370 SANSCULLOTISED LITERATURE IN FRANCE. 



were at any rate a school for civism to the pubhc, and succeeded 

 in steering clear of hideousness. They were equally devoid of 

 the aesthetic element as the two preceding ones, but literary 

 beauty was neither required nor expected. To prove this we 

 need only quote a fourth class of sansculottized dramas, which 

 were nothing but ruthless and unwarrantable travesties of the 

 works of the great classical dramatists. One of them is an at- 

 tempt at foul murder of Racine's " Athalie," in which some scenes 

 have been mixed up with dislocated shreds of Moliere's '' Malade 

 imaginaire '' and " Don Juan." and which the public greeted with 

 outbursts of all but uncontrollable merriment. It would be un- 

 fair not to mention the theatre of the opposition, which was a 

 ^ood deal superior. How could it be otherwise ? The French are 

 naturally oppositionists^ — frondeurs, as they call it — and. which- 

 soever their political regimen, they will always display a much 

 stronger proclivity to disparaging their rulers than to currying 

 favour with them. This is quite complimentary to the Frencli ; 

 for if, at any time, it is a manifestation of pluck to challenge 

 and harrow the party in power on the boards, in the days of the 

 Revolution such pluck was sheer heroism. Laya and Neuf- 

 chateau, the former with his " Ami des Lois," the latter with his 

 "Pamela," dared to- put the cause o'f liberty before the aristocratic 

 public of the " Comedie Frangaise." In the " Ami des Lois," 

 Robespierre was impersonated by the character of Nomophagus 

 or Laweater, and Marat by that of Duricrane or Flint)>ate, and 

 both get very hard truths hurled at their heads. The usual 

 public of this theatre consisted of lukewarm revolutionists, and 

 they encouraged on the sly the efforts of certain actors, who, 

 after cutting themselves adrift from Talma. Dugazon, and the 

 other patriotic colleagues, did not shrink from organizing a 

 systematic opposition to the new regimen. The performances 

 of both these pieces gave rise to such tumultuous scenes in the 

 house that the " Comedie Frangaise " printed at the foot of the 

 programmes : " By order of the municipality, the public are in- 

 formed that it is strictly forbidden to bring sticks, cudgels, 

 swords, or any other weapons." Better than any argument, this 

 notification proves that the theatre, like the clubs, had been trans- 

 formed into the cockpit of the parties. This was, however, not 

 the fault of these pieces.. What the public wanted was to deal 

 blows anyhow and regardless of what the actors were perform- 

 ing on the stage. 



" L'Ami des Lois " and " Pamela " were decidedly superior 

 to the numberless pieces of the time. They were not tinctured 

 with the extravagant mysticism that characterizes the revolu- 

 tionary mind ; they do not preach any new gospel, whether that 

 of Reason, of the Native Country, or of Liberty. Their sensible 

 language was not the language of either sectarians or rowdies. 

 Revolutionary fanaticism as shown on the other side was not a 

 whit better than the inquisition of the Middle Ages : the disciples 

 of Rousseau and the successors of the encyclop?edists, badly guided 

 and insufficiently emancipated as they were, made a calamitous 



