VOLTAIRE. 21 



part in that which makes the drama powerful over 

 the feelings, real pathos, real passion, whether of 

 tenderness, of terror, or of horror. The plots of 

 some are admirahly contrived ; the diction of all is 

 pure and animated ; in most passages it is pointed, 

 and in many it is striking, grand, impressive ; the cha- 

 racters are frequently well imagined and portrayed, 

 though without sufficient discrimination; and thus 

 often running one into another, from the uniformity 

 of the language, terse, epigrammatic, powerful, which 

 all alike speak. Nor are there wanting situations of 

 great effect, and single passages of thrilling force ; 

 but, after all, the heart is not there ; the deep feeling, 

 which is the parent of all true eloquence as well as 

 all true poetry, didactic and satirical excepted, is 

 rarely perceived ; it is rather rhetoric than eloquence, 

 or, at least, rather eloquence than poetry. It is de- 

 clamation of a high order in rhyme ; no blank 

 verse, indeed, can be borne on the French stage, or 

 even in the French tongue ; it is not fine dramatic 

 composition : the periods roll from the mouth, they 

 do not spring from the breast ; there is more light 

 than heat ; the head rather than the heart is at work. 

 It seems that if there be any exception to this 

 remark, we must look for it in the ' Zaire,' his most 

 perfect piece, although, marvellous to tell, it was 

 written in two and twenty days. In my humble 

 opinion, it is certainly obnoxious to the same general 

 objection, though less than any of his other pieces ; 

 yet it is truly a noble performance, and it unites many 

 of the great requisites of dramatic excellence. The 

 plot, which he tells us was the work of a single day, 



