Page:The robbers - a tragedy (IA robberstragedy00schiiala).pdf/21

This page has been validated.
PREFACE.
xvii

of immoral tendency, for having represented the arch-fiend with the characters of a fallen angel.—We admire, but it is with awe and horror.—We gaze on the precipice with an astonishment mixed with delight, but we draw back while we gaze on it.——The other principal characters in this Play have the most direct tendency to produce moral instruction. The weakness of an indulgent parent, whose over-weaning affection for one of his sons excites the fraternal hatred of the other, is productive of the most miserable consequences. The unqualified depravity of the younger son, his fiend-like malevolence, and atrocious guilt, are attended with a punishment as horrible as it is merited.

The exhibition of the Tragedy of the Robbers at Fribourg had in all probability produced among the youth of the public school some holiday-frolic, which in its consequences was serious enough to at-

c
tract
This article is issued from Wikisource. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.