Lælius becomes deeply enamoured of the fair captive, and she in her turn is not indifferent to his passion. With the principal persons thus situated the developement of the dramatic action commences. The composition would doubtless have been much more rich and brilliant if the authoress had not so rigorously confined herself within the rules of French tragedy. The Roman characters appear modernized in the French style. In this very absurd way the Prætor Lælius is drawn. On several occasions he complains of his “poor heart” in as doleful a strain as a hapless lover of modern times. But in the delicate representation of the relationship of Osmia with the Prætor, and with her rude barbarian husband, the sentiments of a noble-minded woman are painted in such a manner as none but a woman could paint them. The tragic grandeur of the composition rests on the character of Osmia, who will not on any consideration render herself unworthy of her noble descent. The loftiest pride of patriotism contends in her bosom with love for the Roman Prætor, whom she wishes to hate, but whose tender generosity she feels less and less power to resist.[392] The feminine heroism of her character thus acquires a pensive gentleness, which renders her, as a woman, more and more interesting in every scene. The character of Osmia is forcibly relieved by contrast. A Turdetanian prophetess, who is also among the number of the captives, burns with national pride and hatred of the Romans; and her energetic but unfeminine patriotism is the means of constantly producing tragic concussions in the train of the events, until the husband of Osmia unexpectedly re-appears. The authoress has been eminently successful in the gradual heightening of the tragic interest.[393] She did not venture to shed blood on the stage. The death of Osmia is related; but at the end her husband enters wounded and dying. Notwithstanding the simplicity of the composition, the tragedy comprises a considerable share of action. The rapid flow of the dialogue in some of the scenes, approximates more nearly to the tragic style of Voltaire, than to that of Corneille and Racine. The language is dignified throughout; though in some scenes it is deficient in poetic keeping. But according to the rule which the authoress herself was accustomed to consider as the only correct one in the estimation of dramatic perfection, she could not avoid faults which she theoretically regarded as beauties. The present is not the proper place for analysing the individual fine passages of this tragedy. The feminine character of the whole composition, however, well merits a minute analysis in a theory of poetry. FAILURE OF OSMIA ON THE STAGE--PREVALENCE OF DRAMATIC IMITATIONS AND TRANSLATIONS.