38 Milton D. Baumgartner 



As an other argument for English superiority in the theater, 

 Dryden claims greater and more numerous characters, and greater 

 passions for the English drama with its complicated plots. He 

 takes exception to the French custom of making only one person 

 considerable in a play. Instead he would have several " shining 

 characters," some almost equal to the first, so that greatness may 

 be opposed to greatness, and all the persons made considerable not 

 only by their quality, but also by their action. In defense of his 

 -claims he refers to Shakspere and Fletcher: "We endeavor to fol- 

 low the variety and greatness of characters which are derived to 

 us from Shakspere and Fletcher " ; and, " Shakspere is always 

 great, when some great occasion is presented to him." 



Likewise Lessing maintains in the Literaturbrief, that Gott- 

 sched should have perceived " dass das Grosse, das Melancho- 

 lische besser auf uns wirkt als das Artige, das Verliebte . . . . " 



To the accusation of the French that the English show too much 

 tumult on the stage, Dryden replied : " Whether custom has so 

 insinuated itself into our countrymen, or nature has so formed 

 them to fierceness I know not ; but they will scarcely permit com- 

 bats and other objects of horror to be taken from them"; and, 

 " I dare boldly afiirm that in most of the irregular plays of Shak- 

 spere and Fletcher there is more masculine fancy, and more spirit 

 of writing, than there is in any of the French." 



The Germans, according to Lessing, are by nature more virile 

 than the French. " Gottsched hatte aus unsern alten drama- 

 tischen Stiicken, welche er vertrieb, hinlanglich abmerken konnen, 

 dass — das Schreckliche — besser auf uns wirkt, als — das Zartliche." 



Further Dryden argues that by pursuing a single theme the 

 French lose the advantage of expressing and of arousing the pas- 

 sions. "I confess," he continues, "their verses are to me the 

 coldest I have ever read. Neither indeed is it possible for them 

 in the way they take so to express passion that the effects of it 

 should appear in the concernment of the audience. — Their speeches 

 are so many declamations which tire us with their length. We 

 are concerned as we are in tedious visits of bad company, and are 

 in pain until they are gone." 



Lessing also contends that the German taste does not run in the 



326 



