POE 
to come forward on the fcene; and Regno, Regnas, Reg- 
navi, are among the dramatis perfonas of one of the 
Moralities. The entertainment not unfrequently faded 
forty days; and, with all its defeats, it palled from 
Trance to England, and to other courts in the vicinity of 
its birth-place. The “ Avocat Patelin,” the “ Medecin 
malgre lui,” and a few other farces of the fame damp, 
remain to us from the merrier fchool, as proofs of the wit 
of a femi-barbarous age. At length, Les Enfans fans 
Souci formed a company for enabling farces, under the 
conduft of the Prince of Fools: fatire and perfonal in- 
vedfive fucceeded to religious dreams; and comedy then 
began to take its ordinary bent. 
Before proceeding further into our Iketch of French 
poetry, it may be proper to advert to the great difficulty 
an Englidiman has in analyzing this fubjedf. The poetry 
in quedion cannot be deficient in fome very material 
qualities of pleading, or it would not be fo generally 
run after by the people amongd whom it has arifen. 
Neverthelefs it feems to want all the requifites for the 
higher kinds of poetry. The language turns into an 
anacreontic fong, or into an epigram, much better than 
ours ; but, when it comes to be applied to the paffions of 
tragedy, or the defcriptions of epic, it feems quite alien 
from the matter. It appears inflated and unnatural. 
Now this impreffion mud, as far as regards the language, 
be wrong: we probably acquire it from aflociating 
frivolous and jocofe ideas with many French words, 
which Frenchmen, however, view as very ferious ex- 
preffions when combined in poetical forms. For it is very 
curious that this people have no poetical language. Not 
only do they arrange the words nearly in the fame order 
in verfe as in profe, but they rejedl old or unufed terms, 
called poetical words, which we fo carefully cherilh. We 
finall forbear therefore all remarks on the beauty or ex¬ 
cellence of their verfe, becaufe we are fo prejudiced that 
we cannot enjoy it, except, as we before laid, in a fong. 
We can no more fee grace in theirantithetical and finilhed 
lines, each containing its idea, than Voltaire could take 
pleafure in the rolling and continued wave of unbroken 
thought that runs often without a paufe through five or 
fix lines in Milton. 
But the unfitnefs of the French tongue for poetry was 
confefled by Voltaire. In his epidle to Horace, he fays, 
Notre langue, un peu feche, et fans inverfions, 
Peu-telle fubjuguer les autres nations ? 
But France claims, and mud be allowed, clearnefs and 
variety, the only qualities profe requires. 
France was behind all other nations in the regular 
drama, whenCorneille arofe, to whom fucceeded Racine and 
Voltaire. Thefe three authors have produced all the 
claims their country poffeffes to the character of a dra¬ 
matic people. The fird was evidently a man who dudied 
rules and unities, and had a great refpe< 5 t for the 
ancients. With this, however, he pollefied a naturally 
ftrong fpirit of eloquence, and was impreffed even to 
paffion with the beauty of virtue. We find, therefore, in 
his works, heroics of a fine Roman cad, doically moral, 
full of grand fentiments, and occafionally good political 
maxims. Nor are the charaflers of Corneille wanting in 
paffion ; on the contrary, they occafionally difplay very 
great energy ; and there is in the dialogue much of that 
fublimity which arifes from the concife expreffion of a 
lofty thought. But, on the other hand, Corneille’s per- 
fonages have all of them a tedious refemblance. They 
are all grand ; therefore cannot be natural. This was a 
fydematic fault with him. He profefl'ed to teach morals 
on the dage, a laudable endeavour, but not to be accom- 
pliflied except in an indirect manner. As to his flyle, 
alfo, the French themfelves confefs that he is extremely 
harfh, and fometimes low. Another more abfurd fault 
is the mean fenfual gallantry that debafes fome of his 
prouded heroes, and this cannot be concealed by the ex¬ 
travagant compliment and. bombadical difcourfes which 
Vqju. XX. No, 1409. 
T R Y. 7S5 
he puts in their mouths. In his Cid, the mod admired 
of his pieces, he entirely negle&ed the unity of place, and 
that of time in great meafure ; gave his imagination free 
range, and consequently moved the hearts of his coun¬ 
trymen in a vehement degree. Corneille has been much 
praifed for having dared to introduce, during the victories 
of Louis XIV. obfervations into his plays tending to de¬ 
nounce war and conqued. 
Racine is proverbial for his elegant and mufical verfe. 
He is entirely oppofed in this refpefit to Corneille, and is 
perhaps as much too fmooth as the latter was too rough. 
The facrifice of fenfe to found is very remarkable in 
Racine’s works. In his charaflers his monotony was 
more remarkable than even his predeceffor’s; and the 
love of his heroes was more trifling than the inflated 
amoroufnefs of Corneille. 
But we cannot fay that Racine is deflitute of energy 
We obferve in the following paffage of his fird work, 
“Les Freres Ennemis,” fome natural and forcible ex- 
preffions of hate: 
Je ne fais fi mon coeur s’appaifera jamais: 
Ce n’ed pas fon orgueil, c’ed lui feul que je hais. 
Nous avons l’un & l’autre une haine obdinee ; 
Elle n’ed pas, Creon, l’ouvrage d’une annee ; 
Elle ed n6e avec nous, & fa noire fureur, 
Auffitot que la vie, entra dans notre coeur. 
Nous etions ennemis des la plus tendre enfance, See. 
Et maintenant, Creon, que j’attends fa venue, 
Ne crois pas que pour lui ma haine diminue; 
Plus il approche, & plus il me femble odieux, 
Et fans doute il faudra qu’elle eclate a fes yeux. 
Again in his “ Andromache,” his chef-d’ouvre, a fine 
touch of that fublimity which the French called coup de 
theatre occurs. Hermione, in the agonies of difappointed 
love, prevails on Oredes, her rejedted fuitor, to murder 
Pyrrhus, whom (he adores, at the moment of his marriage 
with Andromache. He executes the terrible commiffion : 
but, when he experts to receive her thanks and her 
affection as the reward of his obedience, her former ten- 
dernefs for Pyrrhus returns, and die pours forth on 
Oredes the bittered reproaches. The whole fcene is ex- 
quifitely wrought 5 and (he difavows the command 
which file had given to him in the following impaffioned 
lines: 
Mais, parle ! de fon fort qui t’a rendu 1 ’arbitre ? 
Pourquoi Paffaffiner ? Qu’a-t-il fait ? A quel titre ? 
Qui te l’a dit ? 
Certainly fublimity mud be allowed to this bold and 
almolt didraught “ Who bade thee ?” But the anfwer 
to the appalling quedion made by Oredes dedroys it in 
the reading: 
O dieux ! quoi ! ne m’avez vous pas 
Vous-meme ici tantot ordonne fon trepas ? 
It is faid, however, that Talma, by the deep tone of ffiame 
and defpondency with which he pronounces thefe two 
lines, renders them very impreffive. 
Racine was very much cramped by the unities. He 
obferves them with more fidelity than any other dramatid 
that can be named. Voltaire’s criticifm on Racine is 
very good : 
Plus pur, plus elegant, plus tendre, 
Et parlant au cceur de plus pres, 
Nous attachant, fans nous furprendre, 
Et ne fe dementant jamais 3 
Racine obferve les portraits 
De Bajazet, de Xiphares; 
De Britannicus, d’Hippolyte, 
A peine il didingue leurs traits 3 
Ils ont tous le meme merite, 
Tendres, galans_, doux, & diferets 5 
Et 1 ’Amour, qui marche a leur fuite, 
Les croit des courtifans Fran5ai$. 
9 O In 
