1 791- TRAVELLING MEMORANDUMS. ^41 



Travelling Mem:randumsy continued from page 199, 



As I am a lover of dramatic entertainments, I hoped 

 to find at Paris fome modern pieces in a better t ate, 

 lefs in the quaint and outre ftyle, than many of ihefo, 

 which, of late years, have been applauded at London ; 

 — hitherto I am difappointed. — They earneftly ftudy .0 

 imitate nature : — But to ufe Shakefpeare's exprelfioii, 

 • — they either overdo or corne tardy off iox want if that 

 rare and precious gift of nature, — the power of original 

 genius. — So, like ours, their dramatic produftions aie 



not eafy imitations, but drained afteftations ot nature • 



They rtlernble us too in quaintntfs for wit, and the 

 outre in place of fublime — Voltaire himfclf, with all 

 his fame, abounds in thofe modern qualities of excel- 

 lence, in dramatic compolition, and in his Henriade— 

 We feem to have formed infenfibly a fort of treaty of 



dramatic commerce We mutually borrow fantaftical 



plays froni each other. 



This harmony of tafte feems to have chiefly prevailed 

 under the monarchy of David Garrick over our Lon- 

 don Theatre. — He had great talents as an ador, but 

 was low in the charafter he much affected, of a dramas 

 tic writer. — His alteraticns on moA ot Shakefpeare's 

 plays, are as execrable, as his performance, in fome of 

 his capital characters, efpecially in the cumedies, was 



natural, juft, and admirable I difcover that Garrick's 



outre charaders of Flalh and Fribble, which at this 

 day give tranfports of mirth to the n-.ultitude of our 

 fpe£lators, were almoft literally tranflated from a French 

 play. — 1 felt no pkafing fenfation when 1 law his pic- 

 ture fct up at Stratford upon Avon, as a companion 

 for Shakefpeare.— He looks like a Harlequin in the 

 company of a hero. — The fooleries of his jubilee throw 

 ridicule on our timei — and are only pardonable for the 



Vol. IJI.' t Hh 



