ftclor  wiili  liM  episodic  recitation*  was  so  important  I
u  •dnnoa,  u  leading  directly' to  tbe  formation  of
dnimtic  plot  ind  dialwgue ;  and  Ibe  other  improve-
nente,  which  imparted  akill,  regnlart^,  and  unity  to
dw  morements  of  the  chorui,  were  of  so  infloential  a
descripiion,  that  Thespis  ts  generally- considered  the
inveator  of  lite  drama.  Of  tragedy,  properly  ao  call-
ed, he  does  not  appear  to  have  bad  any  idea.  •  Stories,
niore  or  leas  Iwiieroae,  genenUy  taming  npon  Bac-
chus and  hit  followers.  interwo*«B  with  the  dance  and
the  song  of  a  well>traiaed  cbnniay  fomMd  lb«  drama
of  Tlieapia. — The  SMyrie  chorus  bad  by  this  time
been  admitted  into  Athena ;  contests  were  set  on  foot ;
end  tbe  success  which  stteqded  tbe  novelties  of  Thes-
pis sbmensd,  no  doubt,  the  talents  of  his  competi-
tors.  This  smalation  would  naturally  produce  im-

{irovement  upon  improvement ;  hut  we  discover  no
eeding  change  in  the  line  of  the  incipient  drama  until
tbs  appearance  of  Phrynicbus,  the  stm  of  Polypbrad-
mon  and  the  papil  of  Thespis.  At  the  close  of  the
sixth  century  before  Christ,  the  elemenu  .of  tragedy,
though  still  in  a  separate  atate,  were  individually  ao
fitted  and  prepared  as  to  require  nothing  but  a  mssttr
hand  to  unite  them  into-one  whole  6f  life  and  beauty.
