31iJ Dramatic Copyright [MARCH, 



merciless jurisdiction over epithets and interjections, breaks in fatally 

 upon the lover's privilege of calling his mistress an Angel, and will 

 suffer neither man nor maid to pronounce the word Heaven, but in their 

 prayers. But the censorship of George Colman is milk of roses to the 

 oil of vitriol showered on the Muse's wing, by the French ministry. 

 To come to the evidence: 



" Title I. Upon Representations. 



" Art 1. The managers will be allowed to represent all kinds of plays, upon 

 condition of their being authorized, by the authors of those legally interested, 

 according to the laws upon literary ownership. 



" 2. The directors shall be required to leave a copy of every theatrical work 

 in the office of the proper authorities, fifteen days before the performance. 



" 3. The said copy shall set forth the name of the piece, the name of the 

 author, that of the theatre, and the whole of the play. 



" 5. The same formalities will be required with respect to every piece discon- 

 tinued for more than a year. 



" 6. The non-compliance with these regulations will be punishable by a fine 

 of from 500 to 2,000 franks. All matters in dispute to be referred to the Tri- 

 bunals." 



By this regulation the minister for the time being, has the fate of 

 every play in his hands ; and we must recollect that the minister may 

 have been a personal enemy of the author, before he was a minister ; or 

 may conceive a dislike to him after ; or may imagine him the writer of 

 some uncomplimentary epigram upon him ; or may be a noodle, and take 

 imaginary offence ; or may be a tyrant and love to display his power. 

 In all these cases the author might better throw his play behind the fire 

 at once. We perceive also that anonymous play- writing is made illegal. 

 But in England at least three-fourths of all the dramas offered are 

 anonymous ; what becomes of the modesty of authorship, its fear of 

 rejection, or its natural fear of summoning whatever personal enemies the 

 author may have, to the public extinction of his play ? In France the 

 name must be given, coute qu'il coiite, or the author, who may not be 

 worth sixpence, must look to owing to his sovereign lord the king his 

 two thousand francs. 



But the next regulation puzzles us still more : 



" Title II. Upon the Instigation to Crime. 



" Whoever shall have, by the means of theatrical representations, excited 

 an author, or authors, to write what may be an offence, or a crime, shall be 

 considered an accomplice, and punished as such ; and if the instigation to 

 commit an offence of this nature has not been acted upon, the instigator shall 

 be punished by the imprisonment of from three months to five years, and by a 

 fine of WO francs to 6,000 francs. 



" Every attack upon the sacredness of the King's person, the royal dignity, 

 the order of succession to the throne, the rights which the King holds by the 

 wishes of the French nation and the constitutional charter, his constituted 

 authority, the rights and authority of the chambers, shall be considered as insti- 

 gations to crime. 



" Instigating to a breach of the laws shall be punished by a fine of from 

 50 to 4,000 francs, or imprisonment from fifteen days to three years." 



This is a sweeping clause with a vengeance. The instigator to write 

 whatever may be considered an offence or a crime I (as general a defini- 

 tion as we remember to have heard since the days when men's heads 

 were cut off for " being suspected of being suspicious/') is to be con- 

 sidered an accomplice ; even though the dramatist may have laughed at 

 the instigation ; or it may have been made over a bottle, -when both were 



