While her smock goes unwash'd, and abandon'd her tresses.
Thus her mind, like clear amber, condens'd by stagnation,
Exhibits the dirt it imbibed in formation.[1]
Another trenchant paragraph begins:
But Cowley and Inchbald, more mad than their neighbours,
With God and the Devil besprinkle their labours;
Sure the traits of the mind must be oddly directed,
When their bawdry destroys what their morals effected.[2]
In the last decade of the eighteenth century, sentimentalism was flourishing in the drama as in other forms of literature. It even found praise at the hands of some satirists. For example, a journalistic piece called The Children of Apollo (1794) gave forceful expression to critical opinion which was, for the most part, based on sentimental principles. Its author praises Macklin in these terms:
Macklin, the father of the drama, hail!
Man of the World, 'tis thou that must prevail;
Thy piece contains true wit and satire too,
But wants variety to please a few;—
For tho' with reason ancient critics did
The common change of scenery forbid,
Yet now we find 'tis of the greatest need,
And few the pieces otherwise succeed;
There is a sameness if there be not some,
For no variety can be at home.[3]
On grounds of Sensibility, he praises Mrs. Inchbald:
With humour, void of ev'ry vulgar cant,
With jokes, which the O'Keefian tag-rag want;
With sentiments, e'en Cumberland's beyond,
And characters of which the town are fond,
Her plays abound.[4]
A more important bit of favorable criticism of sentimental drama is to be found in The Pursuits of Literature. Mathias
