ABSTRACT
The author of the following pages thought it possible to reconcile the two kinds. Desirous of leaving the powers of fancy at liberty to expatiate through the boundless realms of invention, and thence of creating more interesting situations, he wished to conduct the mortal agents in his drama according to the rules of probability: in short, to make them think, speak and act as it might be supposed mere men and women would do in extraordinary positions. He had observed that in all inspired writings the personages under the dispensation of miracles and witnesses to the most stupendous phenomena never lose sight of their human character: whereas in the productions of romantic story an improbable event never fails to be attended by an absurd dialogue. The actors seem to lose their senses the moment the laws of Nature have lost their tone. As the public have applauded the attempt, the author must not say he was entirely unequal to the task he had undertaken: yet if the new route he has struck out shall have paved a road for men of brighter talents, he shall own with pleasure and modesty that he was sensible the plan was capable of receiving greater embellishments than his imagination or conduct of the passions could bestow on it.
