Event Comment: Afterpiece: By Desire. [A full column, front-page letter to
the Author of
the General Advertiser from one purporting to live many miles from
London, but whose curiosity about
the New Tragedy
Irene brought him to see it, details his experience in
the theatre
the night of Tues. 14 Feb. Seems to be an illconcealed "puff."
The writer listens to
three critics in
the pit decry
the performance,
then after seeing it himself concludes: "It was receiv'd with universal approbation...Upon
the whole I dare affirm that
the Judgment of Posterity will concur with me in distinguishing
Irene as
the best tragedy which this age has produced, for Sublimity of thought, Harmony of numbers, strength of expression, a scrupulous observation of Dramatic Rules,
the sudden Turn of events,
the tender and generous distress,
the unexpected catastrophe, and
the extensive and important moral." He inquires why
the play has not been so favorably received as o
thers, and concludes it is too finely and artistically conceived to please
the masses. He closes by complimenting
the Ladies of
Great Britain for he "scarce ever saw so shining an assembly in
the Boxes.
Their early approbation of a Tragedy in which not only
the words but
the ideas are entirely chaste; a tragedy filled with noble sentiment and poetic beauty is at once a proof of
their delicacy and penetration."] Receipts. #100 (
Cross); #101 (
Powel)