Typographical errors are marked with mouse-hover popups. Spellings were changed only whenthere was an unambiguous error, or the word occurred elsewhere with theexpected spelling. No attempt was made to regularize the use ofquotation marks. The form “melo-drame” is standard in the text.A few missing or incorrect punctuation marks in the Index and theFoundling were silently regularized.
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The advantages of a correctjudgment and refined taste in all matters connected with literature, aremuch greater than men in general imagine. The hateful passions have nogreater enemies than a delicate taste and a discerning judgment, whichgive the possessor an interest in the virtues and perfections of others,and prompt him to admire, to cherish, and make them known to the world.Criticism, the parent of these qualities, therefore, mends the heart,while it improves the understanding. The influence of critical knowledgeis felt in every department of social life, as it supplies elegantsubjects for conversation, and enlarges the scope, and extends theduration of intellectual enjoyment. Without it, the pleasures we derivefrom the fine arts would be transient and imperfect; and poetry,painting, music, and that admirable epitome of life, the stage, wouldafford nothing more than a fugitive, useless, pastime, if not aided bythe interposition of the judgment, and sent home, by the delightfulprocess of criticism, to the memory, there to exercise2 the mind to the last of life, to be the amusement of our decliningyears, and, when all the other faculties for receiving pleasure areimpaired by old age and infirmity, to cast the sunshine of delight overthe last moments of our existence.
In no age or country has the improvement of the intellectual powersof man made a larger share of the business of life than in these inwhich we live. In the promotion of this spirit the stage has been aninstrument of considerable efficacy, and, as such, lays claim to a fullshare of critical examination; yet, owing to some cause, which it seemsimpossible to discover, that very important subject has been littleattended to in this great commonwealth; and in Philadelphia, theprincipal city of the union, has been almost totally neglected. Noapology, therefore, can be thought necessary for offering the presentwork to the public.
The utility of miscellanies of this kind has been sometimes called inquestion; nor are those wanting who condemn the whole tribe of lightperiodical productions, as detrimental to the advancement of solidscience and erudition: yet, in the most learned and enlightened nationsof Europe, magazines and periodical compilations have, for more than acentury, been circulated with vast success, and, within the last twentyyears, increased in price as well as number, to an extent that shows howessentially the public opinion, in that quarter of the world differsfrom that of the persons who condemn them.
Taking that decision as a decree without appeal, in favour of suchworks, the editors think themselves authorized in offering the presentwithout any formal apolo