"THE ABSENCE OF TRAGEDY IN HEBREW LITERATURE."
rTo THE EDITOR OF THE "SProTaTon."]
SIR,—The interesting article with the above title in your paper of February 3rd illustrates the broader and more curious fact that Aryan nations in general possessed a drama, while to the Semitic nations the theatre was unknown. The Aryan drama had in all cases a religious foundation. The Indian and Greek dramas sprang as surely from religious beliefs as did the mysteries and moralities of the Middle Ages. With the reaction against the rule of their Semitic conquerors arose the Ta'zias of the Aryan Persians. Such an artistic development was impossible for the Semites, whose poetry is essentially subjective, and whose monotheism precluded all attempts at scenic representation.—I am, Sir, &c.,
27 West Park Gardens, .Kew. H. W. L. HIME.
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