Transcriber’s Note In this text version of “Miscellaneous Pieces, in Prose”, words in italics are marked with _underscores_, words in small capitals are shown in UPPER CASE. Footnotes have been moved the end of paragraphs. Variant spelling and irregular punctuation are retained. The changes that have been made are listed at the end of the book. MISCELLANEOUS PIECES, IN PROSE, BY JOHN AIKIN, M. D. AND ANNA LÆTITIA BARBAULD. THE THIRD EDITION. LONDON: PRINTED FOR J. JOHNSON, IN ST. PAUL’S CHURCH-YARD, M.DCC.XCII. CONTENTS. Page _On the Province of Comedy_ 1 _The Hill of Science, a Vision_ 27 _On Romances, an Imitation_ 39 _Seláma, an Imitation of Ossian_ 47 _Against Inconsistency in our Expectations_ 59 _The Canal and the Brook, an Apologue_ 79 _On Monastic Institutions_ 88 _On the Pleasure derived from Objects of Terror; with Sir Bertrand, a Fragment_ 119 _On the Heroic Poem of Gondibert_ 138 _An Enquiry into those Kinds of Distress which excite agreeable Sensations; with a Tale_ 190 _Essay on Devotional Taste_ 220 ON THE PROVINCE OF COMEDY. Various are the methods which art and ingenuity have invented to exhibit a picture of human life and manners. These have differed from each other, both in the mode of representation, and in the particular view of the subject which has been taken. With respect to the first, it is universally allowed that the dramatic form is by far the most perfect. The circumstance of leaving every character to display itself in its own proper language, with all the variations of tone and gesture which distinguish it from others, and which mark every emotion of the mind; and the scenic delusions of dress, painting, and machinery, contribute to stamp such an appearance of reality upon dramatic representations as no other of the imitative arts can attain. Indeed, when in their perfection, they can scarcely be called imitations, but the very things themselves; and real nature would perhaps appear less perfect than her counterfeit. The Drama has from early antiquity been distinguished into the two grand divisions of Tragedy and Comedy. It would seem that the general character of these was universally understood and agreed on, by the adoption of the terms _tragic_ and _comic_, derived from them, into the language of every civilized people. The former of these is, we know, constantly applied to objects of terror and distress; the latter, to those of mirth and pleasantry. There is, however, a more comprehensive distinction of our feelings, which it is proper first to consider.