not desire to know the guilty fool. We see in its mirror, without blushing, our follies drop their mask, and in general are thankful for the gentle reprimand. The effects produced by the stage do not, how-prudence have exerted themselves already on siever, terminate here. The theatre is in a higher degree than any other public institution a school of practical wisdom, a guide through civil life, an unerring key to the most secret recesses of the human soul. I will not deny that infatuation and callousness of conscience frequently destroy its best effects; that these barriers to truth enable numerous vices to stand undaunted before its mirror, and that thousands of generous sentiments, recommended from the stage, make no impression upon the icy heart of the spectator; and I am inclined to believe that Moliere's Har-await with her in anxious dread the arrival of the pagon may not have reformed one usurer; that the suicide Beverley has reclaimed but a few of his brethren from the dreadful vice of gambling; and that the representation of Charles Moor will not con ribute much to render the high roads safer: but though we should admit this to be the case in most instances, or even be so unjust to maintain hat the stage contributes nothing at all to restrain the progress of vice, we cannot deny that its salutary influence is very great in many Accident and design act an equally important part in the vicissitudes of our life; we direct the course of the latter, but must implicitly submit to the former. We have reason to be satisfied with the advantage, if unavoidable fatalities do not surprise us unprepared; if our courage and milar occasions, and our heart has attained a sufficient degree of firmness to endure the sudden blow inflicted y adverse fate. The sage presents to our view a variegated scene of human sufferings. It involves us artfully in foreign distresses, and rewards us for momentary pangs with voluptuous tears and a most valuable acquisition of courage and experience. We follow on the stage the deserted Ariadne through the re-echoing Naxos, descend with her through the horrid tower of Ugolino, attend her to the dreadful scaffold, and awful hour of death. Here we hear surprised nature unobjectionably confirm what the secret palpitations of our soul prognosticated. The betrayed favourite of his Queen is deserted by her favour in the dungeons of the tower; the agonized Francis Moor is abaudoned, at the point of death, by his faithless sophistry. Eternity re-' stores the deceased to the world, to reveal secrets which no living mortal can know, and the se. cure villain is driven from his last horrid retreat, because the grave evomits a dreadful witness against him. Besides the information which the stage gives us of the fate of man, it teaches us also to be just to the unfortunate, and to judge him with indulgent humanity. We are made acquainted with the whole extent of his necessities before we are permitted to sit in judgment upon him.Humanity and tolerance begin to predominate in our age; their cheering rays have forced their way into the courts of justice, and even farther into the hearts of princes. How ample a share has the stage had in this beneficent change, by rendering man better acquainted with his brethren, and unfolding the secret springs which determine human actions! A certain eminent class of men has more reason to be grateful to the stage than the rest.— Here the great and powerful hear what they never or rarely hear-truth; and behold what they never or rarely see-man in his natural form. Before Joseph II. conquered the dreadful hydra of pious hatred, did the stage already plant humanity and meekness in our heart; the horrid pictures which able dramatists diew of pagan priestly fury, taught us to avoid religious hatred, and this dreadful mirror enabled Christianity to wipe off the spots with which it was stained.— The errors of education might, by means of the stage, be attacked with equal success; but unfor || tunately not one of our great dramatists has as yet attempted to treat upon this important theme. Though there is nothing, by its consequences so important for the general welfare of a nation as education, yet it is totally abandoned to the prejudices, the indolence, and the thoughtlessness of every individual. The stage alone would be capable of exhibiting to public view the numerous unfortunate victims of neglected education; here our fathers might learn to renounce perverse maxims, and our mothers to love rationally.False notions lead the heart of the best pedagogues astray, which renders the consequences the more pernicious, if they boast of unnatural methods, and systematically ruin the tender plant in academies and pedagogic hot houses. The present predominant custom of instructing children in every thing but in what tends to render them practical Christians and useful subjects, deservcs, more than any other fashionable folly of the age, to be lashed by the scourge of satire. Thus extensive is the influence of the stage upon meral refinement; but its merits, in illuminating the human mind are no less important and obvious; and it is in this higher region where a great genius and zealous patriot turns it to the best advantage. He casts a scrutinizing look at the whole human race, compares nations with nations, centuries with centuries, and observes how slavishly the great mass of the people bend their neck beneath the yoke of prejudice and opinion, which continually counteract their hap-in piness-observes that the purer rays of truth enlighten only a few solitary individuals, who purchase the small gain, perhaps, at the expence of a whole life. By what means can a wise gislator make a whole nation partake of the salutary light emanating from these purer rays of truth? The stage is the common channel by which the light of truth emanates from the more enlightened part of a nation, and diffuses its gentle rays through the whole state. Notions more correct, principles more r fined, and purer sentiments, flow from her through all the veins of the great bulk of the nation; the mephitic mist of barbarisin, the Egyptian darkness of superstition disappears, the night gives way to conquering light. I beg leave to select only two from the numerous excellent fruits of the better stage: How universally has religious tolerance been diffused within these few last years. Before Lessing's Nathan the Jew, and Voltaire's Sala !in, the Saracen put us to the blush, and preached the divide doctrine that pious submission to the will of God does not depend on our opinions of the nature of the Supreme Ruler of the world. The stage might also be rendered instrumental correcting the ideas of a nation relative to government and the superior powers. The legislative power might here speak to the subject by the medium of others, defend itself against his complaints, before they could grow loud, and bribe the mistrust of the multitude without appearing to have any share in the attempt. I cannot omit to animadvert here on the great influence which a well-regulated theatre might exercise over the spirit of a whole nation. By the national spirit of a people, I mean the similarity and harmony of its opinions and inclinations relative to subjects concerning which another nation entertains different potions and sentiments. The stage alone has it in its power to effect this harmony in a superior degree, as it pervades the whole territory of human know. ledge, exhausts all situations in life, and lays open the most hidden recesses of the human heart, and as it is resorted to by all ranks and classes, and has the earliest access to the understanding and the heart. If in all our dramatic pieces, une leading feature did prevail, if our poets agreed among themselves, and would form a close union for this purpose, if rigorous discrimination guided them in their labours, if they would resolve to devote their pen exclusively to popular subjects, the stage might, in a superior degree, guide the spirit of the nation. Before I conclude, I must mention one more advantage of the stage, which is more important than it is commonly thought. Human nature cannot endure, for any length of time, to be uninterruptedly stretched on the wreck of business, and the charms of the senses die away as they are gratified. Man, being cloyed by animal enjoyment, tired from long continued exertions, tormented by an incessant desire of exercising his faculties, pants after better and more refined enjoyments, or plunges heedlessly into brutal excesses, which accelerate his ruin and destroy social tranquillity. Bacchantic orgies, ruinous gambling, numberless wild excesses hatched by idleness, are unavoidable, if the legislature does not know how to direct this activity of the soul to more noble pursuits. The man of business, who generously devotes his life to the service of the state, is in danger of falling a prey to misanthropic spleen-the man of learning to become a dull pedant-and the multitude to be reduced to a state of brutality. The stage is an institution where pleasure is blended with instruction, rest with exertion, diversion with improvement; where no one faculty of the mind is strained at the expence of the other, nor any pleasure is enjoyed to the injury of society at large. When sorrow preys on the mind, when gloomy melancholy poisons our life, when we loathe the world and our occupations, when heavy burdens depress our mind, and our strength is nearly worn out by fatigue, then the theatre receives us; the artificial world into which we are transported, makes us forget the real world with all its cares and burthens; we are regenerated, as it were; our feelings are roused; salutary passions shake our dormant spirits, and give quicker circulation to the stagnating blood. The unfortunate sufferer weeps away his own sorrows while he sheds a sympathizing tear at the distresses of another; the giddy favourite of fortune grows sober, and the secure is rendered apprehensive. The sentimental Sybarite is inspired with manly firmness, and the icy callousness of the raw barbarian is thawed. Every individual participates in the universal rapture of the audience; the pleasure that sparkles in every eye and glows in every bosom, seizes irresistibly upon his sympathizing heart, all distinctions of rank and circumstances are forgotten, and the whole assembly seems to be but one happy family. SPAIN, In its present Physical, Moral, Political, Religious, Statistical, and Literary State. THE Spaniards in general are by no means inferior in point of capacity to any other civilized nation; the mental lethargy, in which the whole nation seems to be immersed, is owing to the thraldom in which it has hitherto been kept by the inquisition. Bigotry and an excessive national pride are the most predominant features in the character of the Spaniards. They would sooner submit to the most excruciating tortures than give up any one of the numerous mechanical ceremonies which disgrace the christian religion in Spain. A Spaniard would deem it the most enormous crime to omit hearing mass read on a holiday, or to eat meat on a fast day, though he would not scruple to assassinate an enemy, or to commit a breach of the sixth commandment, on the same day. The holy virgin is in every respect worshipped by this nation with much greater devotion than the Supreme Being. Another instance of the total neglect of the essential precepts of our religion, is the indifference which the Spaniards display with respect to the keeping of the sabbath, it being a common sight to see them on that day work in the fields, or perform any other manual labour, though they would deem it a mortal sin were any one only to talk of labour on one of the numerous festivals of the Virgin Mary. "The state of literature in Spain cannot but greatly contribute to support the lamentable and pernicious reign of darkness in that devoted country. The clergy take all possible pains to render foreign literature suspected by the Spaniards, bestowing the names of protestants and heretics upon all authors of eminence; and these epithets alone are sufficient to prejudice a Spaniard against the compositions of men of universal literary celebrity. The titles of prohibited books are usually affixed to the doors of the churches with a superscription purporting that they savour of protestanism. The weekiv papers are likewise commonly swelled with the titles of books that come under this denomination. The best English and French authors are indeed to be found in two public libraries at Madrid; but they are separated from the rest, as if pregnant with contagion, and can be obtained for perusal only by means of a special. licence from the inquisition. On observing to one of the librarians, that this anxious care of precluding the public from reading the works of foreign nations was a manifest proof of the apprehension entertained by the Spanish clergy of the weakness of their articles of faith, I received for answer, "That it could not be denied that the people were not sufficiently instructed in religion, to be proof against the specious reasoning of foreign philosophers; the Spaniards, moreover, were not accustomed to meditate on the theological and philosophical subjects, and to enter into solid investigations; that they, consequently, were not capable of distinguishing truth from error.”—The Spaniards are, however, no great lovers of reading scientific works, or any other serious composition. The literary works that interest them most, are plays, and legends of saints, which contain the most extravagant absurdities. Large collections of this kind of religious composition are found almost in every house: these and romances of knight-errantry comprehend, generally speaking, the whole compass of literary works that are deemed interesting. It is, indeed, to be lamented, that a people endowed with considerable natural capacities, and living in one of the finest countries on the face of the globe, should have been reduced so low by spiritual and political despotism. Spain formerly had a great many advantages before the other European countries, as her language attained an high degree of refinement, and the arts and sciences were successfully cultivated by the Spaniards, whilst the greatest part of Europe were involved in profound darkness. The despotic restraint laid upon the progress of the Spaniards in mental refinement, is one of the principal causes of the avidity with which they plunge into the vortex of sensual pleasures. There is, perhaps, no country in Europe where the goddess of love is more ardently worshipped than in Spain, which renders effeminacy of Lanners more universal in that country than it is any where else; prostitutes and married women are indiscriminately given to intrigue. Charitable institutions abound in Spain, espe cially at Madrid, and reflect great honour on the character of the Spaniards. The charitable disposition of the Spaniards, is the most prominent feature in the character of both rich and poor, and is not confined to their countrymen alone, but most generously extends itself to all foreigners without distinction. This Jaudible disposition of the nation has been productive of the most excellent public in All stitutions for the reception and relief of the sick, and amongst these none is more distinguished than the grand hospital for male patients.Besides this hospital, there is another called the grand general hospital for women, which was founded by two private gentlemen. These two hospitals were formerly under the direction of the council of Castile, but now are superintended by a special commission appointed by the King. The chief director is a grandee of Spain, and the members are spiritual and secular persons of the first respectability. With these hospitals are united several orders of both sexes, who are bound to afford the patients all assistance in their power. Regularity, cleanliness, and the most careful attention to the wants of the patients, are the most striking characteristics of these hospitals. There are three hundred surgeons appointed at the grand hospital for male patients, who must attend the regular physicians to the sick bed, and see their prescriptions carefully executed. After having served some years in the hospital, they are promoted in the army and navy, preferably to all others. The apartments are cleaned, and the beds made by the charitable brethren and sisters, whose tender attention to the wants and comforts of the patients is most exemplary. the bedsteads in the hospitals are made of iron. I never saw a single flea in these hospitals; an evident proof of the great attention which is paid to cleanliness. The strictest regularity with respect to the diet of the sick, is enforced in both hospitals. The patients have an excellent conveniency to take the benefit of the air. The reception into the hospital is not attended with the least difficulty. Those that can walk, go there without any previous application or recommendation, and such as are unable to walk, send word to the governors, informing them of their situation, when a chair is sent from the hospital to fetch them. Foreigners who are admitted, are not even asked to what religious sect they belong. Ecclesiastics of different nations are appointed to cousole foreigners in their own language. Every Sunday and holiday the hospital for male patients is visited by the charitable fraternity, and that for female patients by the charitable sisterhood, who comb and wash the sick, and do every thing in their power to render the situation of these unfortunate people particularly comfortable on the Lord's day. In these humane exertions they are generally assisted by people of the first rank, and I have frequently seen on these occasions even grandees zealously employed in consoling and administering relief to the sick. Ladies of the first eminence perform the same charitable office in the hospital destined for their own sex. Thanks to our superior refinement! our ladies of fashioncontrive to spend their time on the Lord's day in |