| Citation |
VGW(HU.776.066
11 Oct 1776:61 (1314)
Since America has become the seat of civil war, and one
continued scene of blood and carnage; . . . [10 lines,
discourse on unfortunate state of affairs, author afraid]
that either ambition or interest have partly been the cause
that has produced those woful effects: If so, some of the
leading and active part of mankind may not unjustly be
compared to a company of players, that have hitherto, in a
great measure, acted behind the scenes; with this difference
only, that the tragedian always knows from the beginning how
his performance is to end, whereas, in the present case, the
actors themselves may possibly be deceived, being led away
by vain hopes and sanguine expectations: Hence it is that
the bulk of the audience has been held in suspense, and
induced to believe that the tragic scene would end happily,
till fate at length let drop the curtain, and many horrid
and melancholy parts of the drama were then exhibited,
probably the substance of that shadowy scene with which the
poet tells us the father of mankind was presented soon after
the fall. . . [7 lines, quote from Paradise Lost, signed] A
Monitor.
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