THE CHRISTIAN REMEMBRANCER. Quarterly Review. VOL. XXI. JANUARY-JUNE. LONDON: PUBLISHED BY J. & C. MOZLEY, 6, PATERNOSTER ROW; AND D. APPLETON & CO. 200, BROADWAY, NEW YORK. 1851. THE CHRISTIAN REMEMBRANCER. JANUARY, 1851. ART. I.-Euripides Restitutus, sive Scriptorum Euripidis Ingeniique Censura, quam faciens fabulas quæ exstant explanavit examinavitque, earum quæ interierunt reliquias composuit atque interpretatus est, omnes quo quæque ordine natæ esse videntur disposuit et vitam scriptoris enarravit J. A. HARTUNGUS. Hamburgi: 1843, 1844. THE Greek Drama, like every other phenomenon of importance, stands in various relations, and may consequently be regarded from various points of view. When we speak of it as possessing both a historical and a universal interest, as belonging not only to ancient Athens but to all time, we do but vaguely and inadequately express the manifold complexity of its bearings. It has one aspect for the writer of Grecian history, and another for the historian of Greek literature; the lecturer on dramatic art will look at it through a third medium, and the professor of poetry through a fourth. Nor need there of necessity be any uniformity or correspondence between these its several aspects. Its significance cannot have been the same in all cases; the influence it has exerted may have been different, while the essential difference of the subjects must have contributed still further to diversify the results. The tragedy of Athens may be inferior both in poetical and in dramatic power to that of the Elizabethan era; yet its effect on the life and thought of the nation may have been appreciably greater. The requirements of the Attic stage may have been lower and less diligently consulted than those of the theatre at Weimar, but such a conclusion would not warrant us in inferring anything with regard to the comparative merits of Greek and German poetry. These are merely a sample of the distinctions which may be taken; and obvious as they may appear when pointed out, it would be no difficult matter to prove that they are not always observed in practice. The fault lies, not in adopting a one-sided view, for that, as we have seen, may be justified and indeed rendered necessary by the circum |