SANSCULLOTISED LITERATURE IN FRANCE. 369, 



far from correct. At no time dramatic life was more active ; 

 however, \vc must not look for any productions in the superior, 

 official styles. But in the lower regions of the popular styles we 

 find a teeming growth of pieces, which are frantically applauded 

 by a thorough])' plebeian puiblic, who, not craving for refined, 

 artistic enjoyment, only want opportunities for giving free scope 

 to their imagination, and for ventilating their feelings. This 

 kind of public had been in existence ever since the last years 

 of the " ancien regime," when it made itself gratefully vnstru- 

 mental in securing success to the dramatic productions of 

 Diderot. Alercier, and Florian. During the Revolution this 

 pu'blic, emancipated by the " Declarations of the Rights of Man." 

 comes rushing in crowds to the theatres, where it eagerly tries 

 to find the realization of its dreams and the gratification of its 

 i'ustincts. For their benefit, additional playhouses arose. By 

 the side of the venerable Comedie Frangaise — the House of 

 Moliere — theatres like Les Italiens, La Foire, Les Varietes, 

 L'Ambigu, Les Grands Danseurs, Les Beaujolais, were started. 

 After the decree of 13th January, 1791, on the strength of which 

 the Constituante gave entire " liberty with regard to theatricals, 

 playhouses sprang up like mushrooms, and we find " Le Theatre 

 de la Nation, that of La Republique, Les Gaietes, Le Vaudeville 

 started into life. And what are the pieces like, destined tO' shine 

 oil all these new stages, especially those of the Boulevard? They 

 are specimens of the genuine plebeian drama — I mean the melo- 

 drama and the vaudeville, which is nothing but a melodrama i'li 

 the lighter comic vein. Unfortunately, among the numberless 

 dramas staged between 1790-99, there are scarcely any which it 

 is worth our while to record. And yet never were dramatists 

 more prolific than in those years. But what store we may set 

 by these gawky productions is amply shown from the scathing 

 contemp<:)rary criticisms. And yet these burlesque and hideous 

 pieces, showing up. after the ignoble taste olf the day, the ex- 

 aggerations exhibited in the streets, the excesses perpetrated by 

 the coiTunittees and clubs, were daily applauded by a delirious 

 public. Next to these, and equally scurrilous, was the anti- 

 clerical drama- The Revolution had sanctioned the overthrow 

 of the Roman Catholic ifaith, and with the worship of this. 

 " Deesse de la Raison," all priests were pounced upon. The 

 " Supreme Being '" had no use for " calotins " in surplices and 

 stoles. These distressing scrawls have one characteristic in com- 

 mon with the former, and that is monstrously bad taste. Then 

 there were a third and better sort, the patriotic and republican 

 apotheosis. Society was in the grip of a mystic kind of enthu- 

 siasm, and this state df mind was reflected in a disastrous manner 

 on the stage. L^sually the latest feat of arms was represented — - 

 the taking of Toulon, the Siege of Lille, and others. Talma, the 

 great actor of Napoleonic memory. ad\ocated a return to 

 antiquity, and thus Miltiades. Manlius, Torquatus, Mucins, 

 Scajvola. Brutus, e fiifti quanfi. could now be seen strutting the 

 boards. ^^^^rtbless as these stunted epopees may have been, they 



