36 



VOLTAIRE. 



who, like some of hfe vile tribe in our own day, earned 

 a miserable subsistence by selling the venom of his pen 

 to the cowardly malice of some, and his forbearance to 

 the less malignant but as despicable timidity of others. 

 The * Enfant Prodigue' had considerable success, being 

 played, it is said, nearly thirty times ; but it was never 

 known to be Voltaire's till he claimed it some years 

 after. It is his most elaborate attempt in comedy, 

 being a piece in five acts. Its verse, in five feet (or ten 

 syllables), was an innovation, and apparently was not 

 relished. 



Thus, if the distance were less which separates Vol- 

 taire's tragedies from the rude and awful grandeur of 

 the ' Cid,' and the exquisite pathos and perfect harmony 

 of the ' Phedre' and ' Athalie,' he would still be, on the 

 comparison, left far behind Corneille, whose ' Menteur/ 

 and Racine, whose * Plaideurs,' continue to keep their 

 place in the line with the comedies of Moliere him- 

 self, though the former is partially imitated from the 

 Spanish, and the latter from the Attic stage.* 



The 'GEdipe,' which was first performed in 1718, was 

 followed in 1722 and 1724 by the ' Artemire' and ' Ma- 

 riamne,' of which mention has been made, and the poem 

 of the ' Ligue ' was finished and published in the latter 

 year, and afterwards given under the name of the ' Henri- 

 ade.' To this work may be applied the same observation 

 which the dramatic poetry of the author gives rise to, 

 it is beautifully written it abounds in fine descrip- 

 tion, in brilliant passages of a noble diction, in senti- 



" The Wasps' of Aristophanes, a satire on the Athenian special 

 jurymen. 



