Sentence:  The politics too, for it [the opera] <WSD>dabbles</WSD> in "politics", are evidently not written from the heart, for the ſentiments contradict each other, but from the paultry motive of catching applauſe, be it juſt or unjuſt, moral or immoral. 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  To participate or have an interest in an activity in a casual or superficial way.