becoming acquainted with his followers, not one of whom have at all approached him in characterization. Giraud is not without force of satire; has an eye for the ludicrous; contrives to keep up the imbroglio of a plot with spirit; and generally conducts his dialogue with ease and airy gaiety. It is in characterization that he fails. He is one of the didactic writers. Unable distinctly to catch the few salient points which indicate, as in an outline, the rest of the character; he is forced to describe at length that which he should represent in a few touches. His characters do not shine through their acts and language. "Le Gelosie per Equivoco," and "Desidorio disperato per eccesso di buon cuore," are reckoned amongst his most amusing plays; and the idea of the latter is a truly comic one, which might be worked out in a far higher manner. It is that of an officiously good-natured man, who is always, unconsciously, perpetrating some evil by the very acts by which he intends to accomplish.

Nota is another of the Goldoni school. "Curò la lingua più del suo grande modello, ma l'affettazione trovò piuttosto che l'eleganza." Not one of his thirteen comedies have ever tempted our perusal, and from what we can learn of him, we are not likely to improve our acquaintance. We must remark, however, in all fairness, that his plays have been received with great applause, because we believe they best reflect the manners of his day. We have heard of no more modern writer who claims mention in this survey; though the very small literary communication existing between this country and Italy prevents our being

au courant.

We have thus endeavoured to fulfil our promise, and present the reader with a synthetical view of Italian Comedy. He has now before him one aspect of that great question,-the European Drama; a question which implies the philosophy of European society in its constitution and progress. The drama, above all other arts, reflects the spirit of the age. It ought also to reflect that which is common to all ages; but it must embody the sentiments and manners of the time, or it cannot exist. The audiences who some years ago flocked to the theatre frantically to applaud the tawdry sentiments of Morton, Colman, Reynolds, Murphy, and others, who received with shouts every eulogium on "British Tars," and with yells of derision every caricature of the French-to whom the British merchant and his morality were unfailing sources of self glorification-those very audiences would now listen to those comedies with yawns. The wretched quibbles and fantastic metaphors which deface so many passages of Shakspeare, were in his days applauded to the skies. The brilliant wit of Congreve, so tiresome and unintelligible to a mo

dern pit, was the summit of excellence to the audience of his day. So also with respect to the licentiousness. So also with respect to manners.

Not only in these superficial indications do we detect the temporary modes reflected in the drama, as in a mirror; but also in a far deeper sense will the student discover how the drama is moulded by the spirit of the age. In the variations of ideal standards we may trace the variation of the moral creeds. In the predominance of the spiritual, or the sensual, or the ascetic, or the didactic, or the merely frivolous and sceptical, we may learn the reigning temper of the times. The drama, by appealing to the national sympathies, indicates unerringly the nature of those sympathies. The virtue of a Greek hero was craft joined to strength; because, however highly the Greeks prized the abilities of a warrior, they held "discretion to be the better part of valour." The virtue of a Spanish hero was fidelity to church and king, with an unsullied purity of honour. The virtue of an English hero of the time of Shakspeare was intellectual greatness: because the intellect was then exulting in its new emancipation, and the age was rife with thought. The virtue of an English hero in the time of Congreve was a beautiful person, heightened by court accomplishments; whose feats of arms were the seduction of women, and the destruction of tailors: because, under the Restoration, the people, in a reaction against the restraints of Puritanism, gave full sway to all the riotous and dissolute pleasures of a sensual court. The virtue of the English hero in the last century was morality: because society, alarmed at the anarchial tendency, originated by the French Revolution, destructive of all social ties, insisted upon moral integrity; and this was shown in patriotism, generosity, commercial pride, &c. The supreme virtue of an English hero of our day seems to consist in rascality. Let others decide upon the causes; we have here but to state facts; and it seems to us that in our novels and in our dramas the successful and belauded heroes are rascals without a spark of ideal greatness or heroic act. We do not refer here to the "Thieves' Literature." That bears its character openly written on its front. We allude to serious "philosophical" novels, and successful plays. Let us select the most successful among them, by the cleverest authors; let us take Bulwer and Knowles, both darlings of the English public. Eugene Aram is an attempt to convert a thorough rascal into a philosopher, who murders upon philanthropic principles; disguise it how you will, such is the idea of the book, though of course Bulwer had a very different aim. His aim was a philosophical one, but he chose the wrong subject. In" Maltravers" we have a hero meant to be the ideal of a gentleman, and his conduct, if only tested

by his unmanly behaviour to Florence Lascelles, is that of a blackguard. In "The Hunchback," Sir Thomas Clifford, when in distress, is actually mean-spirited enough to offer himself as the secretary of his successful rival; and comes to his beloved in the position of a menial! In the "Lady of Lyons," the hero, in revenge for the slight put upon his verses, passes himself off as a prince; woos and weds the girl he loved, knowing that he is executing a diabolical project, which will embitter all her life! Not to multiply instances, we see in the above a want of that sympathy with ideal greatness, which indicates a moral weakness, worthy the consideration of philosophers. Is it that an over-pampered civilization has stimulated the desire, while enervating the will? That we "let I dare not wait upon I would," and with the ambition to be great we have not moral force enough

to be consistent ?

Thus does the spirit of the age mould the drama, not merely in its outward form, but in its inward essence. Thus would a proper history of the drama be a psychological history of mankind. Our project therefore of furnishing our readers with a series of articles on the European drama, has something in it beyond mere amusement, as beyond mere criticism, in as far as it may induce a careful study of these separate aspects of society.

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ART. IV.-1. A Report on the Commercial Tariffs and Regulations of the several States of Europe and America. Together with the Commercial Treaties between England and Foreign Countries. Part Fourteenth.-Portugal. Drawn up by J. Macgregor, Esq., Secretary to the Board of Trade, by order of the Lords of the Committee of Privy Council for Trade and Plantations. Presented to both Houses of Parliament by command of her Majesty, April, 1844.

2. Remarks on Mr. Macgregor's Fourteenth Report to her Majesty's Privy Council for Trade. By Theophilus Isles Smith, Esq.

We have lately had placed before us several numbers of the above-mentioned report, drawn up by Mr. Macgregor; and although as we glanced over them we perceived certain statements which we knew to be inaccurate, we were scarcely prepared for the very numerous errors which Mr. Smith points out in the Fourteenth Report. Mr. Smith's pamphlet is written in a clear, concise style, worthy of a British merchant and the importance of the subject; nor can we hesitate to place full reliance on his assertions. We must recommend all our readers interested in the subject to pay every attention to the work while we make a few observations on certain points to which he has omitted to refer. This pamphlet must open the eyes of the legislators of the country to the danger of confiding in the reports of one man, however talented he may be, who has not only no practical experience of the subject on which he treats, but who is further known to be strongly prejudiced to one set of opinions. Mr. Macgregor very justly observes: "If the true principles of trade were fully understood, treaties for regulating international commerce would become useless;" but, in fact, no nations have yet learned to understand their true interests, and most certainly Mr. Macgregor does not understand those of Great Britain when he so clearly exhibits his strong bias in favour of a commercial treaty with France in preference to one with Portugal. This bias is seen throughout the report we now more particularly allude to, in the many disparaging observations he makes respecting Portugal, his condemnation of the Methuen Treaty, and his praise of France.

We are compelled to speak as we do from feeling assured that these erroneous statements are calculated seriously to mislead her Majesty's ministers, and were the main cause in preventing the conclusion of the Commercial Treaty lately pending between Great Britain and Portugal. The disparaging observations regarding the Portuguese in the report are more to be deprecated, as they not only disincline their government towards any amicable adjustment of the points of dispute, but must weaken if not entirely overthrow that cordial feeling of respect and friendship with which they have ever treated the British residents in their territories. It will do more than this-it will drive them eventually to throw themselves into the arms of the first power who will offer to protect them, and indeed the non-conclusion of the Commercial Treaty with Great Britain has already induced them to form one with Prussia, which has just been concluded. By it they agree to receive the manufactures of Prussia at as low a duty as those of any other country, both parties having gained many advantages.

Mr. Macgregor commences his reports by an account of the position and natural resources of Portugal; he then speaks of her commercial legislation, and glances at her social and moral state, giving afterwards the Treaty of Commerce and Navigation between Great Britain and Portugal, and professing to give the Portuguese customs, tariff, commercial regulations, monies, weights, measures, and various statements relative to the trade, navigation, agriculture, manufactures, and finances of Portugal and her possessions. He informs us that the government was an absolute despotism till the arrival of Don Pedro, the late Emperor of the Brazils, who, placing the crown on his daughter's head, gave the country a constitutional charter, the legislature consisting of a House of Peers and a House of Representatives; but he does not say, as he was bound to do, that the same liberal prince abolished all monkish institutions throughout the land, establishing in their place schools for the education of the young, and every other institution to enlighten the people; affording liberty to the press, and freedom of religion to all classes. Mr. Macgregor throws a most unjust slur on the legislative proceedings and the eligibility of the deputies, sneering at the misgovernment and degradation of the kingdom. He says the kingdom is divided into twelve provinces-which is wrong: it is divided into seventeen districts.

cur.

With regard to the imports and exports several mistakes ocMr. Macgregor thus affirms that no treaty has been more pernicious than the Methuen Treaty, signed in Lisbon, December, 1703; and that for the sake of finding a market in Portugal