Sure
he would be so delighted with them that he would readily join in the "All
Hail" that the British nation awards him. Thus you may perceive the
distinction I make between the creative genius who designs, and the artist
who fills up the canvas; between the Poet and the Dramaturgus. I am
probably singular in my taste as an Englishman, when I tell you that I
prefer Shakespeare for the closet and Racine or Voltaire or Corneille for
the stage: and with regard to English tragedies, I prefer as an acting
drama Home's Douglas[46] to any of Shakespeare's, Macbeth alone
excepted; and for this plain reason that the interest in Douglas never
flags, nor is diverted.
In giving my mite of admiration to the French stage, I am fully aware of
its faults, of the long declamation and the fade galanterie that
prevailed before Voltaire made the grand reform in that particular: and on
this account I prefer Voltaire as a tragedian to Racine and Corneille. The
Phedre and Athalie of Racine are certainly masterpieces, and little
inferior to them are Iphigenie, Andromaque and Britannicus, but in the
others I think he must be pronounced inferior to Voltaire; as a proof of my
argument I need only cite Zaire, Alzire, Mahomet, Semiramis, l'Orphelin de
la Chine, Brutus. Voltaire has, I think, united in his dramatic writings
the beauties of Corneille, Racine and Crebillon and has avoided their
faults; this however is not, I believe, the opinion of the French in
general, but I follow my own judgment in affairs of taste, and if anything
pleases me I wait not to ascertain whether the "master hath said so."
It shows a delicate attention on the part of the directors of the Theatre
Francais, now that so many foreigners of all nations are here, to cause to
be represented every night the masterpieces of the French classical
dramatic authors, since these are pieces that every foreigner of education
has read and admired; and he would much rather go to see acted a play with
which he was thoroughly acquainted than a new piece of one which he has not
read; for as the recitation is extremely rapid it would not be so easy for
him to seize and follow it without previous reading.
Of Moliere I had already seen the Avare, the Femmes savantes and the
Fourberies de Scapin. Since these I have seen the Tartuffe and George
Dandin both inimitably performed; how I enjoyed the scene of the Pauvre
homme! in the Tartuffe and the lecture given to George Dandin by M. and
Mme de Sotenville wherein they recount the virtues and merits of their
respective ancestors. Of Moliere indeed there is but one opinion throughout
Europe; in the comic line he bears away the palm unrivalled and here I
fully agree with the "general."
I must not quit the subject of French theatricals without speaking of the
Opera comique at the Theatre Faydeau.
